Penname: Rochelle Allison
Derivative Fiction
Rating/Warning(s): T

Notes: continues the characters and scenario established by "Oceanic" (the waterbed scene).

* none of these are beta'd, so, there may be errors (i know a few of the last ones had a typo or two, which is mildly infuriating, but, these are meant to be submitted "as is" and unedited...)

Disclaimer: All copyrighted, trademarked items, or recognizable characters, plots, etc. mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without their express written authorization.

Prompt: Sea Salt

Jacob tackled me again, making sure to wrap his arms around my body so that when we hit the sand I wouldn't get too hurt.

"Oof," I grunted, the wind having been knocked from me anyway. "I thought we were playing Frisbee, Jake."

He grinned, jumping up and dragging me with him. "Sorry, I can't help it. Every time you catch it I get the urge to, to- "

"To jump on me," I finished wryly, brushing sand from my arms. "You're like an overzealous puppy."

"So you think I'm cute," he said cockily, shaking water from his short, spiky black hair.

Nodding, I bit down on my lip to hold in a smile. He was very cute…and he knew I was attracted to him. He wanted me too – which is why he kept on asking me out. We'd kissed a couple times, no big deal really, but I'd have been lying if I said there wasn't chemistry between us.

He elbowed me, winking, and I rolled my eyes, tossing the Frisbee as far away as I could. I watched as he ran down the shore after it, his very toned, very muscular body a nice sight indeed.

It was an uncharacteristically bright and sunny day, a warm breeze blowing softly up and down the beach, and I was glad we'd decided to take advantage of it. We weren't the only ones; there were other groups scattered up and down the beach: sunning, splashing, or playing games like we were.

It had been awhile since I'd come to First Beach. Jacob and I had made plans to meet the night before… but I'd cancelled at the last minute because I was exhausted.

Well, that was the lame excuse I'd given him, but while he was a jock he was by no means stupid, so I wasn't sure if he even believed me. The truth was I'd spent half the night in Edward's new waterbed, kissing and touching and rolling around. Nothing below the belt, of course, but…still. Thoughts of his mouth and his laugh kept distracting me and I didn't see the bright red Frisbee until it was inches from my face.

It went flying past me, despite my last minute attempts at grappling for it.

"Ha! What was that?!" Jacob shouted gleefully, starting to jog over.

I spun around to pick it up, but Lauren Mallory had gotten to it first. She handed it to me, smiling.

"Uh, thanks Lauren," I said breathlessly. We were in the same class, but had never really been friends. We ran with different crowds; she was a little conceited, but friendly enough.

"It's cool," she shrugged, turning away from me to wave at someone coming down the beach.

I squinted, not recognizing the swim trucks or baseball cap…but I'd know the walk anywhere.

Well, well. Edward was here with Lauren; great.

He looked up and saw me, the corner of his mouth tugging upward, and my heart dropped to my feet; my face scorched with the memory of those lips on mine.

His almost-smile vanished as quickly as it had started – right as Jacob slid his arm around my waist.

"'Sup, Cullen," he called jovially.

Jacob and Edward kind of despised each other, but it was only because of football. They were quarterbacks on rival high school teams, so the animosity wasn't that major. My father had been friends with Jake's for years, so it was easy for me to overlook the whole football thing.

"Not a thing," Edward said casually, nodding at me. "Bella."

"Hey," I said, fiddling with the Frisbee.

"Hey, can we play?" Lauren asked, dropping her bag and shimmying out of her t-shirt and shorts. "I haven't played Frisbee in forever. You don't mind, right?"

"Sure, why not," Jake said amiably. He smirked at Edward. "You down?"

Edward pulled his shirt off and I averted my eyes, nervous Jake would wonder why the hell I was blushing all of a sudden.

We began to play, Jake and me against Edward and Lauren, but as time went by the game went from light and fun to rowdy and aggressive. Jake and Lauren were having a grand old time, laughing and hollering and giving each other high fives…which made no sense, seeing they were supposed to be on opposite teams.

Jake tossed the Frisbee and it shot straight toward me before a brisk wind made it abruptly change its course, causing it to fly toward the ocean.

"Dammit!" I gasped, sorely out of shape as I chased the silly thing down. Edward ran alongside me, trying to get to it first.

"What are you-" I squealed, diving into the water at the same time he did.

The Frisbee floated away, caught by a surprisingly strong current. Determined, I swam toward it but Edward quickly overtook me and snatched it up.

"Ha!" he crowed, treading water and holding the bright red toy above water.

"Oh, whatever," I muttered, pushing my hair out of my face. "Unlike some people I wasn't on swim team for ten years."

"What a sore loser," he teased.

"Screw you."

His smile turned to a sneer. "Screw me? Or screw Jacob Black? Does he know why you couldn't come last night?"

"You're here with Lauren Mallory," I pointed out, turning so I could start to make my way back toward shore. I noticed with faint alarm we'd drifted out much further than we'd meant to; the same riptide that had captured the Frisbee was now dragging us out rapidly.

"That's different," he said, frowning at the shoreline. "Come on, we have to swim alongside the current, not against it."

"Okay," I agreed, trying not to panic. Jake and Lauren were standing at the water's edge now, and though it was too hard to see their faces, I could tell they were concerned. I waved to them, noticing belatedly the twin yellow flags on opposite ends of the beach. Jake was a strong swimmer, but even he knew better than to get himself into our situation; if we didn't make headway soon he'd probably have to grab a lifeguard.

"How did we not see the yellow flags?" I groaned, beginning to feel winded.

"Stop talking and keep swimming," Edward gasped, sounding a little worn out himself.

Eventually we made it to the cliffs jutting out at one end of the beach, and he reached back, yanking me along as he reached a rock we could cling to. With my last shred of strength, I pulled myself up; grateful we were done battling the undertow. My arms were burning and sea salt was burning my eyes.

"You okay?" Edward panted, his hands splayed on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"Yeah," I said, my heart pounding furiously. "I can't believe you still have the Frisbee."

He chuckled. "Neither can I, actually."

We stayed still for a moment until a shout caught our attention. Jake and Lauren had followed us down, and were standing on the shore, waving for us to come in.

"We're coming," Edward yelled, scowling. "Jeez."

"What's wrong with you?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Besides the fact we nearly drowned just now?"

"You're being pissy," I sighed, lowering myself back into the water. From here it was easy to wade from rock to rock and get back to the beach.

He slipped in beside me, grabbing my wrist with his free hand.

My heart skipped a beat, because we were now partly blocked from the beach and I knew what was coming. Shivering a little, I looked at him. "What?" I asked quietly, trying not to focus on his mouth.

"You know what," he said, pulling me closer and kissing me.