Prompt: venture

Garrett has a black Adidas duffle he uses for sleepovers. He is the most organized kid I know, yet we have no idea where it is, and Riley and his mom, Tanya, will be here in a half hour to pick him up. They're leaving for Hershey Park in the morning to celebrate school letting out for the summer. It's just for a day, but he's sleeping over at Riley's tonight since they're taking off so early in the morning.

I rummage through his closet, the top shelf, move the boxes he uses to sort his toys. Look inside the boxes because, well, who knows, it might be stuffed in one of them. Star Wars, Legos, Pokemon cards, but then I come across one that has the rock the bus driver gave him from the baseball game, the watch I'd bought for him, my old watch, batteries, an umbrella, snack sized bags of Doritos and juice pouches. He has stripped down pipe cleaners and a light saber in here, too.

"Hey, Garrett? What's all this stuff? Why do you have my watch?"

"Huh?" he says, running over. "Mom! That's nothing. My bag isn't in there." Garrett snatches the box from me, pops the lid back on and shoves it deep in his closet. His hair falls in his eyes, in his guilty eyes.

I cross my arms over my chest, tilt my head, and throw in a raised eyebrow.

Garrett sighs. "It's dumb, okay?"

"I'm sure it's not," I assure.

"Please? Riley's gonna be here in a minute," he pleads.

"Will you tell me later?"

"Do I have to?"

"I wish you would."

"Fine."

Fifteen minutes later we find his bag at the bottom of the hall closet. When Riley and Tanya show up I tick off a list to Garrett one more time, making sure he has everything.

He yells bye to Felix then offers up his cheek for a kiss goodbye. Riley and Garrett run to the car, I wave to Tanya, but Garrett stops and runs back.

He motions for me to lean down then whispers, "I was going to build a time machine, but I'm not anymore. See ya tomorrow."

Of course, you were.

As soon as Tanya's car disappears, I go back into Garrett's room, open his closet and pull out his time machine box. I take out the batteries, anything metal, my watch, and stow them away. No matter how smart Garrett is, he sometimes thinks he's invincible, and The Professor will not be attempting a Doc Brown the next time we have a lightning storm.

I have less than an hour to shower: Edward's coming over. I'm having a sleepover too.

We had dinner at this low-key seafood place. The kind that's noisy, beer mugs are spotty and the servers wear t-shirts with double entendres printed on them. It's not like the food we'll eat in the Caribbean but the drinks are good and the company is even better.

We're going in December, after his divorce is final, and when Garrett spends his first Christmas away. It was Edward's idea to go then because he knows I'm going to be a mess.

Sam's been keeping his promises, calling frequently, and has put in a request to fly the D.C. – Vegas trips permanently. We had a long talk about our break up and about Garrett. A lot was thrown on the table, some kind of hard to swallow, decided to agree to disagree about a few things too, and we were honest when neither of us were before. But we're putting it in the past, venturing into new territory. Then we talked with Garrett about him spending time with Sam in Vegas over the summer and Christmas. I can't think about that now, though.

Even so, I don't necessarily forgive Sam for taking off the way he had or what he put Garrett through, but I'm tired of holding a grudge.

Being with Edward makes it a little easier.

"What are you thinking about?" he asks. He starts the car and backs out of the space.

"You."

"Yeah? Pretty amazing, aren't I?"

"Oh, yeah. Humble, too."

"I try." Edward grins, pulling out of the parking lot and laces his hand with mine over the console. "So, what were you thinking about…you know, besides my amazingness."

"As if that's not enough to occupy one's thoughts for say, a few decades…" he laughs then kisses the back of my hand. "I was also thinking how differently I look at things now."

"How so?"

"You just…you make me happy."

Edward moves his hand to the inside of my thigh. "That feeling is entirely mutual, Bella Swan."

The past few weeks have given Edward and me little time to be alone: lunch hours, sneaking in to each other's offices when we can. Though we talk almost every night, sometimes until one of us falls asleep, and if we're not talking on the phone, we're texting, but that's been it. So, tonight is a pretty big deal. I don't want to sleep at all because I don't know when we'll have the chance to be together like this again, at least until Garrett knows about us. And even then, sleepovers? Not for a long time.

I give Edward a quick tour; he's been here a couple of times before, but never upstairs.

He smiles and nods to the twinkle light-plastic piece of artwork hanging on my wall. It's not the same from the event; I had one made in orange and yellow.

"I liked it," I say.

"Can I turn it on?"

"Sure, but it's still too bright outside to really get the full effect." It's true, but when the sun goes down it's as if I have my own personal sunset.

He turns it on anyway. Such a boy. "It's kind of sexy." He moves behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, and when he bites the lobe of my ear, I shiver. Felix trots in and sniffs Edward's foot. "Sparrow would have a good time with you," he says.

"Sparrow doesn't like cats?"

"No, she does, but she plays rough." I tilt my head to the side as Edward brushes away my hair and kisses down my neck. Felix runs out of the room.

"Emmett doesn't mind taking care of them tonight?" He says no, and I reach up and hold onto the back of his neck. Edward slides his hand up underneath my shirt, stopping at the seam of my bra. His thumb, though, has a mind of its own.

"Is this okay?" he asks, gliding his thumb over my nipple.

We haven't had sex. He's staying tonight and we don't plan to have sex. We talked about this, said we'd wait. So we're definitely not going to have sex.

I move his hand to cover my breast, squeeze and then he takes over. Edward slips his hand inside my bra, fingers my nipple, as he licks, sucks and bites at my neck. With his other hand he dips the tips of his fingers inside my jeans, toying with the hem of my underwear but doesn't move his fingers any further, like he's teasing or waiting for me to give the green light.

What exactly is considered to be sex?

a/n: The state in which this story takes place dictates that a married couple be legally separated for 1 year before they can file for a divorce. 6 months if no minor children are involved. And, even while separated, having sex with someone else is considered adultery. Of course the other person would have to make a stink about it, but... Ugh. :)

Thanks for reading - working on the next one now where they either abide by the law or they do not. ha!