10: Nervous

BPOV

My god, what have I done?

I was sitting in an actually very comfy chair in the hallway of Cullen-Whitlock Productions, room 14; casting Behind a Pair of Sunglasses. My hands were trembling and I was starting to sweat. This is why I didn't want to do this. I suffer from stagefright. Like, very much so.

I can't go up like this! They'll think I'm a freak!

I grabbed my phone from my pocket and searched Edwards number. He gave it to me yesterday after our 'date'.

I don't think I can do this. I'm so nervous and sweaty and I don't think I can say a normal sentence right now!

- B

He replied almost immediately.

Of course you can! When you get in, there will only be me, my mom, the director, and 2 casting people. Just pretend that nobody else is there. Just you and me.

- E

That calmed me down a little bit. Not enough though.

A red light on the wall jumped to life as it was my turn to get in.

"Here we go, you can do this, Bells. You can do this! It's just an audition.. it's just an audition.. it's just an.. an.."

Okay..

I walked in and almost immediately shut my nerves off. My body seems to know when I really can't use the nerves, and just ignores them for a while. Kind of handy.

"Hi, Bella," Esme said, writing my name down on a piece of paper. "We have got a highlighted script for you if you want, as you didn't really have any time to practise."

I nodded and took the script from her hands. Oh! I knew this scène! This wasn't so hard.

"Okay, Bella," the director said. "I am going to say Corys lines as you play Becca. We will film you with this camera and you will hear from us in a week or so."

I nodded and took a deep breath.

My eyes caught Edwards and he gave me a proud smile. I bit my lip and started the scène, getting into character. "I am not doing that again!"

"I still can't believe you actually did that! That was sick!" The director said as Cory.

"Well, I had to prove it to you, didn't I? You said I couldn't ride the bull without falling off, and I proved you wrong, boy!"

"That you did.."

Becca and Cory make eyecontact.. bla bla bla - ah!

"So, you up for some tacos?" He asked.

Becca gives him an 'are you serious' look. So I do my best with raising my eyebrows and putting my hands on my hips. I could hear Edward laugh in the background, but I was too focused to stop. "After Bumpy Road over there? No way! I could do with some games or something. You up for some shooting?"

Now Cory gives Becca a weird smile.

They walk over to the shootingstal, Becca gives the man behind it 5 dollars and picks up a gun while Cory stands behind her, grinning.

"You sure you can handle a gun, little girl? Don't get yourself.."

Cory gets interrupted by the sound of three shots being fired and people applauding. Becca smiles triumphanticly at Cory.

"You were saying, little boy?" I said grinning at the idea of beating someone at something like shooting.

"Okay, you are good, I'll give you that."

"Good? I could shoot that teddy bear way up there, if it wasn't so cute. Now, are you going to shoot with me, or sulk all night?" I said.

"Fine, show me what you've got, shortcake!"

"Maybe you should hold off on the insults, there buddy, you know I grew up on a farm right?"

End scène.

I looked at Esme, she gave me a proud smile and a nod. I turned to Edward, but didn't really recognise the expression he had on his face. It looked like adoration, pride and.. love? No, why would he.. love? What are you.. no!

"Thank you, Bella," One of the casting crew said, as no one was speaking. "You will hear from us this week."

Edward took me to a icecream parlor after the audition to treat me on some welldeserved sugar. "Why won't you believe me you did well?" He almost pleaded to me. "Actually you didn't do well, you did fantastic!" Ever since we walked out of the castingroom, Edward has been giving me compliments and I kept brushing them off.

"Because.. I don't know. I'm always like this. I won't believe I did good until I see the results, in this case that stupid phonecall." I mumbled.

"Do you want to go get us a seat or should I?" He asked me.

"No, I'll wait here. I never know which flavour to get until the last minute. I'll see you in a bit." Edward smiled and walked off to find us a booth to sit at.

"Hello, how can I help you - Bella?" I looked up from the floor and was greeted by two very blue eyes. "Wow! What are you doing here?"

I froze. No! No, no, no! Not with Edward here! Please God, no!

"I'm sorry," I said. I swallowed and puckered my lips together as I tried to come up with a good lie. "Have we met before? I - I don't seem to remember you."

I feel terrible.

"That's all right. It's been a while. I'm Michael Newton? We went to the same college. We like, dated for a year and a half."

I know.. I really regret that.

"Oh! Michael! Nice to see you!" I faked. Maybe I did well at my audition after all, if he buys this poor excuse of a lie.

"What can I get ya?" He asked. His eyes still twinkled when he looked at me. Oh no..

"Um, pistache and vanilla in a cone and cookie dough, oreo in a cup, please." I ordered, trying to ignore his boyish grin.

"So what brings you to Hollywood?" He asked while scooping out my order.

I smiled. Can this guy stop talking? "Well, I have lived here for almost my whole life and my parents have a café closeby. I work there."

"Really? So we have been this close all this time? Funny how that works."

"Yeah," I gave hin a fake laugh, trying to hide my awkwardness. "Small world."

"Well, here you go. One Pistache-Vanilla and a Cookie Dough-Oreo. Have a nice day!" He waved at me as I walked away and I sighed when I sat down across from Edward.

"That took a while," Esward said as he took his first lick of his icecream. "You didn't get lost, did you?" He teased.

I swatted his arm and he laughed. "No, the boy behind the counter kept on talking to me. He's an.. an old friend of mine."

Edward raised an eyebrow. "He? Anyone I need to be worried about?"

I saw that he was joking, but could hear the serious undertone in his voice. "No, don't worry. You're still in first place.. at the moment." I said teasing him.

"At the moment? Now hang on.." I laughed at his little smirk. "Why aren't I always in first place?"

"Well, first of all, I don't even know if we are going to count this as a date, so we are not going out at the moment and second of all, you've got icecream on your face."

Edward wiped his nose and mouth with the back of his hand. Confused he said: "No I don't.."

I grabbed his cone-holding-hand and shoved it in his face. I grinned. "Now you do."

"Oh, you are so going to regret doing that, and I am so counting this as a date." He got up to grab some napkins and that is when Mike thought it would be a good time to pop-by.

"Hi, Bella," he said. I quickly put some icecream in my mouth and just smiled at him. "So, I was wondering if you maybe would want to go out some time? We haven't seen each other in a while so maybe we can catch up?"

I slowly swallowed the bite that had already melted in my mouth, but I just didn't want to talk to him. Just as I was about to say something I felt to arms around my shoulders. "Who is this, Beautiful?" Edward said.

Oh. My. God. No, do not start what I think you're about to do.

"This - This is Mike Newton. The guy I was telling you about earlier. We went to the same college together."

Edward stared him down without saying anything else. I handed him his cone. "Here is your icecream, Ed-"

Instead of grabbing the cone, Edward gave me a kiss that knocked the air out of my lungs and left me hanging after. He sat down next to me instead of across like he did before and put his arm around my shoulders. "Did you need anything?" He asked Mike kind of rudely without looking at him, all the while licking his icecream.

"No.. no." Mike mumbled and walked off.

Once Mike was out of sight I hit Edward on his chest. "Ow.. What?" Edward laughed.

"Oh, you know, 'what'! What was that? Did you have to show your Alpha side to him or something?"

Edward smiled and kissed the top of my head. I secretly liked the position we were in.

I snuggled in further. Burried my head in the crook of his neck far enough so I couls still scoop my icecream.

The cold treat contrasting with his warm chest, Edward putting his arm tighter around me, protecting me from all the bad things around. It felt nice. Very nice.

I think I'm starting to like Edward. A lot.

Was it good? Bad? Too much? Acceptable? Tell me, tell me, tell me!