Chapter Three

Bella


Cold.

Wet.

Numb.

These were automatically the first things I registered as my eyes slowly opened. I tasted salt water and my eyes burned as if someone had poured tar in them. My vision was blurry at first, but slowly my eyes started to focus on something gray. Cement? My mind wondered stupidly. No, it wasn’t cement. It felt soft and pillow-like under my cheek.

Coherence started to return to me as my consciousness came back. I lifted my heavy head, struggling with my sore neck. I heard my neck pop as it moved up. Oh, that felt good. I looked down at the gray thing that had been under my cheek.

An airbag? My mind registered with my sight. Then I saw that it was floating. In the middle of the ocean.

Holy fuck, I’m in the middle of an ocean!

I couldn’t believe that wasn’t the first thing that I noticed when I woke up. But in my confused state, I realized that my whole body wasn’t cold. A part of my waist was warm, but my body was so numb from the water that I hadn’t realized it. I looked to the left of me, and when my gaze met the face of the beautiful man on the side of me, his forehead leaning on the back of my shoulder, everything came whirling back to me.

I remembered meeting Edward, and then I recalled the plane giving a giant jolt, sending us both to our feet. Everything from then on was fuzzy. My memory would not cooperate.

Edward’s face was deathly pale, his lips white and his eyes closed in a deep slumber. Or was he even sleeping?

Oh my God, is he dead? I started freaking out and tried to move my pruned hand out of the water, but I still felt paralyzed from the chest down, where the water was hitting my body. With all my strength, I was finally able to lift my arm out of the water and attempt to stroke his face.

I touched his cheek softly, and he wouldn’t wake up. I tried slapping him a bit, but still no response. I couldn’t tell if he was breathing, but I realized his hand was the warm thing around my waist. If he was still warm, then that meant he was still alive, right?

“Edward,” I said desperately, but my voice came out hoarse and raspy, causing my throat to burn. I tried to clear it, but that only made it hurt more.

“Edward! Edward! Wake up! Please, wake up!” I repeated over and over. I started looking around, hoping to see a boat or another survivor…land…anything! But there was nothing in sight but water, miles and miles of water.

I tried moving my other limbs, and I started to get feeling back in my body. I moved my legs around sharply, still trying to wake up the man next to me, when my leg came into contact with something hard.

“OW!”

Edward

Ooof! I felt myself jolted awake by something hitting me in my groin. Really hard. My first instinct was to grab myself, but my hands were stiff and wet, confusing me. That didn’t stop me, though.

I looked around for the perpetrator, and I saw big, beautiful brown eyes staring back at me. Then everything that had happened today, or yesterday, or mere hours or minutes ago, hit me like a wrecking ball. How long had it been since I passed out? I blinked a few times, clearing the water out if my eyes to get a good look at Bella and my surroundings. Her eyes were wide and terrified.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that! I was just trying to wake you up! I was so afraid that you were dead!” she whispered hoarsely.

I didn’t respond, still in shock that this wasn’t a dream. I tried moving the arm that wasn’t holding my poor midsection to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t in some nightmare, but when I moved my right arm, I realized it was on her waist, and I didn’t want to let go of her just yet.

“How long have you been conscious?” I asked her, my voice also scratchy and irritated.

“I don’t know…maybe five minutes,” she said. I noticed that she still looked beautiful even after a plane crash and being in the ocean for who knew how long. I couldn’t help but admire her features now that I was up close. Her plump lips were red and her face was red, either from being sun burnt or from blushing, I couldn’t tell. She looked exhausted, however, and her eyes were drooping a bit, giving her a sultry look. Not wanting to seem like I was ogling, I turned my gaze and mind to more pressing matters…like where we were. There was no land, no speck of anything, and my heart sank.

We were going to die out here. We had no food, no fresh water, and barely anything to hold us up. The airbag wasn’t going to stay blown up forever. I briefly wondered what would get us first--starvation or drowning. I looked back at Bella sadly. Perhaps it would have been better if I had just let us go down with the plane to a fast death instead of dying slowly at sea.

Well, there was no point in crying over spilled milk. We were alive. I just didn’t know for how long.

I looked down at my limbs that appeared highlighted in the water and sighed in hopelessness. When I looked at Bella again, I noticed she was looking at the water with a frown on her face and sadness in her eyes. She caught me staring at her and turned her chocolate eyes toward my neck, refusing to meet my gaze. Why, I did not know.

“I’m really sorry about that,” she muttered quietly. It was a surprise that I could hear her, she was talking so low, but it reminded me of how alone we were out here with no sound but the slaps of waves hitting our bodies.

“Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t hurt anymore,” I lied. Truthfully, I could still feel the pain throbbing in my poor groin, but I wasn’t about to sound like a wimp. She cocked an eyebrow at me in disbelief and I smirked a little and shrugged with a wink. She laughed softly and I laughed with her, not knowing what was so funny. Then she started laughing uncontrollably in a fit of hysterics. My smile faded in confusion.

“I’m afraid I don’t get the joke,” I said, wanting to laugh at her strange behavior.

“It’s just,” she laughed, “I have,” laugh, “the worst luck,” laugh, “of everyone,” another laugh, “in the world!” By now there were tears in her eyes from laughing so hard.

Her words sent a strange pang through my chest. I knew it was wrong to think of it that way, but the way she said it made me feel like she thought being stuck with me was the worst possible thing to have happened to her.

Nonsense, Edward, a voice in my head said, she just doesn’t like the situation. It has nothing to do with you.

“I’m here too, you know,” I mumbled lamely. At my statement, she finally looked up and met my eyes, but now it was I who couldn’t look at her.

“Oh, Edward, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that! I must sound so selfish!” she said hurriedly.

I rolled my neck around feeling it crack as it released tension. God, that felt better. I grimaced at the burn on my face. The sun had been descending when the plane went down and we got on the ‘raft,’ and now the sun was out again, beating heat on us. I briefly wondered how long I had been out for. Definitely the whole night and morning, I realized.
 
            “Well, I suppose we must both have very bad luck,” I said. Bella sighed softly.
 
            “What time do you think it is?” Bella voiced my thoughts.
 
            “I don’t know. But judging by your sunburn, I’d have to guess around noon. It was nearing nighttime when we went down.” Bella gasped, and I looked at her questioningly.
 
            “All those people! I can’t believe I was just pitying myself!” she cried. Realizing that she was going into shock, I pulled her to me and rubbed her shoulders, letting go completely of the raft. I knew that putting pressure on one’s body in a comforting way sometimes calmed a person’s system.

Her breathing, which had spiked during her panic, slowly started to decrease back to normal. Her heart rate, however, only seemed to pick up more as I gripped her shoulders. She seemed to relax, though, regardless. How strange.

Once she seemed calm again, I let go of her shoulders, letting my fingers run down the silky skin over her thin bones, and I smirked when I saw that she broke out in goose bumps at my touch.

“Bella, don’t think about that. They didn’t suffer, and there is nothing we can do. Just don’t fret over it. I think we should focus on here and now—what is happening to us.”

She sighed. “You’re right. So…what are we going to do?” She looked around at the water, seeing exactly what I saw—nothing.

“I don’t know. Hopefully another plane will pass by and see us. Or maybe a boat.” Then something occurred to me. “Bella, you didn’t have any family on that plane, did you?” Instant guilt flooded me. What if she had been traveling with her parents on that plane? Had she been with someone? A husband, perhaps? A strange feeling grabbed my gut, and I couldn’t figure out what it was. I felt guilt at the possibility that her parents or someone close to her had just died and I had done nothing to help, but this was different. Was it…jealousy? No. Edward Cullen was never jealous of anyone. That wasn’t it. My mind was just fucked from that damn crash. I’m going crazy.

“No. It was just me. I wonder if that man ever even woke up during the crash. That old lady probably didn’t even hear anything,” Bella said.

“What man and old lady?” I asked with curiosity as relief flooded me.

“Oh, they were just the people I sat next to on the plane. The man kept farting in his sleep and the old lady kept thinking it was me because she could only smell, not hear.” Bella rolled her eyes, but then she looked horrified, probably because she felt guilty talking about deceased people that way.

I laughed at her innocence. It was clear she was a shy person, but had a feisty side to her. It was too cute. She seemed to cheer up a little at my laugh, but then an awkward silence followed. We both knew we were doomed, and the lack of conversation seemed to make it worse. I tried to make small talk.

“So why were you going to France anyway?” I asked. It was obvious she wasn’t from there, so she had to just be vacationing or something, but why was she alone? I tried to get a glimpse of her hand to see if there was a ring on her finger, and I was happy to see said ring was apparently not there. So she wasn’t married. Again, my gut did a little flop, but this time it was in happiness.

“I work for a magazine company in Florida, and my boss wanted to interview a band from Paris to put in an article. They left on a different plane than mine, so now I guess I won’t be going to France.” She chuckled but the smile didn’t meet her eyes. “What about you? What’s your story?”


“Oh, nothing terribly exciting, I assure you. My sister lives in France and she’s getting married in a few days.”

Bella looked saddened at my admittance. “Now you’re going to miss your own sister’s wedding.” I shrugged, trying not to think about it.

We were quiet for a little while longer before Bella spoke to me again.

“I’m bored.”

“Me, too,” I said. I looked down at her. She was still holding onto the raft with both hands while I held on with just one. She still had her back to me but we weren’t in an intimate position--we just looked like a man and woman stranded at sea. Bella bit her lip but let it go from between her teeth quickly.

“Ugh,” she spat, “I taste like salt water.” I chuckled at her. Suddenly I wondered what her mouth tasted like on a normal day, one when she had not been drifting for hours. Even though she was sunburned and swollen, she still looked beautiful. I didn’t have a specific type per se, but I normally went for the fake blond type women. It didn’t really matter to me since I only spent a couple hours with them. It’s not like I had to wake up to what they really looked like.

And thank God for that. But Bella was definitely different. She had a natural and angelic beauty. I bet no man had ever kicked her out of his house after sex. My eyes clenched.

And there it was again…that strange gut feeling.

“Hey, Edward?” Bella asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“Let’s play a game,” she said. She didn’t say it with any sexual innuendo…to my disappointment. She looked at me with brighter eyes, and I was happy to oblige to her wishes, though I couldn’t even imagine what kind of game we could possibly play here.

“Um…okay. What game do you want to play?”

“Well, there isn’t really a name for it, but my friend and I play it at work all the time. So here’s the rules: I say one thing randomly, and you say the first thing that pops into your mind. And you have to say the first thing that you think of, no editing. And then I feed off of what you said. Got it?”

Okay, so that seemed like an easy game. “Yeah. Let’s play.” Anything to pass the time.

“Alright. I’m gonna start off with…music.” Why did she start off with that?

No, focus, Edward, what does the word music make you think of?

“Dear Penis,” I blurted out jokingly. She cocked an eyebrow. I quickly defended myself, “What? It’s a song!” She rolled her eyes. “Okay, Clair de Lune. It’s my favorite.”

“Ummm…Eminem…” she continued. How do you get Eminem from Debussy? They’re on two different sides of the spectrum.

“Superman,” I said.

“Kryptonite.”

“Green.”

“White.”

“White wet tee shirt contest.” She glared at me for that one. I would have stopped, but I could tell she was holding back a smile.

“Erm, Paris.”

“A Night in Paris.” Oh, this is just too easy.

“Cruises.”

“Brazilian bikini waxes.”

“Coconuts.”

“Jenna Jameson.” I made a motion with my hands in front of my chest, indicating big tits. Hey, she said coconuts.

“Edward! I’m about to slap you!”

“Ooooh, that makes me think of a riding crop,” I said, laughing at her red face.

“That’s it! I quit!” she said.

“Aw, come on, Bella. One more round?”

She huffed, clearly irritated. Again, I would have stopped but seeing her riled up was too cute.

“Okay,” she said, “Money. Make something perverted out of that, Mr. Sexter!”

I tightened my lips to keep from laughing. Did she just call me Mr. Sexter? Her angry face turned to one of embarrassment, and turned even more red with her blush.

“Money,” she repeated, trying to return to the subject. I let a chuckle out and said the first thing that popped into my head at the mention of the word money.

“Hugh Heffner,” I said. She groaned. I started laughing as she refused to meet my eyes. She quieted after that, and we were silent for another hour or two. My watch had stopped working, and there was no more phone in my pocket.

We drifted for so long that I couldn’t even feel my fingers anymore. My scalp felt so sunburned, and I could have sworn I smelled burnt hair. I was incredibly bored, but I knew if I didn’t have this beautiful creature with me, I would be suffering twice as bad. Even though she wouldn’t talk to me, I enjoyed her company. I went to the other side of the “raft” and faced her. She wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“I was just trying to entertain you, Bella. I didn’t mean to sound like a pervert.” She shook her head and waved me off. I put my head down and tried to take a nap. I was seriously going to have skin cancer after this.

***

“Edward!” she said as she grabbed my shoulder. She tried to turn me around fully so that I was facing the same way as her, but I wouldn’t budge. Our legs touched and tangled as she tried to see above my head. I wiped water from my eyes and gave her my full attention.

“What?” Her eyes widened as she stared across at something. Without looking at me, she grabbed my hair and turned my head around.

“Do you see that? That speck?” she whispered. I squinted my eyes a little and tried to see what she was looking at. And sure enough, it was a--

“Is that what I think it is?” she said.

“Yeah, I think so,” I said in amazement. I turned around slowly and looked her dead straight in the eyes. She looked back at me, amazement shining in her deep eyes.

“Land.”

Chapter Two

Bella

Yesterday I would have sworn on my life that Mike Newton was the most aggravating man in the entire world. Today, however, I was positive, without a doubt, that Mike's own father had won that title by a long shot. I mean, who the hell does he think he is, marching into my office, touching my possessions, and telling me that he's scheduled me to travel to France for our magazine company? I was surprised at first, because he never offered to let me travel with them for work. Mike, Jr., was my boss, and his father was his boss, so that would make Michael my "big-boss". So, I could not say no to this ridiculous trip.

Mike and his father were leaving before me to make sure everything in France was in order for us. I would get there three days later on a plane leaving from my Florida, just a few miles away from my hometown. I had only been on a plane once, and that was when we moved from Arizona to Florida. I don't remember it being pleasant, so my nerves were going a little out of whack. But going to Paris would be a once in a lifetime experience, even if I was only going for work and no play. I would be really sad if I never saw the outside of our appointed building. I still couldn't figure out why Newton wanted to bring me; I didn't even know French, but, as my friend Angela reminded me over and over again, I was a workaholic who needed a damn break.

It was true. After my depressing breakup with Eric my senior year, I threw myself into studying. I aced all my classes in college, and finished in only three years. I was a twenty-two year old prodigy with no life and, even though I never admitted it out loud, no happiness. Sure, my parents always made me feel a little better, but they had each other to be happy with, Angela had Ben, and I had…no one. I had no extracurricular activities, no siblings, and no real friends to hang out with. I had Angela, but like I said, Angela had Ben. I didn't know what my problem was. I knew I didn't want a boyfriend since my relationship with Eric had ended so badly. I was so heartbroken at the texts I found from some girl in his biology class. Hmpf. Biology, how ironic.

I didn't get along with people easily because I was so shy, plus people tended to dislike me because I always corrected when they were wrong. Hey, I'm a perfectionist, and it's not my fault people need to go back to high school and learn how to talk correctly.

I decided that when the time came, I would just take a sleeping pill to knock myself out on the plane and just sleep through the entire flight. Well, if I grew the guts. I had a problem with taking medicine ever since my grandmother took medication and fell asleep while driving.

I had started packing everything from my office that I would need in France when I heard a jovial voice enter my office.

"Bells!" Mike Newton said excitedly, "My dad just told me you're coming with us to Paris!" I smiled at him, though it probably came off as more of a grimace. I was not looking forward to spending a few nights in a hotel room right next to his.

"Yeah. I just hope we're not stuck in an office the entire time we're there," I said while stuffing papers into my briefcase.

"Nah, Dad says we're gonna have dinner on the Eiffel Tower one of the nights we're there. I think I'll rent a moped, and you and I can ride on it through the streets at night," he said, his face lighting up.

I internally groaned. Sure, it was a sweet idea, but wasn't it also romantic? I never wanted to hear the words 'romantic' and 'Mike' in a sentence, especially if I was involved. But he was my boss, and I had to act nice.

"Sounds good, Mike. Listen, I have a lot of stuff to do, and if I don't finish by tomorrow, I'll never get it finished in time, so…" I trailed off, politely throwing him out of my room. He nodded and smiled his goofy grin, and thankfully left without another word. It had been a lie. I was almost finished packing. And I didn't have much clothes at home, mostly I just wore the same outfits over and over- jeans and a T-shirt, so it wouldn't take any time at all to pack my stuff at home.

I sighed. Mike and the others were leaving tomorrow, so that gave me an extra few free days of nothing to do. I hated my days off more than I hated my working days. I would rather be paid to be flirted with all day than to sit at my boring house alone and doing absolutely nothing.

Would my life always be this monotone?

***

"Please be careful, Sweetheart," my mom's worried voice over the phone made me feel bad for not telling my parents about my trip sooner. I had put it off and put it off, knowing that they would worry.

"Mom, I'm going to be fine. I'll be with the Newtons the whole time. And I can take care of myself," I added. I heard the announcement for my flight on the intercom. "I'm sorry, I have to go, Mom. Do you want me to call you when my plane lands?"

"You better," she said, "I love you, Isabella."

"I love you, too. Try not to worry too much. Bye, Mom." I snapped my cell shut and headed for the area I was supposed to go in. It had been so long since I had been on a plane, and I was getting the goose bumps.

My suitcase was loaded and I was seated towards the middle next to some fat and stinky guy, and the next thing I knew, we were off. I held onto my armrests and tried to slow my erratic heart beat. I looked around the plane, trying to find things to distract me. It was a good thing I wasn't next to the window, because then I would have been totally freaking out.

Ten minutes later the stinky fat guy was out. So was the old lady on the other side of me. I knew it was impossible for me to fall asleep, so I just laid my head back and tried to watch the movie playing on the little screens. It was P.S. I Love You, and I cried when it ended. At the start of another movie, I heard a low noise that sounded very much like a…fart?

And then I smelled it. Ugh. The stinky fat guy sitting next to me was farting in his sleep! The old woman sitting next to me had awoken sometime during the movie, and was now looking at me curiously. I realized that she could smell the farts, too, and she thought I was the one passing gas by the look on her face. Her wrinkled nose was even more wrinkled with disgust.

"Oh, no, that wasn't me, that was him," I said quickly, pointing my finger at the guy next to me. Her eyebrows came together and she frowned at me.

"It was him," I repeated, gesturing toward the guy again.

"What?!" she practically yelled. Oh great, she can't hear me, but she can certainly smell. I groaned.

"Such rude teenagers these days! Why, if I ever did that with people around in my day, my father would have whipped me!" she said. My jaw dropped open.

"I am not a teenager! AND I DID NOT FART!" I yelled in frustration. People started looking at me like I was crazy. It didn't do any good, either, because the old lady still didn't hear me. I groaned and got out of my seat, heading for the bathroom, getting away from the smell and the crazy lady. I realized this was a bad idea as I had trouble trying to stay up. Not wanting to make an even bigger fool of myself by tripping, I kept my eyes on my feet to make sure I didn't fall.

Suddenly I had the hugest urge to look up. Something was telling me to. Then I locked gazes with the most beautiful pair of green eyes I had ever seen and a complete mess of strange bronze hair. He was beautiful, with a strong jaw and chin lined with a bit of stubble, defined cheekbones, a straight nose, and pouty lips. His features reminded me of a lion, especially his hair, or perhaps he could have been a Greek god; both were fitting to describe the man looking at me. I felt my face grow hot, and at the worst moment, I felt the plane move quickly, and my feet gave out, losing eye contact with the hottest guy I'd ever seen.

I wasn't disappointed for long, however, when the man rushed to my aide. He helped me up by my elbow, and I could not help but notice the feeling of electricity flowing through my arm to my whole body at his touch. I looked away from him quickly with a small 'thank you,' and headed for the bathroom, my heart racing once again.

I looked at myself in the mirror, trying to gain some confidence. I should go talk to him, I thought. Really, what could it hurt? You'll probably never see him again anyway. Gathering up all my courage, I opened the door to see him talking to some blonde bimbo who worked on the plane. She was obviously flirting with him, but I couldn't see his face until she walked off. Losing all my bravery, I started walking back towards my seat with my eyes locked on my feet again.

"Hi," a velvety voice came from behind me. I looked up to see the Greek god talking to me. His eyes were kind but intense at the same time. I realized I was being rude by staring at him, so I smiled, hoping not to let my heart jump out of my chest. Wait…aren't I to say something back? Oh , yeah-

"Hello," I said nervously.

He held out his hand to me and told me his name was Edward. My hands were still wet from washing them, and I cursed myself for not wiping them better, for I really wanted to touch him again and feel that electricity. I told him my name quickly, hoping he got it all, and he looked as if he were about to say something until the bottom of the plane gave an enormous jerk, and we were knocked to the floor. I could feel myself about to hyperventilate, and I felt strong arms grab onto my weak ones and wrap them around something hard--Edward's body.

"Hold onto me!" he yelled. I held on tighter as I heard beeping and screaming from all directions. The plane was making circles, and I felt like I was on some type of roller coaster. I couldn't breathe right when I tried, so I just held my breath. I could feel my stomach in my chest, and knew that the plane was going down into the ocean. I opened my eyes a little and saw a giant hole above me and realized the left wing had been torn off. Passengers' seats were being ripped from the floor, sending them into the air. I knew from this height they would not survive--hitting the water when falling from a certain height was like hitting cement.

Oh my God, we're all going to die. I could feel tears prickle in my eyes even in my state of shock. Edward must have had a good hold of something, because it was a miracle we hadn't been sucked out, too. I pulled my face out of his lower back and tried to get his attention. Suddenly I heard a loud crash coming from the bottom of us and felt water hit my feet. Drowning had to be the worst possible way to die because it was slow and painful, not to mention scary. The fact that I knew this would be my fate made my heart race even more, my breath completely leaving my body, and my mind go completely blank until I knew no more.

Edward

I felt Bella's arms going limp from my waist and grabbed her before she fell into the water. I managed to get a good hold around her waist, and when the water started to rise up enough for me to float, I quickly swam to where there was a hole in the side of the plane. All the seats there had been ripped out with the passengers strapped to them, so I didn't have much trouble maneuvering to the gash in the side. Now the plane was sinking slowly, but I didn't have time to look for other survivors. I held firmly onto Bella, prepared for the plane to try to suck me down with it once we went through the hole. Survival was the only thing on my mind, and I couldn't think of anything else but the small body in my arms and how the hell I was going to do this without passing out in fear.

Finally the water rose up to the top of the plane and we floated through the hole. It was a good thing my old basketball coach had worked our team so hard in high school, otherwise I didn't think I would be able to kick my feet hard enough to fight the pressure of the plane sinking and swim to the surface of the water. It was hard, and I was fighting for breath under the water, and it would have been so much easier if I didn't have the girl in my arms, but I couldn't just let her die, too. I kicked and kicked so hard until finally my face broke the surface of the ocean water. I took a deep breath and brought Bella's head up to make sure she was breathing. Her heart was beating slowly and her breath was coming up short, but I knew she would be okay. I was a doctor, after all.

My body was exhausted after that enormous adrenaline rush. I didn't think I would be able to stay awake much longer. I looked around, hoping someone else would come up from the plane, even though it was probably a hundred feet down already.

No one did.

I found a floating airbag that was still intact, and had no doubt been ripped from the plane. I held onto it and pulled the girl up so that half her body was on the thing. I wrapped an arm around it, too, and felt myself drifting off quickly.

The weather was nice and the sun was starting to go down. The waves were relatively calm and the water wasn't cold, so what the hell had happened to make the plane go down? My body was still in shock and exhausted, and I could feel my fingers starting to prune in the water before I fell asleep on Bella on my makeshift raft, way out at sea with no one and nothing to help me.



All images come from either Google or deviantart

Chapter One

Edward

The one thing that sucks about having a really big family is that none of them want to live together in the same place. When my brother, Emmett, married Rosalie, he obviously didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Rose wanted everything--the huge white house, the five snotty-nosed kids running around, and she wanted it all in New Jersey. And whatever Rose wanted, Rose got. Then my younger sister, Alice, met Jasper when she went to a fashion show in France. Why the hell he was even in France at a fashion show when he’s from Texas and wears cowboy boots and chews tobacco, I’ll never know. Alice said it was fate, and two years ago my parents and I watched as she and Jazz got onto the plane that would take her far away from us. When she first told me she wanted to move to France, I tried to talk her out of it. She was tiny and definitely no match for a man should he want to take advantage of her four-foot-eleven body. I hated the idea of my little sister living out of my reach, away from my protection, but she insisted that Jasper was going to take care of her, and who was I to tell her how to live her life?

So then it was just Mom, Dad, and me living in Chicago. My father was Chief of the local hospital, and I had followed in his footsteps. I was an intern at the same hospital, had been there for two years after going to the University. Emmett was the oldest of children, being twenty-eight. I was twenty-four, and Alice just made twenty-two.

And my little sister was getting married in seven days. I liked Jasper, but for so long it had just been Alice and me. Emmett had married Rose right after graduation, when I was a freshman in high school, and Alice was in seventh grade. My parents expected me to get married next, since I was next in age. But I never met anyone worth keeping. I had girlfriends in high school, being the popular basketball player I was, but no one ever held me long, nothing serious. Then I went to college and did everything from losing my virginity to snorting cocaine, which neither were very pleasant, seeing as I remember nothing from both experiences. I’m never mixing tequila with Jack Daniels again. Marriage and children never crossed my mind like it did Emmett and Alice and, unfortunately, my parents. My mother was so adamant about me living the American life that she even tried setting me up with a few women, the daughters of her friends, the picks of the pack, the most beautiful and classy women in all of Illinois. Sure, they were beautiful, but they were boring as fuck, and I felt like Eddie Murphy on Coming to America when he meets his future wife and she does everything he tells her to. So yeah, those girls weren’t for me. Then my mom started to worry that I would be gay, and I felt compelled to show her the scratch marks on my back from my previous encounter with a woman. Needless to say she never questioned my sexuality again. She still worried, though, that I would never reproduce and give her the cute little chubby-cheeked grandchildren she always wanted. I figured I would leave that to Emmett and Alice.

So when Alice announced that she was tying the knot before me, I had to hear it from my mother again.

The wedding was going to be extravagant, and I was serving as a groomsman. Emmett and Rose left for France with my mother and father two weeks before the wedding, but I decided to take a later plane so that I could get more hours at the hospital. My plane was leaving at seven in the morning and arriving in Florida, where I would take another plane that would bring me to a town just outside of Paris, and I would get there around seven in the evening…well, seven over here in America, who knew what time it would be over there.

I really hated flying. Being in a seat in the air for hours made me extremely uneasy. I didn’t know how the plane stayed in the air. Hell, I was a doctor, not an engineer. I was always afraid the plane would crash, not that I was afraid of death, I actually kind of welcomed it into my monotone life, but I really didn’t like the shaking and the feeling of your stomach in your throat. I sighed as I put the seatbelt on and tried to sleep.

***

The flight to Florida had been okay overall, but now I was going to be on a plane for much longer on the trip to France, going over the entire Atlantic Ocean. My seat was in the back, which I was grateful for, and I was next to the window. All the other passengers got onto the plane and about fifteen minutes later, we were off. The first two hours went on without problems, and I was starting to get bored. I took out my iPod and started listening to Debussy, hoping it would calm me down and help me drift into dreamland.

I must have fallen asleep quickly because in the middle of the song, the most beautiful girl I had ever seen walked down the aisle towards me. She was looking down at her feet intensely, as if she were afraid of falling. She must have sensed my gaze on her, because she looked up and I was met with dark, chocolate eyes that were so deep and expressive that I felt like I could drown in them. Her face was pale, her hair the same color as her eyes, but when she caught me staring at her, her face broke out in a completely beautiful blush, highlighting her cheekbones and made her look other-worldly--a goddess. Then I felt a huge jolt under my feet, and she broke eye contact, falling straight to the plane floor. I rushed out of my seat, cursed when I was pulled back by the seat belt, ripped it off of me, ignored my sleeping neighbor, and helped the beautiful girl up. I gripped one of her hands and her other elbow gently, but not soft enough to not notice the tingle than ran through my body when I touched her. She looked up at me in surprise, her big eyes full of wonder and confusion. Had she felt it too? She averted her eyes from mine again and muttered a ‘thank you’ as she stood up and hurried to the bathroom, her original destination. I sighed and sat back down, buckling up again. I looked out the window. Of course this wasn’t a dream. If it had been, I would have asked the girl her name and her phone number. I wouldn’t have made a fool of myself staring at her.

“Would you like a peppermint, sir?” an overly sweet voice said to me. I looked toward the bowl of candies held out to me and my eyes met cleavage. A lot of cleavage. I looked up more and saw a nametag that read Lauren. I chuckled and cocked an eyebrow at her. She had the orangey fake tan skin and blonde hair extensions. I never really had a favorite type of girl, but I knew this one’s flirting was useless. She leaned in closer, her bubblegum breath filling my nostrils.

“No,” I said sweetly, “but I think you should have one yourself.” Her little grin faltered faster than you could say ‘hoe,’ and she gave me a mean look as she stalked off. The plane started shaking more, and I took deep breaths to calm down. The beautiful brown haired girl came out of the bathroom then, still looking at her feet. I decided to ignore my fear and help her to her seat.

“Hi,” I said to her. She looked up at me, the same confused look in her eyes, but after a few seconds of staring at me, she smiled.

“Hello,” she said. Even her voice was beautiful, like the classical music I liked to listen to.

“I’m Edward.” I held my hand out to her. She looked at my hand for a second, and then held hers up to show me that it was still wet from washing them.

“I’m sorry. It’s Isabella, but everyone calls me Bella,” she said. Her smile lit up the whole plane cab. Her name was fitting…Italian for ‘beautiful’. I was about to tell her this, but the plane suddenly jerked violently and we were thrown to the ground. I guarded her with my arms to make sure she didn’t get hurt. I heard loud beeping and screaming. The plane was shaking violently, and we started rolling around crazily. The breathing machines popped out of the ceiling and I gripped Bella with one arm and the bottom of a seat with the other. It was hard to breathe, and I couldn’t see straight, I was so dizzy. I managed to yell something to Bella about holding on to me, and she gripped my waist. I held my breath in my lungs, gripped onto the seat for dear life, and prayed that we would be okay.

Because we were going down.