Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and its characters. No copyright infringement is intended.

All original characters, plots, and the storyline contained within this derivative work are the property of Lazykate. This story may not be reproduced or reposted without permission from the author. This story is rated M for Mature and is not intended for anyone under the age of eighteen.

Chapter Three

BPOV

Waking up. Momentary disorientation. The bed was a little lumpy and there was brightness on the other side of my eyelids...I broke through the surface with the normal jar, but there was no panic, no pounding heartbeat. It was safe to open my eyes.

I did so, and in the next moment remembered where I was. Forks, Washington, in the bedroom of my youth. The same snuggly purple comforter, walls still the ridiculous orange I'd painted them my senior year of high school. Pictures of high school friends were tacked to the corkboard and even some of my old clothes hung in the closet. It was a perfect frozen snapshot of the summer after my senior year of high school.

Charlie hadn't bothered to change anything after I'd headed off to UCLA five years ago, and I had neither the time nor the inclination to change anything during my infrequent visits back during the first two years. I'd been too busy and too preoccupied with more pressing matters during the third year, and then two years ago I'd relocated to San Francisco to work for James. Now nothing could persuade me to change a single thing in this room. It was my safe little nest when I returned to town, almost like a time warp that let me pretend to be back in a world where things just weren't as complicated.

I lay in the bed rubbing my face, knowing that I needed to get up and get moving before the three-hour drive to Southworth, where I would catch the ferry and a shuttle over to the airport, then back to San Francisco. James was expecting me at 9am sharp tomorrow morning for a scene with Bree, his protégé-turned-disappointment. He was hoping that including a hot scene with one of his established stars would give Bree a little more confidence in her own performance, with the added bonus of some hot girl-on-girl action in whatever the latest compilation film was.

Oh God, I hated thinking about it here. Thinking about my job here, in this room, in this house, was just obscene in the truest sense of the word. Back in San Francisco, fine, I could handle it because it was what I did, and I did it well. It paid me a lot of money which was exactly what I needed at the present time, and it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

But that didn't change the fact that the only time I truly felt like a complete whore was when I thought about my job here in this room, hiding under my purple comforter, with my dad down the hall asleep in his room.

Deliberately, I steered my thoughts away from James and Bree and instead thought about the conversation I'd had with Alice last night. She'd texted me first, to make sure it was okay to call, and then proceeded to jabber my ear off for a full hour. Dr. Edward had arrived in town, she'd met him personally and he was hot, not to mention funny and friendly and everything else that made him perfect for me in her eyes. He'd mentioned something briefly about a relationship that had ended with his move from Baltimore, but seemed perfectly willing to go out on a date with me this coming Friday. Especially since Rose and Emmett's second date had gone so well and they would be joining us for their official third date. I would have to check, but I was pretty sure that a third date in Rose's book qualified Emmett as having real long-term potential.

I yawned as I thought back over the conversation. Meeting Emmett was definitely inching closer to the top of my to-do list. Knowing Rosalie as I did, this guy could quite conceivably be her husband in a couple of years. Three dates...damn. Unlike Alice, who proclaimed that she'd known she'd met her soul mate after a fortuitous run-in with Jasper at a local café, Rosalie rarely gave a man a second chance to get to know her better. It was a coping mechanism I knew all too well.

I rolled out of bed, shivering a little in the cool morning air. Picking up a change of clothes and towels, I headed towards the bathroom. Sputtering hot water, the hiss of the cheap showerhead, the creak and groan of the pipes...the memories never left my mind, even if I was only able to come back once or twice a month. It was always like waking up and getting ready for high school, so many years ago.

After stepping out of the shower and twisting my damp hair up into a bun, I threw on the long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans I found most comfortable for the travel ahead. I could hear banging in the kitchen and the loud cheerful voice of Annie, Charlie's weekday nurse. Lana must have already left, which meant that I was running later than I thought.

Moving more quickly at the thought of missing the ferry, I stuffed all my clothes into my rolling suitcase, making a mental inventory about what was still clean and what would need to be thrown into the laundry. I took one last look around, knowing that my schedule wouldn't permit me to return for another month or so.

Everything appeared to be packed up, easy to account for since I never bothered with makeup or fancy clothes when I came back to Forks. I headed downstairs, suitcase bumping down the stairs behind me. Before going into the kitchen I dragged the luggage out to my rental car; seeing my suitcase often made Charlie restless and I'd be damned if I ever did that to him on my way out the door.

After stowing the luggage I headed back inside, only to be greeted with the smell of bacon frying. I immediately felt guilty. Annie was an incredibly maternal person and nothing brought her more joy than to fuss over me when I was in town. As always, she was shuffling between the stove and the table, checking on Charlie in between poking the bacon and eggs in the skillet. Charlie was seated in his normal spot at the kitchen table and I slid into the vacant chair across from him. I always forgot to tell Annie that I'd given up eating breakfast a long time ago, that I'd replaced it with a can of Coke and the occasional candy bar, but nothing could make me tell her the truth after she'd already started it up. Charlie gave me a wistful half-smile from across the table.

"Bella!" Annie boomed, her voice as familiar to this room as the peeling paint on the cupboards and the cracked linoleum. "I've got breakfast ready to go for you, no sense in you driving so far on an empty stomach!" She smiled cheerfully as she slid a full plate in front of me: bacon, eggs, and an English muffin. It was worth it to ignore the nausea, though, since Charlie's smile remained on his face as he watched me eat.

"Thanks, Annie, I wish I could stay longer today, but I'm off to catch the ferry." I choked down one last bite, swallowed thickly, and willed myself not to throw up. I'd never been a coffee drinker, and I tried to calculate if I'd have enough time to run into a convenience store for my sugary caffeinated morning nectar.

"No problem dear, drive safely, okay?" I nodded in response to her question, scooped up my purse, and came around the table to kiss Charlie on the top of his head.

"I'll be back soon, okay Dad?" I'd only started calling him Dad with any regularity again three years ago, but I knew it made him happy. He smiled gently at me, directly into my face, and I stroked his thick black hair back again as I planted another kiss on his forehead.

It came back to hit me again, that familiar sadness along with the urgency to get back to San Francisco, to get back to work, and I knew I'd better hit the road before I started bawling. Annie tossed me a cheerful wave as I headed out the door and I was in the car and flying down the road in no time. I had three hours ahead of me to the Southworth ferry, and then the two-hour flight. Plenty of time to think, just as there always was.

xoxoxoxo

James called me just as the ferry left the dock, and I scowled down at my cell phone. He normally knew better than to call me when I went home. "Hello?"

"Hey Isabella, I'm sorry to bother you…how's everyone at home doing?"

"Just fine, thanks. What's up?"

"Well I didn't want to bug you on a day off, but I'm going to need you to go to LA next week, and since it's kind of last-minute, I wanted to give you as much notice as possible."

My nausea came back full-force, and it had nothing to do with the boat ride. "Why, how long do you need me down there?"

"Five days, Monday through Friday. Filming every day. Victoria managed to score a couple of great locations and we really want to take advantage of that. I'm going to ask Rosalie to go too."

I took a deep breath. Although James was usually considerate enough to phrase these out-of-town trips as requests, I knew they weren't. "Sure, that's fine."

"Great, I'll have Alice book your flights for next Sunday evening, then. Thanks, Isabella, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay," I replied quietly before ending the call. LA, ugh. Despite attending school for two years at UCLA, I hated the city now, because it meant only one thing. Victoria.

James and his twin sister, Victoria, had founded and ran OPB, Inc. together, but the two of them couldn't be any more different. When I'd first gotten into the business, I'd been lucky enough to catch James' eye first, and of the two, he was the one who was more focused on good cinematography, actual plot, and a script we were all required to follow. He hired people who were naturally good-looking, and frowned on slutty tattoos and fake tits. He owned an enormous studio space and employed a set designer whom he'd literally tempted away from one of the big movie companies. He'd been heard, on more than one occasion, to say he did it for the art, and he truly did an excellent job. The films he produced catered to an audience that wanted something other than just fucking.

Victoria, on the other hand, produced the more low-budget, hardcore films for OPB. Although the company was headquartered in San Francisco, her offices were in Los Angeles and all her films were shot on rented locations. She had her own regular actors, most of whom lived up to almost every porn star stereotype there was. There was no art to the films Victoria produced, she churned out the quick-and-dirty stuff, and her actors knew they had to be willing to do pretty much anything sexually to stay in her employ.

Call us snobs, but the San Francisco actors looked at the LA division with a mixture of horror and pity. To be permanently reassigned to LA was a secret fear we all had, and it was one reason why whatever James wanted me to do, I did. The last girl who'd pissed James off had shown up for work sporting a giant new tattoo just over her crotch. She was reassigned to the LA branch the next day, and her first film there was some sorority sluts anal-gangbang thing.

From time to time, though, James liked to see his actors on outdoors sets, something that wasn't always practical in San Francisco. His stubborn refusal move his home and business out of the city meant that we occasionally flew down for a few shoots in sunny Los Angeles.

I hated working with Victoria. She didn't care if an actor was uncomfortable or nervous about a scene, you either did it or she'd shitcan you on the spot and kick you out without your clothes. There was no such thing as too hardcore for her, and she had a knack for coming up with some of the most perverted shit imaginable, something there was always a market for.

Luckily for us, James always sent his assistant producer along whenever any of his actors went to shoot in LA. Laurent's job was to make sure we filmed exactly what James wanted, no more, no less, and to keep Victoria's predatory claws away from us. James and Victoria got along as well as any other siblings in business together, but she was always trying to score one over on her brother.

Five fucking days in LA. Literally, five days of fucking. About the only good thing that would come out of it would be a hefty paycheck, depending on exactly what James had planned for me. He always let me see the script in advance, to make sure I was comfortable with all the scenes, but he'd never asked me to do anything I'd flat-out said no to. Which was fortunate, since you only got two refusals with James; if you said no to something a third time, you could start packing for LA or consider yourself fired.

I waited until the ferry had docked and I was on the shuttle to the airport before I called Rosalie.

"James told me you're going," she said by way of a greeting. Rose wasn't one for idle chit-chat.

"Yeah, I'm not super-thrilled about it, but it'll be one huge-ass paycheck."

"It's for a new series of DVDs they're going to put out, that's why they're jamming as much filming into one trip as possible. It sounds like it'll be pretty easy for us both."

I lowered my voice. "What are the scenes?"

"He didn't tell me specifics, but it's supposed to be, like, romantic porn but without a storyline or anything."

"What?"

"Yep, pretty straightforward scenes, but no talking, no plot, no fake noises. Just concentrating on how fuckhawt sex can be when it's stripped down to bare basics. James wants simple backgrounds and natural beauties, which is why you and I were tapped. Victoria's skanks aren't up for it, obviously."

"Huh," I said thoughtfully. "That actually sounds like a fairly interesting concept, actually."

"Yeah, I thought so too. Everything is supposed to be as natural as possible, just focusing on the act itself."

"Which guys are going?"

"None of them. Victoria just signed on three new guys, two of whom barely speak English, but I guess they're pretty promising."

"Is it just guy-on-girl?"

"I don't know yet, he didn't say. I guess we'll find out more tomorrow. Hey listen, how's Charlie doing?"

I sighed a little. "About the same, which means he's not worse, so that's good."

"Yeah...listen, Bella, I meant what I said before...if you ever want to buy a place and move him here, it's no biggie, I can get a new roommate..."

"I know, thanks Rose, but he still doesn't handle change very well at all. He's comfortable in the house, I want to keep him there for as long as possible."

"Okay." She was quiet for a minute. "Did Alice fill you in on the plan for Friday?"

"Oh yeah, sounds like Dr. Edward is a hottie, so that's a bonus."

"Indeed. What time is your flight?"

I checked my watch. "Due to take off in about an hour, I'm actually just getting to the airport, so I should probably let you go. I'll see you later."

"Okay hon, see you then."

I turned off my cell phone and stuffed it in my purse as the shuttle rumbled up to the terminal. It was going to be a very busy next couple of weeks.

.

xoxoxoxo

A/N:

Huh, this may be the shortest chapter I've ever written, even with all the new stuff I included! Oh well, you know me, they only get longer from here!

So Bella obviously has some motivation here, and maybe some good reasons for doing porn for a living. Any guesses on what's up with Charlie? Or what Friday's date may bring? Hmm...see you next Thursday!