Unbreakable(21)

Fuck. Focus, Will.

I hurry through the rest of the application and clap her on the back heartily when I’m done to try and eliminate the sexual tension from this moment.

Unfortunately, I think that sexual tension is mostly one-sided right now, because she winces.

“Ow.” She looks over her shoulder at me with her eyebrows raised.

“Shit. I’m sorry. Guess I don’t know my own strength.” I cringe at the slight red mark on her back. “C’mon let’s get in. The water’s fantastic.”

I dive back into the lake while she dangles her feet off of the dock and tilts her face toward the sun.

I tread water in front of where she sits. “You sure you want to be lounging on the dock?”

“Sure. I want to get used to the water temperature slowly.”

“Dock spiders, Em.”

Emmy jumps to her feet with a shriek and falls ungracefully into the water, going completely under. She surfaces, sputtering madly and flapping her hands. “Was there one near me? Is something on me?”

I try hard not to laugh, but I epically fail.

“No, but you don’t want to hang out up there too long. It’s safer in the water.”

She splashes me. “Oh, really? Safer in the water? You’ve obviously never seen Jaws.”

“We’re not in the ocean,” I scoff, splashing her back.

She floats away from me and closes her eyes. “Damn, this feels amazing.”

I grab an inner tube and toss it in her direction. Then I ask the question that’s been on my mind since the party yesterday.

“So, Brooke was telling me about your ZeeTube channel. She says you’ve got a shit load of followers on there or something.”

Emmy flushes a deep shade of red. “She told you? Oh. It’s not a big deal. Just a side thing I do for fun.”

God, she is such a sucky liar. “Nope, try again. What’s it all about, Sunshine Sullinger?”

She sighs. “Fine. Well, it started out just for fun, but honestly, I think this could really go somewhere. I do makeup tutorials on my channel as well as some fashion stuff. I’ve even started making a little money off of it. I have a website and blog, too. People even recognize me on the street sometimes. It’s so weird, but it’s fun.”

She hauls herself inside of the inner tube. “I’m saving up for more professional lighting equipment and learning how to take better photos for my Instagram account. It looks better if everything has a branded look across all of the social media platforms, you know?”

She’s talking fast and waving her hands all around as she explains things, and her face is lit up like a Christmas tree. Obviously, this is something she loves.

“I hear a ‘but’ in there somewhere,” I prod.

“I desperately want to pursue this, Mav. I mean, really pursue it. I want to go to school for makeup and learn how to do so much more than what I know right now. I want to find out how to run an online business and do more effective online marketing. I have so many ideas about how I can grow this and make a living at it. But seriously, can you imagine me telling my dad this? That I want to quit school to run a video makeup and fashion channel? He’ll kill me.”

I’m pretty impressed with everything she’s told me. She’s animated and excited, and I can see that her heart is in this 100%. But making money off of ZeeTube stuff is a brand-new type of career path, and I can see why she’s scared to tell her dad.

“Is that why you want to go to cosmetology school? To have something to fall back on if the channel doesn’t work out?”

“Well, that too. It certainly can’t hurt, right? I love all this stuff. Maybe it seems silly, but when my roommate gave me a makeover, I felt like a brand-new person. By doing this, I get to help people feel better about themselves through my channel, you know?”

She looks down at the water. “But right now, it’s all just a pipe dream. Dad will never let me quit school. Never.”

“What if we talk to Sully about this, and then we can all go over to your Dad’s place and talk to him? You prepare a logical, detailed plan for him, and we’ll do whatever’s necessary to back you up. This is your life, Em. You can’t get stuck being a lawyer because it’s what your dad wants you to do. You need to find a career that makes you happy.”

“You’d do that for me?” She bites her lower lip. “Sully doesn’t know about any of this, yet. I didn’t tell anyone because I wasn’t even sure what it was until a few months ago.”

“Of course I’d do that for you. If this is your dream, you need to take a chance.”

“I’ll have wasted so much money if I leave school,” she whispers. “My dad reminds me of that every time I mention quitting.”

I reach out and touch her arm. “Since when is any amount of education a waste? Em, he’s a partner in one of the most successful law firms in Toronto. He’s not going to be financially dented by paying for those two years. Not even close. You just need to present him with a solid plan. Lay everything out logically. Appeal to the lawyer in him and argue your case. And don’t take no for an answer.”

“Talking to him like that just seems impossible,” she says, shaking her head. “Between the divorce and his new girlfriend, I’m not sure he’ll even give me a chance to explain it all. He’s just so mad at me lately.”