Title: Behind The Scenes

Pairing: Bella/Edward

Rating: T

Chapter Nine: Let It Happen

[2/27/10]

Summary: Bella Swan is a young 17-year-old actress who's known for her lead roles in Indie movies. Edward Masen is a 21-year-old actor who's close to unemployed. They stumble upon the roles that would alter their acting career forever. [I suck at summaries. I can't believe I just said 'forever'.]

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I'm not Stephenie Meyer. And the "movie" that they'll be in, is not mine either. If it resembles anything (the movie), it's by chance and totally coincidental. Although, this story is dedicated to Robsten. You'd probably guess who Bella is, and who Edward is, and who Jacob is—and it's not Taylor Lautner, btw. But the rest of the characters are not as dedicated to the real-life people. Hehe.


Edward POV

The cast chairs came in today. It was pretty cool. My name was embroidered at the back of a director's chair. I had no intentions of using it, though. It looks such a conventional idea to see a star sitting on his customized chair with his sunglasses on. I try my best not to be stereotypical.

We, the cast, were in the crowded headquarters of The Company. It looks like a reception room for a sitcom, but I have to hand it to The Company, the place was nice.

Alice was coming here later and Bella told me that so was Emmett. Jasper already had Rosalie here with him. It's the whole shebang.

Emily came in with a clipboard, Bella on the tow. As soon as she saw me, she walked passed Emily to stand by my side, looking excited for what we were supposed to do today. The agenda was to find a perfect location for the high school, Samantha Johns' house, Tom Quicksilver's house and an auditorium for hundreds of extras.

"Hey, you guys," Emily greeted. "How was your weekend?"

"Good. I got to rehearse some scenes with Irina this weekend," Jasper said.

Irina Denali was playing Trish Paul, Jasper's character—David Crawford's love interest. Irina had a sister named Tanya who, rumor has it, has her eyes for me. Uh-huh. Yeah, right. Like that would happen. A few months ago, nobody even knew me as much, and now, people were getting ready to compromise my residence.

"The weekend was rather progressive," Bella said, looking at me then Emily. "Edward and I got to rehearse and everything. We rehearsed more than fifty scenes this weekend."

"Was your weekend productive, Edward?" Emily tested. I feel like Jacob has been telling on us. Jacob must've told Emily about what happened last week and Emily, being Jacob's friend, took cover and wants to handle it voluntarily.

"Yeah. It was very… productive," I said. Bella looked down and started kicking an invisible… something… around.

"Okay, well, that's good to hear," Emily said, lightening the mood. "Why don't we all settle down before I announce the big news? It's a bit… abrupt and I don't mean to interfere with anything. As you all know, we're eyeing a perfect location and we haven't really found one. After a few calls to a bunch of location scouts, we finally find a spot," Emily explained.

"What's the catch?" Irina said.

"The catch is…" Emily said, rocking on her heels. "The location is in Brentwood, California." Silence hung over all of us. "That means we have to transfer there, set up, get you some apartments or… hotels, or something. We're leaving LA."

"But Jacob lives here," Bella said. My face fell. She must've fixed stuff up with Jacob up last night. "I can't just leave. This is where my family lives. I can't just go."

"Bella, you've done movies in New York, London, New Zealand and Carolina. I think Brentwood wouldn't be too far for you," Emily said.

"Yeah, but… that was when I wasn't thinking yet," Bella tried to defend. "I went to all those places when my mom was making all the decisions for me. I make my own choices now and I can't just leave LA."

"Let's not be melodramatic, Bella. We'll be done in six months. You won't have to do anything for post-production anyway. This is all on us, too. So don't freak out or anything. I bet your family would visit your frequently, especially Jacob."

Bella opened her mouth to say something, but only a sigh escaped. "Fine. I'd tell them tonight," she said, disappointed.

"Is everybody okay with this?" Emily said. "Coz if there are any more objections, I'm going to have to speak with The Company executives to relocate again."

"We're good," I said, somehow glaring at Emily. That was pretty biased of her to ask for objections after Bella had just stated hers, which she dismissed.

"In that case, we'll leave on Wednesday. That gives you two days to pack and tell everybody. Guys, don't forget, please, because this location is important. It's a good place, believe me."

Then she left.

"That wasn't very nice," I commented when Emily was away. "You okay, Bella?"

She nodded, leaning on the wall. "It just that Jacob and I just got things going. We're okay now, and I have to leave him again. It's unfair. And I bet he won't even want to come with me because he has the whole bike thing happening here."

"If it makes you feel better, I'm leaving my Volvo here. But they'll ship it over a few days after we start production," I said. She laughed and shook her head, nudging my ribs with her elbow.

"You help a lot, Edward," she said. I wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not. "I mean it." Okay, that explains it.

"Thanks. I can't say I don't try," I said, trying to adjust my nonexistent tie. "So what do we do now? Since they already found the perfect location, there's nothing for us to do here anymore, right?"

"Wrong," Jasper said, joining us. "We have to audition extras." He smiled at both of us, going back to where he was. Jasper's a weird one but I grew to get used to it in a month.

"Great," I said sardonically. "Alice is coming over today, by the way. Is Emmett?"

"Oh, right!" Bella said, her face lighting up. "Yeah, Emmett's coming. He said he'll be here a few minutes after I arrive. He was taking long choosing a shirt. Guys can be so much more picky that girls—no offense."

"None taken," I said, leaning on the wall, too. "So what happened with you and Jacob?"

Bella looked down again and let her hair curtain her face, making me unable to see her expression. "I woke him up at twelve midnight to apologize. He was a bit cranky but he forgave me. But he did hang up on me, so I don't know what that's supposed to imply," she said and then shook her head. "I called you a few seconds after he hung up on me, and the weird thing is… You were fully awake." She looked up at me and smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear. "And I had to make sure Jacob was fully conscious. It's odd."

"It's most definitely not odd," I said, laughing a bit. "It just means that he sleeps extremely earlier than both of us. And, as a matter of fact, I was only awake because Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was showing on Nick at Nite."

She laughed and rolled her eyes. She looked around the room. Her eyes locked at the big guy that came in, a huge grin on his face.

"Emmett!" Bella yelled, running to him. She grabbed his forearm and dragged him over to where I was. Bella's brother was, I must say, huge. I'm standing at six foot one, and he was probably six foot three. "This is Edward. Edward, Emmett."

"Nice to finally meet you, Edward," Emmett said, clapping his hand on my shoulder.

"You, too," I said.

"We're not going to go location-hunting after all, Emmett," Bella said. "And… about that… Emily mentioned a while ago that we're going to… relocate."

"What?" Emmett said, horror-struck. "Where are they bringing you guys?"

"We're relocating to Brentwood, California," I answered for Bella. "She was outraged earlier, if it makes anything easier."

Emmett's eyebrows met, forehead scrunched, then said, "I'm coming with you, then."

"Em," Bella started, shaking her head. "You don't have to. I'm fine at Brentwood. Edward would be there… and so will Jasper... So I'll be safe." I had the urge to dig a hole and jump into it.

"I insist, Bella. If Jack's not going to be there, then at least let me be," he said. Who the heck is Jack?

"Emmett, his name's Jake. That's the fifth time you called him Jack," Bella said. "And no. It's not necessary. And we're going to find a place for you to stay and everything. It's too much hassle."

"Bella, if you don't want me around, you can just say it—" Emmett said.

"Okay, fine," Bella said, defeated. "If you're going to get started with the guilt-tripping, I'll let you have your way. Fine, you can come."

I laughed at them both. Is this what Alice and I look like? The easy camaraderie between Bella and Emmett was so simple. It was so innocently platonic that I couldn't help but imagine Alice and I. I know what Bella means by how Alice and I are alike; Bella and Emmett are just the same.

Just at the moment, Jasper came back with Rosalie hot on his heels.

Emmett stared at Rosalie for a moment, totally baffled by whatever it was he saw. "Hi, I'm Emmett," he blurted out to Rosalie.

Rosalie looked at him briefly and smiled. "I'm Rosalie," she said.

"Oh, wow, Rose. Thanks a lot for letting me introduce you to him," Jasper said mockingly. "Hey, I'm Jasper. I'm Rosalie's twin. I'm Tom Quicksilver's best friend in the movie."

"Oh, yeah, I'm Emmett," Emmett said. "I'm Bella's brother. It's nice to meet you." Who was he talking to? Seemed to meet like it was meant for Jasper, but Emmett's eyes were locked on Rosalie's blonde hair and blue eyes.

"And I'm Alice," a chirpy, silver-like voice said from beside me. I turned my head and, just like a thought, Alice was there, smiling at everyone.

"Sorry," I said. "Guys, this is Alice. She's my sister. There's Rosalie, Emmett—you've met Bella—and… Jasper."

Alice just looked at Jasper. What in the world is happening? First Emmett with Rosalie, then Alice with Jasper—in the span of less than five minutes. That's inhuman.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," Alice said. "So are we going to go location-hunting or what?"

I leaned down and whispered in Alice's ear, "No, we're not. I'll tell you all about it later."

"Never mind," Alice said. Bella laughed.

"We're going to audition a bunch of extras today," Bella explained. "It's not as fun as location hunting but at least we got some back-up."

"Fabulous," Alice said.

Emily came into the room again, her clipboard gone, Blackberry at hand. "Let's get started."


From ten in the morning to six in the evening, we auditioned extras and a few sort of important characters. We hired two girls named Angela Weber and Jessica Stanley, and three guys, Mike Newton—who reminds me too much about the maitre d in the bistro yesterday—, Eric Yorkie and Ben Cheney. You'd think that we were going to do much more than that for eight hours.

The whole time, Rosalie and Emmett were "bonding"—as they would like to call it, and so were Alice and Jasper. As easy as it was, they paired up and singled out Bella and I.

We already planned to eat together later at eight at a Sushi place but Alice canceled because Jasper asked her out, and so did Emmett, because he asked Rosalie out. So that just leaves Bella and I to eat together. If Jasper and Emmett have their dates at the same Sushi place, things would get ugly.

I already told Alice about the whole thing about relocating to Brentwood. So now she, Emmett and Rosalie would come to Brentwood with the rest of the cast and crew.

Bella and I stood outside the office, hoodies up, and hands in our pockets, waiting for a cab. She looked at me and smiled pleasantly, taking a step closer to me.

"I hate auditions," she said. "I hate being auditioned and I hate holding auditions. I hate it… and I hate telling people that they didn't do well. Auditions suck."

I snorted, taking a step closer to her, too, our arms touching. "You're lucky you didn't have to audition for Samantha Johns. Emily practically handed the role to you on a silver platter."

She stuck her tongue out at me and retorted, "Well at least you got the job. That would probably be… one of the best decisions that I've made… ever."

I blushed—no. Scratch that. I didn't blush. The blood rushing to my cheeks is only because of the cold. In my defense, it's February and it's still pretty cold—and, it's almost night. Hell, whom am I kidding? I blushed.

"Thanks," I said, smiling. "Auditioning is the best decision I've made, believe me. It's doing wonders."

She laughed and stuck out for a cab and one pulled over. She went inside the cab and rolled the window down. "You coming, Masen?"

I rolled my eyes and opened the door, making her scoot to the other end.

Bella POV

This sucks—with the exception that Edward and I are on a non-date. But seeing Jasper and Alice in the same sushi place and Emmett and Rosalie there, too, is the issue. It sucks.

They're probably a couple now. Emmett and Rosalie and, Jasper and Alice, I mean. Both of them found somebody like it was the easiest thing in the world. I just feel sorry for Edward. I had Jacob—but I'm not as much pleased by the idea as I used to when I was sixteen—but he didn't.

Irina's sister, Tanya, had a piece done on her on a gossip website, apparently, saying that she wanted to ask Edward out. To be honest, if ever Edward wants an opinion from me about Tanya before he actually goes out with her, I don't like Tanya. She looks like the girl that's… just a face. No substance, no personality. Just good looks. The one thing she has that I don't.

"Can we get the bill, please?" Edward told our server.

"Right away, Mr. Masen," the boy said.

The whole evening, I've been wondering if he knew Edward and I. Apparently, he does. And he'll probably tell everybody about this. He'd be on Twitter all night, tweeting that he served Bella Swan and Edward Masen on their date. It'd spread like wildfire.

"By the way," Edward said before the boy goes to get our bill. "Don't tell anybody about this, would you?"

"Of course not, sir," he said. "I'll make sure nobody does, Mr. Masen."

"Thank you," Edward said. He went off to retrieve the bill. Edward turned to me and smiled. "Don't worry. I'll pay for this."

"You don't have to," I said, already reaching for my wallet. "You already let me stay over and everything. I think it's just proper if I paid of dinner."

"No, Bella, don't worry. I got it," he said. I paused and he nodded, saying, "I got it. It's definitely my pleasure."

I put my wallet away and nodded. "Okay," I said with my sigh. "Thanks so much, Edward."

The server comes back with a black folder. Edward took it and looked at if for a second, bringing out a couple of hundred dollar bills and two twenties.

He said something like, "Keep the change." What? How much was dinner? I should have insisted more. The boy took the folder back and said, "Have a good evening" then walked away.

"You ready to go?" Edward said.

I got up and put my jacket back on, taking my bag. "Yeah," I replied.

I turned and went to the door, waiting on him. He was still talking to our server. Suddenly, I saw him reach into his pocket and give the waiter what looked like money. Do they actually do that? I thought it only happens in movies.

He got to me soon enough, beaming at me hugely. "Sorry about that," he apologized. He opened the door for me and walked out. We stood at the sidewalk, waiting for another cab.

"What did you give that guy?" I said, looking at him. My eyes were getting strained; I had to look through a hoodie that's halfway over my eyes. "I saw that a while ago. What did you give him?"

He shrugged and said, "Just something to make it keep it to himself. It's not much, Bella. Don't mind it. I just thought it would help out."

I nodded. That explains it. He wanted the boy to keep the non-date to himself. Right. Sometimes, I wonder if Edward's just too paranoid or, in this case, if he actually considered what happened in there a date.

It isn't a date, though. But it sure felt like one.


Edward and I ended up in his house again.

I was in a ball curled beside him while we watched Back To The Future Part Three. We were having a Back To The Future marathon.

"Who are you supposed to be? Clint Eastwood?" Marty McFly's brother said. That's what Edward and I were laughing about. It was just so ironic. Marty was wearing a Western outfit because he came from 1885. So, we're shallow. So what?

"That was… epic," I said as he turned the TV off as soon as the movie was over. "We should do this again."

"It would be a miracle if we do," he said, rubbing his eyes.

"Why is that?" I said, hugging my knees. "You think we won't get to do this in Brentwood? The hotel would be crappy if they didn't have a TV, that's for sure."

Edward laughed but shook his head afterwards. "We'll be too caught up with the movie thing that we won't get to do anything for ourselves. Like I said, it would take a miracle."

I shook my head. "Don't say that. I guess we'll find a way. It's not like we're working 24/7."

He shrugged and inched a bit closer to me. I was practically leaning on him, but I just ignored it.

I yawned. "Well, that was fun. You need a ride home?" Edward said, standing up, yawning, too.

I nodded. "Yeah, thanks," I said. "Are you sure you could bring me home? You might fall asleep, Edward. It's almost two."

"I don't mind. It's not like I'm going to sleep when I get home after bringing you home. I don't sleep."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right. You're going to crash any second. Never mind, Edward. I'll call a cab."

He shook his head, saying nothing. He walked to the door and cocked his head to the his car. Stubborn.


"Keep me awake. Keep on talking," Edward said, widening his eyes to keep him awake. I laughed at his expression. "It's not funny. C'mon. I'm about to fall asleep."

"Okay, fine," I said, leaning over the dashboard, touching his neck. He flinched; I know it's the one place where he gets tickled.

"Hey, that's not keeping me awake. It's just keeping my eyes off the road. Not only would we die but there'd be a car collision because you tickled me. So many lives wasted because you're method of keeping me away goes terribly wrong."

"What do you want me to do, then?" I said, stifling a laugh.

"Just keep on talking. It's impulsive for me to listening to anything that speaks. If you speak, it would be hard for me to fall asleep. I promise; so just keep on talking."

"Okay, what do I say?" I said, letting a silent laugh rip.

"Anything."

I looked out the window for some inspiration but it was too late. We were already there. "Aw, Edward. We're already here."

He parked the car and sighed. He held up two of his fingers and gestured to me the length of an inch with his index finger and his thumb. "I'm this much closer to falling asleep."

"Well, get out and wake your brain up," I said, stepping out of his Volvo.

I went up the porch and waited on him. He got up, too, and cracked his knuckles.

"Thanks for bringing me home, really. It was… fun… watching you bordering unconsciousness. And it was a lot more fun to watch Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd's antics on Back To The Future Part One to Three. You saved me from a night of boredom with Emmett, telling me all about how awesome Rosalie is. I had a really good time on our non-date, especially. Thank you. You don't know how much I appreciate it."

Edward bowed, holding an invisible top hat. "Well, it's a pleasure, mademoiselle," he said in a fake French accent.

Silence was like an eerie breeze between us. But it was comfortable. We didn't have to talk. The exchange of words was only an alternative.

My hair swept over my face as the draft passed by my face. Edward stepped closer to me and took my hair and swept it out of my face. He fingers grazed my cheeks just a wee bit but I felt the trail he left get hotter.

And just as impulsive as him listening to everything anybody says, I tiptoed and planted a kiss on his cheek.

He looked shocked, but he relaxed when I pulled away. His green eyes gazed into my brown ones.

He stared at me for a moment, looking sick. His eyebrows were sagging and I had the sudden realization that he wanted to cry. He shut his eyes and placed his hand at the nape of my neck, but letting it slip off.

Where's this coming from? I didn't know, but I have to go there someday and personally thank whoever sent all these emotions rushing into my system.

"Edward…" I whispered.

What's happening? This is technically cheating on Jacob. What am I doing? This is wrong. I told myself that I won't ever cheat on Jacob—even if this isn't necessarily cheating.

But it felt so real. It felt like I've been waiting for this to happen. But it just wasn't complete. Something's missing. Something's supposed to happen other than what just happened.

"Bella…" he said, shutting his eyes tighter, trying to breathe steadily. "Listen to me, okay?" He took my wrist and my pulse raised. Okay, this is definitely cheating.

"I'm listening," I said, ogling at him.

The feelings inside me were whirling around my stomach. I haven't felt this way ever—and I've been with Jacob for more than a year now.

You cheater. What are you doing? You liar. Run while you can. Stop it. A voice was hissing inside my head. But the quiet buzz of its pleas was barely audible. All I heard was my raising heart beat.

"I know it's not right for me to feel this way for you, but it's not like I meant it to happen. It's sick… even masochistic for me to want you. You have Jacob and I… I'm just me. I couldn't compete with that."

I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut as well. "I don't mind," I said, smiling then laughing silently to somehow lighten the mood.

He opened his eyes and smiled at me so sweetly, my heart would explode. Wait, what? What am I thinking? My heart?

"Let it happen, Bella," he said, closing his eyes again, taking my chin. Crap, crap, crap. He's going to do it. I could feel my muscles tensing at the back, but he placed his hand at the back of my neck and I eased up.

Then it happened. Like it was supposed to. I knew I was cheating but… I don't know where I got the willpower to do it. Let it happen.

He softly pressed his lips to mine. The only thing I heard was the erratic beats in my ear from my heart. As my pulse grew faster and faster, I felt my lips moving along with the beat, the kiss getting more and more frantic. My hands involuntarily weaved through his bronze locks.

He slowed down, relaxing me. Our lips finally parted and he opened his eyes, looking into mine. He let go of my neck and swallowed.

He walked down the first few steps of the stairs and smiled at me. "Good night, Bella."

I sighed, trying to even out my breath.

"Good night, Edward."


A/N:

3,994 words. Oh god. That's really, really long. My longest.

Well, I'm leaving a month from now. So excited! That's only Epic Chapter Number One. Wait 'til Epic Chapter Number Two. LOL. It's not as Epic in the way that this was, but it's still pretty epic.

Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't intend that to happen. I didn't want Bella to be a cheating whore. That's not what I was going for. Don't worry. It would—never mind. You'll see next week.

Please, please review. I love, love, love this chapter.

REVIEW!

Love you guys. Thanks so much for reading this far. I love you guys.

I'll post an update next week. I PROMISSSSE!

~ Age of Detour