Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

57 - ꜱᴡɪᴍᴍɪɴɢ

SATURDAY ROLLED around and like all the ones before it, Athena strolled into the back household at exactly the time they agreed on years ago. She wasn't late since she had actually left early knowing that she would lose herself in the forest for a few minutes. Only when she walked in the door did she only find one heartbeat when she had been expecting two. "Where's Jake?" she asked as she placed a freshly baked batch of muffins onto the counter in the kitchen. Chocolate chip muffins with small pieces of raspberry with them - one of his favourites. She had a semi stressful Friday, trying to choose covers for her book just became so stressful that she had to resort to baking to try and calm herself down enough to make an actual decision.

"Out, the cathartic thing with Quill," Billy replied as he took one of the baked goods from the counter, smiling once he noticed what it was.

She quirked a brow, "Not Embry?"

He shook his head. "Apparently he's too busy with his girlfriend to care about the bros," he laughed, directly quoting the very words that Jake had angrily said on the walk out of the house. Athena laughed too, imagining the tone of his tone of voice. She was happy for Embry though, having met his girlfriend a few times before.

"Those outings seem to be getting more frequent," she responded, still laughing at the Embry comment. Billy's impression of his son was far too funny to just brush over, it's something that she would probably look back on in the years to come.

He sighed, "The marriage hit him hard,"

She struggled not to scoff at the comment, given all that he had done at their wedding and everything. Embry told her about those things a couple of days ago and honestly, it was just another thing on the list of shitty things that he had done to Bella. "I could tell. Is he at least a bit better?"

"I think the time away did him some type of good but he still holds a very strong candle for Bella, for whatever reason."

"I'm sure someone else will come along in his life and replace that love. Though first loves are always the hardest to get over," she trailed off, voice becoming mere mumbles as she slipped into a near-forgotten memory.

He frowned at her sudden change in demeanour, instantly becoming concerned, "You still okay about all that?"

"Oh of course. It was tens of years ago now," she smiled reassuringly, not quite knowing why she had dwelled on the memory for so long. "Honestly the only time I ever think about her is for the revenge aspect," she shrugged.

"I don't doubt you'll get your revenge," he replied reassuringly, knowing that she would get it at some point in her life. Then he chuckled, wanting to lighten the mood of the room, "You're too stubborn."

"Funny," she chuckled sarcastically then grew a wide grin. "And I won't ask you about your first love because I know how she is full well." She laughed at his appalled expression, sniggering to herself as she shook his head and went out of the room to avoid the conversation.

"Do you love him?" Billy asked as she followed him into the living room, slipping over the floors in her socks as she crash-landed on the sofa.

"Lucifer, good subject change," she chuckled awkwardly. "I trust him entirely and love, well i'd say it's getting more prominent from background noise. Truth is, I've loved him in some sort of way ever since our very first kiss, the one before he left and everything. It's just a lot stronger now. With all the time we spend together, the pace is very quick but it's not the type of love that you confess. It's like a I love being around you and talking to your type of thing."

He nodded then replied, "For the record, I don't think it's too quick. When you know you know."

-

Later that day, Jasper spontaneous made a trip to Atenas house and picked her up for a surprise that he had planned just moments before. They rode the motorcycle, of course, and when she saw where they had driven to her eyes quite literally lit up. It wasn't the nicest of days but somehow the water looked extra inviting and she couldn't wait to peel off her jumper and jeans so she could swim through it. They dove in from a short distance and she immediately smiled at the feeling of the water against her body as she slipped through the waves. Still underneath the surface, smiling uncontrollably, Jasper took her jaw and kissed her - ticking off an overly romantic thing of her bucket list of dates stolen from romance books. A list he wasn't even aware existed.

From there, they lay on the surface of the ocean talking and just looking at the clouds above their heads that only got darker as time went on. "This was a very good idea," she smiled as some birds flew above their heads.

"I thought it would be," he chuckled softly, greatly enjoying the amount of happiness that she felt. Then the darkness overtook the sky, soft splatters of rain started to fall from it. Athena, having an idea, dove beneath the surface once more and sunk quite the ways down. She then turned back up to the surface and watched the tiny ripples created by the droplets surrounding everything around her. The ocean's darkness just made the little light coming from the very top of the waters even more prominent, collections of yellowy light smeared across the waters. It looked like a painting, for which she would be the girl kept in the dark but surrounded by the utter beauty and happiness of nature.

Once she broke the surface again, pushing the water-filled hair from her face, she sawm over to Jasper - nothing that he had been looking in the same direction for a good few minutes. She snuck up behind him, resting her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her legs around his torso hugging him from behind as she looked in the same direction that he was. "What are you looking at so intently?"

"The rain," he whispered back, a matching smile coming to his face. She fell into the memory of the day in the clearing, remembering the feeling of it all. How she had opened up to him for the first time, letting him witness something that she had thought was so special to her for such a long time. Not many people knew about the vampire's ability to see rainbows through the raindrops, not that she was complaining. It made the little things special to her and anyone she thought deserved to know the secret. "Someone once told me I would be missing out on a lot of things if I didn't stop and watch it upon occasion."

"Sounds like a very wise person," she responded with a little nod, resetting her chin back on his shoulder.

"Eh, she's okay," he shrugged jokingly and fake annoyance immediately flooded through her veins. She chuckled sarcastically then scooped up a handful of water, splashing him with it as a form of revenge.

And well, as you can probably tell, that began a twenty-minute long water fight that ended with her trying to swim away. But he caught her pretty soon after, wrapping his arms around her waist and attacking hr with victorious kisses that she just couldn't escape. The happiness she always felt was passed to him he, never to leave because that moment - looking into her eyes as she moved the sodden hair from her face - would be etched into his mind forever.