First things first, as usual….
Disclaimer: Still don't own anything related to "Twilight" (except the books) or "Funny Face" (except the DVD).
Thank you to my lovely reviewers for your kind words. They keep me inspired. This chapter is even longer than Chapter 2 and I hope ya'll enjoy it. I had fun writing it. Oh, and guess what….you're even getting some BPOV on this one.
Read on!!
EPOV
It was a wonder I was able to get any work done. I had to constantly tell myself to focus on the task at hand but my mind steadily drifted back to Bella and that unbelievable kiss. I somehow finished my work and sent all of the photographs to Alice and Rosalie before heading home. I was completely exhausted after the day we all had so I went straight to bed where all of my dreams centered around Bella. I felt like a man obsessed and I suppose I was. I didn't really need to go into Cullen Designs the next morning but I did anyway. I had a personal project, a personal photo that needed to be developed. I made my way to my studio and got to work. Soon enough I was staring at the photo of an angel. I couldn't help but chuckle at the expression on her face. I had managed to capture it perfectly. I was broken out of my reverie by the loud ringing of my cell phone. I looked at the screen to see it was Alice calling.
"Yes Alice?"
"I need you to come to my office. Where are you?"
"I'm actually in the building, in my studio. "
"Great, get here as soon as possible. Rose and I need your help with something."
"Okay Alice, I'll be there in a few minutes. Is everything okay?"
"Yep, everything is fine. We just need to see you."
"Alright, I'm on my way."
As I made my way to Alice and Rosalie's floor, I was a bit nervous even if Alice said everything was okay. I had no idea what they could possibly need to see me about. I was never really included in print decisions even if I did do all of the photos. There was only one way I was going to find out. Man up and walk through the door.
"Hey girls. What can I do for you?"
"Have a seat Edward," Rosalie said as she patted the seat beside her.
"Alice and I feel awful about what happened yesterday at the bookstore. I mean the shots were perfect, wonderful really, but we feel awful for being so rude and terrifying that poor girl."
"Bella," I corrected her.
"Okay, we feel awful for terrifying Bella, for making such a mess and leaving it behind for her to deal with on her own. Well I know you stayed and tried to help but she still deserves an apology from us."
"That's true but how does this involve me? What do you need me to do?"
"Well, Rose and I want to make it up to her. We just need to get her here. We figure she probably wouldn't just come over if we asked, so we were wondering if you had any ideas on how to get her here minus kidnapping of course. I think she would be even angrier with us then."
"Yeah, kidnapping is not such a good idea and, you're right, she would probably laugh at you and hang up the phone if you asked her to come over. So, that just leaves one option."
"What's that?" They both replied in unison.
"Well, you call the bookstore and talk to the owner. Order some books and ask that Bella deliver them to you and no one else but Bella. I'm sure she wouldn't object if it was for her job."
"Yes, that could work. Alice, why don't you make that call?"
"Wait, before you two get involved in that, I want to show you something in my studio."
They looked at me skeptically but I knew if they could just see the photo of Bella they would be able to see the beauty that was so obvious to me. She was just what they needed to overhaul the magazine.
"Come on, I promise it will be worth it."
"Oh Edward, so very confident in his sexual prowess. Are you dragging us off to your love den?"
"Shut up Rose and get your mind out of the gutter. Stop laughing Alice, it wasn't that funny. Besides, you're my sisters. That's completely gross."
"Adopted sisters Edward dear." They were laughing way too much at Rose's irritating sense of humor.
"Same difference, whatever. It's not that funny at all."
Alice regained her composure a bit and patted me on the shoulder.
"Yes it was. You should have seen the look on your face. You are way too easy to irritate."
"Are you both finished? This is really important to me."
They finally got over their giggle fit and followed me to the studio. I was anxious and excited for their reaction.
"I want to show the two of you and extra photograph I took in the bookstore. It really is the best of them all."
"And we haven't seen it yet?"
"No, I didn't send it up with the others because……" Rose stopped me from finishing my explanation.
"What?! But we've already went to print Edward. How could you keep the best photo from us until now?"
"Calm down Rose. This wasn't for the magazine. Not yet anyway."
They both looked at me with a confused expression as I went to get Bella's photo out of safekeeping. I had blown it up until it was a large print of just Bella's face. I turned it around for them to see and waited for their reactions.
Alice gasped.
"Is that Bella?"
"Yes, I think she would be perfect for the magazine. She has a unique, classic beauty that I haven't seen used in fashion in a long time. I really think she would skyrocket Cullen Designs way past all the other magazines."
Rosalie rolled her eyes and huffed at me.
"Oh please Edward; this is just another one of your attempts to keep from working with Tanya. I mean this girl, Bella, is cute and all but she is not model material."
I could feel my blood boil with rage but, before I could lash out at Rose, Alice spoke up.
"No, he's right. Really look at her Rose. I'm willing to give it a try. She's got a natural beauty she just needs a bit of sprucing up and she'll be perfect."
"She's already perfect as she is Alice. Don't go and ruin her by making her look like the rest of these fake and bake Barbies around here."
Rose looked over at me and smiled wickedly.
"Aw, is our little Eddie in love?"
"Shut it Rose! What are you? Five?"
"Both of you shut it! How about it Rose? You think it's worth a shot?"
"I don't know Al. It's so risky. If we use her for the next cover Tanya will walk out on us for sure. Then if it doesn't work out, if it bombs, we'll be ruined and left without a high profile model to help us come back from humiliation."
"Trust me, Rose. I know it will turn out better than fine. I would never take the chance if I didn't think it would pay off. We have wanted to appeal to the everyday woman and Bella's perfect for that. She's naturally gorgeous and, from my short conversation with her, I can tell she's intelligent and down to earth. The more women can relate to our model and magazine, the more successful we'll be."
I was so happy that Alice saw my side of this but even more happy at the prospect of having Bella around a lot more.
"Okay Alice, if she'll agree to work with us then we'll move forward with her as our cover model for next month's issue. Let's just hope this doesn't all blow up in our faces."
"Great Rose! I know we won't regret this. I just hope she'll say yes. I need to go call the bookstore right now. Oh, Edward! I'm so glad she caught your eye. I will have to give you a big bonus for this."
She hugged me fiercely and patted my cheek before turning to leave.
"Oh, and Edward?" She said as she turned to face me from the doorway with a mischievous smile.
"Yeah Alice?"
"I'm all for inter-office relationships. So I say go for it. I know you've got it bad for this girl."
I wasn't one who normally blushed but I could feel the heat rise in my face. I didn't argue with her though because we both knew it was the truth. I couldn't wait to spend so much time with feisty, sweet, beautiful Bella.
BPOV
"Bella!"
"I'm right here Sue."
"Oh, Bella, we've got an order here that needs to be delivered. Would you be a dear and handle that for me?"
"Sure, no problem. That is strange though. Who orders books from a local bookstore and has it delivered like it's a pizza or something? I wasn't aware we offered that service. Are we going to get a drive-thru window soon because that would be awesome."
Sue laughed and smacked me on the arm.
"Oh hush now. I've done this for someone before. It's just not usually something we have a call for. Anyway, this order is from Alice Cullen of Cullen Designs. Here's the address and the invoice. She can go ahead and pay today or she can pay before the end of the month."
"Wait! What?! Cullen Designs?"
"Yes, it's not a big deal sweetie. Get going."
"But…I….um. Sue…"
"No time for chit-chat child. Get going now. I told her you would be there within the hour."
I reluctantly walked out the door. I climbed in to my ancient truck, setting the books aside and leaned my head back and sighed thinking about the task ahead of me. I was dreading this delivery. These people had been so rude yesterday, well Alice seemed nice, but still they were so rude to destroy the store like that and take off. On the plus side, I might get to see that gorgeous photographer again. Alice had said his name was Edward, a strong, old-fashioned name which seemed to suit him. I took a deep breath and started my old, rumbling monster of a truck to make my way to the Cullen Designs building. I briefly toyed with the idea of going back to Clearwater's and telling Sue I couldn't find the building. That would never work considering it was only six blocks from the bookstore and the most well know building in that area of the city. It took no time at all to arrive in front of the Cullen building. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my nerves and racing heart.
"Come on Swan. Get over it, deliver the books and get out."
Giving myself a pep talk didn't help much but I somehow managed to drag myself out of my truck and to the front doors. Once inside I was in awe of my surroundings. This place was the complete opposite of the bookstore but still absolutely breathtaking. It was all modern lines and sculptures and glass and gold. I was, of course, too busy admiring the architecture than paying attention to where I was walking and slammed right into the mammoth front desk nearly dropping the incredibly heavy books in my arms.
"Oh dear, are you okay?"
I looked up at the kind, older lady at the desk and gave her my best reassuring smile.
"Yes, I'm fine thanks. Just a bit klutzy."
"Oh…well, I'm glad you're okay. Now, is there something I can do for you?"
"Oh….yes. I'm here with a book delivery for Alice Cullen."
"Yes, she told me I was to expect you. Bella Swan? Correct?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Well then, here is your visitor's pass. Take the elevator to the twelfth floor and someone will be waiting for you there."
"Thank you so much."
"No problem dear."
The elevator was impossibly slow which did nothing for my nerves and I was so relieved when the doors finally opened. I stepped out and was nearly trampled by a very enthusiastic Alice Cullen.
"Bella! Hi! I'm so glad you're here! It's great to see you!"
"Um….yeah. Nice to see you too Alice. I have your books and your invoice. Did you want to pay for that now or later? You have until the end of the month, so there's no rush."
"Oh, Bella, stop being so formal. Come to my office, Rosalie and I would like to talk to you."
"Look, I should really get back to the store. I have things to get done and I'm…."
"Nope," Alice interrupted, "I won't take no for an answer. Come on."
She started shoving me toward what I assumed was her office and I knew fighting to leave was a lost cause.
"Rose! She's here!"
Alice finally got me into her office and Rose walked over to us. I was struck by how flawlessly beautiful she was. Both she and Alice looked like they should be on the cover of their own magazine. My self esteem was taking some major hits the longer I stood in this office.
"Hi Bella, I'm Rosalie Hale. Here, let me take those from you."
"Oh, thanks."
Rosalie took the books from me and Alice led me to the couch on the far side of the room.
"Okay, first things first, Rose and I are so sorry about yesterday. We aren't normally so disrespectful. We hope you'll accept our apology."
"Yes Bella, I feel I owe you more of an apology than Alice. I was incredibly rude to you."
"It's okay, really. Thank you both for your apologies they mean a lot. So, this has been great but I'll be on my way now."
I started to lift myself from the couch but was quickly pulled back by Alice.
"Not so fast. Rose let's show her the other reason, the major reason she's here."
I was suddenly terrified and then confused when Rosalie revealed a large picture of me.
"What's going on here?"
"Nothing bad, right Alice?"
"No, nothing bad at all."
"Why are you showing me a picture of myself?"
They turned to each other and smiled before Alice replied to me.
"We have a proposition for you my dear."
Oh God, what have I gotten myself into now?
So, there you have it, Chapter 3! I hope ya'll liked it. I'm not sure how soon I'll get the next update to you but I'll try to get it out soon. I know I've really been spoiling ya'll with three chapters in three days but it won't always work out that way. Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody! I hope 2009 is a wonderful year for all of you! Thanks for reading. Don't forget to review, pretty please?!?!