Chapter twenty-two

Acquaintences-

Edward POV-

I'd been planning this trip the entire week that Bella had been stuck in her bed. I knew that I wanted to do something fun with her, and hopefully this would fit into that category. It was a risky trip that could easily turn bad, which was mostly up to the weather. It was completely unpredictable, and so I had no idea what to expect.

What I could control, though, would be perfect. I looked over at Bella, who had fallen asleep an hour into the trip. It was good, though. She wouldn't see signs that would surely ruin the surprise. I had found a campsite that had traditional tent sites, and backup cabins. I thought ahead and had both rented. I had always considered anything other than camping in a tent not really camping. It was cheating, of some sorts. The whole topic was controversial, and it was best not to discuss it, I'd found, unless you want camper people mad at you.

I smiled, realizing that Bella might be one of those people. Oh well, I was sure that I could change her viewpoint if that was the case. I had only roughly planned what we were going to do, since I didn't exactly know how much of the wilderness Bella could handle.

We were at the campsite now, and I left Bella in the car, going to check in at the main lodge. The man was middle aged, probably in his fifties, with a receding hairline and a few gray hairs. I wondered how if he had children, grandchildren. If he had lost any of them in his lifetime. Whoa, Edward. Why are you thinking about this now? I snapped myself out of the depressing thoughts I had been about to spiral into, and signed in. The man handed me a set of keys and told me my campsite number. We were 26. I looked at the map and was pleased, because the campsite I'd been given was right by the ocean.

When I got back to the car Bella was still sleeping, but she was shifting around and I could tell that she was going to wake up soon.

"Bella, we're here." I said, reaching over to smooth her hair once she had woken up. I pulled into the site, and sat looking at the ocean for a while. Then it occurred to me that we should probably set up, and then get some lunch into us. I looked over at Bella, who was staring at the ocean and scenery. I couldn't blame her, it truly was beautiful.

It was a large site, with the obvious place to put up your tent, a picnic table, and a large grill on top of a burning pit. That wasn't the beautiful part, though. We were surrounded by pine trees, and had a small path that was lit with tiki lights leading down to the ocean. There were only a few random trees blocking the water, leaving an open view of the beach. It was extremely relaxing to hear the waves hit the shore, and I knew that I would fall asleep very easily tonight.

"Well, what do you say? Set up and eat?" I asked Bella, who still looked a little dazed. I resisted my urge to laugh at her, merely leaning over and kissing her hair that was still messed up from sleep, despite my earlier attempts.

"Yeah. How long will it take to set up, though? And where am I? It's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but where is this place?"

I laughed at the sudden flow of questions and began answering them. "We are on the Alaskan peninsula. Not very far down, but it's just as beautiful here. And the amount of time it takes depends on how long we sit here and look." I said, opening my door. She followed, and I opened the back of my truck, taking out the tent that I had thought to put in last, so it would be right there when we got here.

I dumped all the stakes and poles in a pile, and spread out the tent on the designated area. It was a big area that had been bordered by a wooden frame, that was filled with sand and small wood chips, to keep it from shifting around too much. It would surely be more comfortable than sleeping on straight wood chips. It was good idea, actually. I looked over at Bella and once again resisted laughing. She had found the directions, and was looking them over with a confused look on her face. The thought of directions hadn't even occurred to me. It was amazing that they were even still around. I'd known how to set up tents when I was very young, thanks to the many camping trips my family had gone on.

"Bella, we don't need directions." I said, gently taking them out of her hands.

"What are you talking about? I have no idea how to do this, even if you do."

"I'll just tell you what to do as we go along. Come here." I put my hand on her back and steered her over to where I'd spread out the tent.

"Okay. Now that the tent is spread out, we take these stakes," I held out the bright yellow stakes that matched the tent. "And you hammer them into the ground. They go inside these little loops along the bottom of the tent."

She nodded, and began hammering. I did the same, and we were done in no time.

"What next?" She asked. I looked over to see that she was enjoying herself. It was apparent on her face.

"Now we take these poles and connect them. As, Bs, Cs, it's pretty self-explanatory. Then, once that is done we put them in the little sleeves, that have a little letter printed at the bottom."

"Oh, wow. This really is easy." She said, following my directions precisely. I noticed that she did them in order, also.

"I know. Ready to raise it up?" I asked her, and she nodded. We both put pressure on opposite ends, and the tent popped up. "Now we put the pins underneath the ends of the poles into them."

It took a matter of seconds, I went back to start unloading things. I hadn't really packed any real food, just snack stuff and water. I set the cooler on top of the table, knowing that I would have to put it up later. Then I went back and brought our bags back. Bella had gotten the bedding, and was putting out sleeping bags on the left side of the tent, and folding the other blankets, setting them next to the sleeping bags.

"We can put the blankets on later." She explained.

"Why the left side, might I ask?" I had a thought, but waited for her to confirm it.

"It's going to be colder by the water." Yep. Just what I'd thought.

"I'm sorry to break it to you, Bella, but that won't do much. The blankets will help, and I'll keep you warm." I promised.

"Okay… Are you hungry?"

Oh yeah, food. The thing that every person needs to survive, and that I'd forgotten about, in my excitement of getting the tent up.

"Let me put up the cooler, and then we'll go into town and find a place, okay?"

"I'll wait in the car."

I zipped up the tent behind her, taking out a rope before I did. I tied the cooler up in the rope, and then threw it over a branch that was pretty far out from the tree, but still looked sturdy. I hoisted it up, and then tied the end of the rope to the picnic table. Satisfied, I returned to the truck. Bella had turned it on, and was singing along with the radio.

"What song is this?" I asked, as I backed out of the little driveway.

"It's by Sing it Loud, called Come Around. It's always fun to sing along to." She continued singing.

"Exposed and you're my weakness. I'll take this day-by-day. Exposed and you're my weakness. For loss of words to say. I'm all tied up and I'm trying my best to get down. Come on, girl, Come around, come around. I'll wait up all night just to see you move. And for the past few days I've been doing my best to move on baby baby shake it up and come along. Let's take a ride and forget this town tonight."

She continued singing after this, slightly bouncing to the beat. She had a wonderful voice, and I realized I'd never heard her really sing. She'd sung softly to Connor, of course, but not like this. Her guard wasn't up around me, and she didn't sing softly now. She caught me looking at her and abruptly stopped.

"What? I didn't think I was that bad…" She said, shrugging and looking out her window, embarrassed.

"No, that's not it. You're very good, Bella. You should sing more." I said, turning down the radio a bit.

"Really?" She turned to me, biting her lip.

"Really."

She smiled and turned the radio back up, singing to the next song on the radio, that I didn't recognize either. I didn't want to interrupt her, so I just kept quiet and drove through the nearest city. I pulled into the parking lot of a small restaurant.

Once we were seated we picked up the menus on the table between us. I looked through it, deciding on the veggie prima vera. It was a favorite of mine.

"What do you think you'll get?" I asked Bella, who had shut her menu.

"Chicken Pot Pie. I haven't had it in forever." She laughed.

"That sounds good, actually. I was planning on the Vegetable Prima Vera, personally." I said, closing my menu and putting it on top of hers. The waitress assigned to the area came over. I didn't look up at her and her voice caught me off guard.

"Have you decided what you would like?" A familiar voice asked.

I looked up at her, and recognized her immediately.

"Tanya?"

Sadly, I am staying with a cousin and helping her out, since she just had a baby. I won't be back until friday. I'm not sure if she has internet, but i'll try to update if it's possible. I'll also keep writing if i can, so there'll be a new chapter Friday!

Was anyone else extremely disappointed with Bella through the majority of BD? It almost seemed like someone else wrote it. It didn't sound like Stephenie at all... I was slightly sad, but still liked the ending.

I think I'm getting sick, guys. Ugh. Anyways, YouTube Come Around by Sing it Loud- It's catchy!

Let me know what you're thinkin'!