Dost thine eyes deceive thee?
Look, if you're still here, I'm amazed and flattered. Thank you! I don't know how to assure you that this story is un-hiatusing in any other way than to update again in a few days. I promise, this story is finished. I just need to type it up. It should be complete by the end of the month.
~Apologies in advance for this long author's note. I hate those, so if you don't need to be reminded about what's going on in this story, skip all the bold print.~
Brief recap, wtvoc-style:
Bella is a junior high English teacher. Her favorite student (and nephew of a coworker, Esme) Masen convinces her to take private piano lessons, ten in all, from his older brother as a sweet birthday present. She says yes.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Bella's BFF Angela is getting married, and Bella takes her out for a crazy raunchfest bachelorette party at Singin' in the Rain, a sexed-up piano bar. When Angela the bride-to-be is called to the stage, she chickens out and Bella gallantly steps in as "Angela". She is inebriated and acts most unlike herself, gyrating atop the piano Tawny Kitaen-style, while the sexy green-eyed piano player sings a dirty version of the Beatles and smacks her ass on stage.
Bella is then hit on by the other dirty. He slips her a mickey and the next thing she knows, she's waking up in a strange apartment, sans les vetements. She gathers her stuff and leaves, seeing that she's in Edward Cullen's apartment. O deer. She doesn't remember a thing and assumes that he took advantage of her. Naturally, her birthday dinner thrown by Esme later that night is chock full o'guests, including Edward. He's an ass to her, she's a dick right on back.
Then begins a series of really condescending piano lessons with the Edward, interspersed with mounting sexual tension and Bella's inability to stay away from the piano bar where both Edward, James, and new piano player (the fabulous Garrett and with his tagalong hag Kate) tease poor Bella with increasingly sexualized displays of bravado.
Bella becomes confused by Edward's hot/cold, hot/cold, and becomes determined to show Edward up on the piano, so she enlists James to help her improve her piano skills secretly.
Throw in some hot kisses and wacky banter. Oh, and she finds out that they never had sex.
When last we left these kids (lol in November), Bella had some sense smacked into her by Garrett, who said "you should like, talk to him and stuff." She did, and he was surprisingly pleasant and open. He took her to a record store and told her about his father and how he had died in a car accident while drunk. Bella thinks about this and wonders…
"Edward?" I ventured, nearly kicking myself for my inability to leave well enough alone. "Are… are we… okay? I'm just so confused." Ugh, cringe.
"Your hand is cold." He stuffed my cold hand into his pocket and we walked a block or so before he responded to me.
"Look, I like you. Maybe too much. I just- I have hang-ups and… can we just be?" It sounded like a cop-out, but when I looked up at him, he was staring at me with such intensity that I forgave him. Again. Maybe I was just a sucker for a pretty face.
He continued to look at me so intently that I softened. He was asking me for patience, for time. Was I willing to give it? Hell yes, I was. To an extent. My patience only reached out so far.
I grinned up at him. We were in front of his place by then. He drew my hand from his pocket and pulled out my record, shuffling his feet when I took it. I stood on my tiptoes and lightly kissed the scruff on his chin.
"Thanks for the album," I whispered, and I took off before I could stuff my mouth with my own foot. Or his tongue. Garrett would be disappointed in me.
I would most definitely be going to the bar that night.
Chapter 12
I didn't even bother changing. I came home, dazed, confused, etc. Why is it that when you get answers to the questions you really want answered, more questions pop up? Stupid over-analytical mind.
What issues?
Hang-ups?
Was he bothered by my drinking? I could stop drinking. No more drinking.
And how good is the Dave Clark Five? I put the record on and fell asleep after flipping it for the third time. I woke up and it was dark, my stomach churning because it was empty and because I was looking forward to going to the bar, to seeing him again.
I nibbled on a cookie and checked my phone. Six zillion missed calls from Rose, Alice, and Kate. Several texts, too. They would pick me up at eight. Shit. They were all going. Hell, I'd probably need the support.
At 7:58 Rose and Alice barged in, looking like Fashion Week had descended on the Great State of Washington.
"Is that what we're wearing?" Alice said disdainfully, a garment bag in hand.
"Oh, no, Alice," I said, standing my ground. "I am comfortable. I am also an adult. No more clothing, please." She rolled her eyes and tossed a Lip Glass at me. "At least put on some gloss."
"Do you have something in a smashbox? Mac's too sticky." I could at least give her the makeup. Isn't that what friends are for?
"The boys are meeting us there," Rose offered, popping an entire cookie in her mouth. I groaned and she brushed crumbs from her chest. "What? They want to see this infamous bar. We'll have to be on our best behavior."
"We have best behavior?" I smiled sweetly, smearing on the frosty tube of gloss. Alice chuckled and hopped up on the kitchen table.
"So, how was the lesson?" she asked, her voice at once innocent and suggestive.
"Informative." I wasn't telling his backstory to them. I knew that had been for me and me alone.
"Really. Are we learning all kinds of fingering techniques?"
"What's with the royal 'we'? It's time to go" I groaned, ignoring their identical wicked smiles. We took Alice's cute little car, blaring Ice Cube and knowing all the lyrics. I felt good; I was with my girls, and I was going to see my boy. A boy. Edward. Whatever.
A low sort of thundering hum was emanating from the bar; we lucked out and got decent parking. The bouncer waved us in, giving me a cheeky grin as I passed him. Great. Was I a regular? I think I was a regular.
Garrett was playing, and man, if he weren't gay… He was doing an absolutely delicious and completely indecent version of "Time of the season," his breathy "ahh"s punctuated by an insistent pounding on the keyboard.
"What's your name? Who's your Daddy?" he whispered into the microphone, winking when he saw me and tossing his head in James' direction. James was leaning on the bar and his eyes lit when he saw me. He made a beeline for us and immediately enveloped me in his arms.
"You smell just like sugar," he said in my ear. I giggled and hugged him back.
"And you smell like an irredeemable dirtbag."
"Why, thank you. I have the soap imported from Italy. And who are your beautiful friends? They're from before, right?"
"This is Rosalie and Alice. They're taken," I said. He threw his head back, laughing and putting an arm around me. That's when I noticed Edward sulking in the corner.
"James, get your tight ass up on this stage," Garrett bellowed through the speaker. James finished the drink he was holding in one gulp and the audience erupted in cheers as he strutted up to the piano.
"This one's for the beautiful, big-breasted girls in the back," he said huskily into the mic. "They claim to be taken, but I have big plans for an orgy later." Whoops, laughter. Rose tossed her hair, looking bored. Alice raised an eyebrow and grinned. Emmett appeared out of nowhere, making a move like he was going to charge the stage, but Rose stuck her arm out and sort of clotheslined him.
I saw Edward take a swig of bottled water and put a neutral look on his face. Thanks, Uncle Jimmy. For making my job that much more difficult.
"You knock me off-a my feet now, baby. Hooo!" Oh, man. If ever a guy could rock at some Michael Jackson on the piano, it was James. The audience got into it, clapping and dancing. Even Emmett calmed down enough to bob his head, muttering the lyrics along with James. I noticed Jasper sitting at a nearby table, scribbling into one of his notebooks.
I danced along, thoroughly enjoying James' showmanship for what it was- a guy who just wanted to have fun and to turn girls on. At one point he saw me looking and winked, the crinkles in his eyes infectious as he sang with pure merriment. If he weren't such a horndog, I could envision hanging out with the guy. Eh. It'd probably lead to sex I'd regret in the end.
Almost without my choosing, my eyes sought out Edward. I still didn't know what to think. The guy had reached out to me, sure, but after thinking about it all day, I had come to the conclusion that his story about his father was some sort of cautionary tale. Was he warning me away? Was he distancing himself? Possibly a little of both?
I led the way to Jasper's table, seating myself in between my girls and continuing to dance to the Michael. James finished with a flourish and a set of runs on the keyboard to great applause. He looked over at Edward with a smile and a flick of his head, a line of sweat running down his temple. Like a challenge, almost; Edward strode over to the other piano and set his bottle down.
"I need a fine woman with a hot ass to please come up with a good suggestion," he said, adjusting his headset and settling down at the baby grand.
Rose took the opportunity to sashay her way up front, parting the crowd in that way she had; people always moved for her. Edward's eyes crinkled in recognition, and I saw them flicker up, scanning the crowd.
"He's looking for you," Alice whispered, grabbing my arm and shaking it wildly.
"Be cool, Alice," I laughed. I was giddy; it was truly odd feeling this way. Yes, he was, indeed, looking for me. Our eyes met and he grinned before giving me a two-fingered salute. He then started a jaunty little tune on the piano, giving Rose something to walk in time to. Coming up to the stage, she leaned across his piano and plucked a pen from his pocket; catcalls rang out because, well, the girl had a good ass. She scribbled on a piece of paper and folded it, blotting a kiss along the crease before handing it to Edward.
He took it, a sparkle in his eye, then laughed as he read what she'd written.
"It ain't original, but what the lady wants, I give it to her. And I do it hard, and I do it well." And with that, he ran his hand down the keyboard.
Raucous. Rowdy fucking show-off. I had never been more turned on.
"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain. Too much a-love drives a man insane. You broke my will, but what a thrill."
Goodness, gracious. Great balls of fire.
We chanted with him. Gees, it was almost indecent how sexy he made the already sexed-up song. Way better than Dennis Quaid. He had stood up abruptly, knocking the bench over.
"Kiss me, Baby." His mouth practically caressed the mic. He sucked his lower lip in and I felt my own mouth go dry. "Hmm. Feels good." Garrett had climbed the stage and was to the side of the piano, holding something behind his back. Without breaking his performance, Edward nodded, and just as it was getting to the part where it was the rockin' piano solo thing- oh, my.
Garrett produced a bottle of something brown- whiskey, maybe- and poured it across the piano. Edward was nodding in time to the beat he was banging out, smiling this deliciously evil smile, and then Garrett had a matchbook- piano pounding, the room vibrating, the crowd going insane-
Fwoom.
Flames, lighting up Edward's face, his eyes shining with fire and rimmed with deep green intensity. He bit his lip as the short-lived inferno died.
"Come on, Bella," he sang. Did he just say my name? "You drive me crazy. Goodness, gracious-"
"Great balls of fire." I had whispered it, but I felt like he heard me from all the way across the room. Damn. That was-
"Hot, pun intended." Rose had returned, having to have shoved her way through the crowd. "You're welcome, by the way. Jesus, Bella. The fuck are you waiting for? Get on up there." It seemed like everyone was waiting on me to make a move. I looked toward the stage but Edward had gone, replaced by a somber-looking James, who was busy with a gaggle of girls surrounding him, waving papers and trying to get his attention.
A set of strong hands clasped my shoulders and I was turned bodily. Jasper's voice was at my ear, saying, "Thataway, girl."
I gulped. "Thanks, J." I took a sip of Alice's drink and grimaced- Cosmos, gross- and headed toward Edward, who was at the bar, wiping his hands with a towel.
"Hey," I said when I reached him. "That was-"
"Ridiculous? Showy?" he grinned, mopping his face and tossing the towel at the bartender, who neatly one-handed it before tossing Edward a new water bottle. "Thanks, man. I'm glad you're here," he said to me softly. I looked up into his face, looking for truth to his words- and it was there. aAgentle, gorgeous green, lighting up his face and filling me with a giddy glow.
"Me, too," I grinned back. Wow.
Like that, I felt a shift. A beginning? I could admit now that it was what I wanted.
But I'd need some answers, pronto.
He moved so that his back was leaning against the bar and I followed suit, trying not to be too obvious that I was stealing glances at his face. On the third or fourth time I was totally caught, an impish grin meeting my embarrassed eyes.
"See something you like?"
"You're an ass," I huffed, but I couldn't keep the damned grin off of my face.
"I sure am. Anything you'd like to hear? It's my turn." He stood up and my mind raced; I didn't want him to go just yet.
That didn't mean I'd make it easy on him.
"Yeah. Play the dirtiest fucking ditty you know."
He paused and turned to look at me, and I swear- if expressions could melt fabric, I would've been naked for the rest of my existence. Even the way his nostrils flared as he took a huge breath was turning me on. His mouth turned up at the corner, his one canine longer than the rest of his teeth, and he whispered, "Bella, that's the sexiest thing you've ever said."
Like that, he was gone. I was momentarily stunned, having to hold on to a chair so I didn't fall over.
I had to sort of shake myself back to awareness, and I heard Garrett finishing up a Gaga tune- that one about a disco stick. I chuckled. He would.
Then Edward sat down next to Garrett and bumped him over.
"I was asked by a fine young lady to play the- how did she say it? Dirtiest fucking ditty I know? Well, this one's for you, dirty little girl." He licked his lips and began pounding an insistent beat on the piano.
Man, oh man. Several eyes looked my way- women in the audience who must've been tracking Edward's movements and knew he'd been speaking to me. The combination of their jealous, hating me stink eyes and the song he was singing was probably making me turn three shades of red. Oh God, the song.
I'd never heard it before, and that didn't matter. It was graphic. "I wanna see you come in the middle of the dance floor." Now, I can usually feel the stinging, tingling pricks of a blush, the tickle as all of the capillaries just under the surface of my skin filling with blood and coloring my face. But listening to Edward's soft, sexy growls, his voice caressing my ears, making my head fill with the dirt, the naughty, nasty lyrics…
Move it to the right, move your finger to the left
Since my eyes were trained on him the entire time, I know he never looked my way once. Maybe he was… no, he wouldn't be embarrassed. "Work that clit, come girl"? No. But I was still sort of reeling about the conversation we'd had earlier in the day.
Somewhere between a chorus of "come girl"s and "I'm tryin' to see your pussy wet"s and his cocky grin and dangerously seductive voice… I realized I had a bit of a crush on my piano teacher.
And I could admit it- it had been a while since I'd had a thing for any guy.
The revelation hit me hard and swift, like when someone startles you by turning on a bright, white light.
This changes everything.
I didn't know what to do.
Me. Smart, slightly awkward, and totally mouthy Bella Swan, had a crush on a man. A hot, dirty-talkin', piano-playin' walking contradiction of a man.
I felt like an idiot for not noticing it before. Attraction is one thing. But this…
The song ended to whooping of the female variety and James, not to be outdone, immediately started up with a L'il Kim song I vaguely remembered from ages ago. I sneaked a glance at Edward, who was now surrounded by women, and the stab of jealous, irate rage nearly knocked the wind out of me. Get away from him! I stood there, not knowing what to do.
"You okay?" An amused Garrett was at my elbow, patting my shoulder sympathetically. "Our Eddie. What a romantic." I turned to look at him and I must've had some kind of dumb expression on my face because he continued with, "Oh, my. You don't look so well. What's the matter, sugar plum? The word 'clitoris' a little too much for you?" He led me to a chair and I wanted to protest, to stand on my own; to run and to leave and to find Edward or maybe slap him and then kiss him.
"Look alive, Bella. Here comes Mr. Foul Mouth now." Oh, shit.
"Garrett, I-"
"Be yourself, Bella. That's obviously what the man likes." Garrett was amused. So glad to entertain. With a quick kiss to my hair, he disappeared-
-Leaving me face-to-face with Edward.
"So, how'd I do?" he said, all smirk and bravado. Ten minutes ago, that would have annoyed me. Now, of course, I found it endearing. Ugh.
"Eh," I said, inspecting my fingernails. "You're all talk."
"All… talk?" His brow furrowed in disapproval, but his eyes… they were darker, more challenging. He leaned in and poked my shoulder, his face mere inches from mine. "That really was the filthiest song I know. I save it for special occasions."
"You calling me special?" I huffed. He threw his head back in delight.
"You're a rarity, that's for sure."
"Thanks. I think." I was proud of myself for not acting like a doting schoolgirl. If I recalled correctly, this crush business was hairy work.
"Eddieeeeee," a familiar whine called out. I raised an eyebrow as the silky (did she wax her arm hair?) arms of a Tanya wrapped around Edward's waist. "You are a naughty boy. I have a request." She leaned into his ear and whispered, and maybe I was imagining it, but he pulled away from her grasp and a bit closer to me.
"Sure, Tanya," he laughed. He put a hand on my arm before turning to go. "I'll catch you later." Then he put an arm around the delighted Tanya who gave me an ugly and triumphant look before turning away. I watched the two of them disappear into the crowd and with a slow shake of my head, I left the bar, anxious to get home and ponder this new turn of events.
A few things-
The "dirtiest fucking song you know" is "Play" by David Banner, song recommended to me by jennnnnnnnday. Thank you, doll.
I promise, this will be updated again this week. Check with adifferentforest; I'll most likely update there first because I want you all to check our website out!
Thank you so much for sticking with me. I do love you for it. 3