Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Stephenie Meyer owns anything and everything relating to Twilight. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended and in order to keep it that way, No reproduction, copying, reposting, downloading, or any kind of redistribution of this story is allowed. This is to cover my arse as much as yours! And finally, the Original characters, plot, names, nicknames, songs, poems—anything I created from my very own brain—are all the property of the author of this fanfic, My-Bella. Unauthorized use of the material is plagiarism so please be kind and don't steal my creations.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
Chapter 11 – Shattered
Thursday, June 5th
"Bella, you need to look," Masen admonished, doing his best to not let his frustration cause him to snap at her. They'd been at this for forty-five minutes and though things had started out well, they'd quickly taken a dive once the sharks had come into view on the video.
"I'm looking. See," she said, pointing between her face and the television screen. "I see the water and the people in it and the thing swimming around you guys."
Her attitude pushed his and this time he couldn't keep from snapping. "No, you're seeing your shark."
He immediately realized his mistake but wasn't sure how to fix it. He bent forward in his chair until his elbows were on his knees and his long fingers were running through his mess of hair. His blue eyes tracked a small dust bunny making its way across the floor; wondering why Emmett hadn't swept this room gave his mind something else to focus on. He needed the mental break—he needed to come up with a new approach before Bella started to think he'd broken his promise to keep her line in mind while they reviewed yesterday's tagging tape.
Masen turned his head enough to see her face; it was one of those moments when her emotions were so visible in her expression that he could clearly read her. She was disappointed, though he wasn't sure if that was just with him or with herself as well. She was also angry and probably more so at the circumstances that had led to her being here, than at him. He remembered being angry like that after Whit was bitten … angry that it had been his closest friend suffering … angry that he'd nearly lost another loved one long before their time should be up.
It wasn't until he'd started to learn about sharks and their behaviors that the anger had started to fade. He could no more be angry with a shark for biting than he could with Lizzie for licking—it was their instinct. And with that thought in mind, he approached Bella again.
Lifting his head and scooting his chair closer to hers, he nudged her elbow with his. "Think you can give me another shot at explaining what I want you to see?"
She shrugged while continuing to toy with the bezel on her watch. It wasn't a "no" but it wasn't far off either.
"Let's start simple. Have you always been afraid of sharks?"
Her head slowly moved from side to side. "Only for about eight years."
He quickly did the math in his head, knowing from her paperwork that she was twenty-two; whatever had happened to her had occurred when she was only fourteen years old.
He chose his next words very carefully. "That's a long time to foster a fear. But you want to overcome it. It's why you chose MMR. You want to get back in the water again."
"I don't know about that last part. I don't know that I'll ever get into deep water again."
"What caused you to be so afraid, Bella?" The question was already out there before he realized he'd spoken aloud and while it wasn't phrased as tactfully as he would have liked, he wasn't going to take it back. He wanted to hear her answer too badly.
Her features hardened and she thrust a finger toward the television. "It's a shark! Maybe you failed to notice the rows and rows of razor sharp teeth they have but I didn't."
He lifted his hands palm out to show he wasn't going to argue. "Again, I get that you have a fear of them. Being involved in an attack, even if it's not you directly and just someone you know, it's scary. It leaves a mark and you don't get a choice about that. What you do get to choose is how you move forward from it. Do you let it make you fear the ocean and keep you out of the water? Or do you learn from it and find a way to share the water?
"Bella, you came here because you want to share the water. You love the ocean as much as we do. I can see it in your face whenever you're on deck watching the marine life swimming past the boat. I want to help you do more than observe from the sidelines. I want to give you the tools you need to get back in the water, to immerse yourself in their habitat."
"What does that have to do with watching the video?" Her snarky tone was purely a defensive thing so he let it slide.
"Before you can ever understand sharks, you have to separate your shark from the rest of the sharks in the ocean. I know that's a tall order but I also know you have the right temperament to be able to pull it off."
"Oh sure. I'll just pluck it out and set it on a shelf and ignore it," she said, gesturing with her hand.
He grabbed her flailing hand and held it tight, sliding his thumb along the soft skin of her palm in hopes of calming her. And if he chose to look deeper, to calm himself as well; it bothered him to see her upset this way. "No, not ignore it. Just understand that it isn't every other shark out there."
She was silent for a long time before quietly asking, "Even if I could do that, what do you think I'm gonna see?" Less snark and more interest—he was getting through to her.
"You would see how cautious this tiger is being. She's not charging right up to us. She's taking her time and slowly moving in closer to check us out."
"How do you know she's not just being lazy?"
Masen laughed more at Bella's stubbornness than her words—she was not going to make any of this easy for him. "Bella, think about when you met Lizzie. Think of how she just ran up to you and started licking your hand. She wasn't being cautious, only curious. Sharks are both and nearly all let their caution overrule their curiosity."
"They're predators, not puppies," she argued, challenging him with her eyes to refute that statement.
"They both act on instinct," he pointed out. Now it was his turn to wait to be challenged.
To her credit, she actually considered his words for a couple minutes before responding. "A dog doesn't remove body parts if it decides it likes you. Or doesn't like you. Or whatever reason sharks have for biting people."
"Dogs bite, Bella, and some are big enough and mean enough to bite off fingers and faces. But not all dogs bite. Just like not all sharks attack. The only difference between a dog and a shark is that a dog can figure out what you are with his paws, nose, and a tongue that extends—he doesn't need to bite unless he wants to hurt you. A shark only has its teeth until it can pull the object into its mouth and taste it on its tongue."
She shuddered at his words and jerked her hand away, wrapping it around the too-large watch adorning her wrist. "A design flaw? You're saying to forgive the damage sharks cause because they weren't given paws and a nose?" Her cheeks were flushed a deep red and the rapid rise and fall of her chest was visible, signs that her anxiety level had been reached and surpassed. He wasn't disheartened by it all—he expected it. Just as he expected it to lessen in time.
"I'm saying don't blame multiple species for the actions of a few. That would be like condemning entire countries for the evils caused by a few living within their borders."
"It's not! It's not the same!" she argued.
He planned to explain that to her and to also remind her that the marine animals she loved could also be dangerous, pointing out accidents with orcas at Sea World locations. But the tears pooling in her eyes kept him from saying those things. She was too far into her head, into the past that haunted her, drove her fear of sharks, and kept her lights on at night.
"Let's break for now," he told her. "We'll pick up after lunch. There's not much more to the video and then you can tell me what you learned about skipjacks."
A jerky nod met his words, her eyes remaining on the fingers turning the bezel of her watch. Masen wanted to say something comforting to her but the best he could do was to lay a hand on her shoulder and give it a small squeeze before leaving her alone to get control of her emotions.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
Once Edward had left the room, Bella put her hand on the shoulder he had squeezed. It didn't make sense for something so small to make her feel better, especially coming from the person who had upset her.
That wasn't really fair, though. It wasn't his fault that she was terrified of sharks. He wasn't there that day; he didn't send that monster barreling into her life.
"But he thinks they're great," she whispered, once again twisting the bezel of her watch. The feel of the metal under her fingers helped to center her and get her mind off of the things she feared. She closed her eyes and smiled as she remembered a long ago Christmas morning and the pleased smile on her father's face as he lifted the watch from its packaging. He'd put it on right away and it had been the only one he'd worn from then on.
Like all memories of her father, this one was bittersweet and caused her heart to ache in a place that would probably never be soothed. The oddest thing to her was that it also gave her strength, reminding her that she was her father's daughter, sharing his resilience and his determination not to give up. If she could pick up and go on without his large, comforting hand laying against her back and gently guiding her forward, then she could master her feelings. She could do as Edward asked and separate her shark from all others.
Bella reached for the remote but before she got the chance to rewind the video, Lee entered the room. The two eyed each other warily and then Bella broke the silence. "You're really good with the video camera. A lot steadier than Whit."
Lee grinned. "I'm impressed you noticed the difference. I figured you'd have stopped watching once the footage changed to an underwater view."
"It's different watching it on television than being there as it's happening."
Lee turned her head to the hall as if she was getting ready to leave but then she stepped forward and took Edward's empty seat. "I'm not really better at it than Whit. I don't have the eye for detail that he does. But he has an off-kilter kick so it makes his body tilt to compensate."
Bella felt emboldened by Lee's confession and made one of her own. "It's not as different as I want it to be."
"And yet you're still watching," Lee replied, pointing at the television screen.
She shrugged. "I made a commitment. I don't like disappointing anyone."
With a smirk and arched brows, Lee asked, "Anyone or Masen?"
A deep blush colored her cheeks while her eyes dropped to her watch. She wasn't all that great at lying but she was definitely not going to tell the truth. Not to Lee. Not yet. "I want to prove myself to the team. I want to earn a shirt like you guys all did."
Lee was silent for so long that Bella couldn't resist lifting her eyes enough to see the woman's face. She was surprised to find her lips curled in a smirk. "You probably do want that, but that's not all you want. Just keep in mind that if you do anything that harms MMR, I'll turn you into maunu."
"What's that?"
Lee's smirk turned into a predatory smile but it was her one word answer that sent a shiver down Bella's spine. "Bait."
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
Bounce. Smack. Bounce. Catch. The repetitive bouncing of the tennis ball against the floor and wall had to be driving Whit crazy but so far he hadn't said a word about Masen's game of catch with the wall. He suspected his friend had already guessed why he was in here but was staying silent to force him to admit it.
But Masen was nothing if not stubborn. Instead of just starting the conversation they both knew was coming, Masen plopped down in the folding chair in front of the desk. He propped his feet up on the edge and then proceeded to toss the ball into the air and catch it. Now the soundtrack to this non-conversation was Whoosh followed by Palm-smack.
Whit took his eyes off the laptop for a quick glance at Masen that he pretended not to see. He also ignored the eye roll from him.
Finally, Whit gave in and asked, "How's it going with Guppy?"
"Good. She needed a break so we're going to pick it up after lunch."
Whit closed the laptop cover halfway, revealing a knowing grin. "Your ass must be jealous of all the shit coming out your mouth."
Masen shook his head as if the comment was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard when all he really wanted to do was laugh.
"So what was it?"
"What was what?" he replied, continuing to toss and catch the tennis ball.
"What made you need a break?"
"She couldn't separate her shark from the tiger in the video."
"That sounds about right for where her head would be at this stage. But I asked about you."
"I never said I needed a break."
"You didn't have to, Mase." Whit gave him time to respond and when he didn't, he said, "You can tell me now in private or I can ask you during lunch and get the entire team involved. Your choice, bro."
Masen tucked the tennis ball under his chin and focused his blue eyes on his best friend. They studied each other silently for a bit before he finally started the conversation he'd come in here for. "The other night, you said I should tell her I care. You still feel that way?"
Whit braced his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair while considering the question. "Honestly, bro, I don't know that you really have a choice. Not after the way you dropped everything to calm her down yesterday. Right now, she probably believes you did it to keep her from freaking out and derailing our tagging. It was a means to an end, the end being the video and the data we've been getting off the transmitter. If she knows it was for her benefit, that she actually came before the video, she'll be able to believe you when you say changing her mind about sharks is for her benefit first and ours second."
"She might not believe me."
Whit smirked. "Which are you more afraid of? That she won't or she will?"
Instead of answering him, Masen took the ball out from under his chin and started to roll it across the desk under his palm. "What's the benefit if she does?"
"More trust. Less hostility towards you when her past makes her anxiety levels rise. More determination to not disappoint you."
"What about side effects?"
"You mean what about her caring for you in return? That ship has already sailed, Mase. I watched it take off and disappear over the horizon with my own eyes yesterday."
Masen shrugged, not quite sure how to put his feelings to words. "She's two different people, you know. She's Guppy, this smart, friendly young woman who's trying her best to get to know us and fit in with us. But then sharks enter the picture and she's nothing but a scared teenager."
"Why teenager?"
"Fourteen."
"Shit, Mase," Whit replied, knowing exactly what his friend meant. "Not that any age is good for a shark attack but that young …" He shook his head once and then scrubbed his face with his hands.
"Maybe a better thing to share with her would be your story."
"Honestly, bro, I think she needs both. And the sooner, the better." Probably sensing Masen's frustration and readiness for a topic change, Whit's next words had nothing to do with Bella. "So is it dry yet?"
He grinned, excited to talk about his latest invention. "I pulled it out of the mold this morning and it looked perfect. I'm only waiting on you to test it."
"Then go get it, bro," Whit encouraged, gesturing at the door. "Let's do this thing,"
Masen had a smile on his face and a bounce in his step as he headed off to grab his newest and most promising prototype. If it worked the way he expected it to, it could become a money-making product for MMR, funding even more research and conservation efforts. He even had a name picked out for it—Eclipse Shade.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
After her conversation with Lee, Bella couldn't get her head in the right spot to rewind the video so she went in search of Gopher to help him with whatever work he had left before lunch. She found him down on the third floor transferring clothing from the washer to the dryer.
"What can I do to help?" she asked from the doorway.
"Finished the video so soon?" He looked up from what he was doing and something in her expression answered before she spoke. "Was it that bad or was Mase an ass?"
Bella smiled, amazed that Gopher already cared for her and wanted to look out for her. "That bad. He was really patient. Probably more than I could have been in his shoes."
He nodded as he tossed the last of the items into the dryer and closed the door. After setting the machine to the proper drying time and temperature, he grabbed the basket of clothes he'd already folded and led her into the hallway where it was quieter and cooler.
"You know, if you wanted to talk about what first made you afraid, I'm a really good listener," he offered.
"Thanks, Gopher. I really mean that." She paused, trying to find the right words to explain herself without hurting his feelings. "It's something I do want to share … but it's not … I'm just not—"
He stopped her with a raised hand. "It's cool, Guppy. It's personal and you don't really know us yet."
"But I want to," she quickly said, hoping he could hear and see how very much she meant her words.
"Well that's a given, little fish," he said, giving her a big smile while tucking her under his free arm. "And you'll get there soon. No rush. Okay?"
"Okay," she replied, smiling just as wide as him. "So do you need any help?"
"If you're serious, it would be great if you could sweep up down here. Mase swears he saw a dust bunny so he wants every part of the ship swept."
"Sure, I don't mind."
"Thanks, Guppy. There's an extra broom in the supply room. I'll be right above you, putting away the laundry and then sweeping the sleeping deck if you need anything."
"I'm pretty sure I can handle pushing a broom," she assured him.
He grabbed the broom leaning against the wall, managed to spin around with it and not drop the laundry basket under his other arm, and then sang his way up the stairs and out of her sight. "Hey, girl, I'm goin' away. But I'm comin' back by the railroad track. Boom chick-a-boom."
Bella was snorting laughter as she pulled open the supply room and started looking for the extra broom. She found it hanging from a peg on the back wall and then spotted a dust pan on a low shelf near her feet. Looking down the length of the hallway, she decided to start at the end and work her way back to this room.
Sweeping the engine room wasn't too bad but she wondered how Gopher managed to clean in here with so many pipes to duck under but he obviously had a way since there was very little dust in her pan when she finished. Since the pan didn't need emptying, she went to the next room. The door was slightly ajar and when she pushed it completely open, she wasn't quite sure what she was looking at. It sort of looked like a drafting room with the long, slightly titled table and the many shelves above it with books and rolled up papers. But then there was a row of tall filing cabinets that one expects to see in an office. Right above the cabinets and hanging from the ceiling on a piece of fishing twine was a shark made of varying sizes and lengths of wood. Rounding out the room with the identity crisis was a rolling bed complete with rumpled pillows and blankets.
She suddenly felt positive this room belonged to Edward. There was nothing with his name on it or that she'd seen him with but she felt sure all the same. She could picture him bent over the table until he couldn't keep his eyes open and then taking a nap on the bed so he could get back to his work faster once he was rested.
Two halves of a black object were laying on the table, teasing her curiosity. There was some kind of white residue on the insides, like the fine chalk powder that collected at the bottom of school chalkboards. Glancing at the side of one half, she noticed a latch and knew right away it was a mold.
"But for what?" she questioned, glancing around the room in hopes of seeing what had once been inside.
Her eyes roamed over the shelves and there on the bottom one, just above the table and the molds, was a white object that appeared to match the cylindrical shape the mold halves could create. Very carefully, she took it from the shelf and brought it close to her face for inspection.
"What are you?" she asked it, trying to imagine what it could be used for. "Maybe you're not finished yet?"
"What. The. Fuck." The angry voice booming into the small room startled Bella and caused her hold on the white object to slip. She tried to get her fingers back around it but the surface was too slick and she watched helplessly as it tumbled to the floor.
It didn't hit the floor safely. It didn't hit the floor and crack. Even hitting the floor and breaking into a few pieces would have been great—she could have glued them back together then. No, it hit and shattered into what looked to be a thousand tiny pieces.
The shock of being so clumsy was quickly replaced by horror as Bella watched Edward drop to his knees in front of the mess and try to scoop up the pieces, only to have them sift through his fingers like large grains of white sand. She had rarely ever seen a person look so heartbroken and she felt the urge to cry welling up inside of her for his pain.
"I'm so sorry, Ed—"
A single word spoken in a quiet yet fierce tone stopped her. "Out."
"I tried to—"
"Go. Before I say something I shouldn't."
"But, Edward, I—"
From the way his chest rose up, she expected him to yell at her. He spoke softly but she could hear the rage he was holding on to clearly. "Isabella, get out of this room."
"Mase, what's wrong, bro?" Gopher asked, standing in the doorway. Bella figured he'd heard Edward shouting.
He used that same soft yet furious tone. "Get her out."
"Come on, Bella," Gopher coaxed as he took hold of her elbow and tugged her toward the door.
"But it was an accident and I was trying to apologize," she replied, trying to see past the wall that was Gopher's chest and into the room where Edward was still kneeling on the floor.
Gopher took hold of her shoulders to keep her from getting around him. "Trust me, Guppy. The best place for you right now is far away from him. The anger sharks are swimming in his head and until they back off, he's not open to apologies."
The shock of having broken something important to Edward mixed with her guilt over hurting him caused her to lose her grip on her own emotions. As the first of many tears slid down her red cheeks, she shared with Gopher the words that were on an infinite loop inside of her head. "I'm so sorry."
"It's going to be okay," Gopher assured her while walking her up the stairs. "Just go find somewhere to calm down and I'll get Lee and Whit to help me with Masen."
Nodding and sobbing, Bella continued all the way up the stairs and then outside onto the viewing deck, dropping into one of the chairs and folding her arms over her legs and lowering her head down, drenching her knees in her tears. It was the second time in her life she'd accidentally hurt someone she cared about and she was lost this time as she had been then on how to stop the pain for both the one she'd hurt and herself.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
"Of course I can make another! What the fuck does that have to do with anything?" Masen yelled while sweeping the last few pieces of his destroyed prototype into the dust pan. While he'd been required to hold in his rage with Isabella for the sake of MMR, he could show his anger to his family.
"Mase, bro, it's not the end of the world. I'll help you make another tonight and in a few days, we'll have a new one to try out." Whit's calmness was only adding fuel to Masen's fire instead of calming it like usual.
He sighed as he moved from his knees to his ass and dropped the broom to the floor. He would have loved to kick the dustpan away but that would just scatter the pieces of his ruined invention.
"Making another isn't the point. This is my room. This is the one room on the boat that I ask to be left completely alone. If she can't even follow that one simple rule, how can I trust her to follow the major rules up top that keep everyone safe?"
Gopher spoke up for the first time since coming back into the room. "Are you sure she knew the rule?"
Masen rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the question. "You told her the first day she worked with you."
"No, bro. I didn't tell her. I thought you told her when you gave her the boat tour."
"Why would I tell her when I didn't even bring her down here?" he questioned, his voice rising to yelling status once again. "How the hell could you not tell her?"
Gopher yelled right back. "You're the leader and you gave her the tour. How come you didn't tell her?"
"Because I didn't know I had to do every fucking thing around here."
"Woah, woah, woah," Lee chanted, unfolding her legs and getting off the cot. "I get that you're pissed, and I completely agree you have the right to be, but you don't get to knock us, Mase. We didn't break it."
"You brought him on the boat, you're responsible for him."
Lee's eyes narrowed to slits and her teeth clicked together as she hissed, "Outside now."
"Now he's done it," Whit said under his breath while backing into the wall.
"Sucks to be him," Gopher added, moving into the hall and far away from the door.
Masen didn't move from his spot on the floor. "You go outside. This is my room."
Lee grabbed him by the ear and hauled him to his feet. "I said outside now."
"Shit, Lee!" he complained while trying to get the top of his earlobe out from between her pincer fingers. "That shit hurts."
"So do words, assclown," she replied, tightening her hold and practically dragging him up the stairs by his quickly reddening ear.
She led him all the way to the top and out the door to the deck. A few birds were cawing as they flew past the boat but otherwise it was silent—except for Masen whining about his ear.
"Why the hell are you acting like I'm in the wrong?" he asked, wincing at the pain that flared up when he pressed his hand to this ear.
"Shut up and listen," she ordered. When she was sure he was paying more attention to her than his ear, she started to use hand signs to speak to him. One of the pain in the ass things about having friends who know you well was they knew how to make you listen when you didn't feel like it. Whit forced him into facing the truth with calm words and honest statements while Lee forced him to listen by making him pay attention to her hands.
Those hands were currently saying, "You are in the wrong for how you're reacting to us. We only want to help you. We love you. When you hurt, we hurt. So stop being an asshole and let us help."
He grunted and then replied with his own hands. "What you call being an asshole, I call venting my frustration."
The rest of their conversation was carried out in sign language and the occasional eye-roll from Lee. "Venting doesn't involve attacking, Masen. You were attacking just now."
"Fine. Sorry."
"This is more than a damaged prototype. What's wrong?"
"Damaged? Obliterated, Lee!"
"What's wrong?"
"She's getting in the way."
"So get rid of her."
"Can't. MMR comes first."
"Then what?"
"Don't know. All I know is I want to focus on work and I keep getting sucked into wondering about her." He shook his head and quickly gave her the hand sign for "worrying". Only, Masen had been right the first time. He was always wondering about Bella. Wondering how to make her smile more, how to spend more time with her, how to comfort her, and how to learn all of her secrets. It pissed him off to not be able to completely push her aside and focus on his work. He hated being sidetracked and nothing had ever been able to do it for this long before.
Lee snapped her fingers until he was once again giving her his full attention. "Assign Whit to work with her."
"No. No."
"What do you mean no?"
"My responsibility."
Lee groaned and then growled "such crap" under her breath. To Masen she signed, "Either accept that she will be in the way or assign Whit to be her mentor. Pick one and then deal. We need you focused and strong, not strung out over some little girl."
"I'm not strung out."
"Yeah? Then why did you just go off on your crew for her mistake?"
He didn't have an answer for that.
She told him with her hands what she felt was most important to know before leaving him alone to make a decision about all of their futures. "We love you. We support you."
With a sigh, he settled himself onto the deck, planting his bare feet against the warm wood and locking his hands over his wrists atop his knees. The wind on the water was a nice contrast to the heat of the sun and it had the added bonus of keeping his hair away from his face.
Once again, Masen found himself completely confused and lost where Bella was concerned. He wanted to kick her off the boat for destroying his prototype but he also couldn't stand the idea of not seeing her again. He wanted to be pissed she had been in his room but he didn't truly have the right since he'd failed to tell her it was off-limits, and so had Gopher. And as confusing as all of that was for him, it was no match for the crazy urge he had to go seek her out and make sure she was alright.
"So fucked up," he whispered while dropping his head onto his forearms. As much as he didn't want to admit it or face it, Lee was right and there really were only two choices. He wished he could flip a coin but with the fate of MMR and Bella's future career on the line, he knew he couldn't leave it up to chance. He was going to have to choose.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
Bella didn't look up when the door slid open or when Whit sat down in the chair across from her. She kept looking out at the blue surface of the Pacific instead.
"So on a scale of one to ten, with ten being 'screw you guys, I'm going home', where are you?" he asked in a quiet, calm tone.
She tried to match it but she didn't feel calm; she felt hurt by Edward sending her away and guilty for hurting him and causing his reaction. "I tried to apologize."
"I know. And so does he."
"If I'm not upsetting him, I'm throwing his schedule off. And the worst part is that the harder I try to be a benefit, the more of a hindrance I seem to become. Actually, that's not right. The worst is that I hurt him and I don't even know what I broke."
"It was a new prototype for a lens hood that battles sun glare on the water without degrading the light needed for a crisp image."
"And I destroyed it."
"Yeah, but he's still got his sketch and can make another."
"Oh, great!" she said, throwing her arms up in frustration. "Not only did I break something he made, it was something he dreamed up all on his own, not a copy of someone else's idea."
"Masen is a bright guy. Lots of ideas and lots of talent. But even he breaks his stuff sometimes."
"Really?" she questioned, eyeing him warily.
Whit snorted. "He's shattered prototypes, spilled drinks on sketches, and on one memorable occasion, he threw away a memory card full of underwater shots and had to go dumpster diving to get it back. I railed his ass from the first moment we climbed in until we finally found the damn thing and got back out. Esme wouldn't even let us in the house after. She tossed us each a bar of soap and made us hose off in the backyard before we were allowed to come in and take a shower."
Bella smiled, easily able to picture it all from the time she'd already spent with Whit, Esme, and Edward.
Whit got up and came over to sit on the arm of Bella's chair. He put his arms around her and gave her a tight hug.
"What's this for?" she asked, hugging him back.
"You looked like you could use a good hug, Guppy."
"Thanks, Whit." She enjoyed the hug for a bit before getting back to the reason he was out here. "So what now?"
"Now you wait. You wait for him to calm down and realize his mistakes and then you make your apology for breaking his lens hood. If you want to stick around and hear his apology in return, that would be pretty awesome of you. But you do what feels right for you, Bella. I'll take care of Masen."
Bella hugged Whit tighter, glad to know he was such a good friend to Edward. She didn't know why that mattered and she even wondered if it should, but it did all the same. "I think you're pretty amazing, Whit."
"Right back at you, Guppy."
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
It shouldn't have bothered Masen at all that Bella thought Whit was amazing because that's exactly what his friend was. It also shouldn't have bothered him that they were clearly close already. But both of those things did bother him. Still, they were minor compared to how much the hug they were sharing troubled him.
No, it was more than troubling. Seeing his best friend hug the girl he couldn't get out of his head … If he was forced to pick only one word, he'd have to choose "hurt".
Masen headed downstairs, scrapping his plan to apologize to leave the two of them alone. He'd been debating for days over whether or not to tell her he cared and instead of taking Whit's advice, he'd waited and now it was too late. What would it matter if the jerk who yelled at her for an accident cared or not when the good guy—the better guy, honestly—had already made it clear he cared.
If Bella stayed, if he was allowed to spend any more time around her, it would be because of Whit. And it would be for his best friend's benefit that he would keep very professional boundaries with Bella. Not that she would even look his way ever again after what had happened earlier. Still, he wouldn't risk hurting Whit. He would step aside and let him have the girl, no matter how badly he wanted that girl for his own.
While he knew what he had to do, he needed time to digest it and accept it so while the others hung out upstairs and enjoyed lunch and dinner together, Masen remained below in his project room.
Hello wonderful readers, it's me Eternally Addicted posting this week for My-Bella. Due to some unforeseen circumstances beyond her control, real life is taking her away from FanFiction right now. Because of that, it is going to be longer than it normally would before the next chapter of Beneath the Surface will post and she won't be able to reply to your reviews this time around. However, we both want you to know that we greatly appreciate each and every one and love reading them. I promise once things settle down for her we will get back to these characters that we all love.
Last summer, My-Bella and I both participated in the Fandom for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society along with a lot of other talented authors. Last year, the Fandom was able to raise $5,400 to help battle these cancers. We would all love to see that number beat this year. All it takes from you is a minimum $5 donation and not only do you get to help those suffering from cancer, you get access to a ton of wonderful stories from your favorite authors in the Fandom. To find out more on how you can help, visit .com My-Bella and I will both be participating again this year, each of us writing a one shot for the donators.
Don't forget to swim on over to the blog and check out the pictures we have up for you this week.
That's it from Team Masen Crew for now.