Previously…
"Do you want to go out with me on Monday night?" she offered.
I scratched the back of my head. "I don't know, Al…"
"Come on, please?" she begged. "I thought you wanted to go to Jazz?"
I rolled my eyes as she quoted my earlier words. "Fine. I'll come. But…"
"But?"
"Only if you don't say anything to Bella. About… any of this."
She crossed her heart dramatically with her index finger. "Wouldn't dream of it."
~PTP~
This is our way, this is our life
Just one chance to make it right
This is our dream, and all I see
Is a place for you and me
If you need somebody, I'm somebody
For you to hold on tight
This is our life, but we're just worlds apart
-Worlds Apart, Twenty Twenty
Playing the Part
Chapter 8- Coincidences and Courtesy
Bella POV
The next morning, I logged on to my computer as soon as I woke up. I was surprised to find that this 'E' guy had added me to his IM list. But I accepted. I'm not sure why I accepted since it was a little hypocritical of me to speak to strangers when I spent so long lecturing my teenage students about not doing just that. But there was something about this 'E'. It could have just been because he had complimented my writing but… I kind of felt like… like I could trust him.
All the same, I changed my name to 'Passionate_Writer' so that my real name wasn't showing. If he wasn't going to share, then neither was I.
I opened up my IM application and was surprised to find that he was online. I glanced at the clock in the desktop, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that I didn't have to be at Alice's for another three hours. Then, I nervously double-clicked on his name, opening a new conversation. With shaking fingers, I typed in the box and my message popped up on the screen.
Passionate_Writer: Um… hi. Thanks for your comments- they really mean a lot
I bit my thumbnail. Now that it was sent, it sounded corny and weird. But he replied almost instantly.
Just_Another_Guy: You're welcome. You have a real talent :)
I smiled widely and typed my reply.
Passionate_Writer: You're making me blush
Just_Another_Guy: You shouldn't be embarrassed. If you're embarrassed then you clearly don't hear that enough
Passionate_Writer: I'm not embarrassed
And I wasn't.
Just_Another_Guy: No? Well then why are you blushing? ;)
Passionate_Writer: I blush when I'm complimented. I'm not great at receiving compliments. My friend says I'm 'too shy for compliments but not shy enough for criticism'
Just_Another_Guy: Lol. I'm the same.
Just_Another_Guy: Has your friend seen your writing?
Passionate_Writer: She's seen bits. I… don't really share it. It's sort of private.
Just_Another_Guy: You shouldn't hide that from the world. Just think, if everyone hid their talents then the world would be devoid of awesomeness.
Passionate_Writer: Yeah, but it would also be devoid of those annoying talentless people who think they have what it takes to 'make it big'
Just_Another_Guy: :L There are too many of those
Just_Another_Guy: you, however, are not one of them
I didn't know what to say in reply to that. I couldn't say thanks again or we'd just go round in circles. I thought for a moment, and then typed in a question.
Passionate_Writer: Thanks :) Do you write?
Just_Another_Guy: Me? No! Lol no fear. I'm awful. My friend used to write though. When I knew her. She was very good.
Passionate_Writer: When you knew her?
Just_Another_Guy: We fell out. Lost contact when I went away to college.
Passionate_Writer: I know how you feel. My best friend moved abroad to college; I haven't heard from him since.
Just_Another_Guy: Why didn't you call him?
Passionate_Writer: I broke my phone and lost his number. And I was too stubborn to ask his family; too mad at him. You know what it's like when you're 18.
Just_Another_Guy: Yeah
Passionate_Writer: Why didn't you call her?
Just_Another_Guy: She barred my calls. She was pretty pissed :(
Passionate_Writer: Well, I'm sure she doesn't deserve to be friends with you if she doesn't give second chances :)
Just_Another_Guy: They do say that there's nothing like a woman scorned… I don't blame her. She deserves the world and more.
That was so sweet. I decided to inject some humour. Or, at least, a pathetic attempt at humour.
Passionate_Writer: Are you always this smooth with women? ;)
Just_Another_Guy: lol. I don't really know what u mean ;)
Passionate_Writer: Maybe you should change your penname?
Just_Another_Guy: I don't know if 'Naively_Smooooooooooooth' would suit me :S
I laughed out loud.
Passionate_Writer: LOL
Just_Another_Guy: Bada bing bada boom ;)
I smiled, and opened his profile in a new tab, deciding to see if I could find out more about him. I blinked when I read that he was in Washington.
Passionate_Writer: Washington, huh?
Just_Another_Guy: Yup. It's pretty wet.
Passionate_Writer: I know. I'm in Washington too :L
Just_Another_Guy: Wow. What a strange coincidence.
Suddenly my phone started ringing. I glanced at the caller ID and saw it was Alice. Knowing that she'd give me grief if I didn't answer, I sighed and turned back to the computer.
Passionate_Writer: Be right back- phone's ringing.
"Hey Al," I answered my phone.
"Bella!" she trilled. "How are you?" I started to answer but she beat me to the punch. "You're good; that's brilliant! Okay, you are going to come round my house this afternoon at… four-thirty so that I can doll you up for your date! Oh, and on Monday you're coming to Jazz with me."
I paused, waiting for my mile-a-minute friend to add something else. When she didn't, I said, "Firstly, I wasn't going to say 'good', I was going to have a go at you from taking me away from…" I stopped then. I didn't really want to tell Alice about Just_Another_Guy. It seemed almost too… personal. Which was ridiculous because how could some stranger be personal? "…what I was doing," I said instead before swiftly continuing, "Second, is four-thirty really necessary? I don't have to be there 'til seven. And third… not on your life. We went there the other day and I have to work Tuesday and I don't want to feel like a third wheel while you chat Jasper up."
Alice took a deep breath. "Don't worry about the third wheel thing; I have a feeling that there'll be a nice guy there for you to talk to."
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Alice. If tonight goes well then I won't be single, will I? So stop trying to set me up!"
"I didn't say you had to date him, just talk to him."
I put on my best strict voice. "Alice…"
"Fine, fine," she conceded. "We'll talk about it later."
"Ugh."
"Anyway, yes four-thirty is necessary. Then you can tell me all about whatever I interrupted you from; and don't say you were washing your hair because I can tell that you were doing something actually interesting."
"How do you do that?" I demanded.
"Do what?"
"How did you know that I was going to give you the hair excuse?"
Alice laughed. "That is for me to know and you to never find out. I'll let you get back to whatever it was. See you at three; and I expect details, Bella!"
I groaned exasperatedly. "Alice, I'm on my computer, not snogging someone's face off!" But she had gone before I had even started speaking.
I pressed the little red button and threw my phone down on my bed before turning back to the computer and typing a new message.
Passionate_Writer: Sorry about that
But then I looked up at the screen and noticed that he had signed out. Without even saying goodbye. Huh.
I glanced at the clock and decided that I might as well do something constructive in the next few hours before I had to leave for Alice's. So I grabbed my shampoo and went to turn my excuse into reality.
~PTP~
I looked doubtfully at the blouse Alice held up. "Pink? I'm not sure that's my colour, Al…"
"Nonsense," Alice said. She pushed it firmly into my hands. "Put it on." She turned round and started going through her drawers, looking for the perfect pink make-up. I wondered why she was going with a pink theme, when she had always said that I looked best in blue. "Bella is blue" had been her saying since we had met.
I sighed and looked at the blouse in my hands. I didn't fail to notice the plunging V-neck. "Alice, the neck's kind of low…" I started.
She cut me off with that 'look'. "Bella. You have to play up the eyes. If you want a second date then you have to do these things." She turned back round and mumbled something to herself then as she started through her drawers again.
With yet another sigh, I went into her room and changed into the pink top and black skinny jeans before going out to endure the makeover.
Alice wolf-whistled when I came out. "Bella, you look superb, girl," she said in a bad Southern accent. Then she frowned slightly. "Perhaps a little too good."
"Why too good?" I asked, confused.
"Nothing!" she sang innocently, not meeting my eyes.
Oh God, what was she up to now? I pursed my lips and sat in Alice's makeover chair. "Let's get this over with then."
She rolled her eyes at my reluctance but got to work all the same. "So what were you doing earlier?"
"I was just on my computer," I said truthfully.
"Doing what?"
I hesitated. "Um… talking to… someone."
Alice's hand froze in surprise. She looked at me with a furrowed brow. "Talking to someone? Who?"
"I posted some of my writing online and someone read it and I spoke to them," I explained, shrugging to make it sound like less than it was. "No big deal."
Alice smiled and went back to doing my make-up. "You know, I was talking to Edward about your writing last night." There was something in her tone, like she was waiting for a reaction.
I didn't disappoint. I pulled my head back in confusion, causing her to smear foundation all over my lips, and then sigh at me.
"What?!" I shrieked. "Why?!"
Alice's dainty eyebrows shot up and I could see in her eyes that she expected this reaction. "After you called, we talked about you." She shrugged and grabbed a make-up wipe to get rid of the smeared foundation.
I held still this time, but I had to ask; I couldn't help it. "What did he say about me?"
Alice smirked slightly. "Not much. He was… disappointed that you didn't call and try to get in. He wanted to meet you."
"Oh," was all I could say. I tried not to let on how much it hurt to hear that. He wanted to meet me. He didn't remember me. I wondered if he'd remember if he saw me. I wasn't too keen to find out.
I shut my eyes then, stopping any conversation Alice and I would have had about Edward. She asked me stuff about my morning, and told me about Edward Cullen's party. She told me how he had promised to come to Jazz and how she was excited about the business that Jasper would get because of his visit.
I listened for the hour and a half that she did my make-up for, but half-heartedly, and I was relieved when she announced that she was finished. I looked in the mirror and was astounded again at how amazing Alice was at doing this. "Thanks, Al," I said with a smile. "You're a miracle worker to get something so good out of someone so awful."
Alice glared at me and opened her mouth to argue, but she was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Her glare fell off her face and was replaced with a huge smile. "I better get that."
I nodded, and sat down again, swivelling the chair around checking the clock. I had to go soon. I suddenly got the first-date butterflies in the pit of my stomach.
"Hi!" I heard Alice sing merrily from the front door.
I heard a deeper – and obviously male – voice reply, and I wondered if it was Jasper; that would explain the huge smile. I rolled my eyes and settled in to wait. But then I heard Alice's light footsteps go upstairs and she called back down, "You can wait in the living room!"
I continued to swivel around in the chair as I waited for Jasper to come in. "Hey Jazz," I said brightly when I heard the door open, but when I spun the chair so that I was fully facing the door, my eyes met a pair that were a brilliant emerald green. And this shade of green was far too familiar.
Edward fucking Cullen.
Edward POV
I decided to go and grab a coffee, while I waited for 'Passionate_Writer' to reply. I didn't know why, but I was actually quite enjoying myself speaking to her; she was someone who treated me as though I were normal. Someone who knew nothing about me, who didn't know I was a famous movie star; it just felt good to have a normal, carefree conversation again. It reminded me of the times when I had spoken to Bella- whenever I had been with her, the words had just tumbled out of my mouth without any thought; it was natural. Then I ruined that. But was this my chance now, to make it up to her again? To finally see those mesmerising chocolate eyes again?
I quickly shook the thought out of my head. I may have found a way to contact or speak to Bella again, through Alice, but was I ready? I doubted that Bella would even remember me… Not that she'd want to see me. If she did, she would be fuming; I would never be able to say sorry to her enough.
Throughout my daydream, I had absentmindedly put the kettle on, and the loud sound of its whistle brought me back to the real world. I let out a quick sigh, before pouring the hot water into my mug, then stirring the mixture around.
I thought I heard my laptop 'bleep', telling me that I had a new PM message to read, stupidly forgetting I had my coffee in my hand, I quickly ran to my laptop; forgetting I was wearing slippery socks on my wooden kitchen floor and falling backwards, whacking my the back of my head on the floor.
"Shit!" I cussed, not because of my head; but because I had just split the entire contents of my coffee onto the suit jacket that I had been ordered (by Alice, of course) to wear tonight, which had been hung carelessly in the doorway.
I quickly jumped up, frantically trying to wipe the coffee stain off of my grey jacket, though it just got worse and the stain seemed to sink deeper into the suit. I checked the kitchen clock to see that I still had a good few hours until I had to leave meaning that I could probably get the suit in and out of the washing machine in time. It would be a bit damp, but at least better then having a massive coffee stain on it. Eurgh, I was as clumsy as Bella!
I laughed a little at my joke as I ran to the washing machine, now trying to think of anything but Bella. I looked on the little tag on the inside of the jacket to read the dreaded symbol, telling me it was only hand washable! Crap.
I sprinted to where my cell was on the kitchen side, watching my footing to not fall over again, and dialled the first number that came to my head. Alice.
"Edward?" she answered almost immediately, as though she'd been very close to the phone.
I let out a sigh of relief that she actually answered. "Alice, shit, I need help!" I shouted, feeling my breathing getting faster.
"Woah, Eddie, first calm it. You're going to have a heart attack! Now, what's the problem?" Alice reassured me calmly, and it did calm me… well a little.
"My jacket- coffee stain, only hand wash!" I splattered out the words as quickly as I could, grabbing onto the counter in front of me for support.
"You know who you're as clumsy as?" I thought I heard Alice mumble to herself. "Okay, not a problem; but you're going to need to come round," Alice said coolly.
"Okay, when? It needs to be soon though!" I begged, already worrying that we didn't have enough time.
"Err…" I could tell by Alice's voice that she was planning something but I had no idea what. "Well… I have to wash my hair now Edward, but erm, about, say six-ish ?" Her voice got ever so light and higher at the end.
I quickly glanced at my clock. "Ahh… that'll have to do," I sighed. " I'll be round six, sharp; remember it starts at seven-thirty," I warned her.
"Yeah, yeah, Edward quit panicking. I've got a whole 2 new outfits for you here," Alice giggled. "Anyway, lots of… hair washing to do! I'll see you later! Bye!" she hung up, as fast as lightning.
I could tell that something was up with Alice, but didn't know what. Then again, it was Alice and even during this short period of time, I'd learnt that there was always something going on inside of that small head of hers- who knew what this time?
I walked back to my laptop, to see that there wasn't even a reply yet from 'Passionate_Writer' and that my internet had seemed to turn itself off, so I'd signed out. Bloody great. I couldn't be bothered to sort it out, so walked back into the kitchen to get a beer out of the fridge to calm me down.
God knew that I needed it.
~PTP~
Just as I pulled up outside of Alice's, my iPhone started to ring. I checked caller ID – to see that the caller had withheld their number – and then answered it with a reluctant sigh. "Hello?"
"Eddie!" she squealed and I gritted my teeth. Only one woman in the world had a voice as annoying as that.
"Tanya," I said evenly through my teeth. How the hell had she known that I would block the call if it was from her?
"Oh, Eddie, I haven't seen you in ages. How are you darling?"
"I'm good, thank you," I replied in a clipped voice. "How are you?" Yeah, I didn't want to answer it, but it was courteous and I had been brought up to be a gentleman- even to bitches that didn't deserve courtesy.
Tanya sighed, and I knew that she was about to go off on one of her rants. "Oh, God, Edward. It's been such hard work, Eddie, really. I don't know how you do this filming shazz. They're so demanding. They always want you to pull the right faces and say the right words. I mean, at one point in the movie my character's talking about their friend who has aphasia and I hadn't heard of that word so I changed it to aphrodisiac. They completely freaked out; what the fuck is wrong with that?!"
I nearly hit my head on the steering wheel. "Aphasia is a disorder of the central nervous system that means that affects speech."
"Yeah, yeah, Mr He-Thinks-He-Knows-It-All."
"It's a serious disorder, Tanya. But an aphrodisiac… hell, even you know what that means."
"You're my aphrodisiac, Eddie," she purred down the phone.
I cringed. It was a good job that I had a good gag reflex. Then I sighed. "Look, did you have a reason for calling or did you just want to fail at getting me in your bed again?"
"Ah, you'll give in one day," she laughed carelessly. "And, surprisingly, yes I did have a reason."
"Which is?" I prompted.
"Well… I'm doing some promo work in Seattle and so I came to your house to surprise you…"
I cut her off. "You're at my house?!"
She cackled. "Sure am, sunshine. Not so much getting you in my bed as getting me in yours, huh?"
I pinched the bridge of my nose and attempted to control my breathing. "Tanya, you're not getting in my bed. Or in my house."
She ignored me. "Where are you?"
"I have to go to a party."
Tanya brightened considerably. "Can I come?"
"No," I replied flatly.
"Well, can I stay in your apartment? I don't have anywhere else to go."
I sighed. "No, Tan. There are loads of hotels around here."
I could almost hear her pout. "Fine. I'll go and call Daddy and tell him how mean you're being… after everything he did for you… And when I'm done with that, I'll call the press and tell you about the little… outburst, shall we call it? That little 'outburst' you had a few years back. I'm sure you don't need me to remind you."
God, she was such a bitch.
"Yeah, well you're a dick," she snapped.
Shit, did I say that out loud?
"Yes, you did!" Tanya answered my, supposedly, unspoken question. "I will repeat my question can I stay in your apartment?"
I reluctantly gave in. "Fine. You can stay. The spare key's with the lady behind the entrance desk. Password is 13091986." I hated giving Tanya my password. Her birthday.
"Thank you, Eddie," she cooed. "I'll be sure to mention it to my father."
"Whatever," I muttered, and then I hung up and turned my phone off.
I headed for the door and rang the doorbell before shifting my weight onto my right foot as I waited for Alice. She flung the door open with a huge, excited smile. "Hi!"
"Hey." I smiled slightly back. "You're a life saver, you know that?"
She laughed. "Yeah. The other suits are right upstairs. I'll go and get them."
I stepped inside the hallway and closed the door behind me.
"You can wait in the living room!" she called as she ran up the stairs.
I rolled my eyes, feeling that I'd be here for a while, and opened the door on my right. I stepped in and saw the person I was least expecting to see. I stared as she whirled around in her chair with a smile.
"Hey, Jazz," she said, and then she looked up at me and the smile fell off of her face.
You have got to be shitting me.
Bella fucking Swan.
~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~
Well, hello readers from across the pond ;) It's Steph here since Laura had to go and she's at a Scouting for Girls concert tomorrow and then I'm out Thursday… blah blah blah. Basically we wanted to get it posted tonight so I stole Laura's password and hijacked her account… with her permission of course ;)
But anyways…
Another month, another chapter! Wow, we're churning them out in quick succession, aren't we? (heavy on the sarcasm there ;))
So sorry about the long updates. Revision has been keeping us busy recently… and other stories and other random stuff :L Well, Laura has this thing called a life. I have no idea what that is but we'll go with it ;)
But THEY HAVE MET!!!! And we are trying our very hardest to get the next chapter out within the next week. So we will not keep you in suspense for much longer!!!
I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Laura for changing so much and writing too much and taking so long and complaining so much… and you get the idea :L I'm probably hellish to write with :L
And also to thank you guys for your ongoing support through our crappy updating. I know how frustrating it is when you read WIPs and they update so infrequently that you forget what's happened. Thanks for staying with us :)
And thanks for reading in the first place, of course :)
And, with that, I will finish with my usual:
Please review :)
Thanks
Steph (and Laura from afar ;))
