A/N: All recognizable characters belong to their respective owners. I own nothing except this beat-up laptop. And maybe an appreciation of southern boys.

This is a WitFit writing exercise and any chapters will likely be un-beta'd. Hopefully any remaining errors won't be too distracting.

A/N: THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, for all your lovely and kind reviews. I'm honored. 3

WitFit Prompt: Licorice

Plot Generator – Idea Completion: Living it up.

I'm layin' on my stomach, floatin' on a raft. I drag my fingers through the sun-warmed river. We're all down here together again, with one lousy exception: there's no Bella today.

I puff out a bored, frustrated breath and tug my ball cap down lower to further shade my eyes from the blazin' sun. All I wanna do is mope.

My girl had to go to a baby shower or some shit in Charlotte with her mom today, and not havin' her here with me makes me jealous as all get-out. We should be out here, spendin' every moment we can, livin' it up. I mean, it's already mid-July and we're just a few short weeks away from goin' back to school in August.

It's seriously gonna suck.

I shift on the raft and sigh again, feelin' like the sky is pressin' down on me every time I think about the end of summer.

A few drops of water splash my back as someone enters the river behind me. I'm too lazy to turn and see who it is.

Honestly, if it's not Red, I don't really give a hoot.

But then a head plastered with wet, blond hair pops up from beneath the water's surface right in front of me. I squint as I watch Rosie smile and wipe water out of her eyes.

"Hey, Ed."

"Heya, Rosie," I mumble, givin' her a flat smile.

She smiles back and lifts her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. "How are things?"

"Good, good."

"Then why are you out here, bein' a pouty-pants?"

I narrow my eyes at her, but I can't help but feel my lips tug upward in a half-grin. "I'm not a pouty-pants."

Rosie rolls her eyes at me. "Eddie. C'mon. You're the king of the pouty-pants."

"Whatever," I toss back at her, lettin' a chuckle slip as I do.

"So… it seems like things are pretty good with you and Bella, huh?"

I stiffen immediately, rememberin' the last time Rosie and Allie decided to talk to me about Bella. I have zero desire for a repeat of that conversation.

My facial expression must give my concerns away, 'cause Rosie's quick to steer my mind away from wherever it was goin'. "No, nothin' like that, Eddie," she clarifies, shakin' her head. "In fact, I wanted to tell you that I was really glad that whatever Al and I heard about Bella doesn't seem to be… accurate."

I can see the sincerity in her eyes, hear it in the tone of her voice. I know she and Allie hadn't meant to upset me. "Thanks," I say. "I know y'all were just lookin' out for me."

Rosie nods, but I can tell there's more she wants to say.

"Um, so, I hope you don't mind me askin', but I would feel like a pretty shitty pseudo-sister for ignorin' the obvious here…" I furrow my brows at her, wonderin' what she's gettin' at. She clears her throat and then spits it out. "I'm pretty sure you and Bella are sleepin' together. Am I right?"

I feel heat creep up my neck to my cheeks. There's no point in denyin' it, because Rosie's known me for way too many years to hide what my blush means. It gives me away every damn time.

Fuck, yes, we're sleepin' together!

Well, that's what I wanna say. I wanna shout it from the mountaintops. But… I'm a southern gentleman, and I ain't gonna kiss and tell.

Instead, I give her a tight nod. "Um, yeah, we're pretty serious."

The emotions I get when I see Rosie's soft smile surprise me. I can tell she's truly happy for me – for us – and her sisterly care touches me.

"I'm really happy for you," Rosie says. It's the first moment I've gotten to acknowledge my shift into the world of non-virgins, and knowin' she – and anyone else – knows it's because of Bella makes me swell with pride. "Bella's been good for you."

"Yeah," I nod, unable to control the grin takin' over my face. "She is."

• C •

It's after nine and it's finally startin' to get dark outside. The long days of summer begin to drag, and by this time in mid-July, I'm already kinda longin' for a break in the weather and the crisp air of autumn.

Tonight, though, I shove that thought away, bury it beneath a million books, papers and anythin' else I can stack over it, 'cause autumn means Bella leavin'.

And I am far from okay with that.

I'll gladly melt beneath this fierce summer heat if it means one more day with that girl.

I'm freshly clean from my shower, just loungin' on my bed, starin' up at my ceiling as I chew on ropes of red licorice. I'm antsy after goin' without seein' Bella all day, and I only got one text from her earlier in the afternoon. The constant gnawin' on the sugary candy gives me somethin' to do… an outlet for me nervous energy.

My phone vibrates where it rests on the quilt beside me, startlin' me. I glance down and immediately see a picture of a smilin' Bella with the name "Red" in bold white letters across the top of the screen.

"Hey!" I answer, breathless with just the anticipation of hearin' my girl's voice.

"Well, hey yourself, Mr. Masen," she drawls. I can hear the smile in her voice and it makes me smile, too.

"Where are ya, babe?"

"Outside."

I bolt towards my bedroom window. "What?"

She laughs. "Can you sneak me in or what?"

"Meet me at the back door," I announce, scramblin' toward my bedroom door.

I forget to hang up the phone, and I'm still cradlin' it against my ear when I pull open the door to the back porch and find Bella standin' there, grinnin' at me.

"Get your ass in here," I growl, reaching for her hip and guidin' her into the house. I smack her lips with mine, not givin' a shit about anyone seein' us.

"Ed—" she starts, but I cut off her words with a slip of my tongue. I'm an impatient bastard and I could care less. I missed her. She responds with the same urgency and I feel her just… melt against me.

"Hey," I breathe, pullin' away.

"Hey."

I look down at her, and finally notice what she's wearin' – a pretty yellow sundress that looks fuckin' amazin' against her tanned skin. Her dark eyes are lined with even darker makeup, and it gives her a sexy, exotic, mature look I'm not accustomed to seein'.

"You look really nice," I say, wavin' my hand up and down in front of her torso.

She shrugs, still smilin'. "Thanks. Um, where is everybody?"

"Oh, well, Em and Rosie are doin' somethin' or other to his truck," I explain, motioning toward the door that leads to the garage. My parents were at a work dinner for my dad, so, I guess I'll just have to sneak you out, not in," I announce with a grin.

Red cocks an eyebrow at me. "Can you handle that, Boy Scout?" she teases, smirkin' at me from beneath those full, dark eyelashes of hers.

"Damn straight."

I grab her waist and toss her up and over my shoulder, turnin' to run up the stairs. I wrap my forearm around the back of her thighs as she squeals with laughter.

I'm damn glad Emmett made me train with him this summer, because Bella's a strong, muscled girl, and there ain't no way I'd've been able to carry her and run up the stairs before.

Emmett, you rock, bro.

We get to my room and I toss her down on top of the bed before turnin' back to shut and lock my door. In about two-point-five seconds flat, I'm divin' on top of Red, buryin' my hands in her hair and my face in her neck. I breathe in her scent, sweet and flowery with her dress-up perfume, and feel myself get hard.

"Ugh," I groan, runnin' the tip of my nose along the column of her neck, "I missed you today."

"Mmm, me too."

"Where's your truck?" I ask, already wonderin' how long I get to have her to myself.

"A few houses down, on the other side of the road."

I move lower, nuzzlin' along her neck to her shoulder, peekin' my tongue out as I kiss her skin with my open mouth. "When you gotta be home?"

I feel her cheek lift as she smiles. "Why? Somethin' you wanna do?" she teases.

"I can think of a couple things," I reply between kisses.

"Oh, really? Just a couple?"

I lift my head and meet her smilin' eyes, raisin' a brow at her. "Lots. A fuckin' metric ton of things." I groan, my voice filled with desire.

Her lips quirk, and I can tell by the way her eyes shine and her sudden, tiny intake of breath that I had my desired effect.

"Well, alrighty then," she rasps.

After that, there ain't a lot of words between us. We're on borrowed time tonight, so we let our bodies do the talkin'.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading.