Authors Note:
So I've been AWOL of late, sorry. I started uni in the last year and who knew how time consuming it was?
Anyway here is a little story I've been working on, I've had the idea in my head for a while, but just never wrote it down.
This is NOT the collaboration that I've been working on (and still am) with VoidsoftheDark.
Check out my profile for pictures and songs.
Summary: Bella Swan is an American socialite, with a talent for singing. She meets Edward and he is immediately drawn to her. Will the two be able to overcome the obstacles the encounter, the disapproval they meet? Read to find out. AU/AH
Chapter 1
Bella POV
"Swan! Get your arse out of bed!" Jacob yelled at me as he pulled the duvet off of me. The cold air hit my body like I'd been dropped into a bath full of ice, I screamed and huddled my body closer together so I was now curled up like a baby trying to keep warm.
"Jake!" I said annoyed, but with my eyes still closed, "if you value your life, give me back the blanket!"
I knew Jacob well and he knew me just as well so he knew that I was making no idle threat, I could and would follow through. We'd been best friends since we were teenagers and friends long before that, since before my parents got divorced. Jacob and I were from the same small gloomy town in Washington; Forks, where the climate was rain, pretty much all year round. There was the occasional ten minutes of sunshine but those days were few and far between.
"So, Bells I was thinking..." Jacob said as he dropped the duvet back onto me and began to climb in with me, he paused which gave him time to tickle me, "please? I know you said you're not ready, but I really think we are"
Jacob had been asking me this question for the last month and a half, and I always gave him the same answer- no.
This question had awakened me and I now lay underneath the duvet my eyes wide open staring at the black space in front of me, frozen. The reason that the answer to Jacob's question was always no, was that the very thought always left me paralysed with fear. I could hear Jacob holding his breath behind me waiting for an answer, waiting for the answer that would be the opposite of the only one I could give him. I just couldn't do it, wearing a beautiful dress, having hundreds of people looking at me while I gave my heart away. I climbed out of the bed and made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth, rather late in the day I'll admit, but hey, I'd just woken up... at eight thirty in the evening. As I brushed my teeth Jacob let me think over his question. Was I ready? Was he ready?
"Jake," I started as I emerged from my bathroom to an empty bedroom, I found Jacob in the kitchen making me some toast with butter and strawberry jam, I took it and began to chew, "I just don't think we're ready, I mean you may be, your career has been so successful and in front of all those people and..."
"Bella, it won't be in front of loads of people, how about just the pack at first?" Jacob smiled, "and since when does being in the limelight bother you? You're bffs with Alisha Travers, Seattle's It Girl, you're Bella Swan, the famous socialite. Everyone knows who you are!"
"Yes, but what you're asking me to do is really personal and I'm just not convinced I'm as good as you seem to think I am" I said as I finished my toast.
"Isabella, get dressed I'm taking you out, and we'll let other people decide whether you're as good as I know you are." Jacob smiled as he sat down on the sofa, putting his feet up before turning on ESPN.
Edward POV
"Thanks, Em so much for picking me up" I said as I rubbed my eyes, it's funny how travelling can make you tired, you sit down and don't do anything and once the journey's over you feel absolutely knackered.
"No probs little bro," Emmett said focusing his attention on the road, "Rosalie would have come but she just got comfortable, which doesn't happen too often at the moment. You'll get to see how big she is for yourself."
I'd been away from home for two years, I'd been working for two years as a junior doctor at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, I was now a fully qualified doctor and had returned home to be closer to my family. Where was home? Seattle, Washington. My mother and father had moved out of the city three years ago to a small town called Forks, where my father had quickly become a favourite member of the community and got a reputation as the best doctor around. My sister Alice had moved with my parents- she was only 15 at the time, although she had held her own in the argument against the move, her main reasoning that she would be too far away from any half decent clothing stores, but only two months after they'd moved to Forks Alice met Jasper and any protests she had were quickly forgotten. Emmett the oldest of us Cullen siblings hadn't moved he'd stayed in Seattle with his then girlfriend, now wife Rosalie Hale, they'd had a very big wedding, no expense spared. Rosalie was the kind of girl who had always pictured the fairytale wedding, and Emmett so in love with his now wife had wanted nothing more than to give her the fairytale, complete with horse and carriage.
I sat back in the passenger seat of Emmett's jeep really content with my life, I was home closest to the people whom mattered above all others, my family.
Emmett pulled into a car park, "this little brother is the apartment that Rose and I found for you"
"Thanks Em," I said as I climbed out of the car and walked round to get my bags out of the boot.
I had to say that Rosalie and Emmett had taste, this place was amazing when you went in there was a marble floored lobby with a security desk that was situated next to the stairs. Opposite the lift was a small sitting area with a modern fireplace. My own floor had a sitting area just like the one on the ground floor. My apartment was small but fitting. There was quite a large openplan kitchen, all with modern fittings that included breakfast bar stools. There was a dining table infront of the large city view windows, and a sofa that face a small fireplace and flat screen television which was mounted on the wall that separated the bedroom and the lounge. The bedroom had a large double bed with another flat screen mounted on the wall and against the large windows were two armchairs and a small end table, an area that would be perfect for reading. Adjoining the bedroom was the bathroom which had a glass shower, a large bath and two sinks.
"...Wow Em," I began.
"I know mate" Em said smiling, "Rose found it, got it a steal!"
I put my bags down in the bedroom and just admired the apartment. I wasn't given long before Emmett said
"Now that you're all settled in, let's go out."
Bella's POV
I really really wish that I wasn't here. I love Jacob, I really do, but I just wasn't ready for this. He'd written my name down so there was no escaping it, it was just something I had to do. Not only would this be terrifying because of the amount of people and because of what Jacob was making me do, but there was this extremely hot guy playing pool. It was at moments exactly like this that I wished that Sarah or Alisha were with me, so that we could giggle about it and they could encourage me to go up and talk to him. On my own I just could not muster up the courage and there was no point talking to Jacob about he, he just wouldn't get it. So instead I sat here next to Jacob drinking my diet coke just watching him play pool, he had the deepest green eyes I had ever seen they were gorgeous and his bronze hair all messy like he'd just got out of bed and someone had been tugging on it all night, I started to imagine myself pulling on his hair while he was gently kissing my stomach, slowly moving down towards my bellybutton, his hands moving down my sides my heavy breathing the only sounds...
I was pulled out of my fantasy by a man coming up to the stage and speaking into the microphone,
"Bella you're up next, let's see what you've got."
Jacob had brought me to an open mic night, to prove to me that I was ready to perform a duet with him for his band's album. Jacob's band, Wolfpack, were an extremely successful rock band which he'd started back when we both lived in Forks and they'd managed to get a record deal and he'd moved to Seattle. I stood up and looked at my best friend, who smiled and nodded to me, offering support. I walked up to the stage, the short walk across the bar feeling like an eternity. As I walked I became extremely aware of the clicking of my boots across the wooden floor- were they always as loud as this? When I got to the stage I noticed that spotlights were in fact very very bright, so bright in fact that you could barely see the crowd, fleetingly I wondered whether that was the whole idea. I paused when I got to the mic, I was so incredibly nervous, more than I had ever been in my entire life.
"Woo! Go Bella!" I heard the ever predictable Jacob from somewhere in the darkness and then the music started to play. I closed my eyes and pictured my empty bedroom, I told myself that I was just singing into my hair brush.
There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write
over and over again
I'm awake in the infinite cold
But you sing to me over and over and over again
So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope
Sing to me the song of the stars
Of your galaxy dancing and laughing
and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that you have
for me over again
So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope
I give you my destiny
I'm giving you all of me
I want your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back
So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope
I finished the song with my eyes still closed; still imagining I was in my bedroom at home. I was pulled out of my imagination by a sudden loud round of applause and cheering, I particularly heard Jacob's loud cheers. I placed the microphone and it's stand back in centre stage. I walked off stage and immediately found Jacob.
"Bella! You were amazing- I told you that you would be!" He said smiling to me, "let me get you a celebratory drink" and with that he left me and went up to the bar. I went to sit at the table that Jacob had been sitting at before my performance. I began to think, as I often did when I was left alone, of nothing in particular, when I would next see Alisha, Darren and Sarah. I'd not been long thinking about meeting up with them when Jacob reappeared, he put my drink on the table and surprisingly he had none for himself.
"Bella, I'm really sorry, I just got a 911 from Leah, I have to go... will you be okay?" Jacob apologised.
"Jake, go I'm fine, I can make my own way home... I'm a big girl y'know" I smiled
"Are you su-"
"Jake, just go" I interrupted smiling, "Leah needs you- send her my love"
With that Jacob left grabbing his motorcycle helmet from the seat beside me before he went. Leah and her brother Seth were two of Jacob's closet friends (aside from me obviously) and were both in Wolfpack with him. They were residents of Forks just like Jacob and I, and just like Jacob had moved to Seattle once the band started being successful. I started to sip my drink, Coca-cola, as I listened to a man sing a Bryan Adams song really out of tune, I drifted away inside my own mind, returning to my fantasies about the man I had seen earlier with deep green eyes and beautiful bronze hair, I imagined him coming up to my table and introducing himself and it being love at first sight for both of us. I was pulled out of my fairytale fantasy by someone talking to me.
"Hello,"
I looked up from my drink and almost spat out the mouthful I had in my mouth, instead I decided to swallow it. It was the bronze haired, green eyed man, my fantasy prince charming.
"Erm hi" I said, literate as ever.
"I'm sorry to disturb you but I just felt the need to compliment you on your performance" my goodness he was well spoken!
"Thankyou," I said smiling, "I'm Bella by the way, Bella Swan"
"Well Bella by the way, I'm Edward Cullen," Edward said as he took the chair opposite me. Of course his name was Edward, how could it be anything else? It was a name that fit him so perfectly.
"How long have you been singing Bella?" Edward asked
When I returned home that evening, I was in a far better mood than when I had gone out. I'd given a performance of a lifetime, my only public performance and been complimented on it! Not only that, i had been introduced to Edward Cullen, a beautiful God among men, not only that, I had his phone number and would be meeting him tomorrow! I was so excited, I got into my pyjamas, picked up the phone and called Sarah- she needed to be filled in on the situation with Edward.
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