A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this out, it just didn't want to come to me, and yet it's my longest chapter yet. Go figure.
Hope you enjoy, don't forget to review!
SM owns everything twilight, I own the crazy things I come up with.
Ch 4
Edward
"Thank you."
The words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to think about it. I usually watch the things I say, after all; you never know when someone from the press is listening. But in the few short days I've known her, Bella has broken down my carefully constructed walls and has brought the real Edward out to play.
Instantly, Alice had a Cheshire grin, and Bella turned to me with her mouth hanging open. Apparently they didn't expect me to have a sense of humor.
Judging from the color on her cheeks, Bella was either going to kill Alice or die of mortification; I'm not sure which. The second those words left Alice's mouth, Bella turned a shade of red I've never seen before. I couldn't help myself, it was too much fun. When she heard me chuckle, Bella immediately started stammering about her "obnoxious roommate."
"Hey," I said, getting her to look up from her hands in her lap, "Don't worry about it." She took a deep breath and nodded.
"It's just so embarrassing. I mean why doesn't she get out the naked baby pictures while she's at it?"
"Naked, huh?" I wagged my eyebrows playfully. Her cheeks that had started to turn back to normal quickly became tomatoes again.
"Ok, so what's the plan?" she asked.
"Well, you can get something out of that drawer…" I began nodding towards where Alice said the condoms were.
"That's not what I meant!" She slapped my shoulder playfully.
"Oh, you mean with them?" I chucked nodding toward the front yard.
"Yeah… I mean what should I expect? Am I going to see myself on a magazine at the checkout counter of the grocery store?"
"Maybe, but most likely not the cover," I said. "We will be on a lot of blogs and celebrity sites tomorrow though. The paparazzi get paid by the shot, and I'm going to guess they got quite a few at the restaurant."
"Ok," she said slowly, trying to wrap her head around our situation.
"Don't worry about them," I said pulling her into a hug, "They'll get their story and then move on to the next big thing."
She nodded her understanding and tried to stifle a yawn by burying her face in my chest. "Sorry."
"No, that's ok. I should… uh… let you get to bed." Not that I wanted to leave, but I don't have the balls to ask her if she wants me to stay. This is where women confused me, if they wanted you to stay, they'd say "stay", right?
Her face fell, but she quickly recovered, trying to keep me from seeing her disappointment. Maybe she did want me to stay? I bet we're both too chicken-shit to bring it up.
"Yeah, uh, Alice and I have to open the store early tomorrow," she said getting up from the couch. I followed her through the kitchen to the backdoor. "I'll come out with you and close the garage after you leave."
I continued to follow her out of the house and into the garage. Before I got to my car I took her hand and pulled her to me. I wasn't going to be a chicken when it came to telling her how I felt.
"I really had a good time with you," I repeated looking into her eyes. I love her eyes, they say so much about her. You can read her whole mind through her beautiful, brown eyes.
"Me too."
"I'll call you tomorrow?"
"Sure. I'm done at Starbucks at one."
"Great, maybe we can get dinner again tomorrow night?"
"I'd like that."
"Goodnight, Bella," I said, leaning down to finally kiss the beautiful woman in my arms. She tilted her head just right and my lips pressed gently to hers. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was perfect. I pulled back slightly to gauge her reaction. Her smile told me what I wanted to know; she enjoyed it too. I quickly pecked her lips once more before she finally whispered, "Good night," and pulled out of our embrace.
She stepped to the door and waited for me to back out of the garage. Once I was out she waved and closed the door. As I backed down the drive I saw her run across the dark yard and into the house. When I got to the street the paparazzi got a few shots of my car leaving but thanks to my tinted windows they couldn't see me. I drove home that night happier than I've been in a while.
Bella
Our first kiss ended up being in my stinky garage after all. But it was worth it. Man, can he kiss! If he made me weak in my knees after a simple kiss like that, imagine what he could do with his tongue! My dreams were going to be vivid.
After he left, I ran right into the house and up to Alice's room. I didn't even bother knocking, just walked right in. That's the kind of friendship we have… no secrets.
"You do realize paybacks a bitch, right?" I asked, flopping down on her bed.
"That's what you say all the time," she replied not looking up from her blood red toes she was painting.
"I'm just waiting for the right time to strike."
Once she finished her foot she put the nail polish away and faced me with that look again. All it took was for her to raise one eyebrow and I was putty in her hands.
"We kissed. In the garage. That's it."
"I knew it!" she started bouncing up and down.
"We have to get up at the butt crack of dawn, so I'm going to bed. You'll get all the details tomorrow," I said getting up and heading across the hall to my room.
"I'll hold you to that!" Alice called after me.
The next morning we were up before the sun and out the door to start our early shift at Starbucks. Correction, Alice was up before the sun. I, on the other, had had to be dragged out of bed. You could say I'm not a morning person.
As we walked to Alice's car, a man got out of a gray van across the street.
"Isabella!" he shouted.
Hearing my name, I instinctually looked up, and right into the lens of his camera. Before I had a chance to react he snapped my picture. Shit, they did stay all night!
"So you're dating Edward Cullen?" he asked, following us the short distance to Alice's car.
"Uh… no comment?" I mean what was I supposed to say? Did Edward want to keep us a secret? I was barely awake; I couldn't deal with this yet.
Alice grabbed my hand and all but pushed me into the car. Once she was in and we were on the road Alice turned to me, "Well, he was annoying."
I didn't know what to say. That was nothing compared to the crowd of photographers we encountered last night, but I still didn't like him sitting and waiting outside my house for me to come out. That's just a little weird. I'm not even the celebrity; I'm a barista for heaven's sake! I must have gotten lost in thought because before I knew it we were pulling in the parking lot of Starbucks.
"Alright girl, let's get to work," Alice sounded way too chipper for this ungodly hour of the morning. There is one perk to working in a coffee shop: lots of caffeine to wake me up in the morning. Thankfully, Alice always seems to know what drink I need each day to get me up and running. Today it was coffee straight up, no messing around with flavors or additives. Just straight caffeine, please.
Our morning seemed to go quickly. I was hoping Edward would stop in for a drink, but no such luck. I did notice there were a few people hanging out on the sidewalk most of the morning. Only when a guy I didn't recognize walked in and they took his picture did I realize they were paparazzi.
"Hey Alice, did you see those guys out there?" I said as she got the actor's order ready.
"No, what guys?"
Before I had a chance to answer, I was cut off. "You must be the infamous Bella," the guy in line said.
"Uh…" I blushed wondering who this guy was and how he knew me… and why did he call me "infamous?"
"I'm Jacob Black; I'm working with Edward on Face Punch."
That must be the new movie he's shooting. We haven't really talked much about his work.
"Oh, well it's nice to meet you."
"You too. Nice to finally put a face to the reason why Eddie's skipping out of the set as soon as he's done shooting," Jacob went on. "We all guessed he had someone hidden away somewhere, but no one knew for sure."
"Oh uh well… I… I uh… wait, how did you know my name?"
"You haven't seen it yet?" He must have seen my confused expression because he got his phone out and after a second of pushing buttons he showed me the front page of one of the hottest celebrity tabloids. There I was with Edward's arm around my shoulders walking out of The Brass Rail. From the angle the picture was taken at, it looked like he was kissing my ear.
"You're all over the place this morning." He explained there were many more sites with pictures just like these.
I must have stared off into space because the next thing I knew I saw his hand waving in front of my face. Startled, I looked up at him and handed his phone back. "Sorry."
"No problem. Hey, are you all right?" he asked looking kind of concerned.
"No… yes… I dunno. I mean I'm no one. Why do they care about me? Why are they out there?" I pointed out the front door where the photographers now had their noses pressed up against the glass like we were animals in a zoo. Weird.
"Here's the thing. It's weird the first time you see a picture of yourself in a magazine, I get that. Freaked me out the first time too, but it's no big deal. It's their job, just like sneaking me extra whipped cream is yours." He smirked. "You just have to ignore them and not let them get to you. They'll probably ask you a ton of questions, and say a bunch of stupid stuff, but you don't have to answer them at all. In fact, it's probably best you don't. They tend to take what you say and make it sound like what they want to hear."
I took another look out the window to the guys currently sitting at one of our tables. Turning back to Jacob I said, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."
"You're just going to have to remember to watch your mouth," Alice chimed in next to me.
"Yeah, I have a tendency to tell people off when they provoke me," I admitted.
"Yup, definitely going to have to watch that," Jacob agreed. "Well thanks for the drink, ladies; I have to head to the set. Have a good one." He turned and started out of the shop.
"Thanks again, Jacob!" I called after him.
When he made it onto the sidewalk, the photographers got up quickly and followed him to his car parked near the front of the shop. As he got in he waved to them and was off. Jacob made it seem so easy. Maybe it wasn't so bad to deal with them. Just like Edward said, give them a shot and they'll leave you alone.
By the time our shift was done, there were only a couple guys still sitting outside waiting. Luckily for me they didn't know about the employee entrance, so Alice and I slipped out the back and into the car without being seen.
We headed towards home and when we got there were glad to see no one lying in wait on our street. Once inside Alice headed over to check the messages on the machine.
"That's strange," Alice said as she started to listen to the messages. "They were all hang-ups."
I grabbed the handset and looked at the caller-ID. "There's a ton of calls here... and they're all different numbers."
"I bet it was them!" Alice started over towards the windows. "They were calling to see if we'd answer and talk to them."
"They saw us leave though," I said as I started to make a sandwich. Food always calms me; I swear I should have been a chef.
"Yeah, that guy did, but the rest of the tabloids didn't," she countered.
"You want one?" I asked pointing to my sandwich. I needed to get rid of this nervous energy.
"Yeah, thanks." Alice seemed deep in thought while she got us two sodas from the fridge.
I finished making our lunch and we sat down at the small kitchen table to eat. Alice still had this strange look on her face.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I'm not sure… I just have this strange feeling."
"Is this another of your psychic feelings?" I joked.
"You weren't laughing the last time I had a feeling like this."
"That's only because it got me the job at Midnight Sun. You had this vision of us best friends with a blonde in a bar… it was weeks and dozens of bars till we found Rose!"
"Right now it's not such a happy feeling. More of a 'something's gonna happen' feeling," Alice elaborated between bites of her sandwich.
One thing I've learned since moving to LA is to listen to Alice; she tends to be right about her feelings. We sat there both in thought eating our lunches.
"Ok, let's forget about this. Let's go out tonight and have fun!" Alice all of a sudden popped up from her chair and started clearing our dishes.
"What made you change your mind?" I asked.
"It's just a feeling. Nothing concrete. For all we know it could be that I will spill wine on my favorite white shirt."
"Ok, Edward is going to call; we were going to get dinner. Maybe we can meet you at Midnight Sun?" I suggested.
"Great! I'll call Rose and let her know we're coming. I bet she can save a table for us." Alice was already running up to her room to pick out an outfit for the night.
~~dbeyr~~
A few hours later found me completely relaxed after a long, hot shower. I wrapped a towel around my hair and another around my body. I walked into my room to find Alice on my bed waiting for me.
"It's about time. What were you doing in there? Teasing the kitty?"
I think my jaw dropped. Why hadn't I thought of doing that? Don't guys usually spank the monkey before a big date? Who says girls can't do the same thing? I quickly glanced at the clock and realized I didn't have enough time before Edward picked me up. Damn.
"No, thank you. You know I prefer 'Buzz-Buzz'." Alice had gotten me my favorite toy for my birthday last year. She so aptly named him 'Buzz-Buzz'.
I dropped my towel and began getting dressed by throwing on a lace panty and bra set.
"Whatever works for ya," Alice laughed. "Here's what I think will work best with you assets."
Before I knew it, I was dressed in a hot pair of skinny jeans, a low-cut tank top, and my favorite pair of stilettos. I quickly threw on some neutral make up and dried my hair in soft waves that landed below my shoulders.
Alice came back in a sexy red halter dress and black stiletto's, making her look taller than her small five foot frame.
At exactly six pm, a large SUV pulled into the driveway. The doorbell rang a few seconds later, and I opened the door to find a tall man with long blonde hair on our doorstep.
"Miss Bella, I'm Jasper. Edward is in the car. We brought my Escalade to throw off the media."
I looked out, and sure enough there was Edward in the backseat of the big black SUV. "Ok, let me just get Alice and we'll be right out."
Jasper nodded and headed back to the car. I turned around to find Alice standing there with her mouth open.
"Uh... Are you ok?" I asked.
Instantly, Alice was snapped out of her trance and started blabbering a mile a minute. The only thing I understood was, "Why didn't you tell me his brother was that hot?"
Apparently Alice had just laid eyes on her future husband. She didn't want to keep him waiting any longer, so we grabbed our purses and headed out to the car. I climbed in the back to sit next to Edward, leaving Alice to accompany her Mr. Right up front.
"Hey."
Edward took my hand and kissed the back of it before replying, "Hi."
I couldn't help but smile at his gesture. We were brought out of our bubble by Jasper asking where we were headed,
"Let's try Vinny's," Edward suggested. He looked at me to see if that was alright and I nodded my acceptance.
"Ok, Vinny's it is," Jasper said as he pulled us out into traffic. Conversation in the car flowed freely and before I knew it we were pulled up to the front of the restaurant. The front door was about five feet from the car, and a valet was very quick in opening our door and ushering us into the building.
We were escorted to a table in the corner, and before we had a chance to place an order there was a waitress at the table with a tray of drinks. I just about jumped in my seat when my favorite drink was placed before me.
"Um…" I couldn't help but stare at the mouth watering strawberry daiquiri.
"The bartender, Taylor, has a knack for knowing what you want," Edward explained. "Five years running, and he hasn't been wrong yet."
I took a sip, and couldn't help but moan. It was the best daiquiri I've ever had. It had the right ratio of whipped cream to frozen alcoholic goodness. I took my finger and scooped up some of the frothy white cream on top. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Edward staring at my hand as I brought it to my mouth and sucked the cream off my finger. I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard him moan as I enjoyed the yummy dairy topping.
Between drinks and the best deep dish pizza I've ever had, dinner flew by. Alice and I went to touch up our make-up while the guys took care of the check. Jasper met us by the front door, having had the valet already get the car.
"We'll walk out first, and then Edward will follow," he instructed as the big SUV pulled up to the curb.
Jasper led the way for Alice and myself out to the car, walking though the paparazzi waiting on the sidewalk. Fortunately, they didn't recognize any of us and we made it into the car without incident. Edward on the other hand wasn't so lucky. As soon as he stepped out of the restaurant the flashes were going off. He ran his hand through his hair as he quickly made his way to the car. I threw open the door and he quickly clambered in the backseat.
"You ok, bro?" Japer asked as he pulled away from the curb.
"Yeah, I'm just glad they didn't give you guys any problems." Edward leaned towards me and placed a quick kiss on my cheek.
A few minutes later and we were pulling up to Midnight Sun. Alice volunteered to go let Rosalie know we were here, and returned quickly with her favorite bouncer holding the door open. Leave it to Alice to get us an escort into the club I already work at. It was a good plan though, because as soon as Edward stepped out of the car, the short line started yelling to get his attention. He threw them a small wave and then gave me his hand to help me out of the car. Jasper went to park the car as the three of us quickly ducked inside.
"Rose has the red booth all set up for us!" Alice yelled over the music. She led us right past the bar where we waved at Rose as she mixed drinks, and back to the semiprivate area known as the red booth. The round booth was large enough to fit ten people at and entirely covered in red velvet. It reminded me of something out of a horrible porn movie.
I slid in the booth till I hit the middle. Edward followed me and Alice came to sit next to me. Just after we were seated, Rose brought over a bottle of champagne and slid in next to Edward.
"Hi, I'm Rose." She gave him a quick once over.
"Hi, Rose, I'm Edward."
"You know, I thought you looked familiar," Rose joked. And that's one of the reasons we get along so well with Rose: she can joke around and make anyone feel comfortable. Rose poured a few glasses of champagne and passed them around. Just as we were about to toast, Jasper walked up to the table with another guy.
"Look who I found!"
"Hey Em!" Edward fist-bumped the guy who slid in the booth next to Jasper and Alice. "I didn't think you were going to make it."
"Introductions, please," Rose insisted.
"This is my brother Emmett. Emmett, this is Rose, Bella, and Alice," Edward quickly introduced everyone at the table.
"Nice to meet you Emmett," Rose piped up, showing off her assets as she leaned across the table to shake his hand.
Oh boy, I knew where this was going. When Rose wanted something, she got it, and from the looks of it she wanted Emmett. Bad.
Edward and Emmett discussed the timeline for finishing the house while Jasper and Alice seemed to be lost in their own world.
Rose and Emmett hit it off quickly, Emmett coming over to her side of the booth to be closer to her. I sat back and surveyed our surroundings. All of our friends were getting along great.
I leaned over to whisper to Edward, "We really should become matchmakers."
His light chuckle made me smile as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a soft kiss. It only lasted a second, but it was enough for Emmett to yell, "Get a room!"
I felt my cheeks heat up and Edward pecked my lips one last time. "Ya know, we could, if my house was finished…"
I really didn't think I could get more embarrassed. Thankfully it was then that Alice decided she needed to use the restroom and asked me to go with her. We left the table and were on our way to the bathroom when she ran into someone she knew. "You go ahead, I'll be right behind you," she called as she ran off to see her friend.
I waited in line, and when it was finally my turn Alice was still nowhere to be seen. Yeah well, you snooze you lose. I quickly did my business, checked my hair and left the room.
I was on my way back to the table when I stopped dead in my tracks. There between the bathrooms and the table was Edward, and for a second I thought he was alone. That's when I saw two feminine arms wrap around him and massaged the back of his neck. He ducked his head down to tell her something, and she let out this horrible laugh that I was sure I would never forget. They stood there talking for a minute, and I started to wonder who this girl is that's touching my boyfriend. Wait… is he my boyfriend? Is that what we are? I don't know, but I certainly didn't like to see her hands all over him. The green monster was rearing its ugly head.
I was just about to make my presence known when she put her hand on his chest and leaned into him. The last thing I saw before I saw red was the blonde witch raise up to kiss Edward.
My heart was racing, my breathing felt ragged… I needed to get out of there. I quickly ducked into the back room of the bar and came back out right by our table. I was never so happy to know the ins and outs of Midnight Sun.
"Rose, can you give me my purse?"
"Yeah, what's wrong, you look like you saw a ghost," she said as she handed me my clutch.
"Uh... I just gotta get out of here." I tried to keep my voice down so no one realized what was going on, but Alice must have heard me.
"You need me to come with you?" she asked.
"No, you stay and have fun. I'm just gonna go home," I said as I backed away from the table. I should have known I'd never make it out. I took one more step and backed into a rock hard chest.
"Hey babe, I waited for you, but didn't see you come out of the bathroom," he said wrapping his arms around my waist.
I am horrible at trying to hold my temper; I whipped around and started yelling.
"That's probably cuz that blonde bitch had her tongue down your throat!"
He backed up and looked like a smacked him across the face.
"Wait, what blonde?" Alice asked from behind us.
"You missed it," I turned to explain to the group. "I came out of the bathroom and there was a tall blonde wrapping herself around him."
Alice shot Edward the look. Apparently even he was powerless to 'the look.'
"The blonde Bella so lovingly refers to is Tanya Denali." he explained as if that made all the sense in the world.
Everyone at the table seemed to understand what he was saying, yet I seemed to be left in the dark. All I wanted to know was why they seemed so close.
I gave him a look that screamed, "Yeah, so?"
"Wow, you weren't kidding, were ya? You really haven't seen any of my movies?" he asked.
"No." What does it matter what movies he's been in?
"Well, that's Tanya. We were in the Sunrise movies together. Four movies based off a popular book series…"
"Doesn't ring a bell."
"She's an actress. We worked together for years on those movies."
Rose jumped to my aid. "Didn't you have a thing with her?"
Edward pinched the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath. "No, that was all publicity for the films. And apparently I'm never going to live it down."
He turned towards me, and took my hands in his. "She doesn't mean anything, never did, never will."
I could barely look him in the face, here I was basically accusing him of cheating and the man was just talking to an old coworker.
I let him pull me into a hug and he nuzzled his head in my neck. "You know you mean everything to me, right?"
I couldn't help the smile that graced my face. "Well, when you put it that way…"
This time I leaned up and kissed him. Kissing Edward was amazing. His lips were soft, and his tongue felt like silk as it gently massaged mine. Our kiss quickly escalated and once again Emmett made a comment about getting a room.
Edward broke away from our kiss, leaving me breathless. He leaned over to Emmett and they had a quick conversation. I couldn't hear much of what they were saying, but Emmett handed Edward a set of keys.
"I'll make sure they don't show up before noon tomorrow," Emmett said as Edward took my hand and whispered in my ear that we were leaving.
I waved goodbye to the table and nodded when Alice yelled, "Call me!"
Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulders, his nose nuzzling my ear as we made it to the front of the bar. Edward handed the valet a ticket and we waited inside for the car to be brought around.
"Emmett is going to make sure everyone gets home. We're taking Jaspers car."
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"The only place we can be alone and no one knows who we are," he cryptically answered.
The valet returned with the SUV and held the door for us as we walked outside… right into the paparazzi's focus.