** I don't own the characters, except the new ones (Joe and Bethany)
**I don't own the songs either. All rights go to the owners of everything. I own nothing. Just the idea for a karaoke place where Edward and Bella meet…By the way the karaoke place is real. It's in Seymour, Tennessee.
*(A/N) I was sitting in class at school when I had the idea for this. Originally it was a school talent show but that's been done before so I tried another idea and this just came to me cause I was thinking about the karaoke place. This is my first fanfic so please be nice. I'll update as often as I can. Let me know if I should continue.
Enough from me. Let's get this show on the road! (:
I sat at one of the many brightly colored tables with stars on them staring at the cds taped to the walls waiting on something. Anything. I'm not really sure what I was waiting on, but here I was waiting. Angela was sitting beside me across from Ben. She'd convinced me to come to this karaoke place but I wasn't sure why. It wasn't like I was any fun to be around. I haven't been since the day Edward left me in the forest. Angela was flipping through the book with song titles in it to find one she wanted to sing. I didn't know she could sing but apparently she could if she wanted to go on stage and sing in front of the hundreds of people here. I felt like something big was going to happen tonight and I couldn't shake the thoughts of Edward from my mind. That was weird. I could usually block him out when it hurt too much but I just couldn't do it tonight. It felt like he was close to me somehow but I knew he wasn't. It was spring break for crying out loud. We were in Tennessee. It wasn't likely for him to be here. It's almost always sunny. We had come to Tennessee for spring break because Angela felt like it would be fun to experience a different place so she researched and found a small town in Tennessee that was very tourist friendly. That was where we were now. Angela had decided on a song and she went to the computer to put her name in. The announcer called a girl up to the stage named "Bethany" she looked about 15. She grabbed the microphone stand and placed it in the middle of the stage as the music began to play. I knew the song immediately. I'd listened to it multiple times when Edward left. The song was White Horse by Taylor Swift. The girl was a very good singer. She kept looking at a specific table and I suspected she was singing for a specific boy. I looked at the table and saw it was filled with a bunch of 15 to 16 year olds and one guy who looked like he was in charge and about 27. I sat there and let the words sink in.
I'm not a princess this aint a fairytale I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet lead her up the stairwell this aint Hollywood this is a small town I was a dreamer before you went and let me down now it's too late for you and your white horse to come around
I looked up again to see the boy she was singing to get up and walk out of the room and out the door. I didn't have my head with me so I got up and followed the boy to see why he had left. I ran up to the stranger and touched his shoulder to stop him.
"What!?!?!" he shouted as he turned around.
"I'm sorry. I just saw you leave and I wanted to know if I could help you." I answered him as his expression softened.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were gonna be somebody else." He said with a thick Tennessee accent. "I'm guessin you're not from around here?"
"It's fine. And no I'm not from around here. I'm from a small town in Washington. I'm on spring break. Oh before I forget, what is your name?" I replied to him. He looked hurt. There was a deep sadness in his eyes.
"My name is Joe. And you're probably wonderin why Bethany was singing that song to me and why I left aren't ya? I can tell. Don't try to deny it." Joe replied to me in a strange voice.
"Yes, actually. I was wondering that." I said.
"Well, I'll start off by, I'm here on a trip with my high school marching band. We decided to come to karaoke so that's why we're here. Anyways, me and Bethany have known each other since the seventh grade and I've always loved her since I first saw her but, I don't know, things are just weird with us. And she knows I like her and she likes me too-"
"Well that's awesome! Why don't you two date?" I interrupted him. Then blushed when he stared at me waiting for me to finish. "Go ahead. I'm sorry."
"So she likes me too, but people make fun of her all the time for different reasons so I have to act like a jerk with her and she ends up hating me after that and that's why she sang that song to me." Joe finished his story.
"Oh, Joe I'm sorry." I said to him. "But hey, why don't you just move on then so you can stop hurting her?"
"Because—what's your name?"
"Bella."
"Right, Bella. Because, Bella, I can't do that. I love her." He said angrily.
Just as he was saying this, another teenage boy with blonde hair came up and called for him so we both walked back inside.
I walked over to Angela and sat down.
"There you are. I was beginning to get worried. Who was that kid anyways?" Angela said as soon as I sat down.
"His name is Joe, and he has relationship problems and I let him get it all out cause I felt sorry for the kid. I mean it was obvious that girl was singing to him." I said to her, putting my head on the table.
"Yeah, poor kid." Ben said.
Just then the announcer said Angela's name and she rushed up to the stage to sing her song. The music came on and I wasn't surprised to hear Faith Hill's song This Kiss come on. Angela always loved that song. It was a given she'd sing it. She sang her song, smiling at Ben the whole time and when she got down off the stage she had a mischievous smile on her face. That's when I heard it.
"Okay, great job Angela. Alright coming up next on the stage we have Bella Swan. Everyone give it up for Bella!" the announcer said.
I sat straight up. "WHAT!?!?! Ang, you've GOT to be kidding me!" I yelled.
"Nope. Just go, Bella. I know you can sing, I've heard you." She said encouragingly as she pulled me towards the stage.
I walked up on the stage and grabbed the mic. I wasn't sure what I was singing but I hoped I would know it. I had heard many people tonight who didn't know the song at all. I didn't want that embarrassment. I looked out in the crowd and my mind betrayed me. I thought I saw all of the Cullens sitting at a table but I shook my head and listened to the music for Cold as You by Taylor Swift come on.
You have a way of coming easily to me
And when you take, you take the very best of me
So I start a fight cause I need to feel something
And you do what you want cause I'm not what you wanted
Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day
Just walk away, ain't no use defending words that you will never say
And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through
I've never been anywhere cold as you
You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray
And I stood there loving you and wished them all away
And you come away with a great little story
Of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you
Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day
So just walk away, ain't no use defending words that you will never say
And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through
I've never been anywhere cold as you
You never did give a damn thing honey but I cried, cried for you
And I know you wouldn't have told nobody if I died, died for you
Died for you
Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day
Every smile you fake is so condescending
Counting all the scars you made
And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through
I've never been anywhere cold as you
I walked off the stage and caught Joe's eye. He gave me a strange look and I shook it off and went to sit down with Angela.
"Alright, nice job Bella! Sounds like someone made a big mistake with you." The announcer said. He had no idea. "Now we have Edward Cullen singing for us now. Come on up here Edward." I froze in my tracks. There was no way he was here. Was there? How was this possible? I needed to get out of there. I ran straight for the bathroom as Edward walked up on the stage and grabbed the mic to start singing. I heard the beginning of the music very clearly, it was Sorry by Jonas Brothers. I tried not to think of what that meant.
Broken hearts and last goodbyes
Restless nights by lullabies helps make this pain go away
I realize I let you down, told you that I'd be around
Building up the strength just to say
As I stepped in the bathroom I could still hear his voice muffled by the walls. He sounded as beautiful as ever. The door opened and I saw one of the people I thought I would never see again…Alice.
I'm sorry for breaking all the promises
That I wasn't around to keep
You told me this time is the last time
That I will ever beg you to stay
But you're already on your way
I ran into the bathroom stall and locked the door. I crouched down on the ground and put my arms across my knees and my head on my arms.
"Bella, please don't do this. Just listen to him. He's saying it all in the song." Alice said to me as she walked up to me.
"Alice, I can't. He…..he left. He doesn't……want me." I said, trying not to cry.
Filled with sorrow, filled with pain
Knowing that I am to blame for leaving your heart out in the rain
And I know you're going to walk away
Leave me with the price to pay, before you go I wanted to say
I listened to the words and got up off of the floor and opened the door to see Alice standing right in front of me. She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the bathroom to where Edward was still onstage and was now staring at me singing.
I'm sorry for breaking all the promises
That I wasn't around to keep
You told me this time is the last time
That I will ever beg you to stay
But you're already on your way
Alice walked me up to the standing area beside the stage where the steps were and then backed away. Edward turned while singing and started walking to me. I closed my eyes and begged myself to wake up and pinched myself but it hurt so I realized I wasn't dreaming. Edward got right to me and started singing again.
I can't make it alive on my own
But if you have to go then please girl just leave me alone
'Cause I don't wanna see you and me going our separate ways
Begging you to stay if it isn't too late
The passion in his golden eyes was breathtaking. He grabbed my hand and sang straight to me. It felt like there was no one else in this room. I wasn't even aware of Joe staring at me wondering what was going on.
I'm sorry for breaking all the promises
That I wasn't around to keep
It's all of me, this time is the last time
I will ever beg you to stay
But you're already on your way
But you're already on your way
At the end of the song he handed the microphone to Alice and grabbed both of my hands to take me outside. Angela shot me a look and I didn't know what to do so I just nodded it was okay. She seemed fine with it. We walked out to the gift shop area while the announcer said "Well I guess we know who that song was for. Now we have Alice, Rosalie, and Esme. Come on up here ladies." I watched them rush up to the stage on the TV that was in the gift shop as Edward led me outside. The song had just started when we walked out and it was Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
Edward turned to me once we were outside and started to speak but I put my finger on his lips and made him stop.
"Edward, I don't wanna hear it. I know you're probably feeling guilty about leaving me because you know that I've been cutting because Alice probably saw it but you have to stop it. Cutting is just my way of getting through the pain and it helps. I know you don't love me so please just spare my feelings once." I said and Edward looked really angry after all of this.
"Bella," he said through clenched teeth. "You honestly think I'm just guilty? I still love you. More than my own life. Did you not hear a word of my song? I sang it just for you. I love you so much. Why can't you see that? I lied that day in the forest. I never meant any of it. I left to protect you. But I guess my leaving did you no good at all according to the song you sang." His velvet voice got softer towards the end.
I couldn't believe it. There was no way he lied about that. Why would he ever love me? I looked up at Edward and scrunched up my face, trying not to cry.
"I wish I could believe you, I really do. But I just don't see why anyone as perfect as you would love me. I think I get why you left. It was the easy way out. But don't try and come back and tell me it was all a lie because I know you lied about one thing. You either lied about loving me, or lied about not loving me. The not loving me seems more rational." I said and then walked off to go sit down with Angela.