The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: Beach

Pen Name: maxandmo

Pairing/Main Character(s):ExB

Rating: M

Multi-chapter

Photo prompts can be viewed here: thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

I don't own Twilight. Extra special thanks to Twilly for encouraging me to write and Sarah for beta'ing! Luv ya's! (maxandmo on Twitter and Maxandmo Fanfiction on FB)

6. Beach

Edward felt a pull toward this girl ever since he first laid eyes on her during the plane ride. He couldn't quite explain it. It was as if he needed to set his sights on her before he could relax. When he saw her on the beach just after sunrise, he felt as if his day was starting out on the right path.

Seeing her made him feel alive, which was a large indicator of what was missing in his life, and in his relationship. Perhaps it was because this girl seemed to be the polar opposite of the one he was expected to be with. The one he could barely stand. The one he was with because his family thought he should be. The one he was expected to propose to on this very trip.

He cooled his jog down to a walk and wiped his sweaty brow with his t-shirt. When he looked up he noticed that she was blushing, and he was giddy over the fact that he had just as much as an effect on her.

He couldn't help but smile as he greeted her. "Hey, Isabella. Glad to see that I'm not the only early bird."

He was taken aback by her scowl and was mentally berating himself for believing even for a minute that he had any sort of effect on her. After all, for all he knew she was as happy as could be with her fiancé. Though, the several times he had observed them told him otherwise.

He was just about to turn and leave when she started talking. "The early bird gets the worm. Well, not that I want your worm but you know… Shit. Sorry. Okay, um, hi," she muttered, clearly embarrassed.

Edward couldn't help himself and started laughing. "What makes you think I want to give you my worm, Isabella?"

Again, she gave him a dirty look. He was completely baffled by the pretty, babbling girl.

"Bella."

"What?"

"Please, call me Bella. I hate Isabella."

"Okay," he said relieved. "Bella. I like it."

"I'm glad someone does," she said under her breath. He was about to ask what she meant by that until she quickly changed the subject. "Did you have a good run this morning?"

"Yeah, I think I went about three miles. Running on the beach sure makes a difference. My calves are already starting to tighten up. Have you been out here long?"

"You know what? I have no idea. I fell into sort of a trance just thinking, and I left my watch inside. It's so beautiful here, I didn't want to waste any of the day sleeping, you know? Plus, it's nice to have some alone time."

His face fell, "Okay, well I…uh…just wanted to say hello and properly introduce myself. I'm Edward Masen." He reached up to her and held out his hand so she could shake it.

Bella leaned over to reciprocate, and in the process, lost her balance, falling off of the rock and crashing into Edward sending them both to the ground.

Edward felt like there was sand sticking to his entire body made much worse by the fact that he was a total sweat ball. The wind had been knocked out of him, and he was unable to move.

"Shit. I'm such a fucking klutz. I'm so sorry, Edward Masen."

He opened his eyes to see her staring into them. She was straddling him, and besides being self-conscience about his sweaty self, there was nowhere else he would have rather been at that moment. He looked deeply into her eyes and did not like what he saw there at all.

Fear.

"Bella, it was an accident. Besides, you needed to get down sooner or later." He was trying his best to make light of the situation. He would take an accident like that any day of the week. He rubbed his hands on her arms and was surprised when she winced. "Oh, no. Did you hurt yourself?"

She quickly pulled the sleeves of her t-shirt down as far as they would go but not before he noticed some bruises on her biceps. "I'm fine. I'm just klutzy, that's all."

Edward didn't have a good feeling about her bruises or the way she was acting all defensive about them all of a sudden. He didn't want to push her, in fear that she wouldn't want to talk to him anymore. He had the feeling she would need a friend, and he hoped he could be that person if and when she needed him to be.

She pushed herself off of him and then held out her hand to help him up. He smiled at her and took her hand in his. Just the mere feel of her hand on his made his stomach flip flop. He noticed that she gasped when they touched, looking at him quizzically. They both stood there staring at each other as if time stood still.

Neither one of them seemed to want to let go of the other. Bella reached her other hand out and attempted to wipe some sand out of his hair. They both laughed when it barely budged. The slight tension of earlier was quickly forgotten.

"I'm a mess."

"A hot one at that."

"Why thank you, Bella," he said with a wink that made her swoon.

"Edward Masen, you're sweaty, which means you're hot!" she quipped.

He laughed and got a twinkle in his eye. "Bella, you're not so cool yourself."

When she looked at herself she gasped in mock horror. Her t-shirt was wet in places from Edward's sweat, and there was sand all over the front of her. Together they looked like two hot messes.

"There's only one way to fix this," Edward sang as he started to run toward the ocean.

Bella followed with laughter of her own.

Carlisle Cullen looked out to the beach with glee. It didn't seem like there was much he needed to do concerning them.

He walked into the main house, settled on his chase lounge, and relaxed to the distant sound of their joyful noise.