Hello Darlins!
Here we are on part three of the party! Whatever could happen? Let's jump right in, and be sure to catch the AN's at the bottom!
Thank you to Pamela for prereading!
-21-
Bella
July 7, 2023
Lighthouse Cove, Maine
Even though he's told me when to expect him, it makes me anxious when Edward is the last one to arrive.
It's not that I'm worried he won't show up, but it's clear as my friend's guests arrive that they have dates, and I don't want to intrude on the precious few moments we all have together on the island.
But only three minutes after his expected arrival, Edward is showing up at the house, a massive cooler of fresh seafood in his arms.
I'm nearly dancing I'm so excited.
The six of us gather for appetizers before we start cooking, and I find, to my great surprise, that I might be flirting with Edward. It's not awkward or embarrassing—if anything, it feels natural, right… fun.
Once we've downed the fresh oysters and the veggies, we break apart to start cooking.
Edward sets up on the grill, happy to take over cooking the meat as well as the huge lobsters he's brought. I flit back and forth between the house and the patio, trying to help everyone.
For a moment, the girls and I are all in the kitchen, and the riot that usually ensues when we're together and drinking breaks out, leaving us breathless with laughter.
I can barely look at the lobsters on the grill anymore without giggling.
"How's it going?" I ask, making my way toward Edward. I have no idea what he likes to drink, though I know he and his dad like whisky, so I went and took a guess at the liquor store. I hold the glass out to him in offering, and he looks at me in surprise, taking it.
"Thanks," he says, bringing the glass up and sniffing it. He swirls the amber liquid around once before taking a sip. I know nothing about whisky, but based on the surprise on his face, I think I've found a good one.
That, or he's an excellent liar. "Wow, this is great, what is it?"
"Some Scottish thing," I say with a shrug. "I took a guess."
Edward looks at me over his glass, and I can't quite tell what the tilt of his head, or the softness around his mouth means.
I blink, looking down at the grill, and take a sip of my wine.
I hear Edward clear his throat, and he nods to the grill. "The food is about done," he tells me. "I hope you like lobster."
My knuckles tighten around the stem of my wine glass as I try very hard not to burst into giggles.
"I fucking love it."
…
It's been one of those nights.
One of those rare nights, where the laughs never die, and each joke rolls into a new one, sparking new bonds of connection between us all.
We might be a little drunk, but none of us are too drunk to remember the magic of tonight.
After our surprisingly competitive and unsurprisingly boozy games, we decide a breather is in order. The girls gather up blankets and chairs, while the guys haul massive piles of wood out onto the sand. There is a fire pit waiting for us, and it doesn't take us long to get it going.
Alice and Jasper find a spot next to each other in low beach chairs, their knees touching gently, while Emmett is kicking back a lounge chair, Rose curled up on his lap.
I grab a blanket to fluff out over the sand. I snap the ends out, surprised when Edward catches them, helping me stretch the blanket out. I give him a grateful smile, to which he sends me one of his crooked grins back.
We both settle on the blanket, the cold sand hard under my thighs.
"Okay," Rose says, her voice a touch too loud. "Whoever is least drunk should be the one playing with matches."
I glance across the ring at Jasper, who's eyeing me, a playful scowl on his face.
"Not fucking me," Emmett sighs, shaking his head.
"Bella, I think you might be the only one who will be able to light it," Ali provides. I heave a sigh but scramble onto my knees.
"Fine," I draw out jokingly. I glance back at Edward. "Come on and help me. You look like you were a boy scout."
The girls snicker as Edward crawls over to the fire ring beside me.
"What do you need?" he asks, his voice warm and momentarily distracting me. My drunk mind comes up with a long list of what I need from him, but since it's all sexual, I pinch my wrist to force myself to focus.
"Hand me the logs?" I ask, my voice a touch shaky.
Edward starts handing me pieces of wood and I stack them carefully in the ring.
"Okay, fess up Bella," Emmett calls from his seat, his arms happily wound around Rose. "How do you know how to build a fire? Are you one of those chicks who builds a pyre to burn their ex's shit on the front lawn?"
We all laugh as I wiggle another log into place. "Nah, I go straight for the man himself," I joke.
Emmett lets out a hoot, but both girls roll their eyes. They know I've only ever had one boyfriend before that warranted any sort of reaction from me when we broke up, and setting a fire was not the path I took.
When I'm happy with the shape of the logs, I reach for the matches.
"Are you going to burn through the whole box before the fire's lit?" Jasper teases.
I glance at him. "One and done, Cowboy. One and done."
He looks skeptical as I pull out a match.
It takes a while, and for a minute, I'm worried I might actually need two matches, but then the fire is going, and I lean back, letting out a breath.
I tend to it, fanning the flame until the wood fully catches before I sit back on the blanket with Edward.
"Thanks," I tell him as I stick the matches in my bag.
"Happy to help," he says, leaning back on his arms, his long legs stretched out in front of him. "So," he says slowly. "Were you a pyro in a past life, or was Emmett spot on?"
He's talking low enough that I know no one else would be able to hear us from their spots around the fire, and I let out a small laugh.
"No, it's nothing so dramatic," I say, shaking my head. "I just tend to spend a lot of time outside and camping." I shrug my shoulders and Edward nods, turning his gaze to the flames.
It's a beautiful night, the stars out above us, twinkling brightly while the waves provide a soft soundtrack. We're all sobering up, chatting quietly amongst ourselves. Occasionally, someone will get the attention of the whole group, telling a loud story that makes us all laugh, but we fall back into quiet conversation soon enough.
This is how I learn that Edward's favorite color is the blue that the ocean turns at midday, and when he was seven, he took his father's kayak out into the bay, determined to sail around the world on his own. He'd made it to the shores of Lighthouse Cove before he got hungry and stopped at his grandparent's house for a snack.
The more I learn, the more breathless I am to look at him.
So sometimes I take a break, looking at my friends.
As long as I've known Alice, she's been part of a half. Peter and Alice, they were a given, a constant.
Seeing her without Peter these past few years has been disorienting. Though he's gone, Peter has left his mark on Alice, on all of us really, and it's easy to see that though he's passed on, he's not really gone from our lives.
Watching Alice, I'm amazed to see how she holds Peter still, so tenderly in the way she smiles and the way she unconsciously twirls her drink like he used to, while she still manages to carve new space for Jasper.
It's an elegant balance, and maybe it's the alcohol, but she's almost mesmerizing to watch.
Across from her, Rose is similar in so many different ways.
I never got to know Royce well enough—which was just as well in the end—but though he wasn't a worthy man like Peter, he too left a mark on one of my best friends.
Royce's marks were carved rather than painted, and the pain of them runs deep in Rose.
I can see as my friend leans across his chest, that Emmett is like a balm, carefully tending to the wounds left in Rose's soul. It's amazing, how he is slowly, carefully, showing her by example how to love herself, how to live for herself once more. I've known this guy less than 24 hours, and already I like him more for her than I've ever liked anyone else.
My gaze turns back to Edward, who is sitting so close to me, I can feel the heat coming off his body.
Lighthouse Cove has given us a lot, but this summer seems almost too good to be true. How is it possible that at the same time, life could spin us all and drop someone in front of us?
Edward glances down at me, his smile brightly reflecting the fire, and I feel my heart squeeze in my chest.
Very slowly, I twist my arm, my hands splayed out behind me creeping over until my pinky is touching his. We turn our faces to the sky as his pinky very carefully twines with mine.
…
The fire is not much more than gentle glowing embers by the time we some of us start shuffling on the beach, picking things up to bring back to the house. Edward and I have laid back out against the sand, our arms touching as we gaze up at the stars.
"I love the night sky," I sigh, my breath coming out in a small puff.
"So do I," Edward murmurs, his voice deep and steady.
"I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid," I admit, a smile pulling on the corners of my lips. "But then I learned I get motion sick in cars. I couldn't even fathom a rocket."
Edward's laugh is like a blanket spreading over me, and I find myself curling into his side, ever so slightly.
"Was it okay, being out on my boat?" he asks, and I feel his head turn in my direction, so I turn my face toward him.
"Yeah," I whisper. "It was perfect," I tell him honestly.
His smile makes my stomach twist into delicate knots.
I feel his fingers brush mine. It's a small, almost innocuous touch, but it sets my blood blazing, my heart hammering in my chest.
What if this is what is meant to happen? What if this moment is meant to be with Edward? What if I'm meant to focus on now instead of the future I'm always running toward?
I feel as if I can't breathe, my stomach seeming to rise up into my chest.
Don't overthink, just feel.
I'm leaning toward him, instinct taking over, when I hear a voice shout out through the dark. "Do you guys need help carrying anything back?"
I move away from Edward, sitting up to see Emmett and Rose dragging the lounge chair back. I clear my throat.
"No, we've got it," I call to them. They nod and wave goodnight before heading toward the house.
Beside me, Edward sits up and lets out a breath.
"I should probably get going," he says slowly.
I look at him. I don't want him to go, not yet, and while I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into bed with him, my mind scrambles to find a reason to ask him to stay a little while longer.
"I've got a hammock," I say, pointing up toward the house. Edward's eyebrows pull together and I scramble to explain myself. "It's up on the third floor. It's a great spot to stargaze if you want to stay a little while longer."
Edward's eyes are emerald lasers I can feel tracking over my face, even in the dark.
"Sure," he says, sounding quietly surprised. "That sounds fun."
We gather the blanket, leaving Jasper and Alice still sitting in their chairs. We make sure we haven't left anything on the beach before we head back to the house. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing here, I just know this can't be the end.
I need a little more time.
We move through the house quietly, slinking past the bedrooms on the second floor to get to the attic room I love the most. It's small and sparse, but I love the view from up here.
I bring Edward through the room, motioning out the window toward the hammock.
"There she is," I tell him, suddenly feeling nervous.
"It's cold out," he says, looking me over. I'm shivering in my borrowed sun dress now that we're back inside and I realize how cold it's gotten. "Has your luggage come yet?"
I stare at him in surprise. "No. Not yet."
Edward nods. "I can see if I have a spare jacket in the van," he offers.
I let out a small breath and move to the closet where his flannel is hanging up. I take it out, holding it up toward him guiltily.
"I still have this," I tell him, slipping it over my shoulders. "If you don't need it tonight," I say, realizing that he might be as cold as I am.
Edward shakes his head and gently grabs a blanket folded at the end of the bed.
"This should work," he says.
We slip out of the room, crawling through the window until we're on the roof. I've never sat in the hammock with anyone, though it seems big enough to accommodate two.
Edward glances at me before turning to sit on the edge of the hammock.
"You coming?" he asks.
Maybe it's the alcohol giving me some confidence, or maybe the alcohol has made it so that I'm not sure what the hell he's suggesting, but either way, I move to the hammock, interested in what else he might say.
I sink onto the hammock and we turn to face each other.
It takes a minute of wiggling to get comfortable, but soon enough we're both stretched out, my legs resting against his chest while his legs are somewhere near my head.
Edward wraps the blanket around us in the middle before settling back in the hammock. Even from here, the scent of lemon and whisky fills my lungs and I try not to shiver against him.
"Warm enough?" he asks.
"Yeah," I croak, even though the truth is, I'd never be able to tell. I can barely feel my body, I'm so focused on his.
The hammock rocks gently under us, falling into a rhythm, and slowly, my body relaxes, melting into his.
"Hey, Edward." My voice is soft, almost weak in the dark.
"Hm?" he hums, and I feel it move through his chest and into my calves.
"Thanks," I murmur. "For tonight, I mean. For the food and the jokes and your company…" My voice trails off and I lift my head slightly to look at him, feeling a little shy.
I watch Edward swallow slowly before he nods, his head lifting too so he can look at me back.
"Thank you for inviting me," he says softly. "I can't remember the last time I had so much fun."
My smile is warm and genuine.
"You fit right in," I tell him truthfully. "Like you've been part of our group for years."
"I was on the fringes for years," he says, and the words don't sound bitter, but it still makes me tilt my head up again to look at him. "I remember the first summer you all came to town. I couldn't fathom how people could be so close. It was like you had been raised together. For a while, I thought you might have." He chuckles softly. "I didn't know harmony could exist like that between people."
I have to fight off the urge to press a kiss against any part of him I can reach.
"What I have with the girls is special," I admit. "I'd never known anything like it before either." I pause, considering my words before plunging ahead. "I think loving the girls as I do has healed a part of me that thought all relationships were wastes of time," I confess, turning so that my face is looking up at the sky. "I didn't grow up with exactly stable relationship examples, and until I met Alice and Rose, I couldn't fathom why anyone would waste time bonding with people. I thought it was all doomed to fail from the off."
"And now?" Edward asks, his voice quiet and gentle.
"Now…" I say slowly, my voice drifting off. I feel my stomach tighten, my heart beat heavier in my chest. It's another one of those moments, a life-changing, precipice. I teeter on the edge, caught between pulling back and letting myself fall.
I take a breath that tastes like lemon and gather my courage.
"Now," I say again, turning to look at Edward's face. "I'm learning to embrace the unknown."
A few fun announcements!
The Bodice Ripper's Contest has officially closed for entries, and we are now reading and voting! Make sure to check out or page for all the incredible entries we've received, and be sure to vote.
And along the lines of contests, a new one has cropped up that we are all so excited for. The Eras Contest opened August 1! Check out their profile, as well as the facebook group!
See you lovelies tomorrow!