Title: The Lion Tamer

Author: Lile

Rating: T

Characters/Pairings: Edward, Bella.

Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst, Hurt/Comfort...I have no idea.

Short summary: Bella Swan's life was turned upside down from her past experiences with a velvet-voiced boy. Four years later, the trauma is still very real, but only the estranged pair seem to understand how deep it cuts.

Any warnings: Edward and Bella are both pretty dark in this story. I will try to be as delicate with the subject matter as I can, and I'm sorry if it offends or disturbs anyone. I am a believer in happy endings, don't fret...

Disclaimer: Twilight is Stephanie Meyer's creation.

Author's note: I present you chappie nĂºmero 9! Sorry it's taken longer than the others to get out!


"Bella!" Mike whoops when he sees me, his arms raising heigh. I'm confused for half a second until I see Tyler and Eric lurking by his side. They're tuning guitars, fingertips toughened to calluses. "Will you come with me tonight, darlin'?" Mike asks, grinning at me.

I cross my arms. "Where?"

He laughs. "To McCarty's."

McCarty's is a little club that lies directly on the road to Portland. I haven't been there before- and I'm still not legal to drink, being eighteen and not twenty one. Is still confused me that I can legally be held responsible if I kill someone, drive, be in the army, vote, and be legally independent, but not have an alcoholic drink if I feel like it. I'm not talking about binging- just the right to. Would the state sooner trust me with a gun than alcohol? Yes. Why? I'm a lot more dangerous with a gun, especially considering my less than satisfactory equilibrium.

Mike catches my eye. He shakes his head. "It'd just to celebrate before all the Volturi crap really starts. Who knows when we'll have our next free night, right?"

I have to agree with that. One more night without Edward is one good night to celebrate. "That sounds good. Who else is going?"

Mike shrugs. "Leah, Sam, Alice, Rose, Ty here, Eric, are you...? Yeah, Eric, and Jessica." He pauses. "Some other people, but I can't remember them right now."

I smile at him. "Thanks for the heads-up...darlin'."

Mike flushes. "Yeah, well." He laughs. "I don't envy you when Alice realises you're going."

I blink. "Why...?" My stomach churns. Did they talk? Did she tell him about this morning? How do I explain that? I'm not anorexic. I just don't... eat...

I grit my teeth, waiting for the answer.

"Because she loves playing dress-up with you," Mike smirks, eyeing my reaction.

I groan and cover my face and he laughs, and I'm so glad he can't see the relief dripping like sweat from every pore.


"Alice."

"Bella, you'll look great in it!"

"Alice. No."

She scowls at me, her mouth setting in a straight line, but at least it isn't the disappointment of this morning- which seems a whole world away, somehow, as she holds up clothes that aren't mine.

We're in my dorm, as Alice looks beautiful. Her black, short hair is swept back in a sophisticated French wave. She's wearing a lilac dress, matching the purple hues in her eyes, bringing them out like lights. She almost looks a reasonable height in tall, thin heels- the kind that would break my neck if I wore them.

"Does Rosalie even-" I wish Rose was here. Even if we're not seeing eye to eye, she would at least be something to distract Alice. As it is, I'm trapped on my bed, trying to convince her that no, I don't want to be dolled up, I'm Bella Swan, who was practically born in jeans.

Alice gives a loud, exaggerated sigh, cutting me off. "Of course she knows. She gave me her permission. She said we can use some of her clothes for you, since you have...well."

Rose, helping me out? She's not a bad person, but she doesn't like what I'm doing. I'm not sure I even like what I'm doing. Why would she help me? "I doubt that."

Something in my voice catches her ears and Alice narrows her eyes at me. I notice how expertly her make-up is applied. Eyelashes like fans around her eyes. "Bella," she says. "Stop being so stubborn and put on a nice dress for Mike!"

I glare at her, feeling twelve years old all over again. "I don't want to."

"Don't want to look good for Mike?" she smirks, pixie eyes wide and devious. She holds it up again, trying to shove it into my hands.

I curl them into fists. Can this can any more pointless?

"Alice," I talk slowly. "It's a club, it's only for a couple of hours, and I'll probably spill something all over it anyway."

Alice pushes out her lower lip, giving me a wide eyed, sad, disgraced look. Faux-betrayed, and even that makes me feel sick.

"Don't...do that."

She doesn't stop, and I can't let her down when she's giving me a look like that.

You didn't have a problem doing that this morning, when it was real.

I grab the material out of her grasp with my left hand, as if I've been electrocuted. She relinquishes it with haste, eyebrows raising at my hurried movements. "Can't resist the puppy eyes, eh?" she smiles, wide, all proud.

I stare at her, and then push the knuckles of my right, loosely fisted hand into her jaw. Smile a bit. "I should know better than to be best friends with an actress."

The dress isn't that bad. The size is larger than what I usually wear, but the difference isn't too obvious. When I step out of the bathroom in it, and go back to the dorm, Alice gives a long, content breath.

"I feel like a mother," she says, satisfied, stretching back against my pillows.

I grin at her like an idiot so she won't notice that I'm make-up free. That's one battle I'd like to avoid. When I turn to the door, she tuts.

"Bella...shoes?"

...she's punishing me, isn't she?


We meet Mike and Jessica outside. For a moment, I think I see Jessica glare at me, but then she just flashes a smile at Mike and I'm left with the uncomfortable feeling that I shouldn't have been near them until she allowed it. After a moment, I spot Angela lingering near them, and I flash her a wide smile. Angela is Alice's room mate. They're pretty opposite in terms of personality, as Angela is quieter, shy, but they both have a gentle streak.

I push my hands into my coat pockets, breathing our a smoky breath. Alice waves at Mike, laughing at a joke, but I'm disconnected.

Something's missing.

We pile into Mike's car, and he keeps the car from silence by means of a lively discussion about soccer with Jessica. I catch Alice giving me narrow-eyed looks every now and then, but I say nothing. Sure, she's friendly with him- so what? I'm not the jealous type.

Another argument is that I don't care, but that isn't terribly helpful.

"There!" Jessica squeals on my ear, and my nose wrinkles. Unlike Alice, her squeals are grating. She waves into the distance from the back seat, and I spot what she's referring to. "Mike, do you see it?" she laughs.

Mike nods. "Uh huh..." He concentrates on finding a parking space, and I point one out. "Thanks, darlin'. We're all meeting by the car around one thirty am, okay? Anyone is later than that and I'm ditching them."

He's using pet names, now. That didn't used to happen, but I'm not sure whether it's good or bad. He parks the car, and then waves at Leah as she passes in her Sedan with Jacob -he must be over the moon- her cousin Emily, a guy called Paul and someone else who I can't quite make out.

Mike gives me a bright look. "Might want to keep your coats in here, guys." He unbuttons his own, putting it under his seat. After a beat, I follow suit, and glance up to see him smiling. I hear Jessica drawing on a breath to speak as he says the next words. I don't want to listen to what she has to say. "You look really-" Mike starts.

I kiss him mid-sentence, leaning across the passenger seat. Mike pauses, and then kisses me back, easily running his hand through my hair. I break away first, and he grins a little more widely at everyone in the back seat.

"Ew," Alice whines, and everyone but Jessica laughs.

I'm eating my words again. I am the jealous type.


McCarty's is less rough than the name sounds. We're passed in, and get a purple stamps on our hands to show we're under twenty-one. Inside, there's a disco ball, flashing lights, and a loud bass that I can feel in vibrations through the floor. There's a huge crowd- I feel like I could lose everyone in the blink of an eye.

Alice tugs at my wrist, pulling me into the dance floor, and my shoulders brush against people I've never met, all moving and twisting in one rhythm. The beat pumps through the air, loud, so loud, and I don't hear what she says.

"What?" I yell. She leans in, right to my ear.

"Get out there!" she says, and I lose her in the throng.

I stare, panicked. "Alice!"

She's gone, and in her place are a man in green pants dancing with a woman with too many rings on her fingers.

My stomach flips, and I take a deep breath. I'll have fun tonight.

I spot Mike, and wade over to him. His blue eyes look black in the strange lighting, his hair messed up. He pulls me to him, his shoulders a warm solace. He's saying things I can't hear, but I don't mind, and again I kiss him, just to try and get that safe feeling.

My chin rests on his shoulder, and I open my eyes.

I take a step back.

"Bella?" Mike catches hold of my arm. My breath comes out in bursts. No. He's not here. He can't be here.

There was one person I couldn't see in Leah Clearwater's car.