The Newest Moon

Little Trip

Chapter 13: Little Trip

Bella POV:

'Took you long enough,' he said annoyingly.

'I saw something I like.' I was out of breath, barely able to swim next to him. He was just so extremely fast, I should have known. He was very tall, lean and muscular, meanwhile, I didn't exercise at all due to my two left feet. Not a fair game! And I didn't want him to know I was checking him out, so I had to think fast about a possible explanation.

'Remember that milkshake place I've told you about? I had to see if it's still there. And it is, so after our swim let's go there? Please?' A strong answer, I was very pleased with myself.

'Bells, you're weak. Wanna race me to the buoy?' Jacob yelled back at me, ready for another unfair little race.

'Absolutely not,' I yelled back. 'Let's just enjoy the water.'

Jacob swam back to me and we were floating a little bit while enjoying the water. It was such a calm little moment. Next to us, people were screaming at each other, they were swimming or they were building sandcastles. But right here, right now, Jake and I were just enjoying each other's company. We closed our eyes, looked at the sun ahead of us and calmly let us be floated by the waves.

'You were right,' I heard him say next to me.

'I usually am, but about what this time?'

I looked at him and he rolled his eyes at me.

'Ha-ha. You must be the funniest person ever, Bells. But you were right about Jacksonville. It's so calming right here. I feel so at ease.' He continued to smile at the sun.

'I know exactly what you're talking about. I feel the same way,' I responded. Even though I love Forks with a passion, I've lived in warmer climates before and even though I can't seem to sunbathe properly, I still enjoy the sun a lot. I'm at ease right now and I just feel my muscles relax more and more each second.

'Good.'

'Good?' I glanced over to look at Jacob again. I didn't understand his response directly. He avoided my eyes before he took a deep breath and looked straight at me. He gave me a little smile, but it did not reach his eyes. He looked sad as if he didn't know how to address the next subject. I had a gut feeling that I knew exactly what we were going to talk about right now.

'You know, with everything going on at home. I figured it would be nice to get away from it all.'

I was right, we were going to talk about Edward. I figured I needed to give him some sort of explanation for my behaviour, but I didn't want to do that right here. Here, I wanted to enjoy the piece. Here, I was in my second best happy place.

The thought of Edward and I, laying next to each other in the beautiful little meadow that he once showed me while he explained his vampire ways came back to mind. We had spent countless afternoons there ever since. It was the most beautiful little scenery and the one place in the whole wide world where I felt truly at ease, at home. Just laying there, talking with Edward, looking at him, looking at his dashingly crooked little grin that made my heart do wild things, it was heaven.

But now, it was also hell. I haven't been back since. And the thought about it alone hurts like hell. He left. He left me for six months until he came back. Out of nowhere actually. What was I to make of that?

'Not right now, okay? We'll discuss it over milkshakes,' I said. This was now my happy place and I didn't want to ruin it. Jacob agreed and we spent the next half hour just enjoying the scenery.