Me: I really don't have much to have say here, but sorry for Seattle thing in the other chapter, I didn't mean to write it and I hopefully fixed it. I hope you all like the chapter, and I'll see you on the other side. :D
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Chapter 22. The Band Part 1
BPOV
"Edward, would you calm down?" I asked as he paced.
He rolled his eyes at me. "Like you're not as excited as I am." He grinned. "We're really going to meet Lifehouse tomorrow." I just smiled at him.
We had our whole week planed. Edward and I would leave tomorrow to go to L.A., and then on Saturday we were going to road trip to Colorado and meet Emmet, Rose, Alice, and Jasper in Denver. From there we were going to go to a place call Wolf Creek, a skiing resort were the Cullen family had a cabin. We were going to stay there for about a week and then come back in time for school to start. It was going to be a busy week, but a great one.
We had everything ready for L.A. Jasper had been talking to Jason and we had figured out that we would meet them at 4pm outside of the arena, go do the sound check and warm up, go and eat with them, and then finally go back to the arena for the concert we even got to go back stage after and see the band one last time before we left. The other thing was that Edward and I were going to be sharing a hotel room. And I was scared; Edward and I had never had that conversation before. But the truth was, I wasn't ready for sex. And even if I was, I still wanted to wait till I was married. Call me anything you want, but that's just me. But I was pushing those aside, I was determined to enjoy my week.
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The next day Edward and I hopped in his car and drove off toward our week. I had wanted to take my car but with all our snowboarding stuff we had to take his. It would take us about an hour and a half to get there, once there we were going to go check into our hotel and then get ready to meet the band.
"So should we be total fans and listen to Lifehouse on the way up, or should we be cool about it and listen to other stuff." I asked after about 15 minutes of driving.
"Well I think that we should listen to other stu-" Edward started to say, but I cut him off.
"Other stuff? How can you want to listen to other stuff? We are going to meet one of the best bands of the century and you want to listen to other stu-" In the middle of my rant he had picked up my iPod and put on my other favorite bands music. He knew my weakness, SugarLand was the only other thing that competed with Lifehouse, especially the song he put on, Everyday America. I looked over to glare at him, but he just grinned as I started to sing and dance in my seat. I was prepared to change to Lifehouse, but again he grabbed my iPod and switched it too Incredible Machine, a song off of their new record. He just knew me too damn well.
The rest of the drive continued like that, me singing and sometimes dancing to the songs Edward and I picked. Before we knew it we were entering Los Angeles. We had both been to L.A. but since Edward had just moved here I knew the city better. I directed him to the hotel. Edward parked the car, then before I could unbuckle and grab my purse he was around on my side opening the door for me.
"Why thank you my good Sr." I told him with a mockingly smile, trying to hold back my laughter.
"You are very welcome my lady." He said bowing, and then he took my hand and kissed, chuckling.
I blushed ten shades of red. Only Edward. I giggled and we walked towards entrance. Soon we were checked in and were dragging our bags to our room. Edward opened the door and we through down our bags. The rooms were a cream white, there was a flat screen TV on the wall and ender that a safe. And there it was one big king sized bed in the middle of the room, it had a dark blue bed spread and a mountain of pillows. Oh god, this was going to be an embarrassing conversation, but it had to happen sooner or later. I looked over at Edward who was busying himself in his bag.
"I vote later." I mumbled to myself.
"What? You say something Bella?" Edward asked, looking up at me.
"Um…" I said trying to think quickly. "I'll see you later. I'm going to go take a quick shower."
"Kay." He answered again looking in his bag. I ran into the bathroom, hoping that he wouldn't see my blush. I shut the door quickly and leaned agents it.
"That was close." I said to myself. I looked at the bathroom, not bad for a hotel, roomier than most and had a fairly good sized shower/tub. I quickly striped and got in the shower. I knew I needed to talk to Edward, but I just didn't want too. I mean we were going to have this perfect day, we were going to hang out with Jason freakin' Wade, and the rest of the band. Then there was this ugly thing that needed to happen, but I didn't want to ruin the whole day. Would it really be that bad? Yes. Yes it would be. But what if he got mad at me? What if he thought that if that's the way I thought we shouldn't be going on this whole weekend? Hold on. A voice in my head told me. This is Edward we're talking about. The guy that says he loves you, the guy that loves you even though you can't love him back right now. The guy that you are going to spend an amazing week with. The guy that will think nothing of the no sex thing, yeah it's gonna be awkward, but…..who knows he might even agree with you. Wow I needed to listen to myself more often, the voice thing was right. This was Edward. I mean could I have a better boyfriend?
Released that I had knocked some sense into myself I finished my shower quickly. When I hoped out I grabbed a towel and started to dry myself, I wrapped it around me and looked in the mire. My long brown hair was wet, my skin mostly pail, except for my cheeks that were slightly flushed from the hot water, and my eyes were happy. I had decided to weir my black skinny jeans with my favorite gray leather, nee high boots, a white tank top and a jean jacket. I was about to start brushing my teeth and doing my makeup when I realized that not only did I not bring in my makeup bag that had my tooth brush and stuff in it, I didn't bring in any close.
"Shit! Great now what am I going to do?" I asked myself. After trying to come up with something, anything, I came up with the only thing I could do. I wrapped the towel tighter around myself and stood in front of the door. I slowly unlocked the door and stepped out into the short hall that led to were the TV was on.
"Hey Bella? What time do you think we should leavvvvv….. Whoa." Edward said looking at me.
I decided to play cool and stupid. "What? I just forgot to grab my close." Huh this wasn't as bad as I thought, and it's driving him crazy. I grinned as I turned around so he couldn't see me and I could grab bag. When I turned around again he still was gawking.
"Is there anything you need?" I asked innocently.
He shook he head slightly. "Uh, no, no." I smiled at him and went back into the bedroom. After getting dressed and brushing my teeth I decided that I might as well get it over with.
I looked at myself in the mire and took a deep breath and walked out to the conversation I knew I had to have.
Edward was sitting on the bed his eyes closed and hands in his hair. "Hey Edward?" I asked thinking he was asleep. He opened his eyes almost carefully. Finally when they were open, he looked at me, and then let out a breath of relief.
"Yeah?" He asked now confused, I guessed by the look of worried that was most likely on my face.
"Can I talk to you?" I asked, fidgeting.
A look of worry crossed his face. "What's going on Love?"
"Um…. you see. I…well you know…I think…. I don't know how to say this." I huffed in annoyance with myself. It would just better to get it out all at once. The voice in my head told me. "I….I can't…Ican'thavesexwithyou." I finally let out in one breath. I looked up to see Edward confused.
"Bella come here. What did you say? I didn't catch that." He told me now both worried and confused. I walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge.
"Edward, I don't think that I can have sex with you. I….I just can't. I'm so sorry." I told him. Waiting for some kind of reaction. But he did the last thing (well maybe not the last) I expected him to do. He pulled me to him and cuddled me.
"Bella, I know. And I'm not going to push you into anything that you don't feel comfortable doing. I love you, but I don't even think I'm ready. We'll go as slow as you need." I thought I heard him mutter something else, but I didn't catch it. "I hate what that son of bitch did to you. Not because I know that that is part of the reason that you can't have sex, but because, he hurt you and made you do something that you didn't want to. I'm not going to do that." He cupped my face and looked into my eyes.
"I…..I…..thank you." I looked down. I had almost said I love you. But did I really love him? Could I really love him?
"But I can still kiss you right?" He asked grinning now.
"You'd only be in trouble if you didn't kiss me." I said teasingly. He leaned down and kissed me gently lips on lips, but then slowly deepening it he ran his tongue along my bottom lip asking for an entrance. He didn't have to ask twice. I opened my mouth and let my tongue stroke his. He moaned and I leaned in to him grabbing his hair. I deepened the kiss more and pretty soon my legs were wrapped around him. He started to slow down and broke away from me. Both of us breathless.
"You know I would love to make out with you, but we got to finish getting ready." We grinned at each other.
I finished getting ready quickly and walked out to find Edward waiting for me. I grabbed my cluch purse and walked over to him. "So what do ya think? Do I look hot enough to go meet Lifehouse?" I asked. He stared at me then a slow grin spread across his face, and he stood up.
"I don't think you realize how breathtakingly beautiful and hot you are." He told me grabbing me around the waist "And I'm not going to leave your side tonight for two reasons."
"And what, may I ask, are those?" I said giggling.
"One, because your hot as hell." Edward grinned. "Two because I have to make sure no other guy tries to make a move on you." He finished.
I laughed at him. "Whatever." I told him. I knew I wasn't ugly but I wasn't that good looking.
"You laugh, but it's true." He said in a sing song voice as we grabbed our jackets and walked out of the door.
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When we pulled up in the parking lot of the arena I was basically bouncing in my seat.
"Breathe Bella. Breathe." Edward said smiling.
I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding in.
"Before we go meet them I want to thank you for getting these tickets. Your amazing, thank you." Edward said leaning over to kiss my head.
I scoffed. "This is turning out to be more of a present for me than you." I told him grinning.
He just smiled, shook his head and got out of the car to open my door. We started walking hand and hand to the back door as we were told to do by Jazz (The best, best friend ever!). By the time we reached the door I could tell Edward was excited as I was, even though he was trying to act cool. He reached out and knocked on the door. The man that opened the door was tall and thin, he had black hair, pale blue, and he could defiantly pull off his glasses. I also noticed that he had a Bluetooth in his ear, and he looked like a guy that was all business, but was still attractive.
"Can I help you two?" He asked in a no nonsense voice.
"Yeah, were here to meet the band." Edward said.
The man smiled, not coldly but almost like he was a little amused by something. "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to do better than that. I can't let random people in to meet the band without some form identification." He told us a small smile on his face.
"I don't think our identification is going to be much use to you. This is my boyfriend Edward Cullen, and I'm Bell-" I told him, but was cut off.
"Hey James. There are going to be two people showing up soon, about 18 or so. Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. Let them in, they're friends of mine." A voice yelled. A voice that belonged to Jason Wade. I grinned like a fool and looked at James.
"Like I was saying, I'm Bella Swan." I said still grinning.
He looked at us up and down once more. And then walked away from the door to let us in. "Fallow me." He said.
We stepped in the door. There wasn't much light, but I could still see. We walked down a dark hallway with pictures of bands plastered on the walls. Soon we came to a door. "Since when do they meet people?" I heard James mumble under his breath. He opened the door for us, and then I think I died.
There sitting in three chairs was Lifehouse. Like I said, I think I had died. Now I'm not going to say that these where that hottest guys I have ever seen, but damn they hot! I just stood there staring at them. Not moving, hell my mouth could have been open, I don't know. First when we came in they were just talking and laughing, then they all stood and looked at us, smiling. I think I heard James say something, but everything started to sound hallow. I heard someone say my name, but I didn't respond.
"Breath." I heard someone whisper in my ear. I shivered as I felt Edward so close. I finally snapped back closed my eyes and took a breath. When I opened my eyes I saw them all, and mean all Edward included trying not to laugh at me.
"God, I love Jasper." I said. Then clapped a hand over my mouth when I realized I had said it out loud.
"Ah, I think that Alice might be mad." Jason said shaking his head and chuckling. I knew my eyes were as wide as saucers, but not because of what he said, but because of his voice. That wonderful, voice was talking to me.
"Why thank you. I'm glad you like my voice." Jason said, still chuckling. Everyone else was full out laughing.
"God, I think the voice in my head took my thoughts, voice barrier." I mumbled to myself my face in my hands, as I was trying to hide my blush. But because karma apparently hates me they all heard.
"See you don't have to even introduce yourself, I know by 'the blush' that you are Bella Swan." Said Rick Woolstenhulme, laughing.
"You know, I take that back, Edward remind me to push him off the ski lift." I said. Everyone laughed, including me this time.
"Even though we both know who the other is, let's make introductions." Jason said grinning.
"I'm Jason Wade. We sorta talked on the phone. And you must be the infamous Bella." He said. He walked closer to me, I expected him to shake my hand or something. But no, since karma now loved me, he leaned over and kissed my cheek. "And you must be Edward." He said shaking Edward's hand. Like I said karma now loved me, because Rick and Bryce Soderberg. Again I think I died and went to heaven. Bryce went to go get chairs for Edward and I and we sat down.
"The infamous?"Edward asked. I looked at him; he looked totally as ease, not at all star struck. I shook my head.
"Yeah, Jasper loves telling stories about you all. I feel like I know you Bella." Jason told me as soon as we sat down.
I looked at him confused. He continued. "Every time I see Jazz, you are in all of his stories. I even thought he had a crush on you for a while. I mean every Christmas that our family got together it was 'So I was with Bella this one day…' or 'you will never guess what Bella did' or 'Bella wrote this one song that you would really like'." I could feel the blush coming full force. Jason and the rest of the band just grinned. "This has been going for what? 5 years now. Then this last Thanksgiving we were talking and I asked how you and Emmet were doing and-" I cut him off.
"Wait, wait. Have you meet Emmet?" I asked.
"Yeah, a couple of times, he loves playing with Rick's drums." Jason said pointing his thumb at Risk.
"The kid, well I guess he's not a kid anymore, but he's pretty good on the things." Rick said.
"I am going to kill those boys." I muttered staring at the floor.
They laughed. "Why?" Bryce asked still chuckling.
"When I was about 12 Jasper showed me your guys' music. I fell in love with it. You have been one of my favorite bands since. Both Jasper and Emmet know this. And they never said a word about knowing you. Let alone, being related to you." I huffed. "Those stupid boys are going to be pushed down a mountain when we get to Colorado." I said now talking more to myself.
"Wow, we have heard tons about you. And Emmet loves to tell detail stories. You guys remember the one he told us when they came to our concert in Washington? When they all were about 15?" Bryce said laughing.
"Oh, the one about the first day of high-school?" Rick asked.
"Yeah, I remember that one. But Em and Jazz were more ranting to us than telling a story." Jason said. I put my face in my hands. Having a feeling what story they were going to tell.
"Wait, what happened? I was never told this story." Edward said grinning, still looking completely at ease. His ankle on his knee holding the ice tea that Rick and gotten us.
"Well, Jazz and Em came to see us play one time. It was the weekend after school started, and when they showed us they were both grumpy. I asked how Bella was and they started grumbling, stuff like stupid boys, and blind girl. Finally they tell us that on the first day of high school, Bella and them walked into school and everyone stared. Well both of the boys brushed it off and Bella didn't even notice. And then after the first class, a junior came over to Bella's locker and asked her out. 'A junior Jason!' Jasper told me. They both ranted and raved that the rest of the day went like that. Boys asked Bella out, stalking her, and trying to get her to help them with their homework. But then they continued and said the next day was worse, after everyone figured out that Bella was talented, things went haywire. They both were mad at Bella too, because she said that everyone was doing it to embarrass her, or she would make up some other excuse for it happening. The both were livid. It was hilarious." Jason finished, laughing hard. Edward looked at me laughing.
"I guess I should have known. The first day I went to that school I was walking down the hall and the whole school parted, I looked to see Emmet and Jasper walking with Bella in between them. The whole school treats them like….I don't know royalty or something. But Bella is the most talented in the school." Edward said laughing.
"Oh yeah, so this Thanksgiving I asked how Bella was, and Jasper told me about the Cullen's. And how he and Emmet have girlfriends and our Bella has a boyfriend." Jason said.
"Yeah we were all shocked." Bryce said.
"You were there too?" I asked.
"Yep we all were." Rick said.
"God, I don't want to even know what else they have told you guys about me." I groaned.
"Well…..some stories are kinda embarrassing. But they both love you Bella. And they both rant and rave about your talent. They say that you're really good. On almost every instrument and singing and song witting. I tell you they look like proud fathers when they talk about your musical talent." Rick said smiling. They all nodded, smiling.
I shook my head, blushing yet again. "I'm not that good." I said.
"Yeah you are. You got talent babe." Edward said, he took my hand and rubbed soothing circles on the back of it with his thumb.
"Alright Bella. Let's hear you." Jason said. Edward smiled.
"Wait, what?"
"Let's hear you. We'll play as your band. But I want to hear you play and sing." Jason said smiling.
"No, no. I…no." I said laughing and shaking my head.
"Come on. We want to hear you." Bryce said.
I sighed. "Fine. What do you want me to sing?" I asked.
"You should play to." Edward said.
"Yeah, you should play too. But play something that you, Jazz, and Em wrote." Rick said.
I smiled and shook my head. "Alright. But then you guys are paying for dinner." I said laughing.
"Alright, this way then." Jason said. We walked out the door and down another hallway. Soon we came to another door. "Bella, have you ever played on a concert stage?"
"Um…the one at school. But no not really." I said.
They all laughed as Jason opened the door and lead Edward and I in. "Well, then you both are in for a treat."
We all walked in beneath the stage. I had been to a concert before, but being this close was amazing. All there instruments were set up as was the background. We walked up and I went to the middle of the stage. Some people were around doing what I guessed was last minute stuff. Besides that the whole place was empty. I stopped and got this rush blissful feeling, like the one I got every time I preformed, only stronger. It was being on a stage, not for school or my friends, but one were fans could see you, even if they weren't your fans.
"It's great, isn't it?" I just grinned and nodded. "But it feels even better when there are people screaming and waiting for you. You have no idea till you experience it."Jason said coming up to me. "So, do you know what song you want to sing?" He asked.
"Yeah, um I want to sing Every Girl Like Me. But I really need back up to sing it and you guys don't know the song." I told him. Everyone else was picking up their instruments, and Edward went to go sit down in one of the empty seats.
Jason laughed. "Jazz has been sending us the music for almost every song you guys have written, since, well since he said you guys got 'good' as he calls it. Let me go have James print it off my laptop and we can play it through and we should be good." He said jogging off the stage. I talked to Bryce and Rick for a little bit till he came back with three copies of the music. They went through it quickly and then looked at me.
"You aren't going to play?" Bryce asked.
"No, not for this one." I said smirking.
"Hey Eric!"Jason called to a guy by the sound box. "Set up everything to play. We're going to go through a song."
Rick looked at me. "Alright, oh so talented Bella, let's see what you got."He said to me teasingly.
I gave them a grin, and they started the intro.
I like, I like, I like, I like, I like, I like, I like, I like, I like
Up in the mornin I'll be your coffee cup
If you drink me down I will fill you up again
And if you don't think that's enough...
I'll be the prize on the back of the cereal box
and the key that you found that you thought that you lost and
I'll be the why to your because
Because I, I, I am not perfect
But I, I, I, I know I'm worth it
And I, I, I gotta believe, there has to be a you
For every girl like me.
I'll be the candy that feels like a firecracker pop
And the toy on the cake with the chocolate top and
and if you look a little closer...
I'll be the steam on the grate as it floats in the air
Or the whisper you made from a secret you shared and
Your favorite song that's never over
Because I, I, I am not perfect
But I, I, I, I know I'm worth it
And I, I, I gotta believe, there has to be a you
For every girl like me.
I like, I like, I like, I like, I like, I like,
Hot french fries and red balloon ties too
Your hoodie hangin down, the street lamp on the corner of a
One way, one way or another gonna get you too
Two times I take another look at the hat in the seat
And the wrapper you found and the flavor beneath of the tootsie pop drop don't stop cause I'll be your favorite
Are you free tonight, stop by if you like, if you might want to
I don't mind, I don't mind
You will see it's me I believe you could be, be the right one you
For every girl like me
Lalalalalala Like meeeeeeeee
And I, I, I
Lalalalalalalalala Like meeeeee
I, I, I
I like, I like, I like, I like, I like, I like (I, I, I)
I opened my eyes, I could feel the grin on my face, I just felt so happy. I looked out to the empty seats. Everyone that had been rushing around was looking at me. I looked to Edward, to see if my voice had cracked or something. He just grinned at me. I looked back at the band. All their faces were blank.
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Me: I know a cliffy. But part 2 will be coming soon. I do not own (unfortunately :( ) Every Girl Like Me belongs to Sugarland, but its a great song. You can go to my profile and check the song out on you-tube, even though there isn't a music video. :P These next couple could very well be my favorite chapters. I'm really excited about them. I hope you all liked it. Leave me some love. Review! :D
Alfred: Again with not letting me say anything. *huffing*
Me: *Grinning*