Bella, Angela and Samuel are sitting in Tyler's van, covered in blankets and trying to warm up as Mike, Eric and Jessica change into their wetsuits. Lauren and Tyler are on a snack run as most of the sweets had miraculously vanished when brought into close proximity to Samuel who is in a particularly peppy mood due to a dreamless night and a minor sleep-in. Unfortunately, Eric's trusty weather source was wrong and currently the cold breeze of the beach is causing the light rain to almost freeze their skin. But that isn't' stopping the few people already in the surf.
"I don't know if it's worth it anymore guys." Eric says as he stares at the sky. Samuel is slightly tempted to agree if not for the fact that he is at least out with his friends.
"We're all the way out here. You guys are babies." Jessica exclaims as she finishes pulling on her wetsuit.
Angela grabs both Bella and Samuel's attention when she quietly makes a comment. "I keep thinking that Eric is going to ask me to go to the prom but then he just... doesn't." He rubs circles on Angela's back to sooth her worries.
"You should ask him. Not all guys are as cool and confident as me." He jokes in order to lighten Angela's mood. She simply nudges him, but he notices the small smile she now wears so he believes it is worth it.
"Really though, take control. You're a strong independent woman." Bella adds on in encouragement while Samuel reaches over and snatches a Twizzler from the packet in Bella's hands.
"I am?" She asks, unsure about herself and this plan.
"Yes." Bella agrees while Samuel simply Sam nods, Twizzlers in his mouth.
"Hey can you do me up?" Jessica asks one of us as she walks over to Tyler's van. Samuel agrees and quickly zips up her suit. As he sits down he notices a familiar face heading towards them and points them out to Bella.
"Bella!..." Wait for it. "Hey Samuel." He just nods in greeting, finding Jake's crush on Bella hilarious. Jake runs up to the three of them and gives Bella a large grin while the two other boys walk up behind him.
"Hey Jacob. Guys this is Jacob." Everyone just gives a curt nod or smile to Jake in greeting.
"Hey guys. How you doing?" He asks, taking a seat next to Bella.
Samuel chooses to ignore them for a little while and chooses to greet the two others instead. Finishing off his third Twizzler in a row, he smiles at the two boys. "Hi. Jakes friends I gather?" They laugh and make a small joke about 'sometimes'. Samuel just laughed along with them, happy to finally meet some of Jake's friends since he had dropped by their house already a few times and they had gotten to know each other a bit.
"You guys should keep bella company. Um, her date bailed." Samuel's attention perks up at that.
"Date?" "What date?" Samuel and Eric panic at the same time.
Jessica laughs at their antics, stating "She invited Edward."
"Cullen?" Samuel clarified.
"To be polite, that's it." Bella eases Samuel's worries, but apparently not Eric's, as he keeps on stealing glances at Bella. Taking note of this, Samuel hopes that he will pick up his act soon and realise Bella simply isn't interested in him.
"I think it's nice she invited him. Nobody ever does." At Angela's comment, Samuel stops and takes in the information for later analyse while simultaneously sneaking a few more Twizzlers from the packet.
"Yeah 'cause Cullen's a freak." Mike voices out loud.
"You got that right." One of Jake's friends ads in.
"Aha" Samuel makes a sound since he currently has his mouth full of sweets and nods, not able to argue against that fact.
"You guys know him?" Bella asks.
"The Cullens don't come here." The same boy states making everyone go silent for a moment before Jake and Bella start talking again, but Samuel's mind is still focusing on the kids last statement.
Pretty soon Lauren and Tyler arrive back with bags of sweets and food, snapping Samuel out of his trance. He practically salivates at the sight of the packet of lollipops. Choosing to ditch the warmth of the blanket in pursuit of the sugary substances, he doesn't notice Bella walking off with Jacob. After successfully managing to swipe 5 lollipops, a block of chocolate, a large packet of chips and a 1.5L bottle of Cola from the couple, he walks back over to the van with a smug smile on his face until he notices a lone Angela and stops in his tracks. With a lollipop currently lodged in his mouth and his hands full, Samuel tries to ask Angela what happened only causing her to laugh. Finally giving up his disastrous attempts, he walks up to her, dumping everything onto the van floor and takes the lollipop out of his mouth.
"Where's Bella?" Angela gives him a knowing smile before answering.
"She's fine." She pulls him next to her and into a small, one armed embrace.
"Yeah, Jake just took her for a walk along the beach." One of Jakes friends informed while the other successfully sneaked a chocolate bar from the surprisingly large amount of snacks Lauren and Tyler bought.
"Samuel relax. Give the girl some room." Angela softly comforted his worrying form.
"I guess you're right. I'm just a little over protective of her is all." Samuel lets out a large sigh before placing the lollipop back into his mouth in order to let the sweet flavour distract him.
After an hour or so all the snacks are fully devoured leaving six restless teens sitting in a van until Angela let out an annoyed moan. "Can we please go wale watching now? I've had just about enough sitting around in a crammed van with four boys and only one girl. The testosterone levels are too high to handle at the moment." They let out a small laugh before finally relenting to her demands. So as the cold air from the beach whizzed around them, Quill and Embry, as Samuel recently found out, show them some of the best places to see the whales. All in all, Samuel agreed that the experience is worth the weather conditions.
XXxxoxxxXX
On the car ride back to Mike's parent's store, Angela and Mike tell Samuel about the blood test they did Friday morning in Biology with Bella while Jessica, who's sitting in the front passenger seat, plays with the radio.
"Yeah then Edward came interrupting us. Carried her away like some kind of doll." Samuel finds this odd since he is pretty sure Edward hated Bella not too long ago. Or at least that was what Bella believed. It would explain why they weren't trying to kill each other with glares the other day, and why Bella suddenly invited him to the beach with them. "Not to mention as soon as I got back to class I had to carry Lee Stephens there as he managed to cut himself somehow." At this everyone in the car, except Mike, burst out laughing at his misfortune. To be honest, Samuel hadn't even noticed Bella missing in their Gym class that day. He had been feeling tired recently and that Gym class mentaly and physically exhausted him so much that when Alice dropped him off in the truck Samuel practically fell asleep as soon as he hit the mattress.
"Hey Samuel." Angela calls to gain his attention. "The Red Cross is having a blood drive in Port Angeles next weekend. I'm thinking of going. Do you want to come along with me?"
"Uh... yeah sure. Why not?"
"Great. I grabbed a few spare permission slips from the teacher if ether of you two want to come? Or Bella?" Samuel noticed Mike pale in the mirror and Jessica just laughed and said 'no way' before going back to whatever it is she was doing before since she finally chose a station about a minute ago.
"Yeah I'm not so sure about Bella. She gets sick at the sight of blood." Samuel mentions at the reminder of what Mike told them just before.
"Good point. Maybe not Bella then."
"Ha! Yeah. Probably not Bella." They laugh it off before going on to more meaningless topics for the remainder of the trip.
After arriving at Mike's parent's store, Angela's mother gives him a lift to work because she already had plans to go shopping with her friend, Angela simply tagging along. Samuel finally manages to convince Angela to ask Eric to the dance on Monday on the way to Seattle. They whisper to each other so her mother doesn't pick up on the conversation and bug Angela about it later. "Alright, but only if you'll come with me as moral support." She relents.
"Of course!" Samuel exclaims slightly louder than intended causing Angela's mother to look back at them in question. They both put on innocent expressions so she turns back to the road without further question. Surprizing really considering how much of a gossip she is.
Upon arriving in Seattle, Samuel and Angela separate from her mother before heading to his workplace. Alice really knew what she was talking about when she made him apply to the restaurant. It suited Samuel perfectly and he was already gaining favour with his boss and some of the regulars. Angela ate a meal there and left soon after, leaving Samuel to his job. He had already arranged for Charlie to pick him up later since he is working late in Seattle tonight.
XXxxoxxxXX
Upon arriving home, Samuel heads upstairs to Bella's room to find out how her day went, since they hadn't had much of a chance to talk about it with her riding back in Tyler's Van. After knocking and getting no answer, he enters Bella's room to find her listening to music using his headphones. He pulls them off of her and listens to the song for a few seconds yanking the cord out from the stereo, causing it to blasts the song out loud. Taking a seat next to her on the bed, he notices something is wrong with her. That night they stayed up listening to a CD Phil had bought Bella for Christmas last year, singing, or shouting in Bella's case, the song to their hearts content. By the end of the night they had learnt all the lyrics off by heart laughing at the others antics. They let all of their pent up emotions go. In the end Samuel stayed with Bella, falling asleep with her in his arms.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
A/N: I know this chapter doesn't flow as well as it should. I actually wrote the key idea months ago, but only just fleshed it out last night. Honestly lately my life has gone crazy. I've been stressing a phenomenal amount and the only reason this chapter is out at all right now is thanks to Eccentrichello, the only person to actually review my last chapter (On Fanfiction.net). I just want to say, thank you. I would also like to thank anyone who has managed to keep up with my story so far. I will try my best to get the next chapter out soon, but I unfortunately can give no promises when it comes to life.
Next chapter Jasper and Emmett go shopping! Review to speed up my writing! smile
