EPOV

"We?" I ask, confused, and when I realize what she's insinuating I jump off of the beach blanket like it's all of a sudden on fire. "NO. NO. NO. NO. NO."

"Edward, I have a proposition for you."

I don't even let her finish.

"Absolutely not." I can't bring myself to sit back down next to her yet so I sit back down on my own towel across from her.

"Can you just listen?" Bella asks and I know she's already come up with a thesis with textual evidence in the span of now and her proposition a minute ago.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" I look at her like I've never seen her before in my life, which isn't exactly far from the truth, considering that she just asked me to have sex with her on camera as easy as the way she asks me to borrow notes from class.

"I think I am," she admits, and laughs at herself and her crazy offer, "but I think it will work!"

I shake my head in disbelief, trying to find the words to convey the sheer shock I'm feeling throughout my body. "In what way will this work?"

Bella shrugs as if it's nothing. "We need a lot of money, and we need it fast."

I'm dumbfounded.

Can't believe these words are actually coming out of her mouth. "And this is your go to? Your solution?" She finds stripping to be out of her league but this is okay? I don't think a thought like this would ever cross my own mind, let alone believe someone would ask me to participate in a scheme like this.

She rolls her eyes like I'm the crazy one. "It's not my go to. I've thought of nothing else for the past few days over this," she huffs in defeat and then turns to me. For the first time since this ridiculous conversation began, I actually try to look at her and find my friend beneath this fragile shell she's been living in for the past few days. "I don't know what else to do and time is not on my side."

I see her in there, buried, but in there beneath the surface. Bella marches forward in her quest to convince me. This is one of the things I admire about her. She's determined when she wants something, and now it's coming to bite me in the ass and be used against me.

Someone help me.

"This will be easy and the money will be quick."

I shake my head as hard as I can, trying to focus on the horizon in front of me to keep my sanity. "It won't be easy," I argue. I may admire her determination but I can't hop on board with her plan. "It's going to be really hard."

"See? You're already making dick jokes," she laughs and I can't help but do the same. Eventually I shake my head, becoming serious again.

"No, Bella. That's not what I meant." I sigh and join her again on the big blanket. I look out at the ocean wishing that it would rise and pull me out to its depths. "I meant that it's going to be impossible."

My stupid stubborn friend shakes her head again, her brown hair twisting around in the breeze as she persists. "You know what the two words are in 'impossible'? I'M POSSIBLE."

"You're insane," I laugh.

"I'll give you that." Bella admits, contemplating it in her head for a moment. She laughs, "I'll even add in desperate and crazy."

"Insane, desperate, and crazy. Exactly the words I need to hear to convince me to have sex with you."

"For money though!"

I watch her as she flops back down onto the blanket, her arms covering her eyes as the sun still blares down on us. It's getting later in the evening and the sun highlights flecks of auburn in her dark brown hair, resting haphazardly on the sun-kissed skin of her shoulders.

Any other guy in my position would be jumping on this opportunity, this chance to fuck Bella with no strings attached, and here I am, turning her down. As hot as she is, and I would openly admit she is if anyone were to ask me, I respect her too much to even put her in that position.

I think about the porn industry itself and the image it clouds over women. My eyes soften as I move closer to her so she can actually see me and understand where I'm coming from.

"I could never do that to you," I say honestly, leaning down to tap her on her elbow. She peers out from beneath one of her arms before sitting up abruptly.

"Hey, you wouldn't be doing anything to me I didn't ask for. I'd be a willing participant!" She tosses me her phone again and points to the screen. "You're a master of social media. You just got a job offer for pretty much the same thing."

I mirror what she's doing and point my own finger back to the screen, thankful that the volume is off on her phone. "I most definitely did not get hired to fuck one of my best friends and post it on one of the most highly trafficked porn sites on the internet."

"You know what I mean."

"No, I do not know at all what you mean." She's a welcomed stranger sitting next to me on the beach.

"What I'm saying is that you know how to make posts….social. You're an editing dream."

I laugh out of my nose. "Exactly. Social. A gathering of PEOPLE. This?" I show her one of the videos that is on the main site as a preview before clicking for more. "This is the exact opposite of social. This is what someone watches in private. As in one person."

"Not necessarily," she says, grabbing the phone with a shake of her head. Bella points to the screen and laughs. "Looks like there's three in this one."

"So help me God, if the next words out of your mouth include anything involving a threesome –"

She laughs. "No, that would be –"

"Crazy?" I interrupt her, reminding her that she is in fact, bat shit crazy, lying next to me on the blanket. I reach for her hand. "Look, I get it. I know how you're feeling."

She shakes her head and blows me off with a wave of her fingers. "Do you though?"

I nod. "I do. But this," I toss the phone back at her, "can ruin things. Do you really want to risk it?"

Meeting Bella and the rest of the girls three years ago when we were assigned to organize freshman orientation ended up being one of the best things to happen to all of us. We weren't looking for it at the time but we all ended up together in a way that made these college years absolutely golden. Bella and I had managed to remain friends, even when our group of friends began to split off into groups of two, and it had made it all the better between us. Maybe that is why we are even able to have this conversation; we're so comfortable with each other that I can see why it could have the potential to be so easy to say yes.

Easy to say yes but still it carries a high risk.

Bella counters back after a minute of contemplation. "See, that's where I disagree with you. It wouldn't ruin anything because we wouldn't let it."

It would never be that simple. I shake my head at myself. "I can't believe a girl is offering me sex for money and I'm turning it down."

"So don't turn it down," Bella reiterates, nudging me with her shoulder. Tiny particles of sand trickle down from her shoulder and land in the palm of my hand.

I stare at the tiny particles. "It could get really messy," I warn.

"Not if we stuck to the basics," she says, and I can hear the hope in her voice. "We'd have to follow the rules."

"The rules?" I stare at her quizzically. "What rules?"

She looks at me as if the answer was the most obvious one in the world. "We'd have to come up with our own to follow."

"Obviously. What was I thinking?" I respond, fluent in sarcasm. The last thing I want is more rules to follow. "This is too much, Bella."

"I know." It makes me feel better that she agrees with me on at least one thing. "I just have to find a way to make this work. For both of us."

She rests her head on my shoulder and I kiss the top of her hair.

"We'll figure it out."

-PtP-

By the time I'm back at the house and I've showered the sand and sun off of my skin, I'm exhausted, both mentally and physically. The coolness of my sheets helps to simmer the heat from the afternoon spent at the beach out of my body, and I welcome their comfort as I watch TV in the dark. Jasper's across the room in his bed too, scanning notes for his class the next morning on his phone, and I welcome the quiet.

There's enough traffic going on inside my head for me to keep up with as it is.

I never believed in the overused TGIF expression until now. It's only Thursday, and I'm already feeling the relief that a Friday brings. I can't remember a time when I craved the taste of an ice cold beer to wash away the week's worries more than I will presumably enjoy it tomorrow.

My mind keeps going back to Bella's proposition at the beach. How could it not? It's not every day that something like this happens to me. I know her well enough to know that she would be the one to make something come of this crazy plan of hers. I know that she wouldn't even suggest it if she didn't believe it would work. I also know that a driving factor in all of this is that it would be for both of us. Both of us have something we need and out of all the jobs and opportunities that could help us in the coming weeks, this has the most potential out of them all in terms of obtaining money and obtaining it quickly.

I turn the TV off and turn over onto my stomach, crossing my arms beneath my pillow in frustration. I reach over to my nightstand and grab my phone to try to occupy the racing thoughts in my mind.

Could this work?

Unable to quell my curiosity, I pull up the site on my phone and scroll down to where Bella and I were reading earlier. There are three different options we could pursue, the most popular being profiting off of ad revenue. I don't even know why I bother looking into this as my mind is already made up, no matter how tempting my bank account thinks the offer is, but I click the other options as well.

I weigh the options over as I read through the process of each option. We could create a "fanclub" and have our followers enjoy our content in that avenue. Paid subscribers means a paid Edward and Bella.

Or, we could upload the videos to premium subscribers who would pay per download, and the take home pay for Bella and I would be significantly higher. I put my earbuds in and click on a video of a naked girl to listen to her testimonial on how much money she made in a month. She is very, very convincing. So convincing that I bookmark her page so I can download her uploads.

You know, for research purposes.

Fuck. Bella could be right.

Annoyed, I toss my phone back onto my nightstand. I wish she never told me this was an option because now all I can think about is how this could be the answer to our prayers. This could give us the money we both need, and then some.

I mean, Bella's hot, and I'm not too hard on the eyes, either, I guess. I can edit the fuck out of any video that crosses my path. I know how to cater something for an audience. Bella's on her way to becoming a teacher and her creative mind precedes her. I would leave the theatrics to her.

Could I pull this off? Could I be one of those guys who fucks a girl on camera for money?

Well, it wouldn't be just any girl. It would be Bella. And it wouldn't be just any guy. It would be me. And it wouldn't be for nothing. It would be to invest in ourselves and in our future.

I fall asleep to images of a completely different world and wake up thinking it could definitely fall within the realm of possibility.

-PtP-

The ride with Eric to the station is quiet like always, even on a Friday like this one, and I'm pilfering through thoughts of Bella's offer nonstop. I find myself sporting an 'eh, why the fuck not' attitude and then immediately my more rational thoughts of 'fuck no!' filter through my brain and push away the more outlandish voice that almost convinced me that this is something I could do.

I've been busy at my shift at the station pretty much from the moment I've arrived. HR had put together my official offer, and I spent a good portion of the morning signing my signature to papers I didn't know anything about. I take a brief minute after I'm finished signing my life over to stare out the window of the large office windows overlooking the ocean. Now that I am officially on board, I can breathe a sigh of relief.

I did it.

The job I had dreamed of, worked my ass off for, is actually mine. I'm so high on adrenaline that it makes me realize that I can suffer five more weeks without a car. I can make do, even if it means I have to sleep on Bella's couch in their new place. I hope they even have a couch for me. But even then, I don't really care.

I'm in such a great mood as Bella texts me between her classes that her persistence on our sex tape proposition amuses me. I decide to play along.

I've done more research.

I chuckle and roll my eyes. I can practically hear her tenacity through the phone. Of course you did.

I know how we can make this work.

I'm sure you do. Now that I've signed for the job I don't really care that I have to borrow rides or walk if I have to.

Are you willing to listen?

I look at the red clock in front of me and flit my fingers quickly over the face of my phone. You have two minutes. We're on a commercial break with only one more commercial left. She answers almost immediately.

We stop as soon as we reach our goal.

I would think so.

Her next text comes just as fast as her first. We can track our earnings as we go even if we only see our share once a month.

Last night when I had been doing a little research of my own, I didn't bother to find out how often we would be paid. My head turns to the side as I consider what she's said. Easier to monitor progress. Okay.

No one would ever find out.

I send her a confused face with my next question. It's actually one of the biggest factors in what is throwing me off. How do you know that?

There isn't a guarantee that we could do this anonymously. Her response buzzes on the table in front of me.

Because I wouldn't be telling anybody. Would you?

No, because it isn't happening.

Pretend for me.

I run a hand through my hair. No, I wouldn't tell anyone.

So then no one would ever find out!

I sigh and stop playing along. You have no idea if someone we know will be watching.

If they did, then they probably wouldn't admit it, right? That's the beauty of watching porn online.

We're counting down to go back on the air. I need to think. I tell her I have to go back to work.

Beach later?

I get off at 3.

I'll meet you at North End.

-PtP-

By the time lunch rolls around at the station, my overthinking has worked me into an impressive appetite. I've been flip flopping the proposition over in my mind, weighing the pros and cons over and over again, and when the sound of my own stomach growling reminds me that I haven't eaten anything yet, my decision is back to decline the offer.

Once you go there with someone, you can never take it back. The potential to make money is strong, and that is more often the fact that leads me into agreeing with her, but the potential for things to go wrong looms larger than I had previously thought.

I'm not a magician; I can't fix everything that appears on a screen in my editing room. I can't help but think that with Bella and I soon to be entering the work force for the first time, showing our faces on camera in a sex tape probably wouldn't be the best move. What if I accidentally post our faces on camera? Our identities falling into the wrong hands has too many negative implications to risk it.

With a sigh, it's back to the drawing board I go.

With everyone's lunch order, I dial the number to one of the restaurants downtown, a handful of blocks away from the station. I actually don't mind being the one to go and get all of the breakfast and lunch orders for the morning crew. Every time I speak to each person, I get to know them a little more, and more importantly, they get to know me. I can see myself growing and learning within this place, and these people are the ones who will take me under their wing. The least I could do was pick up their burgers and fries.

The walk to the restaurant is quick, and one I've made dozens of times, but I see the afternoon dark clouds roll through a little earlier than I expected. By the time I've paid for the meal with the company credit card, and have successfully managed to maneuver all of the bags so no lunch would be ruined, I step outside to see the world a whitewash of rain and puddles. The clouds have opened and from the way it looks, they would remain open for the rest of the afternoon.

If I'm careful, I can zigzag myself beneath each awning of the various alive and colorful establishments on the walk back. I can preserve the lunches if I use the stamina from playing soccer since I was learning to walk to my advantage. For the first two blocks, I'm successful. The lunches, and myself, have remained almost untouched. There's no escaping a few water droplets here and there as the deluge releases its fury around me, but nothing is ruined.

I'm one block away from the station when I think I've made it. I dodge an SUV as I step onto the sidewalk, but it's a miniscule excuse of a car that is hidden from my line of sight that ignores the puddles nearing the edge of the sidewalk.

I am its consequence.

So are the lunches.

The speed of the car and the size of the puddle conspire against me to form one of the biggest disasters I've been lucky enough to experience, and when it's all said and done, it doesn't matter if I walk the rest of the way in the middle of the downpour.

The lunches are dripping rivulets of rain water off of the clear bags they came in, and I look like I swam to the restaurant in the ocean that runs parallel to the busy sidewalks of the town, clothes and all. I say nothing as I walk into the lobby back at the station, my sneakers squeaking like I'm playing a game of basketball beneath my feet as I press the elevator button to our floor.

I'm seething. Not because I ruined the lunches for everyone, or that I'm stuck in an air conditioned building for the next few hours without a change of clothes.

It's because I know how this can be stopped from happening again.

I take my phone out of my wet pocket, practically shivering from my soaked clothes and cool air of the building. I find Bella's name and shoot her a message that I'll probably regret but I do it anyway before I change my mind.

I'm in.

-ptp-

Let's get it on!