Disclaimer: I don't like the Beach Boys. It's true! I also don't own Twilight.

Twenty-Eight

There are some times when I miss home. I miss my mum and my dad, and the calm of the country.

But today is not one of those days.

It's late afternoon, and a lunch with friends and family has turned into a long lunch, which has turned into drinks and maybe dinner too. The table is crowded with empty glasses and jugs, empty bowls that once held chips and wedges, the lone little leftovers cold and crunchy at the bottom. There are ash trays and packs of cigarettes littering the tabletop, screwed up napkins and stray knives and forks.

My stomach is full with food and cider, and I can barely move. So I don't. Instead, I sit in the sun like a cat, enjoying its warmth and having my friends around me.

The late February sun casts a warm golden glow over the outdoor eatery, warm, but not hideously so. Almost everyone is here, save for a few stragglers. Ben has Lia while Ange works a shift at the bar, and Embry, still enjoying his freedom as a newly minted adult, sits up beside him, talking to Paul.

Jasper is over at a table nearby, talking to some family friends with Alice by his side. It's still so strange to see him with the same girl.

Since the day of the competition, when I found her half-naked in the kitchen, Alice has been somewhat of a fixture at our place. It's taken a little time to bring her out of her shell, she wasn't kidding when she said she was socially awkward, but Rosie and I are warming to her, and it'll be nice to have another female around to even out the numbers - even if she won't go anywhere near the water. Plus, Jasper is a whole lot less of a deviant when she's around, so there's that.

Edward sits across the table from me, a few seats down, beside his brother. He's sitting deep in his seat, looking completely at ease with his hat is low on his forehead, shielding him from the sun, his long legs splayed wide in front of him. I'm only half listening to Kate and Rosie, who are sitting beside me, and when he laughs at something Emmett says, tipping his head back, his perfect white teeth and smile sparkling in the sun, I'm instantly taken back to our first meeting on the beach. Cocky bastard. If only I'd known.

With adoration-filled eyes, I watch as he gets up to greet another well-wisher; another friend here to say goodbye to both he and Emmett.

A part of me is desperate to bury myself beneath his clothes and zip up his bag around me so that he's forced to take me with him. But that niggling little voice in the back of my head reminds me that I've only known this guy for two minutes, and following him around the world with no job, no money, no idea, isn't the best option. The only thing I can do is wait. It's not perfect, but it's all I have.

Anyway, Rosie and Emmett do it, and have done it for years, and they're two seconds away from being the cutest freaking couple I've ever seen. There's something in Rosie that seems to tame Emmett. I've got no doubt that he's raised hell in the past; you can see it in his eyes – that cheeky glint of mischief. But Rosie grounds him in the same way that Emmett brings out the softer, girlier side of Rose. They really are two halves of a whole.

Emmett's been touring since he was sixteen, and as soon as Edward was old enough, he was too. Obviously, no one in their right mind would let a sixteen-year-old girl follow her teenage crush around the world. And to be honest, I think for the moment the situation worked for Emmett and Rosie. But even I can see a change in her as Emmett's departure date looms. She says that every time is harder than the last, no matter how long he'll be gone. I don't know how she's going to handle it this time, even with me here to help soften the blow for her. Fuck, I don't know how I'm going to handle it.

Like he knows I'm starting to wallow, Edward chooses that moment to creep up behind me and wrap his arms around my shoulders, burying his face in my neck.

"You right?"

"Yeah, I'm good." My nose scrunches. "You smell like beer."

"Really?" He takes a deep breath. "Well you smell like that coconut stuff from your shower."

Coconut stuff. Trust Edward to call my organic coconut body scrub that cost me an arm and a leg "stuff".

As the afternoon wears on, people come and go, but the core group of boys remain, getting drunker and more obnoxious by the hour.

"You have to watch out for my missus," says Edward, pointing at Jasper. "Make sure those little groms don't get in her way, and make sure she doesn't rip herself up on those rocks out past that left break."

"Yeah, yeah," says Jasper, shifting deeper into his seat, his pinkie intertwined with Alice's between their chairs. "No groms. No cheese grating. Got it."

As stupid as they can be, there's a small modicum of relief knowing that the boys will be there for me while Edward is away. That fact is, these guys aren't just Edward's mates - they're his family. No matter what happens, Edward knows that at any given moment, Rosie, Jasper, Ben, any one of this salt-encrusted bunch of misfits, have got his back. It's unlike anything I've seen; the familial love these people have for each other. And somehow, through sheer luck, I've found myself slap-bang in the middle of it all; one of the "boys", part of the family.

Surfing isn't a pastime, it's just life. Their lives revolve around the ocean, and the pull it has on them, until it becomes rote. Wake, eat, surf, work, eat, surf, sleep. Rinse and repeat. Sleeping in on a Saturday morning? Not fucking likely. These people have salt and sand in their veins, something that connects them like family, and that will continue to do so even when they're on the other side of the world.

It's always just been me and my parents, and to be honest, I've always been pretty happy in my own company. But having an extended family of sorts is proving to be different, but totally, and unexpectedly wonderful.

When Jasper orders another round of beers though, I decide it's time to go.

"We better head," I say quietly to Edward.

He looks down at his watch, pushing his bottom lip out. "Nah, another five minutes."

Gathering my stuff together, I shake my head. "We were s'posed to be at your mum and dad's half an hour ago."

He sighs. "True."

I take a few minutes to say goodbye, and to round up Rosie and Emmett, who were also due for dinner with the Masen family almost an hour ago. As the boys rise to leave, a wave of quiet falls over the table, and one by one, they all take their turn to say goodbye. In true boy style, the guys just piss fart around, making jokes and slapping backs, pretending like they'll see each other tomorrow morning for a dawn patrol like normal.

They like to think no one noticed, but Edward and Jasper shared a little moment earlier. Off to one side, their long, lanky frames backlit by the late afternoon sun, they stood close, quiet words exchanged between two best friends about to step into the unknown without each other. I looked over once, catching Edward's eye over Jasper's shoulder, and even though his eyes were covered as always by his dark glasses, I could tell he was looking right at me, his fingers scratching idly at the centre of his chest as he spoke. I don't know what they said to each other, but really, it's not my business. I'm just glad Jasper has Alice now.

Rosie's car is hot from sitting in the sun all afternoon. Since I'm the only one sober enough to drive, I slip into the driver's seat, the heat of the car clinging to me instantly. I start the car and turn the air-conditioning on full blast, my hair blowing around my face as the stale air blasts on my face. The steering wheel is scalding to the touch, as is the top of the gear stick. The metal of the seat belt is like a red hot branding iron as I pull it across my lap, the sweat building between my thighs and on my lower back as I crank the air-conditioning up.

"Mother fucker," groans Rosie, twisting her sunshine-coloured hair around her fist and holding it away from her neck. With her hair still wrapped around her fingers, she rolls her window down, letting the breeze cool her sweat-damped skin. The boys are yammering in the back like old biddies, arguing over the limited space in the back, until suddenly Rosie lets out a long, tortured-sounding yowl, leaning half way out of the window.

"No way!"

Edward leans over Emmett in the back seat as they clamber to get a look at the water. Wrapping around the sand bar and dumping right into the main beach are set after set of five-footers. And to make matters worse, the water is almost empty.

"It's out of its mind!" whines Edward.

"We could ditch lunch," offers Em, but Edward shakes his head dolefully.

"Nah, Mum would flip."

In the end, blood really is thicker than water, and the three of them ruefully traipse up the Masen's driveway for a final dinner with the family.

It's a small affair – as small as it can get with five Masen kids, two ring-ins and the parents. Emmett spends half the meal flicking his peas at Embry, while dodging Rosie and Esme, and blaming it on Edward. I can't imagine what it was like when these two were younger.

After dinner, Edward and Emmett take the twins down to the beach for a paddle while Carlisle and Embry duck in for a few quick sets. Esme, Rosie and I stay behind, and after cleaning up the dinner dishes, the three of us sit outside on the verandah and watch the dog chase the sprinkler.

Esme laughs as the dog barks excitedly at the rotating sprinkler arm, his big, fluffy, golden retriever tail wagging. "It'll be strange not having Edward in the house. I've just gotten used to having him back."

In all my selfish inner-turmoil, I haven't even stopped to think that Esme and Carlisle will be losing another son to the tour. To go from having a full house to just three kids will be hard for Esme, especially since she's used to having a gang of rowdy boys to look after.

"You know we'll come and visit," I assure her. "I can bring my washing if you like."

She laughs. "I'll hold you to that."

With the achy feeling of longing already settling deep into my bones, I can't help but think Esme might regret her words.

Hold on to your feelings, girls. It's going to get a little bumpy.

Thank you as always to Tiff, Thimbles and Inky for their support. Thank you also, to your guys for reading.

x Wink