Stephenie Meyer owns all TWILIGHT characters.

The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: 1 - i54[dot]tinypic[dot]com/2vuzf4m[dot]jpg
Pen name: IngenueFic
Characters: Bella, Edward, Alice, Jacob, Charlie
Rating: PG

All prompts can be found here:
www[dot]thetwilight25[dot]com/round-five/prompts/

Twelve people between him and Bella Swan.

He's nervous, so nervous.

He shouldn't be, though, because everyone has always said that Bella is one of the sweetest girls ever and she's always nice to her fans. That doesn't matter right now because his heart is pounding so fast that it feels like it's going to beat right out of his chest.

Eleven people.

Less than a dozen people stand between him and Bella Swan. Her smile is wide as she greets a young boy who stares up at her adoringly. He hands her a copy of SURFER MAG and Bella scrawls her name over her mouth. Edward looks down at the magazine in his hands – the same one – and can't help but brush his thumb over her lips.

Then he stops because it's a little creepy and staring at her mouth, both on the magazine and in person, is doing bad things to him and there are too many strangers around for him to adjust himself.

Ten people now.

His younger sister is swinging a turquoise-colored backpack from the Surfer Swan line and she asks to go see the new items that were just released yesterday. When he nods at her, Alice runs to admire the new jewelry in a glass case. She's so close that she's probably fogging up the glass but a salesperson approaches her, and the next thing Edward knows, Alice is trying on a necklace with a swan pendant.

He really hopes it's not super expensive because it doesn't look like she wants to take it off.

Ever.

Nine people are in front of him.

Alice skips back to him with the salesperson following. Before he knows it, he's handing over a credit card and signing a handheld device.

"Is it our turn yet?" Alice asks after thanking her brother. "Can I take a picture with her? Are we close to her? SHE'S SO CLOSE!"

"Soon, kid," Edward replies. "We'll meet her soon."

The problem, he realizes, is that he can't decide if it's too soon or not soon enough.

He's been a fan of hers for years, ever since he was bored and started flipping through the channels only to stop on some surfing competition. He'd been mesmerized by the petite girl owning a giant wave – or what he assumed was considered a giant wave. He'd never been one for surfing but she looked good.

And now, only eight people separate him from her.

There are so many things he wants to say to her but he can't figure out which one he should use. He wants to tell her that he's been a fan for four years now; that watching her compete on that TV was one of the best things he's ever done. She inspires him to go after dreams but reminds him that it's not smart to give everything up for it – she may be young and rich from competition wins and endorsements but she always talks about going to school.

In a recent interview, she mentioned she would be attending Seattle Pacific. Edward is a little excited they'll be in the same city. He can't help it.

The line moves forward.

Seven.

Squeals suddenly erupt around Edward and he looks around. A glance to his left makes it obvious why the girls are suddenly whipping out cameras and snapping photos.

Jacob Black – tall, tanned, talented.

Bella's ex-boyfriend.

They met one year during the Vans Triple Crown; he was competing, she was a spectator. Edward hates that he knows so much about their relationship but when they broke up, Jacob was quick to mouth off about her during interviews. He's said less-than-complimentary things.

From where he stands, Edward can see Bella's eyes go wide as Jacob approaches her. Charlie Swan – her father and the man who manages Bella's career – steps in before Jacob can reach her and the two men exchange what looks to be tense words. Bella does her best to ignore them and focuses on the family in front of her. Edward wants to focus on her but he keeps getting distracted by the male voices that are slowly increasing in sound.

"You're not welcome here!" Charlie's voice is loud and powerful and causes everyone in the store to freeze.

Bella apologizes to the family and quickly rushes over. "Dad," she hisses loudly enough that everyone can hear. "What's going on?"

All Charlie does is gesture angrily toward Jacob, whose open shirt is flapping from the slight wind pushing through the open doors of the store.

"What are you doing here?" Bella asks him. "And close your shirt! There are kids here!"

"We need to talk," Jacob says flatly. "Since you've been ignoring me, I thought I'd make a scene."

Someone with a headset rushes over to them and tries to figure out what's going on. Realizing that he's not even sure there's a line to meet Bella anymore, he turns to grab Alice only to find her missing from his side.

"Alice?" he calls her name but she doesn't appear – at least not next to him. Instead, he sees his tiny, pint-sized sister running across the store and kicking Jacob Black in the shin. It must have been a rough one because he yelps and leans down like a bulldozer just crashed into him.

"What the hell?"

"Alice!" Edward rushes over and picks her up, slinging her over his shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he tries to apologize.

"Who the hell are you?" Jacob sizes him up like he's competition. He turns to Bella again, "You know these two?"

"Uh, I'm just –"

"My boyfriend!" Bella blurts out unexpectedly. Her eyes are wide when she turns to Edward who can only stare at her in shock. "He wanted to introduce me to his… little sister."

Though flustered, Edward nods. "Uh… Yeah. Guess Alice was pissed that someone was trying to bother my girl." He really hopes his face doesn't flush when he calls Bella 'my girl' but he feels hot all over. He also really hopes Alice plays along when he sets her down.

"Hi," she says brightly. "I'm Alice. You're the one he always talks about, huh?" Edward wants to groan but she continues talking, this time to Jacob. "And you're the guy who talks shit about Bella just because she found someone better than you. Gross."

Despite her cursing, Edward wants to hug her and thank her forever. He doesn't even care that her words caused him embarrassment because she totally just owned Jacob Black. That necklace was definitely worth it.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." A woman walks up the group with two security guards behind her. "You're disrupting an event."

Jacob looks like he wants to argue but the security guards are bigger than him and look annoyed that they were even called over so he just shoots Bella a dirty look and turns. A group of girls scamper after him, asking for autographs, but Edward doesn't pay him any more attention. He turns his body and faces Bella who is looking at him, her lips curved into a small smile.

"Sorry about that," she says. "He used to get jealous easily so I just thought…"

"It's okay," Edward says.

"Why don't you guys come up to the table already?" Charlie cuts in. "We'll make sure you get pictures and everything, maybe even a few items from the new line for free in thanks."

"Dad," Bella says his name in an embarrassed tone.

"That's not necessary," Edward insists but lets out a small shout when he feels Alice's foot kick out at him. "Okay, maybe some time with the kid would be appreciated." There's another kick. "Alice! Quit it! I'll just buy you another thing, okay?"

Bella giggles at the two of them. "I'm Bella, by the way."

"He knows," Alice says with a giggle of her own.

"Alice," he practically whines.

"So she's Alice," Bella says. "But you are?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Edward is flustered but he holds out a hand. "Edward," he introduces himself. "Edward Cullen."

She smiles brightly and shakes his hand. "Nice to meet you, Edward Cullen." She tilts her head toward the table where she was earlier, signing and meeting fans. "Since you're supposed to be my boyfriend, wanna come sit with me?"

Edward can only nod and he follows her to the area at the end of the roped off lines and he grins.

None.

There is no longer anyone standing between him and Bella Swan.

Thank you to oOza for the beta work.