Disclaimer: We don't own Twilight, and we don't feel funny today.


This lump of unrefined sugar is all for Fran. Sorry, not sorry for the toothache.


GrInD

~*~ cHaPter FouRTeeN~*~

~ EPOV ~

Sunny's place is mere minutes from the pier, just a hop, skip and a sandy jump across the lamp lit beach. I bet the entire Pacific Park is visible from the over-the-garage apartment, the bay window that protrudes from the dusty-blue walls.

"It was my grandparent's place," she explains, looking a little abashed as she crosses her arms over her chest, that citrine studded sunburst sparkling as she tucks a tuft of hair behind one ear.

One, adorable ear.

"My sister and niece live in the apartment," she pauses. "And I live in the main house … with my dad."

Her mouth remains straight but tight, both lips trapped between those white teeth I know she has. I can tell it almost pains her to admit it.

"It's not by choice," she defends and I hold up my two hands, smiling at her subtle frustration. I'll probably smile at anything she says and does.

But not her pain.

Never her pain.

"There's not much you can do with an English degree other than teach," she reasons with a shrug, turning toward the pier and I follow.

I'll follow her anywhere. Listen to her talk, the soothing sound of her voice mixing perfectly with the whirling wind and rolling ocean. They carry, only amplifying the tenor of her timid tone.

I'm enraptured, all ears while she lays out the path of her life and the interesting lives of her loved ones.

Her sister is a waitress that never really grew up, the daughter following too closely in her mother's footsteps.

Their father was born in Italy, a small city from which her grandparents immigrated in the late Sixties. The gelato shop was their way of life, a birthright passed down to Charlie when they both died a few years back.

Her nonni from cancer.

Her poppi of heartbreak.

Just the thought causes mine to split.

The realization that one could love another so hard and so much that they would literally die without them.

Soul wrenching.

And yet, I find myself envious of him - her grandfather, the depths of his devotion.

His beloved wife's lifes blood had replaced his own, flowing freely through his veins. She was embedded in his DNA, her heart's beat the one thing that kept him alive and well. And when it stopped, so did he.

A beautiful sort of sad.

She was his everything. His downfall, his ultimate destruction.

Looking over at Sunny, I breathe in the sweet scent that sails on the breeze, noticing the nostalgic artistry of her lax profile.

If destruction is what befalls the love of a lifetime then I want her to be the one who does the damage, I decide, turning my gaze downward with a kick to the sand.

I smile at it - giddy with the knowledge that I'll be willingly letting her consume and then one day, destroy me.

Just like the sun.

Eyeing her hand, I take it in mine, threading our fingers, and sealing this silent promise I've made. A bond I never intend to break.

Not as long as I live.

Not even after I die.

Never.


Ow, my bottom right molar :(

Reviews substitute as a dreaded trip to the dentist.