Chapter 5 – Beach Party, USA Part 2

Edward

By late evening, with the sun just sinking below the horizon, I found myself surprisingly relaxed and as content as I get. My skin felt tight with sun, sand, and salt and my muscles felt well-used. I was fairly astounded at what a good time I'd had, given my dislike for people in general and kids my age in particular. Yet here on the beach, surrounded by them, I had managed to forget myself and have a good time, a feat nothing short of miraculous.

Playing catch with Jasper had turned into a no-holds-barred football game, during which I managed to tackle both Jacob and that Mike douche. Jacob had just been a lucky hit required by the game. Mike, on the other hand, had just made a really inappropriate comment about a certain part of Bella's anatomy while she was bent over trying to straighten the blanket she'd been laying on. The game play probably hadn't required me to put him in the sand, but by that point we were all so pumped up with testosterone and competition, no one seemed to think anything of it. Though I'm pretty sure I caught Jasper giving me a slight nod out of the corner of my eye. I don't know if Mike caught on or not, but he didn't say anything else about Bella after that, though I saw him checking to see if she'd been watching whenever he made any good plays. Bella seemed completely oblivious to the attention, or even the game for that matter. She spent the time either reading, scribbling in her ever-present notebook, or listening attentively to the conversations going on around her, none of which she seemed to participate in. Not that I was keeping tabs on her or anything

The game got called as a tie, mainly because Jake and Emmett claimed they couldn't go on any longer without sustenance and after a quick dip in the water to cool off, we all broke into our respective groups to eat. Glancing around the crowd, I saw most of the kids eating what you would expect teenagers alone on a beach to eat – chips, sandwiches, hotdogs grilled on sticks. Our group, on the other hand, ate like royalty. Because Bella can COOK. We had fried chicken, ham, homemade potato salad, fruit salad, coleslaw, and apple pie. Anything I could think of that I might want to eat was somewhere tucked into those coolers. When Bella first opened them all and started pulling out food, I think my eyes might have bugged out at the shear enormity of the amount of food she'd brought. I looked at Emmett, and he seemed to be looking at Bella in a whole new light. Had he not been so infatuated with Rose's tits, he might have professed his undying love just then.

"You cooked all this?" He asked.

"Um, yep." She responded modestly with a shrug. "I like to cook."

"Will you marry me?" He asked, awestruck.

She answered with a blush and a giggle. "You might want to taste it first."

"Well, it smells fucking delicious!" he exclaimed, and promptly grabbed a chicken leg and took a huge hunk off with his teeth, groaning orgasmicly. Then there wasn't much conversation at all, just scrambling for food and the appreciative sounds one makes when devouring a fan-fucking-tastic meal.

Which brought us to our current position: lounging around on our blankets with full bellies, watching the sun slowly setting over the ocean. It had started to cool off with the disappearance of the sun, and most of the girls had run off to the woods to change into long pants and sweaters. Bella had opted to just pull a large hoody over her swimsuit and cover her legs with an extra blanket.

There wasn't much sound from our little group as the sun finally sank fully below the horizon. There were soft discussions from Rosalie and Alice and loud and raucous noises from the rest of the kids spread down the beach, but the scene was mostly restful and relaxing. It had been a long time since my mind was this quiet, and I allowed myself to enjoy it while it lasted.

I laid back and rested my head on my folded arms, tipping my face up to the twilight sky. I caught Bella looking at me closely as she scribbled away in her notebook, but I closed my eyes against her scrutiny, not wanting to think about anything – not even the delicate beauty leaning her back against Jasper's chest an arm's length away.

It seemed I had only closed my eyes for a moment, but then Emmett was shaking my arm, saying "Hey Edward, come on. We're moving down the beach. They've got the bonfire going."

When I opened my eyes, I saw that full dark had fallen and the majority of our gear had been packed up. I looked down the beach and saw a huge fire going in a big pit some distance away. I pulled myself up, shaking my head a little to wake up, and folded the blanket I'd been resting on, stacking it on the pile already formed next to our coolers.

I followed the others down the beach to the fire, where most of the other kids had already formed a large semi-circle around the tall flames. I glanced around to where Bella was sitting across the fire from me. There was a space big enough for one between her and Jacob on a length of log, but before I had a chance to start towards it, Mike plopped down in it, sitting much closer to Bella than the open space called for. I ground my teeth slightly in irritation, even more when I heard a breathy female voice say, "Oh, Edward. There's room over here." It was the girl with long straight hair that I'd met earlier – Lindsay? Laura? Lauren? – yeah, that was it.

I wanted to say no, but a quick look around the fire showed that it was really the only option left to me, so I made my way over and plopped down, careful to keep some space between us. At least this spot gave me a good view of Bella, who was looking increasingly uncomfortable sitting so close to Mike. He kept leaning into her and speaking quietly. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but Bella didn't seem too keen on his choice of topics. She kept leaning away from him, staring intently into the fire as though hoping if she didn't look at him he might disappear.

I looked around for Jasper, hoping he might come to her rescue and get her away from the slimy little fucker, and was surprised to see him sitting a short distance away with Alice. I don't think he even noticed Bella's situation; he was staring intently at Alice, completely enthralled with whatever drivel she was spewing.

"So, where are you from, Edward?" I vaguely heard Lauren ask, and I wondered if this was her first attempt at conversation. I may have successfully tuned her out during my scrutiny of the Bella/Mike situation across from us.

"Chicago," I answered shortly, hoping to dissuade her from any more conversation. I need more beer, I thought to myself, and was embarrassed to realize I had said that aloud when the curly-haired girl responded quickly by leaning past Lauren to hand me one.

By now, Bella had scooted so far down the log that she was in danger of toppling off the end. And still Mike was leaning into her, babbling up a storm. I shifted in my seat, ready to do I don't even know what to remedy the situation, when finally Jake threw his arm out, catching Mike in the chest and tossing him backwards off the log. Then he leaned over Mike's outstretched legs, grabbed Bella by the upper arms like she was no bigger than a toddler and picked her up, depositing her on his other side between himself and Quil.

I breathed a small sigh. I wasn't real happy with the new seating arrangement, but it was a huge improvement over watching her obvious discomfort while being accosted by Mike. I pondered my uncharacteristic response to this girl. It wasn't just the possessive feeling. That might not be usual, but it was in-line with my personality. It was this more disturbing protective urge I seemed to have around her that was completely out of character for me. I have already proven my complete inability to protect those I love in my life. If I tried with this delicate, fragile girl it would certainly end in tragedy as well.

"So, do you miss Chicago, Edward?" Lauren asked me, effectively derailing my train of thought. It was a pretty good question. Did I miss Chicago? A little, but I didn't really care where we lived. My problems were the kind that I couldn't leave behind me, no matter where I went.

"Um, not really," I mumbled.

"It must be so boring to be in Forks after Chicago," she continued.

I shrugged noncommittally. "Chicago's not that great," I responded absently, watching Bella carefully removing a toasted marshmallow from a stick as she smiled at Jake. She held it out to him and he grabbed it from her hand with his mouth, sucking on the ends of her fingers as he did so. She scrunched up her nose and laughed, smacking him lightly in the chest.

"She's such a fucking tease," Lauren hissed in my ear, and I realized her eyes had followed mine to Bella and Jake across the fire. I cocked my eyebrow at her inquiringly. "All the guys are always panting after her; she's such a flirt. But when it comes down to it, the only one she ever puts out for is Jasper." She tried to sound disgusted, but it came out more jealous than anything. "It's not cool to make a guy think they're gonna get something out of you and then try to act all innocent about it when it comes time to give up the goods." She looked at me all wide-eyed, clearly letting me know she'd never do such a thing.

Yeah, I get it Lauren. You'll blow me later if I want you to. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

I just shrugged again. "None of my business," I told her, and that seemed to satisfy her. At least she shut up for a few minutes after that. I sipped my beer and stared into the dancing flames, watching the way the colors snapped back and forth between red, yellow, and orange. I was pondering what Lauren had said about Bella. She actually didn't seem like a flirt to me at all. From what I had observed she was really shy and reserved. She certainly had a high level of comfort with Jasper and Jake and the other Quileute boys, but she wasn't flirty. She was completely guileless in her interactions with them, like she felt she was just one of the guys. If she was at all aware of her effect on the opposite sex, she certainly hid it well. Why am I obsessing over this girl? I actually shook my head, like I could shake thoughts of her right out of my mind.

I felt Lauren's hand slide over my forearm before she spoke. "Do you want to go for a walk down the beach?" she asked.

I opened my mouth to reply with a definite No, but was distracted when I saw Bella stand up across from me.

"Where you going, Hells Bells?" I heard Jake ask.

"I'm gonna go for one last quick swim." Her voice was quiet, but I could still hear it. Then Jasper was popping up from his place next to Alice, who looked a little crestfallen at his sudden departure. He moved over to Bella as they started towards my side of the fire, closest to the water.

"I'll go out with you, hummingbird."

"That's ok, Jazz. I'm fine by myself."

"I know you are. I want to come."

She gave him a pointed look, and I got the feeling she was telling him something without speaking out loud. "You should stay here," she said pointedly. Hell yeah, you should.

"It's dark out there," he responded, stating the obvious.

"I like swimming in the dark."

"I know. So do I." And this time it was him giving her the pointed look. She sighed heavily and shook her head a little.

"Alrighty then." She turned and started down the beach. He fell into step beside her reaching out to take her hand in his.

"Edward? Did you want to go for a walk with me?" Lauren asked again.

My eyes still on the couple walking hand in hand towards the water I responded, "Sure."

~0~

Sadly, Lauren's skill with her mouth was not such that it was able to distract me from the fact that Bella was out in the dark water with Jasper. Lauren had wasted no time guiding me to the edge of the forest. And I had wasted no time telling her that I don't date. If she wanted to fool around a bit, that was fine, but I didn't want her getting the wrong idea. I'd been as blunt as I possibly could be.

"I'm not going to call you. We're not going to go out to dinner or hold hands in the hall on Monday. I'm not going to be your boyfriend. Are you cool with that?"

"Sure," she responded, already reaching for the tie to my board shorts.

I caught her hands and tried to find her eyes in the dark. "Are you sure? I don't want there to be any misunderstanding here, Lauren," I told her seriously, because I'm a dick, but I wasn't about to lead this chick on.

"Of course. Give me some credit here, Edward. I know the score." I looked at her for a second longer then dropped my hand from her wrist. I'd told her the layout, if she had unrealistic expectations at this point, that was on her.

I gazed out at the water while she pulled me out of my shorts. I wasn't even at half mast, but that didn't seem to dissuade her. Her warm mouth closed around me and I groaned out loud. Every once in the while the moon would slip out from clouds and shine down on the water. I could just make out two round shapes bobbing around a ways from the shore. I thought about Bella's white skin against the deep blue of her swimsuit, wet and goose-pimpled from the cold water. My dick hardened almost instantly and Lauren hummed in appreciation. The vibrations felt good, but now that I was hard, she didn't seem to know what to do with all my cock.

She bobbed up and down at the tip, leaving the rest of the shaft out in the cold air. We might be here forever if I didn't help her out a little. I wrapped my own fist around the base, trying to match her erratic movements. The little round heads out on the water were right next to each other now, the absence of space between them making them look foreign.

I closed my eyes, blocking out the sight of them and tried to picture myself out there in the water with Bella. I imagined the cold water all around us and the contrast of her hot hand wrapped around me. I thought of the smile she had when she fed the marshmallow to Jake directed at me from inches away in the water. I thought of the sharpness of the dark ink on the creamy skin between her shoulder blades. I thought of the way her suit clung to the round, plump mounds of her ass, and I pumped a little harder, thinking about what they would feel like in my palms. And then I was groaning. "I'm cumming," I managed to blurt, suddenly remembering that the warmth on my cock was actually Lauren's mouth.

She popped right off and did a hilarious duck and dive maneuver to the side. I might have laughed out loud if I wasn't busy with my impending orgasm. She didn't even offer to finish me off, just got out of the line of fire and let me pump myself to completion. I finished up and tucked myself back in, as she got up off her knees.

She reached her lips up to my face, but I managed to turn my head a fraction so her kiss landed on the corner of my mouth. "Thanks, Eddie. That was fantastic," she simpered at me. Was this chick for real? It was pretty obvious that she wasn't really enjoying it, and I ended up doing most of the work. But, still, she did let me put my dick in her mouth, so I really shouldn't complain, even if the whole experience had left me somehow feeling empty.

I pressed a quick kiss to her neck. "Thank you," I told her as I moved around her to head back to the fire. "But don't call me Eddie."

~0~

We got back to the fire just as Bella and Jasper were returning from their swim. Bella had thrown on some sweats and the hoody and I could see the outline of her swimsuit as a wet stain on the material. She was shivering and hunched in on herself. She stopped next to Jake and he slid off the log her was on, repositioning himself in front of it on the sand. He spread his legs wide, grabbed her by the hand and pulled her down into the space between them. She curled up into a ball on her side, her head resting on his thigh and he snapped a blanked out over her, tucking it in around the edges of her body.

Jasper resumed his spot by Alice, who stopped talking to Rose long enough to beam at him. Quil stood up then and deposited a guitar in Jasper's lap. "You're gonna serenade us, right J?" He asked.

"Sure."

Jake nudged Bella with his thigh. "You gonna sing for us, Bells?" He asked her. She looked up at him incredulously, but didn't answer.

"Bella can sing?" Curly-haired girl asked, seemingly astonished.

"No."

"Yes." She and Jake answered at the same time. Then Jake scoffed. "Bells is always singing. She used to sing me to sleep when we were still babies."

"If she sings so well, why isn't she in choir with us?" Lauren asked, snidely.

"I don't sing well," Bella responded quietly and I realized that was the first time all day I had heard Bella speak directly to any of the kids outside her own little circle of friends.

"What the fuck, Bella?" Jake snapped. Then looked over at Lauren. "Bella sings beautifully. She sings with Jasper all the time."

"Oh, well. By all means then Bella, wow us with your musical talent." Lauren was being so derisive that I kind of wanted to punch her in the mouth. Of course, thinking that made me remember what I had done with her mouth not long before, and then I felt a little ashamed. I made a mental note to make sure a girl wasn't a raging bitch before I let her go down on me.

Bella was looking a little panicked. She glanced over at Jasper, who then piped up. "Bella only sings with me in private. I don't like to share her with the crowd, Jake. You know that." He winked at Bella and she gave him a small smile in return. "I'll play some things that everyone can join in on." Then he started strumming the guitar lightly, stopping to tune it a little before jumping right into California Dreaming.

Not everyone knew all the verses, but enough did and everyone joined in on the echoes and the chorus. Jasper was pretty good and the number of songs he seemed to know was endless. He played a couple more songs; then took a few requests. Before I knew it an hour had passed in relative peace. Everyone was busy either singing along, listening, or staring quietly into the fire, so I didn't have to endure any more conversation attempts from Lauren or anyone else. That suited me just fine.

At a gap between songs, Jake said "Jazz man, your girl is sound asleep over here," motioning down to Bella still curled up between his legs.

Jasper glanced over, then looked to the rest of us. "She's probably totally wiped. She was up really early this morning cooking. You guys want to head out?"

We all made signs of assent and then moved across the beach, gathering up all the supplies and storing them back in the Yukon. Just as we were finishing up, Jake came over carrying a still sleeping Bella in his arms. Jasper hopped into the middle seat and Jake handed Bella to him. We all said our "goodbyes" and "nice to meet yous" and then Emmett and I climbed into the back row of seats. Alice was our designated driver and Rosalie had called shotgun earlier in the evening.

The ride back to town was quiet. We were all tired from our long day and we sat in relative silence, just some soft music playing from the speakers. It seemed like no time had passed at all and then we were pulling up into the Swan's driveway.

We started piling out of the car, Emmett reaching in to help Jasper maneuver out of his seat with Bella in his arms. As I was starting towards the back to unload, the screen door of the house opened up and a man I presumed to be Bella's dad stepped out. He was tall and quite fit. In the light from the porch, it appeared he shared the same dark hair and eyes Bella had, but then the similarities ended. While Bella was small and unassuming, her father was big and formidable. I could see how that would come in handy in his line of work.

He looked us over closely, then peered at Jasper and Bella. "You kids been drinking, son?" He asked and my jaw nearly hit the ground when Jasper responded in the affirmative.

"Yes sir. Just a few beers."

Chief Swan nodded at Bella. "Bella been drinking?"

"Nah. She's just exhausted from the long day. She fell asleep around the fire a little over an hour ago."

"Who was driving?" He asked gruffly.

"I was!" Alice piped up, waving at him from over the roof of the car. She must have been standing on the driver seat to be able to reach above the Yukon.

Chief Swan pinned her with a severe stare. "Who are you, exactly?" He asked.

"I'm Alice Cullen," she replied jovially. She pointed over at me and Em. "These are my brothers Emmett and Edward. We're your new neighbors across the street." We both gave little nods in the Chief's direction when his attention turned to us.

He looked back over at Alice. "You have anything to drink tonight, Alice?"

"Nope. I was designated driver. I don't have a very high tolerance for alcohol, due to my small stature and all," she giggled back. I was still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that we were being honest about our underage drinking with the Chief of Police.

"Well, Jasper, you best bring Bella up to bed before you drop her. The rest of you can unload everything onto the porch. Just leave it there tonight and we can get it all cleared up in the morning." He held the door open for Jasper and then followed him back into the house.

We got to work emptying the back of the Yukon. Once Bella's dad was out of earshot I leaned into Rosalie. "The Chief of Police is ok with us drinking?" I asked incredulously.

Rosalie shrugged at me. "Charlie's pretty down to earth. Technically we were on the Rez, so he doesn't really have much jurisdiction. But there is an unspoken agreement that as long as no one drinks and drives, he lets us be. I think he realizes that kids are going to drink. He just doesn't want to have to come scrape any of us off the pavement. So, we've kind of got the understanding. And not much gets by him. He'd know if we were driving. Last year Newton had a party and a few kids drove off wasted. Charlie was there within 30 minutes. He busted the party up and slapped quite a few kids with MIPs, then threatened Mike's parents with charges of contributing to the delinquency of minors even though they weren't home. I think Mike was grounded for three months and there were tons of kids working off community service for awhile. Needless to say he got his point across."

I shook my head, still kind of dumbfounded. I guess this was life in a small town. I heard the door open and looked up to see Jasper coming back out to help us finish unloading. Just as we were depositing the last of the coolers on the porch, Charlie stepped back into the doorway.

He looked down at Jasper, who was standing at the base of the stairs. "You get Bella all settled in?"

"Yeah Charlie. She's all tucked in for the night," Jasper answered casually.

Charlie looked at him for a minute longer, as though debating his reply. Then he sighed audibly with a hrumph and a pull of his mustache. "Well if you're going to stay the night I expect you to leave her bedroom door open. And use the front door for God's sake. I'm tired of checking for your dead body under her window every morning!"

He turned around and stomped back into the house. The door had slammed behind him before Jasper managed to get his mouth closed long enough to utter a quick "Yes sir." I guess nothing much does get by The Chief.