Summerboy- Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight, and Lady Gaga owns her music and weird costumes. I own the rest of this.

EPOV

Sitting next to Izzy in class the next week was like being at Guantanamo. She still smelled good, she still looked so beautiful, and I still wanted her something fierce. But she hadn't said anything to explain herself, and I sure as hell wasn't going to put myself out there like that. I already felt like enough of a fool.

At the time, I couldn't believe my luck. I was listening to some random DJ my friends wanted to hear, dodging several grabby hands, when I saw her leaning against a column that rimmed the dance floor. She'd looked so pretty, in a tiny skirt that showed off spectacular legs and a hot little Stones tee. She was caught up in the music, and I couldn't help myself. I sidled right up next to her, and when she'd asked me to dance, I thought I was going to do a victory dance in the middle of the club.

Then… that dance.

God, she was hot. Her tight little body wrapped around mine, her silky mahogany hair just under my nose, teasing me with her strawberry scent… I was in heaven. The electricity crackling between us was probably enough to light the damn club. I knew then I wouldn't be able to resist her anymore, I'd have to pursue her. Maybe, if I was open about everything, she'd understand that I couldn't spend that much time with her right now. But after football season, I could take her out wherever she wanted to go, be with her whenever she wanted. I didn't want just a casual fuck- I wanted her. For much longer than one date. I wanted to look up in the stands and know she was there, cheering me on. I wanted to take her to New York with me for the Heisman trophy presentation, if I got that far. I even wanted to introduce her to my parents, and I'd barely known the girl for a week! I had never felt this way about a girl, ever.

And then that assfuck walked up and she flew to him like bees to honey. I'd never known that when you got extremely jealous, you really saw red instead of green. My vision turned fucking crimson.

Then, to top if off, he called her Bells or Bella or whatever, and made it seem weird she'd told me her name was Izzy. My first thought was she was faking to get close to me, as arrogant as that sounds. I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. But what real person lies about that shit?

So there we sat in class, her giving me guilty looks every now and then and me pretending I don't see her. Or smell her. Or feel the energy wafting off her luscious body, calling to me like a siren song. I really wanted to ignore her, but my cock was pretending he didn't get the message and trying to wave at her. It was extremely uncomfortable.

"Edward?" I heard her ask timidly, after class on Tuesday.

I didn't look at her. "Yeah?"

"We need to talk about what we're doing for the project for Thursday."

I sighed heavily. Alone time with her was the last thing I needed right now. "Yeah, I guess. Why don't you meet me at the athletic center study room tomorrow? I got shit to do after class today." Like take care of some business below the belt, before I get to practice and get accused of being homo by sporting a huge boner around 45 guys.

I could feel her staring at me, but I wouldn't budge. If I looked into those chocolate brown pools, I'd give in and beg her to dump the blonde fucker and be with me. "Sure."

"Is around two okay?"

She was quiet for a moment, thinking. "Yeah," she finally responded, sounding really unsure. "Can I have your number to call if I'm going to be late?"

"Why, got something better to do? Or someone," I sneered. I closed my eyes, immediately regretting the jab and the insanely jealous tone coloring it.

"Edward!" she gasped, clearly taken aback by my hostility. I felt awful, and wanted to apologize, but my self control was weak as it was. If I gave her an inch, my heart would pull me a mile, and I'd be a slobbering, pleading mess at her feet.

I scribbled my number quickly on a scrap of paper and thrust it at her, still avoiding her gaze. "Here. If you can't make it by three, don't bother, because I have practice. We'll have to work something else out in that case."

"I'll be there at two," she swore, pocketing the number. How I wished she'd asked for it in a different way, in a world where she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

I shot out of my seat and stalked out of the classroom. Being near her and not touching her was causing my hands to twitch.

That, and knowing I'd caused the pain in her voice.

~*~*~*~*~

I got to the athletic center study room around 2:15 on Wednesday. I had wanted to make her wait, make her worry that I might not come. Maybe then she'd feel an ounce of the pain and anxiety I felt on Friday night, watching her pounce on that lanky blonde douche bag.

"Look, you're not allowed in here," I heard Jessica say to someone sitting in the corner. "Only athletes."

"I'm meeting Edward Cullen, I told you," Izzy's low, sexy voice replied.

"Well, you said you were meeting him at two, and it's almost 2:20. So obviously you were lying. Just leave, and I won't turn your name in," Jessica sneered. I hurried up and walked around the big desk in the middle of the room, bringing them into view. Jessica looked like a grade A slut, with pounds of makeup and uncomfortable-looking clothes, as usual, while Izzy was a study in contrast. She looked freshly scrubbed and pure, dressed simply and without any artifice, and she was gorgeous.

My heart clenched at the sad, defeated look on Izzy's face. God, I was such an ass. I needed to man up and apologize for my shitty behavior. It wasn't like I owned her or anything.

No matter how much I wanted to.

"Let me just text him," she said quietly, reaching for her phone.

"Come on!" Jessica exclaimed. "You're obviously just a-"

"Hey, Izzy," I said loudly, not wanting her to hear the rest of that sentence. Jessica was such a snotty bitch.

Izzy looked up and smiled, but it wasn't her normal smile. She looked so depressed, and I wondered if that Jasper guy had done something to her. I felt a surge of irrational anger.

"Edward!" Jessica cooed, latching onto my arm like a damn leech. "Hey, baby."

I gently extricated myself and threw my bag down onto the table Izzy was at. "Hey Jessica," I said politely. "I would talk, but Izzy and I have a ton of work to do."

Jessica pouted, sticking her bottom lip out in what she obviously thought was a cute gesture. I just wanted to throw up. "Okay, Eddie. But come find me when you're done."

I rolled my eyes where only Izzy could see, and she giggled. "We'll see," I said quietly. I waited until Jessica was gone before I leaned over the table and said, "I'm sorry I was late, Izzy."

She smiled again, and this time it was a little bigger. "It's ok. I just wish your bouncers weren't so trashy."

I laughed. "Me, too. You have no idea."

"She's looking at you like you're something to eat," Izzy commented, watching Jessica over my shoulder.

I shuddered. "Please, let's talk about something else."

Izzy's eyes softened and grew pleading. "You're ready to talk to me now?"

I sighed, and shrugged my shoulders. "I realized I was angry about nothing. You never made me any promises. It was just a dance."

"But it wasn't, Edward!" she exclaimed, reaching across and grabbing my hand where it rested on the table. Tingles spread from my hand to the rest of my body. "Jazz is just a friend, nothing more. He helped me a lot when I first moved away from home, so we're just really close. But he's engaged. There is nothing between us." She ran her thumb along the side of my hand and lowered her voice. "That dance was special, Edward."

I swallowed hard, and tried to ignore the burgeoning in my cock again. It felt like an elephant had been removed from my chest, I was so relieved she wasn't with Jasper. But there was still one thing bugging me. "What about the name thing? That's weird, Izzy. Or Bells. Or whatever."

Because I could read her eyes so well, I saw them tighten just slightly before she rubbed my hand with hers again. "Everyone who's known me since I was a kid calls me Bella, or Bells. I told you guys my name was Izzy because I wanted to come to college and start over. Is that so wrong of me?"

I shrugged. "I guess not," I said, feeling dumb for getting so out of shape when she was just trying to break out of her old shell. Isn't everyone who comes to college doing that? "What would you rather I called you?"

She looked at me from under her lashes, and my stomach twisted in a delicious kind of way. "Whichever you like."

Oh, God. When she talks in that husky sex voice like that, I'll definitely do whatever she likes. I gulped air like a fish out of water. Get it together, man! "Okay." We stared at each other for another long minute, before Izzy pulled away and straightened, her face brightened considerably.

"So what did you want to do for tomorrow?"

We chatted about the project for the next hour, throwing ideas around and assigning roles. I could tell Izzy was a hard worker, and I was relieved. I'd picked partners based on a pretty face before, and been burned when there wasn't anything behind it. Izzy was a smart woman, which just made her sexier.

God, I'd never been so affected by a woman before! Being the star quarterback in high school and now in college had brought its share of groupies, and it didn't hurt that girls thought I was hot. So I'd been with more than my share of women. And none, not a single one, came even close to making my heart pound like Izzy did. It scared me, but excited me even more. I was a guy, but I still wanted the kind of love my parents shared. Call me a pussy, I don't care.

When we were finished, I didn't want to let her go, but I had practice. "Can I walk you to your car?" I asked.

She blushed prettily. "It's out of your way, Edward. I'll be fine, it's the middle of the day, and besides, I've got mace," she said, showing me the small can in her big bag.

I grimaced. "That doesn't make me feel better, somehow."

We finished packing up our stuff and began walking to the front of the athletic center. "I don't want you to be late for practice. You've got a big game on Saturday."

"You pay attention to football?" I asked incredulously.

"Only recently," she mumbled, avoiding my gaze. I couldn't help but wonder if she'd begun watching for me.

I opened my mouth to tease her about just that, hoping to get another beautiful blush to last me until tomorrow, when Jessica's grating voice interrupted me.

"Eddie! I told you to come find me when you were leaving!"

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry, I forgot."

She sidled up to me and grabbed my arm. Needless to say, there were negative sparks when she touched me. "I wanted to tell you about a concert my friends and I got tickets to. I want you to come with!"

Izzy was looking at me, amusement sparkling in her eyes. I gently but forcefully removed Jessica's grip and stepped closer to Izzy, hoping Jess would get the idea, but Izzy just stepped away and tried to hide a snort. She was enjoying this! I would have to get her back… maybe tell Emmett she'd been asking about him…

"I don't know, Jessica. I'm pretty busy."

She stuck her fat lip out. "But these tickets are impossible to get! You won't want to miss it, everyone will be talking about it!"

I sighed. "Who is it, then?"

Jessica smiled widely. "Lady Bella!"

I saw Izzy stiffen and immediately turn her face away, hiding behind her curtain of hair again. What was that about? "Who is Lady Bella?"

"Edward, I swear you live under a rock! She's only the hottest pop star on the planet right now! Her songs play on the radio like, every ten minutes," Jess chided me.

I shrugged. "I don't really listen to popular radio."

"Well, you should. How else are you going to have conversations with people? You have to be up on current events!"

I snorted at Jessica's idea of current events, and noticed Izzy had relaxed slightly but was still facing away from us. I wanted to ask her what was up before I had to run to practice, so I said, "Sure, Jess, whatever, just let me know when it is," never intending on actually accompanying her. Hopefully, by that point, Izzy would be my girlfriend, and Jess would start leaving me alone.

Jessica's whole face lit up. "Really! Yay! Thanks, Eddie! I'll call you!"

I grabbed Izzy's hand and pulled her out the door of the athletic center, barely listening to Jessica. "Are you okay?" I asked.

Izzy looked at me in confusion. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You looked a little freaked out back there."

Izzy laughed, but it sounded a little forced. "Doesn't she freak everyone out? I mean, her voice sounds like Godzilla attacking Japan or something!"

I laughed along with her, but recognized her deflection for what it was. I looked at my watch, sighed, and decided to follow up on this later. Coach Carroll was already going to have my ass for being so late. "I have to run. See you tomorrow?"

Izzy smiled. "Of course. Have fun!"

I began jogging backwards towards the practice fields. "Yeah, right!"

As soon as she was out of sight, I turned around and practically sprinted to the locker rooms, where I threw my bag in my locker and grabbed my pads. Thankfully I'd gone to my meeting with Izzy mostly dressed for practice. I hustled out of the locker room and onto the closest practice field, where Peter, the quarterbacks coach, was clearly waiting for me. Everyone else had already begun warming up on the far side of the field.

"Sorry, sorry, I had a group meeting," I hurriedly explained.

"It's fine, Edward. You're not practicing today, anyway. Did you forget?"

I frowned. "Forget about what?"

He gestured to his left, where there was a film crew standing in a cluster. I groaned. "I'll take that as a yes," Peter laughed. "They want to interview you and me today, and get footage of you in practice next week, I think."

I sighed heavily and followed him to the film crew. A very pretty woman wearing entirely too much makeup broke away from the group and approached me. "Hi, Edward! My name is Erin Andrews, I'll be the one interviewing you."

I gave her a smile and held out my hand for her to shake. I watched her eyes flick over me, taking me in, and I fought to keep a smirk off my face.

"This will be painless, I promise," she said, smiling widely. I nodded slightly as she walked away to confer with someone, probably a producer or something, and grimaced because I was not prepared for this today. The jealousy and confusion over Izzy had taken up all my attention the last couple of days, and I still hadn't decided how I felt about being put under the microscope anyway. I knew if I were going to go all the way and join the NFL, interviews and scrutiny were all part of the package, but I guess I'd been hoping to stave that off for awhile. I was still in college, for God's sake. I still lived in the damn athletic dorms.

Erin came back over to me. "Why don't you go sit down on that bench right there," she said, pointing to the players' bench on the side of the field. "The cameraman is going to see if that's a good angle, with the sunlight." I nodded and sat down, and Peter tossed me a football.

"Got to look authentic," he said with a grin. I rolled my eyes. Yes, because I am a quarterback, I must have a pigskin attached to my hands at all times. Tim Tebow probably carries one around in his back pocket, to play with between church and inappropriate meetings with Urban Meyer. I snickered to myself as I threw the ball from hand to hand, glad to have something to fidget with.

Erin talked with the crew for a moment, and then somebody brought a director's chair over and placed it in front of me. She came and sat down in it and gave me another big smile. "This is perfect. Are you comfortable?"

I laughed. "Physically, yes."

She gave me a sympathetic look. "First time?"

"Not exactly, but it doesn't make it any easier. I'm not really one for attention."

Erin laughed. "Then you probably should have picked a less important position."

I smiled ruefully. "Maybe. But there's nothing like chunking a football down the field in a Hail Mary and winning the game at the last second."

Erin hit my knee playfully. "Save those quotes for the interview! You haven't been wired for sound yet."

"I'll try to remember that one," I said, chuckling.

She smiled and pulled out a notebook as a sound guy came over and hooked up a microphone to me. "Do you have any questions before we begin?"

~*~*~*~*~

After class the next day, I walked out smiling with Izzy. Though the professor hadn't said anything, I knew our project had gone really well. Since she was so shy, I'd thought Izzy would want me to take the lead, but she had stepped up and given our mini-presentation to the entire class confidently. I was going to be discussing our progress next week, and to be honest I was a little nervous about following her performance. She'd been so relaxed, like public speaking was second nature to her. It had taken me several minutes before I'd been comfortable enough with Erin to give her more than one-word answers to her questions.

I really wanted to capitalize on the good vibes from our presentation, and I had determined I was going to ask her out after daring myself to man up in front of the mirror this morning, but as soon as I was faced with her, I felt like throwing up. I hadn't been this nervous around a girl since I was thirteen and couldn't stop the spontaneous boners.

"Izzy?" I asked, stopping outside the classroom building.

She turned to me, her big brown eyes curious. God, I loved those eyes.

"Youwannagooutsometime?" I said it so fast, Superman would have had a hard time understanding. I could feel my face flame with color.

She smiled widely, and then it dimmed. "I would love to, Edward, but I've got a really busy weekend. My boss is a slave driver."

I knew a brush off when I heard one, considering I used them often myself, but it still stung quite a bit. My head fell and I watched my feet as I turned to begin walking again. "Oh, okay."

I felt a small hand on my shoulder, stopping me. "I have a free night tonight, though. Is that too soon?"

My head shot up, and she was looking at me with hope written all over her face. It took all my willpower not to grab her and plant one on her right then. "That's perfect."

Izzy's smile was blinding. I was struck again by how beautiful she was. "Where do you want to meet?"

I laughed. "Izzy, this may be the 21st century, but I was raised by a very proper Southern belle, and she taught me that a gentleman always picks his date up."

"You don't have to do that. Besides, I live way on the other side of LA. It would take forever and waste tons of gas," she said quickly.

I was struck by a sudden idea and stopped walking to look at her. "Izzy, are you ashamed of where you live?"

She bit her lip nervously and looked at her feet. "You could say that."

I reached out and lifted her chin. "Izzy, I don't care about that. I want to take you out, not your apartment."

She gave me a small smile. "You really are a great guy, Edward."

"Of course I am. You should actually consider yourself quite lucky."

She laughed, all the sadness leaving her eyes, and I felt ten feet tall. "I absolutely do."

~*~*~*~*~

AN: For those of you who don't watch college football, Tim Tebow is the University of Florida's star quarterback who won the Heisman two years ago, and helped them win the National Championship the past two years. Urban Meyer is his coach, and they have a creepy close relationship. Like, kissing each other's foreheads on the sidelines kind of creepy.

Let me know if there are any other references you don't understand! Sometimes I forget other people don't watch football all day on Saturdays like we do.

Also, reviews are sunshine. :)