Life's A Beach
Chapter 14
A/N – A little jump in time now…let's take our couple back to where it all started.
Bella could see it coming, but she was powerless to do anything about it. She felt her feet leave the ground, felt her butt hit the sand, and felt the wet rough licks that told her Aro had struck again. She was ridiculously happy to be back in Hilton Head, even if that meant getting tackled by the golden puppy again. The only person happier than Bella was Edward, who was already covered with salt water and sand from where Aro tackled him with the kind of joy that only a dog can show. Now the puppy ran crazy circles around them in the sand while Jasper laughed.
"I guess he's happy to see you."
Edward rubbed the puppy's wet fur. "Yeah, I guess so. Thanks for taking care of him, Jas."
"Not a problem. It's my pleasure to be his foster dad for the next year. Then he's all yours." Jasper reached down and gave Bella a hand up. "Good to see you again, Miss Bella. It's been a while."
It was the week after college graduation, and Bella and Edward managed to sneak away for a few days to celebrate. Coach gave Edward permission to take a few days off from training on the condition he run on the beach every day and do his usual off-ice exercise routine. It was a trade Edward was happy to make.
"I'm happy to be here" Bella replied. "Alice sends her love, you know." Alice and Rose had spent a couple of weekends and most of spring break in Hilton Head, but Bella didn't want to go with them if Edward couldn't get away. Hilton Head Island was still magical, but she couldn't imagine being here without him, not when the girls would have Jasper and Emmett. Unfortunately, Bella's spring break overlapped with one of Edward's first big competitions for the year. She couldn't go with him because of mid-term exams, but she wanted to be in Chicago waiting when he got back. It was a good thing she did, because Edward needed some serious cheering up. He'd finished third, behind James and some new kid from Washington state named Jacob Black who just barely beat Edward's time.
Bella knew she had to keep him from getting too much in his head about it. Coach Banner was happy with the times, but Edward was unhappy with the results. He was especially unhappy because James took every opportunity to rub it in. All Edward would tell Bella was that James had made some comments about her. He wouldn't tell her what his rival said and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Clearly, James Tracker wasn't going away any time soon and that didn't make either one of them happy.
Bella and Edward decided they would leave the day after graduation and spend three days on the island. Alice and Rosalie would be there tomorrow after taking an extra day to clean up the apartment. They were still job hunting and working temporary jobs until something better came along. Bella had managed to get a full time position at the university bookstore and would start as soon as they got back. It wasn't her dream job, but she'd already decided to stick with it until the Olympics, since it would give her some flexibility with taking time off. Unless Riley had something to say about it, but that hadn't been a problem since Rosalie worked her magic with the manager. Now he just scowled at her.
Edward got up and took Bella's hand. "We're gonna go for a walk on the beach. We'll be back in time for dinner at the pub, OK?"
"Perfect" said Jasper. "Do you want me to take Aro back to the house?"
Aro answered that question by taking off down the beach. Edward just shook his head. "No, we'll catch him." He caught the leash that Jasper tossed him. "See you in a bit."
Within a few minutes, they caught up with the naughty puppy when he stopped to check out a bag of potato chips someone left sticking out of a picnic basket. Edward quickly clipped the leash onto Aro's collar and they started off on their walk. Aro looked mournfully at the bag of chips he left behind.
"I just love it here" said Bella. "More than any other place on earth. There's just something so peaceful here, especially in the morning. Can we do morning beach walks every day we're here?"
Edward raised their joined hands and kissed her wrist. "Whatever you want, Bella. I'm just glad to have a couple of days to relax."
She smirked. "I won't tell Coach you said that."
"Trust me, he'll know if I goof off too much." Edward grinned. "I'll get my workouts done, but we will definitely make time just for us."
Bella couldn't help but notice the changes in Edward now that he was training seriously. She thought he had an amazing body before, but his muscle definition was just better and better all the time. She for one was not complaining about his training if that was the outcome.
"I'm so glad you came to my graduation" said Bella. "Admit it, you were worried about meeting my dad."
"No I wasn't. He's great. No problem." There was no way Edward was going to admit just how nervous he really was. Charlie Swan scared him. Edward wouldn't forget the way the man glared at him when they were first introduced. They got to spend some time together before graduation, and had dinner after the ceremony. By the end of dinner, he felt as though he'd made some progress with the Chief.
Bella snickered. "Yeah, okay. Being a potential Olympian, that definitely got you some points. But I think Dad likes you, he just wants you to sweat a little."
"I'm glad I got to meet him. I mean, if you're coming with me to nationals, I want him to feel good about that."
Bella's eyes went wide. They hadn't talked about it yet. "Really? You want me at nationals?" Bella kept her voice calm, but inside she was squealing like a fan girl, which, she guessed, was exactly what she was. "I don't want to be in the way. Or distract you or anything."
Edward already knew he wanted – no, he needed to have her there. He'd missed her at the last completion and while he would never use her as an excuse for his performance, he was definitely distracted. "It's just the opposite. Not having you there distracts me, because I want you with me. You give me focus, Bella. I just don't think we should be apart." He grinned. "Not if you want me to win."
"Oh, you'll win, mister." Bella wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled against his chest.
Edward leaned down and planted a sweet kiss on her lips before tucking her head under his chin. "I've already won, Bella. Everything else is just icing on the cake." With that, Aro ran in a circle trying to catch a sea gull and wrapped their legs together with the leash. Edward untangled them before they could end up in the sand again and they made their way back up to Jasper's.
By the next night, Alice and Rosalie had arrived on the island and the whole group was headed to the Jasper's Pub for the evening. When they walked into the bar, Emmett nearly dropped the four margaritas he was balancing. He recovered, though not gracefully, and set the drinks down at a table of cute 20-somethings.
"That's it, ladies, it's bar service only for the rest of the evening because my gorgeous girl is here and I'm not leaving her side."
Rosalie walked over, put her hands on her hips and glared at one of the girls whose hand was just a little too close to Emmett's behind. "That ass is spoken for, sweetheart." She picked up one of the margaritas, drained it, and kissed Emmett full on the lips. "Sorry, girls. He'll bring you another drink. But that's all he's gonna bring you."
Emmett just stared. "You're so hot when you're possessive."
Jasper shook his head. He turned to Edward. "Do you see what my life is like? Can you believe this? And when she's not here he's just as bad, missing her."
"Don't you miss me?" Alice pouted.
Jasper wrapped her in his arms and lifted her off the ground. "More than I could say, sugar. More than I could say." He plopped her in a chair at the table closest to the bar. "Edward, you ready?"
"Yup, let's get this over with. I promised you one set, then I plan to sit down at that table and drink with my girl for the rest of the night." Edward stepped up to the little platform and picked up his guitar.
Bella, Alice and Jasper sat at the table and clapped as loud as anyone, especially when Edward's last Beach Boys song had the whole place singing along. Rosalie pointed from her seat at the bar to the girl who she'd kept away from Emmett. Apparently two margaritas were enough to make the girl think she should get a little closer to the stage and the cute singer. Rosalie pointed a finger at her. "You! Sit." The girl weaved a little but immediately sat back in her chair. Bella blew Rose a kiss.
Once Edward was finished, he joined them at the table. They ate hushpuppies and barbecue and shrimp until none of them could move. By that time it was close enough to closing time that Rose and Emmett could join them.
"So what's up next, Eddie?" Emmett grinned, knowing that his friend hated the nickname. "You gonna be able to make it back down here for any of the summer?"
Edward shook his head. "Nope, this is it. I'll be in Chicago, except for competitions, until Nationals in December."
"No breaks at all?" Emmett gaped at him.
"Not this year" Edward answered. "Now next year, you might not be able to get rid of me."
"You're always welcome, you know that" said Jasper. "As are you, Miss Bella."
"Next year we should all spend the summer here" shouted Alice.
"Next year we might all have real jobs" said Bella. "Jobs with only two weeks vacation, not the whole summer."
"However it works out, let's promise each other that we'll spend as much time as we can together next summer." Rosalie toasted everyone with her drink, something with a blue stripe running through it.
"And we might have something really big to celebrate by then" said Jasper.
Edward smiled at the group. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Bella squeezed his hand. She knew he was still smarting over that last race, and wished she could do something to make him feel better about it. She snuggled into his side and raised her glass. "To next summer" she said, and they all chimed in.
"To next summer!"
LaB
In the blink of an eye, the mini-vacation was over, and Edward was back in Chicago. He put on his skates and pulled a headband over his ears to keep out the chill of the ice and the voice of his training partner. He checked his phone one more time to see if there was a message from Bella. He'd flown with her to New Jersey from Savannah before hopping a flight to Chicago. That gave them at least a little more time together. No message yet this morning but he knew she was starting work today. He typed out a quick "good luck" message then spent a few minutes looking at her picture.
"Nice picture" said James, snatching the phone out of his hand. "I could get used to seeing that on a daily basis."
"Give it back, James." Edward was determined not to provoke a fight, but he wasn't going to put up with any bullying either.
James skated a few strides then tossed the phone. "Catch!"
The phone hit the ice before Edward could get it. Fortunately, the screen was still in one piece when he picked it up. He tucked it into his backpack.
"Good thing you need your feet to skate, not your hands" said James. Clearly he was trying to start something. Edward skated past him and set a carefully measured pace as he moved around the track. Finally Coach called both skaters over to him.
"So here's the story. Only three long-track skaters will make the American team in your distances. Let's talk about the competition."
"We know which one of us needs to worry about the competition, and it isn't me" James sneered. "You're gonna have to step up your game, Cullen."
Coach shut him down. "Nothing I saw out of you was that impressive, Tracker. Maybe you both need to think about this Jacob Black kid. And the guy who took fourth, Ben Cheney." Coach pointed at James. "It's all about training and timing from this point on." Both skaters listened intently as Coach went over his plan for the next month. "Once we get past the next competition in Minnesota, we'll make any adjustments needed. Until then, I'm counting on you to push each other. Either one of you have a problem with that?"
"No, Coach" they answered in unison.
Edward still didn't like the idea of working with James, but Coach was right. If they were going to prove they were the two best skaters in the country, then they were each other's best motivation right now. He sighed, tucked away thoughts of Bella for the next few hours, and got to work.