Bella woke up with the sunrise. She didn't remember falling asleep, but she found herself laying beside Rosalie, her head resting on her girlfriend's torso.

"'Morning, sleepy."

"When did I…? How long…?" Bella mumbled, smacking her lips together. Her mouth was dry, and the room smelled strongly of alcohol.

"Not very long. Maybe two hours." Rosalie stroked her hair. "You had a lot to drink. We all did."

Bella pushed herself up to stretch out her back. She and Rosalie were splayed across the loveseat. Jasper was sitting sideways in one of the recliners, reading a book. Alice was outside on the porch, watching the sunrise. Edward was "passed out" on the floor, still as a corpse, and Emmett was nowhere to be found. The coffee table was covered in empty cups, bottles, and cans, but the Monopoly game had been neatly packed away in its box and set to the side.

"Hungry?" Rosalie asked. "I can cook you something."

"No, no. I don't think I could stomach too much right now. Cereal sounds perfect."

Bella rolled over Rosalie and almost fell into the floor, but she caught herself on the coffee table and stood up. Edward started to stir as she did this, turning over from one side to the other. His eyes opened slightly and were hit with the light of the morning, and he groaned.

"I almost felt like I was asleep," he grumbled, sitting up and wiping his eyes.

"Does that really work? Getting super drunk and just... closing your eyes?" Rosalie asked, genuinely curious.

"I mean, not really? It certainly brings some kind of peace. For me, it's really all about drowning out the noise." He tapped his temple. "I'm sure you could just like, take up meditating or something."

After Bella poured her bowl of cereal, she stepped outside to join Alice. In the wee hours of the morning, the sky was clear and the sun was allowed to shine, but this wouldn't last long. In an hour or so, clouds would encroach on the daylight, covering up the world and giving the Cullens a safety blanket.

For now, though, the sunlight cast its beams across the ocean, turning the dark water into a field of shimmering light. The dim morning light did the same to Alice, light dancing across her face like sparkling freckles. As Bella raised her spoon to her mouth, she noticed that the scar on her right wrist caught the sunlight as well, creating a faint glimmering crescent on her skin.

"What's the plan for today?" Bella asked as she chewed.

"Well, Jared working here throws my visions off a bit, but it looks like the humans are planning on going surfing," said Alice, adjusting her sunglasses. "If I'm being honest, I think I'm starting to see them a little bit. It's almost like… training a muscle. Gives me a major headache, though."

"Hey, if it's working," said Bella, shrugging.

Alice nodded. "I'll keep at it. It'd be useful to have a clear path laid out for me again."

"Do you—sorry if this is too personal—do you rely on your future vision a lot?" Bella asked.

"I wouldn't say that I rely on it. At least, not directly. It definitely gives me a lot of guidance. It led me to Jasper, and it led us to Carlisle. Those were two of the most important things I've ever done, and I pursued them because of my gift."

"Must be nice, to see your whole life laid out before you." Bella leaned over the railing.

"It can be. It's stressful sometimes, too. The future is a fickle beast. But when you have no past to look back to, you can really only go forward."

Alice's usual bright and chipper demeanor had dimmed a bit. Bella couldn't see her eyes behind the huge, designer sunglasses, but she could see how the curve of her lips had fallen into a neutral position.

"Sorry if I got too deep. It's pretty early in the morning."

"No, you're fine. You asked a question, I answered." Alice suddenly leapt up from her seat and clapped her hands together, her energy returning to her. "Alright, time to get a head start on the day! You don't surf, do you?"

"Absolutely not, and I'm not about to learn. At least, not today."

"Fair. I'd suggest you take a hike, then. It'll be good weather for it."

"Yeah, y'know, Second Beach has some nice trails I haven't been on in a long time." Bella sat her bowl down and raised her arms high above her head, stretching out her back once more. "I'll see who I can conscript into going with me."

She took her empty bowl back inside and sat it in the sink to wash later. Before she could even say anything, Rosalie raised her hand and said, "I'll go hiking."

"Of course you heard me."

"Me too!" said Edward, throwing his hand in the air.

"Third-wheeling as always," said Rose, side-eying him.

"Surfing isn't exactly my scene."

"It's mine!" shouted Emmett, appearing in the doorway of his bedroom. He was wearing a sleeveless wetsuit and flexing his huge arms. "Jazz, you're gonna come with me too, right?"

Jasper closed his book. "Yeah, why not? It's been a while since I caught any waves."

"You guys have been surfing before?" Bella asked.

"We don't make it to too many beaches, but we've done just about everything over the years. Plus, we do have access to a pretty snazzy private beach," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Private beach?"

"You'll see it eventually," said Rosalie, waving away the topic. "Hiking. We're going hiking. What time?"

"Well, it's currently… just a bit after eight. Maybe around ten? I kinda wanna lay down in a real bed for a bit."

"Sounds good," said Edward, giving her a thumbs up.

Bella went into her room and closed the door behind her. She laid down on top of the covers and closed her eyes, not particularly caring if she fell asleep or not.

-X-

When Alice, Emmett, and Jasper headed down to the beach to join the humans in their wave-catching endeavors, Bella, Edward, and Rosalie went for a walk. There was a roadside trail that they could follow all the way down to the start of the Second Beach Trail. Even though it wouldn't have bothered them anyways, the weather was nice and warm. They talked as they went, talking about whatever came to mind, from school assignments to unique bumper stickers they spotted on passing cars.

It took them around 20 minutes to reach the trailhead proper. The last time Bella had made the hike to Second Beach would have been when she was no more than nine or ten years old. She remembered going on a one-night camping trip with Charlie, Billy and Jacob, and Harry and Leah (Seth was too young to spend a whole night so far away from home). Back then, hiking the trail felt like a massive endeavor; if her memory could be trusted, it took them at least an hour. Now, looking at the trail map, they would probably hit the beach in under 30 minutes.

This was a path well-traveled and maintained—a far cry from the hikes Bella often took with Rosalie, which tended to go places she almost couldn't follow without help. Rose had shown her treetops and sprawling valleys, mountain peaks and secluded groves where no man had ever set foot. To walk this marked trail with her and Edward felt comically mundane and brought a smile to her face.

It also reminded her of Jacob, and turned to her side as she continued walking (a risky move) to look at Edward, who was lagging a bit behind.

"You and Jacob seem to be getting along well since his birthday. You really laid on the charm with that song."

Edward smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, it was nothing, really."

"No, it was definitely something," said Rosalie, surprising the both of them. "It was very brave of you."

"Ah, really, guys…" Edward shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away, but his crooked grin told them all they needed to know.

"You two got off to a really rough start, but things seem to have evened out. Honestly, you guys are almost getting off better than Rose and I. At least, way faster," said Bella.

She stumbled over a loose rock and returned to facing forward, but kept glancing over her shoulder to read Edward's expression.

"I mean, it helps that we both almost immediately knew what was going on. You had no idea—" Rosalie shot him a cold glare, and he started speaking slower, choosing his words carefully. "—and so you didn't really know how to process those feelings for a while. Jake and I know what's up, and I think we've decided to just take things easy. If I'm being honest, things have moved much faster than I thought, but that's just… how we feel." He put a hand to his chest, grabbing the cloth of his shirt. "We—well, I—made a couple of mistakes early on, but we've got a rhythm going, and I think we're both following along pretty well. I try not to think too much about it."

"That's unusual for you," said Rosalie, smirking.

He laughed. "I know. Insane that I can say that, but that's, uh…" He started to get embarrassed again. "That's just how he makes me feel."

Bella wished she could say the same. Sure, she was comfortable around Rosalie, but she still found herself overthinking every aspect of their relationship no matter how hard she tried to make herself stop. Maybe someday she would find the bliss that Edward was describing, but she was sure it wouldn't be anytime soon.

Despite that, things had been better for her and Rosalie since New Years. She stepped closer to Rose and slipped her hand in hers, swinging their arms as they walked along.

"Things are getting… better. For us. Slowly but surely. But I have to admit that things are almost going too well, and that definitely makes me afraid."

"What, you think I'm going to up and leave you?" Rosalie chuckled. "I'm not going anywhere, baby. Everything's fine."

She leaned down and gave Bella a quick kiss on the cheek. Hearing her say that definitely calmed Bella's raging nerves, but not completely. Never completely.

The three of them grew silent for a moment, taking some time to absorb the beauty of the nature around them. Bella could smell the salty sea air wafting up from the coast, and she picked up her pace, pulling Rosalie along.

The skin to skin contact reminded her of the issue that was plaguing her more and more these days: the progression of their relationship. While Edward and Jacob were in their early, easy days, Bella and Rosalie had been together for almost seven months.

When they were on the beach the night before, Bella had overheard Jessica complaining about how Mike was in bed to some of the other girls. She sat in on the conversation for a while, listening to Jessica drone on about her unsatisfying sex life. Jessica had been bitching about Mike for months, and, frankly, Bella was surprised they were still together.

But it wasn't Mike and Jessica's impending breakup that concerned her. It was sex.

Were she and Rosalie supposed to be having sex? This was not a question she had any kind of answer to, and not one that she was willing to ask anyone else. It wasn't that she was wanting to have sex (not that she was against it either), but more that she was worrying about when they should be having sex.

She had no good blueprint for this kind of thing. Her previous relationship had been all over the place; she and Chase had never really fucked, per se, but they had done "things" that she didn't really like to reflect on. Bella had definitely made out with other girls at parties and taken things pretty far, but that was just drunk "fun".

On top of that, Rosalie's history was fresh in her mind after the previous night's "ghost story". Was sex even something that she wanted? Perhaps instead of thinking that it had been too long, Bella should be thinking about it being too soon.

Holding Rosalie's hand started to become too much skin contact for Bella, so she pretended to stumble over a log in order to let go. Rosalie touched her shoulder to make sure that she was okay, and Bella was about to combust. Thankfully, Edward started talking about some new album he had listened to recently and blew all the confusing and heated thoughts out of Bella's mind.

That conversation took them the rest of the way to Second Beach. The trees opened before them, framing a gorgeous seascape filled with driftwood and distant, towering islands. The three of them stood at the end of the trail for a moment before walking down to the water's edge. It was low tide, exposing several large rocks embedded in the wet sand dotting the coast.

"We went camping here when I was little," Bella said. "I don't remember too much. Jake, Leah, and I tried to get in the water, but it was super cold, even for summer. We went around collecting driftwood and pretending to be wizards or something like that. We woke up with the sun. I think Harry had this portable griddle, and he made us pancakes in the morning."

Bella thought about Harry, and she wondered what he would think of her now, of what had become of her. Out of the three fathers, Harry was the true "fun" dad. Where Charlie and Billy would reprimand them, Harry would encourage their silly schemes. He'd tell them all manner of stories; of the ones Bella could remember, they echoed some of the things she'd seen in the past few months. Pale monsters crawling on the forest floor, giant wolf warriors fighting against them. A magic forest full of endless possibilities.

Billy judged her for the company she kept and pitied her for the choice she'd made. She knew that. She had no idea what Charlie would think if he knew the truth—when he knew the truth. If she had to guess, he would be afraid. But Harry?

Bella would never be able to say for sure, but she had a feeling that if he were here right now, he would simply give her a hug.

-X-

Jacob and Leah returned to the resort that evening to hang out, bringing with them gifts of even more beer.

"Where did you underage kids get this from?" Edward asked, taking one of the cases of PBR from Jacob.

"Joy likes me," Jake said, puffing out his chest.

"And she doesn't like me?"

"I think the jury's still out on that one, bud," said Leah, pushing between the two of them to take the other case to the humans sitting by the fire.

Edward dumped the case he was carrying into the cooler full of ice sitting behind their circle. He took a can for himself before sitting down in the circle around the flames.

"It's Saturday night, my friends, and you know what that means," said Mike, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Time to get fucked up?" asked Eric.

"Time to get fucked up!"

"Don't get too rowdy," said Jessica, elbowing her boyfriend. "We don't want to get kicked out."

"Right, right. I'm sure you'll still be saying that an hour from now when you're face down in the sand," Ben sneered.

Jessica tensed up, flustered, and pointed at Edward. "Toss me a beer!"

Startled, he reached back and plucked a can from the cooler before lobbing it over the fire. She caught it expertly and cracked the tab, immediately taking a big gulp.

Edward pulled out another can and handed it to Bella. He turned to Rosalie.

"Beer?"

She raised the insulated cup she was drinking from. "I'm having a very large glass of wine, and that's it for me."

"To each their own," he said, shrugging and smiling.

True to what Mike had said, it was Saturday night, and it was time to get fucked up. Someone busted out a bluetooth speaker and started playing tunes. Jessica practically forced some of the girls to get up and dance with her while Emmett took a group back to their cabin to play beer pong on the porch. Bella was content to remain comfortably positioned in her beach chair until Edward convinced her and Jasper that it was a good idea to shotgun beers, and that they should teach Jacob how to do it as well. To everyone's surprise, Bella finished hers first. To no one's surprise, Jacob was unable to complete the task at hand and had to hand his half-finished can to Edward.

It was a night of endless drinking the likes of which Bella hadn't experienced in quite some time. By 10PM, she could barely walk straight. She had made up her mind that she was going for a swim, and it took both Jacob and Edward to drunkenly stop her. They scooped her up by her armpits and, as they were trying to pull her backwards, away from the water, all three of them fell to the ground laughing like idiots.

"I think this is the drunkest I've ever been," said Jacob, almost amazed with himself.

"You better drink some water before you fall asleep, bud," said Bella, jabbing her index finger into his bare chest.

"Right, right."

They all took a deep breath and sighed. Overhead, the stars were shining bright. Bella couldn't tell if the starlight was illuminating the landscape, or if her eyes were slowly adjusting to seeing in the dark. A half moon shone down amongst the stars, and Bella reached into her shirt and rubbed the moon pendant that Rosalie had given her so many months ago.

"You guys think that Rose and I should get married?"

They were quiet for a moment, and then Edward burst into laughter. Bella glared at him; she was being serious. Of course, he was drunk, so he didn't mean anything by it, but it wasn't the response she was looking for.

"Oh. Oh, you're like, serious? Well, I mean, it's inevitable, right?" he said.

Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

He reached skyward, extending two fingers in a peace sign-like gesture, then crossed them. "You two are meant to be together. You know that. Eventually, you'll probably get married. Unless, of course, you don't want to. That's fine too."

Bella stared at his intertwined fingers until he let his arm fall again.

"I guess… you're right. I've just been thinking about it a lot."

"Bella, Bella, always worrying," said Jacob.

"Are you making fun of my anxiety?" she said, sitting up so that she could look down at him. She tried to be serious, but her expression broke into a grin and she started laughing. He laughed because she was laughing, and so did Edward.

"Really, Bella, it's not something to get worked up over. There's, like, so much other shit going on. But, honestly, if you proposed like, right now, I'm 100% sure she would say yes," said Edward.

"Are you just saying that because you can read her mind?"

"No, I just know that she loves you."

Something about hearing that affirmation from another person really hit her differently, and she laid back down, staring up at the moon and stars and thinking about Rosalie.

"Does that mean we should get married?" asked Jacob, breaking her tranquil silence.

Edward burst out laughing yet again. "Yeah, sure! Right now. Let's elope. Fuck yeah!"

Bella sat up and attempted to put on a proper air.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…"

"Who's getting married?"

Bella turned around to see Rosalie approaching them. She got flustered for a second, considering the prior topic of conversation, but her drunk ass quickly saved herself.

"Jacob and Edward," she said, pointing down at the two of them.

"Oh, moving mighty fast aren't we?"

"Like grease lightning," mumbled Edward.

"Emmett sent me to collect you three for beer pong purposes. Or slap cup, or stack cup. He's open to anything."

At the mention of slap cup, Bella tried to leap to her feet, but almost fell backwards again. Edward and Jacob caught her hands and pulled her forward, sending her stumbling into Rosalie's arms and giggling.

"I'll play slap cup," she said into Rosalie's neck.

Rosalie pushed her back and held her by the shoulders. "Not so sure you should, but I won't stop you. It is spring break, after all."

Bella whooped and hollered and urged the other two to get on their feet to go play. Once Edward was up, he started to pull her back towards the water, and the two of them began to lightly play fight, kicking sand at each other and threatening to push each other into the surf. Edward tried to charge at Bella, and she swiftly moved out of the way, grabbed him by the arm, and flipped him over. He landed in the sand on his back, shocked that she was able to flip him so easily.

Bella stopped and looked down at her hands. Another surge of impossible strength. Another sign that she was changing in ways beyond her comprehension. The others noticed the shift in her mood, and Jacob stepped forward, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, let's go play, okay? You gotta teach me the rules, 'cause I don't know what the fuck's going on. Okay?"

She looked up at him and smiled, but only just so. "Yeah, okay."

Rosalie helped Edward get back on his feet, and he dusted off the sand as they walked back to the cabin.

People were spilling off the small porch attached to the Cullens' cabin. Jessica and a couple other people were sitting on the porch of theirs, watching from afar, but most everyone was crowded on the other one around a single, folding card table overflowing with red solo cups.

"I am amazed no one has filed a noise complaint yet," said Rosalie, looking around the resort.

"We may have an ally working the night shift," said Jacob, winking. When no one immediately understood what he said, he continued. "Jared. Jared's working tonight."

"I wouldn't exactly call him our 'ally'," said Edward.

"Yeah, but the resort staff are way more fond of locals than the crunchy yuppies who come out here all the time, even if those locals are from off-rez. We'd rather deal with the Forksian crowd than some of the out-of-towners who roll through here." He paused. "Maybe I also gave Jared a couple beers. Who knows?"

"I thought that case felt kinda light," said Edward.

"Bella!" Emmett cried out as they approached. Everyone echoed him, and Bella was welcomed onto the deck with a multitude of high fives, as if she was a star quarterback at the Super Bowl. "What game dost thou desire, milady?"

"Slap cup!" she said, throwing her fist in the air so hard that it knocked her off balance.

"Slap cup!" the crowd echoed.

And they played slap cup, and it was a vicious game. Rosalie couldn't stand the energy, so she walked over to the other cabin, where Jessica was sitting with Angela, Leah, and Alice, having a deep and serious conversation about her relationship troubles.

"I don't know, I mean, I feel like it's just… We're hanging onto some performative high school bullshit at this point, y'know? Prom Kings and Queens don't stay together. We're only still together because we decided to save money and go to PC, but I wanna go to U-Dub and he…" She waved her hand in the air in a vague gesture. "He wants to do something, I guess? He never talks about his future plans, and it drives me insane! I've tried to bring it up over and over but he just doesn't care!"

"The future is important," Alice said, nodding sagely.

Rosalie had to stifle a laugh.

"I know how you are about planning, Jess, and if he's not going to plan with you, then you should just start planning without him," Angela said boldly, taking a sip from a cup that smelled strongly of tequila and little else.

"God, Ang, you're so right," said Jessica, leaning a little too far back in her chair.

Leah was fairly quiet. Rosalie could tell that she wasn't one for "girl talk", and she was sure that all the talk of future plans had her worrying about her future with Angela as well. Secrets were still secrets between them, and Leah was having trouble finding the right time to reveal everything to her imprint. Rosalie was a bit thankful that Edward had done all that work for her with Bella.

Bella, who was apparently "winning" hard at slap cup as Rosalie judged by the way they were all cheering her name. If this had happened a few months earlier, Rosalie would've been concerned about her, worried about her getting too drunk, about Edward getting her to do something stupid. But Rosalie was content. She had been through a lot of conversations with Bella about her drinking habits, and they had made a lot of promises and compromises. There was nothing wrong or unhealthy about what was happening tonight; it was a college spring break. People were partying. Bella deserved the stress relief.

The festivities went on into the early morning. It was at least 2AM before Rosalie and Alice wandered back over to their cabin as Jasper was shooing away all the humans. She had sat through a few hours of drunkenly talking in circles with an exasperated Jessica and had determined that she and Mike should break up, effective immediately, but that wasn't going to happen while they were all on this retreat. Maybe after finals. Rosalie found herself a little bit invested in the drama of it all. Perhaps she would keep tabs on things.

Rosalie found Bella slumped in one of the rocking chairs on the porch. Edward was sitting in Jacob's lap on the ground (both of them no doubt resting on beer-soaked wood), and Emmett and Jasper were having a hard time collecting all the solo cups in their inebriated state.

"Have fun?" Rosalie asked.

Bella made a noise that sounded like a "yes". Rosalie chuckled.

"Come on, let's get you in bed."

"No… I wanna stay up… Keep partying…" she said, leaning forward.

"No, it's time for bed."

"But I wanna hang out! I wanna hang out with all my friends," she said. Her eyes got big. "I love you guys so much. You're not my friends, you're my family."

"Babe, you are so drunk," said Rosalie, unable to hold back a smile.

"I know!" Bella put both hands over her eyes before throwing them out in front of her. "I love you!"

"I love you too."

"I love you more!" she said as if it was of the utmost importance that Rosalie understand this. "I love all of you guys so much!"

"I… love you… too…" mumbled Edward.

"I love you too!" cried Bella.

"Okay, you guys are parroting. It's time for bed," said Rosalie, lifting Bella up by her armpits. "God, I feel like I'm putting a toddler to bed."

"I am an adult," Bella said very seriously.

"You are nineteen."

"I'm an adult!"

"You're going to bed."

"I'm going to bed…"

"Yep. Bed." Rosalie laid her down on the bed. "I'm not gonna make you change clothes because I feel like that's a lot for both of us right now."

"You gotta sleep too."

"I can't sleep."

Bella patted the empty side of the bed. "You gotta sleep. It's late."

Rosalie put a hand over her mouth, trying to hold in her laughter.

"You're right. I gotta sleep too. If I go to sleep, will you go to sleep too?"

"Mhmm," said Bella, over-nodding her head.

"Alright. I'll go to sleep."

Rosalie kicked off her shoes and climbed into the bed beside Bella, who immediately snaked her arms around Rose's waist and laid her head on her chest.

"G'night."

"Goodnight, Bella." Rosalie stroked her hair. "My moon."

i hope this means that i'm getting back into a writing rhythm? honestly this is the only thing keeping me going during this quarantine. i want to finish this fic and then start working on the sequel! a lot of other media has recently informed a lot of the themes i want to explore over the course of the greater narrative of addiction (including it's sequel) and i'm excited to get to the meat of that stuff!

ALSO please check out my other fic, Withdrawals! it's a collection of oneshots that take place in the Addiction universe that don't fit into the timeline of the main narrative. i posted one earlier today about charlie, billy, and harry, so check that out!

ALSO ALSO, if you were confused by the "double update", i basically posted the previous chapter, and then i went back and added an interlude BEFORE that chapter. it's about jacob's birthday, so if you haven't read it... read it!

as always, thanks for reading!