(I was too busy this week that I kinda neglected my posting time, so here's a double chapter.)
[Edward POV]
After the football practice, Haley walked towards me with a towel. She grinned and said, "You're a monster. You completely broke him."
She turned towards Tyler, the 'Captain' who actually held such a position 'in-name-only' that was sitting on the ground with a depressed blank look on his face.
I chuckled as I took off my helmet and said playfully, "What? He's broken? How could that be?"
Haley rolled her eyes before she changed the subject, "You know…The cheerleader tryout is tomorrow."
"Well, I am interested in that, but I think I have too much on my plate already. You know, with work, and football practice…"
She snorted and said, "As much as I would love to see you in a cheerleader outfit, I was talking about ME!"
"Ok…Then, no. Don't become a cheerleader."
"Huh?" Haley was confused. "Why not?"
"Because…I'm a very selfish man. My needs trump everything else." I said with a sarcastic undertone.
Haley tilted her head quizzically. "Really? The man who just won't stop poking his nose in other people's affairs?" She teased.
I looked at her for a few seconds before replying, "Yeah. That man."
She chuckled a bit and then asked, "Then nosey man, why are you stopping me?"
"I told you. I'm selfish. I'm fine with others becoming a cheerleader. Just not you."
She was a bit irate and said, "Tell me the truth."
I chuckled, held her chin with my hand, and gazed into her eyes. "I am being honest with you. I don't want you to be a cheerleader. The cheerleading team needs to cheer for everyone. I want you to cheer…only for me."
With a slight smirk, I left the frozen Haley alone to process my words. Cam heard and saw everything that happened as he was standing nearby, and his face was filled with disbelief.
[Cameron's Commentary]
"That…How do you recover from that? Poor Haley. She's going to be crushed."
As Cam was certain that Edward was dating Taylor, he was worried for Haley.
"But…at the same time, I kinda want to see what's going to happen between them. This is currently more interesting to me than the Chris Brown and Rihanna… Wait, that's not an appropriate comparison. Kim K and Ray Z? But…that involved a (whisper) Sex tape."
Cam thought about it and finally said, "It is comparable to the storied love affair between myself and that young rodeo boy from Missouri. We also had an unrequited love story…that is to say, I was madly in love with him but he as straight, so I never had any chance at all. See! Haley and I are the same!"
[Commentary ends]
…
[General POV]
"We're going to the Cheesecake factory!" Edward announced to the entire team.
Although they were separated into two teams during the practice match before, Edward didn't discriminate and wanted to treat all of them out to a meal even if he said that only the winners of the practice match would get the reward.
Tyler, who was depressed, instantly lit up and excitedly cheered at Edward's announcement.
Edward's dietary requirement for them was considered strict and burdensome, so they wanted to use this opportunity to settle the condition without implicating their families. For some of the kids that were going to a public school in California– even in this quiet rich neighbourhood, still had families that weren't doing pretty well.
Not all of them though since given the area's spread there were students who were sent there because their parents still believed in the public school education system, such as Jenna, Jacob, and Haley.
Jenna's mother still had millions of dollars in the bank even after she was cut off by her husband's family since the old man had already set apart a nice safety fund for them fearing such a thing might happen. Jacob's dad was a college football coach, and since he had once played himself he still had some nice revenue streams he had set up for his retirement so he earned millions annually. Claire was earning more than a 6 figure income through my company and that was without my generous employee bonuses, and Phil was the second best real estate salesman in the district.
There was also Edward who earned more than 200k per day in passive income alone from his music and games not including the revenue he reinvested into other ventures. So he felt responsible to take care of his teammates – even though he didn't need to.
As Edward was smiling and enjoying the kids reaction, Randall– His manager pulled him aside. Cam and Haley looked at the duo that was arguing with concern.
Cam muttered, "That's heated…What are they talking about?"
Haley furrowed her brows cutely and said, "Hmm…There's only one thing that would make Ed react like this. And that's when his plans don't go like he wanted."
Edward then returned to the team and said, "Bad news. I can't join you guys today. But, don't worry. I'll still cover the bill–"
Tyler suddenly shouted, "Can you come if we go there tomorrow?"
Edward was a bit confused, "If there's no emergency, I can be there tomorrow."
The team members looked at each other to discuss before they turned to Edward with a smile on their faces. Tyler said, "Then, let's just postpone the dinner party. It's useless for us to have a team celebration–without the entire team, isn't it?"
Edward was baffled at first before he smiled and said, "Alright. Let's postpone it."
Randall then whispered to Edward, "You have that Jimmy Fallon interview tomorrow."
Edward whispered back to Randall, "They can start filming early and end it at 3. I already talked to Jimmy about this. I'd just have to skip school tomorrow."
"Pepper wouldn't like that." Randall said hesitantly.
"He said I need to be at school to make some friends my age. Aren't I doing that right now? The only thing he would say is 'Throwing money around isn't the way to make friends!' I can just remind him that he did the exact same thing before, so he wouldn't be able to argue much." Edward said with a slight smirk.
He turned to Haley and said, "I need to go home right now. You want a ride?"
"S-Sure." Haley replied with a bright face. Edward walked towards his car without even changing his uniform after saying his goodbyes to everyone there with Haley by his side.
She asked carefully, "What happened?"
Edward sighed, rubbed the back of his head and said, "Apparently a few Air Fryers malfunctioned and almost caused a fire in several houses. So HealthyFry Company is doing a callback on the products and are now trying to find out the cause of it."
Haley was confused, "But…What does it have to do with you?"
"Oh. HealthyFry is Pepper's mother's company. So I need to check it out personally. You know, 'cause I invented that thing."
"And I also need to find out whether the problem was with the way the company is building the appliance, and if I should notify the other companies that we are renting the patents out to so that it doesn't cost us any lives."
"But… this isn't your responsibility, right?" Haley asked again to remind Edward.
Edward shrugged, "Yeah. I know that. But, I still need to check it."
…
As Edward was driving the Ford convertible to his house, the sky suddenly darkened.
"Close the roof." Haley advised.
"On it." Edward said as he pushed the button on his car. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew, causing the branches on the tree to fall down. One of them fell into the gap between the car, causing the roof to be stuck.
"What the." Edward said with a piece of leaf stuck on his hair.
Haley picked the leaf quickly and shouted urgently, "Drive home! We're almost home!"
"But–"
"Go go go!" Haley urged with a smile. Edward sighed and then stepped on the gas pedal to accelerate the car quickly. However, the rain fell heavily when they were only 1 km away from their home.
"Shit!" Edward cursed as he got drench. He saw Haley's makeup start running down from her face, making him chuckle.
Haley pouted with a puffy cheek and covered up her eyes. It took them less than a minute to get to his house, and when he entered through the opened garage door, suddenly Edward couldn't hear the rain falling down anymore.
"What kind of shitty luck is this?" Edward laughed out loud as he saw the clear sky. Haley also laughed.
"You want to hop on to the hot tub?" Edward asked teasingly.
"Only if you're joining in…" Haley said coquettishly.
Edward smiled and said pitifully, "I need to get to my lab…so…"
"I think I'll just go home and change first. Then, I'll come by–"
Edward suddenly got a phone call at this moment. It was from Pepper. As he answered it, his eyes widened and he came to a realization a few times.
"Okay Peps. Thanks for telling me." Edward said before he ended the call. He turned to Haley and said with a smile, "Well…"
Haley was worried for Edward, "What is it? Is it a major problem?"
"On the contrary. Some of the product was faulty because the factory supervisor tried to cut corners and embezzle money. The design is actually flawless. So Mrs Saltzman just fired that guy. Problem solved?"
Haley chuckled a bit, and then she suddenly sneezed. Edward was worried and said, "We should get you warmed up."
They entered the house together and Edward started the hot tub at the backyard before he went to change his clothing. He wore red shorts, and Haley wore some bikinis she found in Edward's aunt's pile of clothing.
…
-Dunphy's house-
"How could you do this to me, Claire?" Phil said in a hurt voice. His eyes were teary, and his voice was shaking. Claire was sitting on the sofa, hugging her knees and lowering her head.
"Hello! We're here!" Gloria and Jay entered the house as they helped pick up Alex from detention today, and they saw what happened as they entered the second living room.
"How could you betray me?" Phil asked, his voice choking.
Jay and Gloria froze as they heard it and fell into disbelief.
"I'm sorry Phil. It was a moment of weakness– I– I didn't mean to do it!" Claire raised her head up and begged Phil. She grabbed his hand, but he pulled it away.
"Once is a moment of weakness. But THREE? W-What? Do you think that you WOULD never get caught?"
Gloria gasped in horror and Jay yelled, "Claire! What's the matter with you?!"
Claire finally realized that her dad was here. She shook her head quickly and said anxiously, "Dad. It's not what you think! You know what Phil? I'm going to make this right! I'm going to go over there right now, and make this whole thing right!"
Gloria asked hurriedly, "Where are you going?"
"To Edward's house." Claire replied hurriedly.
Gloria gasped again, while Jay widened his eyes in shock. Gloria said, "Claire! You did it 3 times with Edward? Or was it… his dad, Ted?"
Phil and Claire turned to Gloria with a confused expression. "What?"X2 They exclaimed simultaneously.
"Umm.. So that's not it?" Gloria asked carefully.
"What do you think I have done? I'm…We're just talking about… me eating all of Ed's desserts." Claire asked with suspicion and a little bit of anger.
"Oh my god! Everyone else got it! But me!" Phil shouted in anger after he read a text message from Gil Thorpe, his archrival.
Gloria finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled playfully, "Oh. I'm sorry. I thought it was about something else."
"Well, me too." Jay said. "Luckily I hadn't asked anything yet. By the way, your daughter's home. And the teacher isn't going to put her detention in her permanent record, so be thankful for that."
"Wait. Alex was in detention?" Claire asked, confused and a bit alarmed. "Is she acting out because I don't have much time for family these days?" She muttered to herself.
"Or maybe, she found out that you took what was rightfully hers! And turned into a delinquent because she finally understood the unfairness of the world!" Phil said with a hurt tone before he ran upstairs to comfort Alex.
"Phil!" Claire called out in tired exasperation. "I promise you I'll find you one!"
…
[Edward POV]
I chuckled as I read some of the comments posted on my post on Instagram while checking my phone on the hot tub.
"Look. Gordon Ramsay commented on my post." I turned the phone screen to Haley for her to look . She slowly made her way towards where I was and stuck her body on my arm, and at the same time perching her chin on top of it.
"That's crazy!" She muttered in astonishment and excitement.
"Alright. Go away now." I said urgently. She smirked and said, "Why? I just want to read some of the comments."
"You can do that on your phone. Just in case you didn't remember, you're in a time out." I muttered playfully.
"And just in case YOU didn't remember, you touched me all over yesterday. So now that you're driving me away, it makes me feel a little cheap." Haley said.
I widened my eyes and said, "Oh. I'm sorry about that. It was never my intention–" As I was apologizing, I saw her smirking face. "You tricked me."
"I did." Haley smirked and placed her arm right in the middle of my leg. "Maybe right now, you can be more honest with me if you don't want me to do that again."
"What do you want me to say? That I want to kiss you? Cause I really do want to–" Before I could finish my sentence, she leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. I stuck my tongue inside her mouth as she rummaged her hand on my hair.
We separated for a bit and before I could say anything, she put her finger on my lip to hush me and said, "This…doesn't mean anything. Just like you…Last night bothered me too! I couldn't sleep without…you know… a few times!"
I chuckled and said, "Alright then. No more talking."
She grinned and then slowly lowered her head towards my crotch. As I was enjoying the moment, suddenly the rain poured down heavily.
"Huh." I exclaimed.
"What?" She stopped what she was doing and asked, "Is it not good? Too much teeth?"
"Wh– No, you're doing great. I'm just thinking, I am usually unlucky everytime it rains."
Haley chuckled in disbelief, "What?"
Suddenly, we both heard Claire's voice coming out from behind us. Haley yelped as she saw her mother, and submerged herself in the water quickly. I was startled and turned to Claire in a hurry.
"Edward. Sorry for barging in– Oh, you're using the hot tub." Claire said casually.
I was anxious, but I still kept a poker face. "Why are you here– How did you get in?"
"Oh. I'm here to see if there's any more pastries in your house. Then, I met your dad in front of the door, and he said you had an extra one in the fridge."
"My dad?" I was confused. Haley poked me a few times and then whispered, "Make her go away! She can't see me like this! I don't have my clothes on! She will know!"
I didn't reply to her and said, "Claire. This is the second time you came in while I was taking a bath. First time can be played as a coincidence. But the second time… now that is a behavioural pattern–"
Claire turned pale instantly, "W-What? NO! I didn't do it on purpose! Your dad let me in!"
My dad then beside Claire and greeted me happily, "Hey Ed! I saw the dryer's running, and the car seat was wet. Did you forget to close the top off during the rain?"
"Yes. Please go and check it for me. Claire, there's an extra one in the fridge. It's the last one. So take it, and go away quickly."
"That makes me feel a little bad." Claire said with a sad face.
I didn't react much and said, "Claire. I'm kinda in the nude right now…sooo…"
"OH!" Claire widened her eyes in surprise and urgently said, "I'll take it out and go away right now!"
She then grabbed the box of pastries from the fridge and said her goodbyes quickly. My dad smiled at me after she left, and then asked casually, "How's the hot tub? It's the first time you're using it, right?"
"Dad, you need to go to your room." I ordered.
He was a bit confused, "Huh? Are you embarrassed to be seen by me too? But I'm your dad."
"Yeah. but I got someone that's not your daughter inside the tub with me, and she's going to drown if you stay here any longer."
My dad was taken aback, panicked, and said, "Oh…OOH!!! Urrr…Right right. Imma go!"
I nodded in satisfaction, and when my dad finally left, Haley got her body out of the water. She said teasingly, "You luck…is really really bad when it is raining!"
I played along, "I know right?"
She then wrapped her arms around my neck and sat on my lap as she kissed me, "I'll try to change that for you today."