AN: If I could send you all kisses, I would. Big, sloppy wet kisses for each one of you. I can't even tell you how much your reviews make my day. I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond to most of them, but I just started a new RL job and I figured you'd rather have weekly updates than replies to your reviews (I hope I guessed right).

Another reminder that submissions for my Twi-High Anonymous Challenge with il-bel-mondo started on Tuesday … the link is here:

http://www (dot) fanfiction (dot) net/u/2165753/Twi-High_Anonymous_Challenge

There are some pretty nifty prizes in it for those who participate, so I'd get your butt over there in the near future if I were you!

Last, but not least, thanks to everyone who checked out my O/S for 8 Days Of Cullen – your love of Jewishward makes my heart explode.

~Bella~

Rage. Quiet unadulterated rage was pulsing through my body, and I had no real way to squelch it except for my mild shaking. I may have been pushed up against Seth's hard and muscular body, feeling our skin rub against one each other, but all I could see was Emily's dainty hand drifting down Edward's stomach as he grinned at her.

How could he do that to me? After kissing me, how could he just go back to her like it had meant nothing? I'd thought that he'd been maybe coming onto me yesterday, but clearly it had all been in my imagination.

"Bella, are you okay?" I heard Seth ask as his hands stroked my arms softly. My eyes snapped upwards to his, and I couldn't help but smile at his genuine concern.

"Just a little cold," I fibbed, shaking out my wet hair and ringing it out over the lake. In reality, I was pretty warm. After standing in the sun for three hours, I could feel my skin flushing and drying in the early summer heat. But I was feeling particularly exposed in Rosalie's small bikini. Apparently all of the supervising counselors had to wear red bathing suits, of which I had none, but Rosalie had plenty. She'd lied to me, claiming that she only had bikinis – while she herself showed up in a one piece. Little harlot.

"Oh, let me grab you a towel!" Suddenly, Seth jetted off and returned with a large green beach towel from the side. "Here you are." He smiled again and wrapped it around me, pulling me close to dry me off. I would have minded the familiarity he displayed with my body, had he not been doing me a favor and covering me up.

My mostly naked body that Edward didn't even bother to ogle because he was too distracted by Emily, my inner voice growled.

"Thanks!" I managed to call out to Seth before he was pulled away by James, the soccer counselor he'd passed his camera off to.

Then, just as quickly, I was being pulled off in the other direction by Rosalie, towards the beach. I threw my towel and myself down onto the sand as the campers all wandered off to their bunks to shower. I should have probably taken a shower, too, but I was too emotionally exhausted to move right now.

"Bella, you look smoking today. Just thought I should tell you." Rosalie giggled and threw me a cookie from the swim staff's private stash.

I rolled my eyes and stretched my arms over my head, relishing in the sun's calming feel on my drying skin. I let out a long slow exhale, trying to expel the bad energy I'd accumulated.

"Are you okay?"

I shook my head, keeping my eyes closed and trying to think of happier thoughts, but I was stuck on the image of the loving and intimate way Edward and Emily had interacted with one another. I knew that Edward was a touchy-feely kind of guy, but he wasn't that touchy-feely.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Rosalie offered up. I lay there in silence, continuing to shake my head gently from side to side, hoping that she would just let me relax. "Please, Bella."

"I'm frustrated," I admitted, still keeping my eyes closed. Talking that way was easier, anyway.

"What?" Rosalie asked, sounding legitimately confused.

"I'm frustrated…and lonely." I said it again, feeling the honest way it tasted on my tongue.

"I don't understand. How can you be lonely? You're surrounded by your best friends every day."

"That's true, but it's also not true." I paused, hearing her take in a deep breath and wait for me to continue. "They had lives as counselors before I became one. I thought that it would be easy, since we were always best friends. But it hasn't been. Jake is distracted by anything with tits that isn't me." I chuckled at that admission. "Emmett is distracted." I smirked as I heard Rosalie huff quietly. "Alice found Jasper – and I'm so happy for them, but they're already living in their own little world. Did you see them after their date yesterday? They barely waved hello to me—"

"They just got together, Bella. Give it time, they'll be back to normal within the week, I guarantee it."

"I don't need time. I need to take my focus off Edward and make some new friends. Here I've been pining and hoping that he'll look my way all summer, but it's not going to happen – and it's preventing me from making new friends. Friends that I should be making because I'm now a counselor and I can."

"You always have me, Bella," Rosalie said sadly, and I finally opened my eyes to look at her. She was sitting at the bottom of my towel, looking wistful as she laid her hands on my shins. "I love you tons, B. You make me happy."

"Thanks, R. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like I was belittling our friendship. God knows I love you, too. I just don't spend enough time with you. Having activities and a cabin full of girls kind of gets in the way of that. And most evenings you spend on the phone with your family or with Royce, and I never want to interrupt you. But if you want to talk about it, I'm here."

"I know, and I really appreciate it. Dealing with Royce has been…rough. And if you want to move on past Edward, then go for it, but you don't have to. Because I know that he makes you happy, too. I know for a fact that all of your best friends love you — Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Jake, me, and even Edward."

"Edward's a lost cause. I think I'm going to go out with Seth."

Her eyebrows shot up, arching into the middle of her forehead. "Really?"

"He's already asked me out twice, and I'm running out of creative ways to turn him down."

"Twice?"

"Ugh, yeah. Once during pre-camp and then again last night. I should give him a chance, right? I mean, what's the harm in going out once? He's really sweet, and it's not like I'm planning on throwing my V-card at him."

"Why not? He's got a rockin' bod."

I sat up straight, leaning over to talk with her so that I could lower my voice. "I know, right? I didn't want to say anything before, but I'm pretty sure my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he stripped down. Not too bad to look at, hmm?"

Rosalie giggled, throwing her wet hair up into a messy bun. "I tried to count all of his abs – I gave up at like fourteen. And those pecs…mm, mm, delicious."

"Oh, I know. I wanted to sink my teeth into them – just gnaw a little bit. They'd probably be nutritious."

"Like lean meat?"

"Well, since you've already decided I'm giving it up for him, I do hope there's nothing lean about his meat," I quipped, making Rosalie's mouth drop again.

"I love you, Bella." Rosalie sat up and grabbed my body in a huge hug, kissing my cheek sloppily and pushing us both down to the ground so that she was essentially lying on top of me. "So much!" she continued in between her ridiculous kisses.

"Jesus Christ, I've died and gone to heaven!" I heard Emmett call from behind us. Not getting off me, Rosalie tilted her head up, staring straight at him. I looked up, leaning my head back to try and gauge his reaction, only to see him adjusting himself in his shorts. Gross.

"You wish." Rosalie kissed my cheek loudly again before rolling off me and pulling us both up to stand.

"So, LB." Emmett cleared his throat and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me flush against his side, as Rosalie did the same on his other side. "You going to edit our opening video tonight?"

"Yup. I'm actually going to head to the shack as soon as lights go out. I feel a little bad for my campers – I'm never around after lights out." And then I thought of something, despite the fact that I might not necessarily want to know the answer. "What are the rest of you guys doing tonight?"

"Uh, I think Jake and Seth are going out with Claire, who works at softball, and a bunch of her friends. Jasper is probably playing love songs to Alice on his acoustic guitar while weeping. And Rose and I are going to be doing laundry, 'cause I have yet to do any since I got here."

I made a face, crinkling my nose in distaste. I hated doing laundry. "That blows. And not in the good way." I could feel the vibrations of Emmett's low laughter through his shirt, and I smiled widely as he ruffled my wet hair. I had really been missing my pseudo-big-brother. "What about Edward?" I asked tentatively. He was probably going out with Emily. Le sigh.

Emmett cocked his head and his grip on my shoulders increased, his muscles tensing before adjusting and relaxing once again. "He's not going to be in the shack with you?"

"If he is, I'm not aware of it. I just assumed he'd be out with Emily or something." My voice must have sounded pathetically sad because Emmett stopped walking and turned me to face him directly, looking into my eyes.

"Emily? Why would he be out with Emily?"

"He was all over her this morning at the swim meet, I just assumed–"

"He was all over Emily this morning?" Emmett's voice had an angry edge to it, and I couldn't figure out why. Unless Emmett had a thing for Emily, which…just…no, he didn't. "That son of a—"

"Em, what's the big deal?"

Emmett shook his head in frustration before placing me back under his arm again, continuing the walk up towards the cafeteria. "Nothing, I just need to have another conversation with him, apparently."

I was truly confused. "Shit," I said aloud, realizing the time. "I'm going to be late for lunch. I don't have dry clothes to put on for the dining hall." It was strict dress code - shirt, shorts, and shoes must always be worn inside, and the clothes in my hand were wet, leaving me in only Rosalie's tiny bikini and some flip flops.

"Bella, who do you take me for? I'm always prepared." Rosalie rummaged through her black knapsack and pulled out a full outfit for me to wear inside. I was astounded.

"Thanks, Mary Poppins."

She winked in return while zipping the bag up and wandering off towards her table, while Emmett followed me towards my own.

I turned around as I got to the foot of my table to see what the hell Emmett needed, but he was already in a heated conversation with Edward at the head of the table next to me. Suddenly, Edward's eyes flashed to mine, and I flushed at having been caught staring. His eyes narrowed in confusion before he shook his head and looked back at Emmett. I had no idea what they were talking about, but it seemed serious, and I was definitely curious.

Apparently, so was Jake. As soon as he came bounding through the door and saw their close proximity, he threw his arms around both of them. "What are we arguing about, kids?" The raucous timbre of his voice shook the table, and I laughed at his pure obliviousness and lack of tact.

Emmett stepped back and raised his eyebrows. "Nothing. Just a misunderstanding."

"Did Emmett steal your Anakin Skywalker action figure again, Edward?"

"Jake!" Edward yelled, jabbing his fist into Jake's flat stomach. Instead of Jake flinching, though, Edward yelped and yanked his hand back in pain. "Jesus, Jake! Are your abs actually made of iron? That really hurt!"

I couldn't help but giggle at the ridiculous display. Edward had tried to regain some cool points by punching his best friend, only to end up looking like more of a nerd. My giggles turned into full out laughter as Edward's eyes met mine with an expression of anguish, shame, and hilarity.

As soon as my laughter calmed down, Jake resumed his Edward-torture, which was a natural thing for them. I definitely loved them all the more for it. "What can I say? Seth and I have been doing an intense workout regimen in our free time. I guess it's paid off."

"Definitely," I jumped in, not even thinking about the words escaping my mouth. "I saw Seth's body this morning. Good job."

Jake raised his eyebrow at my comment, making me blush. "Does someone have something they want to tell me about my baby cousin?" I shook my head, my blush intensifying further. I could feel the heat seeping into my cheeks. "No? So maybe you want a piece of this…" Jake trailed off and began to pull up his shirt to reveal his solid abs when a throat cleared from beside him. One of the administrators had seen his little stunt and suggested he keep his clothes on.

Smiling, I continued to lay out the silverware and set the table. As Edward did the same at the table next to us, I noticed him wince slightly when he gripped a bunch of forks. "Edward, are you actually hurt?"

I jutted out my hand to grab his and rested his fist in my open palm. I ran my finger over the bruise that was already forming on his knuckles with curiosity. He must have put a lot of force into his punch to injure himself. I ran my finger over it again, and although he rolled his eyes, he winced ever so slightly.

"I'm fine," he said, his voice sounding low and husky. "I just didn't realize that I was punching The Iron Giant."

"The Iron Giant? I was told I had to see that movie before I got to film school, but I haven't had the time. Is it worth it?"

"Is it worth it?" Edward choked. "It is absolutely worth it. We'll have to make a plan to have you watch it one night with me, okay?"

My heart fluttered and my crotch tingled at the thought of a movie night with Edward – a movie night that didn't include four other people. The tingling in my crotch moved to my hand when I realized I was still clasping his.

"Sounds good." I tried to breathe normally, but I was too distracted by the pounding of my heart to really monitor it. "So, you play with Star Wars action figures?" I started to tease him, but he interrupted me, ignoring my question completely.

"Tonight, I figured we could work on editing the opening monologue. Tomorrow we can put in music and sound effects tomorrow because I have Thursday off, and then the show is on Friday. Does that work for you?"

I nodded, not truly comprehending everything he was saying, but instead focusing on the way his lips moved and imagining them pressed against mine in the solitude of the shack.

He dropped his hand and smiled, walking back towards the head of his table as Alice and the campers scurried into the dining hall.

I turned my head to ask Alice where she'd been when I saw the dark bruise on the side of her neck, just above the neckline of her t-shirt. Just then, Jasper walked by our tables. I noticed the way his hand lingered on her shoulder for a second too long as he admired what I was sure was his handiwork.

"Alice." Jasper tipped his head and winked at her before traipsing off to his own table. As happy as I was for them, this relationship was definitely going to take me a while to get used to. I already missed Jasper's affections. Am I really this needy? Yes, I decided. I was absolutely that needy.

The rest of lunch went by quickly, and I soon found myself back in classes. The weather was now at an all-time high, and the room had very quickly become sticky with humidity, making everything in the room sweat.

On top of being annoyed from the heat, I was especially disgruntled by the gossiping occurring in my classroom. I knew that campers were the worst, but I had to physically restrain myself from intervening at the conversation about how one camper had supposedly spotted Emmett and Rosalie making out while she'd been coming back from the nurse's office the other night. I shook my head at the complete fabrication of the story, ashamed that I'd once been caught up in the speculation of counselor's lives, too.

As soon as our classes were finished, Jasper bolted from the room, and it didn't take a genius to figure out where he was running off to. And my level of annoyance only increased when I realized that I was now left to clean up the art room by myself.

I sighed and turned up the volume of my favorite classic rock radio station, blaring the sexy guitar riff of "Heartbreaker" by Led Zeppelin.

Looking around, I saw that our latest class had made a mess of the mod-podge and glitter we'd let them use today. I started to clean it up with a damp rag, but it really didn't do much good. The glitter was spreading everywhere, and the amount of effort I was exerting to clean it up was only making my temperature rise more.

I searched around the room for a few minutes until I found a wiry and broken-looking fan in the back corner of the closet. I quickly plugged it in, hoping that it would work. Sweat was now starting to drip in between my boobs and onto my stomach, which wasn't the best sensation in the entire world.

The fan barely worked, only seeming to push the hot air around the room even more, leaving me disappointed and irritable. My eyes darted from side to side as a brilliant idea formed in my head. I folded the waistband of my shorts over, making them ride as low as possible on my hips. Then I took my extra hair elastic and knotted the back of my t-shirt, exposing my midriff to the steamy air. It wasn't great, but it helped. Grabbing a rag, I continued cleaning like that, until a bit of the damp cloth hit the skin of my stomach. When I leaned towards the fan, the skin cooled under the low breeze of the fan.

Victory!

I wet my stomach with the cloth before coming to stand directly in front of the fan, arms to the side, head tilted back. I closed my eyes, enjoying the cool sensation of the water drying on my flesh.

A shudder went through my body, and I couldn't help but moan with satisfaction. I hadn't even realized how fucking overheated I'd been.

Suddenly, I heard the door hit the wall, and I spun around in shock. Edward was standing in the doorway, and it looked as if he'd accidentally fallen into the door and was stumbling to stand upright again.

"Uh, hey." I waved awkwardly, one short almost-salute.

He finally gained solid footing and adjusted the door so that it wasn't smacking into the wall before running his hand through his hair, tugging on the ends harshly. "You look hot," he said so fast that I was positive I'd misheard him.

"I'm sorry, what?"

His eyes bugged out of his head a little bit when he realized what he'd said, and it was almost comical. I'd never seen Edward flustered before. It was definitely amusing.

"You're dripping wet…I mean, sweaty…I mean, it's hot in here, right?" His bumbling was pretty endearing, and I couldn't help but stand there and smile.

I went to put my hands on my hips when I figured out that I was indeed dripping wet and hot and half naked. Awesome. I went to cross my arms over my stomach, but it was still really too hot for that. I groaned.

"Yeah, it's too hot in here to even think properly."

"I was going to ask if you wanted to hang out in the shack until dinner to get some stuff done. Plus, it's air conditioned in there…"

"Air conditioning?" I walked over to him and placed my finger over his lips, effectively silencing him. I noticed the electric spark pulse through the tip of my finger as it pressed against his lips. "I'm sold. Let's go!" As I removed my finger from his lips, I smelled the faint traces of mint Chap Stick and crinkled my nose. "Now my finger is going to smell like mint." I laughed, trying not to show how thrilled I was that he hadn't flinched under my touch—or made any attempt to move, really.

He smiled and took the Chap Stick out of his pocket and reapplied it. "Yeah, sorry, I'm addicted to this stuff."

A faint blush crept across my cheeks without provocation, just thinking about how well I knew that. "Oh, I know."

Edward's eyes snapped back to mine, glimmering in the late-afternoon sunlight before he smirked. "I guess you would." He paused and lowered his eyes before raising them to meet mine again. "That wasn't awkward, was it? I know we didn't ever talk about it or anything, but—"

I cut him off, unable to hear him say the words "it was just a scene," when in my head, that kiss was the center of my world. "Don't worry about it, Edward. It wasn't awkward."

Not. At. All.

We arrived at the shack, and he motioned for me to open it. I quirked an eyebrow at him. Why wouldn't he just open the door himself?

"Just making sure you remember the code." He snickered as I fumbled with the lock in my sweaty hands. Finally I managed to get it open and shivered under the heavy flow of air conditioning in the small room. I automatically reached behind me and pulled the elastic out, returning my shirt to its normal position covering my stomach. I could have sworn I heard Edward mutter a low, "thank you," but I couldn't be sure.

We sat down in front of the computer, and he got out my camera to connect it and started importing the footage we'd recorded the night before.

"Oh, so this is a business meeting?"

Edward slouched in his chair, kicking out his legs and crossing them to get comfortable. I suddenly felt completely at ease, as if this was how it was all supposed to be.

"Multitasking, Bella." He smiled, and had I been standing, I would have absolutely swooned. It was one of those heart-stopping, panty-dropping smiles that I'd seen him unleash on unsuspecting female staff members throughout the years.

He continued dragging icons around the computer before I heard the faint strains of Led Zeppelin's "Going To California" come over the computer speakers. I sighed, feeling content. This song felt like my theme song. I closed my eyes and let the guitar soothe away the heat, the tension—everything.

We sat, not saying a word until the song finally finished. It was then that I heard the heavy base of "When The Levee Breaks," and I realized what we were listening to.

"Led Zeppelin IV?" Edward nodded slowly, coming out of his own musical trance. "I didn't know you were a fan of The Zep."

"I'm not, really. I noticed you listening to them in the Fine Arts room before and figured that since I was stealing you away, I might as well bribe you with music, too."

"Well, if you were really paying attention, you'd know that I was listening to 'Heartbreaker,' which is off Led Zeppelin II not IV, but I appreciate the sentiment."

Edward paused and leaned forward, bringing his forearms to rest on his knees. "Wow, so you really like Led Zeppelin."

I shook my head emphatically from side to side. "No, I love Led Zeppelin. British Blues is by far the best music that has ever been written. Nothing will ever compare."

"Nothing? What about Nirvana or the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Radiohead?"

I started giggling, unable to stop myself at the predictability of his response. "Of course you would name those bands…you're such an emo indie whore."

The corners of his mouth tugged upwards as he leaned further over, closer to me. "Did you just call me a whore?"

I shrugged, making a joke out of our most recent plight. "An eye for an eye, and all that…"

"Touche, Bella." He leaned further over, and I could nearly feel his breath on me. My heart stopped and stuttered, hoping beyond all hope that he would close the distance and kiss me again.

His eyes burned with an unspoken intensity, and I leaned slightly forward, unable to resist his magnetism. As we were centimeters away from bringing our faces together, the import on the computer finished, dinging loudly and snapping him back to a rigid position in his chair.

I could have throttled my video camera in that moment.

Unwilling to lose our momentum and let the moment fall flat and awkward, I began talking about the one thing that had been plaguing my thoughts all afternoon.

"Emmett isn't hooking up with Rosalie, is he?"

Edward didn't turn around as he answered, still fidgeting with the clips on the computer, but his answer was resolute. "No, no way."

"Oh, okay." I sighed in relief, although I wasn't sure why.

Edward heard and spun around in his chair, looking quizzical. "Why?"

"I just, I heard some campers talking about it. Apparently they saw them making out on the front porch last night. But that's impossible. They'd tell me, right?"

"Why wouldn't they?"

"I don't know…I've kind of feeling out of the loop, I guess." It was hard to admit that, but ultimately, that was exactly what it felt like. "I just couldn't believe that a camper would know that about my best friends before they'd tell me themselves, you know?"

"Don't believe camper gossip. It's usually fabricated," Edward said with a dismissive shrug. I didn't know why, but the action irked me greatly. I hated feeling like I was being blown off; it made me feel like a camper again. Although, I was infinitely grateful that he'd finally given up calling me LB.

"Oh, really? So you never hooked up with Jess in the dance studio?"

Edward's mouth dropped, and his eyes held an ounce of guilt. "You know about that?"

I laughed at his shameful expression. "Um, yeah. I know about all of your conquests, Edward. Jake's, too." I shook my head. "This camp is small, remember? Jess was the bunk counselor of the cabin next to mine. The cabin walls are thin, and she had a big mouth."

"I remember," Edward quipped, leaving me stunned at his choice of words. "I mean, she was loud." He blushed, realizing again what he'd said. "Fuck, I didn't mean it like that…"

I couldn't help but laugh. This was the second time today Flustered Edward had made an appearance, and I was enjoying him thoroughly.

"Edward, it's okay. I understood before you dug yourself into that hole."

Edward paused, composing his thoughts, and it seemed as if he were going to say something incredibly important, when chimes for dinner rang. I realized that we'd been in the shack for an hour longer than I'd anticipated. Time with Edward seemed to fly by at an unnaturally fast pace.

"Fuck, how did it get to be dinner time?" Edward asked as he stood up, stretching his arms above his head, showing off the small trail of hair that led into the waistband of his shorts. I had to put some serious effort into not drooling. "Come on, my dear."

He laughed, seeming incredibly light-hearted, before offering me his arm. I took it gratefully, enjoying the sparking sensation in my hand where our skin joined. My stomach flipped as he turned out the lights, leaving us in the darkness for a millisecond before he pushed open the door, releasing us back into the heated daylight of the summer evening.

I couldn't resist leaning my head against his shoulder as we walked. It was firm but just soft enough under my touch. This much time alone with Edward was going to fuel my fantasies for weeks. I felt like a guy, keeping track of which images and conversations I could put into my own spank bank. And I was only slightly ashamed that I knew I would use every single one of them.

As we arrived inside the dining hall, Edward lowered his arm and wrapped it around my waist, squeezing gently. He laid his chin on the top of my head, and I used all of my willpower not to blush excessively under Jake's scrutinizing gaze from the head of our table.

"That was fun, Bella. See you again tonight? We can finish editing." I nodded, not trusting my voice to betray me and expose the emotions that were coursing through my body. "Great. I'll see you after Taps, then."

I nodded again as Edward disentangled himself from me to set up his own table. As I watched him with interest, my level of anticipation rose for our time alone this evening. It felt as if it were going to be a huge turning point in our relationship, and I couldn't have been more excited.

Chapter End Notes: Dun, dun, dun…who's excited for their evening in the shack? I'm offering out teasers to everyone who participates from the new secret POV that will be introduced next chapter if I can crack 1,000 reviews…now, who's with me?

Also, I'm reminding you that I'm on twitter now as lexiecullen17. Come say hi—I've finally got the hang of that thing ;)