A/N Thanks to Pretty Flour for prereading and PTB for beta'ing. I have played around with this after they worked their magic so all mistakes are mine.
I own nothing. It's all Stephenie Meyer!
Chapter 2 - Mia's present - my motherfucking nightmare!
BPOV
I raced home, practically hyperventilating. I couldn't believe I had actually said what I did to Edward Cullen.
Yes, you did say it to him, but you didn't bloody well do it to him, did you?
Alice, Angela, and I shared a small three bedroom, first floor apartment on East 75th street. It was nothing flashy, but it suited me fine. Down the corridor from the entrance was the bathroom. Next to it was a small kitchen, separated from the lounge area by a glassless window, which we often used as a breakfast bar. All three bedrooms were next to each other and led into the lounge; we had just enough room for a small couch, two beanbags and our TV. I saw my roommates chatting over on the couch.
"Hey, you're home early." Alice peered over the back of the sofa and grinned at me. It was impossible not to grin back; she had such an infectious smile and laugh. All through the years we had been friends, she hadn't changed. Alice had always been a bit wild and very straight-talking. She was shorter than me, with a tiny frame, and had really short black spiky hair with a sweeping fringe.
"Yeah, it was dead. Art let me go because there was only Mr. Connolly, and one of his...erm...old friends still there." I paused mid-conversation; should I have mentioned who the friend was, exactly?
No, Alice is not a prude like you; she would have straddled him regardless of where he was. It would appear Inner-Bella wasn't above possessive behaviour.
I walked around and plopped down on the one of the beanbags to talk to my friends.
"Was Mr. Connolly asleep again?" Angela giggled.
This girl was hilarious. When she was around, there was never a dull moment. Angela could always be relied upon to do something daft; she didn't usually pay attention to what she was doing, and was always falling off chairs, or walking into doors. We often wondered how on earth she managed as a nurse without causing more harm than good. Angela was about the same height as me, really skinny though, with shoulder-length black hair.
"Of course, Ange." I laughed. "I don't know how he does it!"
"Who was the friend?" Alice enquired. "Was he hot?"
Of course, my expression gave her the answer. "Ooh, spill, Swan. How hot?"
Both girls were suddenly very interested and stared at me wide-eyed. How much should I tell them, exactly? I decided that I could share everything, except for his actual identity. It would only cause more questions than answers, and Edward seemed like a pretty decent guy; he didn't need me announcing to the world where he liked to hang out when he got a bit of time to himself.
"If I just say I secretly called him 'Mr. Delicious', would that answer your question?" I smirked and waggled my eyebrows. Then I proceeded to tell them what had happened.
After I told them what I'd said when I was leaving the bar, they both burst out laughing. I didn't know if that was a response to what I had said to him, or the fact that I had said it.
"I bet he's there on Friday night. Well, why wouldn't he be after that comment?" Alice said, clapping her hands excitedly.
Even after everything that had happened in England and Seattle, she was constantly trying to get me back out into the world of men and sex, insisting that I might as well have as much of both as I could. Usually, I would brush off her remarks because I really didn't need the stress. On this occasion, however, I would have loved for her to be right, but when he did show on Friday, it would only be to talk to his friend.
Of course he won't be there! He will be somewhere else, taking his pick of women who WOULD have straddled him and ripped his shirt open!
"I doubt that, Al. Look, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to be up at six in the morning. I'm going for a quick shower. See you later, peeps."
~x~
All hopes for sleep were lost. I was still wide awake at three the next morning, thinking of none other than Mr. Delicious. I just couldn't shake him from my thoughts. The hair, the eyes, the nose, the hands, the bum...
These thoughts were also accompanied by warnings; flirting with Edward Cullen was idiotic and didn't really sit well with keeping under the radar, hiding from the world, etc. God knows how long I was lying there, but eventually I drifted off to sleep. When my alarm went off at six, I almost burst into tears, but I dragged myself from my toasty bed and into the bathroom to get ready.
Getting up an hour earlier just to perfect my face and hair was most definitely not me. I savoured every minute in my bed, and I always got up as late as possible. This was an instance, however, that I should have been one of those girls. I muttered in disgust as I took in my reflection; I looked like a corpse, and having gone to bed without drying my hair, it now resembled a punk wig. I brushed my hair back into a ponytail and quickly applied a bit of makeup, hoping I could at least pass for a human and not a zombie. I dressed in my jogging clothes - I always used the journey to and from work to go running. I grabbed my rucksack, which contained my change of clothes for work, and left the apartment.
The family I worked for were fantastic; Mr. and Mrs. Ross lived in a plush brownstone on Central Park West with their two kids, Mia and Benjamin. Mr. Ross was a partner in a highly successful law firm and Mrs. Ross was a math professor over at NYU. Mia, their thirteen-year old daughter, was a handful, to put it mildly. Mr. and Mrs. Ross had only ever planned on having the one child, so they lavished her with gifts and attention. Basically, what Mia wanted, Mia got, and she was spoilt rotten. At first, she had been a complete cow with me and would try to get me into trouble with her parents at every opportunity. I very nearly quit after the first week, but I needed a job, so I stuck at it and she came around soon enough. In fact, now she looked to me as her "funky" older sister and saved all the usual teenage tantrums for her parents.
Benjamin, on the other hand, was adorable. He was just two and had the face of an angel, big blue Bambi eyes with a mop of curly blond hair. This one gave me no trouble.
Mr. and Mrs. Ross worked long hours, but when they were at home, they were very hands-on-parents. When Mrs. Ross had gone back to work after Benjamin had been born, she had no intentions of taking on a live-in nanny. They simply wanted someone to look after Ben and Mia-when she wasn't at school-whilst they were at work. As Mrs. Ross worked term times, she got most of the school holidays to spend at home, so I had the summer holidays more or less to myself. The time off worked beautifully for me; occasionally I would be asked to look after the children while Mrs. Ross ran errands, but that was a rarity.
I entered the house and was instantly met by little Ben hurtling to my side. "Hello, little fella." I picked him up and went to say hello to everyone.
Mr. Ross had already left for work, but I could hear Mrs. Ross upstairs barking at Mia to get out of her room and get her breakfast. A few minutes later, she made her way downstairs, still shouting for Mia.
"Hi, Bella. I'm sorry, but Mia has only just surfaced. I've got to head straight out, could you make sure she gets some breakfast? " she asked as she headed for the door.
"Yeah fine. Come on, buddy, let's go get your sister!" I ran upstairs with Benjamin to see what Mia was doing.
Mia was awake, but hadn't emerged from her covers. I promised to do her hair for school if she got straight up. Bribery did the trick, and she was downstairs in a flash.
After Ben and I had taken Mia to school, I picked up a few groceries for the kids' dinner; I always prepared their meals and usually ate with them. When I was back in the house, I put Ben down for his nap and tidied up a little, as was my routine. I was still preoccupied with Mr. Delicious and found myself drifting off into fantasyland, wondering what it would have been like to kiss him, touch him, and squeeze his lovely little bum...
The day passed quickly, and Ben and I walked to collect Mia from school. On our way home, we passed a billboard, and my stomach did little flips as I saw the advertisement for Zeus' new album, making a mental note to go out and buy a copy. Mia also noticed it and began shrieking and bouncing up and down.
"Guess what, Bella? Daddy got me some tickets to go and see Zeus tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden. Mom's taking me and Abbey. How cool is that? I'm so excited!"
I stifled a laugh and replied with mock enthusiasm, "Lucky you, I wish I was going. Better hide your ticket, Mia or I might steal it!"
Mia squealed with laughter and immediately launched into one of their songs. As we continued on, I let myself daydream about his gorgeous face, his hair, his chest, his bum...
I typically finished around five–five thirty, but tonight Mrs. Ross called to say she would be late and didn't arrive home until just after six. I was just getting ready to head home when she stopped me.
"I wouldn't usually ask more from you during the week, Bella, but I have an emergency meeting tomorrow night with the board, and I won't be home until at least nine. Could you take Mia and Abbey to the concert for me? Paul will be home to watch Ben. I hate to ask, but I have to attend this meeting."
She knew I'd say yes, of course; I was a complete soft touch. I told myself a free concert wouldn't be too bad. After all, I would be able to stare blatantly at Mr. Delicious without him noticing!
Yay, we get to see Mr. Delicious again.
"No problem, Carole, I'd love to."
Mrs. Ross gave me the details about the concert and then I said goodnight. I finally arrived home just after seven. Only Alice was there as Angela was working a late shift over at Presbyterian Hospital; she was a nurse on the Intensive Care Unit, so her shifts tended to be pretty erratic. Alice worked from home as an online travel agent, which meant great perks for us. We always had a holiday during the summer break; she would get us cheap flights and Angela's brother would let us stay in his swanktastic beachfront house in Miami. This year was no exception, and we were headed out there in July.
"How were the brats?" Alice asked. She didn't have a high tolerance for anyone under the age of eighteen. "I seriously couldn't do that all day long. I'd be climbing the walls!"
"It's not that bad; Mia's at school all day and Ben's a little champ." I went to my room to change out of my running clothes and sat down on the couch with Alice.
"Angela's on a late shift again tomorrow. D'ya fancy going for a few drinks at Florentino's after her shift's finished?" Alice was a party animal through and through, she would happily spend every minute drinking and dancing. When we went out over the weekend, we'd stumble home at some ridiculous hour and she would still want to carry on! I never understood where she found the stamina.
"I'd love to; however, I'm designated babysitter for Mia and her friend. Mr. Ross got her tickets to see Zeus at Madison Square Garden tomorrow night. Carole can't take her, so I get the extra ticket!"
"You lucky cow! That group of men are frickin' gorgeous. What I would love to do with any one of them!" Alice began to fantasize out loud.
"Okay Alice, spare me the sordid details, thanks." I laughed nervously, too ashamed to admit my fantasies had been somewhat worse, having actually met one of them in person.
Ah yes, Mr. D. Now that was a good day.
I spent the rest of the evening on the couch with Alice, chatting about anything and everything. To my dismay, however, she brought up the subject of Mr. Delicious again.
"Seriously, Bella, I honestly think that guy was trying to flirt with you, big time. You aren't the easiest girl in the world to impress, you know. I might stop by Art's tomorrow and see what he has to say!"
Oh shit, no, stop her.
"No, please don't; I don't want Art to start teasing me about it, especially if he does come back. Please, can we just drop it and wait and see what happens on Friday?" I was practically hyperventilating, and she eyed me suspiciously.
"Look, Bella, you're my best friend and I love you. I know things haven't been easy, but you need to let yourself go a little. Have fun, and if Mr. Delicious does come back on Friday, go bang his brains out after your shift. No harm, right?" She put her arms round my shoulders and hugged me. "That's one of the reasons you're so uptight: sexual frustration - it's not healthy!"
"Thanks for reminding me about that!" I responded. She did make a valid point.
Too right, she makes a good point. I'm sure if you abstain from sex much longer, you may actually be the first person to grow back her virginity.
I had been dating a good guy in Seattle before we'd moved here. Since then, however, there had only been a few terrible blind dates, which I was trying very hard to forget. My biggest problem was my inability to let myself just enjoy what life threw at me. I had spent so many years hiding and running away, I had all but forgotten how to let go and just live. Just the thought of putting an ounce of trust into someone other than Alice or Angela terrified me, and let's face it, no man wants a girl to have a full on panic attack just because he wants to go out on a second date. Commitment didn't actually scare me; it was how much the other person expected of me. James Hunter had completely ruined my life; he made me question the intentions of everyone around me, and I didn't think I would ever be able to move on.
I was exhausted after last night, so I went to bed before Angela got home. I was so tired, I didn't even have a chance to fantasize about Mr. Delicious, and I woke up Thursday morning feeling refreshed. I dressed quickly and grabbed a change of clothes for the concert before I set off to work.
The day flew by and Mia's friend Abbey came home with us from school for dinner. Mia insisted I get them both ready, so I helped them with their hair and applied the palest shade of lip-gloss they had. I changed, and we waited for her father to arrive home.
"So, Bella, who's your favourite guy in Zeus?" Mia asked eagerly, "I love Emmett the lead singer, but his brother Edward is just as hot. He plays the guitar, did you know that?"
"Yeah, I like Edward too, Mia," Abbey replied dreamily. "I feel like crying when I think about seeing him on the stage tonight!"
I agreed with them, laughing quietly to myself as I thought about that night in the bar.
Mr. Ross walked through the door about six-thirty and offered to drive us straight to the arena. As we were getting ready to leave, he pulled a white envelope from his pocket and called Mia over to him.
"Guess what, Pumpkin? I've got a surprise for you." He handed Mia the envelope and she tore it open.
"OH MY GOD, DADDY, THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! IT'S THE BEST PRESENT EVER!" Mia was almost hysterical. "ABBEY, DADDY'S GOT US SOME BACKSTAGE PASSES AND WE GET TO MEET THE BAND AFTER THE SHOW!"
Both girls started leaping into the air, screaming at the top of the voices. Suddenly, I felt sick to my stomach.
No, no, no. Concert fine – backstage passes not fine. Dear God, he's going to think you've gone all Glenn Close Fatal Attraction on him. You are so fucking screwed!
I couldn't do anything, though; if I refused to go, then the girls would never forgive me. I just couldn't even begin to think how I was going to cope with the next few hours. I occasionally suffered from mild panic attacks, another thing I had to be thankful to James for. Over the years, I had gotten pretty damn good at hiding them from people; I concentrated intently on breathing steadily and desperately tried to ignore the ecstatic squeals which were erupting from the girls. After just a few minutes, I felt the tightness in my chest begin to subside and my head stop spinning. Mr. Ross was looking rather pleased with himself as we drove to the concert. I considered begging him to switch, volunteer to stay at home with Ben while he took the girls, but didn't fancy trying to explain why I was turning down free tickets to see one of the most popular groups around. I kept my mouth shut in the car, tuning out the constant babbling that was emerging from the backseat, and silently cursed myself for ever having agreed to this in the first place.
I was a nervous wreck as we made our way into the arena. As we had VIP tickets, we were escorted to seats smack bang in the middle of the front row.
This just keeps getting worse and worse, Inner-Bella whimpered.
While we waited for the group to come out, I sent Alice a text, telling her about the backstage tickets. Her reply was simply, "Lucky Bitch."
I tended to disagree.
When they finally appeared on stage, for a split second I forgot that I was supposed to be terrified and lost all train of thought as I watched him walk across the stage. He was so hot. It was almost too much to bear. He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with the cuffs pushed up his arms, his top button open and a thin black tie was knotted loosely around his neck, and he had paired it with black jeans. He carried his guitar in one hand and waved at the crowd with his other. In a brief moment of stupidity, I almost leaped up from my seat to wave back. I managed to pull myself back together, when I remembered just what a hellish situation I was in, and began to panic again.
I was relieved that Edward took up position on the right of the stage, and I was not in his line of sight. As the arena erupted into a chorus of screams and whistles, I looked around to see what kind of crowd they drew. Apart from the teenage girls, who I doubted had any interest in their music, the majority of their fans appeared to be men and women about my age.
Mia and Abbey were almost in tears, screaming that they loved them all repeatedly. I had to smile; I was exactly the same when I was a teenager. I had adored many a boy band, N-Sync in particular and had been completely besotted with a certain Justin Timberlake, even convincing myself that one day I would marry him.
Here you are again; same problem, different guy. Oh, and this time, you're almost twenty-five years old; how sad is that?
I had to admit, they were really good and I was thoroughly enjoying their performance. Their production was simple - no big set or dance numbers. Just the guys singing and playing their instruments. No frills.
I wasn't having the most innocent of thoughts watching him. Mr. Delicious was so immersed in what he was doing, he almost seemed unaware of the audience. After they had finished one track, they paused to talk to the crowd. Edward wiped his face with a towel and ran both hands through his hair, and Inner-Bella was let loose.
God, just imagine running your hands through his hair while he's kissing you, then running your hands down his shirt and ripping it open!
These thoughts continued pretty much throughout their whole performance. Before I knew it, they thanked everyone for coming and made their way off stage. I smiled over at the girls, who were almost bouncing off their seats with excitement. We remained seated as we had been instructed, and after a few minutes' wait, a snooty looking blond woman approached us and escorted us backstage.
"You'll get about five minutes with them, and then they have to leave. Your father must be pretty important to get this arranged for you."
Wow, this chick was well and truly lodged up her own arse. Inner-Bella promptly decided to call her Arseface. The girls were prattling on excitedly and getting their cameras ready.
My god, Bella, you have to run away! You can't do this. If you go in, there shall never be any straddling of Mr. Delicious.
We approached a dressing room down a fluorescent-lit corridor. The walls were painted white and it felt more like a corridor in a psychiatric ward. Quite fitting, I suppose, considering I was headed for a psychotic episode. Arseface held out a finger to stop us, knocked lightly and walked into the dressing room.
"Hey guys, the groupies are here!" she sneered; who the bloody hell did she think she was?
I fought back a childish urge to pull her hair and poke her eyes, and instead continued with the deep breathing. I heard a few chuckles from inside the room and my stomach did flips because one of those chuckles stood out from all the rest.
He's in there! Oh god, run for your life, run for your life.
Arseface appeared again and beckoned us into the room. "Come on, girls."
Wow, what a bitch!
I took a deep breath and prepared to walk into the dressing room, when suddenly I was saved. My phone rang and I snatched it open.
"I'm so sorry, I have to take this. Girls, go on ahead," I whispered, and hoped my voice wouldn't carry inside the room. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned my attention back to the phone. "Oh my God, Alice, thank you! You're a lifesaver!"
"Why, what's the matter? I was only calling for an update – have you met them yet?" she demanded from the other end of the phone.
"The girls are in there with them now and I'm standing talking to you outside – so that would be a no!"
"What?" she yelled down the phone. "Then hang up your phone and get your ass in there. Angela and I are waiting for the full play-by-play, Bella." She hung up the phone immediately, but I remained outside.
I put my phone back in my pocket and leaned against the wall beside the door. I could hear the girls babbling away at the speed of light, asking for autographs and photos with the guys. As the minutes ticked by, I began to relax; it seemed I had managed to avoid a scene of complete humiliation.
I continued listening to the girls inside as they chatted with what sounded like the lead singer, Emmett, Edward's brother, when he asked, "So, it's Mia, right? Surely, you're not here alone. Where are your parents?"
"Oh no, we're here with my brother's nanny; she had to take a call, but she's waiting outside, "Mia piped up excitedly. "She's a huge fan though, she told me so yesterday!"
"Well, tell her to come in and say hi!"
Oh, fuck.
Arseface poked that snooty looking face around the door and motioned at me to come in.
I was literally about to combust with shame, but I took another deep breath and stepped inside. As I walked in, I scanned the room quickly and was greeted by three different "Hi's" and one noticeable smirk.
"Hi," I mumbled and looked everywhere but back at the one set of eyes I could feel watching me.
Luckily, Mia and Abbey launched into another tirade of questions and I hung back near the door without saying another word. After what seemed like an age, Arseface interrupted and informed us it was time to leave. I opened the door for the girls and they said goodbye to each of the guys.
Just as we were walking through the door I heard, "Goodnight, Bella."
I glanced back toward him and saw he was still sitting on one of the counters, smiling straight at me. At the same time, the rest of the group looked back at him in confusion, and the girls were gawking at me in astonishment.
"Yeah, goodnight," I replied quickly, and ushered the girls out of the room.
While we headed back to the exit, the girls were still wide-eyed and even Arseface kept shooting me sideways glances as she escorted us out. As soon as we were alone, I was set upon by two crazed teenage girls.
"Oh my God, Bella, how did he know your name? Do you know him? He was totally staring at you all the time you were in the room. Is he your boyfriend? Oh my god, he is, isn't he?"
I didn't know how to answer, so I brushed it off and insisted that one of the girls had mentioned my name.
"I don't think we said your name," Mia started to object, but Abbey wanted to look through the photos and she was soon distracted.
Mr. Ross dropped me off at home a little after eleven, and I trudged into my apartment. Angela and Alice had been joined by one of our neighbours, Jasper. He and Alice had a very casual relationship – strictly friends with benefits. They got together every so often, but neither wanted anything more than that – or so they tried to tell us. Angela and I had our doubts; we couldn't speak for Jasper, but we did know Alice. She had this ice-queen demeanour and always acted aloof around guys, but Jasper was different. She was enthralled with him whenever he was around and – it appeared to me at least – the feeling was mutual.
"Hey there, British chippy. I heard you got to meet Zeus tonight?" Jazz peeped up as soon as I walked through the door.
He was a ruggedly handsome guy; he had been in the Navy for a few years and during that time he had beefed up considerably. He was a fireman in lower Manhattan and had been one of the first on the scene during 9/11. At thirty-three, he was seven years older than Alice, but it took someone with a little bit of "something" to put up with her personality.
"Yeah. Lucky me, I guess." I really didn't want to do this now; I wanted to go to my room and die of shame.
During the brief moment of "almost flirting" that had occurred on Tuesday night, I could fantasize quite contently about Edward without feeling I'd embarrassed myself too much. Now, however, that was certainly not the case. I couldn't even think about him without cringing, and I had been looking forward to some pretty explicit fantasies tonight after seeing him perform.
Oh well, we can always revert back to Mr. Clooney for the time being. He is always welcome in any sexy thoughts.
"So, what happened?" Angela asked, with a wicked glint in her eye,
"Oh, you know, I grabbed the first one I saw and started going at it right there in the dressing room!" I rolled my eyes at her. "What the bloody hell do you think happened,
Angela? We said 'Hello,' 'Goodbye,' and the girls had some pictures taken with them."
"Were they just as sexy in person?" Alice asked, smiling.
"It's hard to believe, but yes. In fact they were far sexier!" I feigned a yawn and bent down to give each of them a quick hug. "I'm off to bed, working a double again tomorrow. Jasper, please take Alice back to your place; I don't want to be kept awake listening to you two, thank you very much!"
Jasper flushed slightly and laughed.
"Off to fantasize about Zeus, are you Bella?" Alice teased, completely ignoring my snide comment.
"Absolutely!" I winked and went to my room. God, if only she knew!
A/N This will probably be the last one for today...but I have a few days off work so I aim to post as often as I possibly can :D
TTFN
Katy
