Hi, Everyone. I am so sorry, It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me and because of that time got away from me, which is why I didn't get to reply to your wonderful reviews and why this chapter is a day late. So again, I am truly sorry, I loved reading each and every one of them.
My eternal gratitude to My-Bella and Hope4More for all their help.
Disclaimer:
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Stephenie Meyer owns anything and everything relating to Twilight and its characters. No copyright infringement is intended.
The original aspects of this story—all of the original characters, plot, names, nicknames are all the property of the author—eternally addicted. Unauthorized use of such material is plagiarism. In simple terms—it's theft. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise mentioned in this story. No reproduction, downloading, copying, re-posting, or any other kind of redistribution of this story or its contents is permitted without my express written authorization.
*{Edward}*
Shit, shit, shit, I thought as I quickly spun to face the door I had just barged through.
My heart was thumping so loud and so fast I could feel it pounding in my ears like a bass drum and no matter how hard I squeezed my eyes shut the images of Bella lying naked on the bathroom floor wouldn't quit racing through my mind.
Wasn't it bad enough that I hadn't been able to get our near kiss out of my head all afternoon, or that I had watched her while we ate like some kind of pervert when she had licked her lips after taking a drink of her water? The sight of her small pink tongue sliding across her freshly moistened lips had left me wishing that I had kissed her and that I could do it again. Over and over again to be honest.
But no, apparently that wasn't enough. Seeing her naked and wet, sprawled out on the floor, now had me standing here with a hard-on that would surely cut glass, leaving me unable to act like the mature med student I was and see if she was hurt.
"Ow, shit," she whimpered. I heard the clinking sound of the shower curtain moving along the few remaining hooks still holding the last edge of it on the bar and realized that she was still lying down there possibly hurt.
Stupid idiot, I internally chastised myself. Get a fucking grip.
"Um…Bella, are you…are you okay?" I asked, barely able to get the words out while fighting the urge to turn around and see if she was okay. I just kept telling myself that I couldn't look because she's naked, but then I remembered that she's naked, and fuck if I didn't want to get another glimpse. This wasn't helping my situation at all.
"Uh…eeek," she squealed. I was pretty sure I had heard her slip again just before she'd made the noise.
"Bella, are you okay?" I asked.
I had never been so torn on what to do in my entire life. Was she hurt? Was she able to get up on her own? I wanted to turn around and see, but when she'd slipped for the second time her flashlight had fallen over and was now laying on its side shining right at me. With the images of her naked body sprawled on the floor still dancing through my head there was no way I could turn around right now. I could just imagine the look of horror on her face as I stood in the spotlight looking much more like a pervert ready to attack her than the doctor I was studying to be. As much as I wanted to help, I had to stay put—I couldn't let her see me like this.
"I…um…I think I'm okay. I…just…" she trailed off and let out a long sigh. "I can't get up. My foot keeps slipping on the wet shower floor and I can't get any leverage to pull myself up."
What to do, what to do? Think fast, Cullen.
"Uh, do you uh, have a towel in here?" I asked her, thinking I might have a plan if she did.
"Yeah on the sink," she replied softly.
"Okay, I'm uh…just gonna back up and grab the towel and drop it down to you. Then once you cover yourself up, I'll help you up. Okay?"
"Okay."
I swallowed involuntarily in my nervous state, trying to think of anything to make my body calm the hell down. Taking a deep breath,I instantly conjured up some of the most horrible situations I'd seen over the past few years volunteering, which helped me regain better control of my body. I began to back up slowly with my hand moving in a patting motion trying to locate the vanity where her towel was.
Finally I felt my hand land on the cold, hard vanity surface and after sliding it around briefly I located her towel.
"Uh…catch," my voice crackling as I caught a glimpse of her naked again. I tried to only turn enough so that I could somewhat aim the towel to land where she could grab it but it was hard with all the shadows cast by her flashlight.
Earthquakes, hurricanes and destruction, I repeated in my head.
"I'm ready," she whispered so softly I hardly heard her.
Clinching my eyes shut I took a deep breath trying to get a hold of my emotions.
Jesus, Cullen, you act like you've never seen a naked girl before. Stop acting like a fucking fifteen year old boy and act like the twenty-two year old man that you are!
But even as I had the thought, I couldn't help but think that seeing Bella naked was in some way different. More.
After holding the air in for as long as I could, it shot out in a big whoosh of air. Hearing a door slam in the building somewhere jarred me back to the task at hand and it occurred to me how this might look if my parents were to show up right now. Not being sure how they'd react, I spun around to see Bella lying flat on her back with the towel wrapped around her wet body. Unable to resist, my eyes traveled back and forth across the length of her body.
Damn she's beautiful.
Bending over I held my hand out to her. With one arm clasped tightly around the top of the towel, she reached up towards my hand with the other.
As Bella gripped my hand, I started to pull her up, but her foot slipped, nearly causing me to tumble down to the floor on top of her. In the process of attempting to balance myself and not fall, my hand was sprayed with the ice cold water from the shower and it dawned on me that the water was still on. No wonder she's slipping and sliding all over the place.
"Just a sec," I told her. Letting go of her hand, I took a step forward and leaned over her to shut the water off. Then instead of taking her hand again, I reached down and grabbed both her elbows, keeping them tucked tightly against her body so her towel didn't come off and pulled her up.
However I used a little too much force, causing her to smack right into my chest and forcing me to wrap my arms around her so she wouldn't fall again.
It was as if time had stopped moving. We stared at one another, neither of us making any attempt to pull away from the other. Almost as if I was being held to her, bound by some invisible rope, I was unable to back away and instead felt myself leaning closer to her.
I'm going to kiss her, I said in my head and was certain this time nothing was going to stop me. But just as my lips brushed against hers, Bella started shivering and I remembered that she was wet and probably getting cold.
Resting my forehead against hers, I found my voice. "You better, uh, get dried off before you get any colder."
"Oh, yeah," she agreed and shuddered.
"I'm just gonna go and…uh let you do that."
She nodded and I slowly stepped away from her.
*{SIB}*
After leaving Bella in the bathroom, I made my way back over to where I'd dropped my stuff in the middle of the floor when I'd heard her scream. Luckily the moonlight streaming in through the window was fairly bright or I'd probably have fallen over my stuff, given the location of where I'd left it.
Picking up my backpack, I flung it over my shoulder and then grabbed the handle of my suitcase before squatting down to grab my sleeping bag. Scanning the room, I saw where Bella had set her stuff. My first instinct would have been to put my stuff right under the window in order to have the benefit of the cool night air and the breeze, but if I did I'd be faced with the predicament of either putting my feet in Bella's face, which was rude, not to mention wrong, or placing my sleeping bag so our heads would only be a foot or so apart.
Did I want to be that close to her? Well duh.
Did she want me to be that close to her? I'd like to think she did. But in all honesty I really had no clue. Since I had just seen her naked in the bathroom and I had no clue if she'd noticed my reaction to her being naked I wondered if she'd think I was some sort of pervert? Of course if she noticed my body's reaction to hers, she might think I was a pervert regardless of where I slept.
My eyes roamed to the other side of the room. Thinking of settling there for the night didn't help me any as it seemed too far from her and I cringed at the thought of her thinking I was distancing myself from her because of what had happened a few minutes ago.
"Damn it," I uttered as I tossed my sleeping bag across the room. It bounced off the wall and rolled back to the middle of the floor.
Grabbing it as it rolled back out to me, I sat my stuff down along the same wall as Bella's. I needed for her to see that nothing had changed between us because of the shower incident. I wanted her to see that I saw it as only one friend helping another. She fell, I helped her up, that's all there was to it.
It was, wasn't it? I'd simply helped a friend. And what guy wouldn't get aroused seeing a wet, naked, beautiful woman lying before them. It was normal, right?
My thoughts were distracted by the sounds of Bella shuffling around in the bathroom. Hearing a dull thud, I looked at the door and saw a light shining out from under it.
"Shit," she cursed just loud enough to hear as she fumbled around on the other side of the door. Based on what I'd heard and the way the light had moved back and forth from under the door briefly, it was easy to guess that she had dropped her flashlight.
Thinking she would have to be done in there soon and not wanting her to see me so flustered, I was eager to get settled. I unrolled my bag and scooted the head of it back about an arm's length from the head of hers. I hoped that this distance would be close enough to show her I wasn't avoiding her, but far enough I wouldn't freak her out either.
When she didn't come right out and I heard what sounded like her fumbling around in there aimlessly, I began to wonder if she was stalling for time. And if she was stalling then she must really not want to come out here and face me.
"Make up your fucking mind, Cullen," I muttered to myself. I tugged my stuff with me across the floor, switching to the space on the opposite side of the room, the whole time second guessing my first choice. If she didn't even want to come out of the bathroom, what would she think of me being so close? If she was waiting in there hoping for me to go to sleep, and wanted to avoid me that badly maybe I should just give her some more space until after we could talk about it.
Thing was I didn't want to wait to talk to her, I wanted to do this now, before there was any chance for any kind of misconceptions to develop and cause things to become weird between us. But I just didn't know where to be in the room while we talked to make her feel more at ease about it.
Dropping my backpack next to my feet, I slumped down next to it and rested my elbows on my knees, letting my head drop forward into the palms of my hands. Why was she unnerving me so much? I wasn't a virginal school boy seeing a naked woman for the first time. Nor was I a man-whore who'd been around the block more times than he could count. I'd been with a few girls over the last couple of years and I'd seen countless diagrams and such in my pre-med classes. Hell I'd just seen a woman give birth. So why was I such a mess now? I just didn't get it.
Groaning, I unzipped my suitcase and scrounged through it until I found my grey tank top and a pair of my old basketball shorts. For a second I thought about how I sometimes still missed playing, but keeping up with a pre-med academic workload and the grueling practices on top of the busy schedule of an athlete had been too much. When I had given one hundred percent to either one, then the other suffered and I didn't do anything half-assed. I gave my all when I dedicated myself to something and in the long run, my education had been much more important.
Zipping the case back up, I scooted it over next to the wall and then gripped the back of my t-shirt, which was wet all down the front from Bella. Don't go there again, I thought as images of her naked surfaced againwhile Itugged my shirt over my head and felt a twitch in my pants. Using the back side of my t-shirt I dried my chest and then laid it over the suitcase to dry and pulled on the tank.
Since Bella was still in the bathroom, I hopped up off the floor to use the closet area by the room entrance as a makeshift place to change. However when the sound of the door knob jiggling alerted me that she was about to come out of the bathroom, I waited to use it instead of the closet area.
"Perfect timing," I said with a smile and held up my shorts, trying to diffuse any awkwardness she might be feeling. It would be a long summer for us both if we couldn't move past this and were living in the same room for all of that time.
Her eyes met mine briefly and after grinning bashfully she diverted her gaze to the corner where her things were and hurried over to it.
I made quick use of the bathroom, changing into my shorts and came out to find Bella lying on her sleeping bag facing the wall. Even though she appeared to be asleep I had a difficult time believing she had fallen asleep in the small amount of time it had taken me to change my shorts. Especially since I had hurried to do it, hoping to talk to her and make sure she hadn't been hurt when she'd fallen. I also wanted to ease her mind over any embarrassment she might be feeling.
When I couldn't tell for sure, I remained quiet and didn't say anything to her just on the chance she truly was sleeping.
Tossing my cargo shorts onto the floor next to my stuff, I laid down on my sleeping bag. Rolling to my side, I couldn't take my eyes off of Bella. The longer I laid there watching her across the room, the more wrong it felt.
I chuckled sarcastically to myself, and thought, Why don't you just plant your ass in the middle of the floor? That wouldn't be too close or too far.
Huffing, I got up and pulled my bag back over to its original position, leaving the rest of my stuff behind. If she'd wanted the distance before then she'd gotten it. If she was truly asleep then she'd have no clue that I was so close to her now, which made me feel better. She had her way before and now I could have mine and not worry about her pushing me away or thinking badly of me for it. A win, win situation, I told myself.
Lying on my stomach with my chin resting on my arms folded under me, I spent the next fifteen to twenty minutes watching her sleep. I was about to close my eyes and give in to the fatigue that was nagging me when I saw Bella's arm move. At first I thought she was just stirring in her sleep, but when I saw her pull some sort of band off her wrist, I knew she was awake. Not wanting to freak her out, I laid my head down and peeked through my eyelids that were just cracked open just enough to see. She rose slightly and twisted her hair up into a knot and then wrapped the band around it before resting it back down on her travel sized pillow. As she adjusted her position, her arm stretched out a few inches above her sleeping bag causing her hand to lie on the floor.
Some unknown urge inside of me had me sliding my hand forward until it rested beside hers without touching it. I found the closeness to be strangely comforting. I stayed like that for as long as I could hold my eyes open, willing her to roll over and look at up me. When she didn't, sleep took over and the last thing I remembered thinking was…
Oh, Bright Eyes. What is it about you that makes me so damn worried about whether or not you are avoiding me on purpose? Why can't I quit thinking about you? What are you doing to me, Bright Eyes?
June 5th, 2011
*{Bella}*
"Bella. Bella, it's time to wake up." I heard a soft voice dragging me awake.
"Five more minutes please, Mother," I grumbled while burying my face into my pillow and covering my head with my arms.
A soft laugh was followed by, "Bella, it's Esme Cullen. Have you forgotten where you are, dear?" reminded me of exactly where I was and the fact that I really needed to get up.
"Oh, geez, I'm so sorry," I told her popping up and brushing away the hair that had fallen in my face.
"It's quite alright, but we really need to get moving."
She held out her hand, offering me help up off the floor. Taking it, I grunted out, "What time is it?" as I slowly rose up.
Sleeping on such a hard surface was going to take some getting used to.
"It's about quarter past five. It'll be daylight soon, so if we want breakfast before the day's work begins, we need to hurry."
I nodded in agreement and bent over, grabbing my tooth brush out of my bag and my bottle of water since the facet water wasn't safe to drink yet.
Halfway to the bathroom I realized I needed to get dressed as well and turned back to get some clothes. After finding what I wanted, out of the corner of my eye I noticed Edward's backpack and suitcase sitting where they had been last night but his sleeping bag was gone.
Glancing around the room, I spotted a sleeping bag on the same wall as mine and two cots on the opposite wall with two sleeping bags identical to the one on the floor by mine.
Esme must have noticed me searching the room with my eyes. Sitting on one of the cots, tying her shoes she said, "Carlisle and Edward went down a little bit ago to check on Marisa, the young woman who had the baby last night."
"Oh," I replied trying not to sound as if I'd been worried about where Edward had gone.
I was actually quite relieved that he was with his father and hadn't snuck out early this morning in order to avoid me. Although I guessed if he had been trying to avoid me he wouldn't have moved his bag over next to mine and I couldn't believe I had been completely oblivious to him having done it. I must have been deeply asleep when he had.
"So, what did the woman…"
I looked at Esme for help remembering the woman's name, while internally ridiculing myself for having forgotten it already.
Can't you stop thinking about him for two seconds? She just told you the name.
"Marisa," Esme answered.
"Yes, Marisa. Did she have a boy or girl?"
"A boy. She named him Javier. Hurry along now or else we are going to miss breakfast," she ordered in a motherly way.
Teeth brushed and dressed, I sat down on the floor to put on my shoes. I had one shoe on and was about to tie the other one when Esme stopped me.
"You are going to need to wear more durable shoes than those," she told me.
"These are all I've got, so I don't really have much choice," I explained.
"Here," she said after digging through the huge Army green duffle bag sitting near the head of her cot and handing me a pair of hiking boots similar to the ones she was wearing. "Your foot looks about the same size as mine so see if these fit."
"Thanks," I replied and sat to put them on.
"How do they fit?" she asked.
"They're a little loose."
"Ummm, Oh I know," she said. She walked over to Edward's suitcase and dug through it until she popped up with a pair of his socks. "These should work." She tossed the socks to me. "Edward will probably never miss them," she added.
"Are you sure? I know clean clothes must be a hard thing to come by in these types of situations."
"Yes, I'm sure. Besides he would never go against his mother. He knows better." She had a smirk on her face that told me Edward would never challenge his mother.
I stuffed a sock in each of the toe areas and put the boots back on. This time they were close to perfect and after I'd thanked her again, we were off to eat.
*{SIB}*
My relief over Edward not avoiding me was short lived. The instant I saw him standing with his father, Peter and a couple of the other volunteers chatting, all my nervousness about facing him came rushing back to me. It would have been bad enough if I'd just been clumsy and had fallen, but no, I had to go and fall in the shower where he'd seen me dripping wet like a drowned cat and yeah…completely naked.
I was standing there lost watching Edward, wanting him to see me, but at the same time wanting to run and hide, when I felt a soft hand on my arm.
"The breakfast line is over there," Esme told me while pointing to the table on the far side of the tent.
"Aren't you going to eat?" I asked her.
"Oh heavens yes," she assured me with a light laugh. "I just want to go check with Carlisle and see how Marisa is this morning."
"Oh, okay."
She patted my arm and said she'd see me in a bit. I nodded and then headed over to see what was on the menu for this morning.
Taking the water, bowl of oatmeal and orange I was given, I sat down on one of a couple of overturned buckets I spotted near the entrance to the tent. Placing the water on the ground and the orange on my lap, I dug in to the oatmeal.
"Penny for your thoughts," Edward said sitting down and taking a whopping bite of his apple. I had seen him start to head over this way, but didn't want to be caught watching him and had turned my gaze back to my bowl.
"Hey," I replied, not really wanting to tell him how I was feeling.
He bumped my leg with his knee. "You look like you're a million miles away. Homesick already?"
No, I just still feel naked around you even though I am fully clothed.
I shrugged and scooped up another bite of oatmeal.
"You sleep okay last night?" he asked.
"I guess."
I glanced over at him before sitting my empty bowl down in front of me. I began peeling my orange while wondering how he could just sit here and chat like nothing had happened when I was feeling so small and insignificant and completely mortified.
"You ready for our first full day, Rookie?" he teased and reached over, snatching a section of my orange.
I shrugged again, my eyes following his hand as he popped the piece of fruit in to his mouth.
"Look." He paused, scratching the back of his head. He leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and gazed up at me through squinted eyes. "I don't want what—"
Edward was cut off by Peter calling everyone's attention to him.
"There is much to do, Folks, so it's time to get moving," Peter began. "Sam, Jared and Rachel, I'd like for the three of you to go up the beach about a half mile and retrieve the air drop of supplies that was dispatched this morning."
The three of them immediately nodded and began to walk toward him as he held up a set of keys. He spoke to them briefly. From what I could see he was giving them some sort of directions to the area they were headed to and then pointed to a jeep parked outside that had a moderate sized flatbed trailer attached to the rear of it.
He continued by asking another group to go with the other doctor and one of the nurses to the nearby village to let them know help was nearby and to determine what their needs were, as well as check for any that were injured or ill and required medical attention.
Others were sent to work with the businesses along this stretch of the beach and help them begin removing tree limbs from their properties as well as the roads in the surrounding area.
Peter's daughter Bree and niece Tanya were assigned to begin sorting through the boxes of donated clothes that had been sent to the area. I caught Bree rolling her eyes at her father and when she noticed me watching her she shot a snide glare my way.
It was difficult to fathom how a man who was so obviously dedicated to his work could have a daughter who seemed to be so uncaring and unconcerned about anyone but herself. I didn't know what part of the states they called home, but I knew that when natural disasters struck, they didn't differentiate between social classes, which made me think that Bree would do well to know that and hope that she would be lucky to have volunteers help her if she were ever in the position as the people of this country were.
She's the exact opposite of me. She'd get along perfectly with the lifestyle I was trying to get away from.
The rest of the volunteers were given their assignments and I was grateful I wasn't on the team that had to handle the portable bathrooms. However that didn't stop me from imagining what Bree's reaction might have been if she'd been assigned to that team. It was very hard to fight the smile that wanted to spread across my face. I was certain the only thing that kept me from doing so was the fear of being asked what it was I was smiling about. I had enough to deal with after my disaster of a shower last night. The last thing I needed was to make enemies by poking fun at Peter's daughter.
"Good morning, Bella, Son," Carlisle said as Edward and me approached him. We'd been assigned to work with him and Esme again for the day.
"Good morning," I returned.
"Where do you want us to start?" Edward asked with ease, showing his experience and comfort level with whatever it was his father might have for him to do.
"We've been told some injured are being brought in shortly from one of the flooded valley towns, which means I need to be here and ready."
"Okay," Edward replied. "You need us to help get set up for that? Do you have a head count on the amount of injured coming in?"
I couldn't help but admire how he was eager and ready to jump in and help.
"Actually, I have a more important task for you to handle," Carlisle informed him. "I need you to go tent to tent and assess the needs of the inhabitants of each one. Your mother has a clipboard set up for you with a checklist of the information we need.
"In order to be able to organize the needs of each tent and keep track of it, we need a way to identify each one so there is no confusion. We are going to use a system your mother came up with the last time we were in this situation. What you do is use the can of spray paint in the bag to put a number each tent. Make sure you make it large enough and put it in a place to easily been seen. Then each checklist will be marked with the same number sprayed on the tent allowing us to keep accurate information for each one. Are you following me so far?"
"Yes. Only question I have is will I be doing this alone?" Edward asked his father.
Curious about that myself I looked to Carlisle and waited for his answer.
"No," Carlisle stated. "I thought that since you and Bella already know each other somewhat, you'd be comfortable working together today. If not, I can see if someone else is available to go with you. "
Three pairs of eyes were suddenly fixated on me, waiting for my response.
"Oh…no problem. I'm game for whatever you need me to do."
"Good. We were going to do it ourselves, but with the patients being brought in, and Garrett off checking the local villages, we both need to remain here.
"Edward, you are the next closest thing to a doctor we have and I trust your judgment in the instance you were to come across someone needing to be treated."
"Bella, since Edward is familiar with what we need the two of you to do, why don't you come with me? I'll go over the checklist with you and fill you in on some of the things we need to pay close attention to while Carlisle helps Edward pack a small bag of supplies you might need," Esme suggested with a soft smile and motioned with her hand for me to follow her.
"Do you have any previous volunteer work?" Esme inquired while sliding the checklist under the metal clamp of the worn clipboard she grabbed off a stack of boxes.
"No. Is that a problem?" I asked wondering if maybe Edward should have someone more experienced helping him.
"Oh, no. Not at all. I was just curious. Everyone has to start somewhere. Don't hesitate to ask Edward or Carlisle and myself if you have any questions. We were all new at this at one time and we're very appreciative of your desire to help." Her voice was very sincere as she spoke and it was very reassuring to me.
It was nice to have someone understand and appreciate why I was here. Alice understood my desire to become a nurse and help people, but she didn't get why I had chosen to begin helping them now when I could be lying on a beach somewhere not having a care in the world. And of course my parents were beyond trying to reach. The one time I had mentioned volunteering at a local shelter for abused women, my mother's idea of helping had been to write a check and be done with it.
Esme went over the checklist with me, telling me that Edward would catch most things, but to pay extra attention to the smaller details like if there were children, what they might need, if the occupants of the tents had shoes, clothes, or just the everyday basic necessities they might need to get them by until they could either return to their homes, or start new in putting their lives back together.
We were going over a few more details when I heard Edward's voice behind me. "You ready to get started?"
"Yeah," I replied softly. Turning around I glanced in Edward's direction quickly enough to see him leaning with one arm resting on the stack of boxes that Esme had grabbed the clipboard from and the other hanging by his side with a small canvas backpack in his hand.
"Let's go then," he said as I moved past him in a hurry so I wasn't forced to make eye contact with him. I was already on edge fearing what he must think of me after what had happened last night. I didn't need to look in his eyes and see those fears staring back at me, confirming all the thoughts my imagination was torturing me with.
We were to the door of the tent when we heard Carlisle call after Edward. Stopping to see what he wanted it didn't take Carlisle long to make it over to us.
"Here, you'll need this," he told Edward as he handed him a stethoscope. "It's an extra one your mother just found in the supplies."
Edward nodded and took the tool from his father.
*{Edward}*
A couple of hours had gone by and Bella was being too quiet. Her personality had shifted dramatically and it was bothering the hell out of me. Gone was the talkative, sweet, slightly sarcastic girl I had met yesterday and in her place was a girl who appeared to be on edge, like she was walking on pins and needles around me since we had left main tent this morning.
I had tried to blow it off, thinking maybe she was tired. I was well aware of the fact that neither of us had gotten a whole lot of sleep. But as the morning went by I determined it was more than just the fact she hadn't slept well.
Her interactions with the occupants of the tents and me were completely opposite of each other. Anytime I spoke to her all I received in return were short, to the point, curt answers. No joking, no sarcasm and definitely no smiles. I could see the unease in her eyes, well that was when she'd even look directly at me, and I could feel it rolling off her in waves.
On the flip side of things I watched repeatedly as she interacted with the people we were checking on with a great amount of care and compassion, even at times speaking in perfectly fluent Spanish to better communicate what we needed to know. It was truly amazing to watch and made me even more intrigued by her. I'd even briefly wondered what she was going to study in college this fall, thinking she'd make a great nurse or even doctor, judging by how she was acting with the these people. It was easy to see how much she truly cared about their well being.
Other than some questions about what we were doing, she didn't say much at all to me. The one time she had spoken the most to me had been when we discovered a man who I was certain had a broken foot.
"Bella, would you run down to my father and ask him to send a couple of volunteers to help Mr. Rodriguez down to the treatment area? I believe he is going to need to be sent to the hospital on the other side of the island."
"Sure," she quickly replied and was off to do as I had asked.
When she returned a few minutes later with help, I had just finished explaining to Mr. Rodriguez why he needed to be treated immediately. He was a bit hesitant at first, thinking he would surely be fine in a few days, but his wife was able to convince him to do as I had asked.
Once they were on their way down to my father, Bella and I were moving on to the next tent when she suddenly grabbed my arm and stopped me.
"Why does a broken foot require urgent care?" she blurted out. "I mean normally you get an x-ray, a cast if it is broken and sent home. So why are you so worried about Mr. Rodriguez's foot?"
"Normally yes that would be what would take place. However, remember we are in anything but a normal situation here," I told her.
"Okay, but I still don't get what makes it an emergency. Can you explain it better to me?"
Intrigued by her eagerness to learn I filled her in on my concerns. "For starters, if his foot is broken, he at least needs an x-ray to make sure the bones are aligned properly before they begin to heal. Untreated if they fuse back together he could face anything from permanent discomfort, severe arthritis later on, not to mention risk of re-fracturing it since the bone won't be as strong if not set properly. It could even lead to a change in the way he walks which could lead to other issues such as back problems."
"Makes sense. You said for starters. Is there more?"
"Yes, some of the more severe risks would be infection that could lead to the loss of his foot or in rare instances blood clots could form, which if dislodged could be carried into his blood stream and have possible deadly results."
"Wow," she replied while mulling over all the information I had given her. "It's really amazing and scary to think about how what you would perceive as a simple injury could be so serious."
"Yes it is. Now come on, there may be others we need to send for treatment. We don't have time to waste."
"Right, sorry."
"Don't be sorry. You can't learn if you don't ask questions. We just need to keep moving so we can get to everyone and then hopefully hand out any supplies they need by the end of the day."
She nodded and began moving toward the next tent.
Fortunately Mr. Rodriguez was the only one in need of emergency care right now. There were a few others who had some heath conditions that should be monitored as well as some who hadn't been able to bring their medications with them. But those people could be cared for by my father and Garrett and we would assist those who needed medications in obtaining them. On a whole what we found was really minor considering what we could have been faced with.
The key would be providing these people with what they needed to survive and remain healthy until they could put their lives back together. Many of them had lost everything—their homes, their possessions, and their jobs as well. Starting over was not going to be an easy task, but we would do whatever we could to ease it as much as we could.
While I was definitely focused on my true mission here, I also couldn't stop trying to figure out Bella's severe turn in behavior. I'd had girls pissed at me before and while I didn't like it, it had never affected me enough to stay on my mind this way. On top of that, I didn't think I had done anything to garner the cold shoulder I was getting from Bella and that only served to baffle me more.
She had been at ease around my parents this morning and after thinking back on the conversation we'd had during breakfast, she'd been distant with me then as well. That made it clear to me that whatever was bothering her had to do with me and there was only one thing I could think of that would change her attitude towards me as much as it had. The shower incident. That had to be what it was. It was the only thing that made sense. I just didn't know why she was mad at me for it and I couldn't help needing to know.
Morning turned to afternoon and by one in the afternoon we had finished with gathering the information we needed. It seemed a perfect time to try and get her to talk to me. "We should go grab lunch," I told Bella as she finished writing some notes on the last checklist we had completed.
She nodded as she wrote.
Trying hard to engage her in conversation and get her talking, I then said, "After lunch we can begin handing out the supplies that are needed and probably assist my dad when he checks out those that have some health issues."
"Yeah, that sounds good," Bella replied without even so much as a glance at me as she began to walk ahead of me on our way back to the main tent.
Determined to talk to her while we ate, I picked up my pace too, and followed closely behind her.
As I entered the main tent I made my way over to the area that was partitioned off for medical purposes. Bella was just a few steps ahead of me at this point.
"Hey, guys," my mother greeted us when hearing us enter the space. She was removing the blood pressure cuff from the arm of on one of the people we had sent down here to be seen.
"Good call on Mr. Rodriguez, Son," I heard behind me as I felt my father's hand clamp down on my shoulder.
"So his foot was broken?"
"I'm as certain as I can be without having the ability to x-ray it."
"So what do you do in a situation like that?" Bella asked. "Do you just put a cast on it or what?"
My father smiled as he began to answer her. He loved to talk about anything that had to do with his work. "Sometimes we do. Sometimes there is no other choice depending on the circumstances in which you are treating a person."
"It must be incredibly hard sometimes not having the means to treat people as you would like," Bella added.
"It is. But in Mr. Rodriguez's instance, we are fortunate to be able to do so. We braced his foot to stabilize it from further injury and we had him transported to the other side of the island to the hospital where he will have it x-rayed and then treated based on those results."
"I guess as bad as things are on this side of the island it really is not nearly has horrific as it could have been had the hurricane hit the whole thing," Bella said next.
"It really is. Things would be in a much more dire state had the entire island lost power and sustained the damage this side has," my father told her.
"So anything else I need to be aware of at this time?" my father asked me.
"Yeah, just a couple of things I wanted to go over with you."
"I'm going to go get lunch," Bella told us making me wonder if she was using my talk with my dad as an excuse to go off without me.
"I'll be there in a minute," I told her. She nodded and shot me a quick glance along with a weak smile before heading off on her own.
After going over what I'd needed to with my dad, I grabbed my lunch and a couple bottles of water before searching for where Bella had gone. I didn't see her anywhere inside of the tent.
I found her outside sitting on one of several pieces of a fallen tree trunk that had been cut into a size that was the perfect height for a makeshift chair.
She was sitting with her back to the tent, facing the ocean. I paused for a second, taking in how beautiful she looked as she tipped her head back with her eyes closed and took a long swig of water, then keeping her face pointed at the sky like a kitten basking in the afternoon sun.
A breeze blew in from the ocean and her lips curved into a tranquil smile as she enjoyed the feeling of it. It was the first real smile I had seen on her face all day.
Knowing we didn't have much time, I sat down on the chunk of tree next to her and started with something neutral, l hoping to break the ice, "The ocean is a beautiful yet sometimes deadly thing."
"It is."
Not as much of a response as I would have liked to have from her, but I figured it was a start.
"You were great today. It's easy to see how much you care about being here, how you are pouring your heart into wanting to help these people."
She glanced over at me, squinting against the bright sun, and then hung her head. Kicking at the dirt below her foot she replied softly, "Thanks."
God how did I do this? I had no idea how to get her to open up to me and tell me what the heck was wrong. So I just straight out asked her. "What's going on? Are you pissed at me? Did I say something, do something?"
"Nothing's wrong."
"Bullshit. You've been cold and distant all day, barely speaking a word to me unless you had to. So why don't we try this again. What's going on? Is this about what happened last night? Beca—"
"I told you it's nothing. I'm fine, you're fine. Everything's fine," she snapped and stood, before starting to walk away.
"Damn it, Bright Eyes!" I huffed louder than I should have, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.
Her head hung and her hands came up to run at her eyes.
"Fuck," I cursed softly to myself.
Now you've done it, Cullen, you've made her cry.
She started to take a step again and I knew if I didn't fix things now, I might never get the chance to.
"Wait. Please," I called out to her and got up, quickly closing the distance between us.
Standing behind her, I placed my hands on her arms and gently turned her to face me. "Bella," I said softly while lifting her chin. "Please look at me."
As her eyes rose to meet mine I could see more unshed tears pooling in them just waiting to escape.
"I'm sorry," I sighed. "I'm sorry for acting like an arrogant jackass just now. I didn't mean to. I just don't understand why you've been so different today."
"It's okay," she mumbled.
"No, it's not. I was an ass. Are you mad at me? If so please tell me so I can try to fix whatever it is that I've done."
A tear slipped down her cheek and I couldn't resist the urge to brush it away.
"It's not you. I'm not mad."
"If you're not mad at me then are you pushing me away for some reason? Do you want me to leave you alone, stay away from you?"
God, please say no.
She didn't say no. Well at least not verbally. Instead she shook her head quickly back and forth giving me the answer I had silently prayed for.
Letting out a long sigh of relief, I asked her, "Then why? Is this about what happened last night? About the shower?"
She nodded and hung her head again.
"Why?"
"Why? Why?" she repeated, louder and chuckling sarcastically. I couldn't help think, there's that spunk that's been missing all day.
"You really don't know?" she asked.
"No. I really don't. So please fill me in," I told her honestly.
"Boys," she huffed and rolled her eyes, raising her hands and letting them fall and smack against her legs in frustration.
"Please," I begged in a slightly whiny voice, flashing her my best puppy dog face.
"You really, really don't get it do you?" she asked and I thought I might have seen a twitch on the corners of her lips like she was fighting a smile.
"No."
Looking at the ground again, she said, "I'm embarrassed. Beyond embarrassed actually." I used my hand to lift her chin again, forcing her to look at me. She then whispered, "I'm so humiliated."
"You're humiliated because you slipped and fell in the shower?"
"Yes."
"Please don't get mad here, but I have to ask again, why?"
"Edward," she whined dragging out my name.
"What? You slipped and fell, and I helped you up. What's wrong with that?"
"I was naked. That's what," she whisper hollered at me while her face turned bright pink.
"Ooh. I see," I said trying not to laugh. I really didn't want to make things worse than they were. "So you aren't embarrassed because you fell. You are embarrassed because you were naked. More specifically because I saw you naked."
"Ding, ding, ding. Now you're catching on, smart one."
"Well you know," I said leaning forward, lowering my voice and whispering right next to her ear. "I could always let you see me naked if it would make you feel better. You know, even the score between us."
She smacked me on the arm when she whipped her head around and saw the wide smile on my face.
"You're…you're…"
"I'm what?" I asked laughing a little and loving the bright shade of pink her face was turning. She was pretty as it was, but her blush seemed to intensify it.
"You're an ass. It's not funny."
"No. It's not," I said tightening my lips and trying to put on a straight face. "I'm not trying to make fun of you either. Really I'm not. You're just adorable when you get all flustered," I told her.
"Ha ha," she said sarcastically with an equally sarcastic smirk.
"Look, I'm sorry if what happened made you feel weird or awkward around me. I hate that it did. But I want you to know that, all I see it as is that you fell and I helped you up. Nothing more than that. Okay?"
"Really?" she asked timidly.
"Really."
There was no way I could tell her that the image of her lying there naked was burned into my brain.
"Edward. Bella," my father called from the tent entrance interrupting our conversation. "We need to get to handing out the supplies to the people in the tents."
"Be right there," I called back to him. He nodded and went back inside.
"I meant what I said. Please don't freak out about it. Maybe we can talk about it some more later if you want. But for right now please tell me that we're good."
"We're good."
"No more weirdness?" I asked, with a smile as I slipped my hand down her arm and gave hers a squeeze.
"Zero weirdness," she replied, squeezing my hand in return and giving me a big bright smile that was sincere for the first time today.
Before I even knew what I was doing, I was pulling her to me, wrapping my arms around her and hugging her tightly. She felt so good in my arms and as I felt her body relaxing against mine that's all I could think about.
Standing there with her pressed up against me, the last thing I wanted to do was let her go. She fit so perfectly in my arms. But I quickly realized that the longer we stayed like this, the more likely someone was going to see us. While I didn't think it was necessarily anyone else's business what went on between the two of us, I was certain that she might feel more than a little awkward if someone were to see us and we were put on the spot with a bunch of questions. Especially since I didn't even have a clue as to what was going on between us. So I reluctantly let go of her.
"We better go before my dad comes looking for us again."
Last thing we needed was to have to explain it to him. Bella would probably freak out even more than she already had.
"Right," she agreed.
"Oh and one more thing," I said leaning next to her ear again, "My offer from before still stands if you ever feel the need to even the score."
I smiled and winked at her as she stood there with her mouth gaping wide open like a fish before turning to go see what my dad wanted. I was so relieved to finally know what was going on with her. A few moments later she had caught up to me and still had a trace of her blush coloring her cheeks.
We both remained quiet as we walked back into the tent, but it was a comfortable silence, not at all awkward like it had been all morning. All the tenseness that had eaten at me all morning had drained away. It had been like my breathing had been constricted by a tight band around my chest squeezing it all morning and now I could relax and breathe easy again.
I knew we would have to talk some more about last night and I had a feeling it wasn't going to be easy for her to let it go completely. I couldn't really explain why it was so important to me that she did, but I knew I wouldn't be able to handle going through the summer with things like they had been this morning.
I was determined to make sure I did everything I could to help her get past it and not be embarrassed any more. But for now, there was still plenty of work left to be done before sunset. Everything else could be worked out later.
Happy Memorial weekend to you all! If you're looking for a another great story to read as you kick back by the poolside, swim on over to My-Bella's profile page and check out Beneath The Surface and see if Bella can tread water with Edward Masen and his crew at http:/www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/7558623/1/Beneath_The_Surface
See you next time. Until then don't forget to check out the pictures for this chapter on my blog and let me know what ya thought.
EA