Miss us? Thanks again to MaggieMay14 and smmiskimen who deal with this madness.

We don't own Twilight; Risbee owns a new haircut and CPW has sore feet. That's all we got.

Song: Hot Fun in the Summertime by Sly & The Family Stone

BPOV

If there was one thing that was predictable about beach weather, it was that it was unpredictable. Edward and I had planned to do the touristy thing; going to Fort Macon, visiting some piers, just getting away from the house for a bit, but Mother Nature had other plans. One look at the sky to the west and there was no question about it, it was a good day to visit the aquarium. Three hours later and we were still there. We had seen everything there was to see, and while it was more interesting than I thought it would be, admittedly I was getting a bit bored. Plus, I had a few things on my mind.

"Kate is acting funny."

"That's nice." Edward was staring moonstruck at a giant massive toothy shark as it slowly swam past us. Again. I mean, the exhibit it was in was in a circle, so it had very few options, but still. At least start swimming counterclockwise, change depths or something. I was switching back and forth between being hypnotized and claustrophobic. I needed to get outside in a bad way so I grabbed Edward's hand and pulled slightly, suggesting that maybe we move closer to the exit to see if it was still raining or maybe over to the otters, because at least they were cute and funny, even if they would gnaw your hand off at the first chance they got. Yeah, I knew random shit about otters.

Had I mentioned that we had been here for three hours already?

Still, Edward was standing so close to the glass that his nose was practically smooched flat and his breath was starting to fog up the surface. Sighing, I went and sat on one of the benches behind him and kept talking. Eventually he had to blink or move or something and maybe then I'd get his attention. Who knew the guy had such a thing for aquatic life. I bet he loved the movie Splash, or maybe he had shark fetish like Chandler from Friends. Nah, that would just be too fucked up for my Edward.

"Something is off with her and more than usual. I can't quite figure out what it is, but she hasn't been acting like herself. I'm suspicious."

He was still entranced by the exhibit, so I stood up, moved closer and nudged him with my hip. "Yeah, I think that's a great idea, Bella." He nodded and then moved over a bit to get a better view of whatever had caught his attention. It clearly wasn't me though.

So this was how it was going to be, huh? Eh, he was too cute to get mad at, so I just kept talking. If it got much worse, I could always go accidentally on purpose brush my boobs against him since he did seem rather fond of them. All the sneaking around we did for those four whole days really upped my manipulation skills. "Who knows? I'll talk to Charlotte about it later today. I'm just getting this vibe…"

"I'm sorry, what?"

And what do you know…suddenly, Edward was paying attention to me. Of course, he WOULD hear that word of all words, but maybe that had something to do with me letting slip that I had a few here with me. See…manipulation.

I mean, I had to admit that there was a little bit of a thrill in all the covertness and sneaking around but it was so much better this way than having to worry about who might be walking around the corner.

The past few days had been epic. Beyond epic. They were stupendous. Magnificent. The best. Ever!

All because of Edward.

We were like magnets, drawn to each other, and I couldn't help but be happy when I was around him. I held his hand whenever I wanted – which was all the time. I gave him little kisses whenever I wanted – which was all the time. I squeezed his cute little rear whenever I wanted – which, again, was all the time.

But it wasn't just his hotness that attracted me; Edward was probably the most genuine, the nicest and the kindest person that I had ever met. I hadn't asked directly, but I bet he had a rainbow permanently arched above his house growing up.

Things were exactly how I wanted them to be.

Of course, we had to contend with the death glares from Kate whenever she saw us together, but it was completely worth it. We just made sure never to leave the other alone with her for more than a few minutes and always make sure that we never turned our back to her. It honestly didn't even phase me though, because Kate and her five stages of grief or whatever it was that was making her act the way she had been, couldn't compete with my complete and utter euphoria.

Have I mentioned that I was happy? Because I was.

Especially now, with Edward's arms wrapped around me, because while he was still staring at the effin' shark, at least he realized that I was standing here with him. Just the contact made me feel better and I absolutely appreciated these quiet moments with him. They were calming and peaceful and just ours, which was hard to come by in a house with six people.

Every night, Edward would sleep in my room. We still hadn't done the nitty gritty because, well, it had only been a week or two, but it was coming. Then, if things go as planned, so would we.

Anyway, he'd wake me up with soft, sweet kisses before he left, allowing me time to start moving at my own speed. By the time I was fully awake and had coffee in hand, he was back from his run and in the shower. Then we'd meet on my balcony and figure out what we were going to do for the day. I was still warm and sleepy and he was warm from the sun on his shoulders and he smelled like soap. He'd nuzzle my neck with his nose and I'd lean into him like he was the most comfy pile of man pillows ever. Awesome.

Kate only threw water balloons at us once.

"Did you hear anything I said earlier? About Kate?"

Edward grinned that silly little grin and nodded, but when I looked at him and arched my eyebrow, he slowly converted that nod into a shake and his grin became a little less silly and a little more sheepish. Kissing him on the nose, I gave a quick recap and then waited for his thoughts.

"What makes you say that? I haven't noticed anything different. She still seems bitchy more often than not, though I'm sure Garrett is happy that he's not her main focus these days."

"I don't know. I went to go get my coffee and she handed me a spoon."

"A spoon? Woah, that's huge!" Edward looked amused and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing because it was ridiculous, but still. I was serious and worried about my friend.

"Yes, a spoon. And yes, it was huge. Yesterday, she made decaf and then hid the regular stuff. Did you not notice my tears? And she texted me a picture of the Burger King king when she knows that shit terrifies me. And then…" I signaled for Edward to move closer because I really didn't want anybody to hear what I was about to say. "She created a Celine Dion station on Pandora." I looked around, scanning the people around us on the off chance that Charlotte and Peter had suddenly apparated beside us. "You have no way of knowing this, but Charlotte is a diehard Celine fan and when she heard the first three notes of 'My Heart Will Go On' she started crying and sobbing about Jack and Rose. Then she started doing her imitation of her 'All By Myself' performance, complete with chest banging. Fourteen times yesterday I had to endure that madness. I may never recover. Hold me." I collapsed into his arms over-dramatically and shuddered just thinking about it.

"NO!"

"I know, right? That was just way wrong." I started going on and on about how horrible Kate had been acting when I realized that maybe Edward was patronizing me just a little bit. He did look more amused than horrified. "You know what, never mind. I obviously know her better than you, so of course these things are going to stick out, but what I was going to say is that, I'm worried about her today. Something is different about the way she's acting. She's all smiles and kindness and I'm honestly a little frightened. She's either had too much sun and it has started to affect her mentally, or she's planning something and trying to lull me into a false sense of security."

What I needed to do was try and get Charlotte away from Peter and alone for a couple of minutes to see if she'd noticed anything different. "Maybe I just need to sit her down and let her scream at me for a bit. After all, Charlotte and I have kind of abandoned her and our plans for the summer. She has had a tough time with her parental situation and I just want to make sure that she's okay. It's worth the verbal beat down."

"Do it tomorrow. Give her one more day to cool off, get over it, and come to terms with it, whatever she needs to do, and tomorrow, if she's not cool with it, then we sit her down and figure out how we can get through the rest of the summer. But for now, I don't want to think about Kate or Garrett or fighting or anything. In fact, I think we should look at the sharks again."

I giggled a little bit because it was just so out of the blue and random and when I looked at him, I couldn't help but smile. The expression on his face was priceless; he looked like Ralphy from 'A Christmas Story' when he was asking for the Red Rider BB Gun. So hopeful and excited. How could I resist?

"Do you have any idea how cute you are?" I said as I kissed the tip of his nose. "I'm sorry to be such a downer this morning, but I just know she's been through a lot and I'm worried that she's taking this personally."

"I honestly think she'll be fine when she gets a chance to calm down. She reminds me a lot of my friend Emmett's girlfriend, Rosalie. Sometimes it's better to give her some space than try and talk to her. After a few days, the situation has diffused itself and everything is back to normal," Edward explained calmly as he tightened his grip around me. "There are some people in this world that just aren't worth arguing with. Not to say that they aren't worth it, because obviously you, Kate and Charlotte have a great friendship, but she just seems like she's one to get set in her ways and she has to be the one to make the decision to change her mind. She's not easily convinced and the more you push, the more she'll push back. I say just let her come to terms with her disappointment or resentment or jealousy,"

I stopped him there, arching my eyebrow, "Jealousy? You think she has a thing for you?"

"You certainly have a thing for me, why wouldn't she? I mean, few women have been able to resist my charms and attention." He waggled his eyebrows and I leaned on his shoulder, sighing in contentment. A few weeks after we met and he already knows how to calm me down. Either I'm extremely readable or he's extremely insightful or maybe we just work together well. Whatever it was, it was good.

"Oh wait! I forgot, you promised we could go back to the giant crab and take pictures! I want to do that! Come on!" Edward had puppy dog energy. I'd noticed that about him. When we weren't cuddling with each other, he was bouncing around, constantly in motion. Running, playing football on the beach. The boy couldn't stay still.

"Breathe! We have all summer."

I pushed him down on the bench I had been sitting on earlier and his hand started to skim along the hem of my t-shirt, and I straddled him on the bench, ignoring the looks from the people around us and the pain that I felt in my knees because sometimes you had to suffer a bit to get what you wanted.

"We have been here long enough. Let's go get lunch at Big Oak. They have those shrimp burgers that you wanted the other day." More and more I was starting to get excited about the idea and I started going through my list of things I'd seen but not been able to do since getting here. "Oh, and we should definitely go to Water Boggan! They have Go-Carts. Of course, it's not as awesome as Jungleland, but they've closed down. And you know, we never did play Putt-Putt." I grinned back at him because putt putt had become one of our little jokes.

"Can we get ice cream first?" He smirked and it made me tingly.

"Why? Want me to suck on you again?" I shot him my most innocent look and did an internal fist pump when he started coughing and choking and I think he may have started to blush a little bit. And then there were the hiccups.

Gah, he was just the cutest thing ever.

"Do you know how much I like you, Edward Cullen?" I asked as I somehow disentangled myself from his lap and helped him up off the bench. And no, I did not miss the fact that he had to do some adjusting.

"Enough to show me your boobs?" he asked, reaching for them as I shuffled back out of his way.

"You play your cards right and I may even let you touch one. Now, let's get out of here. I feel like playing with your balls...I mean some balls."

EPOV

The date was nothing short of fun in my opinion, and from the look on Bella's face I would say she agreed. Sure, I may have annoyed her a little bit at the aquarium, but she kicked my ass at putt-putt, so I think that more than made up for it.

However, the highlight of the night for me was that her hand was currently tightly entwined with mine as we made our way up the stairs and into her bedroom. Sure, it wasn't the first time I had been in there, because it was a nightly occurrence these days, but tonight it just seemed like we were determined for more...and I desperately wanted more.

When we came in I noticed that Peter's car was gone, so I quickly assumed that he and Charlotte were out, but I couldn't make any assumptions as to where Kate or Garrett were. Well, Kate I figured was moping somewhere or calling her dad to bitch while Garrett was probably trying to track down someone stupid enough to sleep with him. That was their prerogative though.

All I was concerned about right then was that Bella and I were about to have ourselves a little alone time. This time, I was bound and determined to make the most of it too. Sure, it had been a few days since the whole ghost walk incident, but Kate hadn't taken the news of our dating, or Peter and Charlotte's for that matter, very well.

Even though Bella and I had managed time alone together, Kate just always seemed on the periphery of everything, scowling and looking at us like we had three heads or something. Now that Kate was nowhere to be found, I was going to enjoy myself. In fact, the moment we passed through the door, I practically lunged at Bella, desperate to feel her lips against mine again. "For the record, I hate Kate."

"Oh come on, Kate is great."

"Isn't that a song?" I asked curiously as I grabbed the hem of Bella's shirt without any hesitance and pulled it from her before I yanked mine off as well. She still had on a tank top and bra underneath, sadly.

"Yeah, by the Bouncing Souls. I like to listen to them sometimes when I paint."

"That's nice...less talking, more touching," I urged as Bella walked backwards and fell onto her bed, giggling happily as I stalked towards her. She sat up on the edge and I leaned down to cup her face and sucked her bottom lip into my mouth. "You are so delicious."

I was just about to push her back down and crawl over her, but Bella had other ideas. Her fingers reached up and began to fumble with my belt, pulling it free with a mischievous look on her face. I couldn't get past the fact that Bella was probably about to either give me a hand job or a blow job, and to be brutally honest, both sounded fucking fantastic.

"Baby?" I questioned stupidly as Bella just looked up at me with her big brown eyes and nodded as she shoved my shorts out of the way. I suddenly felt like a complete idiot standing there in my happy face boxer shorts as Bella let out a small snort and then looked up at me with a face that said 'really?' "Oh come on, cut a guy some slack. Anyways, what's underneath is very happy right now."

Bella let out a small laugh before she tugged my boxers down and was left sitting in front of my very aroused dick. She let out a small moan of appreciation before her soft hand wrapped around my length, stroking me as I began moaning loudly. It had been a while since anyone other than me had their hand wrapped around my cock and to say I was a little excited was an understatement.

I lolled my head back and stared at the ceiling briefly, trying to maintain some composure, but when I looked back down, Bella was slipping the head of my cock between her lips and I literally growled at the sight. Jesus fuck, it felt and looked so damn good – like hot fucking heaven. Her hand was gripped around the base of my shaft and her mouth was moving slowly, teasing me as she wrapped her tongue around my length.

"Holy shit," I groaned a moment later as I felt Bella's teeth scrape the underside of my cock.

Unable to stand there with my hands clenched at my sides any longer, I used one hand to thread through Bella's hair, never once pushing her down onto my cock, though I was tempted. The other hand reached down and slipped through the top of her tank top, past the fabric of her bra, to grope her bare breast. As my fingers teased her nipple, rolling and pinching it, Bella began to moan around my aching dick, making me throb.

I began thinking about taking the initiative and pulling Bella away so that I could lavish some attention on her, and also prolong everything, since if she kept going I wouldn't last long, but Bella clearly had other ideas. She pulled me out of her mouth and began licking and sucking just the tip of my cock and as I moved my hand from her hair to push the straps of her shirt and bra down, Bella suddenly sucked me deeper into her mouth.

Sweet Jesus...is that the back of her throat?

I looked down once more and I was completely done for. Bella was eagerly taking me into her mouth, with one hand still clutching me tightly and the other was pulling her shirt down. Seeing her erect and very pink nipple between her own fingers literally killed me and without much warning I was suddenly coming in her mouth.

"Oh Jesus...fucking shit, I am so sorry, Bella," I choked out as Bella looked up at me through her lashes and pulled my softening cock out of her mouth. Then she licked her lips and I had to admit she looked very fucking pleased with herself. I think I fell in love with her right there.

"Don't apologize, Edward," Bella said sweetly as she stood up from the bed and began kissing her way up my chest. "I thoroughly enjoyed that."

"Oh, did you now?" I asked as my hands ghosted slowly up her bare sides and my hands began to cup her breasts. Yup, there was definitely a little more than a handful. I kissed her lips softly as my thumbs traced over her highly aroused nipples and just as I was about to kiss my way down her neck to her breasts and give them some attention, there was a super loud crashing sound from down on the main deck.

"Shit...do you think someone is trying to break in?" Bella asked, sounding completely petrified. Fuck, I hoped not. I was really hoping to get laid. I pulled my boxers and shorts back on and Bella put her shirt back on before we headed tentatively down the stairs to see what the ruckus was.

I grabbed a Maglite from the closet and Bella grabbed the biggest umbrella in there and we headed through the kitchen to the back together.

"If there is someone out there, we've called the police," Bella shouted, thinking that her threat would scare away any potential burglar. The beach house was equipped with an alarm, but since Charlotte and Peter were out, we didn't have it armed. "I have an umbrella and I'm not afraid to shove it up your ass."

As we neared the back door, Bella and I both heard a suspicious giggle so we lowered our 'weapons' and slid open the back door to find Kate sitting in the hot tub by herself with a glass of wine in her hand.

"What in the fuck are you doing? What was that noise?" Bella challenged as Kate shrugged her shoulders and looked at her with indifference. "You didn't hear that loud crashing noise?"

"Umm...no," she replied suspiciously as Bella began to walk around the deck trying to figure out what was going on. Bella motioned for me to check something out on the far side of the tub and sure enough, there was a broken wine glass there. I did a double take when I looked at Kate, because she was currently sipping out of full glass.

"Okay, something shifty is going on here. You broke a glass, yet you are holding one? Were you double-fisting your drinks?" I questioned as Kate let out a sigh. She also looked seriously pissed that I had bothered to question her.

"No...do I look like a lush to you? Now, I was just trying to enjoy the hot tub and a drink. There's no one breaking in, so go back to whatever the hell you were doing." Bella and I both looked at each other and she looked just as curious as I did. "No, really...you guys can go now."

"Well actually...now that I see you in the tub, I think a nice long soak sounds like a great idea," Bella said, speaking her words slowly, which infuriated Kate.

"I'd like to be alone," Kate forced out as the water suddenly began moving and pouring over the side of the hot tub and Garrett popped up from the water buck naked. His skin was flushed and I could only imagine how long he had been under the water holding his breath. Kate looked mortified to have been caught red-handed, so to speak.

"Holy fuck," he panted breathlessly as I took in his bright red face. "I can't breathe underwater that fucking long. Sorry, Katie."

"What in the hell are you two doing?" I shouted as Garrett didn't bother to cover up his junk, but Bella had the good sense to turn away so that she wasn't looking. "I thought you guys hated each other."

"Hate is such a strong word," Garrett defended as he sat down and Bella came closer to me as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "We dislike each other, but we don't hate. Never hate."

"Are you two fucking?"

"Right now?" Garrett questioned with a huge grin on his face. "No, we're not fucking right now. I mean...my dick is big, but she's all the way over there. Anyways, we're not exhibitionists." Bella snorted at the comment about his dick size and I felt somewhat proud. She thought I was bigger than Garrett...fucking right.

"You are stark fucking naked in a hot tub right now and you claim you're not an exhibitionist?"

"Pay attention my friend, I said we're not. I would flaunt my shit to half the town, but I respect Kate too much to fuck her in public. The deck of the house is private enough." Since when did he fucking respect Kate? It was only two weeks ago that he was calling her the Hamburgler and suddenly he has no problem having sex with her? How much did she have to drink that she fell for his shit?

"Did you guys fuck in the hot tub at all since we got here?" Bella clarified, with her hands on her hips, looking rather defiant. Fuck, I wanted to fuck her in the hot tub all of a sudden. Kate looked at Garrett and a grin crossed her face, which was a dead giveaway.

"We didn't actually fuck in the tub, just to clarify. We were on the edge."

"Well, I guess Garrett was the one mainly in the tub. I was on the edge when he was eating..."

"Noooo Kate. No more. I don't want to hear it. It doesn't matter if you had sex on the edge or right in the middle, you two are still cleaning that tub out tomorrow," Bella explained, clearly flustered with her best friend. "It feels like everything is just off all of a sudden. You guys are supposed to be hurling insults and names at each other."

"Oh, I called her a few names, alright," Garrett laughed as he moved towards Kate and eased his arm over her shoulder. I think Bella and I were both shocked when Kate leaned in and seemed to genuinely like being beside Garrett.

"The world is ending, that's the only way I can explain this. It's one of the signs of the apocalypse." Bella shouted overdramatically as I looked to my left and saw Peter and Charlotte walk through the back door and onto the deck. They looked pleased as punch with their hands held tightly together.

"What's going on?" Peter asked casually as Bella turned from me and threw her hands up in frustration.

"Garrett and Kate are fucking!"

"Right now? Why in the fuck are we watching?" Charlotte asked mortified as she covered her eyes with her hand.

"No, not right now. They were...they are...I don't know what the hell they are."

"I think we've clarified that we don't hate each other, that's it," Kate admitted as Charlotte pulled her hand from her face and looked at Bella. It was like they had some secret, wordless discussion going on because before I knew it, they were nodding their heads and stalking towards the hot tub.

"Okay, you've had enough. You're coming with us," Charlotte stated as she reached her hand out to grab Kate's elbow and she tried to pull her from the tub. However, Garrett moved his hand to wrap around Kate's waist and he wouldn't let her budge. "Stop it, Garrett. We just need to talk to her."

Garrett whispered something into Kate's ear and she burst out laughing as she shook her head from side to side. "Give me five minutes?"

"No! Now."

"I'm not wearing bottoms," Kate shouted out as Garrett unexpectedly climbed from the hot tub, flashing all of us his junk, and grabbed a towel from the chair beside them. He held it up and helped Kate from the tub, clearly not giving a shit that he was naked. "Thanks, baby," she purred as she leaned in and gave Garrett a kiss while the rest of us cringed.