First Blood | Ed. Cullen & B. Swan

Chapter 11

Simon relished the peace and quiet as he stood in the small bathroom connected to the guest room. The water splashing against the tiles blocked out the rest of the noise as he stood in the shower.

It was now their second day in Florida, and they had spent most of it outside on the beach. Bella and Renee had spent most of the time lounging on towels, trying to bask in the warmth of the sun as much as they could. The boys had spent the majority of their time in the water, using it as a way to stay out of sight when the sun peaked out from behind the clouds.

Around halfway through their time outside, Simon had left the water and joined Renee and Bella in the sand. Edward had gone inside to call and check in with their family, but Simon paid him no mind.

The sand had been a struggle to get off, so the shower was useful in ridding himself of the rest of it. He kept the shower quick, getting out after he was done washing up. He needed to get ready, as the girls had wanted to leave for dinner in an hour. Phil had arrived home from work, and Renee thought it would be good for them to eat out somewhere nice.

He wrapped a towel around his waist after drying off, looking at the shelf for his clothes. He sighed in irritation as he realized he had left them in the room. He opened the door, moving back into the connected room to quickly grab them. He briefly waved at Bella as he saw her getting ready before he moved back into the bathroom.

He almost had the door closed, before someone stopped it from closing the rest of the way. He shot Edward a small glare, but he stepped to the side as he knew Renee was getting ready in the only other bathroom. Simon closed the door after him, missing the confused look Bella had sent him.

He set his clothes down on the counter, about to start getting dressed before he hesitated as he remembered Edward was in the room with him.

Edward rolled his eyes as he saw Simon hesitate, looking away from him as he fixed his tie with the use of the mirror.

"Relax," He said, "It's not like I haven't seen anything before."

He suddenly stumbled a bit, caught off guard by the force of the towel that Simon had chucked at his head.

"Shut up," The brunet mumbled half-heartedly as he pulled on a pair of tight boxers, "I'm still mad at you, remember?"

"Well, yeah," Edward spoke, turning to face the younger male, "I just don't fully understand why. I thought we got past the whole me turning you thing. I know I took that choice away from you, but that's over now. So, if you're going to continue to hate me, could you at least tell me why?"

"Being upset with you and hating you are two different things," Simon said as he pulled his trousers up over his hips, "Thankfully, for you, it's both. I hate you because you snapped my neck and then decided to turn me despite my explicit wish. I'm upset with you because of how things turned out for us. You moved on so early, and I hadn't. When I finally found someone worth moving on for, I found out that you had gotten to her first."

"I'm sorry, what?" Edward found himself asking, "You're the one that left, remember? You left me, not the other way around. You pushed me away first."

Simon's eyes snapped up to his, his gaze narrowed into a sharp glare.

"You. Weren't. There. When I woke up, after two days stuck in my mind, drowning in the venom that you put into my veins, you weren't there. None of you were. I tried my best to look past that. I tried my best to fit in with every one of you. You wouldn't even look at me. Esme couldn't even bare to be near me without crying. Carlisle couldn't have cared less about whether I stayed or left. Eight years. That was how long I stayed with them the first time around. You had left to go on your bad guy rampage by then. Carlisle turned Rosalie against her wishes, and I couldn't deal with the reminder that none of you listened to anything I had to say. I left, and you weren't even there for me to say goodbye to."