Chapter 6

EPOV

I held Bella closely to my chest. I don't know what had come over me but it was like I wanted to protect her. I was just as baffled as she was when I came to hug her. But it was as if a protective feeling came over me. I don't know, maybe I just really liked Bella, as a friend I mean. It's not like I loved her, I was just sympathetic to her feelings. I mean, before she came here, she probably lost someone dear to her or something. Or she got dumped by a boyfriend…anything really. But all I knew was that I needed to know what was wrong.

I just needed to know what was wrong.

She finally drew back from me and wiped her eyes, "I'm so sorry Edward… I didn't mean to…I mean, this isn't what I usually do…or am…it's just a hard time for me now."

I nodded understandingly.

"I get it Bella, I really do."

She nodded her head once again, not knowing what to say, so I said something instead.

"Listen, you need a break from your life, I have a proposition for you. Come with us to LA to our next concert, I know it sounds weird, but if you decide while your there you don't like it we'll pay for a ticket back home for you."

She bit her bottom lip, and stared at the floor.

"Can I?"

"Of course."

She still looked uneasy.

"Well, why? I mean, why are you being so nice again? I don't deserve this, plus, what will I do while we're there?"

"Well, first of all, everybody needs a break now and then; this is the break I'm giving you. And you do deserve this, you've obviously just had a rough time, I'm trying to be sympathetic. Plus, you can help me with the rest of the song, I need help."

She nodded once again, still very uncertain.

"Please." I finally asked.

She looked up at me with her big brown beautiful eyes and I felt I couldn't look away from her penetrating gaze, like she was gazing at my very soul.

"Uh…okay. But only for the song, that is the only reason I'm coming and once the song is done, I will leave."

"But what if I need more help with other songs?"

"Uh…we'll see at the time."

"So is that a deal, will you come?"

"I guess so…yes."

A little party erupted in my heart as she said yes and I felt myself smiling…a lot.

"That's great, at least now we can finally finish the song."

"Uh, yeah, do you mind Edward, if I just go back to my room for today?"

"Uh, okay, but listen, will you be coming to the concert tonight?"

"Uh, I don't have tickets."

I let out a chuckle, "You're coming with us to LA and you're worried about tickets? Listen, get yourself ready for tonight, I'll come round here at five, you better be ready by then, and then we go up to Jaspers room, you can meet the rest of the gang and we'll head off at five-thirty. I'll also give you the details about tomorrow then. Have your suite case ready when I come over by five, because we'll bet getting up at 5am tomorrow."

"Wow, a lot of information, uh, okay, see you at five then."

I nodded my head once then turned around and got into the elevator. I went back up to my floor, and once the doors were opened and I went around the corner of the hall, I saw Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie and Alice all talking in the hallway.

They didn't see me straight away once I came around the corner so I quickly shuffled back and decided to eavesdrop on them.

"Oh, isn't this great," I heard Alice start, "I think Edwards finally got himself a girlfriend. I mean, finally, took him long enough. Oh and did you see how pretty she was?!"

"Yes, but why was she crying when she came out, do you think Edward said something to her?" Jasper asked.

Rosalie continued, "Hmm, well maybe Edward's just not used to dating so he may have said the wrong thing."

I restrained a sarcastic laugh; all of these things they were saying were so idiotic, Bella wasn't my girlfriend.

"I'm happy for him," Emmett's booming voice standing out, "He finally has a girl, and now can stop pretending to think its gross when we kiss."

This time I couldn't restrain myself and I let out a laugh. I slapped my hand over my mouth, but I knew it was too late, they had already heard me.

I stepped out of my hiding place and their heads all snapped to me at once.

Instead of having an apologetic look on my face, I was angry, pure furious.

"I cannot believe that's what you think of me! I cannot believe you think I'm lonely! I was going to tell you who Bella was, but now I think I won't, you'll probably make more stupid jokes about me! Listen, and listen closely, Bella is not my girlfriend. I have hired her for a job and she's coming with us to LA tomorrow.

I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ALWAYS RESORT TO THE WORST TIHNGS FIRST! I should have known you would think she was my girlfriend! Just bugger off!"

I ended up glaring at them as I stormed off into my room, "Edward, wait!" I heard Alice shout out.

"Oh, just piss off!" I replied, slamming the door in her face.

Anger boiled in me and I locked the door harshly, storming into my bedroom and throwing myself on the bed. I heard my door slowly unlock and I groaned as I remembered I had leant Jasper a spare key to my room.

I heard the door open and close again, "GO AWAY!" I yelled into the not so empty lounge area.

Jasper was the only one that entered my room, a soft smile on his face.

"Listen man, sorry, we didn't mean to talk about you like that, it was wrong of us, but the thing is, we're worried about you."

I stuffed my pillow onto my head and moaned, "Well don't be, I'm completely fine!"

"Well, yeah, but we just want you to be happy dude, I mean, we haven't seen you with a girl once, not even before we started practicing in the band! We just want someone special for you…and to tell you the truth, Bella would be a very nice choice!"

"Jesus, Bella is not the one for me."

"So tell me," Jasper said as he sat down on the side of my bed and I sat up too, removing the pillow from my face, "What is it you hired her for? Assistant, photographer, something I'm sure we need." He teased me.

"Lyricist." I replied.

Jaspers jaw dropped as he stared at me in wonder, "WHAT? Edward, you know we only write our own songs!"

"Listen Jazz, I've been losing my edge lately and I haven't been coming up with any good songs! When I first met Bella, she inspired me! I wrote half of the song last night once I met her the first time! Then I offered her the job, which she was so confused as to why I would give it to her. And when she came up here before, we made half of the song Jasper, she made half the song and the lyrics are great! Then she began crying and…"

"Oh yeah, tell me why she was crying."

"I don't know, she, I think she's going through a hard time, like being dumped or having someone close to her die because the lyrics she wrote, well, it felt as if it were her own feelings, it felt as if she was actually describing her life, or times at least."

"Oh, sorry man, I didn't know it was so deep."

"It's alright."

"So, can I see these amazing lyrics?"

I got up and walked into the Lounge area where I got my guitar out and put the note book in front of me.

I played the song to where I was up to, putting my soul into the words.

Once I was finished I looked up at Jasper to hear the judgement.

"Woah, dude, that's like one of the best songs we have ever had!"

"Now you know why I need Bella. Although she said she would only come because of the song, and once it was finished she would leave again…"

I sighed.

Jasper studied my face closely, annoyingly closely.

"You're falling in love with her aren't you?" he said.

I remembered Bella's soft cute smile and her chocolate brown eyes. The way her hair feel across her face neatly and the blush that lit up her face. Oh god, maybe I was falling for her.

"No, of course not, I'm just excited about the song." I half lied, I was excited about the song but my sudden protectiveness over Bella was a bit…strange.

Jasper raised his eyebrows in question, "Oh come on, tell the truth."

"I am!" I snapped at him, annoyed by his persistence.

Jasper raised his hands, palms facing outwards, "Woah, okay, oaky, what ever you say. Just, keep an eye out for feelings will ya?" he said getting up and making his way to the door.

"Yeah, what ever." I scoffed as he left.

I sat there, alone, just thinking.

And hour past by and I had been sitting in the very same spot, again, just thinking. I got up and stretched my poor, cramped muscles. I decided to go over to Jaspers place and play some card games with the rest of the gang, since I had nothing better to do.

I knocked on Jasper room, otherwise known as room 145, waiting for him to open it.

Emmett opened the door, smiling hugely, "Hey man, where you been? I just won over Jasper in wrestling."

I chuckled and entered the room to see that they had cleared a space in the middle of the carpet and Jasper was in the middle of it, lying down and panting.

"That….was…the worst…experience…in my life!" Jasper panted.

I chuckled again, and a grinning Emmett came up next to me.

Alice was glaring at Emmett and helping Jasper up.

"Hey ace, don't give me that look, he did want to wrestle you know!"

Alice rolled her eyes as she got Jasper up with her hidden muscles. I rolled my eyes and looked over at Emmett, "You know, it is an unfair body difference. I bet you if Jasper was more muscley he could easily beat you." I said punching Emmett's arm playfully.

Emmett raised his eyebrows and grinned evilly at me, "Well, what about you? Do you want to have a go at THE Emmett?"

"Hmm, I might just do that." I replied taking off my T-shirt and throwing it to the corner of the room. I was now bare-chested and I stood in the middle of the cleared space as Emmett also took off his top.

"One…two…three."

Emmett charged at me and I swerved around him and attacked him from the back. I brought him down and then he rolled us over and began wrestling me to the floor.

I put my hands around his neck and began pushing him down but he pushed me over with a swipe from one of his huge hands.

We continued fighting for about five more minutes, until…I attacked him from the back and began pushing him down to the floor.

I put all of my strength into pushing him down, and before I knew it, he hit the floor with a thump. I held him in place for five counts and then I was crowned the wrestling champion.

"Oh yeah, what did you say about me getting my butt kicked Emmett?" I asked him, getting off and grabbing my T-shirt from the corner of the room.

"Yeah, yeah. What ever, you just got lucky." Emmett growled, trying to gather up his pride again.

We all started to tease Emmett again as we saw him turn a deep maroon colour.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and I jogged over to it to answer it.

I quickly opened the door and saw Bella standing there, a small smile on her face. I saw she was blushing and looking up at me from under her eyelashes.

"Uh, hi Bella."

"Hey Edward, figured I might find you here."

I realized I was still bare-chested and was holding my T-shirt in hand.

"Uh, sorry, Emmett and I just wrestled."

She let out a small giggle that sounded like wind chimes being rustled about by the wind.

I smiled widely at her, "Sorry Bella, was there anything I could do for you?"

"Well, I figured that I should stop sulking in my room. Sorry, you're obviously busy; I just had nothing better to do. Sorry, I'll let you get back to what ever you were doing."

She was about to turn around and head for the elevator when I grabbed her arm, "Bella, no wait. We're not busy, I mean, you could join us if you want. One extra will mean we have even sides for twister."

She giggled again, turning a light shade of red.

"What so funny?" I inquired.

"I just never knew that rock stars still play twister and wrestle as if they were still in high school!"

I let out a soft chuckle, "You'd be surprised about what us rock stars do. No, well, our gang is very tight. You know Jaspers girlfriend Alice, she's just as much of the group as if she was in the band itself! We're very close."

Bella nodded slowly, looking down sadly.

I knew I had hit a sore point for her; she obviously didn't have quite a good bond with her family. I decided to change the subject, "Please join us. It would be great. We've wanted to play twister since we got here and now that the teams are even…Please Bella."

She bit down on her bottom lip, "I don't know…" but I didn't let her finish her sentence. I dragged her in by her hand and closed the door behind her; she was now in full view of everyone else.

Alice bounded up happily and skipped over to the nervous Bella. She stuck out her hand towards her, "Hey, I'm Alice."

"Bella." She said nervously shaking her hand.

A blush filled her face as she was introduced to everyone.

"Hey, I'm Jasper."

"Hi."

"Hey, I'm Emmett."

"Hi."

"Hey, I'm Rosalie."

"Hi."

All the while shaking each of their hands.

"Uh, is it alright if Bella joins us for twister?" I asked the group.

A deeper shade of red now occupied her face as the agreed to let her join.

I got out the twister and we started playing.

The next two hours and a half were spent playing twister, where we tangled ourselves up and at one point Bella was on top of Emmett how was on top of Jasper who was on top of Rosalie. Then a game of scrabble, Bella winning of course, scrabble freak. Then watching a movie and eating lunch.

"OH MY GOSH!" Alice screamed and jumped up after we had just finished the movie.

"It's four-thirty; we have absolutely no time to get ready!"

"You're not going on stage!" Rosalie scoffed.

"No, but Bella is going to be back stage, and she certainly can't go in those clothes!"

"W-w-what, me?" Bella stuttered pointing to herself.

"Of course silly, I'm going to get you some better clothes, come with me!" Alice said pulling Bella by the hand into her bedroom.

Bella have me a panicked look, "Don't worry Bella, she won't hurt you. At least, not too much!"

"Ugh, I'm going to go get ready." Rosalie said jumping up and heading out the door.

"Ditto." Emmett half ran after Rosalie.

I rolled my eyes, three guesses to what they're going to do.

I got up as well, "Might as well be ready earlier than usual. Those two are going to take a long time mate, I doubt your going to get in there anytime soon." I said to Jasper who rolled his eyes in return.

I chuckled and headed across the hallway into my room. I had a quick shower, washing my hair and face and then stepped out and dried myself. I regarded my outfit carefully, knowing that going on stage with something stupid on would not win any popularity contests. I chuckled as I saw that Alice had already laid a silver striped shirt and red jeans on the bed and a silver buckle belt. She was always looking after my clothing. I quickly put them on and went back in the bathroom to try my hair. It didn't take too long; my hair was extremely easy to dry. I left it messed up with a hint of tidiness, the way I liked it. Happy with my appearance I grabbed my guitar and headed to Jaspers room. I locked my door and was about to walk over to the other side of the hallway to knock on Jaspers door when I heard Emmett behind me, "I wouldn't go in there dude, Alice is doing a complete 101 make over to Bella."

I groaned, "oh come on, does she really have to do this to everyone she meets?"

"You know Alice man, she is not to be messed with!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I said leaning against my door.

"What are we supposed to do while she's 'transforming' Bella." I used air quotation marks for transformation.

Emmett chuckled, "I don't know, Rosalie doesn't want me in our room either, she keeps saying I get in the way of her beautifying herself!"

I let a laugh slip out between her lips, "Oh come on, she's always pretty, do girls always have to make such a fuss over themselves?"

"I agree with you there dude." Emmett nodded.

I slid down my door until I was in a sitting position, one leg stretched out in front of me and the other pulled up. I started absent mindedly strumming my guitar.

The songs changed from Johnny B. Goode by chick Berry, crossroads by cream, Brown sugar by the rolling stones, Statesboro blues by the Allman brother's band and then before I knew it, I was strumming stop and stare, the song Bella and I were working on.

Emmett eyed me suspiciously, "Is that the new…?"

"Shut up." I snapped.

Suddenly, the door to Jaspers room opened and Jasper came stumbling out, looking dazed while the door slammed shut behind him.

"Ouch, getting thrown out of your own room, that must hurt!"

Emmett and I laughed between ourselves, "Shut up." Jasper snapped.

Emmett laughed harder, "What's so funny bout that?" I asked him.

"Jasper sounded just like you when he said shut up!" Emmett said, hardly standing up.

"So, what you do to get thrown out?" I asked Jasper who went and sat down next to me on the floor.

"I, uh, I kinda called Alice's fussing silly."

"Ooooo." Emmett and I said in unison.

You never called Alice's practices silly, well, at least not to her face.

"Well, at least now Emmett and I aren't so alone anymore."

Emmett glared at me then looked up at Jasper, "Hey, I got a sneak peek at Edward's song just now!" he said.

"Oh yeah, well he played me the whole thing! Well at least what he had so far." Jasper shot back, not angrily morel like teasing.

"WHAT?" Emmett glared at me, "Okay, so why did u confide Jasper and Bella to your secret little song and not the rest of us?" he kept up his penetrating gaze.

"Well, Jasper came into talk to me and well, I just showed him. But Bella is my helper and lyricist; you know why she's confided in."

"Awww, come on man, seriously, you're getting further and further away from us, more personal, what the heck is going…" but Emmett was cut off by a dangerous glare from Jasper. I knew there was a catch here I didn't have.

I knew they had been talking about me earlier some time and that there was a subject they wouldn't breach around me. I gave each of them a meaningful gaze.

Then only one motion had my full attention. The turning of a doorknob on Jaspers room door, I knew Alice was ready with Bella. As if she read my thoughts, her head popped out from the crack she had made between the door and the door frame, a smile lighting up her small face. "You ready to see Bella in all her glory."

We all nodded quickly, eager to see what Alice had put her in.

Alice opened the door fully and stepped back to show a different person, a different person to who had been at the door asking for my audience then tried to decline my offer at twister but came anyway. A different person to who had laughed for the two hours with us, a different person indeed.

Bella was suited in identical red jeans only that they had black straps hanging off in some sort of fashion. She had a black and grey large striped tube top on that clung to her curves. Her hair framed her face beautifully and only a light lip gloss and mascara was on her beautiful face. A blush covered her already red cheeks, now I see why Alice hadn't put any blush on her in the first place.

I stuttered, not knowing what to say, and in the end the only word that would come out of my already open mouth was, "Wow."

A deeper blush covered her face as she fiddled with the end of the top.

She looked so beautiful, then Jaspers words hit me from before like a cricket ball,

"You're falling in love with her aren't you he said,

I remembered Bella's soft cute smile and her chocolate brown eyes. The way her hair feel across her face neatly and the blush that lit up her face. Oh god, maybe I was falling for her.

"No, of course not, I'm just excited about the song." I half lied

Was I really falling for Bella? Was that what inspired me before? Love?

I had no idea.

Is Rocker Edward falling for quiet shy Bella? If so, can Bella cope with love and grief for her father at the same time? What will happen? ROund and round the plot must go, but where it ends up, nobody knows! EXCEPT ME! BUt the only way i'm continuing is by reviews people, reviews, reviews and reviews, the only thing that gets me going through the days! please just hit that grey button and review! :) thankyou so much for all the support i've been getting for The Black Keys story, i apreciate it!