A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for your beautiful reviews and words of encouragement. You have no idea how much it means to me that anyone is even reading this silly story. Thanks a million! This chapter is dedicated to my loyal readers who have been following me from the start. Love you! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own these guys, just the plot.
EPOV
I looked at Carmen in disgust, trying to think of something to say to get rid of her. Finally, I just picked her hand up off my chest and put it back where it belonged.
"I'm sorry, but that is just not going to happen Carmen. I made a mistake last night. I'm sorry I led you on, it was wrong of me, I know," I said.
Carmen stared at me like she couldn't believe I was turning her down. Guess she didn't get very many guys who resisted her charms. Maybe I was the first…
"Whatever, your loss," she sneered at me before turning away and stalking off with her sisters in tow.
Shit, shit, shit, I thought. Bella totally heard what just happened and its going to ruin my whole plan. Why would she believe that I wanted her after hearing I hooked up with some random chick in the hotel Jacuzzi the very night before I confessed my feelings to her? I was freaking out and pulling on my hair trying to come up with something to say that would make it not look like it was. Should I lie? No absolutely not, can't build a possible romantic relationship with my best friend off of lies.
I turned to Bella, intending to tell her that we should head out for that walk, and hoping that on the way outside I could think of something to say that would make me not sound like a jackass when I told her my feelings. She wasn't there though. I turned back to my friends, exasperated. Where the hell did she go? Was she mad about what she had heard?
"Um, where the hell did Bella go?" I asked.
"Uh, she just walked off while that girl had her hands all over you," Alice said, sounding kind of pissed.
"Why? Did she say where she went?" I asked, confused.
"Dude, you are so fucking clueless sometimes," Emmett said under his breath. I looked at him, even more confused, but he didn't elaborate.
"Edward, come with me, right now," Rose said, coming up to me and grabbing me by the shirt and pulling me as she walked towards the exit that led back to the hotel lobby.
"Rose what the hell are you doing?" I shrieked at her, breaking free from her grasp but still following her.
"I am going to have a little talk with you, in private," she said. Once we hit the lobby she pushed me down onto a seat on one of the plush couches and sat down next to me.
"Ok, so you realized you like Bella finally?" she said, shocking the hell out of me.
I gave her a mean look and threw my hands up. "God, my friends can't keep their damn mouths shut. They fucking promised not to say shit to you guys. What the fuck," I said, pissed beyond belief.
Rose just shook her head. "No Edward, Em didn't tell me anything. I can see it. It's the way you look at her, the way you keep doing things for her. The way that you turned down that skank. Oh, so you want to explain that, by the way? Did you seriously hook up with her last night? That is so not going to help you out man," she said.
"Rose, I know I fucked up. But honestly, hooking up with that girl was what made me realize my feelings. Man, I can't believe I am talking so much about my feelings. I feel like a freaking chick. Anyways, I hooked up with her because I was thinking about Bella way too much and I was trying to make myself believe that I didn't have feelings for her because it will just mess everything up anyways. It's not like she has feelings for me or anything. When I tell her it is just going to make things weird between us," I said.
Rose shook her head at me again and rolled her eyes. "You two are so blind," she said.
Confused, I raised my eyebrows at her. "What do you mean? Wait, are you telling me Bella has feelings for me too?" I asked, hope surging through my chest.
"I'm not saying anything, but I'm not saying that what you just said isn't true either. You decide what I mean," Rose said.
I just stared at her, semi confused. I was pretty sure she was telling me Bella had feelings for me, but I couldn't be sure. Rose was a confusing woman.
"Ok, are we done here? I have a plan all worked out, and I need to find Bella," I said.
"Edward, you better have a plan, that's all I'm going to say," Rose said, getting up and walking back towards the conference room.
I sat on the couch for a while, my head in my hands. I was thinking about everything that Rose just said, trying to determine her code words. Why couldn't women just speak clearly, just say what they freaking mean instead of beating around the bush all the time. And they wonder why guys don't do exactly what they want, because all we have to go on is a guess at what they really meant.
I got up and headed for the elevator and started back towards our rooms. I had to make a pit stop in my room first before checking to see if Bella was in her room.
After I was done in my room, I looked at myself in the mirror hanging in the hallway outside Bella's door, making sure I looked halfway decent. My hair was its usual disaster, but really there was nothing I could do about that. I stood in front of the door for a whole five minutes freaking out before I finally got the courage to knock on her door.
"Bells, it's me. Open up."
I didn't get a response though, and my heart sunk. I was really counting on her being in there. What the hell was I going to do now? What if I interpreted Rose's statement correctly, that Bella did have feelings for me? That would mean that she was upset about Carmen most likely, and probably pissed at me. I pulled my fingers through my hair again, freaking out inside. Why the hell did I have to be a horny bastard and try to hook up with that slut? I was so mad at myself. Why couldn't I have just seen that my constantly thinking about Bella meant something? Why was I so afraid of my feelings for her? Now it was maybe too late, and I wasn't sure what to do.
I went back towards the elevators, intending to go outside and for a walk to clear my head. Once I made it to outside, I headed across the street and towards the signs leading me towards the beach. There was nothing I loved more than the feeling of sand between my toes.
I just walked, trying to think of a way to fix my situation. I would just have to be honest. There was no other way. After walking for a bit I just collapsed in the sand and sat there, watching the waves crash into the sand time and time again. It was an endless cycle, just like my ability to fuck things up apparently. I wanted to punch myself in the face, cause myself the kind of pain that I was possibly putting Bella through right now. I freaking loved her more than anything. How could I not have seen it all along? All the times I held her close to me, not wanting to let her go, how could I have just assumed that I liked the feeling of someone close and that it wasn't her that I liked?
Now that I looked back on it, I could clearly see that I have always been crazy for her. When she was with Jake, I went batshit trying to convince her that he was all wrong for her, but never being able to really explain to myself or her why. Jake was a good guy, I knew this. All the times when we were jokingly flirting, wasn't really joking. It was sincere, and the feeling it gave me in my chest, all real. I am so freaking stupid, Rose is right.
Finally I decided to head back to the hotel, hoping that Bella would be in her room by now.
Once I got back on our floor my heart started hammering in my chest again. I was going to do this, whether I was scared or not. I had to. I knocked again and waited quietly, hoping to hear her footsteps.
"Bells, please, if you are in there can you please open up?" I asked quietly.
If she was in there, I couldn't hear a thing. Not even the television or shower or any noise at all. Maybe she wasn't in there.
I went to my room and collapsed on the bed, pulling out my phone to call her. It rang five times and went to voicemail. I texted her a quick message telling her to call me as soon as she got this and asking if she still wanted to go on our walk. Then I went and took a shower and lay down on the bed, flipping on the TV to try and distract myself.
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, I was waking up to the sun shining through our open curtains. I sighed heavily, wondering why the hell the curtains were open. "Em, shut the damn curtains," I mumbled blindly, pulling a pillow over my face.
"Rise and shine Eddy," Emmett said, hurling himself on top of me, thoroughly waking me up. I scowled at him and looked at the clock. It was 10am. What the hell.
"Damn, I can't believe I fell asleep. You guys, did you see Bella last night? I kept knocking on her door and calling her and texting her, but she never responded," I said, searching frantically for my phone to see if she had written back when I was asleep.
"Uh, she came back to the show about half hour after you left dude," Jasper said. "Why didn't you come back?"
"I was looking for Bella all night. I assumed for some stupid reason that she wouldn't come back there. I don't know why. That should have been the first place I checked again," I said. I wanted to smack myself for my stupidity.
I looked at my phone and my heart surged when I saw I had a message from Bella.
Sorry Edward, I was at the show and left my phone in the room. Where are you? Everyone was wondering.
God, I wanted to throw myself off a building. I could have fixed everything last night, if I had only gone back to the show. Oh well, I would make things better today.
I jumped up quickly, typing a message before heading to the bathroom to clean up.
Bells, I was looking for you and went back to my room and fell asleep. Silly me, can we still have our walk? After lunch? Miss you.
I smiled to myself, all of my hope restored. She hadn't sounded mad in her text, but maybe I was wrong. I would make it up to her; I would make her so happy if she really does have feelings for me. I wanted to see her smile so badly, I wanted to know that I was the reason she was smiling.
I practically sang at the top of my lungs in the shower, causing Jasper to come in and flush the toilet which made the water frigid cold to shut me up. But that still didn't kill my mood, I just laughed and smirked at him from behind the curtain and went back to my singing.
After the shower, I came out of the bathroom dressed in boxers and my towel around my waist, intending to get my clothes from the suitcase and get dressed. I was shocked to see all three girls sitting on the bed, and once they saw me they all started laughing. I turned slightly red, especially when I saw Bella. My heart was hammering in my chest, and I swear she looked slightly embarrassed when I met her eyes. She looked away quickly, after smirking slightly at me of course.
My embarrassment quickly faded after that little exchange, knowing that I made her embarrassed and that I could provoke her to feel any sort of emotion regarding me made my heart soar.
I spun around in a circle, putting on a little show for the ladies. "Like what you see ladies? You can have it for a price," I said, teasing them.
Alice and Rose doubled over in laughter, turning to see Bella's reaction. She just smiled at me and turned pink, knowing everyone was watching her.
"Five hundred dollars for tonight," Emmett piped up. Everyone started laughing again, and I quickly grabbed some jeans and a tee from my bag and booked it back to the bathroom.
"I'll be out in five and then we can head to lunch", I called out over my shoulder.
When I reemerged, I went immediately to sit next to Bella, pulling out my phone on the way and checking to see if she responded. I know it was silly, considering I could just ask her in person, but I wanted to know she responded. She did.
If you can kidnap me from Alice and Rose. They plan on dragging me out shopping and we won't get back apparently until you are already in sound check for the show.
My heart sunk again at her words. "No way, you guys are not stealing Bella all day," I said. Looking at Alice directly, knowing she was the mastermind behind all this.
"We most absolutely are Edward. Bella needs an outfit for tonight. After you guys win this thing, you can steal Bella for as long as you want," she said, winking at me. I stared at her, trying to decide how I wanted to kill her. She was ruining all my planning.
I sulked all the way downstairs, knowing that I wouldn't get to spend my whole day with Bella. She was walking beside me, and was being quiet. Its ok, I can still go through with the plan after the show, Alice is right. I need to stop sulking and enjoy the little time I do have with her before she gets taken away from me. Maybe I can plan a heist and steal Bella right out of Alice's grasp though.
I started formulating ideas of how to do so in my head when Bella poked me in the side. I turned to her, flashing her a grin. She looked so freaking cute in her skinny jeans and red hoodie zipped up halfway, showing off her favorite Rolling Stones tee underneath. She looked so rocker chick and I loved that look on her. Almost as much or maybe more than her tiny dress look from last night. This was the real Bella, and that is why I loved seeing her dressed like this, in what she felt comfortable and like herself in.
"Why so quiet?" she asked me, grinning up at me as well.
I leaned down and whispered in her ear, which I swear caused both of us to shiver slightly, but maybe I was just imagining her part. "I'm trying to think of a plan to steal you out of the Evil Witch's grasp." I chuckled slightly when I saw her silent laughter.
To my surprise she leaned up and whispered in my ear, "I hope you succeed." I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face the whole rest of the short walk to the restaurant next door to the hotel.
We all enjoyed our lunches, me and Bella joking around being our usual selves. The rest of our friends teasing us because we were easy to tease. When the waitress brought our check, I started panicking. I really really didn't want to leave Bella right now. I was having far too much fun with her. I really was going to have to steal her.
"Bella, do you trust me?" I asked, leaning in close to her so no one could hear me.
She looked at me in shock and then nodded slowly, looking back at her plate of food.
"Then say you have to go to the bathroom right now," I said. She looked at me like I was crazy but nodded.
"Um, guys, I'll be right back, I have to pee," Bella said, squeezing past me and exiting the booth.
"Thanks for the visual Bells," Rose said, scowling at her.
"Hurry back Bells, we have lots of shopping to do and so little time," Alice said, smiling hugely at me when she said it. I glared at her but inside was smiling hugely. Ha-ha, she wasn't going shopping with Bella, but I had to put up the act that I was still mad so she wouldn't get suspicious when I disappeared in a few minutes.
I waited about two minutes and then started the rest of my plan. I had set my phone to an alarm a few minutes ago to go off in ten minutes. It went off and I jumped up, flipping my phone open and acting like I was surprised.
"Oh, it's Esme, I have to take this," I said. The rest of the group just nodded at me as I exited the restaurant. The restrooms were right near the door and I found Bella standing right next to the entrance and when she saw me approaching her smile was enough to brighten my whole day.
I grabbed her hand and we flew out of the restaurant and I didn't stop moving until we were two blocks down and then ducked inside a store, pulling Bella in behind me.
We were both laughing hysterically, trying to catch our breaths.
"Oh my gosh Edward, I can't believe you did that, Al is going to kill us," she said, still laughing.
"Let her, I wanted to spend some time with you, and I wasn't about to let her ruin that," I said. "So are you ready for this sure to be fun filled day?" I asked, smiling down at her.
She smiled brightly and grabbed my hand, nodding at me as we popped out of the store and continued walking.
A/N: reviews make me happy! Thanks for reading!