She Rocks My World
80's Rocker, Edward Cullen, is the frontman for the enormously popular band, Cullen.
He's every woman's dream; handsome, wealthy, and talented, but the elusive rocker has something to hide until an overwhelmingly gifted, doe-eyed beauty steals his heart at first sight and sound.
A/N: I'm very fortunate to have Fran beta my stories. She understands where I'm coming from in my ideas. She fixes the commas in my hasty sentences and polishes the rough diamond.
Chapter Fourteen: The Mastery at Work
EPOV
Once we settle back into the living room, Mark sits across from us on a high back, wing chair with everyone in view of the cameras. "Before we finish, I would like Bella do redo that performance for viewing. I know the producers want some live coverage, but I want to blow them out of the water with this."
I nod. "I don't see a problem with it, Mark."
Alice asks, "What about the copyright?"
"It's under Cullen Crest. She's protected, Ali."
She looks thoughtful. "Good," Ali hums.
"And Edward, can you and the guys preview a new song? This is a group interview," Mark asks.
I look at the guys, and they nod. "Yeah, sure."
"Great. I recall five years ago when I interviewed Cullen for the first time. Man, you guys tore it up overnight. Now I think Bella and her band will turn a few heads."
"We think so, too. She's unique."
"Well, Ali and I had a long talk on the way from the airport." Mark smiles.
"Yeah, she planned the whole thing," I state.
"I loved that she primed Bella all those years Cullen was coming up the ranks," Mark slips. "Oops."
Ali frowns.
Bella turns to her. "You were priming?"
"I wouldn't have used the word, more like watching and waiting," Ali admits.
Bella grins. "For what?"
"The right time." Ali huffs, then sighs. "Bella, I knew you and Edward were made for one another the first minute I met you. Careers aside, you two breathe music the same way. I grew up with him. I know what makes him tick and you have the same mechanisms. Now, I'm going to sit back and just watch things happen from the forces of Cullen and Swan." She crosses her arms over her chest. "It's all yours, Mark."
Bella whispers to Ali, "We'll talk later."
With cameras ready, Mark goes into the intro to his show and introduces Cullen and Swan.
"This is a great house, Edward."
"Thanks. Around the lake, there are four other Cullen homes including my parents. We felt coming back to Forks would be a break from L.A."
"And being close."
"We are. Jazz and I are constantly writing. Now, with the home studio, we'll be experimenting while we're here."
"I have to admit, I had my doubts about your new adventure. Most bands promote themselves, but to start a label for another artist, that's playing Russian roulette."
"I don't believe we'll be shooting ourselves in the foot."
Mark laughs. "After seeing Bella's band, I agree. Are you looking for this old and new world music combination, Bella?"
She answers, "Um, it's not the band's total style. I would hope we are accepted by an eclectic audience. We are rock, but we can bend the melodies into anything."
"So how many instruments do you play?"
She blushes. Everyone laughs.
Garrett boldly guffaws, "OT plays them all."
"I'm trained in strings, brass, woodwind, and percussion," she shyly answers.
Marks smiles. "OT, Garrett?"
"It's a nickname we have for her, One Time."
"She gets it in one time, "Jasper adds. "Edward and I can record her, and every time she does it once."
Ali giggles, "Like Shirley Temple."
Jasper silently mumbles, "# &* , the Shirley Temple thing."
She pokes Jasper in the ribs.
Mark raises his eyebrows. "How's that, Ali?
She spouts an attitude, "One Take Temple was her nickname. Whenever she did a scene, it was in one take."
Mark nods to Bella. "So are you trained?"
"I went to Juilliard, and traveled throughout the world in search of unique instruments."
"Really? Do you have anything different we could hear?" Mark asks.
She nods. "Yeah, I do have something in the back of the studio that's different."
Emmett questions, "That octopus looking thing?
She giggles. "Yeah."
"You're not giving anything away, Bella," Mark kids.
She shakes her head. "Gotta keep all of you in suspense."
Mark smiles at her. "I'll look forward to this." He turns to Edward. "So, man, is it true?"
"Depends on what truth you're asking about?" I say.
"Is the bad boy off the market?"
"I can't say I was ever on the market," I admit.
"Edward, you've been seen with many women," Mark informs.
"Pictures are taken, people stand near me, but it doesn't mean anything. Many times, I looked drunk and out of it." I shrug. "I never drank any liquor or took any drugs."
Bella takes my hand, while Ali watches on with great interest.
"So, it was all an act," Mark insinuates.
"No, no act. It's about the music. I write, I breathe and absorb it. It's what made my day into the night. My own private drug."
"And now?"
I huff. "I realized there was more. There's actually someone else who lives for every sound, every beat, and every possibility."
"Ali mentioned you didn't want people to know that Bella is your girlfriend. Why?"
"I didn't want her labeled. She's talented and deserves a shot. I want people to see her and make that decision and not believe I did it for her. She didn't ask me."
"How do you feel about this, Bella?"
"Very fortunate. My best friend has helped me get everything and more." She smiles at me. "And Edward found my band."
"Cullen only offered auditions. She picked her people. Garrett and Emmett were true guardians while Jasper and Ali made tons of phone calls. We worked together," I say.
Mark asks Bella, "So, how did you pick your band members?"
"There were many talented musicians, but I went by feel; how our personalities connected, if we felt a musical compromise and if the composition flowed. Ria and I hit it off right away. She's creative aside from just the music. That rounds her out. She knows what makes a finish. You know what I mean?" Bella explains.
"How's that?"
Bella inhales, shifts her body to the other side, and crosses her legs. "She can walk into a room, move a chair or open a window, and the atmosphere changes for the better." She shakes her head. "She just knows what's best. And the same goes for Barry. They work in sync with one another and their peers. They generally care about everyone. It's a group thing not a 'them' thing."
Ria clears her throat.
Bella urges, "You want to say something?"
"We just do what we do. Bella makes it easy to follow." She huffs. "We really get one another … like minds. She moved all of us into her house, and we became a family."
Mark laughs.
Bitsy adds, "Ria does all the laundry."
"Yeah, she made my whites whiter," Danny kids.
Everyone laughs.
"You never did my laundry," Emmett complains to Edward.
"Your socks stunk!" I growl.
"Hey, man, that's rude."
Garrett chuckles, "Yeah, they still do."
Emmett raises his hands. "You see what I have to put up with."
Jasper mumbles, "And we didn't pick one another."
"But that's family," Bella says.
I squeeze her hand. "And it works."
Mark continues, "Introduce your other band members."
"Mr. Clean Whites is Danny Newman. He's our lead guitarist, can play a mean sax, and the squeezebox."
"I'm Jewish. I had to play at my Bar Mitzvah," he laments.
Mark commiserates, "Me, too!" They high five.
"Yeah, I traded the accordion in for an electric guitar ten years ago when I was fourteen, and it was a perfect match. My parents moved my practice sessions into the garage."
"We had the same thing," I say.
"But it paid off." Mark nods and looks at Bitsy. "And your last member."
"Bitsy, Elizabeth Burke, is also classically trained," Bella tells Mark.
"Oh, where?"
Bella motions for Bitsy to answer.
"Berklee with a double 'e' in Boston."
Mark jokes, "You pahk ya cah."
"Ya," she giggles.
"And you play?"
"Strings with the concentration on the harp, extended to the piano and the rhythm guitar," she says with pride. "My mom was a cellist for the Boston Pops."
"So, there's your classical influence."
"Ya."
"You chose a diverse group, Bella."
"I think we chose one another."
Ria adds, "Fate."
I add, "A lead-in to one of our new songs."
"Well, let's go hear it." Mark stands and talks to his cameramen, "Let's wrap it up here and film in the studio."
Ben meets us downstairs, sitting at the panel and setting up the sound levels. "I have it set for record, Edward. Both cameras are at each end of the room. Hopefully, their movement won't be a problem."
"This is a test run, Ben. I'm not looking for perfection," I say.
He relaxes taking a deep breath and smirking. "You had me there."
The guys and I move into the studio settling into our instruments. Garrett crashes his Zildjians, and I glare at him. He shrugs with a smirk, and I roll my eyes. Emmett's fingers move quickly up and down the strings boldly pressing each note on his bass. Jasper leans into Gertie and she Patti LaBelle's the high pitches.
I'm at my Roland keyboard ghosting my fingers on each chord.
Ben gives me a heads up, the cameras roll, and we rock.
Edward
Fate
I've always had this direction
Only moving down one road.
Music being my focal point
Living by a simple code.
I don't need any distractions.
I've pushed everything away.
Stuck to my plan and made it big.
We did it with no delays.
Who knew that fate would play its deed
That fate would bring her to me.
Fate in the hands of one I trust.
Fate she knew would truly be.
I've learned not to question ideas
That she promises will work.
She's a tiny force of nature
That easily goes berserk.
Love comes in all different sizes
And she certainly is small
But her bark is a large bite
And how she loves is tall.
Who knew that fate would play its deed
That fate would bring her to me.
Fate in the hands of one I trust.
Fate she knew would truly be.
Fate is the work of an angel
It brings you the good you need.
Fate's what's to be
A guarantee
That you will see
And man, only you can heed.
That fate sure will plant the seed
Ha ha ha ha and succeed.
We draw out that last note. Jasper's fingers low on the strings moving like heat lightning, Emmett's bass booming low, Garrett's cymbals crashing with rolling, rapid sticks, and my high notes exhausting to an end.
Silence.
And I look at Ali smiling in tears.
I stand and gesture for Bella and her gang to set up.
As I walk into the control room, Mark greets with a handshake and half hug. "That was amazing, man."
I nod. "Thanks."
Ali quietly sniffs. "I had no idea."
I lean down, kissing the top of her head. "Best way to thank you."
She hugs me hard. "I'll say."
I sit next to Ben with Mark on my left side.
Through the glass, I watch Bella sit on a producer chair settling her weird octopus thing on her lap.
She explains while the rest of the group test out their instruments and bitsy is beside her with her harp.
"These are Uilleann Pipes." She adjusts a strap to her right wrist and her waist holding a thin rod with holes. "As air pumps through the sack, I can play notes through this slender pipe. Being that this is one of the first Irish bagpipes, we'd like to play an Irish lullaby to do it justice.
Bella sings with an Irish accent, and as she delves into the chorus, the music changes to a rock beat and her sweet, soft voice becomes raspy and bold.
Bella
An Irish Lullaby - Toora Loora Loora
Over in Killarney, many years ago
My mother sang a song to me
in tones so sweet and low
Just a simple little ditty
in her good old Irish way
And I'd give the world if she could sing
that song to me this day
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, hush now, don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, that's an Irish lullaby.
Oft in dreams I wander
to that cot again.
I feel her arms a-hugging me
As when she held me then.
And I hear her voice a-hummin'
to me as in the days of yore,
when she used to rock me fast asleep
outside the cabin door.
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, hush now, don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, that's an Irish lullaby.
The song ends, and Mark jumps up in excitement, "I've got a great idea."
A/N: The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a small set of bellows strapped around the waist and the right arm (in the case of a right-handed player; in the case of a left-handed player the location and orientation of all components are reversed). The bellows not only relieve the player from the effort needed to blow into a bag to maintain pressure, they also allow relatively dry air to power the reeds, reducing the adverse effects of moisture on tuning and longevity. Some pipers can converse or sing while playing.
The uilleann pipes are distinguished from many other forms of bagpipes by their tone and wide range of notes – the chanter has a range of two full octaves, including sharps and flats – together with the unique blend of chanter, drones, and regulators. The regulators are equipped with closed keys that can be opened by the piper's wrist action enabling the piper to play simple chords, giving a rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment as needed. There are also many ornaments based on multiple or single grace notes. The chanter can also be played staccato by resting the bottom of the chanter on the piper's thigh to close off the bottom hole and then open and close only the tone holes required. If one tone hole is closed before the next one is opened, a staccato effect can be created because the sound stops completely when no air can escape at all.
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