A/N: As always, a big thanks to my beta herinfiniteeyes. She really rocks and helps make these chapters great.
Okay, so I'm warning you now that next chapter will have some drama. Be prepared. You can handle it.
Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer.
Chapter 27
EPOV
I was beginning to think this was a bad idea. But bad in a good way. I wasn't completely awake last night, but I did know what I was doing when I rolled over and took Bella with me. At first it was just to get her off me. She obviously had no idea what she was doing to me, and I needed to do something. Since I didn't think she was ready for what I really wanted to do, I rolled over.
But then she felt so perfect there in my arms. It was soothing. It was calming. It was erasing a crappy day's worth of exhaustion. So I pretended to be asleep. She'd sighed before relaxing and eventually falling asleep.
It was nice to be able to hear her talk in her sleep again. I'd wondered what she'd been thinking about since Hollywood and my disastrous request. It turned out that even in her dreams I couldn't figure her out.
"Yes… I'll go." That was the only coherent thing she'd said all night. Or all she'd said before I had fallen asleep myself.
Now, I had woken up to her still cradled in my arms, her perfection glaring in my face. And I had discovered what a bad idea it was. I tried hard to think about sobering thoughts. Her father, the chief of police, for instance. The problem of that stupid song for that stupid scene.
There we go. That's a good distraction. And I'm calmed down. This song was going to drive me insane. It needed to be perfect. To perfectly reflect the relationship between the two main characters, but not be too mushy romantic. This was a cool romance movie for cool teenagers.
I resisted the urge to tighten my arms when Bella started waking up. I closed my eyes and breathed in the smell of her shampoo as she turned her head. Then I realized she was trying to escape. My voice came out in an unintended whine.
"Where are you going? My alarm clock has not gone off yet. Go back to sleep." I needed more time with her before the day began.
BPOV
"You're awake," I said, surprised. He nodded and smiled sleepily. "I didn't scare you this morning, did I? I tried to leave last night, but you grabbed me-."
"I know," he smirked, eyes still closed.
"You know?"
"Yep." He opened his eyes to look at me and his grin grew larger. "It's kind of hard to stay asleep when a beautiful girl is sitting on you." I covered my face with my hands and groaned.
"You weren't supposed to be awake! Emmett left me and then your shirt was all twisted and it looked uncomfortable. I had to at least try…." He pulled my hands away from my face.
"Bella, it's okay. This is a good way to spend more time with you, since I'll be very busy filming."
I wanted to stay there in his arms all day long. It felt so right to be where I was, confirming the decision I'd made the night before. I needed to be with him. When he touched me, it was like I'd been in pain and he was the relief.
I opened my mouth to tell him about my decision to move in with him, but his cell started ringing. It was Tanya, making sure he was awake and would be ready to head to the set in time.
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"And…action!" The director called. I was hanging out on set, again watching the attempted filming of the graduation scene. It was night, and it was cold. They were scrambling around, trying to get it done before the threatened heavy snowfall. It was late September, a bit early for snow even in Iowa, but the forecast had threatened the snowstorm for days.
It was the fourth night in a row they'd tried the scene. Everyone had their fingers crossed as they got to the point where Jackson, one of the other actors, had messed up every single time. At least there wasn't any kissing between Edward and Tanya in this scene.
Emmett and I held our breath along with the crew as Jackson successfully nailed his part. Our excitement was barely contained for the rest of the scene to be filmed.
"And, cut! That scene is wrapped!" The director called.
"Finally!" One of the extras called. Everyone laughed in relief.
"Okay kids, go home. Today has been a long, hard day, but we've made up a lot of time that was lost. We'll go ahead with the scheduled break tomorrow, but be onset at 5pm. Do not be late," she called over the celebratory sounds. It was almost as if the movie was finished instead of just the one scene.
I was suddenly grabbed from behind and twirled around in circles. I could smell Edward so I knew it was him, and I laughed with him. I had not had a chance to tell him yet. There was always someone there, interrupting our alone time.
I had spent every night in his room, falling asleep to his gentle breathing and waking up to his emerald eyes. Those moments were too special, too intimate to ruin with what could end up an awkward discussion. I mean, I had just said two weeks ago that I couldn't move in with him. I wasn't comfortable discussing my feelings, and I didn't want to tell him I loved him before he told me.
So I kept my mouth shut, watching and waiting.
"Alright. Now we can go do something," Edward said, setting me down and grabbing my hand.
"But Edward, it's midnight. Where are we gonna go at midnight in Fairfield, Iowa?" I asked. In those four days, I had learned quickly that there wasn't much to do around there.
"Um, well…." Even Edward had no idea what we could do. "I wish you'd come last month. That was when the State Fair was in town."
"Maybe we can just relax and hang out back at the hotel." And maybe we can get in a romantic-type mood and I can tell you I decided to move to Hollywood. I think. No, I know. My conviction that it felt right to be with Edward wavered only about once a day now. Before it had wavered every time I remembered that we weren't official or anything yet.
Yet, I always reminded myself. I had little experience in these things, but I knew what I had seen in movies and had read in books. Those things made me feel the same way that Edward made me feel sometimes when he looked at me a certain way.
We ended up in the hotel hot tub. With six other members of the cast, including Tanya.
"Hey guys!" Tanya called as we walked out of the family locker room. She was surrounded by five of the guys from the cast and was barely covered by a small neon green bikini. At least she knew what looked good on her.
I just had on a simple one-piece. No way would I be caught dead in anything less than that.
"Hey," Edward answered," guess you guys had the same idea we did." He smiled back at her. There was a flash of confusion and maybe embarrassment in his eyes. He recovered quickly, before I could ask him about it, and took off his shirt.
I admit it. I was practically drooling. He was just so casual about it. His swim trunks sat low on his hips, exposing even more of his nice abs than I'd yet seen. Tanya moved over to give him room, indicating he was to sit next to her. She didn't quite move over enough for both of us to fit, though.
"Bella? Are you coming in?" Edward asked, concerned. Guess I was still stunned.
"Yeah Bella. Don't tell me you've changed your mind," Tanya smirked. Of course Edward's back was to her so he didn't see a thing. "There's plenty of room for you." She inclined her head slightly, indicating a nice open spot between two of the guys.
"Yes, I'm staying," I said. I didn't like the challenge that she seemed to be throwing at me. I turned around to take off my shorts, laying them a safe distance from the edge of the water. I left my tank top on, though. I decided the best way to win with Tanya was to be myself. I refused to stoop to her level.
I knew she liked Edward. I knew she wanted him. She knew I knew. Otherwise she'd still be trying to pull the sweet friend act even behind Edward's back. Instead, she ignored me unless he was around.
I stepped towards Edward, making it clear that I expected to be next to him.
"Come on, Edward, make room for Bella," Tanya simpered, not moving one inch herself.
He moved over some as I stepped in, but I noticed he made a jerking motion and glanced quickly at Tanya.
"Sorry," he mumbled, almost too low for me to hear. Thankfully he moved closer to me once I was settled in.
Whatever had happened, Tanya didn't look like she needed a "sorry" at all. Her light brown eyes flashed with determination.
Edward put his arm around me and pulled me closer. I blushed, definitely uncomfortable with the audience to our PDA.
No matter how oblivious they seemed to be.
Edward didn't seem to have any problem and started playing with my hair. He joined in the teasing conversation, but would flinch or jerk every so often. I wondered what his problem was, but couldn't see anything under the frothing water. Any time I looked at him questioningly, he shook his head as though it was nothing.
Tanya was doing the most talking, laughing and flirting with all the guys. I didn't know them very well, so I just sat there, unable to really contribute. They were talking about parties and premiers and vacations. Things that movie stars just did. I'd only been to the one, and apparently that was nothing compared to how they usually party.
The guys even teased Edward about some parties, not even worried about the fact that I was sitting right there.
"Are you okay Bella?" Edward whispered in my ear at one point. It sent shivers all through my body. I was afraid my voice would be unsteady, so I just nodded. Edward seemed to find something about that funny, because he smiled. Then the smile took on a mischievous quality. He played with the strap to the tank top, sometimes even grabbing the bathing suit strap, too.
"Don't you think you'd be more comfortable without that shirt on? These jets work wonders on tight muscles. But they can't really do much through a thick shirt like that," he suggested. He kissed my neck just below my ear, sending waves of heat through my body, followed by shivers caused by his breath.
In spite of the fact that humor was not what I was feeling at that moment, I almost laughed. My tank top was thick? That was a lame reason to get me to take it off.
"Are you suggesting, Mr. Cullen, that I strip down to my flimsy, white bathing suit in front of all these hot guys?" I teased back, returning the kiss on his jaw. His eyes darkened perceptively and narrowed.
"You're right. Let's go upstairs," he whispered, suddenly standing up and pulling me with him. Wait, no, I wasn't ready for that!
"Leaving so soon?" Tanya asked. Well, practically purred.
"Really, I'm kind of tired," I said, faking a yawn. It was 3am. Maybe I could convince Edward I was tired, too. "See you guys tomorrow."
We picked up our discarded clothes and headed back to the locker room. It was a neutral place, meant for people to store stuff in lockers, and not for changing in. I pulled my towel from my locker, and started to dry myself off.
Edward took it from me and wrapped it around my shoulders, rubbing my arms dry. I tried to avoid his eyes, knowing that now was not a good time to lose myself in them.
The air between us was too charged, too electric right now. If we started, I didn't know where we would stop. It was that electricity that pulled my eyes up to meet his and his lips down to meet mine.
It was a slow, gentle kiss that deepened on its own, seemingly without any thought on our part. The electricity changed into a raging fire, deep inside me.
It scared me; the things kissing Edward made my body feel. I'd never felt it before, and I didn't know how to handle it. I had to pull away. My breathing came in gasps, and the shivers I felt had nothing to do with the cold I felt from still being damp.
I rested my forehead on Edward's shoulder and he started to rub my shoulders with the towel again.
"I think I better sleep in my room tonight," I finally whispered.
"I think so, too," Edward said, his voice deep and husky. I straightened up, grabbed the rest of my stuff and waited for Edward to get his stuff together.
I didn't want his feelings to be hurt. I prayed he would know why I stopped when I did. I grabbed his hand and we rode the elevator up to our floor in silence. I gave him another kiss at my room door.
It wasn't very long, but it was long enough to fan the flames again.
"Goodnight, my Bella," Edward whispered against my lips. It was just when I felt the flames would reach my heart; it was perfect timing.
"Goodnight Edward," I said, and closed my door behind me.
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I had been waiting for this. It was perfect. It was brilliant. It was my absolute favorite scene from the book. And I got to watch it being filmed.
While Edward was in make-up, and believe me he wore a ton of it, I cautiously wandered the set. The crew had gotten to know me by then and no one even flinched when I raised the tent flap and peered inside.
I tried to imagine the scene from the book. The two loves of the human girl have an important conversation in this tent. It was larger than I'd pictured, but still small enough to match the scene.
Of course, no movie could ever live up to the standards of the book, but this director had sure tried. At least it wasn't a complete failure.
"Bella," Edward called. He stepped around the tent and a beam of sunlight caught the highlights in his hair, making them sparkle. Or it could have been the glitter spray they'd used on him. It always seemed to end up in his hair. I knew how it did after I'd seen him. It definitely stuck to my fingers and definitely transferred to his hair.
He was just now getting out of make-up. So how had it gotten there this time?
"Hey," I called back. He smiled at me and took my hand. We looked over the set, and Edward seemed to approve.
I was distracted from that smile by the rest of the cast and crew for this scene coming around the tent corner. Tanya was among them and she was wiping something from her hand on her pants.
When she walked past, I saw it was glitter.
