Chapter two
Do something naked.
"Be confident. Too many days are wastes comparing ourselves to others and wishing to be something we aren't, everybody has their strengths and weaknesses, and it is only when you accept everything you are- and aren't- that you will truly succeed."
Edward
My shift started early today, I had to go in to get some paper work done. So instead of walking straight to the office from my car, like I usually did, I took the scenic route to the café to see if Bella would be in there this morning. She entranced me, she was…. something. I wasn't exactly sure what she was but I did know I wanted to see her again.
It was warm today, maybe 35 degrees, I took off my hat and shoved it in my coat pocket. I was wearing my snowboarding gear even though I was assigned to the ski hills today. I hated the ski hills; skis were so much tamer than snowboards. Plus everyone didn't want to do tricks in case they messed up their pristine clothing. Snowboarders on the other hand loved to get dirty, and loved to compete. It was fun to compete against people, on the hills the other EMT's and I always placed bets on who would be breaking a bone that day. I had unfortunately lost yesterday; I had placed a bet that the girl in the white coat would break something by the end of the day. She looked like a menace and she fell about every 3.2 seconds, but she was determined, I watched her all day, waiting. But the few times she did go off the ramp weren't complete fails, she ended up doing a back 360, which I could do since I was about 8 but that's not the point. Then when I met her she was so vibrant, and beautiful. The name suited her, Bella; beautiful.
I heard a splashing coming from about 50 feet to my left. The pools were all inside but there was one pool that jutted out into the trees so it was half inside and half outside. I didn't think it was open this time of day though. It was probably some kids whose parents were getting massages.
But it wasn't, as soon as I stepped through the trees, I froze. There in the little pool, naked, was Bella. Holy shit she looked fucking sexy, my eyes tried to peer through the water to get a better view of her body, but she was moving too much.
"Didn't your mother teach you it's rude to stare?" she asked breaking me out of my reverie. My eyes shot up to her face to look into her dark eyes, her hair was dry and placed in a neat pony tail.
"Well I was just confused as to why you're skinny dipping. In the middle of the day, during December. Alone." I replied shakily. Damn she caught me.
"Well today I'm doing something naked. It's my challenge for today, so I'm not skinny dipping, I'm simply swimming naked." She said matter-of-factly. "Are you going to join me, or are you just going to stand there?" Oh. My. God. Really? Hell yeah I wanted to be naked in a pool with a wet, naked Bella.
"Alright, I'll join you," I tried to say as coolly as possible even though on the inside I was cheering like an idiot. I reached out to pull my jacket off, then my sweater, then shirt, boots, pants and finally boxers.
She watched me carefully as I hurriedly tried to escape the cold and enter the warm pool. Fog was rising off if it, it looked like a hot cup of fresh coffee, steaming, with a beautiful, sexy, naked girl swimming in it. As I immersed myself into the water she spoke; "close your eyes".
"But I don't want to close my eyes," I spoke, giving her a wicked smile.
"Close your eyes," she demanded quietly. "I promise it'll be worth it." So I did as I was told, I closed them.
"No peeking!" she exclaimed right as I was about to peek.
"Alright, alright!" I laughed and she giggled with me, god her giggle was beautiful. I waited as she moved around the pool towards me. But then I heard a slight splash.
"Hey Edward, next time you see a rainbow, think of me." She spoke, and I was confused but right as I was about to ask her what she was talking about I heard footsteps and I opened my eyes. There she was slipping her boots on and running away.
"Bella Wait!" I yelled as I watched her perfect ass as she ran away from me.
"Goodbye Edward!" She yelled over her shoulder. Goddammit
Later that day I got an Email, from Anonymous. The title was N0 R3GR3TS. It looked like spam but I decided to open it anyway. It was a YouTube link followed by the words 'maybe next time, I'll actually stay in the pool with you ;)' and I instantly knew it was from Bella.
I double clicked on the link and a tie-dye YouTube page appeared with a cool design running through it. Bella's face appeared on the screen and she was standing in front of the pool outside with her jacket on
"Happy winter everybody! When was the last time you did something completely naked and wasn't ashamed or embarrassed? Well I'm here to tell you- you are beautiful, everyone is beautiful and today I want you to flaunt it. Alone or not, you have to spend some time with nothing but your birthday suit on! I'm going to swim naked in the middle of December, in Colorado." Then she ripped off her jacket and jumped into the pool, cannonball style, screeching as she hit the water. Her butt was blurred though and I realized that she was naked on YouTube! Holy shit and I was too! She had a camera? Was she pranking me or something? Nah she seemed surprised to see me, and I never would have walked past there on a regular basis so she couldn't have known I would today. In the video she started swimming laps then the video cut out.
There Bella was again, she was standing outside somewhere in the forest of trees that covered the mountains and surrounded the lodge wearing her white jacket. "That was exhilarating, it feels great to not worry what other people think, however I don't think anyone should be going outside naked any time soon." She laughed her beautiful laugh and continued; "work out naked, watch TV, do the dishes, bake cookies, anything, just feel comfortable and enjoy yourself. Remember No Regrets!" she exclaimed and the screen went black.
I guess that was her motto, no regrets, or maybe it was a challenge, either way I had to check out her YouTube page.
I clichéd on the side bar to see all videos, in chronological order and the first one read "When was the last time you did something for the first time?" and I cliched on it:
"Okay everybody," Bella said as she stood on the edge of a cliff that hung over a crystal clear lake. "When was the last time, you did something for the first time? Well I asked myself that very same question and I couldn't even remember the last time I did something for the first time, and I don't mean like have breakfast for dinner or sleeping on the couch. I mean something that you can be proud of. So today begins my journey, a journey through all the things I'd like to do for the first time. I'm calling it a journey because there is no end point; there is no list or goal I'm working towards. I am going to enjoy the journey, so here I am on this 40 foot cliff; I am going to jump off of it. Are you ready?" She asked the camera man, the camera moved up and down like a nod and suddenly Bella turned around, throwing off a big white t-shirt she had on and, with a running start disappeared over the cliff "ahhhhhhh!" she screamed and the camera changed angles. There was a second camera, being held by someone who was floating in the water and I could see Bella as she spread her arms. Right before her feet touched the water she plugged her nose and sunk into the water. The camera dipped below the surface as well and it showed Bella amidst a sea of little bubbles 15 feet from the surface. She floated for a second then kicked to the surface. "Oh my God! That was amazing!" She exclaimed as she broke through the surface, she swam over to the camera and started talking; "now I want you to ask yourself that same question, when was the last time you did something for the first time? And I want you to do it! Don't play it safe, but be careful! And stay with me through this journey, a journey of firsts, of excitement and experience, of No Regrets!" The video cut to black.
I was speechless, she was crazy! She was amazing! This was so original, to do this for herself. It didn't even seem like she wanted reviewers, or followers, she just wanted to help people change and live. Plus it wasn't some 365 day thing, or 30 day challenge, it was just her life. Man I was right; Bella was something else.
The next one I clicked on read: "Fall in Love".
"Okay people," Bella said as she stood in front of a street somewhere, her brown hair pulled back and a summery blue dress on over a wet bathing suit. "When was the last time you fell in love? Well it's been a while for me, I've loved but I haven't fallen in love in a while, so I'm going to fall in love today." She turned around and the camera followed her through a set of doors into a person's house, then a bunch of dogs ran at her. "This is a foster home for the Almost Home Foundation where rescued dogs stay until they find a forever home. and today I'm falling in love with one of them." She stated and sank down amidst the sea dogs all barking at her. The video cut out then and she appeared outside the house. "Well I have fallen in love with this big guy here," she stated as she sank down to where a huge German Shepard was standing at her feet. "His name is Jake and they believe he's 5 years old, so I'm going to go to the pet store and buy my new love some grub and a leash. Today I want you to fall in love. Fall in love with anything, a book a pet, go somewhere and fall in love. And treat everything you love like they deserve to be loved. See you next time, no regrets." And Bella made a heart with her fingers as she hugged Jake, then the video faded to black.
Huh, I didn't see a dog while she was here, but then again, dogs were definitely not allowed in the rooms, on the slopes maybe. But never in the rooms. The next video I clicked on was titled "Get involved".
"Are you involved?" Bella asked, she was sitting inside somewhere, in front of a computer. She must have been filming with her laptop webcam. "Are you a part of something? Heck, do you even vote? Well I would have said no to all of those questions a few days ago, but now I'm a part of like 10 organizations, I registered to vote, and I finally got my volunteer request approved for the Peace Corps. I'm being sent to Peru for a Green Initiative project next week! I can't wait, but while I was signing up for all these movements online I found one that really caught my attention and I'd like to share that with you. The "It Gets Better" project is aimed towards LGBT teens that are struggling with high school and bullying. For those who don't know LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transvestite. And I'm going to take the pledge, I am telling all of you out there who are being bullied, who find waking up in the morning difficult, who cry yourselves to sleep, it gets better. And it will, you must tough this part out, you have to live, and survive until it has a chance to get better. I am standing here telling you that you are loved, I love you and I don't even know you. So go now and live and ask for help when you need it. I promise you that it can and it will get better. So go now and take the pledge, and watch other people who have pledged because there are people out there in this world who have gone through the same thing that you are going through now. But before you go to , go to the Google chrome "It Gets Better Commercial" to see the power of this movement. That's your homework today, and if that's not the kind of thing you're into, then go to another website and join a different movement, and for all those who live in America vote in the presidential election this November. Goodbye all, I love you." And the screen went black.
Then I clicked on the Google chrome video that was linked at the bottom of her page, it was pretty damn powerful, I hadn't seen that on TV. Maybe it was some sort of internet only thing.
The next video that came up was called "Compliment Someone"
"When was the last time you were complimented? Well I hope that most of you say yesterday or this morning or when you watched my last video, but if not then here we go, you are beautiful and you are loved and you are perfect. Well now that that's out of our system, wouldn't you like to be complimented more? Well then lets compliment some people today, I've made a few signs" and she held them up, the first said take a compliment with pieces at the bottom that you could pull off that said; you're beautiful, the next said free compliments and the squares at the bottom that you could rip off stated; you're brilliant. "Now I've printed about 50 of these and I'm just going to put them everywhere that there's a lot of foot traffic. I like them on bathroom mirrors and places where people will stop for a second. I want you to compliment someone today, anyone, your mom maybe or the weird girl who sits alone at lunch. And I want you to be sincere. Don't just be like a girl and compliment someone without meaning it; you need to really feel it. Because how would you feel if the situation were reversed? Signing off now, no regrets!" And before the screen went black a picture popped up of the sign on a mirror in the bathroom, then a sign that had no more compliments left on it. Then it fades to black.
Man she had a lot of videos, the next one that came up read "Project Mayhem".
"Who has seen Fight Club?" Bella asks, she's standing in front of a room bustling with people, "Well I hope that if your answer is no then you will go out and rent that movie tonight. Because I am about to assign you a project: Project Mayhem. You are going to do something absolutely crazy today. You're just going to do something absolutely crazy, and so am I." A mischievous grin appearing on her face. "Are you ready?" she asked the camera man and I heard someone in the background say "Yep". Bella turned around and started running, she was wearing short white shorts and a white tank top. So looked radiant, and happy. Then all of a sudden water balloons started flying in all directions, from Bella's hand and towards her. Then the camera zoomed out and I could see the scene better. There were a dozen people all standing near coolers and hiding behind trees. Everyone was throwing water balloons, except when the balloon broke, there wasn't water in them, there were colors. Bella had already been hit by a purple one on her ass, and a green one on her shoulder. Other people were already covered head to toe in colors. It was magical, I even think there was glitter in some of them. The camera man walked around the scene, following Bella or getting better angles of the action, the song Take it off by Ke$ha played somewhere in the background, then changed to Glitter in the Air by P!nk. It looked so awesome, and everyone was laughing and running and tackling each other, it looked like that were running out of balloons though. Bella looked so happy as she jogged over to the camera, she was a mass of colors and it all seemed to be covered in glitter, even her hair had pink in it. I laughed at this; it was brilliant, and looked like so much fun! Plus Bella looked extraordinary, with her carefree smile.
"That was a paint balloon fight, as you can probably tell," she motioned to her ruined clothing. "All these people here," the camera panned out to see everyone "I met them all on the lake the other day, we are here in Arkansas and they all work at the Bull Sholes Boat Dock, in fact they were all there when I jumped off the cliff! Well lets introduce everyone; this is Dan, Steph, Sean, Deebs, Bebe, Nollie, and of course, your camera man; Zack." The camera stopped at each person for their intro and they all waved and then went back to picking up balloon carcasses off the ground. "I want all of you to do something totally crazy tonight; have a chalk and glitter fight, go to a park when its pitch black and splatter glow paint on everyone, throw confetti, bake rainbow cupcakes, anything fun and colorful with the people you care for most. Until next time, No regrets everyone!" and the video faded to black.
Before I could think about this video I heard Tanner, one of the more senior EMT's on the mountain yell something.
"Holy shit, come look at this you guys!" I shot up out of my seat to join him outside; he was staring wide-eyed at the mountain. I looked up at it in horror, afraid of the worst. But it was nothing like I expected, the longest slope was a rainbow, literally a rainbow of colors. The snow makers were on; there were dozen of them all over the mountain that pumped false snow onto the slopes to make them nicer. But one of the longest slopes had red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple all down the hill. Each one of the snow makers was exhaling dyed snow and I suddenly remembered what Bella had said that confused me so much; "next time you see a rainbow, think of me." And I grinned. Bella had done this.