CHAPTER SEVEN
"So we start off in an open green field. It looks like it's about to storm. What we are looking at is the aftermath. There is a person lying on the ground and there are thousands of shards of glass surrounding them. You see them looking pretty cut up."
"Wait a minute." Kyle interrupted. "Is it a man or a woman who is lying on the field surrounded by glass?"
"It doesn't matter." I answered.
"Well, yeah it kind of does. It's hard for me to picture if I don't know." He replied.
"Ugh, just choose one."
"I was picturing a girl." Scott added.
"I could do that." Kyle responded. "But what does she look like?"
"It doesn't matter, can I get through my concept or not." I snapped irritated.
Kyle looked like I had just told him Santa Claus wasn't real.
"Just picture Jacqueline. For now it doesn't matter." Mark told him.
Kyle nodded and I assumed I could continue.
"All right so Jacqueline is lying in a field, her skin is cut up from the glass shards lying around her. This is during your intro. The guitar starts playing and the camera zooms in for a close up right into her glossy eye the camera pulls out to a different scene. We see…Jacqueline running out of this haunted looking house and she runs into a maze; the maze it is made from glass mirrors."
I paused for a second making sure they could follow me up until that point.
"Everywhere she looks she can't escape seeing herself. Your song is about doing something and then having to live with the consequences. Sometimes it's hard after you have done something wrong to face yourself in the mirror. In your song you talk about how you would just rather Erase yourself then have to face what you did. Here is the concept; she is running in the maze unable to get away from herself. Everywhere she turns she sees herself. Finally she stops running and walks up to the mirror to confront herself. Her image that is reflecting back on her jumps out of the mirror and starts attacking her. The image is symbolic for the wrong she did and how since she didn't face it; it eventually attacks you. She fights with the image. During the instrumental portion of the song I want to show each one of you walking up to your own mirror and facing the man you see. When we come back to Jacqueline she has won the fight and is carrying her body that is of the image that fought her and now she wants to bury it. She takes it to the center of the maze and throws it down into a grave. The moment she releases the body the mirrored maze blows to smithereens and as she fights to push the dirt into the hole and bury her issue the mirror glass is flying about; slicing into her. She is a mess; blood sweat and tears. I also want to show you all smashing the mirrors you stood in front of."
"But isn't that bad luck?" Aaron interrupted.
"It will be fake mirrors." I waved him off. "The last thing we see is the girl lying upon the mound of dirt surrounded by the glass just as we found her from the beginning of the video. There thee end." I exhaled dramatically.
They sat in a moment of silence.
"Do you think that Jacqueline will come back and do another video?" Kyle asked.
The guys all groaned and threw objects at him.
"What? You had me picture Jacqueline." Kyle defended.
"It doesn't have to be a woman; it can be a man too." I said.
"Yeah but we are already five guys, it would make sense to get a woman for the role. Statistics show that films, videos and television shows are susceptible to higher ratings when both male and females are represented. It gives both gender viewers something to identify with." Scott informed.
"Fine, we will find a girl. I am a little disturbed that you none of you will tell me if this concept is even acceptable." I said.
"Well I like it." Mark spoke up. "I get the symbolism."
"Still don't know why we can't ask Jacqueline." Kyle pouted. I think I could get the hint of a crush forming.
After that they all quickly agreed on my concept. One problem down, many more to go. For this video it would be a task to find the right girl for the job. It looked like I would need a casting agency.
I told the boys that I could not afford to focus on this project until after November third. They seemed to happily agree.
As I was walking back toward our production offices my phone started to ring. It was Jacqueline. Well speak of the devil.
"Darling." I greeted with a smile.
"I have been dying over here. What did you do about the book? Not that it's any of my business but come on."
I laughed. "You would have been proud of me. I confronted the group and we had a little chat. Sorry but they knew the book came from you." I apologized.
She snorted. "I'm not afraid of them, what are they going to do; spank me."
I laughed, "Knowing you; you'd like it."
"Too shay." She replied.
We spoke my whole way back to the production office. I told her about my meeting with WMG and how I would be performing on Friday. She assured me that she would be there with bells on. I didn't dive too much into the Tria Fata handbook, that conversation would be better in private.
I nervously awaited the call on Wednesday morning over at Darren's house. He was nice enough to at least make me some eggs but he said that eggs were about the extent of his cooking skills. I didn't care, anything at the moment probably wasn't going to settle well in my stomach.
Finally the call came through and at least I had my answer and play list. I looked to Darren, "You'll never guess what song they requested." I sang.
Darren shook his head, "I figured they would. Let's get started."
I followed Darren. Of course WMG would pick the song that DNR guested on. At the time when Darren suggested it I was a bit apprehensive. I was honored but worried that it might affect Darren's career. Darren was actually offended at the very idea that one song could take down the empire he built. Now it looked like I would have a guest appearance on Friday to back me up.
"What is this?" I asked entering the room. Darren had a room that actually had a medium-sized stage and all the sound equipment one could ever want.
"Like it?" Darren laughed. "It's where my boys can come down and battle one another. It can get pretty competitive."
"Are you serious? Does Embry ever do it?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. It really helps with getting ideas to flow." He replied.
"You have to tell me the next time you have one these things. I would love to see it."
Darren laughed, "Okay, Miss Hip Hop." He rolled his eyes. "Let's get started. Get up on stage."
I did what he requested and started to think of Jacob's advice about creating a persona. The first couple of times it was pretty rough but then I started to get into it and Darren helped coach me along. At one point he even called Embry to give me an ass kicking pep talk via speaker phone. It never sounds good to be yelled at on speaker phone. I wish he was going to be there.
Thursday was the same. Darren chose the arrangement of the four songs and made sure to have everything ready for the big hollow's eve night. I still hadn't heard too much on my costume and I was starting to worry. My worries were heightened when Edward told me that Magda found us the perfect costume to represent Warner Bros. but she needed to make some upgrades since I would be performing in it. She assured Edward that we would be dressed to match. Jacob who happened in on the conversation asked if she could help him and Becky find a costume for the night as well.
It was Friday morning when Magda showed up with her costume rack. All the costumes were in garment bags so unfortunately there would be no peeking. Edward and I welcomed her into our home and waited with anticipation along with Jacob and Becky.
"Well, where should we begin?" Magda said thumbing through the garment bags. "Edward here you are." She handed him his garment bag. Edward unzipped it and pulled out something black and long.
He kept trying to figure out what it was. "What is it?" he asked puzzled.
"Why it's Harry Potter."
I snorted and started to laugh quietly. "A forty-year old Harry Potter. Fitting." I giggled. Both Jacob and Becky began to laugh as well.
"I'm not forty." Edward pathetically defended.
"Alright Bella, here you are." Magda helped me unzip mine. "Hermione." She proclaimed.
"But Harry ends up with Ginny." I stated.
"Yes, well someone refused to dye her hair or wear a wig so you left me with no choice, young lady." She gave me a cross look that told me to shut up and just take it.
"Why does mine have sequence? Edward's doesn't have sequence." I stated.
"Because you are performing so I wanted to give you a little pizzaz." She replied.
Great, just what I needed; sequence.
"All righty, for you my dear." Magda looked to Becky and handed her the garment bag. "Nymphadora Tonks." Becky smiled and said a quiet thank you.
"And of course last but not least. For you Jacob." She said handing over the last garment bag. Jacob took it apprehensively already seeing a theme in the making.
"Sirius Black."
I busted up laughing, leave it to Jacob to get saddled with the dog.
"Well I guess some things never change, Jacob." I taunted.
"Whatever, I'm going to rock this costume." Jacob puffed out his chest and with whatever dignity he had left he climbed the stairs to get ready.
"At least not showering, paid off for you." I yelled after him.
Edward and I thanked Magda again and told her that we would see her tonight. Now all I needed to do was get dressed.
"Honey, I'm going to need you to draw on my scar." Edward was standing in the mirror with my eye brow pencil in his hand. I had been watching him out of the side of my eye having issues with getting it on straight.
I laughed. "Never thought I would hear those words come from out of your mouth." I pulled the pencil from him and sat him down. I drew on the iconic lighting shaped scar and stepped back to admire my handy work. "There all done."
Edward stood back up and looked into the mirror. "Not bad."
I started to pull my costume on. "What the hell?" I gasped at the length of my skirt.
"Damn, baby. You look hot." Edward's eyes fogged over and he looked to be in some kind of trance.
"Edward, my skirt is like six inches above my knee." I exclaimed.
"Well, I'm sure Magda just wanted to highlight your beautiful legs. Put on the top." Edward tossed me the top and I put it on.
"Geez, which Hermione costume did she pillage. The Chamber of Secrets? This outfit looks like it would fit Savannah better than it would fit me." I complained.
"I don't know baby, I happen to think that costume fits you just right…in all the right places." Edward had a stupid little smile on his face.
"Please tell me you're not having some kind of fantasy over there." I cringed.
Edward walked up behind me and pulled my hips to him. I could feel exactly what my costume was doing to him. He started to kiss my neck and for a moment I got lost in the sensation. It had been so long. God, how I felt my lady bits tingle. Pretty soon I would not be able to resist or my lady bits would outright revolt against me.
I could feel Edward's hands start to wander as he began to lightly paw at me. "Edward." I said breathy.
"Yes baby." He whispered into my ear and then began to nibble on it.
"We…we…we're going to be late." I managed to get out.
Edward kissed my neck one more time and then released me and I swear I could feel a cramp bubble up. Yep! My insides were revolting against me.
We arrived to the party being held on the Warner Bros. lot. When the WB wanted to throw a party, they could throw one hell of a party. They had turned one of their soundstages into a haunted arena complete with a large stage. On the outside there was food and games people could play.
There had to be at least a thousand people there. Edward and I walked hand in hand through the throngs of people. It was a good thing I had charged my phone because that was the only way I could find anyone.
Band after band took the stage; while Becky and Jacqueline and I munched on appetizers. I couldn't find it in me to eat. I was supposed to go on at nine-thirty. I had yet to see Rosalie but in this mess; it might take a while for that to happen. Edward came over at nine o'clock kissing me quickly and wishing me luck.
I met Darren at the right side of the stage.
"You ready?" he asked.
I nodded.
"B, entertain them. Don't be focused on your vocals. Focus on your persona."
I nodded again.
To be honest with you all I can remember from that first performance was the lights were brighter than I expected them to be. The music was louder than I thought it would be. And Darren was the perfect person to back me up. It was over so fast that when I had just started to really get into it, I was on my last song. I finally had learned what exactly Jacob was talking about. I was able to create a person who was not me when I performed. She was sexier, confident; everything I wasn't.
"Bella, you were amazing." Rose yelled to me over the loud music. Catwomen. Of course Rose would be Catwoman.
She pulled me into a hug, not even spilling a drop of her drink the moment I got off stage. Alice was right behind her dressed as dairy cow. Her stomach was definitely visible now.
"You did great." She said awkward. Alice and I hadn't spoken to each other or seen one another since that day…
"Thank you." I replied. We both stood there for a moment not saying anything.
"Come on guys, can't you just make up yet?" Rose prodded.
"I really am sorry." Alice said. "I had no idea that Edward would go that ballistic."
"Alice, I'm not upset with you because of what Edward did. That was his mistake. But I never expected you to betray us." I replied. I didn't want to be bitchy; Alice was my friend. I sighed.
"Look, it doesn't matter if you run off to Edward and report back to him every little thing I do because from now on Edward and I have a different relationship. When I realized what you did, I was mad but I want your friendship more than my anger so…I can forgive you."
"Thank you, Bella. I am sorry. I will try to be a better friend in the future."
I pulled her into a hug. Just as I was hugging her I could feel the baby kick. I jumped back in surprise, "Wow, I felt it."
We laughed and I started to put my hand on her stomach again to try to see if I could feel the kick again.
"That is truly amazing."
I wished I could say that Alice and my friendship picked right back up from where we left it but unfortunately we were never really close to one another after that. Don't get me wrong we still were nice to each other and every once in a while spent time together but it wasn't the same.
The party went on and on. Jacqueline and I managed to steal a moment away from everyone so I could finally tell her about what went down. I knew she must have read the book; it would be hard not to once someone showed up to your house and tried to collect it.
"You should have seen me; James Bond couldn't have pulled it off better." I praised myself on my cunning skills on sending out the original Parcae S.O.S.
"So what happened when the meeting started?"
"At first they were arguing with one another over who sent out the email and after that got a tad bit boring I announced my presence. The look on their faces was priceless. I continued to scold them and I made them understand that they were free to continue on with their society but they needed to leave me out of it."
"Good for you, Bella." She laughed.
"Sorry, it was never my intention for you to be revealed as my source. They knew your grandfather." I said softly.
"That's okay. I have a feeling I have been public enemy number one on the Tria Fata list ever since I denied them." She brushed off.
"Well, they are obligated to protect you and help you since you were a close member of an Alpha." I informed.
"That's nice to know." She remarked. "So Edward is okay giving up some of his Tria Fata beliefs?"
"He seems to be. I think our argument really hit him hard. I think us taking time away from each other was the best thing we could have ever done. Edward seems different but still himself. When we got back to Los Angeles it was hard for him because I think he was expecting me to judge every little thing he said or did but we finally worked on our communication and I think we will be okay."
"That's great and I think I will pat myself on the back for helping you stand up against the Tria Fata." She patted herself on the back.
"Yes, you do deserve some credit. But like I said before, the Tria Fata isn't all bad. Overall their premise is honorable they just have a tad bit of difficulty executing it properly." I defended.
"Well Miss Swan, it seems to me that you hold all the cards."
"I don't need to hold all the cards. If I did, I wouldn't have anyone to play with."
A couple of drinks later and a couple of ass shaking dances later; I was ready to get home. There wasn't enough magic in the world to get me to walk a straight line now. I had to depend on my poor Harry and his nice strong, firm arms to hold me up. Edward and I left the party at one-thirty in the morning and I was a tad bit tipsy.
My poor Harry didn't know what hit him. The whole ride home my eyes just drank him up as I realized what a fool I had been to withhold sex with this god-like creature. We had arrived home and Edward helped me upstairs since my legs were a bit wobbly. As soon as he shut our bedroom door I jumped on him like a rabid dementor and tried to suck his soul out with my kiss.
"Oh god, Bella." Edward moaned out the moment I released his lips. I started to push him back to the bed. I needed him. It had been weeks, hell it had been over a month. I wouldn't be satisfied until his wand was shooting charms up into my who-ha.
We landed on the bed and I crawled on top of him pulling my shirt off as I went. I started to grind my soaked panties onto his harden crotch.
"Wait…baby. I can't do this." Edward grasped my arms and lightly pinned them to my side.
"Why not?" I groaned.
"Baby, you're kind of drunk. I don't want to take advantage of you. It's not right." He replied.
"But, I want you to take advantage of me." I said pathetically.
"I don't want you doing something you may not be ready for. I want to. You have no idea how much I hate myself for stopping but I don't want you hating me in the morning, Bella."
I started to tear up as I sat there right on top of his junk.
"Oh baby, please don't cry. I just don't want you doing something you'll regret. We have been doing really well with our relationship and I don't want to push back that progress."
I slide off of him and went to lay on my side away from him. He came up behind me and pulled me to him.
"I'm not that drunk." I murmured.
Edward kissed my neck, "Well how about I help sober you up some more and if you still want to make love or have crazy, freaky wizard sex then we will."
"How are you going to sober me up?" I pouted.
Edward got up from the bed and handed me my top. "Come on my little Hermione." He helped pull me up and put my top back on. I thought we would be going to the kitchen but instead he took me to the garage. I sat down in the passenger seat and he took off down the street. When we reached Sunset Boulevard he turned toward UCLA's campus. We arrived at an all-night McDonald's and Edward proceeded to order enough food to feed an army.
We took the food upstairs and put the television on for background noise. I was giggly and we were having the best time trying to throw French fries into each other's mouths. I hadn't noticed how hungry I was. It wasn't uncommon for Hollywood parties to be over generous with the drinks while skimping on the food.
It was one of those moments when you stop and look at the person in front of you and your whole future was brightly laid out. The skies were blue, the sun was shining and I was falling in love with this man more and more every passing moment. Eventually, I was full and tired and I never did get to try out my wizarding sex skills with Edward before I passed out in his arms.
I woke up around seven a.m. and I noticed that my costume was on the chair beside the bed and I was dressed in one of my pajama tops. I looked over to Edward and he was sound asleep in his boxers the cover thrown off of him. He moaned and turned over to pull me against him.
"My Bella." He uttered.
"My Edward." I whispered.
I felt him squeeze me a little tighter and I smiled to myself. This was definitely my Edward.
AN: Happy 4th of July! Thank you as always for taking the time to read and review. I have really appreciated listening to what you have to say about my story.
