IV. Fish and Ships
I stared blearily down as I poured piping hot coffee into a pair of tumblers―black for Charlie, chocolate syrup and caramel-flavored creamer for me.
"Bells, are you ready to go?"
"Coming," I called hoarsely, voice still thick with sleep.
Once the lids were sealed tight, I slung my backpack over my shoulder, hugging the tumblers to my chest and going outside to meet Charlie. He was loading his gear into the trunk, before slamming it shut.
Once we were settled inside the police cruiser, I handed him his travel mug.
"Thanks, kid," he said, looking strangely touched.
"S'no problem," I said around a wide yawn and took a sip of my sugary concoction. Charlie allowing me access to grocery funds meant there was a lot more sweets stocked up in the pantry and fridge.
"Last chance to back out," he teased, slowly backing out of the driveway.
"I already told you, I want to go," I assured him, much to his apparent relief.
"That's great," he said with a smile. "Harry is taking Leah along as well, so you'll have company."
"She's actually going?" I asked. Charlie had mentioned it in passing, but I hadn't actually believed she'd be interested. "Does she even like fishing?"
"She goes with Harry often enough."
"Huh."
I stared out into the night, the walls of forest lining the highway swallowed in darkness, invisible to my eyes. At four in the morning, light had yet to breach the horizon.
When Charlie had invited me to go out fishing, I had said yes simply because I liked boat rides. I wasn't interested in the actual fishing part. Thankfully, that was in line with Bella's opinion from her childhood trips to Forks, so he'd been unsurprised.
We remained in companionable silence up until we reached the bay of La Push some twenty minutes later, parking by the rocky shore. Slinging his gear bag over his shoulder, Charlie lead the way up to the harbor, the clapboard steps slippery with rainwater.
"Watch your step, Bells," Charlie warned me.
"I am," I said, a hand balanced against the rail as I followed him up. I wasn't disastrously clumsy like Bella, but no one could ever accuse me of being graceful.
In the gloom of predawn, I didn't catch sight of Harry until he called out from down one of the piers, "Do my eyes deceive me or is that Bella?"
I waved at him in greeting.
"I told you she was coming," Charlie huffed.
"How've you been, kid?" Harry asked when we reached his side.
I blinked. "Still waking up," I admitted.
"You're doing great compared to Leah," he snorted, moving aside and gesturing for me to board the boat.
With Charlie's help, I climbed up onto the old commercial fishing boat that belonged to Billy, back from his fisherman days. I shuffled onto the slick deck, edging around mounds of frayed ropes and nets, until I spotted who I assumed was Leah sitting near the stern, slumped down in a folding chair.
Aware of the many tripping hazards lining the cramped deck, I moved over, dropping my backpack at my feet and sinking onto the empty chair at her side.
Leah mumbled something unintelligible.
I hummed in response and sipped my still-hot coffee.
All too quickly, we unmoored and were underway, the sky above gradually paling, and I was glad to have layered on one of Charlie's flannels and Bella's parka over my sweater, the wind sharp and brisk against my bare face. Before long, we anchored over open water, a dense fog rolling across the horizon, blending the skies and ocean in varying shades of gray.
The sea breeze was wet and cold, lightly dampening my beanie and hair, and the heavy smell of fish hanging across the boat was unfortunate, but the quiet sound of lapping water against the hull and the gentle swaying motion underneath us made it worth it. At some point, Leah woke up long enough to cast her fishing pole.
When I drank the last of my coffee, I chucked the empty tumbler into my backpack and pulled out a notebook and pen. I was becoming accustomed to writing manually despite how unbearably slow it was, but I'd learned enough shorthand so that my writing could keep up with the speed of my thoughts.
"Are you doing homework?"
I blinked, taking a moment to readjust to reality. The sky had only brightened marginally and my hand was nearly frozen, heavily stained with black ink.
"No," I said to Leah.
"What's all the writing for then?"
"I write fiction," I explained, setting my pen down and trying to rub feeling back into my hand.
"What'cha writing about?"
Not in the mood to explain the concept of fanfiction to her, I surmised, "Vampires in space."
"What? Like sci-fi?"
"Exactly."
"Huh."
I picked my pen back up and continued to labor over the notebook paper, my penmanship barely legible to even myself. The thought of transcribing it all onto a word processor was horrifying and I acknowledged the overwhelming possibility that this story would likely never see the light of day. It certainly wouldn't be the first.
Some time later, Leah pulled me from my thoughts once again as she triumphantly said, "Caught one!"
I watched curiously as she reeled in her catch, the size impressive, though I couldn't discern anything about it beyond that.
"Nice one, Leah," Harry congratulated her, wandering over from the other side of the deck where he, Charlie, and Billy had parked themselves. "Not gonna give it a try, Bella?"
"Nah," I said. "I'll leave it to the experts."
"Did you already forget all the messes she made when we were kids?" Leah scoffed. "She might actually drown if we leave her unsupervised."
"Play nice, Leah," Harry admonished her lightly.
I snorted a laugh and didn't disagree. I could only imagine how miserable Bella would've been on these trips as a kid, trying to navigate the rickety boat without slipping or tripping, and then attempting to toss around a fishing pole. Disaster was practically a guarantee.
Fortunately for me, the rest of the morning went without incident. The others caught plenty of fish to bring back and I was about half-way through my notebook. All in all, it was a successful day.
"You're more than welcome to join us again next Saturday," Billy said when we'd returned to the harbor and disembarked.
"Thanks, Billy, I'll be sure to," I said with a genuine smile.
Charlie was over the moon.
We returned to Forks quickly after that, lest he be late for his noon shift at the station. Charlie was bringing his gear inside the house when I headed back out.
"You going somewhere, Bells?"
I waved the wad of grocery cash in his direction without missing a step. "I'm going to the Thriftway. We're out of peanut butter."
"Bella, you can't sustain yourself on a diet of peanut butter and jelly," Charlie called, a tad judgmental.
"I can try," I called back and shut the front door.
Shoving the cash into my jacket pocket, I crossed the driveway and jumped into the old truck, barely allowing it time to warm up before pulling onto the neighborhood road and driving off. While I'd rather have passed out in a glorious midday nap, my stomach was rumbling incessantly, hungry after a long morning of only being offered coffee. As it was, my palate demanded pb&j.
I fiddled with the radio some, until I found a station I liked, though the reward of it wasn't lasting seeing as I arrived at the Thriftway within minutes.
On my way in, I went ahead and grabbed a cart, deciding to load it with whatever else caught my fancy―fresh fruit, mango juice, white bread, protein powder, and bags of chewy candy for when I needed to stim. I had already gone shopping earlier that week so there wasn't much more we actually needed, though I made sure to grab two jars of peanut butter this time, plus another jar of strawberry jelly. Today, I would feast.
I saw them before they saw me.
Edward looked about as enthusiastic as any teen boy grocery shopping with his mom.
I turned and maneuvered the shopping cart towards the checkout queue. Unfortunately, there was no such thing as self-checkout here, so I joined the end of the single line, behind every other adult doing their shopping on their day off.
Brandon, one of my classmates and my recent partner for our biology project, stood behind the register, simultaneously bagging and ringing up customers. He didn't appear especially enthusiastic. I could hardly blame him.
I opened one of the bags of candy while I waited, meticulously chewing and wishing I'd brought my notebook with me.
"Mar, hello."
I sighed and turned to the owner of the familiar voice. Behind me, Edward and Esme had joined the line, their cart overflowing with enough groceries to feed a family of seven.
"Hi, Edward," I said shortly.
"Esme, this is Mar, one of my classmates," he introduced me with a pleasant smile. "Mar, this is my mother."
"Hello," Esme said sweetly, "the kids have mentioned you at home. It's a pleasure to meet one of their friends."
"It's nice to meet you too ma'am," I said, the corners of my lips curling into a brief, but polite smile.
And then came the horror―small talk.
"How are you doing today, Mar?"
"Hm? Fine," I said. "Ready to take a nap." I popped another gummy bear into my mouth.
"Oh, have you been up long?" Esme asked curiously.
I finished chewing and swallowed. "Yeah. Went fishing with my dad." My fingers tapped rhythmically against the handle of my cart.
"How charming," Esme said, sounding like she actually meant it. "Did you have a good time?"
"I did."
"I didn't know you liked fishing," Edward commented.
I shot him a look, the silent 'why would you?' going unsaid.
The line moved and I shuffled forward.
"Did you catch many?"
"I didn't do any fishing myself, though my friend Leah caught more than enough for us both," I explained.
Brandon caught sight of me and waved.
I smiled and waved back.
"So you don't like fishing," Edward corrected himself.
I shrugged. "I like boat rides."
"We happen to own a boat," Esme said. "If you're ever interested, I'm sure one of the kids would love to invite you out."
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Um, thanks. I'll keep that in mind."
"Of course, it would be no trouble!"
I smiled, a little more genuine this time. It was difficult not to like Esme. She was very sincere.
At last, I reached the front of the line.
"Hey there Mar," Brandon said and began ringing up my groceries.
"Hey, Brandon," I said. "How're you holding up?"
He wrinkled his nose. "You know how it is."
"Well, I can certainly imagine," I said. "Hang in there a little longer. You're almost off, right?"
"Yeah, in another hour," he said. "You up to anything today?"
"Yeah, I have an appointment with my pillow."
"You and me both," he huffed. "Your total is $16.30."
"Ah, the one good thing about 2005," I said, handing him a twenty.
"What's that?"
"Dollars are actually worth something," I said, pocketing my change. "Thanks, Brandon."
"Uh sure," he said with a stifled laugh.
"See ya." I scooped up my bags with one hand and waved at him, and then at Esme and Edward, before hurrying back outside, as though Brandon would actually be able to ring them up and bag their groceries quick enough for them to catch up with me in the lot.
"Sorry, Brandon," I mumbled under my breath as I climbed into my truck and away from the dread of small talk. "Better you than me."
A/N: By request, here is another chapter. And as always, reviews are appreciated! :)
