A/N Preread by Prettyflour but all mistakes are mine :D

Chapter 7 – Do I Ever Get To Hear It?

BPOV

Edward continued to hold my hand as we stepped outside and once again I pulled away. I saw him frown and I smiled apologetically-I couldn't even begin to explain to him my motives, not yet. We walked a few blocks into a neighbourhood I was unfamiliar with. It was a really hot and sunny day with little in the way of a breeze so the humidity was high and I was starting to feel beads of sweat appearing on my neck and chest.

Great, he'll think you have a perspiration problem and rename you Sweaty Betty if you don't cool down soon.

We stopped at a quaint little café. Inside there was a small counter and a large fridge containing row upon row of delicious looking ice-creams. Overhanging the counter was a red and white decorative awning. It reminded me of the old-fashioned Ice Cream Parlours you found at some coastal resorts in England. There was a row of about four booths on the back wall of the room and a few small round tables with lattice backed chairs in the middle of the floor. The tablecloths all matched the colours of the awning. There were a few people sitting inside, but no one turned to look at us when we entered. Standing behind the counter was a largely set elderly lady. She had her silver hair tied back in a tight bun on top of her head and wore a typical frill apron atop her white kitchen coat. As soon as she recognised Edward she broke into a welcoming smile.

"Edward, how nice to see you, my lovely." Her accent took me by surprise, she was from England, south-west England I was sure.

"Hi, Mrs. Wells. I was desperate for a fix of your ice-cream," Edward answered politely, and approached the counter.

I was still drooling over the selection of ice-creams and heard Edward chuckle as he saw my expression. He took my hand and smiled. "Just wait until you taste it. Honestly, Bella, it's out of this world."

Oh, we've already tasted something that is out of this world Mr. D.

"Mrs. Wells, this is Bella. Bella, meet Mrs. Wells, she and her husband make the best ice-cream you will ever have." Edward turned back to Mrs. Wells and I held my hand out politely.

"Nice to meet you. It all looks delicious."

The old woman smiled at me kindly. "Pleasure, Bella, my dear. I always told Edward to hurry up and find himself a nice girl. Where are you from?"

"A village not too far from London," I replied.

"Technically though Bella's a fellow American. She was born in the states," Edward added smugly.

"Born in the US, raised in England and now back again. May I ask what brought you back?" Mrs. Wells looked at Edward's hand holding mine. "Or should I say who?" she added smiling widely.

"I went to live with my father in Seattle when I was nineteen, after my mother died."

"Oh, I am sorry, dear. Still, New York's a long way from Seattle. Why the move here?" Mrs. Wells was now bordering on prying and it bothered me.

"It's a long story," I answered quietly.

Mrs. Wells seemed to sense my annoyance and apologised quickly before asking us for our order.

"The usual, please," Edward promptly responded with a huge grin on his face.

"Chocolate for me, please." I smiled politely.

"Go and sit down and I'll bring them over." Mrs. Wells shooed us away and Edward pulled me to one of the booths and he sat down opposite me.

"So, do I ever get to hear it?" he asked quietly, looking at me intensely.

"Hear what?" I asked.

"The long story. I'm curious." He reached forward to hold my hands which were clasped in front of me.

"Even before we lost Mum, I was having a bad time in England. I thought moving to Seattle would be enough to move on from all that, but I was wrong. So when things took a turn for the worse, I decided to make a fresh start somewhere different. Alice insisted on coming with me and we moved here about two years ago." I took a deep breath, this was barely even a scratch on the surface but that was all he needed to know.

Edward smiled wryly. "I get the feeling that's an edited version."

I couldn't help but smile. "Yep, I'm afraid so."

"Any idea when the extended cut's available?" He laughed quietly and squeezed my hands.

"I'm afraid that's not on general release yet." I looked down from his gaze. I never spoke about this to anyone. "Edward, I'm sorry to be weird. I just hate talking about this. I never do."

Edward smiled warmly. "Say no more, Bella. Whenever you want to tell me, I'll listen."

NEVER TELL HIM! Inner-Bella roared in my ears.

"Thanks, Edward." I felt uncomfortable and tried to change the subject. "So the ice-cream is really good, eh?"

Edward nodded dramatically. "Jesus yeah! Just wait and see."

A few minutes later Mrs. Wells appeared with two tall dishes, each one piled high with ice-cream, wafer, sprinkles and sauce. She sat them down on our table and walked away with a kind smile.

I looked at Edward's dish which resembled a rainbow. "What have you got?"

"Mint choc chip, sherbet lemon, raspberry and chocolate." He started shovelling the ice-cream into his mouth like he hadn't been fed in a month.

"Wow. That's quite a combination." I put a spoonful of the chocolate into my mouth and almost groaned with pleasure. Edward was right, without a shadow of a doubt this was the best ice-cream I had ever tasted. It was creamy, velvety and so, so chocolaty.

As soon as he saw my expression Edward laughed. "See I told you. It's all home-made. I could keep eating it until I threw up." I barely caught a word as he still had a mouthful of ice-cream.

When I had finished I seriously contemplated licking the dish but given the company I decided against it. Edward was grinning from ear to ear and smacking his lips in satisfaction. Mrs. Wells re-appeared and pulled a chair up to the booth;

"Do you mind?" she asked, although she was already sitting down.

Yes we mind, bugger off you old bird.

"No, of course not." I ignored Inner-Bella and smiled politely as Mrs. Wells asked Edward how long he was in the city.

"I fly back to LA tomorrow morning and I'll probably be gone for a week. We've got a video to shoot and a few other things to take care of." He smiled at her but his eyes kept flashing towards mine.

I realised I had never paid much attention to just how unique the colour was, it was always too dark in the bar and the only other time I was close enough to see, I was somewhat pre-occupied. They were the most incredible green I'd ever seen and they were mesmerizing me. I forced myself to look away; I'd been gawking at his eyes and had paid no attention to what he was talking about.

"Well make sure you come back soon, Edward. Are you accompanying him, Dear?" Mrs. Wells asked me. Once again it felt like she was prodding at me for information.

"No, no. We just met. I don't think it would be a good idea if I stalked him across the country just yet." I laughed feeling a little flustered. I had definitely not acted cool.

Ooh, following Mr. Delicious to LA sounds good to me.

"Oh, I see. Well I shall leave you two in peace. Give my love to the other boys, Edward, won't you?" Edward nodded at her as she walked away.

"I have to bring Angela and Alice back here. I can't believe people don't scream about the place. How did you find it?" I sat back against the booth, feeling a little tired.

"Completely by accident about three years ago. We were being followed by some paparazzi after an album signing and we hid in here. Every time I'm back in the city I try to grab another fix." Edward shifted to his left and shuffled down in the seat. I jumped when his feet appeared on the seat either side of me. Seeing my reaction he asked, "Do you mind?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. I can't imagine what that must be like. People following you around and plastering photos of you all over the place. I couldn't think of anything worse. I honestly don't know how you put up with it."

Edward just shrugged. "It can get a bit old, and it's a lot worse when we're all together. Emmett gets the worst end of the deal. But to be honest, if you really want to stay hidden it's possible. That's why I got to places like Art's, Ma's and here. They aren't exactly the usual celebrity haunts."

I had to grin as he used the air quotations on the word celebrity.

"At the end of the day if you drive a flashy car and wear sunglasses on a rainy day then people are going to notice you." He paused for a minute, studying my face. "Is that why you wouldn't hold my hand outside?"

I had not been expecting that question and it took me a minute to answer, "I'm sorry, Edward. I wasn't trying to shun you or anything. It's just that...I just..." I couldn't explain myself. I wasn't ready to talk about this.

Edward interrupted me quickly, "It's fine, Bella. I understand completely. No P.D.A—got it." He winked and tapped the side of his head. "I'm relieved that's the reason actually. I thought that you might have been trying to drop me a hint."

I rolled my eyes. "You're absolutely right, Edward, if I wanted you to bugger off and leave me alone, the way to do that would be to spend hours in your bed with no clothes on, let you take me out to breakfast and come with you to this place and then hope you would get the hint when I didn't hold your hand in public." I shook my head in disbelief, unsure if he was actually being serious. If he was then the guy had worse self-esteem problems than I did.

"I see your point. It's just you're difficult to read, I can't always tell what you're thinking and I'm not used to that."I saw him smile shyly. "Do you want some more ice cream?" His eyes were so eager that I had to laugh, like a child in a sweetshop—well I suppose he was.

"God no, if I ate much more I think I'd get stuck behind the table." I grinned at him, "But please go ahead."

Edward called out to Mrs. Wells who promptly returned with another huge portion of ice-cream. While he was stuffing his face he had asked me about my life in England and Seattle. It wasn't something I particularly like talking about but I didn't want to seem evasive.

"My mum and step-father ran a pub called The George and Dragon. I always flew over to Washington every school holiday. That's how I met Alice. She lived in the same building as my father. I moved here after Mum died, about six years ago now." I paused as I felt that familiar lump form in my throat. It didn't matter how much time passed it was still raw. I'd never dealt with the grief. I'd packed up and flown out to Seattle straight after the funeral.

Edward reached over and put his hand on top of mine. "Sorry, Bella. We don't have to talk about it," he murmured softly.

"It's fine." I smiled weakly and shook my head. "After she died, I decided I needed a fresh start and moved to the States with Dad. He owns a Pharmaceutical Company and he got me a job as a PA to one of his sales directors. Alice and I were inseparable and after a few years we rented an apartment together with two other girls. It was great." I hesitated, editing my story for his benefit and my own. "We moved to New York about two years ago and met Angela on the bus. She had just graduated from Nursing School and wanted to live here in the city. Of course Alice was adamant we live on the Upper East Side and she figured if we all pooled together we could afford a decent apartment. We do manage; it would be nice to have a building where the main door actually locks but I love it all the same."

Just skimming over the edges of my life brought back horrible memories and I shifted in my seat. I could feel the panic rising through me and I hoped Edward wouldn't notice as I concentrated on getting my breathing back to a steady rate.

Clearly he saw something, he was scrutinizing my face for a minute or so, trying to fathom my expression, or understand the holes in my story. "It must be hard though, working all those hours. Not getting much time to yourself to kick back and relax."

I shrugged, forcing myself to hold his eye. "It's not usually a big deal. The bar's a fun place to work. Alice and Angela stop by and we try to go out afterwards. As you know they certainly do know how to kick back." I smiled at him and his lips curled up.

"They're not the only ones. You certainly surprised me last night." His eyes had a wicked glint in them; clearly he was having a flash back of some kind.

Let's have no more flashbacks. Just repeat performances

In the hope of shifting the conversation away from me I asked about his family.

"My mother, Esme, used to be a music teacher at a school here in the city. When she was younger she played piano in a hotel bar and that's how she met my father, Carlisle. He used to be a cardio-thoracic surgeon until a few years back. Emmett is the eldest, he'll be twenty-nine in a few months, then comes me, and of course my baby sister, Caitlyn. She'll be thirteen in September." Edward's face broke out into a beaming smile at the mention of his sister.

"Have you always been into music?" I was enthralled. I sat forward with my hands on my chin, hanging on his every word. Ironic, considering that was the thing I told him I would never do, the night we first met.

Edward nodded. "Emmett and I always goofed about with guitars, drums and any instruments Mom would have kicking about the house. We formed a 'band' with Seth in high-school. After Emmett met Garrett in college, we took things a bit more seriously and we got signed about eight years ago." He grinned. "We thought we were the luckiest guys on the planet. Of course, we were in for a big shock when we realised how much hard work it was going to be. But we released out first album later that year and we've never looked back."

I smiled. Ever since High-School he'd lived this life. "So that makes you what twenty-five, twenty-six?" I wondered aloud.

"Twenty-seven in a few weeks. This will be the first birthday I've had in the city for four years."

Our worlds were so far apart. Sitting opposite me was a man who had countless screaming fans and got to travel the world, living his life in the constant glare. I, on the other hand, had been trying to hide away for as long as I could remember, never wanting to draw attention to myself.

What on earth was I doing? This was such a bad idea; dangerous, terrifying even. But I couldn't be the one to say no. I was having way too much fun. I couldn't remember ever feeling like this. I almost felt free; I forgot about being scared and cautious and just enjoyed the moment.

"Where did you spend your other birthdays then?" I was genuinely interested, his life seemed so surreal.

"My twenty-third birthday was in Singapore, the year after that was Madrid, and the last two years have been in London. I love that city, we all do. I always look forward to going back." He reflected.

"Of course, I forgot you had a weakness for the accent," I teased, nudging his feet beside me with my elbow.

"If you must know, that's a recent development," Edward said and winked at the same time.

Literally, every mannerism of his sent me into a tailspin. I needed to get a hold of myself or I'd end up getting arrested for lewd conduct in a public place.

Lewd conduct? Yes please.

We spent the next half hour discussing music. My music choices predominantly.

"My family was golden oldies through and through. I grew up more or less out of touch with modern music. Anything from the sixties, seventies and eighties I could sing along to. My mothers absolute favourite was Dusty Springfield. I still can't listen to any of her music. We played 'I just don't know what to do with myself' at her funeral." I had to fight back the tears again.

Here you go again, bumming yourself out. Change the subject before he thinks you need counselling.

Edward was looking at me, his eyes soft and interested. "How did she die?"

This question made my chest ache. The truth was she died because of me; end of story. But I couldn't actually say that to him, so I gave him the simplest answer, "A car accident."

"I'm sorry. Was your mother an influence in your film choices too? What's your favourite?" Edward changed the subject but not in a dismissive way.

"Mum and Phil ran a pub so that was where the music influence came. I educated myself in films. As for a favourite though I don't think I could narrow it down to less than five."

"Go on then, top five?" he looked at me expectantly. "But you can't include, Pretty Woman, Ghost, Grease or Dirty Dancing."

I chuckled. "That's not fair you know? It's discrimination against chick flicks. None-the-less, it's irrelevant, none of those are in my top five."

We discussed film choices for a few minutes, and then once again I tried to steer the conversation back onto him. He fascinated me.

"So what do you like to do when you're not off gallivanting around the world?" I was curious to know what he did to keep his grip on reality. Clearly there was nothing typically celebrity about the man sitting here with me. It was impressive actually.

That's not the only pretty impressive thing about him.

"Apart from beer, breakfasts, and ice cream do you mean?" He laughed, moving his legs down and sitting forward against the table, "I'm just a typical guy I'm afraid. There's never much on my TV apart from sports. Basketball, football, baseball, hockey and anything else that's going."

I frowned at him. "When you say football...?"

"American Football, not English. Soccer you'd call it over here. Actually, I'm a soccer fan too. So are you a sports girl?" Edward did seem enthralled in our conversation and his eyes were twinkling like he was enjoying himself. It left me baffled, yet smiling at the same time.

"I don't hate it. My father used to take me to watch the Seahawks in Seattle when I came to visit, but to be honest I never understood all the rules. He tried to educate me but I don't remember much." I glanced at Edward's watch, it was almost five o'clock. The afternoon had flown by. Edward noticed too and made a move.

"Ready to go?" he asked as he stood.

"Yes, but could I ask something?" I stood and moved out of the booth.

"Yeah sure what?" I could see him rummaging in his pocket to pay.

"Can I pay please?" I saw his hand still in his pocket and he frowned at me. "You've paid for everything since last night."

Edward shrugged and looked bemused. "So? You can barely afford to eat because your rent is so high remember?" He nudged me playfully as we walked over to the counter.

"It doesn't matter. I want to pay. Otherwise I'll go home in a stinking bad mood and Alice will hunt you down for pissing me off. Trust me, you really don't want to get on the wrong side of her," I teased.

"Well in that case I'll let you pay on this occasion. I don't want to piss you off and I certainly don't want to get on the wrong side of your friend. She might not let me see you again." He put his hand on my back and walked me over to the counter.

I pulled out some money and handed it over to Mrs. Wells, she was still smiling. "Thank you, dear, it was lovely to meet you. Hopefully I'll see you again soon," She turned to Edward, "Have a safe trip, Edward. Pop back soon."

Edward looked at her and grinned. "Of course I will, you know how I need my fix." Once we were outside, he didn't try to take my hand again. Instead he just walked closely beside me. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite as invisible now and several people had glanced at him and gawked. One woman in particular had been too busy watching Edward that she walked into a lamppost.

"Em has it twice as bad as us. He hardly gets any peace." Edward laughed as the woman stalked off trying to act as if nothing had happened. "Will you come back to mine? There's a Rangers game on tonight, a play off. I can explain the rules?"

"Rangers? That's hockey right?" I clarified uncertainly.

He rolled his eyes at me and nodded. "Do you watch any sports?"

"Some, Alice's a Knicks fan and Angela's brother plays for a team in the NFL, so we have to watch the games he plays."

Edward's eyes widened excitedly. "NFL? Who?"

"Um, his names Tyler, and he plays for...um..." I racked my brain trying to think, "I want to say the 49ers but I'm not sure."

Edward nodded eagerly. "49ers are NFL." He started to reel off a few statistics from last year and I tried to look enthusiastic as he spoke. "Do you want to grab some dinner before the game?"

I shook my head. "I'm not even close to hungry. Why do you?"

"No, we can just order a pizza later." We walked into his building and were greeted by the same doorman as last night.

"Good Evening, Mr. Cullen." I saw him cast a glance in my direction, he obviously recognised me as the girl Edward brought home last night. Hopefully, his lasting impression wouldn't be that I was some cheap floozy.

He continued to stare at me and I saw Edward glare at him before taking my hand and pulling me towards this elevator. He was still scowling at him as the doors closed. "See what I mean? You never fly under the radar."


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