Alright, my lovelies. Another Friday, another chapter!
I adjusted the formatting on the DMs in this chapter. Still centered and italic, but usernames only on the last message. Also, I'm a double texter (never text me, I'm so annoying) and so are my characters. If you have a suggestion to clarify texts, lemme know!
Huge thank you to my amazing beta Sunflower Fran who very lovingly deleted all my extra "really"s and to my prereaders, Mariel and RoBiNiSmYbOo.
I own an MacBook Air and an iPad but not Twilight.
I was still happy when I woke up. I could smell coffee, so I knew Rose must be awake. I got up and took a quick shower. I left my hair down to dry and pulled on yoga pants, a T-shirt, and a hoodie.
"Morning, sunshine," Rose said with a smirk.
"What are you smirking at?" I asked, putting the kettle on to make tea.
"How long did you talk to him after we got home?"
"Um … a while." I flushed. "He didn't push but he definitely wanted to sext. And he made it pretty clear what he was going to be doing when we stopped messaging."
Rose laughed. "What did he say?"
"Well, okay, so I said I was in bed, and he said it gave him problems, and then there was some innuendo about hard problems and stuff, and then I might have asked if that was something he could handle."
That earned a guffaw.
"Oh, my little padawan is growing up!" Rose announced. "I'm so proud of you! You'll be sexting him properly within two days. I am sure of it."
I shook my head. "Oh, no. I hit my limit."
"So you say today. Who says limits can't change? Especially when encouraged by sexy mystery man?"
"Okay, I know I think he's sexy even not having seen him, and I'm pretty sure I would think so no matter what he looks like if I do eventually meet him, but you're…"
"Shallow?" Rose asked.
"I wasn't gonna say that, but yeah. Why are you so sure he's sexy?"
"A feeling," Rose shrugged.
"Hmm."
Rose went back to her social media scroll as I made my tea.
"Oooh, Bella!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Emmett McCarty and Edward Cullen did an interview this morning. I need to watch this, and you need to watch with me."
"You know it's weird how obsessed you are, right?"
"I'm not obsessed because Emmett McCarty is a celebrity, though. That's why it's not creepy. He's just exactly my type. I like his interviews because I like looking at him and I like his voice. It's not like I think I'm getting to know him through the interviews or something."
"Uh-huh, okay." I let her show me the video anyway.
The video opened with a young, bleached-blonde woman wearing too much make up and an awkwardly low cut top and—wow—a very tight skirt perched on a stool next to the two guys. They were both dressed casually in jeans with button-down shirts done up partially with their sleeves rolled up. Despite dressing so similarly, they looked utterly different.
One was a huge mountain of a man—not fat, just solid muscle. He had blue eyes, dimples, and dark hair, almost black hair. He definitely was Rose's type. The other was the one who drew my eye. He had messy bronze hair that looked like someone had constantly run their hands through it and the brightest green eyes you'd ever seen. I had seen pictures of him and watched his movies and interviews, I'd never noticed how much his eyes shone.
"I'm here with Edward Cullen and Emmett McCarty!" said the girl with an awkwardly large smile. "They're going to tell us all about their new movie, Broken Waves, and maybe we can talk a little about them too! Is that all right boys?" she added with a flirtatious wink.
Rose rolled her eyes.
"Absolutely, Lauren, we're so excited people are finally getting to see this film," Emmett said.
"So, can you tell us what this is about?" She asked.
"Yeah, so it's about a pair of surfing brothers who find a girl on the beach after a storm," Edward began. "She has amnesia and doesn't know who she is or how she got there. So the brothers try to help her out, and of course, one falls in love with her, and the other falls in love with one of her nurses."
I stared at Rose's iPad.
"What's wrong?" she paused the video.
"He's just … incredibly familiar …" my voice trailed off. Why was this actor so familiar to me? I'd seen plenty of his movies, but I'd never been in the same room as him or anything. He shouldn't seem like … well, like I knew him. I shook my head. "Just deja vu or something, I guess. Play the video."
"So it's a romance?" the girl, Lauren I guess, asked.
"Romantic dramedy is probably the best description," Emmett offered. "With a hint of mystery and thriller. The girl has a bit of a dramatic backstory, and some shady characters pop up. It's all dealt with pretty neatly and cleanly, though, so don't worry, we promise a happy ending!"
"Is it true there were some fairy tale endings on set?" Edward tensed at her words. "Edward, there are some rumors about you and Tanya Denali, who plays Lisa, the girl with amnesia," she added as an aside to the audience. "Is it true you had an on-set romance? Are wedding bells in the future?"
"Bet she's starting those rumors," Rose interjected. "Have you seen the bitch?"
I shook my head.
"Total tramp. Gold digger. She can act, but when she opens her mouth out of character, I just want to punch her."
"No, it's not true," Edward responded, suddenly looking very stiff. "I don't know where the rumors are coming from, but we are not in a relationship and never have been."
"Is there anyone special in your life?" Lauren pushed.
"Um…" he hesitated.
Emmett looked up at Edward's mumble. He seemed… surprised? But also a little smug? Did he not know about Edward's love life? Supposedly, they were good friends. Maybe he was surprised it was getting mentioned. I'd never followed Edward really closely, but he didn't seem the type to share a lot of personal information.
"Who is she?" Lauren suddenly seemed very excited at the new gossip.
"It honestly isn't anything," Edward allowed. "There's a girl. I'd love something to happen with her. I don't know if anything can. I don't even know if she really knows who I am beyond hello and goodbye."
"I can't believe that!" Lauren exclaimed. "If she's ever seen you, I'm sure she knows who you are. When did you meet her?"
"Uhh, a while back, just in passing. We've never had the chance to actually sit down and get to know each other until pretty recently, though. I can't say more because we'd like to stay private. But, I dunno, it could be special with her."
Emmett looked shocked at Edward's confession. "Is that the girl you told me about? The one that—"
"Yes!" Edward cut him off. "But I'm not saying more. I shouldn't have said this much."
"But does that mean you're off the market?" Lauren apparently couldn't handle missing out on information, even if that information seemed intensely disappointing for her, given how she kept licking her lips and eying him like she was dying of thirst, and he was a fresh bottle of Fiji water.
"Well, I don't consider myself available right now, no."
"Aww, that's too bad," Lauren pouted seductively at him. "How about you … stud?" She threw a flirtatious smile at Emmett.
"Is she seriously just doing this interview to get gossip and flirt?" Rose asked incredulously.
"Seems like it," I shrugged.
"Well, I'm single for now, sugar," Emmett winked. "I'm in the market for a tall blonde who can put me in my place."
"There's no way that girl exists," Edward joked. "What you have to understand," he added, looking out towards the audience. "Is that Emmett is the king of practical jokes. When you're watching him hiding whoopee cushions on set, it's great. When he swaps your flat ginger ale fake-whiskey prop for actual Knob Creek, and you knock it back expecting room temperature soda and end up with bourbon shooting out of your nose, you start wishing he had a girlfriend who would kick his ass."
You could hear the audience laughing.
"Hey, that was a classic day!" Emmett bellowed. "And yes, the cameras were rolling. I have it on good authority that the clip will be on a blooper reel at some point."
"Well, something for us to look forward to! Thanks for joining us, and remember—Broken Waves is in theaters now!" Lauren closed out the interview.
"You know," Rose started as the video clip faded to black. "I could totally boss him around."
"I thought you weren't getting to know him through interviews?" I smirked.
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to work. I'll be back at 6:30 to get you for the movie, okay?"
I nodded. "I'll be ready."
Alone in the apartment, I set up a fresh easel and scrolled through Masen's photos. I settled on a cluster of palm trees on a riverbank. The image was bright, and the reflection of the trees in the ripples would be really fun to play with. The caption said he'd taken the photo in Botswana. I wondered, not for the first time, what kind of job took him to a view like this before saving it to my phone and AirDropping it to my laptop so I could make it full size. I turned on some music—classic Avril today—and settled in.
As was pretty typical, I was soon lost in my work. Hours passed before I realized that my phone was buzzing. It was a notification from Instagram. I had a DM.
Hey you.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Hey yourself
How's your work stuff?-SwanSong
God awful boring, tbh
And I made the mistake of telling a coworker that I stayed up late talking to a cute girl last night, so now he's obsessed with seeing if he or anyone else can get me to spill the beans.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Yeah Rose was, well, let's say a little pushy this morning.-SwanSong
Good pushy or bad pushy?-MasenAroundTheWorld
Ummm…
Well, she didn't push me to ask you what you do, what your real name is, or for a picture, so I guess good pushy.
She did call me her padawan and got excited that I … uh … I dunno how to put this.-SwanSong
Encouraged innuendo?-MasenAroundTheWorld
Yeah.-SwanSong
For what it's worth, I am going to tell you everything about me. Sometime.
Maybe even soon.-MasenAroundTheWorld
We all have secrets, Masen.
Rose is the one who wants to know your secrets, not me.-SwanSong
You don't want to know?-MasenAroundTheWorld
I guess yeah I want to know everything
But I want to know because you want to tell me *shrug*
I'm sure you have a reason to not be telling me now
I guess I have to trust you to tell me when the time is right.-SwanSong
Well, I hope I deserve your trust then.
So.
How's the painting coming?-MasenAroundTheWorld
It's good. I'd send you a picture but Rose is the only one I let see my work in progress and that's only because she lives with me and sometimes I can't avoid it.-SwanSong
Will you at least tell me what you're painting?
Did you end up using one of my pics?-MasenAroundTheWorld
Yeah.
In the caption you said it was in Botswana.-SwanSong
I sent him the picture I'd saved from his profile.
I kind of feel like there should be lights flashing and if you walked through the trees you'd find the Genie turning Aladdin into a prince.-SwanSong
That's what I thought when I took the photo!-MasenAroundTheWorld
Glad it's not just me-SwanSong
So do you have time to talk now or do I have to let you get back to painting?-MasenAroundTheWorld
I have time
Are you not working anymore?-SwanSong
Nah I got all my stuff done. I'm just sitting in the hotel now
Can I ask you something?-MasenAroundTheWorld
Sure-SwanSong
How'd you end up painting and working in a bakery?
Is this what you want to be doing?-MasenAroundTheWorld
I guess… Sort of
This is kind of a long story and kind of answers the garbage ex question from last night-SwanSong
You don't have to tell me that now
Or ever-MasenAroundTheWorld
I hesitated. Well, might as well just get into it. It's not like it was really a secret and honestly, I liked this guy. I was pretty sure I'd be happier if he knew.
I went to UDub for art. I've always been a painter and if I can ever make a living at it, I'll be happy.
Baking was always a hobby and a couple of cake decorating classes in high school taught me that I'm good at decorating.
My senior year of college I met a guy who said he thought it was great I was an artist.
I'm from a tiny town a few hours from Seattle. The closest city is Port Angeles.
Mike was from PA. I thought it was perfect. I had a new boyfriend who lived an hourish from my dad. He said he wanted to support me while I pursued painting.
When I finished college, I moved in with him in PA. For a while, it seemed like it worked. He worked and I painted.
While he worked, I also took care of the apartment. I cleaned, I cooked, honestly I was the perfect housewife.
I wanted to be selling paintings though. I was posting them on Etsy but they never sold. I didn't get it.
Over time, he started pushing back. First, I was making too much of a mess with the paint. Either it was all over the apartment or all over me.
Then, I was spending too much time painting and not enough time making his food, cleaning his home, doing his laundry.
And then, he started telling me that the reason nothing was selling was because I was a talentless hack.
He said I should give it up and focus on our future together.
He started talking about how I wouldn't have time to paint anymore when I was raising our children and I should give up my "hobby."
I tried to ignore him when he would talk like that but it got to me. I started thinking maybe I was a lousy artist after all.
People had always told me my stuff was good, but maybe Mike was the only one who was honest.
Finally one day, about two years ago, I was almost ready to give up, but I posted a new painting on Etsy. I told myself if this one didn't sell, I'd give up painting.
It was a Saturday and he was in his home office. After I posted the painting, I went to bring him a snack.
I usually knocked when I walked into the office, but for whatever reason I didn't.
He was on his computer, with my Etsy store pulled up.
At first I thought he was just browsing my stuff, but then I realized he was logged into my sellers account.
We knew most of each other's passwords, so it wasn't that weird, but I didn't know why he was interested in my Etsy store.
Anyway, he went to the new painting I'd just posted and he clicked 'hide listing.'
It turns out, you can revert a listing to a draft version and if you're a dumbass like me, you'll never realize your store is completely empty from the buyers side.-SwanSong
Holy shit, Bella.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Yep
So, I said something like "what are you doing?" He tried to make up some excuse about fixing my typos for me but it didn't make sense.
I ran out to my computer and looked at my store and realized all my listings were unpublished.
I changed my password, texted Rose asking her to help me move, and then he walked out of the office and I asked him why.
It blew up into the biggest fight I've ever had with anyone.
He was yelling at me about how he was investing in me and our future.
We'd never really talked about marriage or kids. He just had started telling me that we would have them not long after we got together.
He never asked what I wanted and he never told me what he wanted. He just told me what would happen.
He told me the same stuff he'd been telling me, that I'm talentless and no one wants to buy my art and I should give it up and focus on him.
I said fuck this and that Rose was coming to move me out.
He laughed. He said no one would want a talentless fat bitch like me.
Then, for good measure he called me both a slut and a prude.
I didn't have anywhere to go and I was afraid of what he'd do if I walked out, so I was stuck sitting there for over an hour listening to him yell until Rose got there.
I lucked out. She'd been visiting her parents, so she was only about an hour away. She stopped for boxes for me but otherwise drove straight to me.
When she got there, Mike shut up and walked out.
We packed up my stuff, her ex boyfriend arrived with his truck, and by that night I was in the extra room in Rose's apartment in Seattle.-SwanSong
Fuck.
You know nothing he said was true, right?-MasenAroundTheWorld
I mean… Yeah, I mostly know it.
It's been easiest unlearning that I'm talentless.
My stuff selling pretty well helps with that.
But he would tell me a lot, the whole time we were together, that I was so lucky he loved me because no one else would want me.-SwanSong
I want you.
And if you wanted me too, I'd be the lucky one.-MasenAroundTheWorld
You're sweet.-SwanSong
I try.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Anyway, I didn't have a job or savings or anything. I had my clothes and my paintings.
I lucked out that Rose had a two bedroom place. I hated taking her charity though. I made her keep a tab of everything she spent on me and I paid her back when I started working.
I started working at the bakery part time as a cashier and when I was home I painted or baked.
I was barely making anything so I did whatever I could for Rose.
She teaches in a dance studio and likes to bring snacks to almost every class. Sometimes it's fruit, sometimes it's granola bars, sometimes it's cupcakes.
She says she wishes that someone had encouraged her to eat an occasional cupcake when she was a preteen dancer.
Anyway, so I baked a lot of stuff for her to bring to classes and my boss at the bakery saw a ballerina cake I'd done for Rose to bring in.
She kind of had me audition and then she hired me as a full time cake decorator and baker.
It was a HUGE promotion, which turned out to be a really good thing.
Mike knew where Rose's apartment was and, well, let's just say he wasn't happy about my leaving.-SwanSong
He showed up?-MasenAroundTheWorld
Yeppp
He showed up and was banging on the door and yelling and saying I had to come back with him and all kinds of junk.
We got rid of him eventually and when Rose's lease was up we got this place. Which has a balcony and bigger bedrooms.-SwanSong
Always a plus.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Yeah, so that's my story.
It's taken me a long time to, well, like myself again.
And I'm always kind of stressed I guess.-SwanSong
I'm really sorry, Bella.
I hate that you had to deal with that.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Thanks
So what's your sob story?-SwanSong
Do I have to have one?-MasenAroundTheWorld
*shrug* I think everyone has a bit of one.-SwanSong
Well, I already told you I had an ex cheat on me and she's trying to get back together.
There's also a coworker who's trying to start a rumor that we're dating.
Honestly, I think both of them just think being with me would be good for their careers.
Especially Tanya.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Oh, that's kind of funny. Wasn't Edward Cullen's costar in Broken Waves Tanya Denali? Actually, didn't that Lauren girl say there were rumors that Tanya was in a relationship with Edward? That's a hell of a coincidence.
Tanya?-SwanSong
Yeah. That's my coworker. We did a project together a little bit ago and had to work together again the last few weeks. Hopefully I'll be done with her soon. Why?-MasenAroundTheWorld
Just, familiar name.
Tanya Denali is one of the leads in Broken Waves.-SwanSong
Oh, yeah.
I forgot.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Hell of a coincidence actually. Rose watched an interview this morning where Edward Cullen got asked if he was in a relationship with her and he insisted they were just rumors and that he didn't know where they were coming from.-SwanSong
Oh yeah?-MasenAroundTheWorld
Yeah. It's funny you said your Tanya is starting the rumors herself. That's what Rose said about Tanya Denali.-SwanSong
It's probably true.
Anyway.
Let's talk about something happy.
How old are you?
And when's your birthday?-MasenAroundTheWorld
September 13th. And I'm 27. 28 in 3 months.-SwanSong
Cool. My birthday is in a week. I think I told you last night I'll be 30.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Got any big plans?-SwanSong
Actually… I wanted to ask you. I know this is super fast but…
It looks like I could take a few days off and could come to Seattle
If I did, would you maybe want to meet me?-MasenAroundTheWorld
Really?-SwanSong
Yeah
I mean, don't say yes or no now
Think about it a bit
And maybe we should talk on the phone sometime
I just… I feel a connection with you. And I'd really like to know if it's real.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Oh thank god it's not just me.-SwanSong
Oh crap. Listen, I thought I was free and clear a while longer but I have to run
Think about meeting me and maybe we could talk on the phone tomorrow?
Have fun at the movie. I'd love to know what you think of it.-MasenAroundTheWorld
Okay. I'll talk to you later?-SwanSong
Count on it
XOXO-MasenAroundTheWorld
He wanted to meet me. I went back to my painting with a high I hadn't felt in a long time.
Sooooo whaddya think? Masen has a Tanya hanging around, just like the famous Mr. Cullen! What a coincidence :P
And Mike is a terrible human. How bad do you think he should be? I've got a couple versions drafted, so if there's consensus, you might change the direction of the story!
And Masen wants to meet! Do you think she'll know his real name before they meet IRL?
Leave your thoughts! And remember, you can find me on FB-Cherry Cullen :)