Hey guys, here's a brand new story for you all who love me so very much :) I've kinda half-given up on my other story, Listen to your Heart, and I came up with this idea instead. I hope you all like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, the super amazing Stephenie Meyer does.
BPoV
"So, what do you think, Bella?" asked Emily as she popped the earbuds in my ears and turned up the volume.
"The instrumental is really loud; it's hard to make out the singing. It sounds pretty alright, nothing too scary or preppy there," I responded.
"Yay! So does that mean you'll come to the concert with me? Please Bella, please?" she begged.
"Sure, why not, Em. I've been dying to get out of this hell hole called Forks, Washington anyway," I sighed.
"Great! I've already booked the flight and the hotel room so everything's set for tomorrow," she said grinning.
"Whoa, hold on there! What do you mean "hotel room"? How long are we staying? And, did you just say TOMORROW??!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah the concert is tomorrow and we'll be in Phoenix for three days. I thought it would be nice to get out of Forks too."
You're probably wondering "what the hell is going on here?" right? It seems I must back track a bit. I'm Bella Swan, and that's Emily my best friend. She's been dying to go see a concert in Phoenix by the band, Vampire. She had two tickets and wanted me to come with her. She'd been bugging me for days about it. When the story begins, we were both lying across her bed, and she wanted me to listen to one of Vampire's songs. So anyways back to where we left off…
"Okay, Em. So then shall we be packing?" I asked. She got up off the bed and walked over to our small, shared walk-in closet. The little apartment that we shared wasn't big enough to fit two normal sized closets. She opened the mirror-panelled sliding door.
"Done already, Bells," she said, beaming as she waved her hand at the two packed, small suitcases on the floor.
I shook my head and laughed. "Wow hun, for a 21-year old you sure are organized! I swear I'll never get used to that."
"And yet you still love me for it," she said still smiling, "oh and I hear that they're going to be having a random contest thing where they pick two girls from the crowd and they win a date with one of the band members!" she came back and sat beside me on her bed again.
"Hey that actually sounds pretty cool. Just as long as the band isn't a bunch of ugly people that is!" I said and chuckled, "they all look good, right?"
"Good is an understatement. You'll see for yourself tomorrow. But right now, if you haven't noticed, it is nearly 10:00 pm and the flight tomorrow is at 10:00am. You need a good night's sleep because I don't want you to have dark circles when you wake up and the flight is long so yeah," she replied. I laughed once. Emily could sometimes act too much older than she really is.
"Yeah you're right. I'm going to shower first this time so that I can still get hot water," I said as I walked into the bathroom. I saw her roll her eyes from the corner of my eye.
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The next day, we were up, cleaned, fed and dressed ready to go to the airport. I noticed that my suitcase felt particularly heavy for such a small bag.
"Em, what did you do put rocks in this bag? I don't have such heavy clothing especially if we'll only be gone 3 days," I said to her.
"I know, I put a few extra items in there. Trust me, you'll be glad that I did," she responded with a wink. If it's one thing I've learnt about Emily is that you don't bet against her. Somehow she always was right about things. I didn't press the subject.
The flight was long and, at times, boring. Em thought of the ingenious idea of buying magazines to read instead of watching the boring in-flight movie.
We finally landed in Phoenix at about 2:00 since our flight was delayed for two hours due to rain. Typical Forks. Emily was pretty distressed about the delay because it mean that we "only get 4 hours to get ready for the concert!" to use her words. Emily was definitely the more fashion-forward out of the two of us, and nothing pleased her more than getting to play dress-up and make-up on someone else.
We arrived at the hotel at 2:30 and we went to check in. While Em went to deal with all the paperwork I scanned the lobby with my eyes. The place was pretty crowded. I figured that it was due to the concert. Most people were teenage girls and their boyfriends and best friends. I sighed when I saw all the couples. I really never had any form of steady relationship with a guy in the past, and it was starting to get to me now especially since Emily now has a boyfriend.
"Come on Bella lets go put our stuff in the room so that we can go eat!" Emily said, snapping me out of my trance, "the concert is at 6 you know!"
"Okay, okay lets go then," I replied, and she led us off to our room. Once we were settled in, I ordered take-out. I wanted to have something more filling like TGIF, but Em had a feeling that we should eat light. I knew better than to argue with Em when she has her "feelings". When we had finished eating and were showered, I sat on my twin bed in my bath robe while Emily went to pick out something for me to wear. Of course she was already dressed and her hair done, so she had no problem spending the last 2 hours before the concert making me look good. She went into my suitcase and took out a midnight blue ¾-sleeved scoop-neck shirt and a pair of dark jeans for me. She also took out my favourite pair of navy blue low top chucks and a LOT of chunky rocker jewellery too, to keep the outfit from seeming formal. She also tossed me an unfamiliar black push-up bra and thong set as well.
"Umm, Em, two things," I said as I looked at the lingerie in my hands, "one, this isn't mine I don't own anything like this. And two, why would I need this?"
"I told you I put a few things in there. I bought this for you before you agreed to go with me. And you'll see why you will want these," she said and winked at me. Totally confused, I went back into the bathroom and put on the clothes and jewellery. I looked at myself in the mirror briefly and then went out to show Emily.
"Em, why can't I just wear my own normal underwear? I'm going to feel so awkward," I complained.
"Bella you look great! And you have a great body so I just want to accentuate it! I saw you eyeing all those couples in the lobby and figured that you must really hate being single, so why not let you get some attention tonight?!" she said enthusiastically.
"Emily, it's a concert, nobody will be looking at me," I said. Even if people noticed me, I'm just so plain and boring nobody could want me. I had brown hair and brown eyes…so typical. And I didn't exactly have the figure of a swimsuit model either, so I really don't know what or who she was talking about when she said "great body".
"Bella, am I ever wrong?" she asked, staring me square in the eyes, "trust me, there is going to be one particular guy who is going to notice you tonight." She smiled.
"I still don't know how you can be so freakishly and uncannily accurate about these things so I'll just accept it," I surrendered.
"Good, because I don't want to spend long arguing with you when I can be doing your hair so come on let's get to it!" she said pushing me into the bathroom again. She finally released me about 20 minutes before the concert was scheduled to start. We both stepped back and looked at me in the mirror.
"Wow, I think I did a pretty good job on you, Bella! You look gorgeous! Not that you don't always do," she said smiling at me.
I had to admit I looked nice. Maybe not gorgeous, but then again, what did I know? I never thought highly of my appearance.
"Define gorgeous," I replied.
"Bella, don't let me start," she said, her lips slipping into a pout. I just rolled my eyes and the smile returned to her face. We grabbed the tickets and headed out.
We reached the concert just in time and found our seats quickly. I was so surprised when I saw Emily leading us up to the front row. I knew she was a die-hard Vampire fan, but I didn't think she would go this far. The concert started with a simple instrumental, which Em loved since she totally adored the drummer. It was during their first real song when I saw him. I was suddenly grateful for being in the front row- aside from all the screaming girls- because it allowed such an amazing view. He had bronze coloured-hair and beautiful emerald green eyes. He was the lead singer and guitarist for the band. I was truly dazzled.
"Hey, Em," I managed to say audibly, "who's that guy up front who's singing?"
"Oh that's Edward Cullen. Lead singer and guitarist and the heartthrob of the band," she replied. I could see what she meant. He was absolutely gorgeous. As the concert progressed, I began to like their music more and more, and not just because Edward was singing, though his voice did captivate me. It was a good thing that the speakers were powerful, because I would never have been able to hear over the mass of screaming girls.
At the end of the last song, Edward took the microphone and spoke.
"I hope you all had a great time because we sure did! Now, to end the night, we'd like to announce the winners of the random contest!" All the girls went crazy. "The winning tickets are……numbers 377 and 378!" I looked down at my ticket stub and was shocked. There it was number 377. I looked over at Em who was bouncing with excitement. Hers said 378. "Will the owners of these tickets please come and bring them onstage now!" Emily and I pushed our way through the crowd and managed to get onstage where a bouncer was placed to check the tickets. We showed them to him and he congratulated us as we went to stand beside Edward on stage. As I got closer to him I felt myself blush a little.
"It looks like we've found our winners! Congratulations to you both! I'll see you backstage!" he said, and the bouncer led us backstage. We were grinning like two idiots I'm sure. A few minutes later, Edward and the rest of the band joined us. Again, I felt a tiny blush creep onto my face.
"So did you two lovely ladies enjoy the concert?" Edward said in his velvety voice.
"Why yes we did, it was awesome. Hey, I'm Bella, and this is Emily," I said.
"It's really great to meet you both," he replied, shaking my hand and then Em's. "Let me introduce you to the rest of the band. This blonde and this crazy pixie lady are Rosalie and Alice, and they're the backup singers. The muscular dude is Emmett, and the dirty blonde guy is Jasper. Emmett plays second guitar and Jasper's on the drums." I stole a quick glance at Emily and saw her swooning over Jasper with a huge blush on her cheeks.
"Nice to meet you all too," Emily responded.
"I just want to let you know from now that everyone in the band has a boyfriend or girlfriend except for me. Alice is with Jasper, and Rosalie is with Emmett," Edward said.
"That's okay, Emily here has a boyfriend, so I'm the single one," I replied.
"Okay," he said, and a small smile pulled at the corner of his lovely lips. He started leading us outside.
"May I ask where we're going?" asked Emily as the bouncers opened the doors that would lead us outside.
"We're all pretty hungry, so we're gonna hit Red Lobster. Is that cool with you girls?" asked Jasper. Emily blushed.
"Yes that's fine," I replied. Em was right about eating light earlier.
"Hey, and, no need to be so formal when you talk," said Edward with a small smile. I smiled back and nodded my head. He had a really sweet smile. When we were outside, I noticed the HUGE stretch limo waiting for us. My jaw dropped. I racked my brain trying to remember how to close it. Edward chuckled.
"You've never been in a limo have you?" he said.
"No never, not even for high school prom," I replied.
"Well I'm sure you'll enjoy it," he said smiling. The chauffer opened the door for us and Edward said, "Ladies first." He let me and Emily in before him, and Jasper and the others followed after. The others weren't really keeping up a conversation with us, but Emily, Alice and Jasper seemed to be getting along really well. I sat at the far end of the limo, by the opposite window, Emily beside me, and Edward sat directly in front of me. It was one of those fancy limos where the two rows of seats were facing each other. I marvelled at the sleek interior design of the limo. It had so many features.
"So where are you girls from?" Edward asked.
"We're from a small town called Forks in Washington," replied Emily.
"That's cool. Is it nice there?" he asked.
"Well, if you like constant rain and clouds and the most unstable weather in the continental US then sure it's a great place," I said. Edward laughed and looked me straight in the eyes. "Yeah and that doesn't really help seeing as I'm a total klutz."
"Yeah, it's true. Even when it's not raining she trips over her own feet," added Emily. Edward laughed again.
"Don't worry, it hardly ever rains here, but if you should fall I'll catch you," Edward said smiling.
"Just hope that I don't pull you down with me by accident," I laughed.
"You're really funny, Bella. I like that," he said, still holding my gaze. I definitely blushed that time. Emily glanced across from her conversation with Alice to look at us. She smiled.
"Hey, Bella, you're shoe's untied," she pointed out, probably noticing my unwillingness to tear my gaze from his. But I did manage to look down and surely enough my shoe was untied. I bent down a bit to re-tie it, and as I was I felt Edward's gaze on my now partially exposed chest. I wasn't totally sure if he was looking down my shirt.
"I really like your shoes, Bella, they're so unique and creative," Edward commented. He was referring to all the drawings and writings I had all over them. "Do you mind if I sign them?"
"Not at all go for it!" I replied happily. He pulled a marker out from a small compartment in the limo, and I lifted my foot high enough so that he could write easily. He wrote with such elegant cursive.
"There," he said once he was done, "Now you'll be the only girl in Forks sporting Edward Cullen's signature on your shoes." He smiled.
"Hey, I just realized that! Thanks! This is awesome, by the way," I replied.
"Any, time," he said simply and I sat up. "Your shoes go great with your outfit, which looks really nice by the way. Midnight blue is definitely your colour." I blushed again. Yeah, he was soooo looking down my shirt. I had to laugh though.
"You sound just like Emily!" I laughed.
"How so?" he asked.
"You just gave me fashion advice. Emily is always the one doing that since I'm not exactly what you'd call fashion-forward. My only input in this outfit was the shoes," I replied. He laughed.
"Well you completed it perfectly," he said with a smile. I blushed again. I couldn't believe that a rock star was flirting with me! And a super hot one at that! We pulled up in front of Red Lobster then. The chauffer opened the door for us and Edward and I were the last to exit the limo. I looked around.
"What? Did you lose something?" asked Edward.
"No, no I didn't. I was just wondering how come you've not been flocked by paparazzi," I replied. He chuckled.
"You see Little Timmy over there?" he asked, pointing to my left.
"The bodyguard?"
"Yeah. Whenever he comes anywhere with us they tend to stay clear. He's much more intimidating than the others."
I laughed and he led us inside. The restaurant wasn't very crowded, which kind of surprised me, but most of the longer tables were filled, so we decided to use two booths. I sat in a booth with Edward in front of me, Emily beside me and Alice in front of her. Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie sat in the booth behind us. Emily seemed to be becoming good friends with Alice. They seemed to have a lot in common. The waiter came and took our orders quickly.
"So, Bella," began Edward, "what do you like to do in your spare time?"
"Well, I'm in college right now, but I really like to play the piano, and I'm not very good but, I like to sing and I even sometimes write songs," I replied blushing slightly. I couldn't believe I was telling a super hot and amazingly talented rock star that I liked to sing and write songs.
"That's pretty awesome and I'm sure you're amazing," he said smiling. I shrugged.
"Oh Bella, don't be so modest!" exclaimed Emily, "She is an amazing singer and pianist Edward. Don't let her modesty fool you." I blushed furiously and nudged Emily in her side gently.
"Hey, it's cool. I just guess this means that you'll have to sing for me," Edward said with a wink.
"WH-WHA-WHAT?? NO! NO! I-I- I can't sing no, no—"I began.
"Hey, no worries, you don't have to do it now," Edward laughed, "but I would love to hear you." I sighed in relief. It would be so mortifying for me to sing for Edward and sound horrible.
"So what do you like to do in your free time?" I asked him.
"I like to do all the same stuff that you do. Only, I also like to play the guitar," he replied, "I was actually kind of surprised when you didn't say shopping as part of your list."
"Really? Why?" I asked, curious.
"Because I thought that all pretty girls liked shopping," he said softly. I blushed. Did he just call me pretty??
"Oh. Well, I don't know about the pretty part, but I've never really liked shopping. It's so tiring," I said. He rolled his eyes and was about to say something to me when the waiter returned with our food. We didn't continue our conversation until we had finished eating. Emily and Alice had moved to the other booth to sit with everyone else, leaving me and Edward alone at the table. We just talked a bit longer still getting to know each other, before we had to leave. We continued talking and laughing in the limo. Too soon, we pulled up in front of the hotel. We got out of the limo and Edward escorted us to the front door.
"I had a really great time tonight," he began, "Bella, you are like no other girl I've met before. Most girls go all crazy when they see me or talk to me, and are always all over me trying to touch me or get my autograph or steal something from me so that they can go make a shrine out of it." He laughed. "You are the one girl who saw past the rock star image and saw the real me, and proved to be a friend to me. I didn't feel as if I was talking to a crazed fan girl tonight, I felt like I was talking to an old friend, and I'm so happy for that." I blushed. He turned to Em and said, "And Emily, I think Alice has found a friend in you, and I know she would love to go shopping with you some time." She smiled. He turned to me and said, " If you'll be in town, would you ladies like to join me tomorrow at the roller rink?"
"I'm sorry, but I think I'll have to pass on that one. I need to call my boyfriend. I miss him terribly," said Em.
"Oh, well it was nice meeting you, Emily," he said as she went ahead into the hotel once again leaving me almost alone with Edward.
"How about you, Bella? Would you like to come with me?" he asked me, looking deep into my eyes.
"You mean like a date?" I asked.
"Sure, why not?" he replied smiling.
"Wow, I didn't know these things were valid for a second date as well," I said, still holding the ticket stub in my hand.
"No, this is my personal invitation to a very sweet and very pretty girl by the name of Bella," he said smiling wider, pushing a lock of my hair that was in my face behind my ear. I blushed and smiled—he called me pretty --not only at his statement but at the contact between us. His fingers were so soft against my skin.
"Sure, I'd love to go tomorrow with you," I replied.
"Great," he said, and he smiled a breathtaking crooked smile, "I'll pick you up at 12 tomorrow okay?"
"Okay," I said smiling and blushing.
"And I'll use my car this time," he added. I just smiled. "Bye, Bella," he said and he lifted his fingers to caress my face once.
"Bye, Edward. Thanks for a great night," I whispered. He dropped his hand and began to walk back to the limo. I went back up to the hotel room to find a very, VERY excited Emily waiting for me.
"So? Did you accept? Are you going? Did he kiss you? TELL ME EVERYTHING!!" she demanded.
"Okay, okay calm down I'll tell you!" I said. I went and sat down on the sofa before beginning, "so he asked me to go with him and I asked if it was like a date and he said yes and I said 'wow I didn't know these things were valid for a second date' and he laughed and said 'no this is my personal invitation to a very sweet and very pretty girl by the name of Bella' and I said yes I'd go with him and he said he'd pick me up in his car at 12 tomorrow and then as he said bye he caressed my face and I said thanks for a great night and that was it."
"AWWWWW!!! That's sooooooo sweet!!!" she exclaimed, "I knew he'd ask you out again!"
"Wait, what? How?" I asked.
"Didn't you notice the way he was looking at you, and into your eyes? Didn't you notice the way that you two were so deep in conversation? Did you not notice him flirting with you all night? It was so obvious!" she replied.
"I guess I did kinda notice," I admitted shyly. I blushed as I replayed the night over in my head.
"Bella, are you BLUSHING?" she asked in shock. I didn't respond, I just turned my head and blushed harder. "You ARE! Bella, do you LIKE Edward Cullen?" she asked, turning me around to face her. I blushed at the sound of his name. I knew there was no way to hide my blush so I had to answer her.
"Okay, fine I'll admit it. Yes I do like Edward Cullen," I said, involuntarily blushing again as Emily's face lit up, "Tonight was so perfect, but the fact that I just went out on a date with THE Edward Cullen makes it seem too good to be true. I don't even know if he likes me back. Gosh I feel like a 16 year old girl all over again. And plus, now I probably sound like a crazed fan girl, which is exactly what I don't want to happen! Edward doesn't like crazed fans. "
"Oh Bella! Look, you don't sound like a fan girl and its okay if you like him, because I know that you like him more than just a really great musician. You like him as a person, and he really appreciates that. I'm sure that by the time the three days is over he'll like you back," she said.
"Yeah, but don't you see? There's the problem! We'll only be here for 3 days. What if tomorrow goes really well and he starts to like me back? What will I do I can't just go back to Forks and leave him here like that!" I complained.
"Well hun, let's see how tomorrow goes and then we can worry about after, okay?" she comforted and hugged me to her side.
"Alright, I guess. Do you think that he honestly thinks I'm pretty?" I asked.
"Are you kidding? He thinks you are drop-dead gorgeous!" she exclaimed.
"Seriously, Em," I said.
"I am serious! When he first saw you, his facial expression gave him away. And then in the limo, when you bent down to tie your shoe, he was looking down your shirt and you should have seen his eyes bug out! I swear they were going to pop out of his head! Aren't you glad I made you wear what I did?" she responded. I blushed. So he was looking down my shirt. Well at least he liked what he saw.
"But how do you know that he thinks I'm pretty?" I asked, still not having totally received the answer to my question.
"I'm a psychology major and a body-language minor, Bella, in case you've forgotten. It's not that difficult for me to read people," she answered with a smirk on her face. I sighed. "Come on, Bella, it's almost midnight. You should get some rest."
"Okay, I am a bit tired anyhow," I sighed. As I lay down in my bed I thought over all the things I did tonight with Edward. His glorious face was the last thing that ran through my mind before I finally fell asleep.