Playlist: Get What You Give by New Radicals
Word Prompts: Toss, moss, loss
Chapter 22
Tuesday, after a long day of school—having finished half of my finals—I come home to my dad sitting on the couch, reading the paper. Chilling. It's weird.
"Hey, you're home," I say, voice laced with confusion.
"Yeah, I came home to get some important paperwork and caught the mailman. This came for you." He holds up a large manila envelope with the Northern seal on it. I jump over the couch, landing beside him. "I didn't want to miss it. I've missed too much." He tosses it over.
Wow.
I rip open the envelope and pull the stack of papers onto my lap. Dad chuckles at my enthusiasm. "Dear, Mr. Cullen, we are happy to inform you . . . I got in! I got in!"
"Of course you did. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks, Dad."
"You're welcome. I also wanted to talk to you about your future."
"My future?"
"Yes. How do you feel about having less of an inheritance?'
"I have an inheritance?"
"Well, I've been working on it, yes. I . . ." He scrubs his head with his hand and looks me directly in the eye. "When Katie and Greg bought a house, I gave them a hefty down payment as a present. And I plan on doing the same when Garrett buys a home. But I'm thinking about—no, I want to do something that won't make that a possibility for you. I know that's not fair, and I don't want to create tension between you and your siblings, but I just think . . ."
I stop Dad with my hand raised. "Will this plan help out you and mom? Will it make her happy?"
"Yes, I believe so, yes."
"Then do it. Don't worry about me and some random amount of money I didn't even know about or expect. Worry about your marriage and not me. I'll be fine."
"And Bella?"
"Bella's got a scholarship, so we won't have to pay back student loans," I say.
"You won't either; I can help with college expenses."
"That'll be great."
"So, I noticed you said we won't have to pay student loans."
"I did." The thought of my future with Bella makes me giddy, and I can't hold back my smile.
"Do you have something to tell me?" Dad asks, like I've got some juicy gossip. I don't. Not yet. Not for a long time.
"Do you have something to tell me?"
"No." He grins like he's got something to hide. I hope it's good news.
"Okay, then."
"Okay. Now, go call your mother. She keeps sending me texts. She is dying to talk to you."
I stand to head to my room, smiling like a loon, but stop halfway down the hall. "Dad?"
"Yeah?" he asks from the couch.
"Don't save anymore money for me, okay. Take Mom somewhere instead."
Dad nods and smiles softly. He seems to like the idea. And I know Mom will. She's been talking about returning to the Caribbean for as long as I can remember. They went there on their honeymoon.
When Mom gets on the phone, it's: "Well?"
"I got in, and I'm going."
Her scream hurts my ear drums, so I hang up. She calls me a minute later to lecture me about the importance of living on my own for a while and birth control. Yeesh.
-NSID-
I hop the back wall quickly and jog toward the Swans' backdoor, my foot plopping in one of Sandy's landmines. Great. She barks at me when I curse. I used to like that dog, too.
I twist and turn in the patchy grass to rid my shoe of the foul stench. I do the best I can and open the back door. Charlie's standing there with a mug in hand, staring at me.
"Were you watching the whole time?" I ask, exasperated.
"Yep, that was some fancy footwork you got there. I can see why Bella chose that football player to dance with over you."
I growl my frustration.
"It's your fault you didn't ask her, and it's your fault you don't look where you step. I've never seen someone step in so much shit my whole life. Seems like it happens to you all the time."
"Gee, thanks."
"Just stating the facts. And speaking of facts, she's not here. Shopping with her mom for some . . . stuff."
"Of course. I only have the best news ever and—"
"You're becoming a monk?"
"I got into Northern," I say, feeling like I'll burst with happiness, like a piñata full of fireworks. I can't even be bothered by his dig.
"That's . . ."
"It's what, Charlie? What?"
"Great. It's just great."
"Better me than someone else, right?"
"I guess." He tips his drink back then mumbles, "Rather it be no one."
"You're a dad, so that sounds about right."
"You know what sounds about right?"
"What?" Oh boy.
"You won't ever do anything to or with my daughter unless she says it's okay. And you won't interfere with her studies, and you won't, won't, won't break her heart or do anything stupid to harm her in any way."
"That sounds about right."
"I thought so."
"So where is she?"
"Victoria's Secret," he mutters.
"Okay." My grin is huge and unstoppable. I pull my cap low and stare at the tile to try to hide it. It doesn't help.
"Shut up," Charlie says, all disdain, then, "I really wish I could hate you."
"Thanks, Charlie. Can I wait here?" I bounce on the balls of my feet, excited at the prospect of seeing Bella soon and telling her the good news.
"I guess." He says it like he'd rather be strung up and eaten slowly by ants.
-NSID-
Bella shows a half hour later loaded with bags, laughing with her mom. It's good to see them getting along and doing things together. There's always been tension due to Renee's disappointment that Bella wasn't excited by girly things. Now it seems as though it's vanished.
"Hey," she says, walking to the couch and bending over me for a hello kiss.
Charlie turns his head away. So mature, that one.
"Guess what?" I hop up, invading her personal space, beaming.
"What?" she asks and places her hand on my chest like she doesn't mind that I'm in her dance space. Yes, I've been letting Bella chose our movies more often. Big deal.
"I got in." I grab her shoulders in my excitement and give them a squeeze.
She blinks rapidly, looking confused momentarily before saying, "You got in? To Northern?"
I nod, and her scream rivals my moms. She jumps onto my hips and plants tiny kisses all over my face.
"Good grief," Charlie grumbles and walks away.
Renee on the other hand stands there like a voyeur with a long winded awww. It's pretty awkward, but I try not to let it bother me.
Bella catches me looking toward her mom and leads me to her room.
"This is the best day ever. Sit," she commands.
I fold my legs underneath me on top of her bed and let my eyes wander her room. Something's different, I think.
I spot a new Northern banner the size of a postcard hanging above her nightstand. I wonder what else is different and scan the space. When I include the ceiling my eyes go wide. There I am—all twenty-two by thirty-four inches of me in uniform. I'm hanging there, looking down on her while she sleeps. Creepy but kind of hot.
"When did you do this?" I ask, grinning. "I like it, by the way."
"My mom asked me where it was and I missed it, so I put it back up, um, in a better place. You know, where it could be, um, useful, or whatever."
"Useful," I echo. My girl uses my image to . . . I can't even. I want to moan and scream yes! And find the other missing poster. In fact, I am not leaving here without a supersized Bella tonight. Damn, what a great idea. Why didn't I think of it?
"Mmm hmm." Her eyes grow shy, and she looks away from me then changes the subject. "I finished my finals." She hangs some shirts sporting price tags in her closet, then turns to face me, hands on her hips.
"You're done? Sucks. I have two more."
"One was a paper I'd already finished and the other, an art project. I'm done. So there's that. And guess where I just was?"
I tap my lip, pretending to think, then blurt, "Somewhere buying hot lingerie for me?"
Her face falls, and her arms drop lifelessly to her sides. I giggle at her expression. So cute. "Your dad told me," I admit.
"Ew!" Her eyes slant to the door like he'll come inside and do something even more embarrassing.
"Aw, don't think about him. Think about me." I reach out my long arm, extending my fingers and tug her toward me. My hand finds purchase on her waist, my face in her tee-covered cleavage. "Admiring you. And your new pretty things." It's muffled due to the location of my mouth, which really wants to see some action. I nibble at her shirt for fun.
"Fine," she huffs, then adds, "Want to see?"
"Duh!"
She dumps her hot pink bag right onto my head, shoving my shoulder, so I'm no longer pressed against her. Boo, but not so bad since a bra strap dangles before my eyes. It's red. Nice.
"There's this one," she says, holding up a black lace something or other. "And this one." She adds a turquoise bra to the mix, bouncing it up and down in front of my face. "And more behind you. It turns out all the ones I had were too small. Not a bad problem, right?"
"No, I don't think so. No." I move in again and nuzzle myself between her breasts and sigh. This is a nice place to be. Soft, warm, cushiony. I could live here. "I like these."
She giggles at my confession and runs her hands through my hair while she speaks. "I didn't really pay attention. I'm mostly in my sports bras anyway."
I look up and grin, keeping my chin pressed against her chest. "No complaints from me about anything having to do with these."
"No complaints?"
"Maybe one."
"Okay."
"No fashion show?"
She shoves my shoulder again. "No way. You'll get to see these live and in real settings. I'm not an exhibitionist."
I throw myself backward on her bed. "As long as I get to see them on you, I guess it's all right."
"You will. At Northern." She plops beside me on her belly, her ankles high in the air knocking against each other.
"At Northern," I say, smile huge as can be.
"Holy hell, we're doing this." Her eyes go wide, and she gapes at me.
I pull her to me, saying, "We are," and I kiss her slowly for as long as I can without letting her go. Eventually, we part, lips soft and warm. Relaxed. Dizzy with giddiness.
"So Alice got something cool today." She plays with her bottom lip, tapping it.
"Alice? Screaming-in-my-face Alice?"
"It was over the phone, but yes. And she's really nice. We're thinking about rooming together at Northern."
"Alice is going to Northern?" And living with you? I'm not sure I like this.
"Yeah. Anyway, she got the secret key for the water park." Her eyes are alight with excitement.
"How'd she score that?"
"It's her grad present from her boyfriend."
"How'd Jasper get it?"
"How does any senior get it? I don't know. Just listen." She flicks my ear, and I pinch her side, making her squeal.
"I'm sorry. I'm still distracted, thinking about you in all of this stuff."
She smiles knowingly. "She invited us to go tonight."
"I have finals; I should study."
"You got into Northern. We're teenagers. We never do anything remotely like this. It'll be fun. Dangerous. Sexy." She kisses me slowly and drags her teeth across my bottom lip. Hell, yeah. But seriously, how is a little kids' water park sexy? I have no clue, so I ask her.
"I'll wear one of these." She grabs a handful of bras next to me and holds them up, giving me her evil genius smile.
"Deal. What time?"
"I don't know, but I'll pick you up."
"How 'bout you sneak in my window? In only this." I hold up the first thing my fingers find. A tiny pair of bright green underwear.
She falls into my chest in a lust-filled haze. Either that, or she thinks I'm so dumb, she's giving up to shut me up. I'm going with the former.
-NSID-
It's eleven forty-five. I'm lying in bed staring into Bella's beautiful face plastered on my ceiling. She's surrounded by glow in the dark constellations, which give her tan skin an angelic hue. As much as I love it all, I wish she were really here. And then she is. She slips through my window in tiny running shorts and her red-striped knee socks. She's wearing a light gray undershirt. I think it might be mine. Or was mine. She hops onto the bed and crawls over to me, a slinky grin adorning her face. Who needs lingerie? Those damn socks and Bella on her hands and knees does the trick.
"Hi," she whispers, straddling me and kissing me deeply. Her hand starts on my chest and works its way down, down, down, until—"Well, hello."
"Yes, hello."
"Are you ready?" she asks coyly.
"For anything," I say. "I like you coming into my window. You should do it more often."
"Do what? Window entering or this?" she asks, moving her hand just how I like it. I can't respond because my head's thrown back, and I've turned into a mouth breather. I'm so easy, it's pathetic.
"We should go."
My head snaps up, my eyes on her, pleading. "No. Not yet."
"Not yet," she agrees and finishes what she started.
-NSID-
"You're late," Alice barks.
"And we don't care," Bella says, swinging our hands back and forth.
"Ew, don't tell me."
"I won't."
"I know. You never do." She walks away from us, then turns back to say, "Hey," to me, so I give her a small wave. Honestly, she scares the crap out of me, so that's all I can manage.
"Who else is here?" Bella asks as Alice walks in front like she owns the place, like it's not a public park I've been to a million times before.
"Just a few friends."
We round the corner, and the place is packed with soaked teenagers. Loads I've never seen before. Some I have. Jake being one of them. He waves to Bella and bounds over like a dumb puppy dog giving her a sloppy wet hug.
"Down boy," I say, sliding my hands around Bella's waist, holding her close to me.
"Why don't you just pee on me, Edward? I don't think he got the message."
I wiggle my nose in embarrassment.
"Come play. It's your game anyway." Jake thrusts a thumb over his shoulder, and, sure enough, there seems to be some semblance of a water themed baseball game. Each gadget acts as a base. The ground spigot is homeplate, and if you stand there long enough, water sprays right up your groin. These animals are crazy, but it seems like fun, so Bella and I join in.
I'm up, and Jasper hands me the yellow plastic kids' bat. Bella took the other team, the traitor, and pitches the wiffle ball right at my head. The ref, Alice, is sitting behind me eating a bag of chips, staying dry, laughing.
"You gonna call anything here? A warning? Something?"
"Nah, you deserved it."
"For what?" I bellow.
She shrugs. "Being pretty?" I can't believe I'm going to have to spend time with her in college.
I hmph and return my attention to my girl who is cackling at something the first baseman said. It's some guy I don't know, wearing a wet, white undershirt that's clinging to him. I hold the bat between my knees and pull my shirt off. I gotta compete somehow with this tool.
"Nice, dong, Cullen." Alice. She is so annoying. How anyone in student government ever listened to her is beyond me.
Once she sees the bat's placement, Bella belly laughs, doubling over, clutching her stomach. Well, she was a good girlfriend before we got here.
I pull the bat from my thighs and point it straight at her. It's coming to you, Bella, that's right. I situate myself, and just as she releases the ball, a stream of water hits me right in the crotch. It reaches high around my back and crashes down on my head, soaking me. I swing when I think the ball's in the right spot and take off to first.
I have no idea where the ball is, but I know I connected. I run like hell. I can't stop laughing because Bella's shrieking orders at her lame-ass team, and I'm barreling them down as I round second, then third, sliding as I go as though the ground's covered in slippery moss.
I head home. A sharp spray hits my face—someone's aiming one of the toys directly at me to destroy my vision—but I don't play light ever. I play hard and run through it.
As I reach home, Bella slams into me, taking us both down. She's on top of me, her front pressed to my back, and everyone is shouting and laughing at us. I turn beneath her, capturing her in a kiss. Her smile's touching mine when I'm done. She doesn't even have the ball.
"You're safe. Baseball players are nuts," Alice says. "But that bra's pretty, Bella."
"What?" Bella whispers to me, shocked. We both look, and her green bra is quite visible through the light gray of her shirt now that it's wet. There's a loud whistle, and we both cover her breasts with our hands at the same time.
Alice laughs her ass off behind us. I hate that girl.
It's time to go, I think. I don't need anyone leering at my girl.
We head home, buzzing with energy, all wet and sloppy from our water play.
Bella's dripping, her skin shiny with water, her hair sticking to her face where it's come undone here and there. I push it back and kiss the water off her nose once we're at a light. I don't want to stop there, so I slide my hand under her shirt a minute later, needing my hand on that bra. It's such a great color.
Then I wonder if her underwear matches. Girls do that, right? I lean in, my hand high on her thigh. I have to know. Hell, I have to see. "Pull over."
"No." She swats at my hand, but I grab it and hold her wrist.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"You know why."
"No, I don't. And you shouldn't distract me while I'm driving, Texty Texterson."
I lean far over the console, my legs taking up so much space in her stupid small car. It's painful. I suck it up and lick her slick neck. She snaps her head to me then back to the road. I continue higher and nibble on her earlobe. She bites her lip, trying to be strong, trying to ignore me until I sneak my hand between her legs.
She lets out a breath and pulls over, putting the car in park. Without preamble, she launches herself onto my lap and promptly slams her knee into the side of the door, cursing. "Ow! This is a terrible idea."
"I know, sorry. Just kiss me, and we can go . . ." But show me your underwear first.
She rubs her knee, scowling. I get to work on her neck. She always gets breathy when I hang out there. She shivers when I run my hands beneath the fabric of her shorts. And damn, there's lace. I love all this lace. It's very new for us. I've only seen cotton and more cotton and some lycra. Not that I minded, but this is soft and silky and—
"What are you doing?" she asks, hands braced on my shoulders, looking down on me, her wet ponytail slapping me in the face.
"I can't stop touching these fancy pants."
She collapses on top of me, clinging to my head. We must look so stupid all cramped up in this car meant for Runaway Ralph. "You really like 'em, don't you?"
"Yeah, is that—too guy or something?"
"I do realize you're a guy. But you, I mean, you didn't seem to mind my older bras and stuff."
"No, I liked those, too. I don't discriminate. I'm no lingerie-ist." I smirk at my dumb joke.
"Do you want to see them?"
I nod enthusiastically but wonder how in the hell I'm going to see anything in the two feet of space we've crammed ourselves into. Bella solves that problem by slipping into the backseat. "You coming?"
"I can't fit back there."
She slides her shorts off. Not an exhibitionist, my butt. "Your loss," she says, tilting her head, daring me to come and get it. Oh, I will.
Green. Bright green. Grass green through her tee and wrapped around her pale, long, lean, beautiful sex legs. I want them around me. I do my best to smoosh myself back there with her, but we give up after a few fruitless minutes of grunting and elbows in the eye and feet hitting windows. Making out in cars is dangerous.
We get home in one piece, and I walk her to her door, planning to kiss her and slip inside myself so I can sneak through her backyard to my house. I plant a soft goodbye kiss on her pliant lips, and the door jerks open, harsh light spilling onto us.
"Where the hell have you been?" The expression on Charlie's face causes me to take a step away from Bella and take my hands off her very wet, very see through top.
We're dead.
A/N: Hi! The final chapter will be posted on Monday. Eep!