Ebb and Flow (Twilight x Reader)

Chapter 5

I meant to sleep in, but an unusual brightness woke me. I opened my eyes to see a clear yellow light streaming through my window. I couldn't believe it. I hurried to the window to check, and sure enough, there was the sun. Clouds ringed the horizon, but a large patch of blue was visible in the middle.

The Newtons' Olympic Outfitters store was just north of town, which was Mike's dad's store. It was also the place we were all meeting that morning. I'd seen the store, but I'd never stopped there—not having much need for any supplies required for being outdoors over an extended period of time. In the parking lot I recognized Mike's Suburban and Tyler's Sentra.

As Bella pulled up next to their vehicles, I could see the group standing around in front of the Suburban. Eric was there, along with two other boys I had class with; I was fairly sure their names were Ben and Conner. Jess was there, flanked by Angela and Lauren. Three other girls stood with them, as well.

Mike was happy to see me, giving me a brotherly slap on the back, but he was even happier to see Bella. "You came!" he called, delighted. "And I said it would be sunny today, didn't I?"

"I told you I was coming," Bella said.

"We're just waiting for Lee and Samantha . . . unless you invited someone," Mike added.

"Nope."

Mike looked satisfied, and that confused me. Was he talking about Bella inviting one of the Cullens, maybe? It was only around Edward or when Edward was mentioned that Mike acted like this. Maybe he was still on edge about the whole Edward-giving-Bella-a-ride-home thing. I know that I was.

None of the tension from Bella and I's argument last night seemed to spill over today, however, which I was grateful for.

"Will you ride in my car?" Mike was asking Bella. "You too, Y/n. It's that or Lee's mom's minivan."

"Sure," Bella replied, while I nodded.

"You can have shotgun," he promised.

I ended up wedged in between Mike and Bella, however, in the front seat of the Suburban. I think that was sort of on purpose on Bella's part. Part of me felt bad that Bella had to keep rejecting Mike, but part of me thought Mike should just leave it alone since she obviously wasn't interested. Oh well.

It was only fifteen miles to La Push from Forks, with gorgeous, dense green forests edging the road most of the way and the wide Quillayute River snaking beneath it twice. I was glad I had one of the front seats. We'd rolled the windows down—the Suburban was a bit claustrophobic with nine people in it —and I tried to absorb as much sunlight as possible.

I'd been to the beaches around La Push many times during my Forks summers with Dad, so the mile-long crescent of First Beach was familiar to me. It was still breathtaking. The water was dark gray, even in the sunlight, white-capped and heaving to the gray, rocky shore. Islands rose out of the steel harbor waters with sheer cliff sides, reaching to uneven summits, and crowned with austere, soaring firs. The beach had only a thin border of actual sand at the water's edge, after which it grew into millions of large, smooth stones that looked uniformly gray from a distance, but close up were every shade a stone could be: terra-cotta, sea green, lavender, blue gray, dull gold.

The tide line was strewn with huge driftwood trees, bleached bone white in the salt waves, some piled together against the edge of the forest fringe, some lying solitary, just out of reach of the waves. There was a brisk wind coming off the waves, cool and briny. Pelicans floated on the swells while seagulls and a lone eagle wheeled above them. The clouds still circled the sky, threatening to invade at any moment, but for now the sun shone bravely in its halo of blue sky.