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.”