When I write, some of these "scenes" play in my head like a movie. And, more often that not, they come with a soundtrack. When this scene was writing itself, this was the only song that fit. Please don't laugh at the fact that I'm using this song. Chuckle, yes; laugh, no. I'm begging. Especially when you see that Edward, not the good ol' Jo Bros (who I don't even like), "wrote" this song. We all know that's not true, but for today and the sake of this story, it is. Okay. Read away. And I will get over my horrible embarrassment. :)

Gaelyn, once again, beta'd the living daylights out of this. She is super fantastic.
LupsandTnks also cast a watchful eye over this, too. She picks up things that I would never in a million years catch. Amazing.

And, finally, thanks to everyone who left me reviews! It totally made my morning when I got up and saw I had almost 30 emails about reviews and alerts. Ya'll are awesome. :)

PS—all this goodness is Stephenie Meyer's. Not mine.

Chapter 7—Gotta Find You

I need to try to get to where you are
Could it be you're not that far?
Jonas Brothers—Gotta Find You

Edward's POV

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­It couldn't be. Of all the places for her to be? This party? The one place I never thought to look—our shows.

Oh, it was. It was definitely her. She was sitting at a table with a plate of food she wasn't touching. I was disappointed to see that she was sitting with the long haired guy she was with at the game.

She was more gorgeous than I remembered. Her top was some weird shade of blue—or was it green?—and seemed to be somehow tied together with a few thin, silk strings. It looked incredible on her. That electric feeling was still there; was it possible it had gotten stronger?

Her expression changed three times before I could look away. At first she looked elated, like she couldn't believe her luck. It quickly turned to anger. I couldn't understand why. Finally, she looked hurt. She looked over at the guy sitting beside her stuffing his face. He was oblivious as to what was going on. She looked back at me. I'm sure I looked as surprised as I felt.

"Edward, are we gonna play?" Emmett's confused voice floated over his drums to me.

My trance was broken. "Um, yeah. Sorry." He could read that something was off in my face. He asked with his eyes what was wrong. "She's here!" I hissed at him. I didn't need to explain who "she" was.

"What? Where?" He made a move to stand up and look for her. I turned back to the crowd, angling my body slightly so I could face her directly, and started playing. I didn't care if it wasn't the song we were supposed to play next. I didn't care that neither Emmett nor Peter, our bassist, had parts to play in the song. She had to know. And, I was going to try and tell her. Emmett was the only one who knew the song because he heard me play it in the apartment. Over and over.

"Edward, what are you doing? I don't know this!" Peter sounded slightly panicked. I ignored him and kept playing.

Emmett heard Peter's remarks. "Dude, just follow his lead. Don't worry about it."

No matter how many times I had played the song—her song, really—over the past two months, nothing prepared me for this moment. I started to sing; all of the emotion I had been keeping inside poured into the song.

Every time I think I'm closer to the heart
Of what it means to know just who I am
I think I've finally found a better place to start
But no one ever seems to understand

She was still looking at me as if I were the only person in the room. God, her eyes! I could get lost in her eyes. She was listening. I was pleading with her to understand what I was saying. I hardly noticed when Emmett and Peter picked up the beat and started to play along.

You're the voice I hear inside my head
The reason that I'm singing
I need to find you
I gotta find you

Suddenly, her face lit up in comprehension. She blushed a the deepest shade of scarlet I'd ever seen and turned her face away to hide her embarrassment behind a wall of her brown hair. Slowly, she peeked around the wall she'd made at me. She gave me a little smile of understanding and acceptance. It better than anything I could have hoped for.

You're the missing piece I need
The song inside of me
I need to find you
I gotta find you

Her date's phone rang. She saw him answer it, but turned her focus back to me. He hung up quickly and said something to her. Distracted, she leaned into him to hear what he was saying, eyes still on me. He grabbed her shoulder and gave it a little shake to get her attention. She looked at him. He was pale and his hands were shaking. He said something to her causing her eyes to get huge and well with tears. She tried to cover her horrified expression with her hand.

Been feeling lost
Can't find the words to say
Spendin' all my time stuck in yesterday
Where you are is where I wanna be
Oh next to you, and you next to me

The date stood up. She went to follow, but he pushed her back into the seat. Mad, she shook him off, grabbed her purse, and started after him. At the door, she paused as if she were trying to make up her mind. She looked back at me, gave me an apologetic look and walked through the door just as I finished playing. I stood there in disbelief.

"I don't know if I can take another month of you acting like a lovesick fool, Edward. Go after her!" Emmett was right. I wasn't letting her go again.

I put my guitar down and started to hop off the stage when Emmett called after me. "Edward, her name is Bella."

"What?" I whipped around to face him.

"Her name is Bella."

I was confused. "How do you know that?"

"Really, does that matter right now? You'd better go or they'll be gone!"

I mumbled my thanks and jumped off the stage and ran after her.

As soon as I opened the door, I was assaulted with a blast of cold air. My first thought was that Bella didn't have a jacket.

There were people everywhere. It was still early and the bars hadn't started to close yet. I strained to see over the crowds to find Bella.

I don't know how Emmett figured out her name, but I needed to make sure I thanked him for it later.

There was a parking deck a couple of blocks away from the bar. I headed that direction in the assumption they had parked there. I still didn't see her. Finally, I saw the guy she was with break away from the crowded sidewalk and turn into an alleyway. He was holding Bella's hand, somewhat pulling him along behind her. She kept looking over her shoulder, back the way they had come. I could only hope she was looking back to where she left me.

"Bella!" I called her name in an effort to get her attention. She immediately turned towards me, finding my voice. A brief look of determination flashed across her tear stained face. She slowed down and pulled on the guy's arm. He stopped. She leaned into him and said something, pointing behind her. He threw his arms in the air and said something to Bella. God help him if he started yelling at her. I wouldn't be able to control myself. She just glared at him holding her ground against what ever he'd said to her, arms crossed. Finally, he nodded and walked down the alley. She turned toward where I was standing, in the middle of the sidewalk, blocking traffic. She took a breath deep enough for me to see and started towards me. I still hadn't moved. She never took her brown eyes off me.

It didn't take her long to reach were I was standing. She stopped in front of me leaving only a sliver of space between us. I wanted to touch her so bad I was in pain. Hesitantly, she placed her hands on the sides of my waist. I felt them as if they were all over my body. It sent a different type of pain throughout my system.

"Your song was beautiful. Thank you." She was speaking so softly I wouldn't have heard her had she been standing any further away from me. She offered me a timid smile. Her voice matched her perfectly.

I brushed a stray strand of hair off of her face, allowing my fingers to trace along her cheek. "You're welcome," I said, meaning it. My hand came to rest on the side of her neck. She leaned into it savoring the touch with her eyes closed.

I wanted to kiss her so badly I could hardly stand it. She was so warm, even though she had on that strappy shirt with no jacket. I'm sure my eyes were giving away my desire. I wouldn't be able to resist much longer.

Suddenly, Bella reached up and pulled me down to her, her hand behind my neck. My mouth was on hers before I had a chance to think. My arms instinctively wound behind her back, pulling her into me. I couldn't get her close enough. I kissed her hungrily. Hands tangled in my hair, she answered back. Her tongue made little flicks at my lower lip, and I allowed her in. My teeth caught her lower lip and I gently pulled it into my mouth; she arched herself into me and let out a small moan. I held her tighter. I never wanted this moment to end.

Before I was done, she pushed away and turned to walk away. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. I leaned down and kissed the side of her neck. She tilted her head to the other side and allowed me to leave a trail of kisses along her neck… her jaw… and finally, on her soft and somewhat swollen lips. This time, our kiss was so sweet and gentle my knees went weak. I could hardly stand. The hunger was gone, replaced with a sense of tenderness.

"Bella! We've got to go!" A booming voice called from behind us. She immediately froze.

"I've got to go," she said, loosening her hold on me.

"Stay, Bella, stay with me." I was pleading, but didn't care. I wasn't going to let her go, not now. Not after this. "Please."

She released me. "I can't, I'm sorry." Her voice was thick and, once again, her eyes were full of tears. "I've got to go." She kissed me one last time, a quick one, full of goodbye. She turned and fled.