CHAPTER 11 - BPOV
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Stirring, I move my hand around to find the little alarm clock that sits on Edward's night table. Blindly, my fingers roam around the top until I feel the big, gray button and like most days, I slap it and pull the covers over me. Still I can feel the rays of sunshine seeping through the window burning through the blanket making me groan out. Edward chuckles in response as I feel him stretching out beside me.
"Good morning," his hoarse voice greets me. Although Edward and I have been sharing the same bed for a month now, I still get the butterflies at the sound of his voice every morning. It's like, how did I get so lucky waking up to an angel? When I don't reply he starts to shake my shoulder. I groan in response. "Bella, it's your first big shoot. I don't think you'll want to miss it."
And in a heart beat, I'm sitting up straight stretching my arms. Edward, the lucky bastard that he is, has his face buried into his pillow. He doesn't have to work today. Ever since his broken toe incident, he'd got to sit back at home and relax while Ben, his agent, dug around for more opportunities. When his toe looked less swollen and fine enough to cover it up with make-up he'd done two commercials. One for Calvin Klein underwear and another for some hair gel. And as predicted, teenage girls all over the world are swooning over him.
Too bad he's mine. Well, in the fake way, but they still don't know that.
"Still who works on Sundays?" I lazily get up off the bed and walk into my bedroom to grab my clothes and take a shower. Rose and Alice are gone, off to work probably. Rose ended up finding an agent and she's currently the face of L'Amour- the popular make-up company of America. She's decided on taking on the role of being a model and after the show she'll move onto the next big step.
Alice is still working with Spotlight along with Jessica Stanley and they've been getting along quite well lately. Yesterday they both went shopping. The day before that they grabbed brunch before work and for the past 2 weeks every Tuesdays they sit in Jessica's room to watch a new series that has to do with fashion. Alice has been convincing us that Jessica really isn't a bad person so tonight we're all going out for dinner and sharing a table. Including Jessica, Mike and Jacob. Usually we do have dinner with each other, but never really have a long conversation with them.
"It's ridiculous!" Alice had once told me while we went grocery shopping. Emmett had gotten hungry for a few nights in a row and attacked our fridge. "We've been living with each other for what? A week and a half now and we still don't include Jessica, Mike or Jacob in our plans."
"First of all, Jacob has anger issues. Second, Mike is weird and third, Jessica... I don't know she's just really quiet lately. On the first day I'd gotten the impression that she's so loud and talkative and flirty, but the next day it's like she was a different person." Rose said and I had agreed.
"But you did stand up for her when Emmett pranked her."
"I felt bad for her. I told you guys, there was something up with her change of attitude."
So since then Alice decided she'd be the one to get know Jessica and now I guess you can say they're good friends. The atmosphere in the house is getting more and more comfortable now that changes are happening and we're getting friendly.
I hop out of the shower and change into jeans and Edward's jersey. It's comfortable and his scent still lingers. Well, only because every now and then I get him to wear the shirt for the day or night so his scent would stick to it.
When I walk out of the room and into the quiet hallway I catch a whiff of the star shaped pancakes and chicken noodle soup Edward makes every Sundays. He's gotten really good at cooking for someone who's just learning. Edward claims he only knew how to make mac and cheese and he was intrigued when he watched me cook a meal that he wanted to learn. So on days like today when he doesn't have to work and I do, he'd stay at home for a couple of hours and watch the cooking channel.
"Smells good." I say, hopping onto the island stool. Edward flashes me a quick smile when he slides the plate down to me. I grab the maple syrup and start drowning my pancakes in it's thick, sweet goodness. Edward rolls his eyes, like he does every Sunday. He doesn't like the idea of my sugar overdoses. "I love Sunday mornings." I moan as soon as I bite off a piece.
"Not today though," he frowns. "You won't be home."
"I'll be back in time for dinner tonight. What time are we supposed to go again?" Getting tired of properly cutting my pancakes with a knife, I pick one up, fold it and eat it like that. Edward chuckles.
"Alice has our reservation for 7:30. But she wants us all to be ready by 6:45."
"She would." Typical Alice. Always have to be ready and on time.
"I don't know what I'm going to do without you today." he sighs and takes a seat next to me, stealing a pancake off my plate. I glare at him playfully.
"At least you don't have to work today. And to make it even worse I'm going to have to work with James!" Yep, I've been hired as James' photographer for the day. He's doing yet another photo shoot after his interview today and I'm so fortunate to follow him around with a camera.
Edward glares at the mention of James, but softens his features when he looks at me. He inches closer and places his hand over my heart. "Just remember, I'm not too far away."
"I still can't believe we got tattoos." I say, trying to avoid the major blush fest about to happen. Ever since that first night with the tattoo's and all, my views on Edward completely changed and it doesn't help that we've been inseparable this last month either.
"I hope you're not beginning to regret it, though I wouldn't blame you." Typical Edward. He's always had this idea in his head that I secretly hate him and secretly regret getting a tattoo of his name on my chest. The secret is though, just knowing his name is permanently there makes me all giddy and happy inside.
"If anyone should regret it, it should be you." I get off the stool and make my way to the door otherwise I'd be late. I can hear Edward's footsteps behind me, knowing he still wants to talk about it. I kick on my shoes and grab the keys off the hook.
"Can I drive you to work today?" he asks me and I know there's a little hint of jealousy and rage towards James. I nod and put the keys back.
"Just don't do or say anything to him okay?"
He doesn't say anything, he just stares ahead like I'm not even there.
Edward went after him, just like I told him not to, he went and punched him right in the face anyway.
He was fine when we arrived on set. He'd helped me with my equipment and carried it inside. Then he helped me set up and I knew he was a little off, but I didn't think it was enough for him to confront James. At first I thought they were just having a conversation, but the next second all I see is Edward's fist pull back and hit James full force. James had fallen to the ground holding his nose and the next thing I see is blood.
Blood makes me queasy, so I pull a typical Bella and join James on the floor.
"I can't believe you have to spend the night in jail." I twirl the cord of the phone in the little 'relax' room. I'm plopped on the bean bag chair in the corner all alone. Ever since the incident, Edward and James were taken to the station leaving me jobless for the day. I'd ended up driving back in Edward's car, picking up something to eat along the way.
"Me neither," Edward's calm voice reaches my ears from the other end of the line. He's so laid back about the situation, like being behind bars for a night is no big deal. "Are you okay, though? Is your head feeling better?"
"You would be worried about me and not yourself." I giggle lightly. "And you would waste your one phone call on me."
"I care about you my Bella, of course I'm going to worry about you. And who else am I going to call?" This makes me blush. Luckily no one's here to see my embarrassment.
"I hope you sleep well tonight."
"Not without you. It's our first night apart." he says and I can locate the frown in his voice, it matches mine.
"We'll see each other first thing in the morning," I tell him to lighten the situation. "I promise."
"It won't be the same as waking up to each other, but it'll do. As long as I get to see you first thing. And you remember what tomorrow is, right?" I roll my eyes knowing what he's going to say next. "Our anniversary. I can't believe I'm missing the first couple of hours of it."
"Do we really have to celebrate a one month anniversary Edward?" Of course we do, thanks to Demetri. I'm not intrigued by anniversaries, not a relationship one and definitely not my birthday. "I don't really want to." I know Demetri will kill me for saying this.
Edward chuckles. "Always so stubborn."
I hear the door open and close followed by a loud, squeaky "Bella!"
"Alice is home," I say and I look at the clock seeing that Edward's phone call ends in a minute. "Does she know?"
"Not yet. Will you tell her for me?"
"I will." I cover the speaker with my thumb so I wouldn't break Edward's ears. "I'm in the relax room!" I shout to Alice and she responds with an "Okay be there in a second!"
"I have to go Bella," and que the sad faces. "143, have a good night sleep I'll see you tomorrow."
"143 Edward," Demetri had wanted us to start saying 'I love you' but Edward had rejected the idea because he says that it should only be said if it means something. He and Demetri had fought over it for some time, he's old fashioned like that and really respects the meaning behind the phrase. So Rose-who overheard- came to the conclusion of saying 143 which stands for I love you (1-I, 4-love and 3-you), but in Edward and I's terms we mean for it to be 'I like you'. Kindergarten, I know.
"I hope you have a good night sleep as well. I'll be there first thing."
"Goodbye Bella."
I hang up the phone and lay down on the bean bag. Alice comes into the room and joins me.
"What's up?"
Thinking of Emmett I say, "The ceiling."
"What's wrong Bella?" I love that she can detect when something's wrong just by the way my tone sounds. She positions herself so she can see me, to tell if I'm lying or not when I respond.
"Okay, Edward's sort of in jail-"
"WHAT?" her eyes widen and there's a mixture of anger and frustration on her face. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"
"He punched James." I say flat out. She purses her lips for a second.
"Why did he do it?"
I shrug. "He just said James pissed him off. They were talking for like a minute and all of a sudden Edward just punches him. James wouldn't say a word either, and thankfully he's not pressing charges."
"I think I know what it is." Alice says and I wait for her to go on. "Edward and James sort of knew each other in middle school," I raise an eyebrow at her as in saying 'why didn't I know this'. "James had a girlfriend, her name was Vicky. One day Edward and Vicky got paired up for a project and James didn't trust her with him but she told him it's fine and nothing was going to happen. Later that day Vicky came over to work on it and she came onto him and Edward didn't do anything back. The next day she told James that Edward tried to undress her and get her to break up with James. James and Edward fought, the both of them got expelled and our family had to relocate."
"Edward never told me any of this." I'm not sure that I'm upset he kept this from me or if I shouldn't even bother because it's in the past.
"Edward doesn't talk about things much. He keeps to himself, like in his journal."
"He didn't tell me he has a journal either." Now that I think of it, Edward didn't tell me much besides his mother. I feel like I don't exactly know him that well now that Alice is telling me.
"Bella don't even worry about it. He doesn't tell me a lot either."
"Yeah, sure. He'll tell me when he wants to." If he wants to. "But why would he go after James if this happened a while ago?"
"Because James went after me." she says quietly making me question why on earth didn't I know all of this?
"Oh. Is that why you stayed away with everyone at the premier?"
She nods. "But he couldn't get to me, I got out of it as soon as I could."
"What did he do?"
"It's nothing Bella," she shakes her head staring off into space. "Edward only attacked him for your sake. He was just sending out a message."
"What kind of message?"
"Well, James is trying to go after you..." she says slowly like it'll sound any better.
"He's not going to try anything on me, I won't let him."
The look on her face says worry all over it. "Bella just be careful when you're around him. He knows what he's doing and he always gets what he wants once he sets his mind on it."
"I'm not giving him what he wants."
"Good. And you have all of us here to protect you."
I roll my eyes and laugh. "He's not after my blood or anything. Plus, I'm not his photographer anymore. The shoot got canceled and he's hiring someone else when his nose heals."
"Okay, but just know that we're all here for you Bella. No matter what happens." Something about the way she says it has all these questions swimming in my head. Or maybe it's just this whole drama showbiz catching up to me. Maybe I'm letting every little thing get to my head. Alice means well, she would never threaten me. Unless of course Demetri sets her up, but I know Alice. She can never hurt anyone. Not Jasper. Not me.
"Hey I think I'm going to stay home tonight." I tell her not sure if I want to go out. It won't be the same without Edward. I mean, who else is going to secretly hold my hand under the table (even if everyone knows about us) or who else is going to know what to order for me?
"You can't miss out on the big dinner!" Alice starts to shake her head yanking at my wrist for me to get up. I shake my head back at her and put all my weight on the chair so she couldn't lift me up. "Why Bella? It's supposed to be fun!"
"Doing my hair, make-up and picking out my outfit may be fun for you Alice but that's not exactly what I call entertaining." I know her too well by her means of 'fun'. She throws me a playful glare but then crosses her arms in all seriousness.
"Just because Edward won't be there doesn't mean you have to miss out."
"It's not just because of him," she raises her brow at me as if saying 'yeah right'. "Seriously! Alice I got fired on my biggest project today, my boyfriend is in jail and all I want to do is nothing."
"I think I know what you need, I get it," I give her a 'thanks-for-understanding' look and proceed to lay back down when she says, "You need to go shopping!"
"Oh dear God no Alice. Please anything but that."
She shakes her head for the millionth time. "Sorry Bella, you're going whether you like it or not."
I groan out loud and slap myself on the forehead. "Besides Bella, tomorrow's your anniversary. You have to look nice."
"Edward will probably be fine with sweats and a hoodie."
Alice gasps as if I'd just burned her favourite designer bag. "Okay, this is an emergency. I'm calling Rose and Jess to meet us there." Before I can refuse and say no again she's already pressed speed dial 2 for Rose on her phone and has it pressed against her ear.
I pretty much hate this day.
I'm so sorry for my lack of update. I had major writers block! Seriously guys it took me forever to write this :(
Thanks for the support. You guys are great :)