A/N: Hi loves! Bare with me through this chapter, k. It's a bit of a sleeper but it's part of the road that gets us where we're going.
2006 Flirting and Fireworks
I love the Fourth of July. It's one of my top three holidays. I love that it's smack in the middle of summer so it's the warmest celebration. I love the bar-be-ques and fire-works. I love ice cold sodas out of ice chests at the beach, or now that I'm older ice cold beers. I just love it to pieces.
Its late afternoon and everyone is headed to 1st Beach for the fireworks display tonight. While Rose and I wait for Em to get back from gassing up the Jeep and filling the cooler I'm sitting with my feet in the pool amusing myself with a pack of sparklers my dad got me.
"Don't get that shit in the water," Rose snaps from the deck. I roll my eyes. She's been particularly bitchy and jittery all day. I'm pretty sure she took something that really didn't agree with her but I'm not bringing it up. I'll avoid that meltdown, thank you very much.
Besides I'm all jazzed, amped, ready to get my beach party on. I look down at my new Razr to see if Jared has text me. He's supposed to be there tonight.
After Rose and I took that flirting quiz I decided that I was going to turn things around before I end up seventy years old with a house full of cats. I decided I was going to learn how to flirt and the best way to learn was by doing. But first I wanted more pointers. Aside from her confidence bit Rose didn't really have any suggestions to offer me. Neither Alice nor Jasper had any insight to offer because the thing between them just happened with no effort what so ever. Lucky ducks. My next stop in my quest for information was my favorite big brother.
As usual I found Em in the kitchen.
"Em, how do I flirt with a guy?" I asked. With Em getting right to the point is the best way to do things.
He looked up from the protein shake he was mixing with narrowed eyes.
"That's easy, Babydoll, you don't," he replied.
I rolled my eyes.
"Come on, Em, I need a guy's perspective," I whined.
Eyes back on his drink I saw him shake his head.
"Nope, not hearing this shit," he told me. "It's bad enough I've got to deal with Alice and Jasper. That kid is fucking weirdo. But I deal. I'm not dealing with my little Bellababydoll chasing after some limp dick little pricks. Not doing it. There's only so many asses a guy can beat."
"So what you're saying is Allie can have a boyfriend and Rosie can do whatever it is you two hornballs do but I've got to be all by my lonesome?" I asked looking at him like he was nuts. Because clearly he was.
"Exactly," he said giving me an easy grin.
"Emmmmmm," I huffed. This wasn't going like I wanted it to.
"Nope, not doing this," he said shaking his head. "You're little. Stay little."
"I'm barely younger than Rose and I know what you guys did last night," I told him with a pointed look with my hands on my hips.
"Remind me to tell Rosie to shut the fuck up," he sighed.
Near the beginning of the summer the status of Rosie's virginity slipped from barely there to non-existent. She'd been regaling me with sex tales ever since. Even though I have to make myself not picture the two of them specifically I eat her stories up. Sex is pretty much always on my brain. Sex and boys and flirting and kissing and all kinds of stuff that would give my dad a heartattack.
"So, about those pointers," I encouraged.
"Pointers on what?" asked a velvet voice suddenly near my ear. Edward, in my personal space as usual, looking at his brother with his chin resting on my shoulder.
It occurred to me that clearly I'd gone to the wrong Cullen boy for advice on this particular subject.
"Flirting," I said, leaning my back to his chest. I've grown accustomed to Edward crowding me. Not that it doesn't affect me anymore. It does. The butterfly wings still flap and my tummy still flips and flops, but I've decided to embrace it. Like when I smoke too hard and choke. Sure the coughing stings but the high is worth it.
"I can teach you everything you need to know," he said, innuendo thick and a smile in his voice.
Emmett narrowed his eyes at the two of us.
"Not no, but hell no," he said. "I'll cut your dick off, little brother. You'll be Ken doll dickless. Actually, I'll just tell Babydoll's daddy. He'll jail your ass. Jail your ass and shoot you."
I roll my eyes. Flirting is a no and flirting with Edward is an extra special with sprinkles on top no. Awesome.
"Jeez Em, you act like I'm some sort of creeper," Edward said moving to sit on the stool next to me.
"You're a nasty little fucker," Em said. When Edward gave him a "what the hell" look Em shrugged. "These walls are thin."
Edward couldn't do anything but smirk.
"Anyways," Edward told Emmett. "The game's on."
His brother nodded.
"Sweet," Em said heading toward the living room. He stopped to kiss me on my forehead on the way out. "No boys, Babydoll. They're all bad for you."
When he was sure Em was out of ear shot Edward bumped his shoulder to mine. I took a moment to check out my favorite forbidden eye-candy. His lip looked like it had been recently busted and there was a bruise on his jaw. Instead of making him look haggard or rough the imperfections made him look dangerous and tempting.
"I'm not that bad," he said with a smile.
My smile reacted.
"I know," I said. I reached and touched the purple on his jaw. "How'd you break your face?"
"Business," he said with a shrug, eyes guarded. So mysterious. So cool.
Instead of asking what kind of business, I just nodded. I can be cool too.
"You really want to know how to flirt with a guy?" he asked, eyes lighting up again.
I nodded.
"It's in the eyes. Put everything you're thinking about him right in your eyes. You want to kiss him til he can't breath, you want him to toss you on the bed and touch all your naughty places, whatever it is. Just think about it and look him right in the eyes," he said. His eyes were on mine as he spoke. I could feel those words. It felt like my clothes were catching fire and smoldering right there all because of those green eyes.
I felt my breath catch. I swallowed hard.
"That works?" I asked. My words came out so breathy I could have been auditioning for a porn hotline.
Edward smirked.
"Every time."
So like a good little geek I experimented with the data I gathered. I faked confidence and put my Ron Jeremy thoughts in my eyes the next time I talked to a cute boy. And the next time. And the time after that. And it worked like a charm. It didn't matter if I was talking the usual non-sense that came out of my mouth or not. I just eyeballed the guy like he was the hottest guy in the world and the next thing I knew we were trading numbers. Truth be told, it got to be way too easy. By the end of June my phone was constantly blowing up.
Boys are no longer a challenge. In fact, when you know how to work them, they're actually pretty boring. Not to say that it isn't fun to have a boy. Especially during the summer. If ever there was a perfect guy for the summer Jared is it. Rose says he's 100% pure beefcake and she's not wrong. He's tall and dark and handsome and we had absolutely nothing at all in common. He likes to hunt and he listens to country and 80's rock exclusively. It's like he was born in the wrong time and the wrong place. But he's sugar sweet and doesn't make me feel stupid when he has no idea what I'm talking about. Where my sexy eye trick seemed to make most of the guys I've talked to horny, Jared seemed flattered. I like that.
My phone finally beeps, alerting me that Jared sent a text. He's asking what time we're going to be there. From the sound of the Jeep pulling up next door and laughter floating over the fence I'm guessing pretty soon. I text him back quickly and tuck my phone in the back pocket of my shorts.
"Sounds like your chariot has arrived, princess," I tell my slumped in her chair bestie and I offer my hand to help her up.
She finally gives me a little smile as she takes my hand and it reminds me just how pretty my girl is.
"Em better damn well have gotten me some Boones. I need sugar," she says stretching and smoothing her bright red shorts.
"Let's go see," I say and we head over, our clasped hands swinging between us.
The Cullen's driveway is a flurry of activity and noise. T.I. is bumping out of the speakers in Em's Jeep. Alice is perched on the hood snapping pictures as Emmett and Jasper load beach chairs and floats in the back. She's got a big fat Styrofoam cup between her thighs and judging from her stained lips it's her favorite double cherry slush. Surprisingly the prodigal son is there too, wearing black board shorts and a gray wife beater, leaning against the shiny silver Volvo he got for his sixteenth. Apparently he's with us tonight. I didn't really expect him to be around even though his girl is off on vacation to where ever it is rich people go for the summer. He's been pretty sketchy lately. Constantly disappearing. And when he is around he's always brooding like there's so much on his mind and just when the scrapes and bruises from one fight go away more appear. I asked him the other day if he could talk about fight club, trying to weasel out answers with a joke, and he just smirked.
"There's my girls," Em says when he spots us. He walks over and snatching Rosie up, spinning her in a circle.
I smile hearing her giggle. Even now after those two have done pretty much every nasty under the sun they're still happy to see each other. Granted they're still not together. But they're together in all the ways that count.
"Did you get me a treat?" she asks when he sets her back on her feet.
"Of course," he says. "I got you both a little something."
He reaches into the cooler and pulls out cheap wine for Rose. Then he grins at me.
"And for you, little girl, summer in a bottle," he says and hands me a bottle of Malibu.
I grin. It's perfect. I can't wait to smoke my smoke, drink my drink, and probably kiss my beefcake boy.
The guys load the massive cooler onto the backseat and it's then we notice we have a problem. Between all the bodies and the cooler there's no way we're all fitting.
"I can drive," Edward volunteers with a shrug. "I wasn't planning on getting fucked up anyway."
"Ok, I can get Allie and Jas in the back and Babydoll can ride with you," Em says.
I'm not so pleased with that plan.
"Um, no," I object. "Edward drives like a maniac."
The boy smirks a me.
"Don't be sure a girl," he tells me.
I ignore him.
"Allie and Jas can ride with Edward," I suggest. I don't want to be trapped with a moody pretty boy right now. I'm not in the mood to be sucked into the Edward vortex.
"She's not getting in my car with that shit," Edward says nodding toward Alice's drink.
Allie curls her lip and looks indignant at her brother.
"I'm not a toddler, dick, I'm not going to spill it," she huffs.
"Need I remind you of the chocolate milk?" he asks.
My girl looks sheepish.
"You suck," she mutters sliding down from the hood.
"Allie, doused the kitchen the other day," Em explains with a grin. "So, like I said Allie and Jas with me and Edward drives like a normal, law abiding citizen with the Chief's daughter in his car."
My agreement comes with eye rolling, huffing, and pouting. But no matter who I ride with the end result will be the same so when everyone is packed up I slide in the passenger side of Edward's car and buckle up. Despite Emmett's warning the crazy boy next to me guns it out of the driveway with the same old smirk.
The difference between the Jeep and the Volvo is night and day. There are always empty bottles and work out stuff in the floor board of the Jeep. There's always beats flowing from the system. I'm comfortable illegally slamming drinks in that back seat. Edward's ride is spotless and I don't dare crack open my bottle. Nothing to look at but polished black leather and the cuts on his hands as he grips the steering wheel. The only common thread is the high speed sound systems. However, the music that pounds out of these speakers is just what I expect from the boy driving. It's dark. It's loud.
I like it. I reach over and turn it up.
A/N: So my options were to hand over one sleeper and get to the goods next chapter or go with a super long chapter. Gonna get there slow and steady, promise. Patience is greatly appreciated. I'll try to have that up as soon as possible.
The usual love goes out to everyone following along no matter if you alert, favorite, or just check in on occasion. But extra love and smooches and hugs go to you guys who review, y'all are the Boones in my cooler.
Chapter Songs: 7 Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen) – Fall Out Boy
Katy On a Mission – Katy B
The Pot – Tool