Faking It Chapter 9: Girlfriend, a twilight fanfic

Thanks again for all the great reviews. A special shout out to darcy13, who blows me away with her detailed reviews of every chapter. They're seriously better than the story itself.

Daily disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I'm just having some fun.

BPOV

It was a great day in the studio. Jasper's new song really was inspired. I resisted razzing him anymore because it was truly one of the best things he'd ever written and I wanted to work hard on it and get it right. There was such energy to the song, and to us as we worked on it. It felt like we were close to catching lightning in a bottle, that elusive creative moment when the magic happens. We didn't finish it, the song was in too raw a state this morning for us to get it nailed down in one day, but it was really coming along and shaping up to be something special. Butch seemed excited about it and said he had some ideas he wanted to try out before we did any more studio work on it, so we called it a day. We wrapped up on a creative high, all of us euphoric.

We had a few minutes left on our schedule, plus Rose and I were waiting for Alice, anyway, so we started just playing and goofing around, unwilling to let go of our music high. Emmett suggested we play something off of our list of songs we called "Not For Public Consumption". They weren't on our regular song list because we didn't have the right instrumentation for them, or they weren't right for me vocally or they were just stylistically out of left field for us. It was a bunch of songs that we saved for times like these, when we just wanted to have fun, relax, blow off steam, or loosen up. We never played them at gigs, we never considered recording them. Hell, we never even played them for other people. This was music just for us.

"So which one are we playing?" Rose asked as she worked her way through a particularly difficult finger picking run on her guitar. She had freakishly agile fingers. Jasper was in many ways more musical than Rose, but he couldn't deny her natural ability on the guitar. And it was to his credit that he'd never tried, even though he'd been playing longer than her.

"Oh, let's do that blues song, the one with the great bass line," I suggested.

"Love Me Like A Man?" Jasper asked.

"Yeah, that's the one!"

Jasper led us in with the driving bass line that cemented the whole song as Rose came in with the guitar line and Emmett chimed in on the drums. I had a great time singing it, even though my voice was terrible for blues. But it didn't matter. The lyrics were sassy and sexy and fun and it was a great way to wind down and loosen up. It was exactly what I needed. I hadn't thought about Edward Cullen or any of that bullshit for hours.

We were all so wrapped up in playing together that we didn't notice we had visitors in the recording booth.

EPOV

"We're looking for Eclipse?" Alice chirped at the security guard at Sound Design Studios.

He gave her a look as if to say "You really think I'm just going to let you in?" So I stepped forward into his line of vision. His eyes widened. Yes, it's me. You would be amazed at how well that works.

"Ms. Swan is a friend of mine," I said, "She said she'd be here."

She didn't exactly say I could stop by, but I left that part out.

"Oh..." he stammered, after finding his voice again, "Right. They're in studio D. It's down that hall, take a left. Knock at the booth. Butch is probably gone, but Kyle, the sound engineer should still be there and can let you in."

I smiled and thanked him and Alice bounced ahead of me down the hall. By the time I caught up Alice was already in the booth and making fast friends with the recording engineer. He nodded at me as I slipped inside and closed the door behind me.

My attention was immediately captured by the voice coming through the speakers from the studio. Was that…Bella? Her voice was amazing, clear and vibrant, a rich soprano. I looked to see where it was coming from and spotted her through the window in the studio.

They were performing some blues song, Jasper perched on a stool in the middle of the room, driving the song with his bass line. There was an astounding-looking blonde Amazon slouched on the sofa picking out the guitar line, eyes locked with Jasper. The two of them were grinning like fools at each other, having some sort of musical call and answer. A huge beefy dark haired guy was behind the drum kit, lost in his own world. Bella was swaying behind the mic stand and singing. She was dressed simply, in jeans and a black Rolling Stones t-shirt, her long dark hair swaying around her shoulders and down her back.

I felt punched in the stomach when I saw her. All I could think of for a moment was the feeling of her mouth under mine, her hands twisting in my hair, my fingertips brushing the side of her breast…

I really needed to stop letting my brain go there. Okay, to be fair, my brain had nothing to do with this. Whatever.

"Are they recording this?" I murmured without taking my eyes off her.

"Ah, no," Kyle, the engineer shrugged, "They're done for the day, they're just goofing around now. This isn't really their style."

I had to admit, Bella's voice, as lovely as it was, wasn't strictly cut out for the blues, but it hardly mattered. She was having fun in there. The song was flirty and sassy and she was playing it up, they all were really, having a good time with each other. It was fun to watch.

Alice leaned in to whisper to me. "The blonde girl is Rosalie. She's Jasper's twin sister. And that's Jasper, you said you met him already. The big guy on drums is Emmett, Bella's cousin. He's with Rosalie. They've all known each other since they were little kids."

Her cousin? How did I not know this? And how did Alice? When had she done all this homework? But then again, nothing Alice did should ever surprise me at this point.

Now I realized that Laurent had given me a file on Bella and an ipod with the entire season of that show she was on downloaded on it and I'd never given any of it a second glance. If I had, I'd have known her band mate was her cousin. And I'd know how amazing her voice was and how she was sex on legs when she sang. Another thing to feel crummy about. I replayed Alice's advice in my head. Start fixing. I would go home tonight and watch every freaking episode of that show.

Bella now detached the mic from the stand and swayed over behind Jasper. She turned her back to his and leaned back against him in playful seduction as she sang. Her dark hair tumbled back over his shoulders and down his back as she slid down him a little while she sang.

"I never seen such losers, darlin'

Even though I tried

To find a man who could take me home

'Stead of takin' me for a ride

And I need someone to love me

I know you can"

She flipped around, laying her chest against his back and dragged her hand slowly through his hair. She trailed a finger along his jaw seductively before she sauntered back to her mic stand. He grinned broadly at her and winked.

"Don't you put yourself above me

You just love me like a man"

Not her boyfriend, huh? Fucking right. Maybe it was some sort of friends with benefits bullshit, but it was there. Whatever. I reminded myself that it was none of my business. Although I noticed some unfamiliar, unpleasant feeling curled in my stomach and my teeth were clenching of their own accord.

Back at her mic stand, a smile still paying around her lips, she slowly slid down the mic stand as she sang the next verse.

"Oh they want me to rock them

Like my back ain't got no bone

I want a man to rock me

Like my… backbone was his own"

On the last line she straightened back up, dragging the tips of two fingers up the mic stand as she went.

Jesus fucking Christ…

It would be so much easier to do this right and behave myself if she didn't do shit like that…and look like that…and sound so fucking sexy. Fuck... it was going to take me a century to purge that image, and all the fantasies it evoked, from my brain.

She sang the chorus again and then pulled her mic free as she sauntered over to the Amazon, Rosalie, and sang the next verse.

"I come home sad and lonely

Feel like I want to cry

I want a man to hold me

Not some fool to ask me why"

She and Rosalie pulled fierce faces at each other and ended up cracking each other up. Bella doubled over for a second, her eyes closed as she tried to stifle her laughter so she could finish the song. I realized that it was the first time I'd really seen her laugh.

She turned front again and sang her way one more time through the chorus and relaxed back as Rosalie and Jasper wound the song down.

They stopped and applauded each other, laughing and joking for a minute before Alice could no longer restrain herself and sprang through the door into the studio.

"Bella!"

"Oh, hey, Alice! I didn't see you come in! Guys, this is Alice, Edward's sister. Alice, this is Emmett and Rosalie. And you know Jasper."

I stepped into the doorway in time to catch Alice and Rosalie fixing each other with some crazy intense look. I had no idea what I that was about. I so don't get women sometimes.

Bella caught sight of me over Alice's shoulder and froze. Everyone else in the room turned to stare at me in silence as well. Nice. Awkward.

She flushed a little and then seemed to find her voice.

"Edward…I didn't expect to see you here." And now I felt bad for barging in on her. Maybe I should have called her first. Maybe she was mad that I showed up unannounced. This was going really shitty so far. "Rosalie, Emmett, this is Edward. And I think you've met Jasper."

I fixed him with a glare and raised my chin a little. I so have your number, asshole. He shot the glare back at me. He had mine, too. But I didn't come her to have a standoff with Jasper. I took a deep breath and looked back to Bella.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Um, yeah. Sure. Alice, just make yourself comfortable. Jasper, why don't you show her around the studio?"

Alice was off like a shot, talking a mile a minute to the other three. I backed into the booth and Bella followed. She pulled the door closed behind her. The sound engineer had left when they finished the song, so we were alone.

I exhaled and rubbed my hand across the back of my neck as I looked at the ceiling. Damn, this shit was hard.

She stood against the door, arms crossed across her chest, waiting patiently with no expression.

"Look, I'm sorry about last night. I made a lot of wrong, insulting assumptions about you. And I treated you disrespectfully because of them. I had no right to do…any of that."

She was silent for a moment, considering.

"Oh…Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," she shrugged. "You don't know me. I guess those were pretty safe assumptions to have made under our…circumstances."

"But I shouldn't have, um…touched you like that." I couldn't remember the last time I felt this embarrassed.

She flushed to the roots of her hair and looked at her feet. It seemed she was, too.

"I should have talked to you about it first, instead of assuming you'd be okay with it."

"Right. Okay. No, that's fine," she stammered, still not raising her eyes. "I get why you did it. It just…um, yeah, whatever. Let's just forget it, okay?"

She finally managed to shoot a glance at me.

"Yeah, okay. We'll forget it. Can we start this over?"

"What? The arrangement?"

"Yes. Can we try it again?"

She considered it for a moment.

"I think we can do this right," I said, trying to sound confident. "I mean I can do this right. If you want to give it another go."

"Sure. Yeah, we can do that." She finally let a breath out she'd been holding and relaxed microscopically. So did I. I shot her a small smile and the corners of her mouth twitched up a tiny bit. Okay, progress. Baby steps, but progress.

"So, are you up for something? Another date?"

"Um, yes. Of course. What's on the agenda?"

"A baseball game. The Dodgers. Tomorrow."

"Baseball?" she asked, surprised.

"Bella, it's the national pastime," I said with mock sincerity and now she managed a real smile. The tension seemed momentarily eased. I allowed myself a tiny moment of triumph. I had at least fixed this much.

"Alright. Baseball it is, then."

"I'll text you with the details."

The door burst open behind Bella and she staggered backwards into Alice.

"Oh, God, Bella! Sorry! I was just going to see if you were ready to go." She gasped and stepped back quickly. "Are you guys still talking?"

"No, no!" Bella said quickly as she regained her balance. "We're all done."

Alice shot me a meaningful glance. I gave her a tight smile and a tiny nod of my head. I'm working on it, munchkin. Alice seemed appeased.

"Okay!" she barked, "Rosalie is ready, so let's go!"

"You're in the clutches of the crazed shopping munchkin, now," I said to Bella, my voice mockingly serious, "I hope you can handle it."

Bella laughed out loud and allowed Alice to pull her out into the hall.

I stood there for a moment, marveling at how good it had felt to make her laugh like that.

BPOV

So far the shopping trip seemed to be going okay. Rose and Alice were still doing this tense little dance around each other, trying to suss each other out, but it wasn't unpleasant. Shopping, at least this kind, for fancy clothes, was one of my least favorite activities, but Rose really enjoyed it and for Alice it seemed tantamount to a religious experience, so on that score, they were getting along fine. Everyone seemed to be studiously not mentioning Jasper, which was sort of humorous, I thought, since he was the whole reason the two of them were here together today.

It had all started off a little weird and alarming, at least for me. Edward was the last person I expected to see at that moment, especially there at the studio, which was like my little personal world that had zero to do with him. And he would show up when we were goofing around on that blues song, of all things. I couldn't be knocking it out of the park on one of our own songs, oh no. I had to be camping it up like some old saloon singer. God, I think I even draped myself all over Jasper at some point. Gah..so embarrassing.

We kept songs like that in our rehearsal repertoire for exactly that kind of thing, though. The rest of the band seemed to think they helped me loosen up on stage. I was a natural singer, but not always a natural performer. It had taken years for me to develop something like a stage persona and I still tended to be hampered by my own natural reservation. So Emmett and Jasper constantly sought out songs like that, ones that as Emmett put it, "let me get my freak on". It was silly, but it worked. Songs like that did make it easier to unleash my inner rock star. I was just sorry Edward had to see me doing it. It was almost like he caught be singing into my damned hairbrush in front of the bathroom mirror.

He was not at all what I was expecting today. I was ready for more arrogance and anger, ready for him to tell me that the whole arrangement was not going to work out. I was ready for it but the idea that he would do that felt oddly like a rejection, which was weird to me. But I didn't have long to analyze what that feeling might mean because that's not at all what he said.

He apologized, which floored me for a moment. And when he explained that he misjudged both me and my motivations, I understood, at least a little, his behavior. I still thought it was sort of arrogant of him to assume anyone deserved to be treated like that, but whatever, it was progress, in a way.

And far from calling the whole thing off, he wanted to go out again. So now I had that to think about and freak out about. Alice seized on the opportunity.

"Another date? Where to?"

"Baseball game," I said tersely. Rose snorted but said nothing. Yeah, she knew me really well.

Alice furrowed her brow in concentration.

"Well, that's our first priority, then. Something to wear for that."

"Alice," I protested, "It's not a movie premiere. It's a baseball game. Surely I can wear my own clothes. I mean, something that I had from before."

She gave me an appraising look.

"Are these your own clothes?"

"Yes."

"Um, then no. We need to shop."

I took a deep breath and tried not to take offense. After all, this was her world, not mine. She probably knew better. Rose stifled her laughter. She was amused by Alice, I could tell. I was glad for that, so I figured I'd shut up and let Alice have her way.

So we started at a boutique in Beverly Hills that Alice said was one of her favorites. She'd apparently called ahead for some sort of phone consultation, because there were several racks of clothes already pulled aside for me to try. Everyone there was on an intimate, first name basis with Alice, of course. I sucked it up and disappeared into a dressing room while Rose and Alice staked out arm chairs facing the door. I appeared in each outfit and Alice passed judgment. They weren't clothes I would necessarily pick out for myself if left on my own, but I had to admit that so far Alice was doing way better than that first stylist. Rose seemed to think so, too. She didn't say much of anything, but I saw her appraise each look and silently agree with Alice's judgment each time.

At one point I came out in a stupidly expensive pair of designer jeans (that I had to admit fit me better than any pair of jeans I'd ever had on in my life) and a silky pink blouse. Alice looked torn. I held up a hanger.

"The blouse also comes in blue. Which one?"

Without a pause, Alice and Rose answered in unison, "Blue."

They turned to lock eyes and that was it…Alice was in. I smiled smugly. I knew Rose would like her.

We kept those jeans, I was wearing them tomorrow, Alice informed me. She also found a sleeveless knit blouse in green that she insisted was perfect for baseball, whatever that meant.

Two hours later I had quite a haul of casual separates and a handful of slinky dresses. Alice said that now that she'd seen me in some things, she would send over a bunch more clothes to my house to try on. Ugh. Fantastic.

The helpful sales clerk started to ring it all up and I reached for my bag. Alice's tiny hand clamped down on my wrist and she shook her head.

"Uh-uh. Edward pays." She said sternly.

"What? No way, Alice. That is so inappropriate. I can't let him do that!"

"Of course you can. First, he won't even notice. Second, he told me…ah…what happened last night, and he needs to make it up to you."

I must have flushed six shades of red, because Alice grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Bella, it's not a big deal. Yes, he told me, but I saw it for myself online this afternoon. It's all over."

"Oh, my God, you're kidding! That's not helping, Alice!"

"Relax, Bells," Rose chimed in. "You knew this would happen. So there are a few pictures online of you making out with the hottest man in Hollywood. Boo fucking hoo."

Alice laughed and I shrugged. Rose was right. This was exactly what we were here for, so that people would know. It had just felt so personal when it happened, and now I find out that all of America had been looking at it all day. Ugh….

We moved on to a shoe store next and Alice found some leather wedge sandals that she once again insisted were perfect for baseball, as well as several pairs of what she called "essential heels". Again I whined about shoes with height and this time Rose and Alice double teamed me and argued their necessity, so I didn't stand a chance.

There was something different about rich people shopping, I noticed. Well, there were a lot of things that were different, but the craziest thing was how they all treated us like we were visiting friends, not customers. Every store offered refreshments, a cup of tea, some hors d'oeuvres, a glass of wine. I said yes to the wine at the first store, just to get a little relaxed, and then we all kept saying yes after that, just…because. We stopped for dinner at a tapas place and way too many pitchers of sangria later, the three of us were like long lost sisters and completely smashed. Thank God Alice had hired a limo for the day because she didn't want to deal with parking, or we would have had to make an embarrassing call to one of the boys to come get us.

We staggered out of the restaurant at 11 pm, drunk and stupid, and poured ourselves into the waiting car.

"Alice, we'll drop you first," I offered. "Where's your place?"

She waved an annoyed hand in front of her face. "I'm staying at Edward's right now."

"Why?"

"Why not? His place is better," she shrugged.

So we directed the driver to Edward's and commanded that he turn up the radio…loud. We spent the drive singing along at the top of our lungs to bad pop songs and giggling like twelve year olds. The driver pulled up to Edward's gate and Alice stumbled out of the back seat to key in the gate code, then fell back into the car across my lap in the back seat.

"Bella, we need to give you the gate code! And a key!" she said as if this was a critical piece of information that everyone had overlooked.

"Why would I need that, Alice?"

"'Cause you're Edward's girlfriend!"

"Alice! No I'm not!"

"Okay, okay. You're his pretend girlfriend. And that's as close as he's ever gotten! And that's pretty cool!"

We were to the house now, and my jaw hit the ground. Even in my alcohol-induced haze I was impressed. It was stunning, modern and multi-storied, with glass walls stretching endlessly in every direction. How on earth did one person use all that space?

"You guys have to come in with me!" Alice squealed.

And because we were all drunk, this seemed like a fucking fantastic idea. Which is how we ended up exploding into Edward's entry hall staggering and laughing like fools.

Alice loudly tried to shush us, which only made us laugh harder, her included.

"We need more alcohol!" Alice shouted.

"Alice, I'm going to fall asleep on this floor where I'm standing if I drink another drop," Rose wailed.

"Alice?" Edward's low voice coming from the top of the sweeping main stairs ahead of us stopped us in our tracks. We were silent for a moment as all three of us stared up at him before we exploded into giggles again. He then realized exactly what he had on his hands and rolled his eyes with a little smile as he came down the stairs towards us. God, he was so fucking gorgeous. He was wearing a dark grey snug t shirt, dark jeans sitting low on his hips and he was barefoot. I was going to have to get out of here fast, since the drinking had seriously impaired my filter and my self control. A dangerous combination around Edward Cullen.

"I'm sorry," I slurred at him, feeling suddenly really bad about invading his space like this. He must think I'm a lunatic. "We just got to drinking with dinner and…"

"And drinking with shopping!" Rose added, helpfully.

"Yes," I nodded enthusiastically, "and the drinking while shopping, and well….here we are."

"Yes," he smirked, "Here you are." He was smiling and doing that dazzling thing again. Not good. Must escape. Or must sleep with him. Sleeping with him would be good, too. Sleeping with him would be great! No! No, escape is better! Must go home!

"Why are you here?" I heard my own voice without realizing I'd decided to speak.

Edward scowled at me and looked confused. "I live here, Bella."

"No, why are you here? When they hooked us up, they told me that you partied all the time and you were out every night. But you're here. And we've been out partying."

Alice and Rose thought that was hysterical and fell into giggles behind me.

"He never goes out anymore, do you, Edward?" Alice teased, her voice sing-songy. "Yep, ever since Bella showed up, you've been such a good boy."

"Alice, shut up," Edward growled at her.

"Is that true?" I asked, hooking my arm around his neck abruptly. When did I get this close to him? I thought I was standing over there? Damn, he smelled good. Danger!

He smiled down at me, something stirring in his eyes that I could recognize even through my drunken haze. He reached up to put his hands on my hips, steadying me. Crap. Danger!

"I gotta go home," I muttered, pulling myself away from him and stumbling. He reached out and caught my elbow.

"Alice, is the limo still here?" he asked, still gripping my elbow to keep me from going over, which was good, because I felt like I might.

"Yeah, he's here," she said, and let loose a huge yawn.

"He can take me and Rose. Oh, shit! My truck! It's still at the studio!" I wailed.

"I'll take care of it," Edward said quietly.

"What? How?"

"Just give me your keys. I'll get it to you. It'll be there tomorrow when you wake up. I promise," he smiled softly, holding out his hand for my keys.

I thought for half a second before fishing them out of my bag and turning them over. They weren't going to do me any good in this state anyway.

"Thanks."

"No problem. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Rose?"

I slung a wobbly arm around her shoulders and the two of us staggered back out to the limo, throwing proclamations of lifelong love and devotion for Alice back over our shoulders and giggling. Edward stood in the open doorway, arms crossed over his chest, watching us until the car was out of sight down the drive.