Chapter 17.

"Daaaang, you're actually shaving?" Emmett comes into the bathroom, a half-eaten apple in his hand. I should have locked the door.

"Do you mind?" My face is covered in shaving cream, and I only have a towel around my waist.

"I was just wondering what was taking you so long." He sits on the closed toilet seat, taking a bite of the apple and looking up at me. "What's the occasion?"

I lean into the mirror and start at my right side, planning to ignore him.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me." He reaches for his grooming bag on the counter, getting his nail clipper out and moving the trash can under him.

"Okay," I say before toenails start flying everywhere. "It's not that big of a deal, so don't make it one…"

His eyebrow rises, his lips stretch, but thankfully, he puts the nail clipper down.

"I asked Swan out on a date." I don't beat around the bush; I give it to him straight. He was going to find out anyway. I look back at the mirror and continue shaving my face, waiting for his over-the-top reaction.

Two more lines down my face, and he still hasn't said anything, so I look back at him and he takes another bite of the apple, silently.

"You've got nothing to say?"

"You told me not to overreact," he says as he chews.

Ah fuck…

Something's up. He knows something and he's not telling me. I should have known better. Bella is off-limits. I will get kicked off of the team.

When Emmett starts laughing, doubling over on the toilet, I glare at him.

"What the fuck is it?"

"Oh, babe…" He gets up from the toilet and walks behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder and looking at me through the mirror. "You should have seen your face."

I set both hands on the counter, taking a deep breath and looking down at the sink. "Am I crazy for doing this? For pretending I can date her and we can be teammates and everything will be okay?"

"Hey…" Emmett shakes my shoulder, making me look up. "You are crazy…" he says, and I groan. "For holding off this long. I never thought you would last the whole summer."

"So, you think it's okay?"

"It's about damn time, is what I think." He pats my back, smiling widely at the mirror. "Use my aftershave and moisturizer." He waggles his eyebrows before he disappears through the door.

~.~.~

I run a hand down my clean-shaven face, not being used to it and feeling self-conscious about it. Why did I even shave? Bella is going to think I'm a weirdo. I take a deep breath before I knock, and in the next second, she's there, opening the door, in jean shorts and a flowery, yellow crop top, with her hair flowing down and hoop earrings on.

"Cullen…" She's smiling broadly at me. She's blushing. She's glowing. I don't care about my decision to shave anymore.

"Swan…" I lean on her doorway, admittedly mesmerized, and groan as I press my forehead on the wooden frame, peeking at her through the corner of my eye. "Shit, you look so good."

She always does. I've just never told her.

"Is that a bad thing?" She laughs a little, looking down at herself, her feet in sneakers doing a little tap. "I wasn't sure what to wear. You didn't say where we're going or what we're going to do. So… I hope this will do?" She looks up at me through her eyelashes, which appear fuller somehow, making her eyes look bigger.

"You're perfect." My fingers twitch, itching to reach for her, to hold her hand or something, but it's probably best not to do that while we're still in the dorms. I push myself off the doorway, clearing the way for her as she straps her small backpack on. I take a deep breath and try to string coherent thoughts into words. "I thought we could go for a walk. The canyon trail? Have you done it before? It's not far and not steep and—"

"Sounds great." She smiles, closing the door behind her, and walks past me, her hips swaying from side to side. I follow helplessly behind her.

I am doomed. Done. Gone.

The canyon trail is only a few minutes' walk from the dorm, and as soon as we're under the cover of the trees, I grab her hand in mine. She smiles up at me and intertwines her fingers with mine, so I breathe out in relief.

"I can't believe we start classes next week," she starts excitedly. "I've never been in a classroom before, let alone a university classroom."

"Really?"

"Homeschooled, remember?" She looks up at me, shrugging.

"Right…I guess I've never been in a university classroom either."

"Do you know what you'll be majoring in?"

"I'm still undecided. Probably physical education or something like that…what about you?"

"Nutrition," she says easily, not even a second thought. "With a minor in psychology."

"Dang, you have it all figured out."

"We want to make the most out of my time here; that's why we came up with a plan."

"We?"

"My parents and I," she says casually as we continue our stroll. "My dad Phil, and my mom manage all my other commitments and my finances, so I don't have to deal with any of that. So it made sense that they'd help me plan my semester, too. That way I can have time for my other responsibilities."

"Other than school and cheer?" A little spark of defensiveness nags at me. Maybe it's because of what Jasper said, or didn't get to say, but anxiety creeps through me. I'm worried about her. That she has too much going on. That her parents might be pushing her too hard.

"Yeah, like commercials and events for the clothing line," she starts. "The social media stuff…you know, all of that."

"When do you get time for yourself?"

"What do you mean?" she asks a little distractedly, turning to look at me.

"Like to enjoy the moment, or whatever."

"I enjoy the moment." She smiles sweetly, her eyes inspecting my face.

"Yeah?"

"I'm enjoying this moment." She inches closer to me, our arms gliding together as she leans on me.

I breathe her in, leaning closer. "It just sounds like a lot…"

"Look who's talking, four-hours-of-sleep Cullen." She laughs, making me smile.

"Hey, I slept like ten hours last night."

"Good for you!" She turns to look at the scenery around us, a content and calm expression on her face.

"I'm serious though…" I pull her softly to me, halting our steps.

"I know," she says, stepping in front of me, pushing up on her tiptoes, her eyes wide and trusting. "I know it's a lot, but I'm okay. I can handle it; I promise."

My hands reach for her face, my thumbs on her cheeks, and I slowly inch myself down until my lips press on hers, like I've been dying to do since we left the gym earlier today. When I pull away, her eyes are closed, a furious blush spreading on her cheeks, and her fingers close around my shirt as she takes a deep breath.

"This is what I can't handle, it seems," she says before opening her eyes and staring right up at me as she lowers herself to her heels.

"What is it?"

"You. Your kisses. You just zonked me out, man."

"Is that a bad thing?" I repeat her words from earlier, unable to contain the grin that threatens to spread on my face—we seem to both have the same effect on one another.

"It is if you expect me to walk straight the rest of the way and not fall on my face."

I reach for her hand, chuckling to myself. "Don't worry. I won't let you fall." I never will.

~.~.~

It takes us about half an hour to reach the overlook of the trail, right next to the canyon and with a view of the whole campus and the mountains behind it. It's still pretty sunny, but not too hot in the late afternoon. The wind feels nice as we step out onto the rocks.

"Oh wow, this is cool," Bella says in front of me.

"So you haven't been up here yet?"

"Nope…" She plays with the straps of her backpack as she walks past the wooden bench to the edge of the cliff. "Emmett and I stay on the bottom part of the trail during our morning runs. Do you come here a lot?"

"Sometimes…when I need a breather." I step behind her, blue skies with a few clouds in front of us. "It's nice and quiet."

"Somewhere quiet." She looks up over her shoulder, right at me, as she repeats the only requests she had for our date. "Where we can be alone?"

"Exactly." I smile at her, feeling accomplished. I hold her hand and bring her to the bench, where we sit side by side overlooking the cliff. "It's no fancy restaurant, but I brought snacks."

She raises an eyebrow at me while I open my backpack. Two bananas, two juice boxes, a few granola bars and one apple.

"I had two apples, but Emmett ate one." I chuckle as I set everything on the bench in the space between us.

"Thank you." She smiles at me sweetly, her eyes intently on me.

"It's nothing special." I shrug, stretching out on the bench. "They're from the dining hall." I really didn't have time to plan anything.

"You're not supposed to take the food." She chuckles softly, grabbing one of the granola bars. She turns it in her hand, inspecting the back.

"They overcharge us for it anyway," I joke, my attention on her as she continues to examine the bar, checking the ingredients, I assume.

When she puts the granola bar down, she looks up at me. "Can I have the apple?"

"Of course."

"Thank you." She looks at me as she takes a bite of the apple. "This is very sweet, Cullen."

"I promise I'll take you out on a proper date." I tear the packaging of the granola bar and bite half of it off.

"I don't need that." She scoots closer, and I wrap my arm around her. "This is perfect."

We eat with our gaze on the view, with her head on my shoulder, as we watch the clouds pass by.

We kiss, too, until I'm out of breath and uncomfortable in my shorts.

"I thought you'd never kiss me before I turned eighteen," Bella says with a little gasp when we pull apart.

"Fuck, Swan, don't remind me." I drop my forehead on hers, exhaling roughly.

"It's what I was going to ask for on my birthday." She laughs, pulling on my face. "Now, I'll have to think of something else."

"Stop it." I press my lips together to keep from laughing.

"It's okay." She stretches out the syllables with a sigh while her hands wrap around my face.

"I'm a decrepit old man," I say, half joking, and she giggles. Fuck me.

"You have juice boxes for dinner, and your favorite cereal is Lucky Charms."

"What's wrong with Lu—" I open my eyes, and she's staring right at me with an ear-to-ear grin.

"You're a teen, too," she continues. "And in less than a month, you'll only be a year older than me."

"Still—"

"Also..." She runs her fingers over my jaw. "Smooth as a baby."

"Do you hate it?" I ask playfully.

"Are you kidding me? I mean, I like the stubble too, but no, I don't hate it. You can't go wrong with this jaw." She leans forward, pressing soft kisses along my jaw before pulling back and looking at me.

I take a deep breath and tuck some of her hair behind her ear. "Do you think it's going to be okay? Us…with the team and everything." My tone is lower, not playful anymore, and I try to convey with my eyes that I am very serious about this.

"Of course it's going to be okay." She turns to look at the view, shrugging. "Plus it's none of their business."

"Okay…" I wonder if she means just the team, Coach and Jasper, or her parents as well, but I don't press it. "So we hide for now?"

"We keep to ourselves." She gazes back at me. "Remember our pinky promise?"

"No matter what happens…" I recite as she grabs my pinky with hers.

"We don't let it affect our stunting," she finishes the words we promised each other last night.

"All right." I take a breath and look around us, the sky swirling in pink, the sunset imminent. I'm glad I brought the headlamps to wear on our way back.

"Holy crap, this view is spectacular!" She stands and walks closer to the cliff. "The lighting is perfect too!" She starts smoothing the ground with her shoes, without looking at me. She doesn't have to tell me; I know what she wants to do.

"Do you have your camera?" I stand up after her, rolling my shoulder.

"Of course I do!" She looks up at me, her face bright.

"Of course you do." I inch closer to her. Just another kiss. "Can you even stunt in that?" I run a finger down the fabric of her top, and she rolls her eyes at me.

"Don't worry," she says, smiling deviously and stepping back. "I have a bralette underneath."

Fuck.

Whatever a bralette is, she tucks the front of her top into it and I try not to look.

In the next few minutes, Bella sets her camera on her little tripod on top of the bench. She has me stand in front of it while she plays with the settings and the angles and the lighting, laughing at my poses.

And that's how we spend our first date, with her camera rolling and us stunting the sunset away.