Title: Last Name
Summary: A wild night in Vegas tangles the lives of two complete strangers. AU/AH
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, although I wouldn't mind owning Edward and the rest of the Cullen boys ;).
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Last Name
Last night I got served a little bit too much of that poison baby
Last night I did things I'm not proud of
And I got a little crazy
Last night I met a guy on the dance floor
And I let him call me baby
And I don't even know his last name
Oh, my mama would be so ashamed
It started off "Hey cutie, where ya from?"
And then it turned in,
"Oh no, what have I done?"
And I don't even know his last name
Today I woke up thinkin' about Elvis somewhere in Vegas
I'm not sure how I got here
Or how this ring on my left hand just appeared out of nowhere
I gotta go
I take the chips and the Pinto and hit the road
They say what happens here stays here
All of this will disappear
There's just one little problem...
I don't even know my last name…
-"Last Name" by Carrie Underwood
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Loud music blared from the numerous speakers all around the club, and reverberated off of every hard surface. A brown haired girl in barely there clothing and too high heels stumbled up to the bar, slightly disoriented from the loud noises, flashing lights, and alcohol coursing through her system. She couldn't remember how many drinks she had already consumed, or where her friends had wandered off too, but what she did know is that she felt amazing, and most importantly that it was due to the tasty beverages served by the nice people behind the bar. Tossing back yet another shot, she coughed slightly at the burning at the back of her throat, but noted with satisfaction that it didn't nearly seem to bother her as much as before. At least, as far as she could remember. Ordering another drink she turned around, leaning against the bar for support as her brown eyes wandered across the numerous bodies packed inside the club. Nothing in particular seemed to grab her interest; after all watching people grind up against each other is not nearly as interesting as actually participating. After a few moments of her aimless people watching, the girl couldn't help but shake the paranoid feeling that she was being watched that suddenly washed over her. Turning slowly to her left, her gaze was trapped in a pair of brilliant green eyes; brilliant green eyes that were locked intently on her. A small smile played across his lips as he started to move closer, his piercing stare never wavering from her…
The first thought that crossed Bella's mind the next morning was along the lines of the normal wishing for death that accompanies one when they wake up with a nasty hangover. Her second thought was one of complete shock when she finally pried her eyes open and they landed on a strange man tangled up in the sheets next to her. This was a very fleeting thought, because only a second later her brain registered the fact that she was going to be sick and she bolted to the bathroom. It was only after she had completely emptied the contents of her stomach and was searching for her toothbrush that she realized she was not in the bathroom of her hotel suite. She wasn't even sure she was in the same hotel.
What the hell happened last night? Bella silently questioned, rubbing her temples trying to make the pounding in her head stop. A loud groan from the next room immediately sent a rush of nervousness coursing through her small frame as she remembered the strange man in her bed. Actually, I guess it's his bed. Bella thought wryly to herself, taking a deep breath and tiptoeing out of the bathroom. She prayed desperately that he was still asleep and planned on grabbing all of her things and running, and was delighted that things were looking up slightly when she found him still asleep. Bella took a moment to observe him, and was slightly alleviated by the fact that at least if she had a drunken hookup it was with what appeared to be a pretty attractive man. She licked her lips unconsciously as her eyes traveled up his delicious looking abs and across his toned chest. She was slightly disappointed that she couldn't see his face, because his left arm was strewn across it. Bella was about to being gathering all of her belongings, when he shifted slightly and a small flash of light distracted her.
Shit! He's married! Bella panicked as her eyes locked on to the gold band on his left ring finger, glinting softly in the morning sunlight. I can't believe I hooked up with a married man! I am so stupid! She mentally berated herself as she frantically began searching around the room for all of her stuff. She couldn't believe she had let things get so out of hand the night before. Not only was it completely out of character for her to get entirely wasted and not remember the events of the previous night, it was even more shocking that she had hooked up with some strange guy. She briefly wondered why her friends didn't stop her, but it didn't take more than a moments' contemplation for her to push that thought aside. They were after all, not very good friends.
Bella had managed to gather all of her belongings and was just searching for her second shoe when the shrill ringing of a phone made her freeze in her tracks. It took her only a moment to recover from her shock before her hand whipped out to snatch her cell off the bedside table and silence the call, but waking up the stranger was now the farthest thing from her mind because there on the third finger on her left hand was a small gold wedding band. She stared down at her finger in complete shock, completely oblivious to anything else. She didn't notice the stranger's loud groan as he slowly drifted back into consciousness. She didn't notice when he finally sat up and gazed confusedly around the room, or when his eyes rested on her. Bella didn't notice when she heard him asking her if she was all right, but she did seem to finally snap out of it when he walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. Her eyes snapped up to meet his, before drifting back down to her left hand, and then her eyes rolled back into her head and the last thoughts that crossed her mind before everything went black was: I don't even know his name! Or my name! I don't know my last name!
Edward stood there stunned for a moment as he stared down at the brunette who had just fainted into his arms, before he quickly scooped her up and laid her down on the bed. Having a drunken hookup was nothing new to Edward. In fact, one-night stands were his forte at the moment, so he wasn't surprised to find a girl in the room when he woke. He was surprised, however, by her fainting spell. Nothing like that had ever happened before. Normally he woke up alone, his latest conquest too embarrassed to stay, or on the occasions when he was the first to rise, he would usually nosily hop in the shower and his 'date' would be gone before he was finished. This was a new situation entirely.
Brushing her hair off of her face, he was momentarily struck by her beauty and the softness of her skin underneath his fingers, but before he could admire her any longer he was interrupted by a pounding on his door. His hands immediately flew to his head, the loud banging doing nothing to help his hangover. Cursing under his breath, Edward stomped over to the door, ready to wring the neck of whichever of his friends or siblings decided to make such a racket.
"What?" Edward growled as he opened the door, not in the mood for whatever the knocker wanted. He was slightly surprised when his eyes landed on the tiny frame of his sister; he had expected it to be his older brother or best friend by the forcefulness of the pounding. Then again he had been on the receiving end of his sister's slaps and punches many times so he supposed he really shouldn't be all that surprised that someone so tiny could make that much noise.
"Is it true?" Alice hissed, glaring up at her older brother, anger and annoyance evident on her features.
"Is what true? I really am not in the mood for twenty questions right now Alice, so how about you tell me exactly why you are here instead of asking obscure questions." He bit back sharply; barely caring that he wasn't being very pleasant to his younger sister. As petulant as it may be, she had verbally attacked him first.
"Did you get married last night?" Edward snorted and immediately had to bite back a laugh. Alice's accusation was utterly absurd. Of course he didn't get married. He wasn't that stupid and he didn't even believe in marriage. How could his crazy little sister even get such and idea in her head?
"You think this is funny don't you? I don't think its very funny to get woken up very early in the morning when my boyfriend gets called numerous times by reporters looking for the inside scoop on his star client's surprise marriage. Edward, what were you thinking?"
"Alice, I didn't get married! I think I would remember something as big as getting married wouldn't I?" He retorted, getting annoyed. Honestly how does she come up with these stories? Edward thought to himself, massaging his temples. His conversation with Alice wasn't doing much for his headache.
"You say you didn't married," Alice stated in a tone he didn't quite recognize.
"Yes! For the last time Alice I didn't get married!" He exclaimed exasperatedly, bringing his gaze to match his sister's.
"Then why do you have a ring on a certain finger of your left hand?"
"I don't have a ri-" Edward froze as he brought his left hand up in front of his face. There on his left ring finger was a simple gold ring that couldn't be anything other than a wedding band. He felt the blood drain from his face and his eyes flashed behind him towards the bedroom. Alice watched as realization dawned over him, and began to worry when he looked far paler than normal.
"What happened last night?" She question gently, her earlier anger and annoyance momentarily replaced with concern for her brother's well being.
"I have no idea," Edward responded softly, his eyes drifting back over to halfway open bedroom door. He couldn't believe what was happening. How could he have gotten married without remembering it? Was he really that drunk last night?
"Is she still here?" Alice questioned, her eyes following his.
"Yeah, she is," he said with a sigh, "I woke up and she kind of fainted." Alice couldn't help but start laughing at that.
"Wow, I guess you really are that scary in the morning," she teased, all of her earlier anger completely gone. Her brother had done many stupid things over the years so a drunken Vegas wedding didn't really surprise her. Although, all the damage control with the media was going to be a nightmare and she knew Jasper wouldn't be getting much sleep for the next week or so. At least this was the first time her brother had done something that could be considered scandalous. She almost rolled her eyes at that thought. Only in the spotlight could excessive partying and womanizing be considered normal behavior for someone with Edward's star status.
Edward simply glared at her before turning his attention back towards the bedroom contemplating the best way to handle this situation. The first order of business would be to see if she could shed any light on the current situation. Of course that would involve her being conscious and Edward began to panic slightly. He had no idea what to do with people when they fainted! Sure his father was a doctor, but its not like Edward ever saw someone faint before, and he really didn't feel like calling his father for advice on how to handle the situation. Asking him what to do when someone fainted would just open up the conversation for a lot of questions he didn't feel like answering at the moment. Luckily, Alice noticed the look of panic that crossed his face and decided to take charge of the situation.
"I'm going to go get Jasper and Emmett and bring them back here so we can plan how to handle this. I want you to wake her up and start figuring out what happened last night and who she is."
"Can't I go get them and you talk to her?" He asked hopefully, fully dreading the task she had appointed him.
"I'm not going to break the news to her, Edward, that is your job. Oh, and you better be nice to her or else!" With a final warning glare at her brother, Alice spun on her heel and marched out of his suite slamming the door shut behind her as if to emphasize her threat. Edward sighed loudly as he turned and headed back into the bedroom. Nerves immediately washed over him with each step he took; he really had no idea what he was supposed to do in this sort of situation. Was he just supposed to wake her up and just tell her? 'Hi, we don't know each other but we got married last night. Oh and to make things more complicated I'm an internationally famous singer and by now most of the world probably knows.' Even in his head it sounded completely surreal, and a wave of pity for the poor girl washed over him. That stopped him in his tracks. What the hell? Was the prominent thought racing through his mind. He didn't pity girls. He didn't feel anything for them. He simply used them to satisfy his needs as a man and that was it. He didn't get attached and he definitely never felt sorry for the way he treated women. He was an ass and he didn't care, so there was no way he should be feeling anything but anger towards this girl. It was probably her idea after all for them to get married, because it most certainly wasn't his!
With newfound determination, Edward stalked into the room, ready to get this over with and get back to his life. His resolve waivered slightly as he pushed through the door and his eyes met a pair of wide brown eyes staring cautiously back at him. All thoughts completely left his head as he found himself getting trapped in her gaze and unfamiliar feelings was over him. She broke the silence first.
"I'm Bella. Bella Swan." Bella said for lack of anything better to say, but she figured she should speak instead of ogle the handsome stranger all day.
"Edward. Edward Cullen," he responded in a smooth, velvety voice. Edward Cullen, Edward Cullen. Why did that name sound so familiar? Bella thought for a few moments before it dawned on her. Edward watched as recognition spread across her delicate features, before her eyes accusingly met his.
"The singer?"
"Yeah," Edward responded lamely, not really sure what to say but slightly relieved that she at least knew who he was. It would prevent a lot of unnecessary questions that could have arisen if she had no idea about his star status.
"This is just great," Bella mumbled under her breath, clearly annoyed.
"Excuse me?" Edward questioned slightly confused, not quite sure where her tone was coming from.
"Well not only do I wake up in a strange room with a strange guy with no recollection of how I got there or who the guy is, I also discover that I am married and it turns out to be to an egotistical, womanizing singer! This is a complete nightmare" She spat out, disgust clearly evident in her voice. Obviously she knew of his reputation. Her words, while fairly accurate, only made Edward's anger and frustration with the situation come to the surface.
"Well excuse me! It's not like I planned this! Do you honestly think I want to be married? Especially to someone who can't hold their alcohol and is acting like a self-righteous bitch! I didn't do this on my own you know! And I think you would be lucky to marry someone with my status so how do I know this just wasn't your plan all along?" Bella's mouth dropped slightly in shock at his sudden change in demeanor, her anger bubbling up even more. She had only known him for five minutes and she already hated him! I must have been completely smashed last night if I ended up married to this arrogant pig! But before he could really give him a piece of her mind she was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Whirling around, Bella was greeted by the sight of two men and two women casually standing in the doorway, their expression ranging from amusement to annoyance to boredom.
"Well as amusing as round two would be, we all have things that need to be discussed so if the two of you could come out into the sitting room that would be best," Alice commented dryly, clearly not pleased with the yelling match. Bella simply nodded and followed them out the bedroom door, throwing one last glare at a still seething Edward.
"I'm Alice by the way, Edward's sister, and this is Jasper Whitlock, Edward's best friend and publicist, Edward's brother Emmett, his manager, and Emmett's girlfriend Rosalie Hale," Alice gestured to each person in the room, making the introductions for Bella's benefit.
"Bella," she responded quietly, not quite sure why all these people had to be here. She began to fidget nervously in her seat as four pairs of eyes were staring at her intently. Finally the tall, leonine mane Alice had identified as Jasper spoke.
"Do you remember what happened last night, Bella?" He questioned softly, the tone of his voice calming her nerves slightly.
"I remember going out club hopping with my friends and drinking…a lot. I think we were at our third club of the night when I lost track of them and that is where everything gets fuzzy. I don't normally drink that much so this blacking out thing is new to me." Edward scoffed at her last statement, but before Bella could do more then throw a dirty look in his direction Alice had smacked him upside the head with a glare of her own. Bella smiled slightly at Alice who smiled back even wider before everyone refocused their attention on Jasper's latest question.
"Do you remember anything else?"
"Not really," Bella responded dejectedly, fixing her eyes on the floor to avoid catching the gaze of the other occupants. Jasper sighed softly, whether in anger, frustration, or annoyance, Bella couldn't tell, and he directed his next question to Edward.
"What do you remember?"
"I remember having some drinks backstage with some of the VIP guests, before being dragged off to a club by the lot of you, where I had some more drinks. I danced with a couple of girls who threw themselves at me, and the last thing I clearly remember was talking to some chick at the bar." Bella's eyes snapped up to meet Edward's sparkling green ones at his last statement, and after a moment of staring into her eyes something clicked.
"You were watching me!" She accused, pointing a finger at Edward.
"What?" Edward responded incredulously.
"At the bar! I was waiting for a drink and I noticed you staring at me! And then you came over and started talking to me!"
"Wow, way to come off a little stalkerish bro," Emmett injected with a laugh, which was quickly silenced by a glare from Edward.
"Ok, well now that we know how you two met, we need to figure out how you ended up married. Any ideas?" Jasper questioned, peering between the two who were looking anywhere but at each other, their earlier spat in the bedroom obviously not forgotten.
"I remember asking her to dance, and doing that for a bit," Edward supplied, frustration with the situation evident in his tone.
"I hate dancing," Bella grumbled under her breath, wracking her brain desperately trying to remember when she agreed to dance with him, let alone marry him.
"Well obviously not since I remember you coming willingly," he shot back, causing Bella's heated gaze to meet his again. Bella felt slightly unnerved as she gazed into his emerald eyes, and found herself having trouble with coherency. His eyes seemed to bore into her, past all her walls and pretenses, and straight into her soul. It was unnerving because no one had ever looked at her with such intensity before, even it was intense anger, and no one had ever made her feel like she was feeling in that moment. The intense feelings coursing through her body were new for Bella, and she couldn't place a name to them. Something at the back of her mind clicked in place and she gasped.
"You made me dance with you!" She exclaimed, continuing before Edward could refute her claim. "You, you…dazzled me!" She finished with a huff, crossing her arms in front of her and sinking down into the armchair. She knew her actions were a bit childish, but it the previous night's events were any indication, neither of them had been acting very grown up lately.
Everyone in the room burst out into laughter and Bella felt the ever-familiar heat of a blush rush up her neck and spread across her pale face.
"Bella it is hardly my fault is I dazzle you. But don't feel bad, it seems to be the effect I have on most women," Edward smirked smugly at her, reminiscing about how easily women fell for his charm and good looks.
"Pig!"
"Jerk!"
"Ass!" Bella, Alice, and Rosalie all exclaimed at the same time, throwing disgusted looks in Edward's direction. Edward cowered slightly in his seat as he took in the venomous glares of three pissed off women. Probably not the best thing to say around them, he mused silently to himself, deciding that the best course of action would be to stay as silent as possible until this whole ordeal was over.
Bella meanwhile was sitting silently, eyebrows scrunched in concentration as she grasped for any other details of the previous night that had formerly eluded her.
"We started playing a game," Edward stated in a hollow voice, his mind seemingly hundreds of miles away. His statement triggered something in Bella's memory, and once again a gasp escaped her lips.
"You said I seemed uptight and you bet I had never done anything truly wild in my life," Bella responded in the same far-away voice as her eyes glazed over slightly as she became immersed in the memory. The room grew deathly silent as the other occupants listened intently to the story as it unfurled, barely daring to breath for fear that even the slightest sound could make the elusive memory slip back into the dark recesses of their minds.
"You got pissed at me so I dared you to kiss the next guy you saw. You grabbed the nearest guy next to you and did just that."
"Then I dared you to do a double shot of Jager." Everyone looked slightly disgusted after Bella's statement. While most in the group were fond of Jager bombs, straight Jager was disgusting.
"And after that delightful," Edward continued with sarcasm, "stunt I dared you to climb up on one of the tables and dance."
They continued going back and forth, rehashing the obscene amount of things they had dared each other to do, most of them involving taking certain kinds of shots or chugging disgusting concoctions. It was easy to see how they had both gotten so wasted.
"And then," Bella froze, her eyes turning to stare at Edward accusingly.
"I dared you to marry me," he finished softly, his eyes on the floor. So it was his stupid idea to get married, and that made him confused as ever. He had shied away from any kind of committed relationship for years now, and the thought of marriage hadn't crossed his mind in just as long. But why now? Why did he suddenly decide in his drunken state to dare a girl to marry him? He had always prided himself for being creative, and sure the alcohol has definitely impaired his judgment, but his creativity hadn't seemed to vanish over the course of the dares. What could have possibly compelled him to come up with such a dare? Before he could dwell on it any longer, Jasper intruded on his thoughts.
"Ok well now that we know what happened, we need to plan the best course of action. Bella I'm sure your friends are worried about you and that you would want to shower and change. I'm going to make a few calls to the label and to our lawyer to help figure out what options we have so how about we meet back here in about an hour." Bella nodded mutely and quickly gathered up her things; desperate for some alone time to process everything that had happened. Before another word could be spoken she was out the door, and the others slowly followed, leaving Edward to gather his thoughts and get ready for the day.
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A little over an hour later, everyone had reassembled in Edward's suite. Bella sat nervously in her chair as Jasper wrapped up a conversation over in the far corner of the room. The expression on his face as he snapped his phone shut did little to alleviate the growing tension in the room. Turning to face the group, he was silent for a few moments seemingly contemplating the best way to phrase whatever news he had received.
"That was the lawyer," he stated, explaining the phone call, "and it looks like we no longer have to worry about how a drunken Vegas wedding and hasty annulment will affect you reputation, Edward."
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Edward questioned, completely confused.
"According to a recently passed law you marriage cannot be annulled based on the grounds of a drunken mistake. Unless sufficient evidence can be presented that proves the marriage void, you have to remain married for at least 60 days before an annulment can be granted." Jasper braced himself for the explosion he was sure would follow his explanation.
"What?" Bella and Edward exclaimed at the same time, shock and anger waging a war as the predominant emotion on each of their faces.
"You mean we have to stay married?" Edward seethed, clenching his fists tightly together to prevent himself from hitting something.
"Yes," Jasper answered him calmly, "for the next 60 days you have to be Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cullen."
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A/N: Hello my lovelies! So what do you think? Yay? Nay? I want all of your opinions and whether or not I should continue this story. I got this idea when I was going for a run the other day. I put my ipod on shuffle and "Last Name" came on and I started thinking that a drunken Vegas wedding for Edward and Bella would be very amusing and before I knew all these ideas started running rampant in my mind. And to make matters more interesting (for me at least) the next two songs that came on played perfectly in the direction that my mental outline was going so I figured I could use the songs as an underlying theme for each chapter. So basically what I am going to do is put my ipod/itunes on shuffle and whatever song pops up first is going to be my inspiration for that chapter. Don't worry, I have a solid idea of how this story is going to play out, but I figured I could use the songs as inspiration to keep myself from rushing to the conclusion. Also, I know this chapter was pretty heavy on dialogue and didn't delve to deeply into any underlying emotions and what not but I didn't want this chapter to go on forever and cutting it short anywhere else just didn't feel right.
So now, after that incredibly long note, please click that pretty little button below and tell me yay, or nay, or if I should continue this story, or you could even tell me how much you would love to be Mrs. Edward Cullen. I know I would! ;)