Disclaimer: I wrote this story. But Stephenie Meyer came up with the characters in the first place, which is why she has a big flashy website with webmasters and suchlike and I have a tenuous link to the internet via a router which needs a kick up the backside every so often, and made this update a day later than it could have been.
A million thanks go to xoEMC for her help and support. She's like the Yellow Pages not just there for the errant gerunds, she's my sounding board and block-beater (beta-blocker?, what do you think, EM?).
She's more than just a beta, she's an M&S beta (non UKers can Google it). Also a million thank yous as usual to JAustenlover who has hardly a minute of free time but still pre-reads this for me.
This is dedicated to my Mini Mortal, who has gone back to school in a jumper two sizes to big and shoes which cost more than my last two pairs, and have little red lights that flash when you walk. And, of course, to Dancing Queen Lemonamour who proved the power of positive thinking to me this week, and Allyinperth, who has her laptop back *cheers*.
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Say Hello, Wave Goodbye Chapter 13
Cut and Print
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EPOV
"Edward! Concentrate!" The angry tone of Cai's voice snaps me out of my reverie. I take a big breath, look at my agent's furious face and read the email over again.
The Sunday Post, September 20, 2009: DIRTY DAN PLAYED DOCTORS AND NURSES WITH ME - World Exclusive by Michael Newton, showbiz editor.
MOVIE star Edward Cullen will have some explaining to do to his gorgeous girlfriend today as we expose him as a love cheat with a taste for threesomes.
Brit star Edward - famous for playing squeaky-clean action hero Doctor Dan in Making Waves, and before that as Riley in long-running TV soap The Factory - has been secretly wooing his actress co-star Rosalie Hale for more than a year.
But, according to glamour model Victoria Hunter, he and his friend, American musician Marcus Lee, shared more than a drink with her during a debauched weekend in New York over the summer.
Red-head Victoria, 22, who was a Playboy Playmate at 19 and is now pursuing a career in acting, told us that Edward and Marcus bedded her - at the same time - after plying her with drink and drugs in a penthouse flat belonging to friends in the hipster Meatpacking district of the city.
Marcus, 24, currently on a world tour playing guitar for teen heart-throb pop star Embry Call, and Edward, who recently starred as iconic rock hero Mick Jagger in Keith Moon biopic Beat It, smoked marijuana and drank tequila with leggy Vicky before persuading her into their bed.
'Great lover'
She revealed exclusively to us: "Edward led the way, he was a great lover and he and Marcus were very friendly with me and each other. We all had a lot of fun that night. I wish it could have gone on longer, but after Edward said he was with another girl I put a stop to it. I don't cheat and I don't date cheaters."
Rumours were rife in the summer that something was amiss between the Waves co-stars, with their famous falling out at the Beat It premiere in London, but pictures of them in a tender embrace at Edward's birthday party a few days later confirmed their love was still in bloom.
Vicky, currently single, said she didn't regret her night of passion with the duo and felt the pair had a real spark. "I certainly felt left out some of the time," she said.
Marcus is now dating Bella Swan, who works for Edward's close friend Alice Brandon; Edward has called Alice his 'rock' and told American gossip show ET that they were 'best friends'.
Let's hope Rosalie is in a forgiving mood today. The pair are now filming the sequel to Making Waves and are expected to arrive back in the country tomorrow.
Next week: Vicky tells all about Edward's taste for drugs and women...
Have you got a story for us? Email our newsdesk and you could earn a cash sum if we print it.
Comments (23)
Cai screwed up his copy of the paper and threw it on the desk. "Is any of it true, Edward? You have got to tell me the truth." His voice was tinny and his picture jumpy on my laptop screen.
I was shaking. My mother's face swam through my mind. She was going to be frantic. I wanted to ring my parents and Bella to tell them not to panic, but I didn't want to wake them up at 2.30 a.m. My manager and I were the only ones who needed to lose sleep over this.
Marcus had received the news as he came off stage in Dusseldorf. He'd rung me, furious and threatening to track the bitch down. In the end he left it in the hands of his agent in the US, grovelled to the tour manager and managed to keep his place on the tour, joining the band on its way to Berlin.
"It's not true, Cai, I swear. I didn't smoke or take anything illegal while I was with Marcus. In fact, I've not smoked any dope for months. Really." I watched Cai's eyebrows disappear under his hair as he looked at me disbelievingly.
"I don't even remember this girl. I didn't sleep with anyone on the entire trip - I promise you it's the truth."
He knew how bad I had been when I was younger. Hell, he knew what I'd been like 12 months before. He'd bailed me out a couple of times, never from the police, thank God, but he paid off a debt or two and made sure nothing made it to the papers after some of the wild parties I'd been to.
"I did not sleep with that girl, and I'd never had a threesome with Marcus - or any other bloke for that matter -" I added hastily, as he stared at me again, reminding me of the look my father gave me after he caught me scrumping apples when I was six.
"As long as you're sure it never happened, and you deny sleeping with this... person, I will get on to the lawyers and get an injunction made so next Sunday's paper doesn't have your name on it," he said finally. "I'll be waiting for you at the airport in the morning. I'll call Volturi when it's 8 a.m. in LA."
His mobile went off and he answered it while I watched him on the skype connection.
"Rebecca, darling, thanks for calling me back," he said, speaking to Becky Lenoir, editor of the Post's big rival, the Sunday Sun. "We are denying everything. Marcus' people say the same. Would your people like to speak to Edward when he comes back? I've booked him on a 6 a.m. flight, it'll be in at 9.15 a.m. ... No, Luton, more quiet... I've not told the others that... He won't be talking at the airport, but he'll do some pics for you. Give him a break there and we'll fix you up with something on Monday... Good. I'm glad you can help, Becky, I owe you one. Give Laurent my best wishes... Thanks again. Bye."
It was amazing what the man could achieve in the early hours of a Sunday morning in London. As soon as the front page of the Post appeared on the news channels at around midnight he'd sprung into action. Promising its biggest rival an exclusive pic of me at the airport was a stroke of genius.
He'd rung Garrett and got me out of the last day of location filming, which was a blessing. I hoped to be able to get into the UK relatively unmolested on an economy flight going in to Luton instead of Heathrow. If I was last on the plane and first off, with luck I'd be out of the building before it got on to the Internet.
Rosie and the others would be coming back on Monday as planned so I was on my own for the flight, except for my Volturi bodyguard.
It had been too late to get the Post to stop the presses, but Garrett managed to get our flat denial into later editions of other Sunday papers, with threats to never speak to them again or promises of photo-ops and interviews in the future.
Getting Becky on our side was the final act for now. In the morning he'd start to pester the gossip websites and the magazines like Heat and OK! before they went to press on Monday.
He'd fired off denial e-mails to the New York Post and some of the other gossip outlets and websites over there, but was basically waiting for them to call him; his first priority was the British press. Cai was going to be working his socks off all the rest of the weekend making sure everyone knew this was a pile of horseshit.
I yawned. It was 3.30am in Italy and he'd woken me up an hour or so earlier from a particularly good dream - starring Bella, of course - with this bombshell. We'd racked our brains over what to do, since I couldn't deny meeting her we went with the Clinton line: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".
He saw how tired I was and tried to persuade me to get some shut-eye. As I had to be up in an hour to go to the airport, it seemed pointless. I swallowed the remainder of my cup of made in the hotel room coffee with a shudder as it was completely cold, then said goodnight to Cai, shutting down the laptop and heading to the bedroom.
I picked up my BlackBerry to see a text from Mum asking if I was okay and if I needed any help. It had been sent 10 minutes earlier, I must have missed the alert while Cai was yelling at me.
I sighed shakily and pressed her speed dial. She picked up after one ring. "Darling are you alright? We can't sleep for worrying. There are photographers outside and more arriving by the minute. Your father took some tea and biscuits out for them. They were very polite, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea for you to come here."
I put on as soothing a voice as I could manage. "Don't worry, Mum. We've got the lawyers working on the Post to stop them printing anything else. Cai's booked me on an EasyJet flight to Luton, can you get me from there? I've got a room at the Connaught tomorrow and Monday night, and I'm due on set on Tuesday."
She still sounded distraught. "Has Bella phoned? I called her but she was engaged. I hope she's not being pestered. Maybe I should go and see if she's all right-"
I cut her off at that. "Mum, you'll do no such thing. It's 2.30 a.m. and you'll just take the press to her place with you. I don't want her more involved in this than she is already. They know where she works, don't tell them where she lives. She's probably asleep anyway."
I heard my dad's voice in the background, telling Mum she needed to stop pacing and get some sleep. I told her to wait for me at Luton and not to be surprised if there was a bit of a scrum. She told me they loved me and not to worry, and we said goodnight.
In silence again, I threw some clothes into a carry-on bag and put my guitar in its case. Crumpled on the bed was my Hendrix shirt, still unwashed and now only faintly smelling of Bella.
It had become a bit of a totem of mine. I'd held it when she called from Heathrow to say she'd arrived, I'd fallen asleep with it balled up atop my pillow the first night we'd been apart...
I'd come back from the set well after dark, exhausted, too tired even to eat. It had taken all my energy to take off my shoes before lying on the bed. When my phone rang and I saw it was her, it woke me back up again.
I'd called her every night that week after that first night. We'd chatted about everything and nothing; how she'd spoken to her parents to tell them she'd got a new boyfriend and her dad had invited me to visit him in the country when I was free; that she'd been papped outside ABClothing but only once; how my mum had appeared one lunchtime with takeaway sushi for two, insisting she had been 'just in the area', then ordered a dress and invited her to a charity auction and dinner with us all at the end of the month.
I lay there exhausted but exhilarated, arms and legs as heavy as lead, smiling at her chatter and colourful descriptions of Alice's more demanding clients and her elderly seamstresses. The seamstresses seemed to spend their time giving Bella peppermints, impromptu dance lessons and advice about how to attract the right sort of boy.
I told her about Jasper's stuntwork mishap which meant that James ripped his shirt and how Alice had yelled at both of them for 10 full minutes; the mayhem when one of the crew had found a McDonald's in Naples and bought out the whole stock of McNuggets and Quarter Pounders for us one lunchtime. All the while I had the Hendrix shirt close at hand.
Eventually, inevitably, our conversations became more intimate. Over the phone we discussed past loves, disasters and friendships, sex and drugs and rock and roll. I told her about some of my salubrious past.
We talked until we fell asleep. After the first time that happened I took to setting my phone to go off every hour to make sure I was not paying international rates to snore at her.
The third night we'd got onto the topic of exes, which led on to sex and then on to what we liked and disliked about it. It made my heart (and ego, and for that matter, my dick) swell to hear her say I'd not done anything she'd not enjoyed.
I said the same, and as the evening went on I admitted the number of times I'd jerked off thinking about her, and she told me once again, with more conviction this time, that she had, too.
That admission opened some kind of floodgate in me and soon I was confessing all. That I'd wanted her the second I'd laid eyes on her. That the thought of anyone else was repellent to me. That my wild oats were all sown. The conversation ended with us agreeing we were definitely a couple, officially 'going out' as they say in the playground. It made me smile like a Cheshire cat at the thought of it.
The fourth night we'd gone further. Discussion led to action and I ended up telling her what I'd do when I saw her next and how much we'd enjoy it, which in turn led to my talking her to an orgasm, as she did the same to me. It was amazing, of course, but it only went to remind me how physically far apart we were.
I was missing her desperately.
It didn't help that on Thursday, most of the crew went back to London. Just a few actors and techies stayed behind in case we were needed.
It was easier for Garrett to check the footage was okay now than to have to come back for re-shoots later. So most of the second half of the week was spent playing cards or sitting about, followed by night-time parties I had no interest in attending.
Alice took me and Jasper out for a meal in Sorrento town, and we watched a football match in one of the bars, mingling with the locals and a few straggling tourists. It wasn't fun without Bella, so I'd moped off to my room by 10pm to watch bad movies on pay per view while I waited for Bella to text to say she'd got home so I could call her back.
I'd wanted to skype with her - the thought of her being visible was appealing to say the least - but her laptop was too old to accept the software.
I'd offered to get her a new one but she'd refused point-blank to let me spend any money on her, saying she didn't want 'presents' like that from me.
By Saturday I was like a tiger in a zoo, pacing, waiting for freedom. I'd spoken to Bella but she'd said she was sleepy so I'd hung up on her at midnight or so - 11 p.m. her time - and slept fitfully until Cai's call woke me up a couple of hours later...
There I was, standing in front of the bathroom mirror in silence with my toothbrush in my hand, wanting nothing more than to go home and check on my mum and my girlfriend, when there was a tiny tap on the door.
I went back into the sitting room and squinted through the spyglass to see Alice, in pyjamas and dressing gown, peering up at me.
I opened the door an inch and she threw herself at me, giving me a monkey-hug and bombarding me with questions at a dizzying speed. I think the first few were inquiring after me so I said I was doing fine and that Cai was pouring oil in London's troubled waters.
She continued to talk as she put the kettle on and fished two teabags out from her robe pocket. "My last two Twinings English Breakfast bags," she said. "I was saving them for an emergency, and I think you've got one of those."
She went on, without pause: "There I was, nicely dozing off, all warm and cozy and Garrett calls me to see if I know anything about you being in a threeway. "Well, I said, 'he's not the threeway type, boss, he's all sweetness and light', and well what do you know he's telling me all about you and Marcus pulling some floozy in New York. I thought there's no way this is going on and I look at my phone and there's a missed call from Bella. Now why could she she calling me at this time? I call her back, she's in hysterics. There are people ringing her phone, knocking on her door, at MY door, and she can't raise you for an answer."
Alice got louder as she stalked around the room. "And I say to myself: 'Why isn't her boyfriend on the phone to her, explaining himself?' So I try and call you and I go to voicemail. And then I turn on the TV to see your mugshot on the front of that rag of a paper and I think it's time to talk to you face to face, so here I am. And boy, you'd better have a good explanation because I left Jasper and a very nice warm bed for this..."
The kettle reached boiling point just as she did. She poured the water in the cups as I tried to digest her rant. One sentence stood out. "She was in hysterics?" I had my phone out and was calling her before Alice could stop me.
She answered after three rings, a sure sign she wasn't asleep. I could hear the TV playing in the background. Her ragged breathing made my throat constrict and my eyes begin to tear up. "Bell-" was all I croaked out before events overwhelmed me and I started to cry along with her.
Luckily Alice was at hand. She silently walked up to me and took my phone, swapping it for the teacup and gently guiding me to the sofa.
"Bella?" she said into the phone. "It's Ally... yes, he'll be fine. I've given him a cup of tea. That always works for you Brits, right?" I could hear the faint sound of a laugh at the other end of the line and that helped lift the weight from my shoulders a little.
Alice spoke gently to Bella, explaining in no uncertain terms that the report was total shite. She was able to reassure her my sudden emotional outburst was 'just like him, the drama queen'. When I had finished my tea and calmed down completely, she handed the phone back with a no-nonsense look telling me not to make an arse of myself.
"Bella, you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here, and so are half of London's photographers. They've obviously stopped off here since the clubs closed," she said, sounding grim. "They keep pressing the intercom buzzer. I might have to zipline to work to get past them in the morning." She giggled at that, making me laugh back.
"Is there another way out? A back door or a fire escape?" I said to Bella and Alice. "I can send in the big guns to get you out. Well, the Cullen guns anyway."
Before I could whisper to Alice she had her phone out and was texting my mum, who was obviously still awake because she rang back right away. In a bizarre three-sided conversation, I persuaded Mum to get Dad to go and rescue Bella from Alice's flat and promised her I'd stay on the phone with her until he arrived.
I could hear the relief in Bella's voice once she realised she wasn't going to be in the flat alone for much longer. As she and I sat cocooned in our own world, Alice buzzed around me, packing clothes and making sure my passport, tickets and money were close at hand.
I whispered comfort to Bella. "It's a pack of lies," I told her. "The lawyers are getting next week's stuff stopped. I promise you that even if I did meet this girl, I was off the market all the time I was on that road trip. I was yours, even if I didn't know if you'd have me."
This set her sniffing again so I started telling her knock-knock jokes to make her laugh - and to stop her from setting me off again.
Alice was in the bedroom so I followed her and sat on the bed, BlackBerry still glued to my ear. She went to grab the Hendrix shirt off the bed and put it in my case with the rest of my clothes, but I grabbed it, stripped off my top and put it on. I wanted to have something of Bella's to keep me company on the plane.
After 15 minutes or so the room was stripped of my stuff and my dad was at Bella's door. She buzzed him in and gave him the phone.
"Son, you owe me for this," was all he said on the subject. Truth was I owed everyone. Cai, Mum, Dad, Bella, Alice and Garrett had all lost sleep for me because of some gold-digger who'd crawled out of the woodwork. I'd have to work hard to make it up to all of them.
"Love you Dad. Now give her the phone and get her out of there," I said. She came back on the line. "Don't give any reaction to what they say or do to you," I said. "They can be horrible but they're trying to provoke you, Just let Dad lead you through them. Good luck babe and I'll see you soon, I promise."
I clicked the phone off as room service knocked with breakfast.
It was dawning on me that I was falling for Bella big time. The last thing I wanted to do was go all hearts and flowers on her over the phone and in front of my dad, who'd just met her for the first time. I wanted to do that face to face. Damn Victoria whoever-she-was for shooting off her big mouth for the money. And damn the poxy paper for publishing it.
By the time I'd eaten and double checked everything was packed, the car had arrived. I gave Alice my room card and a big hug at the door and lumped my bags down the lift to the ground floor, which was devoid of life, bar a night watchman reading a book behind the reception desk. I waited in the shadows until my car pulled in as close to the door as possible.
The passenger door opened and Harry, my bodyguard, got out. He whisked my bags to the car and got me inside in a flash. We were off before the duo of photographers at the hotel gate had a chance to react. I saw them getting out their mobiles, though, and realised we were going to meet more of their kind at the airport.
I buckled myself in for a long and bumpy ride home.
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From the WavesFansLondon website: Sunday, September 20 2009 - OH NO HE DIDN'T! One of the most downmarket of downmarket rags has printed some astonishing claims about Edward 'Dr Dan' Cullen this morning. We were, of course, first on the phone to his people who have denied everything. Some people have been tweeting some nasty things about Edward and his gf Rosalie Hale. We want you to believe us when we say not to take any of this stuff seriously. We fans know he's got his girl, right there on set with him, supporting him all the way. Right, rant over. Poll of the day: Are you going to Heathrow to welcome the cast back tomorrow at 3pm? Tweet us any pictures you get and we'll put them on our Fans Meet Dan page.
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A/N Thanks for reading and reviewing, I did bust 1,000 reviewers this week (Cosmogirl was my 1,000th as it were) and I value every one of them. I hope you all got replies.
Funny fluffy recs this week, short and sweet and laugh out loud amusing - www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/5958812/1/Died_and_Gone_to_Heaven - kept me up beyond my bedtime Wednesday night as I read it from start to finish in one go.
And How To Get Your Balls Back, the sequel to How to Win Back The Love of Your Existence www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/6292785/1/ is just ace, too.
One more thing - how much am I enjoying the Brit Boys' Road Trip? If they go to Memphis I will tell myself they got the idea from this story. And I will believe it, too.
AFMxx