AN: Happy Thanksgiving, my chickadees in America! To everyone else…happy Thursday? Thanks to everyone for their enormous support. It seemed that everyone wanted Edward to get his say, but there was some indecision on what to repeat and what not to, so I made a compromise. I hope you guys are okay with it ;)

Really quick note to everyone who was mad at Bella in the last chapter, you are all entitled to your opinions, obviously, but I would like to take this time to tell you that if you've been to camp, you'd know that inappropriate groping just comes with the friendships. Honestly, when you live with people day in and day out for three months for multiple years, you become comfortable with one another's bodies…I really don't think that makes Bella a whore. Okay, that's my note. Sorry if you disagree.

Extra special hugs to the girls who play down on the forum and check out my Monday teasers, and to the Call Girls, of course. You never fail to make me smile. Smooches to lisa89, my amazing beta for making my chapters pretty!

One last thing! The lovely il-bel-mondo of "A Silver Tongue" and I are hosting a Twi-High Challenge, a one shot competition where all of your starring characters must be in HIGH SCHOOL! Who doesn't love a good high school story? We'll start taking submissions on Dec. 15—more details to come soon!

***

~Edward~

"What is your deal today?" Jake yelled after me, running out of the dining hall where he'd just had his hands and lips all over Bella. "You've been acting like a whiney bitch all day, and don't even try and pretend that you haven't."

I spun on my foot, turning around and almost crashing into Jake, who was coming at me full speed. "I have no problem," I lied coolly. I had a huge problem.

Yeah, a huge problem in your pants, the annoying little voice in my head snickered.

"I'm calling bullshit right now," Jake continued to taunt, placing his index finger on the center of my chest. My back was still aching from where he had punched me, and I knew that he would beat my ass without question if I continued to act poorly towards Bella.

Oh, Bella—the source of my less-than-cheerful mood.

It had all started this morning. Getting out of bed, I'd felt like something was off. I hadn't been experiencing dread, per se, but a feeling close to it for sure. I'd thought that I was fine. Jasper had asked how I was feeling (after our very-late-night chat), and I'd come to the conclusion that Bella was a platonic friend—no sexual feelings involved.

I'd been wrong. So incredibly wrong. The tent in my pants was testament to that. And it was making me feel guiltier than hell and act like quite the unprovoked douchebag.

Even at breakfast, unkempt and exhausted-looking, my cock had sprung to life. She had been wearing a pair of black plastic framed glasses, drawing me into her deep brown eyes. And only as a sudden wave of heat had rushed to my groin was I able to break out of my trance. I'd shot a look over at Jasper, who'd looked fairly amused at my turmoil. And then I'd freaked out again. Accidental boner, my ass. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do, but I knew that I was definitely attracted to Bella.

And I couldn't help but feel guilty as shit. A switch had been flipped with my libido, making Bella the most desirable thing in the world. It was like last night something in me had woken up last night—some crazy, perverted monster that wanted to corrupt little girls. Because that was what Bella was…a little girl. She was only eighteen, for Christ's sake. Fuck—the girl was nine when I was sixteen. Jesus, this is bad. She'd probably still been watching Rugrats and Spongebob Square Pants when I'd lost my virginity.

"Edward," Jake growled, shoving my shoulder to get my attention back.

"What?" I snapped. I'd had enough. I was in no mood to deal with Jake right now. After all, he was the one who had put me in my funk to begin with when he'd reached across the table to molest my Bella.

I'm sorry…your what now?

I was so totally gone already; I couldn't even believe it. When Jake had placed his hands over Bella's chest and squeezed, I'd nearly lost my shit. It was completely inappropriate for Jake to be touching her like that at all—much less in front of a table full of people.

And I was jealous. Jealous? Yes, jealous. I couldn't stand the fact that anyone was touching Bella. What I had previously disregarded as brotherly protection was now anything but. I wanted to know how her tits had felt in his hands. Was she soft? How big was she actually? Was she wearing a bra? The inappropriate questions had kept building and building in my head, until finally I'd been ready to explode—literally—my cock standing at attention and in need of some loving.

Thank God I didn't have classes this afternoon. I wouldn't be able to focus on anything with the vast amounts of lascivious images of Bella floating through my brain. It was so new and unexpected, which is why I thought I was reacting so negatively. If my freak-out last night had been any indication, I knew that I had a lot to work out.

"Did I do something, or are you just on your period?"

"I don't want to hear it, Jake," I growled, surprising him with my open animosity. "Go be a sick fuck with someone else, or you could just wait until your activity to find a camper. Maybe you could feel one of them up, too!"

"A sick fuck? Are you being serious right now?" I gave no indication that I wasn't, and Jake's eyes widened in surprise. "Dude, it was a joke! And we love LB. I don't get the problem."

"You're being inappropriate."

"Yeah," he scoffed. "I am. But I'm always inappropriate. And you're usually right there with me! But just now—just now you were being mean, Edward. Don't hurt that girl's feelings just because you need an attitude adjustment! I won't hesitate to punch you again!"

I was a coward. A coward and an asshole.

Shaking my head, I stormed off, knowing that I looked like a complete drama queen. But I couldn't stand there and look at him any more. I was really, inexplicably pissed. Except, it wasn't so inexplicable. I was pissed because I wanted my hands on Bella. And he'd had his hands all over Bella. And I was pissed because I would never put my hands on Bella, despite the fact that I wanted it. She had a hot body—so what? I would never actively pursue her. That would be inappropriate—as I'd just told Jake. And wrong. It would definitely be wrong.

Back in my bunk, I flopped down onto my bed, frustrated as fuck. I needed something to take my mind off Bella. Bella's rack. My hands on Bella's rack. Shit! Remembering I needed to buy a hoodie (since my black one was definitely getting a workout since I gave my red one to Bella), I decided to find Jasper—the guy who would least like to kill me right now—and see if he wanted to take an afternoon field trip.

"Edward," I heard the slight southern accent call to me. Perfect timing.

"Hey, Jasper." I sat up, enthused about my prospective trip, and then I saw his face. Uh-oh. Maybe I overestimated that whole killing-me thing…

"You're in serious trouble, man. Now, I know we're not best friends or anything, but in all fairness, I did listen to you ramble last night at three o'clock in the morning, so you owe me this much. What the hell happened?" His eyes were cold and hard, which was a first from Jasper—he had always been the warmest and friendliest of the guys. Apparently, I had really fucked up, though.

"This is all your fault anyway!" I spewed out at him, causing his eyes to widen and a devilish smirk to appear on his face.

"Not accidental?" He laughed, his gaze softening as he sat down on his bed, facing me.

"Not accidental," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Jesus, Jasper. What the fuck do I do? I can't walk around with blue balls for the rest of the summer!" At that, Jasper burst out laughing. Seeing my anguished face, he sobered up quickly. "Did you ever think of…um…pursuing her?" My face must have shown my disbelief because Jasper quickly backtracked. "Clearly not."

"Definitely not. This is just really sudden, and I'm super freaked out, okay?" Jasper nodded and then trained his pointed glare at me again.

"That's fine, Edward, but you still need to be nice. Because even though that girl is a firecracker and can take it like a champ, she can still hurt. Learn some manners."

I felt like I should say, "Yes ma'am," in response, but that would probably have only gotten me punched again, so instead I nodded and made a mental note never to get on Jasper's bad side again. He used that whole disappointed-mother tone that I'd tried so hard to get away from, and I had no desire to hear it again anytime soon. So, I resolved to apologize to Bella for my boorish behavior and start being nice. Despite the fact that I wanted to use her body for my pleasure over and over and over again.

"Okay, you sad sack, we're going to Wal-Mart—come with me." Jasper motioned for me to follow him out of the bunk, and I did so without question—plus, I had been planning a Wal-Mart trip anyway. As we walked, I saw Bella and Alice rolling down the front hill, their hair flying behind them. Jasper nodded his head in Bella's direction, motioning for me to go over and "be nice," as he had said. I took the opportunity and walked to where I knew she would come to a rolling halt.

I peered over her still body. A small smile graced her lips, and she had her eyes still clenched shut. She looked so fucking happy. This was the LB I knew. I could do this—I could distance myself without being a jackass. Just as I reached some modicum of resolution, she had to go and fuck everything up and open her eyes. I helped her up, only to have her snatch her hand back with a snap.

"Shit, Bella…I—"

"I don't want to hear it," she interrupted me coldly. "I have to go. Jasper's waiting. Later, Alice." I was feeling pretty put out, until I realized that this was all a set up. Bella wouldn't have agreed to come if she'd known I was coming, too. I turned to Jasper, who was looking incredibly "out of the loop" and apologetic. This man is the master of brilliance and deviancy. He and Alice could take over the world together.

"Actually, I kind of said that he could come…" Jasper flashed his eyes towards me, and I could read him through and through. He was playing innocent, and I gave him an appreciative nod. His eyes narrowed momentarily, and I could practically hear the "don't fuck this up, Edward" coming out of his eyes. "Sorry, Bella. I didn't know. Is it okay if he comes?"

Bella growled and huffed off to Jasper's car, looking like an adorably pissed-off kitten. My eyes followed her ass as she sashayed to the car, and I chastised myself once again for going there. There would be no crossing the line, so looking was pretty futile. Right?

Wrong. I spent the entirety of the car ride watching Bella tuck small wisps of hair behind her ear and bite her luscious bottom lip. The only really interesting part was when Jasper asked her who she had been in love with as a thirteen year old, and she blushed. I had never really seen Bella blush before. She was never one to get embarrassed easily, and I was automatically intrigued.

"Wow," I said, resisting the urge to run my finger down her pink-tinged cheek. "You are blushing. It can't be that embarrassing, Bella. Who was it?"

I suddenly found myself wanting her to say my name, despite how ridiculous that would be. She surprised the hell out of me by saying Jake Gyllenhaal, though. I mean, how on earth was that an embarrassing crush? Even I had a crush on him. I'd take a climb on Brokeback Mountain if I were actually into dudes.

Jasper continued to mock Bella's "type," which apparently was tall and artistic, with "beautiful blue eyes." Jasper widened his eyes, which were shockingly blue, making Bella blush again. Did Bella like Jasper? Why did I care who Bella liked? I just thought she was hot. A hot friend. Like Emily. I'd always suspected that Emily secretly liked Jake, and that had never bothered me. In fact, it had made me laugh more than anything else. So why did thinking about Bella and Jake or Bella and Jasper make me want to crash my head into the car door repeatedly?

My mind was clouded with brown eyes and brown hair when Bella asked us what our types were. I responded with the obvious—the two features that had been floating around in my head all day—until Jasper crooked an eyebrow at me, making me realize that my verbal filter was broken and I'd actually said the words out loud. "Like Natalie Portman," I added, hoping that Bella wouldn't notice I'd automatically responded with her two most prominent features. From the startled look on her face, though, I may as well have said, "You, Bella." She looked about three seconds from bolting.

FML.

As we stood outside the super store, Jasper got my attention and let Bella go ahead of us, holding me back for some obviously needed advice.

"Natalie Portman?" Jasper whispered, huddling closer to me. "You are in so much trouble, Edward." My face must have shown my panic because Jasper put a calming hand on my shoulder and took a large breath. "Okay, you need an intervention."

"I know!" I whisper-yelled. "Help me. I just need to get her out of my head." Jasper looked about as skeptical as I felt, making me finally crack a smile. "Yeah, laugh it up, asshole. Tell me what to do."

"You need to stop stressing yourself out, boy. And you need to apologize for upsetting her earlier."

"That's it?" I asked, completely disbelieving that a simple apology would fix everything—although, it did always work for Emmett and Bella. I wondered if I could apologize with food, too. Though, she might see that as a rip-off of Emmett's apology plan. I'd have to think of something. "I don't really do girls," I tried to explain, causing Jasper to break out into laughter again.

"Really? 'Cause as far as I've heard, you only do girls. Is there something you need to tell me, roomie? Is it Jake?"

"Ha ha. You think you're so funny, Jasper."

"I am. And I've had about four long-term girlfriends. How many have you had?"

I blanched. "Girlfriend? No. No way. I don't want Bella to be my girlfriend."

Jasper quirked an eyebrow, looking immensely confused. "Why the fuck not, Edward?"

"She's eighteen!" I squealed like a little girl. "And I don't have girlfriends. I've never had a girlfriend. Bella's not going to be some fucked up trial run. And I don't really think Bella wants me to stick it to her all summer and then peace the fuck out, no strings attached. She's Bella—there are strings."

"Oh my God," Jasper muttered under his breath. "This is so much worse than I'd anticipated."

As Jasper continued to mutter to himself, I decided to seek out Bella and apologize in earnest. It was the least she deserved. Plus, I couldn't take much more of Jasper's condescending and judging eyes. Sorry that not all of us have had multiple serious relationships, Jasper. Jeez.

I stumbled upon Bella looking at graphic t-shirts in the little boy's section. She looked to be deep in thought, having serious trouble deciding between a Batman and a Transformers t-shirt.

"Definitely the Batman one." She tensed at the sound of my voice, and I automatically regretted not apologizing first. Jasper was right; I had hurt her with my poor behavior. And I felt like utter shit about it.

"I'm still mad at you." I put my hand on her elbow and turned her around to face me slowly. I didn't want to upset her even more, but she had to know that I was truly sorry.

"I know," I began seriously, staring into the chocolate warmth that had been flooding my mind since last night. Her eyes softened immediately, and I gained the confidence to continue. Maybe Jasper knew what he was talking about. "I'm sorry, though. I really am. It's a sad excuse, but I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, so to speak."

"That's a terrible excuse." She began to walk away from me, and I couldn't have that. Fucking Jasper.

"Wait, Bella, please. I didn't mean what I said before." At least that was true, and I hoped she knew to what I was referring because I really didn't want to say it out loud again. I was so embarrassed to have ever said anything derogatory to Bella. She hadn't deserved any of it. My anger was completely misplaced. I was a fucking jealous asshole—jealous of my best friend in the entire world. He could stand the heat (as could Bella), but she didn't deserve it. And Jake was right; it wasn't fair for me to pin that on her. I tried to explain it to her calmly, hoping that her expression would warm. "I was pissed off at Jake, and you were collateral damage, which is really stupid—believe me, I know. And I'm sorry that I'm not Emmett and everything can't be fixed with a box of Oreos and a tub of frosting, but maybe we could walk down the food aisles and come up with our own tradition?"

The food suggestion had come on the spur of the moment, and I hoped that it was innocent enough that it could be seen as a friendly move. I mean, just because I now knew I wanted into her pants didn't mean that I was going to do anything about it.

"Fine," she sighed, and my heart soared. On instinct, I grabbed her hand happily. It was then that I felt the weird clenching sensation in my stomach again. And this time, I knew it was directly related to Bella. Trying not to focus on it, I pulled her towards the grocery section of the store, browsing aisle after aisle for an appropriate apology food for us.

***

Back at the bunk, I was beginning to see the error of my ways. Bella had decided that marshmallow fluff and pretzels was going to be our apology-food of choice. And though the fluff had squicked me out originally, I had to admit that shit was delicious.

But the pretzel rods were my downfall. As we talked and sat on the floor of my room, I watched with fascination as Bella's pouty pink lips sucked the marshmallow fluff off the long pretzel rods.

Oh my God, I'm staring at her mouth and wishing it were around my cock making me cum—and then it'd be my fluff she was licking off my rod. Oh, shit.

I wondered briefly what her cum face looked like. And then I felt like shit.

How could I be thinking these things about Bella? She wasn't just some random girl. No, she was a smart, talented, and intelligent woman…with an awesome rack.

No, stop it, Edward. Bella = no!

"Top ten favorite movies from the last decade…go," I instructed, moving my thoughts far far away from the gutter it was currently lying in.

Bella looked pensive. "Ten?" I nodded. "Too many, I think. Uh, okay, well I can definitely do top five. The Dark Knight, Almost Famous, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Donnie Darko, and Secretary. "

I inhaled my bite of pretzel and started choking. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you. Did you say Secretary?"

"Yeah. It was the first movie I ever watched that made me feel, um…" She flushed under the scrutiny of my gaze. "I just really loved the idea of it."

I stopped chewing, my brain now so completely filled with inappropriate thoughts that it was too busy to send out the right neurons to move my jaw. It did, however, have enough room to make my cock harden again. Her brow furrowed as sucked more fluff off the end of her pretzel, unsure of why I was reacting the way I was. She had no idea that that particular movie was my number one sexual fantasy. She couldn't have known.

"So, tell me about your latest projects?" I asked, directing my attention anywhere else but to her lips and the blood rushing to my groin.

She looked so genuinely surprised and happy that I had asked about her filmmaking, and I made a mental note to do it more often—if only to see that smile grace her face. She chewed the last bite of her pretzel and swallowed.

Swallow. Bella swallowing…

MOTHERFUCKING SHIT, STOP THAT!

Flustered, I looked up into Bella's smiling face. I prayed that she couldn't read my thoughts because otherwise I'd be in serious trouble. My eyes flicked over to Jasper, who could see right through me. He was observing my reaction to Bella's unintentional sexual actions, amusement written all over his face.

"Yeah, Bella, tell us about your latest projects."

Right. That's what I asked her.

Bella told us all about her homage to Film Noir with a short film based on T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," and I marveled at what an intellectual filmmaker she was already. She'd sent it into USC as her application essay, making parallels between being a teenaged girl in love and a middle-aged, suicidal man. Shot completely in black and white on location—it sounded incredible. I couldn't wait to see it.

"You've felt that hopelessly in love before?" I asked, surprised. Prufrock was dark—very dark. Too dark to be inside Bella's heart.

Bella looked surprised, angry, and then sad before her expression settled. Sometimes I wondered if she knew how easy her face was to read but how confused her expressions left me. "Well, yes…no, kind of."

"But it was a personal essay, right? That's a dark place to be, LB."

"It was a metaphor, Edward," she snapped. I went to apologize again when Bella just shook her head and sighed loudly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to—"

She really was a little firecracker. I had to watch myself with her, or I'd be liable to get burned. "No, I shouldn't have asked. I was just surprised that you'd felt life was that bleak before." She sighed again and tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear, bringing my attention back to her eyes, which now held a tinge of sadness. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me." I squirmed, feeling like I'd unintentionally hit a particularly sensitive subject, but I didn't know how to backtrack. And now I was genuinely curious.

"No, it's fine. I—" She paused and took a large bite of fluff-covered pretzel. Jasper and I did the same as we waited for her to continue. "The prompt for the essay was to come up with a film that portrayed an aspect of our summer. And it was a summer that I didn't spend here. My summer was spent working as a secretary for the police department. Emmett and Jake would send me pictures of all of you, and it only made me more upset that I wasn't there. I guess I'm hopelessly in love with summers here."

Her answer took me by surprise. I'd been expecting her to talk about an ex-boyfriend or even her father, but to be in love with her summers here—with me (my ego swelled at that thought)—was such a unique perspective.

I was in awe. "That's incredible, Bella. I'm not surprised you got accepted." She smiled widely, and I made another mental note to compliment her more. She looked so beautiful when she smiled.

"I owe a lot of it to you." She blushed, a light rosy flush taking over her cheeks.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah—you're the one who got me into film in the first place, you know?" The blush intensified as she peered nervously up at me from under her lashes, sending more blood to my crotch. I squirmed for a second, trying to adjust myself discreetly (which was virtually impossible under her searching gaze).

"Wait, really?"

"You got into film because of Edward?" Jasper laughed, not holding back his amusement anymore. Bella's blush deepened as she pulled her knees up to her chest, hiding her chin behind them and nodding slightly. "Oh, man, I'm so glad I could be here to witness this conversation."

Bella slapped Jasper square in the chest before hiding even further behind her knees. "We're not having this conversation," she mumbled.

"Oh, yes we are," Jasper goaded. "Tell me, Bella—how did Edward get you into film?"

Bella peered at Jasper from over her knees and shook her head at him, and my mouth dropped. I tried my very hardest not to let the edges of my mouth curl up into a shit-eating grin, but I think it came off as sort of a half-grin. I was good, but I wasn't that good.

"Did you think he was cute?" Jasper laughed some more as Bella rolled her eyes, but the flush stayed on her cheeks.

"Yeah, Bella, I want to know," I added, knowing that all of this ego stroking was going to leave me with a massive hard on.

"Of course you want to know, asshole." Bella flung a pretzel stick toward my head and I ducked, avoiding it—but it had been a near miss. The blush that spread across her cheeks intensified, and I couldn't resist provoking it further.

"Wait, Bella, are you trying to tell me that you started coming to video because you thought I was cute?" She huffed in annoyance and stood up quickly, avoiding eye contact with me at all costs.

"Okay, Jasper, we have to go organize our new art supplies now. Let's go."

"But you didn't answer the question, Bella."

"I hate you," she growled, pulling at Jasper's arm to drag him out of the room.

Just before he was pulled out of eyesight, he turned around and mouthed a, "You're welcome," before turning back to the huffing, embarrassed Bella. I'd never seen anything cuter. And my ego thanked him immensely.

After they disappeared, I put away the remainder of our fluff and pretzels and flopped down onto my bed, staring at the Natalie Portman poster on the wall. I couldn't believe that Bella thought of me like that. All this time, I'd just assumed that she had looked up to me as a mentor of sorts, nothing more. The thoughts that were popping into my head at the notion that I'd been wrong were wreaking havoc with my blood flow. Knowing that Jasper would be out of the bunk for a significant amount of time, I pulled my dick out of my pants and took it into one of my hands.

"Fuck!" I groaned, seeing the copious amounts of pre-cum already leaking out of the head. This was so much worse than I'd thought. With the newly acquired thoughts of Bella finding me attractive residing in the back of my head, this situation was quickly spiraling out of control.

I grabbed myself tighter, swiping my palm over the head gently. As I brought my hand down around my shaft and slowly pumped myself, I brought my eyes back to the Natalie Portman poster, hoping to distract myself. Bella deserved more than me jacking myself off alone in my bunk. Hand still slowly stroking myself, I decided to recount my favorite go-to fantasy—a far cry away from my newly formed attraction to Bella.

I was working as a Production Assistant on set when Natalie, in her Queen Amidala costume, injured herself on set. George Lucas looked around frantically, wondering who could help her. Not having anything in my hands, I offered quickly, leading her back to her trailer. I was nervous; she was more beautiful up close than I could have possibly imagined. I gulped as she sat down on her bed, looking up at me with her soulful dark eyes.

I turned to leave when I heard her voice. "Please, stay." I turned around and watched her strip, first shimmying out of her tight white pants and then pulling her tiny white top over her head, revealing her luscious breasts. Painfully hard, I adjusted myself, hoping to be discrete, but she called me out. "I can help you out with that, you know…"

Suddenly, I realized I was somehow already in front of her bed. My feet had traveled without my conscious approval. Looking up at me, she unzipped my pants and pushed her hand into my boxers, wrapping her tight fist around my hardness. Her tongue peeked out, swiping at her bottom lip before biting it gently.

"I've been watching you for weeks, you know. What's your name?"

"Edward," I croaked out as she pushed aside my boxers to reveal me in my full glory. Without any provocation, she leaned forward to brush her lips against my cock, her eyes downcast.

As she looked back up into my eyes while sliding her lips over my head to suck greedily, the brown eyes and brown hair transformed into Bella. Bella sucking my cock. Sucking me hard and good.

"Shit!" I exploded all over myself, coming before I usually would. This was bad. This was really bad. I needed to avoid this at all costs. Bella couldn't be a fuck and chuck—she was better than that—but that was all I could think about.

Instead of dealing with it, I decided to clean myself off, turn over, and take a nap. I was still exhausted from my late-night temper tantrum anyway. And seeing as how the art shops had the afternoon off, I had nothing to do for the next four hours, at least.

I woke up hours later to a still-empty bunk. I quickly rolled out of bed, ran my hands through my hair, and walked to the front door where I was assaulted with some pretty shocking images.

"Oh fuck, I'm so close." Jake's face contorted as his hands twisted harder into the log, chestnut strands of hair draping over his thighs. His eyes opened and met with my shocked ones (and probably a little appalled and a touch sleepy). "Edward?" Jake gasped, his hands stilling the faceless girl bobbing up and down on his cock. My throat went dry as my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. As if I weren't mad enough at Jake to begin with, he had to go and pull this shit? Our bunk had a very strict "no public hook up" policy—our private lives happened behind closed doors only—and what I'd just witnessed was definitely breaking that rule.

"What the fuck?" I fumed. The only brown hair that I'd been thinking about over and over again better not have been sucking on Jake's dick—otherwise, I was really going to have a fit. The girl in question whispered a low, "Shit," and scrambled quickly, pulling herself away and putting Jake's dick back into his shorts. She stood up and turned around, head down to the ground, but I recognized her instantly.

And breathed a huge fucking sigh of relief. Not the same brown hair. Thank fucking Christ. I did recognize the girl, however, as the waitress, Gianna, from Jake and Bella's table. Only Jake. Damn, he moved fast.

"I thought you said no one was here," Gianna chided him.

"I didn't think anyone was here…" Jake trailed off uncomfortably, throwing his shirt back on and adjusting himself within his shorts. Gross.

"Clearly." There was a monumentally awkward pause, all of us just looking at one another, wondering what could possibly be said. "I was napping."

"Um—" Jake shoved his hands in his pockets, looking extremely uncomfortable. "So…yeah."

"Okay, I'm gonna go…" Gianna looked around the room awkwardly before kissing Jake's cheek and booking it out of the bunk.

Jake and I stood there, staring at one another, until finally he broke out into an annoyed smirk. "You couldn't let her finish, really?" he asked, pretending to be agitated.

"Such a fucking asshole," I muttered, my disgust magnifying with each word.

Jake scoffed and punched my shoulder. "Like you can fucking talk, Assward. You have some serious explaining to do. What the fuck has been up your ass all day?"

I rolled my eyes. "Are we really going to do this, Jake? Are we going to talk about 'my feelings' and what's been bugging me?" I shook my head, my eyes trained on the floor, knowing that Jake would have a whole lot more to say to me if I actually let him know what I'd been thinking all day.

"Fine, fucktard. We don't have to talk about your feelings. Just answer me this, did you at least apologize to LB?"

"Yeah, I apologized to Bella," I sighed. Jake's eyes narrowed for a second before he shook his own head and grumbled loudly. "Any chance I could get a hand with this?" he said, pointing down to the tent in his pants. I stared at him in disbelief. "Just kidding, pretty boy. I can take care of it myself." And with that, he headed into the bathroom, presumably to take a shower.

"Such a queer." I laughed and headed out of the bunk.

I headed up to the dining hall, seeing as it was dinner time—man, I really had slept the entire afternoon away—when I was accosted by a fuming Rosalie.

"You prick!" she whisper-yelled, smacking my shoulder.

"What?" I whined, rubbing my throbbing shoulder. She scowled, her eyes narrowing into tiny slits before she began her rant.

"I know we haven't known one another very long, Edward, but you'll learn that I'm very protective of the things that I love. And as of two weeks ago, that includes Bella Swan. So you'd better watch your back, sir. I'm onto you. If you pull anything like that again, I will not hesitate to let Em and Jake break your pretty little face." She flipped her blonde hair and stormed off, leaving me in pain, incredibly scared, and slightly in awe.

"Dude," Emmett whispered, coming up from behind Rosalie. "What did you do to my woman?"

"Your woman?"

Emmett crossed his arms and smiled widely. "Well. Not yet."

"Yeah, what's the deal with that?" I asked, honestly curious. Rosalie had been around constantly, but as far as I could tell, there had been no action to speak of.

"She has a douchewad boyfriend back home who she's scared to break up with. I'm being a good friend."

I cocked my eyebrow. "Isn't she a little young for you, Em? I mean, cradle robber, much?"

He paused and looked me over. "So, you clearly haven't stopped being an asshat yet today."

"Yes I have, Em," I answered obediently, as if he were my mother.

"You sure?"

I shoved away his towering frame, which was quickly closing in on me. "Yeah, I'm sure. We even came up with our own apology food."

Emmett's eyebrows shot up in question. "Seriously?"

"What's that look for?"

Emmett smirked and shook his head again. "Nothing, nothing." I stared him down, willing him to continue talking. "You said 'we' – as in you and LB?" I nodded, unsure of where this line of questioning was going, but I was starting to break into a mild sweat. "Why were you mad at her in the first place?"

His question caught me completely off guard. I had no idea how to answer without telling him that I wanted to fuck his pseudo-little-sister ten ways from Sunday. "I—" I was about to give him a bullshit answer when the bell for dinner rang, announcing that I was now late and saving my sorry ass.

"We're talking later, Edward!" he yelled, jogging into the dining hall, his eyes letting me know that our discussion was not even close to finished. Gulp.

Late already, I rushed into the dining hall only to see Alice and Bella giggling about something at the foot of my table.

"Ladies." I brushed by Bella on my way to the head of my table, trying not to notice my raging hard on making a comeback. I averted my eyes, staring past her instead. I knew that if I looked into her eyes right now, I was sure to reach some kind of catastrophic downward spiral.

"Edward," she said quietly.

"Sorry, Alice," I apologized, seeing that she had already set our table.

"Not a problem, Edward. What was keeping you?"

"Nap." I shrugged, figuring that answer was as true as anything.

"And Jake?" Bella asked. I looked up, finally making eye contact with her, and burst into laughter. "What?" She looked mildly offended, as if I were laughing at her. I needed to clarify.

"Jake had, um, something he needed to attend to." I shook my head, remembering the unfortunate scene I'd witnessed.

"Like beating your moody ass?" Alice quipped.

"More like beating something else…"

Alice made a face as a sly smile spread across Bella's. "Oh, gross!" Alice made a fake gagging noise, which only caused my laughter to increase. Gagging, Jake, Gianna. Oh, man.

"Whatever, Alice—everyone does it," Bella added, causing my ears to perk up with interest. Everybody did it, as in…Bella did it, too?

"Seriously," Alice seethed quietly. "If Jasper doesn't make a move soon, I swear to God my index finger is going to break right off!"

"Alice!" Bella laughed, shoving her shoulder playfully.

"Like you can deny it, Swan. I know about your shower time." Alice giggled as Bella blushed for the ten thousandth time today. Holy Jesus.

My mind took the nosedive into dangerous territory as I imagined Bella soaping herself up in the shower, doing all sorts of naughty things with her dexterous fingers.

Christ! There are other people around! Don't do this here!

"Edward?" I was pulled out of my lusty haze by Jake's overpowering bellow. "Edward, where the fuck did you just go?" he asked, punching my arm. I realized then that I was still staring at Bella, who was now focusing intently at the table as she set out the dishes.

"N-nothing," I responded, still a bit flustered, averting my eyes quickly. Unfortunately, my eyes met Emmett's narrowed ones again. I looked to Alice in a blind panic and realized that she knew. Alice always knew.

For the rest of dinner, I tried to be on my best behavior, engaging with the small campers sitting around me and trying to throw Alice off the track, but I kept getting distracted by the gorgeous girl sitting at the table next to mine. It was like torture. Every time I'd manage to get her out of my head and focus on the conversation at my own table, I'd catch her flipping her hair or smiling deviously. It wasn't like me to be this distracted by a girl. It had never happened—ever. I was pretty sure I was driving myself insane.

By the end of the hour, I was ready for my own shower time, but I knew that I had other things to attend to.

As I was heading out, Emmett grabbed my arm. I had been expecting it, really.

"Meet me down at the lake," he said sternly. "I'm grabbing a twenty-four pack, and then we'll talk." I nodded in full acceptance. The first night of camp, the girls all had a huge assembly and then bunk bonding with their counselors, leaving the male counselors with nothing to do. Emmett, Jake, and I had formed a tradition of drinking by the lake. However, I had a feeling that tonight's conversation wasn't going to be as lighthearted as it usually was.

"Hey!" Jasper called out to me as I headed down the hill. "Wait up!"

I slowed down my pace and let Jasper walk beside me. We walked in silence all the way down to the docks. Jake was already there, unlocking The Paddle Pad, where he kept a bunch of folding chairs for us. After all the chairs were set up, I turned around to see Emmett and Seth approaching.

"Seth!" Jake called out happily. "You tapped LB yet?" My stomach rolled at his vulgarity.

Seth shook his head, blushing slightly. Wait, what's that blush for? "No, but I did ask her if she wanted to go out next week." Jake slapped his back, and my heartbeat increased. I couldn't imagine Bella going out with Seth. He was nice, sure, but he wasn't remotely good enough for her. But it wasn't like I was actually going to go out with her, right? Was I really going to be that guy—the one that wouldn't be with the girl but didn't want her with anyone else either? I was ready to fully admit it: I was a prick.

"Sit the fuck down," Emmett said, pushing my ass into a seat off to the side and forcing an opened beer into my hand. I took a large swig of the beer and gulped nervously as he pulled another chair up beside me.

"What?" I croaked out, knowing that I sounded like a scared little girl.

"You know what." My eyes flicked to Jake, Jasper, and Seth, who had taken off their shirts and were playing in the lake already. I was not going to have this conversation where they could hear me. It was bad enough that Jasper already knew. If Jake knew too, my balls would most likely be chopped off. And I wasn't quite ready to part with those any time soon.

"What do you want me to say?"

Emmett leaned in closer and lowered his voice, continuing angrily. "I want you to tell me that you're not going to lead her on and break her heart."

"I…uh…who?" I played dumb.

"Don't give me that shit, Edward. I know you. You've never committed to a girl a single day in your life. She doesn't know that, though. So if you can't, then don't."

"Don't what?"

Emmett's voice was picking up volume now, gaining an angrier edge with each venomous word. I would have stopped him and protested, but I knew that I needed this verbal smack down. I needed Emmett to remind me why I couldn't be thinking about Bella like this.

"Don't pretend to be something that you're not going to follow through with. Bella—" my eyes widened at the use of her name—Emmett always called her LB. "Yeah, Bella," he scoffed. "You're not the only one who can call her by her name, you know. Bella is young, and she expects the things that she should, you know? Things like loyalty and commitment and devotion. Can you do that?"

"I—I don't know," I answered honestly. I hadn't even thought about it like that. All I really knew was that my body craved Bella's body something fierce.

"Then don't fucking go there," he growled again. "I won't let you hurt her. Are we clear?"

"Uh…" I didn't know what to say or how to respond. My mind was agreeing with everything Emmett had said, but my cock was screaming at me that Emmett was an idiot and that we could be faithful and serious. I wasn't sure, though. And Emmett was right. Until I was one hundred percent certain that I wanted more than just sex with Bella, I wouldn't do anything about it.

Chapter End Notes: PS, I broke 500 reviews, somehow…and I forgot to thank you kids up top. Thanks so much for your reviews – I read each and every one. If you're still with me and enjoying the crazy town that is Edward's head right now, give me a holler over here or on the thread!

MWA!