Chapter 6.

Jasper Whitlock is a mean motherfucker.

My weight trainings with him are nothing short of torturous. They're not as bad as Coach Hale's conditioning training, but they're up there. Everything is hurting when I get back to the dorms, and I'm hoping that by some miracle, Emmett left without me so I have an excuse not to go to Coach's BBQ.

Of course, Emmett didn't leave without me. In fact he's here, in our room, waiting for me, with Vicky…and Bella.

Bella is sitting on my bed, with her back against my wall and her feet in gray and pink ankle socks over my comforter. She has her arms around her knees and her toes wiggle inside her socks to the beat of the music coming from Emmett's speakers.

He's dancing.

She's loving it.

"Babe!" Emmett howls, lowering the volume as I come inside. "There you are."

My eyes are on Bella when she looks up at me; her laugh almost makes me smile. Almost.

"Stop calling me that," I mutter softly as Emmett smacks a hand on my shoulder.

"Never." He rubs his fingers on my shoulders in an impromptu massage. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I say, eyeing Bella who scoots herself off of my bed. "I have to change. Meet you at the Jeep?"

"Alrighty, let's go." Emmett leads the way out of the room with Vicky trailing behind him.

"Hi, Cullen." Bella stops at the door and well, me. Her smile is sweet and her white shirt is missing the bottom half. There are navy blue strings around her neck, peeking under her crop top.

Right. Pool party.

"What's up, Swan?" I say. I don't even know why. Out of all the ways I could greet her!

She half laughs and shakes her head as she walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. I bang my head against the door, groaning softly as I hear their voices become distant in the hallway. I quickly change into swim trunks and a T-shirt, grab a towel, and rush out, leaving my room and what's left of my dignity behind.

Emmett drives the Jeep with Vicky in the passenger seat and Bella and me crammed in the back. Bella shows me the second video she posted last night. The hand-in-hands with me. It has tons of views, which I knew already. A lot of them are probably mine from last night when I couldn't stop watching it, but I don't tell her that.

We have to park on the street as there are already cars blocking Coach Hale's driveway. We round her house and head straight to the backyard where most of our teammates are. Music is playing and there are people scattered in the pool already.

The water looks so tempting. It's hot as fuck, and I'm sweating.

We set shop by some lawn chairs that are near the house, in the shade. Emmett and Vicky start discarding their clothes and run right into the pool.

I gaze at Bella for a clue of what she wants to do, when Coach comes out through the sliding windows, carrying a tray of raw burger patties and hot dogs. I offer to help and she hands me the tray, then she hugs Bella and introduces the guy behind her as her husband.

"Mr. Hale," I say, nodding, surprised by how much older than Coach he looks. He's got a mostly gray beard and a beer belly, and he's wearing a Hawaiian shirt with khaki shorts, and Birkenstock sandals with socks on. I honestly thought he was her father.

"Please, call me Roy." He sets a friendly hand on my shoulder and leads me to the grill, away from Coach…and Bella.

Roy immediately puts me to work. It's fine. I'm happy to help. But he stays by me the whole time, drinking his beers even after Coach tells him to keep them inside. He even offers me one, which I decline.

Roy talks non-stop while I grill. He tells me how he and Coach met. He was her coach back in Florida. Then she was his assistant coach. It all sounds very inappropriate to me, but who am I to judge?

Finally, when everything's cooked, I grab three hot dogs and put together an Arnold Palmer before I excuse myself and head over to the shaded area on the lawn. I haven't yet taken the first bite when Emmett sits next to me.

"Babe," he starts. "Think Coach Hale will go in the water?" He reaches for my plate and attempts to grab a hot dog, but I groan and snatch it away from him, sticking it in my mouth.

I look over at Coach, who's now talking to Bella. Bella had been in the water earlier, in her red, white, and blue bikini. The top is navy with white stars, while the bottom has red and white stripes with very little fabric in the back. It was quite the sight—equally parts patriotic and incredibly distracting. I burned a few patties as I tried to count the stars.

"I don't know," I say after I swallow.

"She's so foiiiiine." Emmett drops his back on the lawn, exhaling loudly.

"She's also married."

"Yeah, to Surfer Santa. Gimme a fucking break."

I'm laughing through my nose when Bella's eyes meet mine from across the pool, then I look down and stuff another hot dog in my face.

"Vicky is fun and sweet and all…" Emmett continues, sighing as he looks up at the trees. "But Coach Hale, I mean that's a woman."

"Hey…" Bella is standing in front of us, shielding her eyes from the sun. She's put her denim shorts back on, but is still in her bathing suit top, with her little backpack hanging from her shoulders. When I look up, she smiles. "No swimming?"

"Nah, I just ate."

"I just ate?" Emmett sits up next to me, already laughing. "God forbid you break a rule once."

"I'm just saying—"

"Bella, please!" Emmett kneels, grabbing Bella's hands in his and pleading over-dramatically while Bella chuckles. "Would you show my friend some fun?"

"I'm afraid I'm really boring too," Bella says, playing along.

"Hey…" I pretend to be offended, but her laughter breaks me.

"Ugh, I hate both of you." Emmett lifts himself from the ground, grabbing my neck in the process and planting a wet kiss on my cheek. "Live a little, babe!" When he's up, he points at Bella. "Don't break his heart, okay?"

"I wasn't planning on it," Bella says shyly, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Atta girl." Emmett kisses her cheek too, leaving me equal parts annoyed and jealous, but most of all nervous, as Bella boldly takes his spot next to me.

"You look really tired again." Bella stretches her legs in front of her, leaning back and holding herself up with her hands on the grass behind her. "I'm worried about you. Are you getting enough sleep?"

"I'm fine...just had to work early this morning." I ignore her question and don't tell her I stayed up all night…or why.

"Do you always work on the weekends?" Her eyes are bright and curious and they make me want to tell her everything about me, boring or not.

"Sometimes." I shrug and avoid her gaze. "I'm trying to get as many hours as I can. At least until classes start."

"I get it." She shakes her head, turning to look at the party still going on in front of us. "I'm cramming a lot into this summer too. It's going to get really busy when school starts."

I want to ask her about what else she's doing this summer, but her phone starts ringing in her bag, which she takes off with a groan.

"Sorry," she says to me, fishing her phone from her bag. "One second."

"No problem," I say softly as she answers the call.

"Hey, Dad." She doesn't move away, so I lie down on the grass to give her some privacy by not being right next to her listening to their conversation. I overhear everything anyway.

"I thought we had another week for that." She sounds a little annoyed. "Yeah, I'm wearing the flag one." She picks at a piece of grass between her fingers, pulling it from the root. "I mean, I could, but I'm at the BBQ…Rose's house." She glances over her shoulder, at me, and then behind me, at the sky. "Yeah the lighting's nice…"

I look at the sky as well, the sun will be setting soon, the mountains in view from Coach's backyard.

"No, don't put Mom on the phone," Bella continues, sounding irritated. "Hey, Mom…yeah…" Bella glances quickly at me, rolling her eyes, I think in response to whatever is being said to her. "A hot dog. No bun."

I try my best not to eavesdrop, but it doesn't seem like Bella minds me listening; she doesn't move away or lower her voice. Bella and her mom go over the bathing suit she's wearing again and then she hangs up, flopping on her back next to me. When I turn to look at her, her eyes are already on me.

"Do you want to take some pictures with me?" she asks shyly, almost embarrassedly.

"Of you?"

"Of us," she clarifies. "In a stunt, maybe? Something that showcases my bathing suit."

I swallow. The fucking bathing suit.

"Sure," I say shakily.

"My parents and I have this clothing line. It's mostly athletic stuff, cheer uniforms, and well…" She plays with the straps of her top. "Bathing suits. They're big in Florida." She jokes and I laugh. I knew about the clothing line already. There are several videos about it on her page. "Anyway, I forgot I was supposed to post about it today. It's my part of the deal."

"Sure, yeah."

"I can pay you as my model." She smiles, sitting up.

"Nah, that's all right." I get up in one go with a soft grunt, my thighs burning from the squats Jasper had me do earlier. "I think my modeling days are past me."

"Seriously, though." She is still smiling as I reach a hand down and help her up. "I do get paid for these posts, and so could you."

"I know, Miss One Million Followers." I let go of her hand as soon as she's up. "Where do you want to do this?" I look around us; there's still lots of space behind the tree and a shed in the back of Coach's yard. The hills stretch past the trees, and when the sun starts setting behind the mountains, it would make for a nice backdrop for her pictures.

"Hey!" She arches an eyebrow at me when I turn to her. "I thought you didn't have Instagram."

Busted.

"I don't," I try as best I can to sound convincing.

"Then how do you know how many followers I have?"

"Isn't that common knowledge?" My fingers pull at my neck as I shrug. "Emmett won't shut up about it."

"Hmmm..." She purses her lips slightly, looking at me unconvinced, but then she thankfully decides to let it go—for now, at least—as she grabs her backpack and reaches for my hand, pulling me farther away from the crowd.

She intertwines her fingers with mine, which I know I shouldn't care about, but I do. I fucking do.

I take a deep breath and get ready for what's next. Stunting. With Bella. On the 4th of July. With jelly arms and shaky legs, while she's in that patriotic, barely-there bathing suit.