Newton's Olympic Outfitters was busy from May to September, almost exclusively. Bella got the job a week after Carlisle finally released her from her walking cast. In the two weeks after that, she learned more than she could've imagined about camping, fishing, backpacking, climbing, and everything else vaguely related to the outdoors. For those two weeks of training with Mike, the influx of customers for the peak season included Edward. Every single shift. The Cullens were keen outdoor enthusiasts, everyone in Forks knew. And as far as Mike knew, they'd run through enough gear in the last few months to justify Edward coming in every single day of her training period.
The first day, everyone in the family needed new thermal underclothes for camping. The day after that, Edward remembered he'd seen their newest lightweight tents for backpacking. One of Carlisle's hiking poles had gotten broken in storage, so of course Edward volunteered to run to the store for a replacement pair. Alice was finally willing to try climbing this summer, so they needed to find a harness and shoes for her. One that day, Edward brought Jasper - just graduated from Forks High School - and Alice herself. At the group of them, especially Jasper, Mike's disgruntled exasperation turned to uncomprehending fear. Mrs. Newton asked if Bella was feeling well, since she'd been coughing to cover her laughter.
On the last day of her training, Edward came in with Emmett. Who would've guessed? The thermals Edward had gotten him were too small. "Would you be able to exchange for a bigger size?" Emmett asked Mike, flashing his razor-sharp teeth.
Even Bella heard the gulp in Mike's throat as his eyes widened, he nodded and pulled the clothes towards himself on the counter with a trembling hand.
Edward was waiting for her in the parking lot after her shift ended. His silver Volvo glistened with fresh raindrops, Edward got out of the car and ran to open the passenger door for her. She slid into the warm interior and said, "Mrs. Newton said I'm ready to start working on my own, so you can stop tormenting Mike."
"I'm not sure what you're referring to," Edward said, already driving too fast out of the parking lot.
Bella rolled her eyes. "Did you really need to come in every day?"
"My family uses outdoor recreation as our excuse for disappearing on sunny days, so it's important to maintain the image. I'm sure I'll be in the store quite often this summer."
"Maybe I'll suggest a group hike, with all the highschool buddies next time it's sunny. You and Alice included."
"Wouldn't you know it, I sprained my ankle on the last hike, Carlisle said I need to take it easy for a while."
Bella scowled at him. "Maybe a beach day then."
"I'm feeling a bit under the weather. Esme insists I stay home and rest. But no, my lovely girlfriend, go ahead with your friends. I'm only sleeping at home and anyway, I'd hate to get you sick too."
"Alice can come without you," Bella said.
"Alice is only a reluctant naturalist," Edward said, then looked away from the road with total confidence despite the car's dizzying speed. He smiled at Bella, her chest fluttered. "I'm sure my little sister would love to take all you girls on a shopping trip to Port Angeles. Or Olympia, or Seattle. Esme can come and get a hotel room for all of you, make a whole girls' weekend out of it."
Bella shuddered, Edward laughed and turned his attention back to the road ahead.
After that, Mike and Bella worked mostly separately, and Edward restrained himself to a couple visits a week. He still dropped her off and picked her up every day. On sunny days he stayed in the car, but when it was raining he walked her to and from the door with an umbrella. Of course, on those occasions, he kissed her right on the front step where anyone inside would have a clear view.
On July 14, gray clouds covered the sky, shifting in the faint wind and making an unsuccessful attempt at rain that only resulted in extreme humidity. Bella's skin felt sticky under her rain jacket, she shed it on the walk to the store from Edward's car. The air was warm and muggy, stray hairs escaped from her brain around her face. Edward looked perfect, as usual. His eyes were midway between bright gold and black, a light brown shade that could almost pass as human. His cold skin and lips shocked her overheated skin when he kissed her.
Throughout the day she saw the usual flow of customers, restocked the popular items, and helped Mrs. Newton unpack a shipment of hiking shoes. Bella never knew if Edward would make an appearance throughout the day, which was extremely distracting between activities. She looked at the door every time she heard tires on the gravel outside. The south wall of the store had a row of large windows, and she often caught herself scanning the treeline across the road for a pale figure. As if Edward would ever let himself be visible to human eyes.
Edward did come into the store that day, around 3 o'clock. As always, he had appeared at the slowest point of the day so far, with only a pair of backpackers discussing dehydrated food options and Mike helping a mother and daughter choose a new pair of hiking shoes. The door swung open, jingling the bell and admitting the patter of the drizzle finally breaking from the heavy clouds.
"Good afternoon," Edward said, walking right up to Bella at the counter.
"What is it today?" She asked.
The corner of Edward's mouth lifted. "How about bear canisters? Would you believe Emmett and Jasper spotted a grizzly on their last trip into the park?"
"No," Bella said, pulling a paper from one of the neat stacks on the counter. She flipped through the national park's summer season newspaper until she reached the page on wildlife in the park. She held the paper against her chest and pointed at the passage like a kindergarten teacher. "The last confirmed grizzly bear sighting in Olympic National Park was in 1996."
Edward's slight grin spread into a full smile, he leaned over and whispered, "confirmed sightings?"
"Yep. Maybe Emmett should leave those poor grizzly bears alone." Bella trailed her finger along the words, keeping her voice low. "Look, there are plenty of elk and deer in the park, and squirrels and rabbits."
"Uck." Edward shuddered. "The canisters?"
"Of course, anything for our best customer." Bella dropped the newspaper on the counter and stood from her stool.
Edward slid his hand to the small of her back beneath her vest as she rounded the desk. She walked them to the cooking and food storage aisle. They surveyed the row of blue containers. Edward put a finger under his chin and asked, "which do you suggest?"
Bella rolled her eyes. He was playing human to stall, which was ridiculous and incredibly endearing. "Depends how much food you need to bring with you."
"Hmm." He titled his head, picked up a couple of the containers and jostled them around a bit. "Best to get a variety of sizes, I think."
"Sure," Bella agreed, "you'd hate to get stuck in the woods with nothing to eat."
Edward nodded seriously, but Bella saw the smile in his eyes as he tried to keep it off his lips. Somehow he managed to look perfectly elegant while cradling several 3-10 liter plastic cylinders in one arm. The other stayed wrapped around Bella's waist.
At the register, Bella took her time too. Mike had noticed them from the shoe department and she didn't want Edward to have to stand around with no purpose.
"Come over to my house tonight," Edward said.
"I can't–"
Edward frowned. "But today's a special day."
Bella halted her scanning and stared up at him. "What?"
"It's Bastille Day. We have to celebrate together." A startled chuckle erupted from Bella's chest, Edward's serious expression crack under a smile.
"We're not French, if you've noticed." Bella said.
Edward picked up the discarded newspaper and began refolding it perfectly along the original creases. "It's also Shark Awareness Day, since you care so much about large animals with sharp teeth."
"You know you're more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a shark," Bella said.
"You're the exception to that rule I'm sure," Edward said, placing the paper back in its place and straightening the stack, "best stay out of the ocean unless I'm around."
Bella smiled, and started putting Edward's bear canisters in a large paper bag. "I'm off tomorrow, but tonight I have to go to La Push for Jacob's birthday."
"Bears, sharks, wolf pups that can't keep secrets. What next?" Edward sighed, and pulled out his wallet to swipe his credit card. Bella didn't even look at the amount, it was probably more than she'd make this week. Edward grabbed the bag and looked up at the clock behind Bella. He bent over the counter until his lips were only a few inches from hers. "I'll see you in two hours, forty-seven minutes."
Bella's lips softened against his when he kissed her, butterflies fluttered in her stomach and she felt warmth rise in her face. Edward pulled away and stared into her eyes for a moment. He lifted his hand and brushed a knuckle along her cheekbone, a trail of cold across the hot skin. Bella said, "I'll be waiting."
Edward left without another word.
When her shift ended, Bella went out to meet him in the parking lot. It was still drizzling, so he stood right outside the door with his black umbrella waiting for her. He pulled her against his side under the cover as he walked to the car. Being close to him again felt like a deep breath after being underwater. The world clarified and a pressure lifted from her chest.
He'd left the car running, so it was warm inside. The rain had easily cleared out the morning's heat and humidity. A beautiful piano melody played on the radio, the scratchy echo of the recording told Bella it was originally on vinyl. She watched Edward round the car. He spun the umbrella so fast it blurred, sending a spiral of water droplets outwards. When he slid into the car, the black fabric was nearly dry.
Bella plucked the CD case from the cup holder and examined the cover. An old man in white tie sat on an old-fashioned sofa, a cigar in one hand, Rubinstein: Chopin 9 Polonaises - 4 Impromptus. She turned over the case to look at the track list on the back. "Which one is this?"
"Fantasie-impromptu in C-sharp minor," Edward said.
"It's lovely," Bella put the case down and stared out the window. Edward was driving a bit slower than usual. "Can you play it?"
"Yes, but not like him."
Bella nodded, though she didn't understand. Edward played every single thing flawlessly, on the first try. He could hear a song on the radio once, then go home and recreate it exactly, and his voice was more beautiful than any human singer's.
Edward put his pale hand on Bella's thigh. She stopped looking at the road and ran her fingers along his cold skin. Her own hand looked clumsy and awkward next to his. Her fingernails were not exactly round and even. Tiny imperfections dotted her flesh, scars from kitchen accidents and bug bites that became irritated, skin on her knuckles that looked cracked and thin compared to his. The shining scar on the meat of her thumb was the most recent evidence of her frailty, its web of thin white lines marking where James' venom had started to burn through her. Edward had a scar from his transformation somewhere, Bella assumed, but she'd never seen it
With the tip of one finger, Bella traced one of his veins. They were different from hers and any human man's. They never swelled out from his skin when he flexed or sweat, just faint blue lines beneath the snow-white skin, useless remnants of a version of him that required flowing blood and oxygen to survive. Beginning between the knuckles of his middle and ring finger, she followed the line across the top of his hand until it reached his wrist. She turned his hand over to continue around to the inside of his forearm, it disappeared beneath the sleeve of his jacket. Bella pushed her finger beneath the fabric slightly, and heard Edward's faint intake of breath. He squeezed her leg, then pulled his hand away and fiddled with the dials for the windshield wipers.
Bella twisted her fingers together in her lap and looked out the window again. They were almost back to Charlie's house, because it never took Edward more than a few minutes to drive anywhere in tiny Forks.
Edward pulled into his usual place on the street outside, and put the car into park. Bella unfastened her seatbelt and leaned over to lean against his shoulder. "I have to go soon, but you can come inside for a minute."
"I don't want Charlie to think too much about why my family are never welcome on the reservation. "
The nonchalance in his voice failed to cover his frustration with the situation. Bella swallowed, Edward so hated the idea that his presence interfered with her human life. Despite her determination to sacrifice that life for immortality with him. It boiled between them constantly with no resolution in sight.
"Right," she said, then looked up at him, "will you come back tonight?"
Edward nodded. He held still as Bella leaned forward to kiss him. The familiar buzz ignited on all the places their skin connected, her hand against his neck, their lips, his fingers on her forearm. Bella shifted forward, chasing the swirling bliss of connection with him. The rest of the world faded around them, the cord between them straining for them to be closer, closer, closer.
Edward's form went rigid, the haze cleared. He pulled away and gently, always so gently, pushed her back into her seat.
Bella swallowed and looked away from him, her cheeks were all hot and her breaths felt too quick. She fumbled with the car door handle for a split second. It opened a few inches, and Edward was already there. Holding the door open with fresh raindrops in his hair.
"Have fun," he said, his voice like angels' song, "I'll see you later."
Bella stared up at him, blinking the rain from her eyelashes. "I love you."
Edward brushed a finger along her cheekbone. "I love you, Bella."
Bella wanted to kiss him again, to pull him inside and forget about anything else besides the two of them, together.
"Charlie just stood up from his chair," Edward said. His body shifted away from her, and she felt the loss deep in her chest.
"Bye," Bella said, and made her feet move towards the house. The car door opened and shut behind her, but Edward waited until she was inside the house to drive away. Bella stood against the door for a moment to watch the Volvo speed along the street.
Charlie called, "Hey, Bells!"
Bella pulled herself away from the door and followed his voice into the kitchen, where Charlie was scooping some leftover lasagna onto a plate to heat up in the microwave. He leaned on the counter to wait. "How was work?"
"Fine," Bella took a cup from the cabinet and filled it with tap water, "pretty busy."
"I bet," Charlie said.
Bella sipped her water while Charlie watched his food make little circles until it started to sizzle. He took the plate out and took it to the table to eat while he read the newspaper. Bella washed her cup and set it on the drying rack.
"Are you coming to La Push too?" Bella asked.
"Nope," Charlie said, "Jacob's party is 'no grown-ups allowed', Billy and I have been told."
Bella chuckled. The time on the oven said 6:19, and Jacob had told her to arrive around 7:00. So, Bella went upstairs to find some way to kill the extra twenty minutes that didn't include smalltalk with Charlie. She rebraided her hair and changed clothes, then went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. A stray sock on the floor caught her eye, and she spent a few minutes gathering all the dirty laundry strewn across her bedroom room. Starting her laundry revealed a load of towels and sheets in the dryer, which she took out and folded. All of that took up fifteen minutes, which left her enough time to struggle into the clunky outdoor boots she'd been forced to buy for long-term living on the Olympic Peninsula
Charlie came out of the kitchen as she stuffed her wallet and keys into the pockets of her rain jacket. "Going for a hike?"
"The party's at Second Beach," Bella said. Charlie frowned. "I'll be home by midnight."
"Hmm," Charlie hummed grumpily, "don't worry about curfew. Just stick with Jacob."
"Sure," Bella reached for the doorknob.
"And no drinking," Charlie said, following her to the door. "Or smoking. And no getting in the water, even if those kids try swimming or surfing."
Bella stepped onto the porch. "Dad, when have I ever tried to swim at La Push? I'm cold water - averse, remember?"
"Yea, well," Charlie blustered a bit.
"Bye, dad," she said, and started to her truck, smiling at the memory of Edward, also warning her to stay out of the ocean. Bella had not forgotten her days spent at the beaches in La Push throughout her childhood. There were always the sandcastle-building children, later the beach-reading teenagers, and the wave-jumping children, later surfing or cliff-diving teens. Jacob and his sisters were the latter, but Bella had never once put more than a toe in the Pacific Ocean. Because even on 'calm', swelteringly hot days, the waves crashed high and strong enough to knock her out, and the water was frigid.
The truck's roared to life and Bella fiddled with the radio until it produced a mostly-cleared music station. The afternoon's drizzle continued, and Bella probably took three times longer to make the drive that Edward would have. But when she pulled into the trailhead parking lot, her slow driving was good, because Quil Ateara ran right up to her truck.
Bella rolled down the window as he appeared next to her. "Hey, Quil."
"Hi!" He put a hand on the edge of the window. "Do you have any blankets or anything?"
"Um, maybe."
"Cool! You can park down there." He stepped away from the truck and pointed across the gravel lot.
Bella rolled up her window and drove to the designated spot. Once she'd parked and cut the engine, she rifled around under the seat and found the blankets and first aid kid Charlie had put there. With an armful of fabric, she walked over to the group congregated around the trailhead.
"Bella!" Jacob emerged from the group and jogged towards her.
They hugged awkwardly, Bella with a wad of blanket attached to her front and Jacob with an enormous backpack strapped to his back.
"Happy Birthday," Bella said.
"Thanks!" He shifted the backpack, then took all but one of the blankets from her.
"What's in the bags?" She asked the group.
At least four people responded at once. She picked out food, fireworks, alcohol, and camping supplies for everyone who wanted to sleep on the beach. Bella inferred that meant several of them planned to get too drunk to hike back to their cars, drive home, and play sober with their parents.
Embry unpacked a six pack of beers into his backpack, ripped the cardboard until he had a large flat piece with blank space. He pulled a sharpie out of his pocket and wrote 'JAKE'S B-DAY BASH' with an arrow pointing to the trail. Another car pulled into the lot, Bella turned to look, but didn't recognize the people who climbed out. Jacob walked away to greet them, but Bella stayed put. Quil and Embry were the only others she knew by name, so she moved next to Quil and watched Embry balance his sign against a mossy tree.
The group started down the trail with Embry leading. Bella looked back towards Jacob, but he was still speaking with the newcomers.
"Come on, Bella," Quil said, a familiar, bright smile on his boyish features. He also had an enormous bag strapped to his back, but his steps were light and confident. Bella fixed her eyes on the trail. It was flat and easy to follow, the sun still shining through the clouds and tree canopy, but every root and rock posed the risk of embarrassing herself horribly. "So, how've you been?"
"Good," Bella said, "school, work, Charlie, recovering from a broken leg."
"Vampire boyfriend?" Quil said. Bella's breath caught and she looked up at him, but Quil's face was already split into laughter.
Bella forced a chuckle. "Has your grandfather been talking to Billy?"
"Harry too, superstitious old geezers."
The panic faded, and Bella felt his contagious amusement. "Just wait a few decades, and that'll be you, Jake, and Embry."
He huffed, but didn't argue.
Bella listened to the group's conversation while they walked. The mile and a half to the beach passed easily, much of it consumed with awkward flirting between Quil and one of the girls, Anna. Bella kept her head down and bit her lip to keep herself from giggling.
A group had already set up on the beach before they arrived. An older boy had set about gathering driftwood for a fire. Bella clutched the blanket to chest as Embry joined the effort, depositing his pack on the sand. Quil and Anna continued their bumbling conversation next to her. She recognized a few others, in the vague way of people that were around during the childhood summer days she spent in La Push. Someone called the fire-collecting boy by 'Jared', and Bella recalled the name as a childhood crush of Jacob's sister Rebecca.
The drizzle had stopped somewhere between Forks and the coast. The sky above the beach was full of enormous fluffy clouds, intermittently blocking the sun as it gradually sank towards the horizon. Seabirds drifted above the crashing water, Bella watched one of them descend to settle on the surface just behind where the waves started to crash against the shore.
Jared and Embry started stacking the wood in a neat column, then leaned the longer pieces against each other in a ring until they had a bonfire as tall as Bella. Everything was slightly damp from the constant ocean spray, But Embry started to unpack his bag, revealing a box of fire starting logs and tin of lighter fluid. He pulled a lighter from the front pocket of his hoodie. Bella took a few steps back as he squeezed the liquid into the pile, lit one of the logs, and tossed it on. The whole thing erupted into flames with a whoosh. Bella turned her face away from the sudden burst of heat.
"Hey! You couldn't wait for the birthday boy?" Jacob's teasing voice called across the beach. Everyone turned to him and the large group following him out of the forest.
Jared said, "18 is a bit old for whining."
Jacob only chuckled in response. Bella's blankets were slung over one of his shoulders. After shrugging out of his backpack, he started laying them out on the sand. Bella idled over to him to help, adding the one she'd been holding to the collection. Several people had brought folding chairs or more blankets to sit on, and a few hammocks were tied up between trees at the edge of the sand. Bella stayed near Jacob as he started to unpack everything they'd carried from the cars. Paper plates and napkins and red plastic cups, trash bags they hung over the branches of the massive salt-beached trees strewn across the sand. Hot dogs, buns, and condiments, huge bags of chips, 2-liter bottles of Coke and bright-orange Fanta, graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows for smores, and a 24-pack of cupcakes with bright blue icing from the grocery store. Bella found a box of candles and three inflatable beach balls, and enough hard liquor to get everyone drunk beyond belief. 200 glow sticks and a whole box of fireworks which Jacob proudly declared 'free leftovers from the 4th'.
Everyone who arrived on the beach approached them to greet Jacob. Very few of them spoke to Bella, which was entirely fine by her, though she got the feeling that all of them knew he she was. Either as Chief Swan's daughter or Jacob's childhood friend or the vampire-girl. There was no one else from Forks there, though Bella gathered several people had been invited down from the Makah Reservation. Seth Clearwater was an exception. He skipped up to Jacob with the same enthusiasm Bella remembered from his childhood form. Although, the Seth she remembered was three years younger than her and Jacob, and somehow both of the boys now towered above her. Seth close to Edward's height, Jacob at least as tall as Jasper.
She smiled at the two of them and crossed her arms. "Geez, what are they feeding you guys? Is Harry putting steroids in his fish fry?"
Seth's cheeks went pink, but Jacob laughed. He patted the top of Bella's head and said, "don't worry, Bells. You'll catch up eventually."
Seth grabbed one of the limp beach balls and started blowing into it, then jogged off towards a group of boys climbing one of the washed up trees. Someone had brought a boombox and set it up, so loud music tangled with the flurry of conversations and crashing of the waves. Bella poured herself a cup of coke and sipped it, then hovered awkwardly as people started to descend upon the food. Jacob took Quil up to the treeline, and a few minutes later they came back with bundles of thin sticks for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire.
The nerves of being around unfamiliar people had ruined Bella's appetite, but she made herself a hotdog anyway, just for something to do. She sat on one of the blankets next to a group of people she didn't know, because nearly everyone she did know was at the edge of the water, stripping down to their underwear. Bella pulled up the zipper on her jacket. Just watching them run into the rough, freezing surf sent a chill through her. Usually people wore wetsuits in the water.
"They're insane," the girl beside her said.
Bella looked at her, and she jerked her chin towards Quil, Embry, Jacob, Jared, and three other boys in the water, diving into the crashing waves. Bella smiled weakly. "I think I agree."
"Maybe the pubescent testosterone makes them tough?" The girl said, grinning.
"Or the beer?" Bella said.
Both of them giggled, then the other girl stuck out her hand and said, "I'm Claire. You're Bella Swan, right?"
Bella shook her hand and nodded. Just once, she'd like to meet someone that didn't already know her name. "Do you go to school with Jacob?"
"Sort of. We're the same age, but I skipped a grade. Just graduated." Claire said.
"Wow, really?" Bella gaped. Claire looked shy about it, so Bella stopped staring and asked. "So are you going to college in the fall?"
Claire nodded. "Washington State."
"Isn't Rachel there too?"
"Yep, she's about to finish with computer science. The council sends the nerdiest of us there to learn something useful to bring back home."
"What'll you study?"
"Medicine, I've been told," Claire said.
Bella swallowed. "You don't get to choose?"
Claire shrugged. "If they weren't paying for it I'd never be able to go. Plus, I think I'll enjoy it."
"That's good."
"Seth will be next, kid's a total math whiz," she said. Both of them looked across the beach to where Seth and another boy were doing handstands in the sand. Claire chuckled. "Not that you'd know it looking at him. He'll probably do civil engineering."
Bella tore a little piece from her hotdog bun and rolled into between her fingers. "Here I am, excited to study English Literature." And more excited to give up my human life to become a vampire, Bella thought to herself.
"That's cool too," Claire said, her voice was so honest and kind, if obviously amused. "Agnes just finished her first year, oh, do you know Agnes?" Bella shook her head, Claire continued, "she's a year older than us, Jared - no Paul's cousin, I think. Anyway, she just finished her first year studying linguistics?"
"Linguistics?" Bella raised an eyebrow.
"Yea, Old Quil was so happy to find a real bookworm with her. He thinks it'll help with language preservation."
"Oh, that's good."
"Yea, it is. Even though Quileute was always my least favorite class in school," she said and they both giggled.
The ease of the conversation had settled Bella's stomach enough for her to eat some of her hotdog, Though she'd held it too close to the flames, so the outside was nearly all black. Eventually, the boys ran up to the fire, their brown skin shining with seawater. None of them were the slightest bit shy, but Bella looked away anyway. She spent too much time between nineteenth-century novels and Edward's prudishness. One of the girls on the other side of the bonfire from Bella kept staring, right at Jared. Her eyes were wide, her hands tangled in her blanket. The friend sitting beside her noticed and grinned, waving a hand in front of the girl's face. She flushed scarlett and ducked her head, the friend wrapped an arm around her and laughed uproariously.
As the sun descended, the party got drunker, louder, and more colorful. They passed around the package of glow sticks. Bella cracked a pink one to go around her neck and a yellow for her wrist. Claire grabbed a handful and told Bella and her friend Bonnie to braid them into her hair. The two of them made a decent effort, dividing Claire's long black locks in half to somehow weave in the little sticks. But within minutes, the three of them had fallen into giggles as they failed utterly.
"Alright, I'm changing strategy," Bonnie declared. Bella moved out of the way. Quil and Embry plopped down beside her and started on their food, each of them with three hotdogs on a plate and a bag of chips between their folded legs. Bella watched as Claire's hair was pulled up into two buns on the top of her head. She wrapped a wrist bracelet around each of them, securing them with the little plastic snap closures. Then she took two longer sticks, cracked them till they turned bright yellow, and stuck one in each bun so they poked out of Claire's head like antennae.
Claire looked at Bella, then at Embry and Quil, slowly turning her head around to show off the look. Bella bit her lip, Embry scoffed around his mouthful of food. Claire raised an eyebrow, daring them.
"I like it," Bella said.
Embry nodded, swallowing his food. Quil grinned and said, "very space age."
Claire burst into laughter, making her glowsticks bob. It set everyone else off until Jacob came over to join. He'd gotten back into his clothes, though his feet were still bare. He made himself a plate of food and joined his friends in their quest to eat their body weight in hot dogs and chips. Once the food was dealt with, people started on the alcohol, then the adolescent bursts of pyromania.
Someone handed Bella a sparkler, and she inched close enough to the bonfire to ignite the tip in a burst of blue sparks. Jacob set off the first firework, a hissing thread of light into the air that boomed into a red flurry above them. Behind the smoke from the fire and lingering clouds, the half moon glowed alongside a few of the brightest stars. His birthday boy responsibility complete, Jacob left the fireworks to his friends, who started setting them off with abandon. They shot roman candle flares into the water, then found a large flat rocket to set up a series of bottle rockets. As the night set in, the beach grew cold, and Bella shifted closer to the fire. The burning driftwood sent licks of green and blue that danced with the orange and yellow into the air.
Someone put a candle in each of the pack of cupcakes, and the group sang happy birthday to Jacob and cheered when he blew out all of his candles in one breath. The girl that had gaped at shirtless Jared went around with a camera snapping pictures of everyone. Jacob pulled Bella against his side as she stood with a sparkler in her hand, both of them smiled at the camera when she counted to three. The camera flash blinded Bella for a second, and she spent the minutes afterwards blinking away the orange spot in her vision.
The waves lapped closer and closer to them as the tide rose, and the party tightened around the bonfire as the beach shrank. Bella found herself cramped up between Embry, Quil, and some of the other boys, and Claire's group of friends. She tried to follow each of the conversations in turn, but they were all talking about people and places she didn't recognize. The music seemed to get louder, and people started dancing against each other in the firelight. One of the couples slinked off towards the trees, and Bella wondered how many other people there planned to make it home tonight. She started to wonder if Edward was already waiting for her in her bedroom. The idea sent a strange flip through her stomach, she couldn't tell if it was excitement or embarrassment.
No one was paying attention to Bella, but she was still discreet about checking her watch. 12:19, Bella sighed. She looked around for Jacob, and saw him poking through what remained of the alcohol. Bella felt some relief that he wasn't talking to anyone as she walked up to him.
"Hey, Bella, you headed out?" He asked easily.
She nodded, instantly relieved that she hadn't been forced to make an awkward excuse for leaving the party first.
He stood and said, "I'll walk back with you."
"You don't have to," Bella insisted, though she did not enjoy the idea of walking a mile back to her truck alone in the woods at night.
"I brought some more beer I wanna get from the car anyway," he brushed her off. Embry jogged up to them and offered to join, and Bella felt better knowing Jacob wouldn't have to hike back to the beach by himself.
"Anyone else going back?" Jacob shouted.
A few people broke off from the crowd. Jacob, Embry, and Bella waited for them to tell everyone goodnight, their designated driver jokingly scolded her group to hurry up, she had the breakfast shift at the Oceanside Resort in the morning. Everyone grimaced at that, but she just shrugged and the group started along the trail. Several people wielded flashlights. Jake handed Bella one from his backpack, and she kept it pointed at the ground the entire time. On the beach, the fire had burned high enough to chase away all the shadows, the moon's glow through the clouds reflecting off the ocean's surface like shifting stars. But within a few moments of walking on the trail, the noise of the party was replaced with the utter, complete silence of the forest. The tree canopy blocked out any moon or starlight from the sky, so they were entirely dependent on their flashlights and glow stick jewelry. The little circles of pink and green and yellow around everyone's wrists and throats seemed entirely insufficient when they stood with the endless black darkness of the forest all around them.
Bella took a few steps quickly until she was walking right next to Jacob. Everyone followed silently, and despite the darkness, Bella thought their pace must've been even faster than the walk to the beach in the sunlight.
Something shifted in the shadows, everyone froze on the trail. Jacob scanned the trail ahead with his flashlight, Bella kept hers steady. If there was something lurking in the ferns beside her, she didn't want to be the first one to spot it. For a moment, everyone's breathing seemed to scream through the forest, until Bella was sure it could be heard for miles. Edward's old words rattled in Bella's head, I'm not always the most dangerous thing out there.
"AH!" One of the boys shouted.
Bella whipped her head backwards, and saw him shaking the sober girl by her shoulders. Just a drunk teenage boy pranking his friends. Bella's heart thudded in her throat. The girl jerked out of his grasp and shoved him with both hands on his chest, though everyone was already grinning. "You asshole!"
The boy giggled shamelessly, and she said, "you just see if I still drive you home, idiot."
Jacob chuckled and shook his head, then restarted the procession. The group chattered for the remainder of the walk, their voices floating through the trees into the blackness. Bella felt the anxiety in her chest loosen when the ground turned from dirt to gravel, and they were back in the parking lot.
The group said their goodbyes to Jacob. On the walk to their car, they all bickered lightheartedly about who needed to sit in whose lap to make everyone fit.
"Bella," Jacob crooned, and pulled her into a hug, "thanks for coming."
"Of course," she said, "Happy Birthday."
Jacob pulled away and told her, "I'll see you soon. My dad's itchin' to watch a game on Charlie's flat screen."
"Sure thing," Bella chuckled. She split off from him and Embry, them going to the beer reserves in Billy's truck.
The roar of the engine and crunch of the tires against the gravel felt too loud in Bella's ears after the dead silence of the forest. She turned on the bright headlights, grateful for the lack of rain, and set off towards home. The radio's soft melodies and exhaustion of the party had her yawning and blinking herself awake by the time she reached Forks. There was no silver volvo on the street outside Charlie's house, not that Edward needed his car to get anywhere. Bella turned off the engine and unfastened her seat belt.
The door swung open before she touched the handle, revealing Edward. He held out a hand to help her out of the cab, and said, "good evening, Bella."
"Hi," she said. The truck's door was still wide open as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself into his chest. The familiar relief sank into her, her heart rate slowed slightly with the calm of being near him. His stoney arms circled her, his head dipped so his cheek rubbed against her hair.
"Let's get inside," he said.
Bella nodded into his chest, then took his hand and walked towards the house. Charlie had left the porch light on for her, she stopped before they reached the door and sat on the top porch step. Her boots were covered with sand and mud that she didn't want to track inside. She picked at the double knotted laces uselessly, her fingers cold and stiff. Edward knelt on the steps, gently replacing her hands with perfect ones. Her shoes were unlaced and off within a few seconds. Edward held one of the boots over the porch railing and turned it over, sending a fall of sand towards the ground. Bella chuckled and pulled her socks off too.
When she tried to stand, Bella only made it a few inches off the step before Edward swept her into his arms.
"Excuse me," she teased him.
"You might get a splinter," Edward said.
Bella rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. He carried her into the house and up the stairs. In her bedroom, he set her gently on the bed, it was all very familiar. She stood up and unzipped her jacket, whispering, "I think you miss when I couldn't walk."
Edward laid out her bed with his hands behind his head. "Don't be ridiculous, Bella."
She threw her jacket at him, and he let it land across his face.
The smell of burning wood was thick in Bella's clothes and hair, but she was too tired to shower. The light in the bathroom strained her eyes as she got ready for bed. Charlie opened his bedroom door as she crossed the hallway. He leaned against the doorframe in his boxers and old Mt. Rainier National Park t-shirt.
"Made it home, Bells?" Charlie asked, squinting against the soft light coming from her bedroom. Bella nodded, and Charlie moved to return to his bed. "Alright, goodnight."
"Night, dad," Bella said.
Edward was still lounging in her bed, though her jacket had made its way to its usual spot over the top of her desk chair. Bella dumped her clothes in a heap on the floor and turned the lamp off as she got into bed. The pile of clothes radiated with two points of light from her abandoned glow sticks. She cuddled as close to Edward as she could, with her under the blankets and him on top of them. He turned onto his side and faced her, then wrapped an arm around her to run long strokes along her spine through the covers.
"Did you enjoy the party?" He whispered. His cool breath ghosted over Bella's nose.
She nodded, her face rubbing against the pillow. "I only knew a few people."
"Hmm." Edward's hand continued its steady rhythm, Bella felt herself sinking into sleep. She wanted him to hum something but he said, "I'm sorry I couldn't go with you."
Bella fought her exhaustion to respond, "'s okay."
A moment later, the familiar first notes of her lullaby rumbled from Edwards chest. Bella was already halfway unconscious. The melody followed her into her dreams. She and Edward stood in a world of night, but his crystal skin glimmered anyway. It threw tiny rainbows into the empty blackness around them. Bella wrapped herself around him and watched his light chase away all the shadows.
NOTES: OMG people have actually looked at this wtf!
In addition to the overall rewrite-vibes of this story of everything post-Edward's leaving in new moon, I've made some changes to the general backstory of the story, which will hopefully be quite easy to spot as I move through the story. Some of them are (in my opinion) major, such as the lifelong closeness between Bella and Charlie that I hope was obvious in the prologue - my version of Bella spent her entire summer in Forks, and Charlie was her responsible, caring parent. Also, you probably noticed in this chapter, that Jacob and Bella are much closer friends than they were in pre-New Moon canon. Jacob's age and birthday are different too.
I'm posting this one day after the first because I hadn't remember to post here instead of just Ao3, but don't expect 14 hours between updates going forward lmao.
Lastly, I wanna shoutout olhaclara, for being my first ever review on , literally like an hour after I uploaded 3 You rock, and don't have your PMs on so i have to publicly thank you!