Chapter 180: Painful Night.

Chapter 180: Chapter 180: Painful Night.

[General POV]

After Edward uploaded a video of himself playing football on his Instagram page, the views of the video instantly exploded. However, as American football wasn't as popular in other countries as it was in the United States, the video couldn't achieve a breakthrough and become one of the more popular videos on the internet.

Tom Brady, a professional NFL player with an outstanding record, accidentally came across Edward's video while scrolling on his phone. "Oh, impeccable form. James, we should get this guy for the team."

"Who?" His friend peeked into his video and then scowled, "That's the singer kid who built the app. He's a nerd – wait, he's not a nerd. Huh."

James instantly changed his opinion about Edward after watching the video. "He must have practiced the throws for a long time. He can throw it into tight spaces too. That's awesome, and it took a lot of practice. I had the wrong impression of him."

Tom Brady was still processing the earlier information. "He's a singer?"

"Yeah, kinda the most popular kid right now. You know what, why don't we ask him if he wants to come check out our stadium," James smiled teasingly. Their team's name was the Patriots, and they were located in Boston, on the other side of the coast. So it wouldn't even make sense for them to invite Edward.

"Alright, I will leave a comment," Tom Brady smiled, not understanding the situation.

James looked at him disdainfully but didn't extinguish Tom's false hope.

While the entire country was watching Edward's videos, a heated argument was taking place inside an apartment in Pasadena.

"Why don't we try to build some muscles and maybe pretend we're into sports!?" Howard Wolowitz said in exasperation.

"Your plan is as feasible as saying we should use the fake balloon muscles from the Spongebob cartoon show. What you're saying is not only comical, but it also shows WHY you are only an engineer! " Sheldon replied angrily.

"But... You have to admit, Edward proved that he can do it. You know, balance between being a jock and being a nerd. He made a lot of games and apps, all by himself," Leonard tried to convince Sheldon.

Sheldon nodded, acknowledging Edward's effort, and rolled his eyes at the same time. "Just pick one already. Why does he want to do both?" Sheldon muttered incomprehensibly.

Howard smiled before saying, "So... What are we waiting for? We should hit the gym and finally make the gym membership card in Leonard's wallet useful. Of course, we need to clean off the dust first."

Leonard rolled his eyes while Howard and Raj laughed at him. Rajesh then asked, "How long has it been since you started the membership?"

Sheldon replied instead of Leonard, "He started in 2003, shortly after he moved into this apartment. He said that 'It's what Californians do,' and then he never went there again after the first time."

The others laughed at Leonard, but then Leonard said self-deprecatingly, "Laugh all you want. I can't go there to face Jackie, the hot receptionist who convinced me to get a membership card, and it still costs me 50 bucks a month because I couldn't cancel it."

While the group laughed harder, Leonard whined, "It's been 6 years, and it's still deducting!"

After calming down, the group suddenly fell into an abrupt silence. Rajesh rubbed the sofa cushion while sitting and asked hesitantly, "So... should we go there?"

No one answered him, not even Howard, who started the whole topic. "Nah, let's see if he uploads something new tomorrow and see if we can do that," Howard said.

"Oh, by the way, he asked me if we had some D&D games coming up, and said he wanted to join us," Leonard said happily.

...

[Edward's POV]

"98, 99... 100," I counted as I did a shirtless one-arm push-up in the living room. Haley and Alex ate some popcorn as they watched me exercise in silence. They let out some gasps a few times as they watched my muscles tighten and my sweaty body glisten.

"Sorry, I just have one more rep, and then we can start," I told them as I stood up with a slight panting.

"N-No, you can take your time. No rush," Haley said with a slight stutter at the beginning. I shot her a weird look before going to do some pull-ups. The girls kept their eyes on me, and when I was finally finished, they ran to give me some towels.

"Thanks," I replied as I wiped the sweat off my body and then walked towards the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower. And while I'm in there, you guys better wipe that drool off your faces because I don't know what I'm going to do if you keep looking at me that way."

"What way?" Alex asked.

"The 'please sleep with me' way," I teased. I wanted to say 'Fuck Me' way, but I still needed to hide a few parts of my personality for when they were truly comfortable with me later on. Then and only then would I show them all of my true self, making them fall in disbelief as to why they ever wanted to become friends in the first place.

After that, I went to cook dinner, which included a T-bone steak and a lot of high-protein dishes in big portions. "Haley, what did you want to talk about?" I asked while cooking.

"What?" Haley was blanking out. She smiled as she looked at me, completely forgetting her intention of coming here today.

Alex reminded her, "Your doodle book?"

"Ah," Haley exclaimed before she took out a pink-covered book with a ribbon on top. "And also, this isn't my doodle book! This is my book of ideas!"

Alex snorted and said, "I've seen the page where you wrote 'Mrs. Haley Newga–'"

Haley cupped Alex's mouth before she could finish her words. I chuckled a bit and said, "Alex, you can go play down in my lab now if you want."

"No, no. I want to hear this too," Alex said. "I was really surprised when she said she had something great, and I really want to see it."

She meant that she wanted to condescendingly criticize it. However, I noticed that Alex had mellowed out her sarcasm with her sister after she got a boyfriend and a lot of friends.

Maybe now she didn't hide her insecurities behind her sarcastic demeanor anymore, which eased up her relationship with Haley and also her family members. I was just guessing, but I think that was close to the mark.

"It's not something great. It's just a simple thought." Haley said hesitantly.

"Well don't you stop edging me and finally give me some release. What is it?" I asked in excitement.

Alex was baffled by my choice of words but Haley blushed. "That's really dirty." Alex scolded. I shrugged it off and I watched Haley open up her book.

"2 days ago, while I was doing yoga–"

"You mean, watching other people do yoga." Alex exposed Haley instantly.

"Male or female?" I asked.

"Girls I think." Alex replied.

...

"Wear this." I handed a white lab coat towards Haley before I opened the basement door.

"Hmm? Do you have this in red? Or a sexier model?"

"Sexy lab coats. You should write that down in your book of ideas. Halloween outfit companies and porn magazines would love it." I muttered sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes and followed me from behind as we entered the lab.

"Hmm?" She was confused when she saw another door right after we opened up the basement door.

"Come in and close it." I told her. She shut the previous door when suddenly a gush of high pressure air blew the both of us. Her hair and mine fluttered in the wind, so did our clothes. Then, I opened the glass door and walked into the lab while Haley was still processing what just happened.

"Question. Why did you install a professional air jet into your lab?" Alex, who was gone for a while, asked while wearing a lab coat.

"To keep the room sterile. Duh." I replied casually with a smirk as I walked towards her.

"How much does this cost you?" Haley asked in disbelief after seeing a lot of high tech equipment in the lab.

"Well, the air jet alone cost 20 Gs and it isn't all complete yet, but I have spent around 1 million dollars to buy most of the stuff. The maintenance should run around that much when electricity and amenities are concerned."

The girls froze at my casual revelation, and suddenly felt that they shouldn't touch anything.

I asked Alex, who was standing by the microscope, "What are you doing?"

Alex stuttered a bit and replied, "I-I read some of your data, and your hypothesis about possible microplastic contamination within the human body. I was wondering if that was true, so I checked out the beach sand samples you have."

"What's microplastic?" Haley asked.

"Something that makes up Kim Kardashian's face?" I replied, causing her to scoff in disbelief.

Alex was excited, "It's really cool. He hypothesized that our action of throwing waste products into the ocean will someday cause irreparable damage to the ecosystem."

She then realized something and her enthusiasm dampened, Well...More irreparable damage... Something that we, as a human, would face. Not the fish that are currently facing them right now."

"Oww, those poor fishies." Haley exclaimed.

Alex didn't reply to her sister and asked me, "Why are you doing research on this?"

"Just because." I replied, face suddenly flushed with embarrassment.

Haley saw it and was excited, "Why? Why are you not telling us the reason?"

"I don't know. I just don't want to." I replied shyly.

Alex also smiled and then egged me together with her sister, "We promise that we won't ever tell another soul about this."

"I don't believe in promises." I said decisively.

"What? Umm...What do you want then?" Alex asked.

"Let's make a deal. I tell you my plans, and you... You have to kiss Finneas in front of your mom in a week."

"NEVER! I don't want to know your plans!" Alex spoke in horror. However, Haley said, "DEAL! I'll make sure that she does it!"

"HALEY!" Alex groaned in frustration.

I chuckled and then patted Alex's head, "I was just kidding. It's fine if you guys want to know. I'm just thinking about cleaning it all up."

"Huh?" x2

"You mean, you're not satisfied with just cleaning up your home, now you want to clean up the ocean?" Alex said sarcastically, but with a hint of awe.

"Kinda."

Haley then added, "And you're going to use your own money to do this?"

"No." I replied decisively. "My plan is to find the evidence for my theory then use fear mongering–such as microplastics found in a human fetus to arrange some fundraisers, getting all the big tech idiots to donate and then use their money to clean up the ocean."

Alex took out a design for the Ocean Cleanup ship stuck on the wall and said, "This is the thing that will do the job?"

"Yes. I can't wait for Boyan Slat to do it. He's only 14 right now."

"Who's Boyan Slat?" Haley asked, confused.

"Not important." I replied. "Anyway, this is just one of my side projects. You know, something to do if I have the time to do it."

"You mean, other than the time you use to slowly kill your own body by continuously overworking it ?" Alex said sarcastically.

"Yes. Anyway, Alex, you should go now. I'm going to do something with your sister, and the sounds that'll be coming out are going to be M rated, you know, something a girl your age shouldn't hear."

Alex and Haley both looked at me in disbelief, but the difference was that Alex looked at me with disgust, while Haley looked at me while laughing.

...

Alex didn't want to go home yet, and insisted that she had to stay to watch over us. I was a bit irritated at first, but then I realized that it was a good thing that she was there.

Her presence was the only thing that was keeping my sanity together during the massage– not that I had intentionally tried to get Haley turned on, but it was a major side effect of the massage. That...and intense pain.

"I feel like my whole body is going to cramp." Haley moaned after she walked out of the door while Alex was helping her to stand still.

Alex then said, "I...I'm never sitting through that again. If you guys are doing this for the second time, please don't make me stay....Please."