Chapter Two – Apologies

EPOV

The run had probably done a lot for my body but absolutely nothing for my mind. The agitation I had been feeling hadn't left me – only grown stronger as I thought about what I had done to that girl downstairs. Luckily, I had been basically left alone during the run, with only a few people giving me second cursory glances, so I hadn't had to deal with any form of interaction that could have resulted in me losing my temper; I was feeling so on edge it wasn't funny. I entered the hotel apartment, feeling far from content only to find my sister grinning at me as she unfolded her legs and stood up.

"That good hey? I thought I had helped but obviously I was wrong." Her face crinkled in consternation at the thought that she might have misread her own thoughts and it made me smile, knowing that she was probably internally berating herself for no good reason.

"No, you weren't wrong Alice. In fact you saved my skin big time and if I wasn't covered in sweat right now I would be giving you the hugest hug." Alice took a step backwards and it made me grin even further. " …but we both know how you would feel about that so I will make do with a simple thank you. If it hadn't been for your little intervention I would have been found behind a dumpster with an innocent girl who didn't deserve the media attention it would have attracted."

Alice's eyes widened in horror at the image I had created. "What on earth were you doing behind a dumpster Edward? That is just so….so..gross. All I got was your panicked face, the sound of voices searching for you and a pair of brown eyes. And since when do you have little private interactions with your fans. You are always so proper about these kinds of things." Alice was brimming with curiosity.

"She wasn't a fan and it's a long story. One that will have to wait, because I need a shower and then I am going to have to go and apologise, to the said girl, before rehearsals. Where is everyone else?"

"Getting ready." She called after me as I made my way to my own room. " and just so you are aware Edward, you will spill about what happened out there. You owe it to me since it was me who saved your bacon."

I sighed as I turned the shower on and began to undress, ready for the soothing heat that was about to cascade on my body. I did owe it to her – I always did. All of us were lucky enough to be the recipient of her help when she had one of her visions. She never saw too much detail but what she did get she was able to get a feeling on and therefore act accordingly. She told me once it was like getting small snapshots of an event in her head. None of us made a deal about her ability and it certainly wasn't something we shared with the world. We all understood that she would be labeled as a freak if people were aware that she saw things before they happened. It wasn't your regular talent but Alice was Alice and we accepted what she could do as normal; in our reality anyway.

As I stepped under the shower my thoughts returned to the same thing that I had been thinking about ever since our accidental meeting – the girl. I had never responded so strongly to a girl before and it was disconcerting, to say the least. I began to think that maybe I was only reacting to my own poor behavior rather than the girl herself. I had been brought up to be a gentleman: a person who treated others with respect. I had shown none of that when I had run into that girl and I was guessing the only way I could get her out of my mind was to apologise for being so rude. I could alleviate my guilt quickly with that apology and then move on with my everyday life, without having to think about a girl I didn't even know. Yes – that was exactly what I needed to do. Apologise and move on – it was a plan. I felt reassured that my little problem would be fixed within a matter of half an hour and began to get myself ready for the rest of our day feeling more at ease.

By the time I was entirely ready our manager, Laurent, had joined the rest of my siblings in the apartment's living area. He was going through some sort of agenda with Alice, who was the planner amongst us. It was an ideal situation; we had a manager to deal with the mechanics of the music industry but when it came to the organization Alice was the one we trusted to do the right thing. Laurent had our musical reputation in hand whilst Alice had our lives in hand. Without Alice I doubt very much that we would have remained as close knit as we were or that we would have survived the cut throat world of fame. She was our emotional rock.

Laurent registered my entrance into the room with a brief nod of his head before returning all his attention back to the notes in front of him and the changes that Alice was suggesting should be made. I was tuned out to the conversation, not only because I trusted Alice's choices implicitly but because I was trying to figure out the best way of approaching a completely different scenario. How was I meant to apologise to someone when I didn't know who they were or where they would be? We hadn't traded any niceties and I really didn't want to bring any more attention to myself, or to her, by having to make enquiries. I could only imagine how the question "Would you happen to know where I could find the dark haired girl with the most amazing chocolate brown eyes and intoxicating smell." would come across if I was to ask it. No – I was going to have to find her much more discretely than that, but how? Maybe I wasn't going to get my apology over and done with as quickly as I had first thought.

"Well that all looks in order Alice," Laurent stated casually as he looked around at the rest of us " Are we ready to get to rehearsals. I have the sound people down there now so hopefully it will all be set up before we get there."

"All set. I need to speak to Jim downstairs first so maybe Jazz and Edward can come in my car and the rest of you go together. We'll follow as soon as I have spoken to Jim."

As everyone moved to follow Alice's instructions I raised my eyebrows at Alice and got an answering smirk in return. She was making sure that she got the opportunity to grill me about what had happened earlier; there was nothing to stop her once we were alone in the car and there was nowhere for me to escape to. I sighed in resignation and trailed behind the group as we headed downstairs. Laurent, Emmett and Rosalie made their way to the cars and Jasper and I followed Alice as she headed towards the manager's office.

"I won't be long," she said breezily as she knocked on Jim's door, leaving Jasper and I to wait in the bar area.

"Might as well have a quick drink, knowing Alice and her planning," Jasper suggested good humouredly and I agreed readily. The bar was basically empty at this time of the afternoon so we were spared any of the open stares that so often occurred when we were in public. We ordered our drinks and sat quietly conversing about what the next couple of weeks had in store for us.

The musical lilt of her voice, followed by the soft sound of her laughter reached me before I saw her. I instantly tensed. I now had the opportunity to speak to her face to face without being in the awkward position of having the media racing towards us, and yet I felt compelled to remain hidden so that I did not have to have any type of interaction with her at all. Just the sound of her voice was doing odd things to me and I was fearful of the consequences once I made the apology, that I had previously felt would alleviate me of my guilt and get rid of her image from my head. I now knew that it had been a silly assumption to make. I hadn't turned to face her yet and I could already feel myself being lost in those soulful eyes. I didn't want to see them darken in distaste as she recollected how rude I had been this morning but more than anything else I didn't want the one sided attraction I felt to grow any stronger; it was something I couldn't afford.

Jasper was aware of my sudden tension. "Are you ok Edward?" His calm demeanor brought about an answering calm in me.

"I just need to do something Jasper. I won't be a minute." I needed to get this over as quick as possible. I got off the bar stool and watched as the girl walked out of a door side by side with a man. I gave him a passing look but then concentrated all my attention on the girl. She was smiling winningly up at him and I fully understood his answering grin. I watched the way that smile curved up the full lips on her heart shaped face, lighting up her eyes with mirth. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face and the few wavy tendrils that had escaped their spot were in stark comparison to the paleness of her skin, as they brushed against her cheek and neck. The attraction had just stepped up a notch – exactly what I didn't want to happen. I reluctantly forced myself to move towards the two of them. It was now or never.

"Ah, excuse me," The two of them stopped their conversation to look at me. The man's face showed recognition and it was apparent that he knew who I was from our music. I glanced at the girl and saw recognition but for a completely different reason – she was wary of me and I couldn't blame her for that.

"Is there something we can do for you, Mr Cullen?" The man questioned politely.

" I was wondering if I could speak to you please?" I directed the question at the girl and the man looked surprised but backed off immediately. The girl looked at him strangely but answered me instead.

"Certainly Mr… er… Cullen," the girl frowned as she looked up at me expectantly. I saw the small rush of blood tinge her cheeks for the second time today. I had to stifle a combined moan and giggle from exiting my mouth. This girl did not know who I was. A small part of me rejoiced at that and then I felt another round of guilt. All the insinuations I had thrown at her this morning about selling the story about our meeting had been useless because she was not aware that there was even a story to sell. I had been angry at her for no good reason. To her I was probably just an obnoxious man who she'd had an unlucky encounter with – one she would rather forget.

The man was moving away discretely to allow us to have a conversation privately. "I wanted to apologise for my behavior this morning. I had no right to be so rude to you," I tried to make my voice smooth to cover my nervousness. Her nearness was again affecting my thinking processes and I didn't want to embarrass myself any further than I already had. I watched her face for any signs of reproach but there were none. Her eyes were looking at me steadily and I knew before she opened her mouth that she had accepted my apology.

"There is no need to apologise. You were obviously worried about something and I was in the way." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled shyly at me. " I am curious though…. why were we hiding behind a….." She didn't get to finish because all of a sudden we were no longer alone. Alice and the hotel manager had joined us without me being aware. I had been so caught up in the expressions on her face and the words she was speaking that I hadn't noticed.

"So Bella you have already met one of our special guests, I see. Alice has just told me that you are all off to rehearsals now, Edward. Tonight's the big night for Seattle. I imagine all your concerts are sold out. It must truly be an amazing experience to perform in front of full crowds like that." Jim was speaking to us animatedly and I nodded at him, pasting a smile on my face. My attention was drawn to the girl I now knew was Bella. The whiteness of her skin had become whiter still, if that was possible. Her eyes reflected the sudden dawning of knowledge and she was embarrassed. As Jim and Alice went over to say hello to Jasper I smiled encouragingly at her.

"You were asking me about dumpsters."

"Um yeh but I have worked it out now thanks…. Edward Cullen," She shut her eyes and rubbed her forehead briefly before opening them with a mischievous intonation to her chuckle. "Well I guess it's my turn to apologise. I hadn't put two and two together. Quite stupid of me really. I should have known who you were. Now I fully understand what happened this morning. No need for explanations."

It pleased me that she could see the humour in the situation rather than making a deal about it. There was no fawning, thank goodness. That would have upset me to see.

"No need to apologise for not knowing someone. There's no rule to say you should." I held out my hand. "But thanks for accepting my apology anyway. Regardless of the reasons, what I did was not the right reaction. Should we call it a truce?"

"Absolutely," she held out her small hand to grasp mine and I felt like I had been punched in the stomach as I looked at our hands. Along the underside of her wrist was a darkening stain of colour. She was bruised and comprehension swept through me like a mad current. My eyes darted up to hers and she tried to quickly pull her hand away from my grasp.

"Do not tell me that I did that," my voice was hard. I had unintentionally harmed her in my attempt to get us away from the media. That was unforgiveable.

"I bruise easily. Don't let it worry you. I am always banging into things and have the marks to show for my efforts. It's no big deal."

"But we both know that you didn't bang into something this time." She looked ready to counter what I had said so I turned away from her quickly. " I am sorry Bella. I had no right."

I strode past the place where Jasper and Alice were waiting for me. What on earth had just happened? One apology had only led to yet another apology and this time it was not something that I would easily forgive myself for. I was attracted to this girl named Bella and before we had even met I had hurt her.

I felt the gap grow even wider.