***THIS IS NOT BETA'D. I write these for fun, and to get to know all of my characters a little bit better, *wink*.

NGES OUTTAKE

CHAPTER 5

...Edward…

Something startles me awake.

I sit up in a panic and find Bella's sleeping bag empty.

She's totally gone.

It doesn't take me long to realize Ben is also missing.

"They're down on the beach."

I turn to look at Heidi and instantly narrow my eyes after glancing toward the opening of our tent.

I'd already started to notice something going on between Bella and Ben earlier in the week… then my suspicions grew even further tonight when I saw them walking together and laughing at the back of our line heading to the beach.

When he picked her up to carry her into the water… I knew.

My colossal fuck up had apparently been his massive gain this summer.

There's still a chance I'm just being paranoid, but the more I've watched them, the more obvious its become. The two of them have clearly been hanging out together on their own, and during that time, they've gotten to be closer.

How close, I'm not sure.

I almost brought it up to Emmett tonight, but he'd already seemed preoccupied, so instead, I chose to keep it to myself… at least for the time being.

"Wanna go spy on them?"

"What? No! Jesus. Go back to sleep, Heidi." I roll my eyes and fall back to rest my head over my pillow.

Heidi scoffs and moves closer toward me. "F-Y-I, Ri saw Ben sneaking over to Bella's house the other night. Jasper told her it was to leave a prank, but I think we both know that's a lie."

I can feel my agitation rising.

My hands are now clenched into pulsing fists down at my sides from under my sleeping bag.

If Heidi doesn't shut up soon, I'm going to lose my freak'in mind.

"Wanna know another secret?"

"No, Heidi. I don't." I snap back, then turn onto my side with a pathetic huff leaving my lips.

"Geez, sorry!"

There's nothing worse than desperation and Heidi reeks of it on a daily basis.

Tomorrow can't get here soon enough.

Once we get to the mainland I'll be able to make things right. All I'll need is five minutes and Emmett's phone. Nothing is going to get in my way this time. After that… everything will be okay.

At least, that's what I've chosen to tell myself in order to remain calm.

I hear something and look over to find Ben coming back into the tent.

Our eyes meet, but he doesn't say anything.

"Everything okay, brother?"

Heidi just doesn't know when to stop.

"Yeah," he answers, getting back into his sleeping bag, "I had to go pee."

Liar.

"Did Bella have to pee too?"

He chuckles nervously and shakes his head, "No. She's sitting by the fire. She said she can't sleep."

Heidi snickers and mumbles something under her breath.

I remain still for a few more seconds, then roll over onto my back to stare at the top of the tent.

Ben's eyes are on me.

He's more than likely trying to figure out if I believe his excuse for leaving the tent.

As my thoughts begin to force all of the possible worse case scenarios into my head, it's taking everything in me to not leap up and start punching him in the face.

Still… I don't actually know what's been going on, so to jump to conclusions… it wouldn't be fair… it would, however, cause a hell of a lot of drama, and I wasn't looking to start anything at three in the morning.