A/N: I hope this chapter is better than the last one. Enjoy!

Ch. 3

Saying Sorry

"Hey Bella, a bunch of people are going to go grab a bite at J-J's," asked Angela after the show the next night. "You want to come?"

"Sure," I said. "You think we could ride together? I'm really low on gas, and my cars at my dorm. I'll pay you back later if you want me to, though."

"Don't worry about it," she said. "You've given me rides plenty of times before."

"Alright, thanks," I said. "Ok, I need a smoke. I'll meet you in the parking lot?"

"Sure thing," she said. "I've got to go talk to Lauren about something, I'll be out there in a minute."

"Ok," I said. I grabbed my purse, pulling out a cigarette and my lighter as I walked. I walked out the already open door and leaned against the outside of the building, inhaling deeply.

"Smoking's not very good for you."

I choked on my smoke. Once I got finished coughing, I looked up through watery eyes to see him. He was there, right in front of me. Oh my gosh, I thought to myself, he can't see me like this! Twinkle, damn it!

"Sorry," he said, though he didn't look it. He was grinning crookedly. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's alright," I choked.

"You weren't on stage tonight," he commented. "Or last night."

"I told you I was just a fill-in," I said. "It was a one night thing. I'm not an actress."

He raised an eyebrow. "You could have fooled me. You had amazing…stage presence."

I shook my head. "Being on the stage isn't my thing. I'm a behind the scenes kind of girl."

He nodded. "I can see that. But I still think you'd make a great actress."

"Well…" I said. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he said.

"So, you came back and watched show again?" I asked. "Twice?"

"I wanted to see you again."

"Oh." I was breathless.

"I couldn't find you yesterday, though," he said.

"So…does this count as stalking?" I asked.

He laughed. "I promise I don't mean it that way, and I don't usually do this. But I had to do what I could to see you. I wasn't even sure you'd be here, but I thought I'd give it a shot."

I shook my head. "You always seem to know exactly where to be."

"Yeah, I've been fairly lucky so far," he said, smiling a gorgeously sexy crooked smile.

"Bella!" I looked around. Jessica had come out after me, and she was smiling at my guy. "Who's this?"

"Oh, uh…" I looked at him for help.

"Edward," he told her, holding out his hand. She shook it, giving him another disgusting smile that I didn't very much like.

His name was Edward. Somehow, that fit him very well, and it was terribly romantic. I found myself repeating it in my head. Edward, Edward, Edward, Edward.

"So, Bella is it?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Bella."

"That's a lovely name."

"Thank you." I blushed, once again.

"And I'm Jessica," interjected Jessica. "We were just leaving to go to J-J's. Would you like to come, Edward?"

He looked at me. "Sure. Why not."

"Do you need a ride?" she asked. I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or Edward. My guess was Edward.

"I'm riding with Angela," I said.

"Well, you can ride with me there, Edward," said Jessica. "Unless you'd rather drive?"

Edward looked from me to Jessica, obviously a little confused.

"Oh, uh," he said. "I guess I'll drive."

"Oh. Alright," she said sharply. "I'll see you there." She walked off toward her car. Edward looked back at me.

"Would you like to ride with me?" he asked.

"Oh, no, I already told Angela I'd ride with her, like I said."

"Right," he said. "Sorry. I just thought maybe you were making that up so you wouldn't have to ride with her." He jerked his head toward Jessica. I gave him a questioning look.

"How would you even know that I didn't want to ride with her?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I'm pretty good at reading people, although I must say, I find you particularly difficult to read."

I heard someone else come out. This time, it was Angela. She looked at Edward, surprised, and then back at me. I suddenly realized I'd forgotten all about my cigarette. Apparently I'd dropped it to the ground without really even paying attention. I stared at it. I'd barely smoked any of it.

"Hey, Bella," Angela said, catching my attention once again. "Do you still need a ride?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind me stealing her away, I'm going to J-J's as well," said Edward. "Angela, I presume."

"Yes," she said, giving him a friendly smile, then glancing at me slyly.

"I'm Edward," he said. They shook hands.

"Actually," said Angela, "I was thinking I might catch a ride with Ben. You go ahead and ride with Edward, Bella." She gave me another sly look. I raised my eyebrows and opened my mouth, but couldn't think of anything to say. Angela laughed. "I'll see you there," she said, and walked off.

I looked up at Edward. He was grinning at me.

"So," he said. "What in the world is J-J's?"

I laughed. "It's a really greasy restaurant we always haunt after shows. Kind of a tradition, I suppose."

"Sounds delightful," he said. I shrugged. "So…shall we go?"

"Yes, we shall," I said.

He drove a Volvo. A shiny, silver one.

"What kind of college student drives a Volvo?" I mumbled. Edward laughed.

"My dad's…pretty well off," he said. I rolled my eyes. Great. So I'd picked up a rich kid.

"Alright, let's go," I said. I wasn't mad at Edward. On the contrary, I was still very nervous about being here with him, but I was trying to hide that behind that fact that I was angry with Jessica and Angela. I expected it from Jessica, she's a big flirt, and Edward was gorgeous. But I couldn't believe Angela would practically force me to ride with Edward. What if he was unsafe? I still wasn't sure that he wasn't. He'd already labeled himself a stalker. What else was he?

"I'm sorry," Edward said.

"For what?" I asked. "Why do you keep apologizing?"

He shrugged. "Making you feel uncomfortable. Forcing my company upon you. Stalking you. Driving a Volvo." He grinned. I snorted.

"I'm not uncomfortable," I said. "And I'm not mad at you for driving a Volvo."

"So why are you mad?" he asked.

I made the mistake of looking at him when he said that. I got caught in his eyes again. They were just so beautiful.

"I'm not mad at you," I said. "I'm mad at Angela. And you don't make me uncomfortable, you make me nervous." I couldn't help but tell him the truth.

"Nervous?" he said. "I'm sorry."

"Please," I said, "quit apologizing."

He opened his mouth, then shut it. I smiled. I knew he'd been about to say he was sorry again.

"I just feel like you don't like me very much," Edward said. I looked at him again. He looked kind of sad. He caught my eyes again, and my heart broke.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to make you think that."

There was a pause, during which we both stared at the road in front of us.

"Is it true?" he finally asked.

"That I don't like you?" I asked. "No. Like I said, I'm just nervous. I don't…deal with that very well."

"Where's this restaurant?" he asked.

I sighed and gave him directions. Then I made a decision.

"Actually…" I said. "Let's not go to J-J's."

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Ok," he said.

I was glad he didn't ask me why, because I would have told him the truth. The truth was that I was sorry I'd hurt him. I wanted to be with him. There was some irrational part of me that I'd let gain control, and now I didn't want to share him with anyone, especially Jessica. I knew she'd try to steal him.

I couldn't believe I was thinking that way. He wasn't mine to steal. But I knew that wasn't true. From the first time I'd looked into his eyes from that stage, I'd known he was mine. It scared me.

Then there was the fact that I couldn't imagine this divine being sitting amongst all my sketchy theater friends.

"Bella."

Wow I loved the way my name sounded coming from his lips.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I think you look beautiful tonight."

My heart missed a beat.

"Thank you," I whispered. No one had ever called me beautiful before, and now the most beautiful person I had ever seen was.

I hadn't been paying attention to where we were going, but now we were pulling in somewhere. I looked up for a sign. It read Florence. I raised an eyebrow. A restaurant named after an Italian city? It looked incredibly fancy and expensive.

"It's 10:30, are you sure this place is open?" I asked.

"They're only open at night," said Edward. "From 7 to midnight. They don't really care about making money, though of course they do. They're already filthy rich. This is just a hobby."

"Oh," I said. "Do you know them?"

"Acquaintances of my father's, yes."

"What does your father do?"

"He's a doctor."

"Oh."

"Don't judge us," he said.

"Excuse me?"

He smiled. "I know what you're doing. You think we're all just snobby rich people, but Carlisle's not in it for the money. He's a great man."

I felt extremely embarrassed. I didn't believe in being judgmental, and here I was judging this family I'd never met, while the one member I had met was incredibly nice.

"Sorry," I said. "So…you call him Carlisle? I'm not judging you, I'm just curious."

"It's alright," said Edward, smiling. "And yes, I call him Carlisle. He's not my real father, I'm actually adopted."

"Oh really?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Me , my sister Alice, and my brother Emmett are all adopted."

"That's cool."

"Yes," he said. "Like I said, Carlisle's a great man."

"Did you ever know your parents?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "Or my mother, at least. She died of cancer when I was seven."

"I'm sorry," I said.

He smiled at me. "It's alright. I love my new family. So, shall we go in?'

"Oh. I suppose. I'm really not dressed for this kind of place."

"Nonsense," he said. "You look great."

Back stage hands were required to wear all black, so I was wearing black skinny jeans, black converses, and a black tank-top. I raised an eyebrow at him. He laughed.

"Trust me," he said, "you'll be fine."

A/N: Once again, thanks to all my readers and reviewers. So far, no one has even attempted to guess what play they're doing, so I'll give a couple of hints. It's a musical that takes place entirely aboard a ship. It's by Cole Porter. The main characters' names are Hope, Billy, Reno, and Moony, along with several others. One of the songs is called Delovely. If you can't figure it out with these clues and the ones in the story, you've probably never seen the play, so I'll just tell you next time, haha. Just thought it would be fun to see if anyone knew it.

Anyway, thanks for reading! A piece of cake to anyone who reviews! Yay cake!

Oh, and I'm also working on another story involving much more excitement and some vampires! I just started it, and I don't know if it will work out, but I'm hoping it will, so stay tuned!