When The Curtain Falls

13 ~Let's Keep Things Professional~

Bella waited and waited for Jenna and Josh to return to the beach.

Returning to her towel dripping wet, she knelt down on her knees to lay on her stomach. She picked up her phone to text jenna. no response.

"Where are they?" Bella said angrily under her breath. She lifted her head looking around the beach for them.

She honestly couldn't have cared less at this point if they were coming back or not, alone time was nice.

She dropped her head to rest it on the towel, drifting off as the sound waves splashed up against the shore, calming her.

A loud high pitched whistle caught her attention which sounded much like a 'catcall' from a distance. She opened her eyes abruptly, losing that state of calmness.

"Do you believe in love at first sight—or should I walk by again?" A voice in the distance said

She rolled over tilting her sunglasses down over her face to see who just made the cheesy comment.A good looking guy with a lot of hair walked over, his shirt was unbuttoned, revealed his tanned, toned chest.

"You scared me, don't do that.. I thought I was about to have to knock some dude's teeth in." Bella said sternly, rolling back over on her stomach.

"Oh please. Take a joke babe."

Silence filled the surrounding area.

"So... where's Josh? I came here looking for him. It's urgent," Jake said.

"Him and Jenna went on a hike. No, I do not know when they'll be back, or if they even WILL be back."

"So that's why you're here all alone.. didn't wanna be that third wheel huh? Guess I should've been here a little sooner so you wouldn't have to be."

"You're funny Jake," She laughed.

Jake bent down to lay down beside her on the towel, flat on his back with his arms resting behind his head.

"Shouldn't you be going?" Bella asked him, turning her head towards him.

"Oh. Did you want me too?" Jake replied.

"No no, I suppose it's fine, I just thought that I was 'only a distraction to you', Jacob". Bella said in a playful way.

Jake rolled over on his side to face her.

"You are. That's the problem. I just can't seem to stay away from you. You're everywhere. And now we are apparently working together," Jake implied

"So what are you saying?"

"Well, I was thinking we could-"

A voice cut him off

"Hey!!! we're back, we're back. Sorry we took so long, we seemed to get a little lost on our hike," Jenna said, out of breath.

"Mmhm," Bella said unconvinced. Jenna was too tired to even try with her.

"Hey Jake, how's it going?" Jenna joked quickly putting on a shirt. Jake and Bella didn't notice her stomach from the angle they were at and the glare of the sun.

"It's going," he smiled, blocking the sun with his hand.

"I think it's time we better go, Jenna and I have stuff to do later anyway," Bella said.

"i have something important to run by you Josh, that's why I'm here," Jake added.

"Oh, ok... Then I guess we will catch you guys sometime later! Jenna we are not finished with that conversation," Josh reminded her.

The girls packed up, walked up the beach to get into their car, dusting the sand off of their feet.

She put the car into drive and they drove down the highway.

"We don't have anything to do tonight," Jenna said in confusion.

"I know. I just didn't want to be around Jake right now."

"What? I thought you liked him."

"I just think that if we are working together, we should have boundaries. What happened, happened, and we can't do anything about it now, except stay away from each other."

"Are you just gonna move onto the next guy now? Bella, I thought he was different."

"All I know is that we work together, it's just not right if we are seeing each other. it could affect my job, Jenna."

"Yeah, I understand that. I'm still rooting for you two though"

"There was a part of me that was too...We are just very different people with very different lifestyles. it's just better this way."

"Bella, you don't see it but you two have more in common than you think," Jenna explained.

"Yeah, ok," Bella sarcastically laughed.

"Whatever," Jenna muttered, turning up the radio.

"Get some rest, doll!! I love youuu!!" Jokingly, Jenna pushed Bella out of the car when they pulled into her parking lot.

"Text me later, starshine," She rolled her eyes as she smiled and waved at Jenna driving off.