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 15 – Just A Feeling
Saturday, June 14th
Bella finally gave up on pretending she was going to get any sleep without talking to Edward first and went in search of him, sure that he would be awake. She checked his project room, the kitchen, the helm, the crew's office, and even the room where she'd been watching that tiger shark video. He wasn't in any of those places. She had been so sure he would be just as restless as her.
With no desire to go back to her room for more tossing and turning, she headed for the kitchen to see what she could find for a midnight snack. There was some left over fruit from yesterday morning's fruit salad breakfast that looked good and just enough chocolate milk for one glass.
She had just started to pour the milk into a glass when the one she had been searching for found her. "I thought I heard someone up here."
Bella did her best not to stare at his bare chest while wishing once again that she could force herself not to respond to him. It was incredibly hard to be so close and feel so much without being able to express it.
"Hope I didn't wake you," she said, focusing on pouring the last of the milk into her glass.
"No, I was already up." He eyed the empty carton she set down and she smiled at the forlorn look on his face; he looked like a little kid whose ice cream had slid off the cone and onto the hot sidewalk.
"I'm not opposed to splitting the last of the chocolate milk if you're willing to talk with me," she offered.
His left cheek pulled up higher than his right with his crooked grin. "I'll take that deal."
After a few back and forth pours caused by their disagreeing on what constituted half when two different glasses were involved, they finally sat down across from each other to share the milk and the fruit.
"So what has you up at two in the morning?" Edward asked around a rather large chunk of cantaloupe.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," she automatically admonished, used to doing it with Alice back home. And then she answered his question, "I kept thinking about our conversation and it just didn't sit right with me."
She looked up from the cucumber melon on the end of her fork to see him and for him to see she was serious. "I meant every word I said, and I still do, but I feel bad about the delivery. I realize this is hard on you, Edward. It can't be easy to feel responsible for everyone on this boat and an entire company … all the futures of the people you care about."
"You don't have anything to feel bad about, Bella. You were right and I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable."
"It's not … Listen, I've been attracted to guys before but with you … I don't know. It's like … The harder I try to focus on something else, the more you're in my thoughts."
"But that's just because you felt like I was saying one thing and doing another. Now that I'll be making sure that doesn't happen, it should be fine."
Bella was ready to call "bullshit" and her lips had even started to form the "b" but then she got a look at his chocolate milk mustache and a fit of the giggles took her over. One of the many things her father and uncle had agreed upon was that serious conversations were impossible when someone was wearing a milk mustache. Many a conversation had been derailed by them getting their hands on a glass of milk.
"What?" Edward asked, not having any clue why she was laughing.
Still giggling, she pointed at him and then ran her finger above her upper lip to indicate the mustache.
He rubbed his face against the back of his hand and then looked down at his skin, smirking at the liquid he saw there. "You are too easily entertained, Guppy."
"I know," she agreed with a sigh and smile. "Alice just has to make a goofy face at me and I lose it completely. Of course, it always backfires because as soon as I start giggling, she can't stop from joining in."
He still had that damn devilish smirk on his face. "Do her cheeks turn pink the way yours do?"
Bella fidgeted and then made an attempt to change the subject. "What's the plan for today?"
To her happy surprise, Edward went along with it. "We're going to move closer to Seal Island but still be on the edge of it. We want to be close enough to have an encounter but not directly in the main path the sharks use to travel to and around the island. And then we sit and watch and document."
She ignored the bubble of dread the word "encounter" formed in her stomach and focused on the rest of what he'd said. "What are you watching for?"
"Everything. Active time periods for the sharks and the seals, increases in numbers of both, boat traffic … anything that might affect our studies."
"What do you see as being my role?"
He asked his own question instead of answering hers. "Are you going to finish that milk? Because I'll gladly take it."
Bella laughed as she pushed her glass toward Edward. "Take it but you owe me a glass later."
After he'd downed her milk in two big gulps, he answered her question. "Ideally, I'd like to have you assisting me. It'll give me a chance to critique your observational skills." He gave her the grin she'd heard Lee call shitty before and added, "Plus you can do all the writing."
She laughed and rolled her eyes. "You just want another gopher to do your bidding."
"That's a plus but I really do want you to work with me. No matter how frustrated you might feel with me at times, I promise that everything I'm having you do as work is for you, for your benefit. The fact that it's good for the internship and MMR is just a side effect."
"How am I supposed to believe that when you've made it clear MMR comes before everything else?"
"No, it doesn't come before everything," he argued with a shake of his head, making his crazy hair look even crazier. "I have to put it before things that could damage it. But helping you, making sure you achieve the goals you've set for yourself this summer, those things are going to be a plus for MMR."
She turned his words over in her mind, bolstered by the fact that he cared and sad once again that he believed so strongly that they had to deny what they felt for each other. No matter how she felt about it, though, it wasn't something she could change so she would just have to accept it as best as she could.
"So what does assisting you entail?" she questioned. "Besides writing, of course."
He gave her his full happy smile and then excitedly launched into his plan for them. She wasn't too thrilled about some of the finer details of it but overall she trusted that he really did have her best interest in his heart and his support bolstered her courage.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
"Have you ever thought of using digital binoculars?" Bella asked, keeping her voice barely above a whisper so she wouldn't disturb the others.
They were seated at the back of the boat in front of the cutaway that led down to the platform on the water's surface. Whit was a bit behind them and off to their left while Lee and Gopher were high up in the crow's nest. They all had binoculars, scouring the water for both seals and sharks—everyone except Bella. Masen had done his best to persuade her to give it another try but she was too convinced she wasn't ready to see the inevitable outcome of a shark meeting a seal. He had at least gotten her to promise to try tomorrow so he still counted it as a win.
"My uncle has a pair and we used them to track a family of dolphins off Key West," Bella continued.
Masen shook his head while keeping his eyes trained on the patch of water in front of him. "Wouldn't work for us. They don't have enough magnification for wildlife photos in general, and the lenses are too small for the action shots that come with shark photography. The actual magnification when used strictly for viewing is the same as a regular set so it's not worth the extra weight for us to use them."
"Couldn't you enhance it?"
He grinned at her confidence in him. "Maybe but the design of the thing makes it impossible for me to perform the necessary alterations. I'd have better luck molding my own binoculars."
"So why don't you?"
"Too delicate of a process," he answered while slowly getting to his feet to keep his binoculars trained on his target. Satisfied with what he saw, he made sure his voice carried to everyone. "Port side, team. Focus on the small cluster of seals."
Then lowering his voice, he instructed, "Guppy, note the time." He trusted her to be paying attention, not that he would have taken his eyes off those seals even if he hadn't.
"Three seals. They appear to be juveniles," he added.
The seals were about fifty feet from the beachfront of Seal Island and seemed to be playing a game of tag. They weren't paying any attention to the larger group of seals in the surf near the beach, the area where most stayed because it offered the greatest protection next to being on land. The splashing movements of the juveniles increased the crew's odds of seeing a shark since every ripple in the water sent an underwater signal to the marine life around them.
"Gopher? Anything?" Masen called out.
"Not yet, Mase."
"Lee?"
"Might have a shadow under the water on their right side. Maybe fifteen yards out. But it's hard to tell with the way the sun's reflecting off the surface."
"I'm gonna vote for not a shadow," Whit announced. "The seals in the surf closest to them can't seem to get to land fast enough."
"Gopher, get the video camera going and point it at those seals," Masen ordered as he dropped his binoculars into his chair. He ran for the ladder to the crow's nest while thumbing on the power button of the camera hanging around his neck.
"Move that ass, Mase," Whit yelled out. "The juveniles are going to catch on any second now and things are gonna get trippy."
Masen grinned, moving up the rungs as quickly as safety allowed. This was what they had been waiting for all morning—their first sighting of a Great White in Africa.
He reached the crow's nest and found Gopher focused on videoing; Lee had already gone down to the viewing deck below since there wasn't enough room for all three of them in the nest.
"Lee? Whit? How are we looking?" Masen shouted while zooming the camera lens in on the seals.
"The shadow is gone so the shark's most likely in dive mode," Lee answered.
"The juveniles are heading for shore," Whit stated. "Damn that beach seems far away."
Masen made sure his camera was set for action mode and then pressed the shutter button for the first of many times. The camera clicked away while he slowly moved his head and the camera to follow the progress of the seals. He wouldn't be able to see much from behind the lens if an attack happened because of the speed of it but hopefully he'd get plenty on film for later viewing.
No sooner than he had the thought, he caught a slight glimpse of a large object flying through the air and then a burst of water raining down on the surface.
"Gopher?" he asked, continuing to keep his camera focused and clicking away.
"It was quick but I got it," he assured him.
"Whit? Lee?" he called out.
"Definite attack," Whit confirmed.
"But it was way too fast to tell exactly what happened," Lee cautioned. "And all three seals are still in play."
"Then it's not over." Masen quickly dropped to his knees so he could have a more inline view of the seals. "Lee, any shadows?"
"Not yet."
"Fin!" Whit yelled. "I've got a fin peeking five yards out, right side of the seals."
Masen excitedly yelled, "When that fin disappears, he's gonna be diving down to come up at them from below. Stay sharp!"
"He's not diving," Lee yelled. "He's chasing. He's going for the chase."
And she was right. The seals were hopping through the water and the shark was following right behind. Its first dorsal fin, the large one near the middle of its torpedo-shaped body, would break first and then the top tail fin, the upper caudal lobe, would follow—it was happening so quick that if Masen didn't know better, he could have mistaken it for a large dolphin. He knew sharks were flexible but he had never seen one this large being this flexible—at least not with his own eyes.
"He's gaining!" From the slight warble in Whit's words, he knew his friend was jumping up and down.
Masen had a brief second where he wondered about Bella's whereabouts but then the seals made a huge mistake by trying to quickly cutback in hopes the shark would continue on past them. Instead, the Great White managed to jump and twist at the same time—and slam down against the water's surface with the end of a seal clamped between its massive jaws. The spray was the biggest Masen had ever seen and it was tinged red in a couple of spots.
And then it was over.
The water calmed. The shark didn't resurface. And the other two seals were no longer in the range of his lens.
There were a good thirty seconds of complete silence and then the air filled with the whoops and yells of one very excited team. Masen and Gopher hi-fived while Whit whistled from below and Lee let out a "hell yeah" loud enough to make her voice scratchy for the rest of the day. They had all hoped to see something like this but none of them had been convinced it would happen so quickly, least of all Masen.
As he accepted a good natured shoulder slap from Gopher, he was already going over the list of things he wanted Bella to write down about what they had just witnessed. He would have to review the film closely to guestimate the size of the shark based on the size of the juvenile seals. He couldn't wait to break down the two attacks, noting every detail of the shark's behavior and movements. He'd never seen a shark use two modes of attack before—even Guppy would have to be impressed by that!
Bella. Masen grumbled a "fuck" under his breath and after handing his camera to Gopher, he shimmied down the ladder as fast as he'd gone up it earlier. Please be wrong, he hoped, thinking of how he'd left his binoculars right beside her. If she'd changed her mind and decided to look then no one had been with her to help with her fear—he hadn't been with her.
His binoculars were still in his chair but Bella was no longer in hers. He wanted it to mean she'd gone inside as a precaution—odds were that it did. And yet there was that knot of tension in his neck again, that feeling that things weren't right.
He charged through the cabin door and nearly smacked her in the face with it. Bella screamed and for some reason he couldn't possibly imagine, she threw her drink in his face. And then she started with that giggling of hers while he pulled his shirt off and found a dry spot to mop up his face.
"Nice, Guppy."
"You scared me," she said, shrugging as a few more giggles escaped.
"This is some crappy thanks for coming to check on you."
"How was I supposed to know that's what you were doing? All I saw was a door speeding towards my face."
"And what? You thought your tea would protect you?"
"There wasn't time to think. I just reacted." She turned away, leaving him with the view of her ponytail swinging like a pendulum, alternately covering and revealing the back of her neck and the ruby strings of her bikini top. If he let himself, he could feel the heat of her skin against his palm from that night in the bar. But he couldn't—not if he wanted to keep things professional between them the way he'd promised.
"So are you okay?" he asked, shifting his eyes to hers to keep from staring at her body. He'd thought he was getting used to seeing her in bikini tops but then she'd come outside this morning in this ruby red one with the ruffled edges and he'd just about swallowed his tongue. How the hell was he supposed to keep himself from wanting to be close to her, from needing to touch her, when she was a walking temptation? It would be easier if she was doing it on purpose because then he could be angry with her. But she wasn't.
Bella smiled but it wasn't right; there were tension lines at the corners of her lips. "I'm fine. Are you okay? I could hear you guys so I know you got to see what you wanted. Shouldn't you be celebrating and looking at the pictures and video with everyone?"
His suspicion that things weren't right was confirmed when she tried to refill her glass and ended up spilling most of it on the counter from the shake in her hand.
"Shoot!" She reached across the island for the paper towels but Masen snagged them before she could.
With just a look, he got her to move aside while he cleaned up the spilt tea. He could see her in the corner of his eye and he noticed the rapid rise and fall of her chest—he probably would have noticed it before if he hadn't been so enthralled with her bikini top. Now on top of fighting his wanting her, he felt bad for missing a sign of her discomfort.
"Bella, I …"
You what? he wondered. You screwed up again and you're sorry again? Way to be consistent.
"If there's anything … If you wanted to talk … I mean, I'm not … but … whatever it is, you can tell me." He could hear Whit in his head and he thoroughly agreed with his friend's opinion—Lame, Mase.
He sighed as he gripped the back of his neck, trying to ease the knot of tension in it. He wanted her to know she could trust him and that no matter what it was that had her upset, he cared to know about it. Instead he'd just blathered a bunch of nothing. How the hell do I fix this?
His attempt to think of a solution was interrupted by a giggle. Two more quickly followed—it seemed Bella found his idiotic rambling funny.
Her giggling had him smiling and momentarily forgetting about being useless. "You really are too easily amused, Guppy."
A snort from behind him had him spinning around to see Lee and Whit standing there with wide, toothy smiles—the kind of smiles that meant trouble for him.
"You owe me five bucks," Whit said as he held his hand out to Lee. "Told you nothing was wrong with him."
"You'll get your money later." She still had her eyes fixed on Masen. "Right now I wanna know why the floor's wet and Masen's shirtless."
"That is a really good question," Whit replied, his smile widening and turning predatory. "So what's the answer, Mase?"
Masen was saved from having to answer by Gopher of all people. He came in holding the video camera in one hand and the tape in the other. "Am I seriously the only one dying to watch this footage? It's our first Great White! That's like having cheesecake with your cheesecake." His eyes flicked over to the refrigerator. "I wonder if I have the stuff to make a celebratory cheesecake for dinner tonight."
"Forget about the food and give me that tape," Masen ordered, already walking toward Gopher.
"Dibbs," Lee yelled as she snatched the tape from Gopher and bolted past Masen and down the hall.
"Don't you dare start that tape without us," Masen warned, knowing full well she would do whatever she wanted.
"I wouldn't take too long if I were you," Whit said as he and Gopher walked past Masen.
His fingers twitched with how badly he wanted to bolt down the hall and be there when Lee started the tape but his feet stayed firmly planted. He couldn't leave before he finished his conversation with Bella.
Her giggle had him snapping his head in her direction. "Go, Edward," she said, giggling again. "Go watch your video. We can talk later."
He studied her closely and only moved once he was absolutely convinced she was alright. "Sure you don't want to watch with us?"
"Not yet. I'll wait until tomorrow. It'll give me something to do while you're …"
He understood her reluctance to say "in the water" so he left it unsaid. "Later, Guppy."
She smiled and although it was much more real than the others, it still wasn't the smile she usually showed him. "Later."
He hesitated for a second but then came Lee's threat to start the tape without him. He gave Bella what he hoped was a reassuring smile and then sprinted down the hall, rushing to get there before Lee pressed the play button.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
"What is with you tonight?" Whit asked, pushing on Masen's knee to stop his foot from tapping.
Masen pushed his hand away while shaking his head. "Nothing."
"Seriously? You gonna go with that answer?" When Masen didn't respond, Whit told him, "Fine. But if you're gonna blow me off on this, then you have to explain earlier today. What lit a fire under your ass to run off and talk to Bella after the sighting?"
"I just had a feeling."
"What kind of feeling? Like an in your pants feeling? 'Cause I know it was exciting but damn, bro." Whit's grin and joking words broke through Masen's frustration and got him to smile.
"You're a sick puppy, Whit."
"That's not a denial."
Masen shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I felt like something was wrong. Like maybe she decided to look through the binoculars after all."
"Guppy trunked Great White." Whit pretended he had a beard to stroke while grinning. "This is interesting information, Mase."
"It's nothing. It's just me being a good mentor."
"Then we've got very different understandings of the word 'nothing', bro. To me it's a lack of something. Your care in the Bella department is damn sure not lacking. And from your annoying ass foot-tapping all night, your care has turned to concern about something."
He stayed silent.
Whit took that as an invitation to be more annoying, sharing his views to the tune of the Hokie Pokie …
"You put your lips on her,
You pretend you don't care,
You do the hokie pokie and you try not to stare.
'Cause you're Mase and an asshat."
When that failed to get a reaction, he told him, "You know, there are plenty of fun ways to put something in and out if you'd stop being a chicken shit."
Masen sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, knowing full well that Whit was only saying those things to goad him into talking. "She's not herself. She's faking. What if she looked and I wasn't there to help her like I promised I would be?"
"She seemed fine to me today. Are you sure it's not just guilt you're feeling for leaving her alone on deck?"
He shook his head in disagreement. "She's not fine. She's been quiet and jumpy all day. Her smiles aren't right and she didn't laugh once during lunch or dinner. Not even tonight when Gopher was whining about not being able to make a cheesecake."
"She could just be having an off day. It happens to us all sooner or later. And it might be that she's worried about coming through on her promise to look through the binoculars tomorrow. She could also be stressing about us going in the water tomorrow."
Masen shook his head again. "That might be part of it, but that's not all of it."
"If you're this concerned, talk to her."
"I keep trying but she keeps finding a way to avoid me. She even ran off with Lee to watch that celebrity dancing show," he added, pointing toward the hallway where the sounds of applause were coming from.
"She could like that stuff, Mase. She is a woman." Whit ignored the death glare from his friend and shrugged. "So then maybe she's nervous somebody might overhear what she has to say. We already know she's worried about seeming like a lost cause. Why not try talking to her later on when we all go to our rooms?"
With a sigh, Masen set his elbows on the table and shoved both hands into his hair. "This freakin waiting is annoying as hell."
Whit laughed. "And here I thought you were a patient man."
"Asshole."
"Stubborn Asshat."
Masen grinned and turned his head to see his friend. "Wanna watch the video again?"
"Sure. Why not make it an even fifty?" Whit answered with a laugh.
"Whatever. You know you wanna watch it again just as much as I do."
"And you know you'd rather be talking to Bella than watching that shark. And you also know that feeling driving you is more than mentorship or even friendship."
"The only thing driving me is my goal of a successful summer for us all."
Whit nodded as if he agreed but then said, "Success can be measured in a lot of ways, Mase. Even in opening yourself up to new experiences."
"Speaking of new experiences, what's the latest with your dream girl?" While he was honestly curious to know, he also wanted a topic Whit couldn't pass up.
"Changing the subject isn't going to change the way you feel about her, but I'll bite anyway. My dream girl hasn't been visiting me as much these past few days. She's worried about something and that's got her distracted."
"So what? You think she dreams about you too?"
"Absolutely. We're all in, bro. Just like you should be with Bella."
"There really is no stopping you," Masen replied, shaking his head. "One track mind."
"One life, Mase. You get this one life and you don't know how long it's gonna be so why not fill it up with love and laughter? Why waste time fighting feelings?"
"Some feelings don't lead to good things, Whit. Some just lead to trouble and complications."
"It's only going to be a complication if you make it one. I really believe if you just stop fighting and let yourself enjoy it, then you'll see it all balances out."
"I can't risk you being wrong. Not right now. We're just getting started here and I need to be one hundred percent focused on the job. It's hard enough not to feel distracted with my mom's birthday just two days away. I don't need to add to that and put us all at risk. That's not me being stubborn. That's me protecting every one of us. If anything ever happened to one of you because I wasn't fully focused … I can't, Whit."
His friend nodded. "Alright. I can understand that."
"Thank you."
"Right now," he replied, emphasizing that last word heavily. "We do have some off days throughout this summer and you better damn well use them wisely."
"You're not going to give up, are you?"
Whit gave him a toothy smile. "Not a chance in hell, bro."
Masen sighed and went back to running his hands through his hair.
"You know, I wish I could have known her." He didn't have to ask who the "her" was; he could tell from Whit's quiet tone. "From what you've told me about her over the years, she was pretty damn amazing."
Masen smiled, picturing his mother happy, healthy, and smiling. "She was."
"She'd be proud of you, Mase. Especially with all you're doing to help Bella have a better life."
He wanted that to be true but something told him his mother would be more concerned with what he wasn't doing and saying in regards to Bella. He shook his head and refocused his mind on work and his work goals for Bella.
"I had planned to push Bella's limits tomorrow because I really believed she was ready for it. But with the way she was today, now I'm not so sure." Masen lifted his head, catching sight of the hallway—and of Bella. Even from this distance he could see her cheeks pinking up and he desperately wanted to know what she was thinking to cause it.
"Goodnight, guys," she said once she was near the staircase.
"Calling it a night already?" Whit asked.
"Yeah, I'm tired. Long day and tomorrow's going to be longer. So …" She gave them a smile and wave before heading down the stairs.
Whit waited until they could no longer hear her footsteps to say, "That's your cue, bro."
Masen nodded and then got to his feet. "Wish me luck."
"You don't need luck, Mase. Just don't say anything stupid."
He laughed. "That's exactly why I need the luck."
"Pomaika`i."
"Mahalo."
"Whit, why are you wishing Masen good luck? And why are you thanking him, Mase?" Lee asked, looking from one to the other. "What are you two up to?"
"Why do you always have to be so suspicious of us?" Whit asked.
"Because you two are typically up to no good when left alone together," she answered.
"We're not plotting anything," he assured her.
Masen planted a kiss on her cheek. "Not now anyway. Night, Lee." He tried to move past her but she grabbed the back of his shirt to stop him.
"Are you actually going to sleep?" she asked.
"Not right away. I've got a couple things to check on first."
"Get as much as you can, okay? You need to be sharp tomorrow when you get in the cage."
"Always," he promised, kissing her cheek once more and then heading down to the sleeping quarters.
He knocked on Bella's door, waited maybe half a second, and then entered her room. She was already in bed, curled up under the covers with just the top of her head poking out.
Bella pulled the blanket down enough to see who had come into her room. "Hi."
"Hi. Guess you forgot we were supposed to talk."
"I didn't forget. I just … I figured it could wait until tomorrow."
"Bella, if something's bothering you, you can tell me. It's expected that you're going to be upset from time to time. The best way to get past it is to talk about it."
"I'm okay. Just tired."
If it wasn't the shark that upset her, was it me? he wondered, thinking back to their conversation in the kitchen last night. "If this has anything to do with last night—"
She quickly cut him off. "No. Not even a little."
"So then talk to me, Guppy," he said, hoping the nickname would at least get a smile out of her.
She did smile but it was the same fake one from earlier in the day. He was starting to hate that damn smile. Even more, he hated not knowing what to do about it.
"If you change your mind, I'll be down the hall in my room," he told her. "Doesn't matter what time it is. Alright?"
"Thanks, Edward."
"Welcome. Get some sleep and we'll talk in the morning." He turned to leave but she called his name. "Yeah?"
"Would you stay here a little while? I … I could really use a friend's company if you don't mind."
He started smiling, pleased that she wanted him around even if she didn't feel up to talking yet. "Alright, but if I'm staying, I'm laying. Move over, Guppy."
She scooted back to make room for him, leaving a pillow for his head and one between them. Masen grabbed it and shoved it under his head with the other, grinning wider than before as he turned on his side and closed the gap between them some.
"You got enough room over there? You can move closer if you need," he offered, fully enjoying seeing her cheeks turn pink for the second time tonight. He knew this wasn't technically being consistent with her but he also sensed she wasn't going to send him away tonight.
She proved him right by moving closer until her forehead was touching his chest. "Tell me about this morning. Not any details, but just how you felt about it. Tell me your favorite part."
"My favorite part was seeing my crew happy and satisfied. They stayed sharp, worked together, and communicated well, and they were rewarded with the sight of a lifetime."
Bella tipped her head back to see him, her brown eyes bright and curious. "Really? That was really your favorite?"
"You're doubting me, Guppy?" Masen asked, grinning at her.
"No, I'm just surprised."
"Their success is my success. Plus, there's nothing quite like Whit jumping up and down like a giddy high school cheerleader."
She giggled and put her head back against his chest. "What else did you like about it?"
"Seeing the agility and the power of it firsthand. It's one thing to have heard about it but to actually see it. It was magnificent. Here's this powerful creature that's hardly changed in millions of years, yet here, in this one place, it does amazing feats to adapt to the speed and agility of its prey."
"You're dazzled by them."
"No, I respect them. They're not mindless and they're not monsters. They're just doing what they were designed to do—be the top of the food chain in the oceans. They are dangerous but they're also in danger. I know that must sound so weird to you right now but I really hope you'll at least understand my view at some point, even if you never agree with it."
"You would be okay with me not agreeing?"
"Of course, Bella. You've seen how it is around here. Lee and Whit don't always agree with me. And Esme enjoys not agreeing with me. They're entitled to their opinions and while I don't always agree with them, I always try to understand and respect them. If I didn't, I'd be a pretty piss poor leader."
"You'd be a dick tater," Bella replied, giggling and trying to cover it up.
"Yeah … Remind me to thank Lee for that one."
"Edward … The promise I made about tomorrow …"
"Are you rethinking it?"
"I just … What if I can't separate my shark from the one in the water?"
"Then we try again another day. This isn't going to be a quick fix. No one expects that, least of all me. I know you're going to have some days where you feel stronger and more capable than others. A big part of my job as your mentor is knowing when you just need a push and when you need to back off. And right now, I really believe you can do it."
"And if I can't?"
"Then we'll deal with it when we get to it. Until then, let's assume you can."
Bella was quiet for so long that Masen had assumed she was sleeping until she spoke. "Does Whit know you compare him to a cheerleader?"
He laughed into her hair, completely caught off guard by the way her mind went from worrying about sharks to wondering about his friendship with Whit. "Guppy, go to sleep."
"When you go, leave my light on, okay?"
"Sure." He thought about confessing he already knew she slept with the light on but then he decided to wait, to give her the opportunity to confide in him about it. Of course, that was probably going to require him to be consistent for longer than a day first.
"I'm going to try tomorrow." She sounded slightly more convinced than the first time she'd promised him.
"Then you better get some sleep now."
"Goodnight, Edward."
"Night." His plan was to stay until she was deeply asleep and then go to his room and try to sleep himself. Instead, he ended up drifting off right there beside her, lulled by the warmth of her body against his and the rhythm of her steady, deep breaths.
"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"
A/N:
Hello again, Readers! EternallyAddicted and I hope this Saturday night finds you all well. We had a lot of fun with this chapter, some of it at Masen's expense! ;) We have photos of Bella's shark sighting and her bikinis up on the blog!
Shout out to movieandbookgirl for the Hokie Pokie idea :) We really loved having Whit put his special spin on it to try to wake Masen up!
Next chapter will have Masen and Whit getting into the water with Great Whites! We're very excited to bring you guys that chapter!
And if you aren't reading it already, then get on over to EternallyAddicted's page and check out her story Somewhere I Belong. Bella and Edward start out in the Dominican Republic, leaving behind real life in the States. But now that they're back, real life is settling in and real trouble soon follows. It's a fabulous read and I am impatiently waiting for her next chapter.