Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters. That belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I also don't own Dracula, by Steven Dietz, adapted from Bram Stoker's novel.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
Growling, I rolled over and slapped blindly at my alarm clock, missing the first five or six tries before finally silencing the hated noise-maker. I had finally made it to bed around 2 am, after finishing my homework. Balancing school and theatre had always been a delicate matter, but now I would be at rehearsal every night except Saturday. I would definitely have to stay on top of everything because falling behind would be disastrous.
I was on the verge of falling back asleep when BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! The world hates me. There is no other explanation. After beating my alarm into submission, I sat up, hugging my body pillow and trying to clear the fuzz from my brain. Unfortunately, the world really did hate me this morning; my phone began ringing at that moment.
"'Lo?" I mumbled.
"Bella! Baby! I'm so glad I caught you before school!" Fuck my life. I could barely handle dealing with Renee when I was fully awake, but at… 6:15? Once again, Fuck. My. Life.
"Hi Mom."
"Why haven't you called me back yet? I haven't heard from you since school started! I was really getting worried and I kept trying to call the house yesterday, but no one answered. Where were you and Charlie?"
"He was at work--" I didn't get any farther into my explanation when she cut me off.
"At work?! See, this is why you should move down here! I can't believe he would leave you at home all by yourself! Why weren't you home? Did your truck break down and Charlie couldn't pick you up? I knew this would happen! And your truck is so old! If you moved to Florida, we could get you a nice car. A red convertible maybe? You would love that! And we could drive it to the beach if we didn't want to walk. I'll bet all the boys would love it; you'd be beating them off with a stick!"
I just sat and listened while Renee went off. I couldn't even find it in me care, especially when she made it abundantly clear that she didn't care either. Yes mother, I would LOVE a red convertible. And I would LOVE all that attention from boys. And I would LOVE to move to Florida, away from the only people who ever made me happy, who made me belong. Do you know what I would love? I mean really, really love? If my mother would listen to me for five seconds to realize that I wasn't home because I was doing something that made me happy, complete. I would love for my mother to know me, or at least try to understand me.
The more I thought, the harder I tried to convince myself I didn't care. Tears filled my eyes, stinging and prickling and hate. I swallowed thickly, hoping that my voice wouldn't betray my hurt. Renee slowed down in her rant, and I could finally talk.
"No, I wasn't stranded. I was at the theatre. We had rehearsal."
"Oh, well, that's nice hun. When are we going to see you on stage then? Did you get a part in this one? Do I need to buy tickets yet?"
"I'm stage managing." I tried my best to sound upbeat, so that she would not see this as a bad thing.
"So you're not acting?"
"No, but I'm in charge of all the actors. And the tech."
"Oh. What play are you doing?"
"Dracula." I couldn't keep the fan girl breathy-ness out of my voice when I said it. "It's going to be so great! You and Phil should come! It opens the weekend before Halloween and—"
"I don't think we can make it." Renee cut me off before I could finish my invitation. "We have to get ready for the holidays. Phil's mother is coming for Thanksgiving and…"
She rambled on but I couldn't listen anymore. I pressed the "end" button on my phone before burying my face in my pillow and sobbing. Thanksgiving? That was the excuse this time? I was unaware that getting ready for Thanksgiving needed to start an entire month early. My angry sobs redoubled when my phone began to ring again. After ignoring the call, I held down the power button on my phone until I heard the familiar tones of it shutting down.
It took me a good twenty minutes to calm myself enough to stumble to the shower, praying that the hot water would wash away the evidence of tears from my face. I dressed in my dirty tech pants from the day before, needing that small bit of comfort that came to me when I smelled the sawdust and paint. I knew I would spend the day tracing the large green handprint just above my knee, evidence of one of mine and Jake's paint wars. I needed that today. I just needed to remember that my mother wasn't the only person in my life. I didn't need her approval, her support, her love. There are plenty of people who love me.
I tried to pay attention in class, but kept hearing my mother's voice telling me I wasn't good enough for her. I distracted myself with my black sharpie, swirling song lyrics around Jake's handprint, drawing faces on paint spots and flowing trees on clean patches of denim. When I was done with my pants, I started in on my arm, this time with a fine-tip red sharpie. By the end of the day, I had decorated my entire fore-arm with a delicate tribal pattern, red and black swirling together on my pale white skin.
When I walked in the back door of the theatre, Jake took one look at my arm and raised his eyebrows. He knew that today was either really good, or really bad. I just shrugged at him, looking around for Angela so we could start the props meeting.
Half an hour later, we were getting ready to start gathering props when Emmett sauntered through the shop door, with a sheepish looking Edward trailing behind.
"Baby-bell! We're here to help!" Emmett walked straight up to me, lifting me into a giant bear hug. I noticed that Jake stood up from the platform he was legging up with Quil to watch my exchange with the actors.
"Baby-bell? Like the cheese? Really?" I teased Emmett.
"No, like baby-sister-Bella. Baby-bell? No?"
I shook my head. "No. just… no." Emmett laughed again. "So, you're here to help, huh?" I asked Edward, who met my eyes momentarily before nodding and finding something absolutely fascinating on the floor near my feet. "Jake? You mind if I take them to the morgue with us? We could use some hands." I walked over to Jake so we didn't have to yell across the stage, Angela, Emmett and Edward trailing behind me.
"Not at all. Wanna grab those chairs Sam was talking about while you're down there?"
"UGH! I hate the furniture room! It's so fucking creepy!" Jake shot me a disbelieving look. "Well it is," I mumbled. "Fine, we'll get them. I'll look for one to make the bone chair with too."
"Good, good. I think there's still that box of body parts in the back, by the suitcases. Should be a skeleton or two in there to grab." I nodded, gesturing for my little group to follow me out the back door.
We crossed the parking lot and entered one of the academic buildings, where I unlocked a door off to the side of the main lobby. We had started down the dark concrete stairs when Emmett finally asked, "Why is there a morgue in the basement of Cole Hall?"
Angela and I laughed, seeing the almost terrified look on the boys' faces. "Aw, are the big bad boys afraid of the morgue?" They tried to straighten their shoulders and stand tall, but I could tell they were scared still. I couldn't help but giggle again. "The word morgue has multiple meanings, brother dear. The morgue is where we keep props."
"Box of body parts?" Edward finally spoke for the first time since he and Emmett walked onstage.
"Mannequin parts!" Angela and I were trying desperately to hold in our laughter.
Emmett's face finally relaxed and he joined us in our laughter. Edward tried to look relaxed, but he still seemed uncomfortable. I wondered if his crush on Emmett was the cause. Poor guy, knowing that the guy he wants is straight. It's gotta be rough. I'll have to talk to Emmett about it later.
I unlocked the door to the main part of the morgue, giving Angela a rough tour of where she could find certain objects. The large room was ringed in shelves, props jammed in all the way to the ceiling. Off to one side was a small room that held all the dishes and small props. An entire corner was dedicated to weaponry, while another held trash bags full of fake flowers and foliage. The center of the room was filled with large props and set pieces, my favorite being the roman chariot I had helped build during my first show. "Okay, I think I'm gonna steal Emmett and we can grab the chairs. You and Edward want to get whatever you find and put it by the door? Then we can make one big trip back later."
Angela smiled at me. "Sounds good."
Emmett followed me out the door, back into the small room at the base of the stairs. It was really creepy down here, a single bare bulb lighting the room. There were six doors leading from this room, but I only knew what was behind two of them. The creepiest looking door was the one I crossed to. The door to the main part of the morgue was a light colored wood with windows. The other doors were the same light wood, but they were solid. The door to the furniture room was a dark wood, chipped and scratched from years of use. Instead of a brass knob like the rest of the doors here, there was no knob, just a gaping black hole. The door was secured with a padlock, while the others sported deadbolts.
"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said it was fucking creepy."
"Nope. Welcome to the furniture room." I opened the door, reaching into the inky darkness to find the light switch. This room was less than half the size of the main morgue, but it was filled to the brim. Wooden pallets held the furniture off the floor, and there were tiny passages between the stacks, but everything was piled to the ceiling. The crammed space wasn't really that creepy, until you looked past the furniture. The walls were bare cinder blocks, and the back corner of the room had begun to fall down. There was a three foot gap from the ceiling in the back corner and beyond the wall was nothing but black. In all my years of coming down here, I'd never had the courage to shine a light into that abyss and look over the wall. It creeped me the hell out.
Emmett and I worked quietly for a while, carefully pulling down the stacks of furniture to get at the chairs I'd spotted towards the bottom of one pile. I chewed on my lower lip, wondering the best way to start this conversation. There really was no good way to ask "I know you're straight, but you know Edward wants your cock, right?" Yeah, this was going to get awkward.
"So, you and Edward seem to be hanging out a lot." That wasn't too bad, was it?
"Yeah, he's a cool guy." Emmett was, of course, completely unfazed. Or too cool about it?
"Mmh, I'll have to take your word for it."
"That's right! I forgot you two had, uh, issues." His voice was a little too enthusiastic, as if trying to convince me he didn't remember. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, wondering why he was being weird about this.
"Issues… right. If you call being an ass and demeaning not only women, but techies in general, having issues." I muttered the last part, but apparently not quietly enough.
"Wait, what do you mean demeaning women? Apparently Eds didn't give me the whole story."
"Wouldn't want to look bad in front of his…" I caught myself before I gave away Edward's crush. I didn't want to mess up their friendship, even if I did hate the misogynistic gay boy. Instead I re-directed, telling Emmett everything that happened during our little tiff.
"Man, he sure left out some details. Guess I don't blame you for wanting me to help you in here today. Although, Eddie is probably disappointed." Now it was Emmett's turn to blush slightly when I raised my eyebrows, as his last sentence was obviously not meant to be heard by me.
"Why would Edward be disappointed? I would think he'd be glad. Plus, he's not around you so he's less nervous."
"Maybe he wanted to apologize?" Emmett answered uncertainly. Definitely hiding some knowledge. "And why on earth would Eddie be nervous around me?"
"What aren't you saying, Emmett? I don't think siblings keep secrets from each other."
"Ditto, lil' sis."
"I don't want to make things weird."
"They're already weird. Not gonna get worse."
Emmett and I were standing a few feet away from each other, neither one wanting to back down, give in.
"Okay, look," I started, "I've had a shitty day and this isn't really helping. Why don't we just count to three and say what we're hiding at the same time. That way it'll be out there. Plus, it will help with that whole sibling honesty thing."
"Right, honesty. Okay, on three. One… two… three"
"Edward likes you."
We both blinked, startled by the fact that we'd spoken in perfect unison. Then giggles rolled out from Emmett, starting small and soon encompassing the entire tiny room, echoing out into the hallway.
"Eddie… likes… me? Oh… my… god! That's priceless!" Emmett finally managed to speak through his laugher, as I stood there awkwardly, toeing the ground and ineffectually trying to hide my blush. "Why the hell would you think Eddie likes me?"
"Well, he's obviously of the 'pretty' persuasion," I said, dropping my hand in a limp-wrist fashion as I said 'pretty', "he kept blushing and looking away from you at rehearsal last night, he's super nervous and doesn't want to talk around you…" I trailed off.
"Wow. Glad to know your gay-dar is completely dead. Eds is totally not, how'd you put it? Pretty? Definitely not. And did it ever occur to you that I was sitting right next to you last night? 'Cuz it sure wasn't my eye-contact he was avoiding. And he doesn't talk around you, not me."
"My gay-dar is not dead! Have you seen the way he dresses?"
"Have you met Alice? How many hours early do you have to be for the party on Friday so she can gussy you up?"
"We haven't discussed it." I pouted, before looking up sharply, "what about his walk? He's far too graceful to be straight!"
"So all straight guys are neanderthals? Good to know." Emmett turned his head to the side, "So, is my forehead slope-y enough for you? I would hate to be gay because I'm not enough of a cro-magnon!" He was laughing at me and I was done. Just done today.
"Fuck off Emmett!" I grabbed a chair and hauled it up the stairs to the landing. I could hear Emmett right behind me.
He spoke quietly, reminding me that Angela and Edward could, and probably did, hear everything we were saying. "I'm sorry, Bells. Look, regardless of whether you want to believe me or not, Edward likes you. And he's totally been beating himself up over what he said to you yesterday. Believe me when I say he had a reason. Not a good one, now that I know what he said, but there was a reason. Just give the guy a chance, okay? I promise, as your big brother, if he's an asshole again, I'll put him in his place, but Edward really is a good guy."
"Okay, brother, but I'm kicking his ass myself if he pulls anything like that again. Hell, I would have yesterday if Jake hadn't held me back."
"Good. Speaking of Jake, what's up with you two?" Emmett asked as we descended the stairs to get more chairs.
"Up with us? Um, nothing. He's my brother too. He's actually the one who got me into theatre in the first place. I'm just one of the guys to him."
"Uh-huh. One of the guys. Man, you really are blind aren't you?"
"Emmett, I'm done. No more conversations. I can't handle this shit today." I turned on the puppy eyes and begged him to let all this heavy shit drop for now.
"Fuck, B! Put the eyes away! I'm stopping!"
"Thank you. Now carry this shit up the stairs, sherpa!" I laughed as he grabbed four chairs at once, two in each hand, and walked up the stairs to deposit them with the others. I followed with the last one, the throne that would become the skeleton chair.
We were on the way back down to the morgue when Emmett grabbed my arm, holding it up and looking at the evidence of my boredom throughout the day. "Nice ink. Classes really that boring?"
I laughed. "Em, you have no idea. Plus it kept my mind off shit today."
"What's going on B?" He wrapped his meaty arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close. "Need me to kick some ass? Might up my cro-magnon status." Emmett sounded truly excited about this prospect.
"Nope. I wish and ass-kicking were all it took to fix the disaster that is my mother, but unfortunately it wouldn't help at all."
I looked up then, and saw Angela and Edward standing just in front of us as we reached the bottom step. My face turned bright red, thinking about the good possibility of them hearing our conversation about Edward. I decided that avoidance was the best tactic here.
"Got everything?" I addressed Angela.
"I think so. And we grabbed a box of skeletons for you."
"Thanks! Let's get this shit back over to the theatre." I looked to Emmett, and glanced at Edward. "You guys sticking around all afternoon? 'Cuz if you don't have anywhere to be, I'm sure Jake would love a couple extra hands getting all the platforms legged and in place."
Emmett paused, waiting for Edward to speak I guess, before smiling. "B, I have no freaking clue what the hell that means, but I'm free until rehearsal. Just point and grunt."
"I'm free," was Edward's almost inaudible reply.
"Awesome. Jake'll show you everything. I'm supposed to... fuck." I trailed off and cursed as I saw Alice sitting on a pile of platforms at the back door of the theatre, arms crossed and foot tapping in midair. "Supposed to meet with Alice... almost an hour ago. Ang, can I give you the keys so you guys can finish? Just make sure to turn off all the lights and lock up when you're done, and give the keys to Jake?"
"We've got it, Bella. Thanks for recruiting help for me today. Edward was a huge help!" She smiled at Edward, who dropped his eyes to the floor as soon as I looked at him. I didn't miss the small look of pride on his face though.
He wants to do a good job. He wants to help. I held in a smile at that thought. It matters everywhere, but in theatre, willingness to work and do a good job was the ultimate test. Talent was a plus, but if you were willing to work, that meant the world. I wasn't sure about Emmett's assertion that Edward "likes me", but I was sure that the small look of pride had just raised my opinion of the asshole.
"Good, I'm glad to hear it." I gave him a small smile and watched his cheeks blush pink again. "Thanks for your help guys. Talk to Jake when you get back and he'll put you to work."
"See you tonight, sis!" Emmett yelled after me, as I grabbed my bag, Alice trailing just behind me. As we turned to leave, I caught Jake's eye and mimed to him that Angela had the keys and would be back. He nodded.
"I'm so sorry, Alice! We were getting props and I totally lost track of time."
"Uh-huh. It's okay. You can make it up to me by letting me pick your outfit for your party this weekend."
I closed my eyes and sent a silent prayer to whatever deity may be listening that it wouldn't be too painful. "Fine. Design studio?"
"Yep. I like your pants."
"Thanks?"
"Just one question. Whose handprint is this?"
I smiled. "Jake's. We got in a paint fight. It's one of my favorite things on the pants."
"I see. So you and Jake...?" she trailed off and raised her eyebrows suggestively.
"Are just friends. Why does everyone keep asking that?"
"No reason." We sank down into chairs at the conference table in the design studio, pulling out our binders. "So, I have new ideas for the vixen costumes..."
Thanks for reading!
I have no excuse for the long wait on this. I'm sorry! Just know that I have a real life and a child and sometimes I just don't have time to write. It doesn't help that freaking Edward won't shut the hell up about his side of this story... he's pissed that it's going to take a few more chapters before we find out what's going on with him. He really doesn't want you all to hate him. But this is Bella's story, so he can shut the hell up and I'll get there when I get there! :)
Review and let me know what you think! And let me know if there are any theatre terms you'd like. I think it's pretty self-explanatory. But I could be wrong...
