I blinked a few times, clearing my head of the vivid memory. I glanced down at the forgotten magazine in my hand, reminding myself that I was still in the duty free shop. Snapping out of my trance, I shoved the magazine back into the wire rack before turning quickly, searching out the source of that heavenly sound before I lost it.
I didn't have far to look.
Directly across the hall from where I stood at the store's entrance, a young woman was kissing and hugging two older people goodbye. Her back was towards me, so I couldn't see her face, but I knew that the two people she was talking to were her parents. They were a bit older than I remembered, Charles had much more gray hair and Renee had put on some weight, but I had no doubt in my mind that those were Bella's parents.
Logic alone would tell me that this had to be Bella in front of them, but all my doubts were cast aside the moment Charles leaned down and whispered something to her, pinching her on the nose. She threw her head back and let out another musical laugh, and I swear to God, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs… whatever your poison… that I felt that laugh ring all the way through my bones.
I moved to stand behind a spinning rack of postcards, pretending to browse while I watched them for the next minute or two as they said their goodbyes. I didn't want to take any chance of them looking my way and thinking I was a total stalker, which - if I was being totally honest with myself - I probably was. I just couldn't help it, though; I couldn't take my eyes off her. I wanted so badly to see how she looked as a grown woman… to see if my memories had done her justice or glorified her. If the way she had looked at seventeen was any indication, she was bound to be gorgeous.
I could still only see her back and a few glimpses of her cheek when she turned her head, but everything I saw looked wonderful. Her hair seemed a little shorter than it had been, but it was also slung up in a ponytail so it was hard to be certain. She was wearing a black tank top and blue jeans that clung tightly to every curve on her body, and I couldn't help noticing that those curves had become even more sinful than they had been in the past.
Whatcha starin' at there, Eddie?
The memory flooded through me unbidden. All the images that I had specifically tried not to think about for so long were slowly coming back to me. I thought that I had locked them away for good, but apparently they were only lying dormant.
14 years ago…
"Huh?" I replied, shaking off my daze and turning to face Emmett. We were sitting in a couple of deck chairs next to my parents' pool, watching some of Jasper and Emmett's friends splash around like idiots.
"I said… whatcha starin' at there?" He nodded over to where Jasper had Bella up on his shoulders, getting ready to play another round of chicken.
"Just making sure none of these brats get too gropey out there, or mom will have my ass. I promised her this wouldn't turn into some kind of Roman sex orgy while she was gone." I paused for a moment before adding, "And don't fucking call me Eddie."
"You're so touchy," he chuckled.
It was the summer after my second year of grad school, and I had moved into a little piece of shit, off-campus apartment with my old roommate, Garrett. It was nice being out on my own, but most weekends I could be found right back here. My mom thought that it was cute, that I just couldn't cut the strings completely, but it probably had more to do with the fact that they had central air and free laundry facilities. Not to mention the in-ground pool.
I wasn't a total mooch, however. I tried to help out around the place when I could, which was how I had gotten suckered into babysitting the hormone brigade that afternoon while my mom went to some fundraiser meeting. I had been sitting there for over an hour already, reminding myself that my apartment was probably about ninety degrees right now and the closest laundromat was four blocks away. It was worth listening to a bunch of doofuses argue about who really owned Nevermind before Cobain killed himself, and who was just a poseur.
Ninety degrees and four blocks. Ninety degrees and four blocks.
I had just managed to zone out in an attempt to save my sanity when Emmett interrupted me again. "I can't believe you didn't sneak us home any beer," he pouted.
"And I can't believe that you even thought I would consider it," I growled.
"Ugh! What's the point of even having a brother in his twenties, then?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, butthole, but I'm not going to contribute to you turning into a douchebag, beer-swilling jock at sixteen. Maybe in a couple years when you're a senior or something, but until then, this liquor store is closed."
"Man, this fucking sucks!" he huffed, kicking the empty chair next to him as he stood up.
"Language," I teased.
"Are you kidding me with this shit, you old lady?" he yelled back at me as he stomped away towards the diving board, flipping me the middle finger over his shoulder. After smiling widely and sending him the same sign back, I settled in to lose myself in my survival mantra once again.
Ninety degrees and four blocks. Ninety degrees and four blocks.
It didn't last long, however. Just as I was getting deep into the zone, a loud screech yanked me back out. "Jasper, no! Don't drop me! Merda!"
I looked up in time to see a very wide-eyed Bella splashing backwards into the water, her death grip on Jasper's hair pulling him down after her with a yelp. Apparently they had lost that round, since Peter and Charlotte were left standing, raising their hands and shouting in victory.
"You have to let go when you fall!" Jasper called out as he resurfaced, rubbing his sore scalp.
"I can't help it!" Bella laughed and then teased him. "Maybe if you were just stronger?"
"Why you little—" he grabbed her around the waist, dunking her under the water again. When Bella popped back up she splashed water in his face before throwing her arms around his neck and kissing Jasper quickly on the lips.
I looked away for a moment, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. I used to think they were an adorable little couple at times like that, but lately it just felt… wrong. Perhaps I was just becoming some kind of prude, or maybe I just didn't want to see my dorky little brother making out. Whatever the reason, I didn't like having a front row seat to their awkward fumblings.
I looked back as she let go of him, just in time to see Jasper's eyes glance down briefly before shooting back up to her face again, his cheeks instantly flaming red.
"I am getting cold," Bella said, pulling away from him and swimming towards the ladder on my side of the pool. "I think I will lie out for a while. Are you coming?"
He suddenly looked very nervous and ducked down deeper into the water. "Uh… no, I'm good for now. You go ahead."
Well, well, well. Looks like little Jasper still can't control his boners. It would be funny if it wasn't pathetic.
Just then, Bella interrupted my train of thought when she climbed up out of the water, stopping right in front of me to towel off. "Hi, Edward!" she smiled brightly, ringing out her long, dark hair. "It is such a lovely day today, no?"
"No… uh, I mean yes. It's nice enough, I guess." I was trying my hardest to keep my eyes level with hers and not allow them to wander any lower than was appropriate; I didn't want anyone to catch me looking again.
"May I sit with you?" she asked, gesturing to the chair that Emmett had recently vacated.
"Only if you promise not to mention Nirvana, Pearl Jam, or the upcoming football season." I said with a smile.
"Poor Edward," she laughed, straightening out the deck chair and spreading the towel over it so that she could lie on her back. "Lucky for you, I do not care about those things."
"Don't let Jasper hear you say that; you'll break his heart."
"He knows better than to expect me to like things just because he does. I have enough trouble with my father telling me what to do all the time; I don't need Jasper telling me what music to like on top of it."
"Fair enough." It was well known in our house that Bella's father, Charles, tended to be rather controlling when it came to his only daughter. He loved her dearly, but I sometimes got the impression that he would lock her away in a tower to protect her if he thought he could get away with it.
Glancing quickly at her body as she stretched out on the chair next to me, I could see why.
To say that Bella had filled out over the last year would be an understatement. Gone was the scrawny girl with knobby knees who had tripped up our stairs so many times I'd lost count; what remained was some sort of voluptuous, wicked temptation that made my fingertips itch.
I pulled my sunglasses on and laid my head against the back of the chair, giving the impression that I was resting, when all I really wanted was an opportunity to just… look. Just one minute of being able to study her more closely without anyone knowing. It's not like it was any big deal; that's just what guys did. If you are in a swimsuit in front of a guy, ten times out of ten, you're gonna get looked at. The fact that it was my little brother's teenage girlfriend didn't change anything; it only meant that I had to be more secretive about it.
I started at her toes and worked my way up, sliding my eyes over her naturally bronzed skin. I loved that sheen on a woman's smooth legs when the sun hit them, and hers were no exception. I kept going, turning my head slightly to see better, but not enough so that she would notice. When I landed on her hips, I couldn't help but notice how much wider they were; she had formed quite the little hourglass while I was busy not paying any attention to her.
I had also noticed earlier, though she was currently laying on it, that she had developed one of the roundest, juiciest asses I had ever seen. It just didn't seem fair that something so perfectly sinful was wasted on my brother, who I was positive had absolutely no idea how to handle curves so vicious.
My eyes continued their journey, up over the basic one-piece teal swimsuit that would have seemed modest on anyone else, but on Bella it just looked delicious. I landed on the soft mounds of her breasts, not intending to linger, but was thrown off guard when I noticed exactly what had made Jasper so… frustrated.
She hadn't been lying when she had told him she was cold. Her tightened nipples were poking out through the material in her suit, so high that I could practically tell what time it was.
I didn't mean to stare, I really didn't, but I had no idea how long I looked at them. It was like they had little tractor beams attached to them. I had only wanted to do a quick once-over to appreciate a beautiful girl, not to practically start drooling on her like a dog staring at a bone.
Speaking of bone…
As soon as I noticed a familiar stirring inside my swim trunks, I jumped up quickly and ran inside the house, praying that nobody would notice before it got out of hand.
"Where are you going?" I heard Bella call after me through the screen door. She had been about to doze off in the sun when my sudden movement had startled her.
"Uh… just cooling off for a bit," I yelled back, trying not to think of exactly how true that statement was.
I stood there in the kitchen for a few minutes with my head stuck in the freezer, taking deep breaths and telling myself that it was one thing to glance and appreciate, but it was another thing entirely to perv. I didn't want to be the creepy, pervy older brother.
There I had been, looking down on Jasper for sporting wood at sixteen with his first girlfriend, and I was no better at twenty-four from a tiny peek of hard nips. Also from the same girlfriend.
When I had calmed myself enough to go back outside, I bypassed my original chair and dove straight into the water, policing the gropers for the rest of the afternoon from inside the pool.
I didn't even glance in Bella's direction again, except to say a mumbled goodbye when she was leaving that night after dinner.
I also made it a point to never swim with them again.