Standard Disclaimer – I don't own Twilight or any of the characters from the story. All song selections have been provided by me amazing beta, NoWayWithWords. She is the greatest! She has set up a YouTube Playlist that includes the songs chosen for the chapters. If you would like to check it out, see my profile for the link.
The song for this chapter is "Big Machine" by The Goo Goo Dolls.
Chapter 28 – Freeze Frame
I walked through the doors of the airport again for what felt like the 100th time in the past two months. I sighed and headed for the kiosk so I could do the quick check in and head to the security gate. I was not flying first class on this trip and I had a twenty minute layover sometime in the middle of the night. I fully expected this to be the trip from hell, yet somehow I was expected to look refreshed and beautiful for a photo shoot when I arrived in New York. I had no idea how I was going to pull that off.
Since I wasn't flying first class, I couldn't wait for my plane in the private lounge. I had to wait at the gate with the other passengers. Some lady was completely ignoring her three hell-raising kids and working on her knitting while they were running all over the place, screaming and throwing things at each other. I sat there envisioning the flight attendant slipping them those little bottles of alcohol to knock them out for the night since their mother refused to parent them. When the youngest one hit an especially ear splitting scream, I thought I was going to have to get up and ask to be moved to a different flight or risk having my eardrums ruptured. There was no way I was going to be able to deal with a cross-country flight with those kids acting crazy like that.
I reached into my carry on and pulled out my iPod hoping that I could find some music to distract myself. I sat it for shuffle and closed my eyes as the mellow tunes of Nat King Cole swirled around in my head. I had just about reached a zen-like state when the loudspeaker kicked on announcing that the plane and just arrived and would be offloading passengers shortly. People started rustling around and grabbing their things while others crowded around the gate waiting for their rows to be called so they could board. The lady with the kids ignored everyone and kept knitting while her kids continued wreaking havoc.
The doors opened and people from the arriving flight started exiting the plane. I remained seated, because I knew it was going to be a little while before my row was called. They loaded the plane from back to front and I was in row 10. Once everyone was off the plane, the captain got off and another one got on. I watched as they passed each other without even a glance. I looked around at the other passengers and thought about how none of them seemed to look at each other either. It made me think about something that Garrett had told me so long ago. "Don't make eye contact. It encourages people to approach you." I started questioning whether that was a good thing or not. Out of curiosity, I looked up at the lady sitting across from me. She wasn't looking at me at first. When she finally made eye contact with me, she quickly looked away. I wondered why at first, and then I noticed the magazine she was reading had my picture in it. I couldn't read what it said, but I was mentioned somehow or they wouldn't have put my picture on the page.
They started calling rows to board the plane. Once half the people got onboard, I put away my iPod and got up. When I stood up, people started whispering and pointing. By the time I got in line people started calling my name and asking if they could take my picture. As I was trying get on the plane, people were trying to get me to give them autographs. As I stepped onto the plane, a flight attendant pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to upgrade to first class because the flight was completely full in the regular seats, but they had three first class seats open. She thought it would be beneficial if I moved to the front so the other passengers would settle down and get some sleep. I thanked her and took one of the open first class seats.
As the lady with the kids stepped into the plane, the flight attendant directed her to row 11. Those kids would have been sitting directly behind me. With my luck, they probably would have kicked my seat the entire flight and I would have had to pull some kind of ninja move to reach back behind my seat and smack them on the top of their heads.
Once everyone settled down and the flight took off, I settled into my seat and closed my eyes, but I couldn't get to sleep. I pulled the sky mall magazine out of the seat pocket and started looking at all the cool stuff. The flight attendant came by a few minutes later and offered me a drink. I asked for a diet coke and a blanket. She came back a few minutes later with both. I made a point to look her in the eye and smile when I thanked her. Her face lit up when she smiled back at me. This made me feel good. She came back a few more times to offer me snacks or drinks.
By the end of the flight, I had just about decided that Garrett was full of shit. As far as I could tell, looking people in the eye and smiling got you much better service and made people happy. Why wouldn't someone want to do that? Why shouldn't we show each other simple human kindness? As the flight was about to land, the flight attendant came by to collect my trash and tell me to put my tray in the upright position. When I handed her my trash she slipped me a folded napkin with her phone number on it and a note that said "I'm only going to be in town for 48 hours. Call me."
She thought I was trying to pick her up! I couldn't believe it! As the plane landed and taxied down the runway, I tried to come up with a nice way of telling her that I wasn't interested. I contemplated not saying anything to her at all, but I didn't want her to be sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring. I was all too familiar with that scenario. I contemplated telling her that I wasn't into women, but then I didn't want to read something into it that wasn't there and I didn't want to come across as being homophobic. Instead I decided on a direct approach. As I got up to exit the plane, she gave me an excited smile. I stopped and said, "Do I need to get my luggage from baggage claim before I catch my connecting flight to New York, in 20 minutes, or will the airline transfer my luggage to the right plane?"
The sparkle died out in her eyes as she said, "You can go directly to your connecting flight. Don't worry about your luggage. It will make it onto the plane."
I thanked her and got off the plane. I mentally apologized to Garrett for thinking he was an idiot and didn't make eye contact the rest of the time I was in the airport.
The flight to New York was just as crowded as the first flight. This time the first class section was also full so I had to sit in my assigned seat. Thankfully, everyone fell asleep as they got settled. I dozed off when the plane took off and did manage to get a couple of hours sleep, but I was still dead on my feet when the plane landed. I quickly touched up my makeup and ran a brush through my hair before climbing off the plane and heading for baggage claim. I found an elderly man holding a sign that said Alice Records, so I approached him. He helped me load my luggage into the back of a white limousine then held the door open for me. Once inside, I stretched across the seats and fell asleep.
I don't know how long he drove me around before we arrived at Laurent's studio. It was long enough that I had a little drool at the corner of my mouth, but not long enough for me to have an imprint from the seat on the side of my face, thank God. He carried my luggage inside for me and waited until Laurent let me in.
Laurent Bovia was a flamboyant French photographer with a mess of long dreadlocks, dark skin, and a thin outline of a mustache. He was wearing purple skinny jeans, a white ruffled poet's shirt and shiny black ankle boots with pointy toes and low heels. He looked just as artsy as Jasper made him sound.
He looked me up and down with a scrunched up nose and said, "You look like hell. What am I supposed to do with you?"
I stood there for a moment and then said, "I've spent the entire night stuffed in a plane or sitting on hard seats at the airport. I feel like hell. I need some sleep and I need some breakfast, but Jasper told me that this is the only time you could see me, so here I am."
He turned his back and walked away, leaving the door open behind him, "I guess you had better come in then. I'm sure my sweet boy must think you have something worth working with or he wouldn't have sent you to me, though lord only knows what it is." He glanced over his shoulder at me again.
The driver set my luggage inside the door and excused himself. A young muscular guy wearing nothing but a pair of spandex shorts came into the room and handed Laurent the phone.
Laurent eyed him up and down before taking the phone from his hand and holding it to his ear. "Yes… She's here… She looks like shit. I hope you are not wasting my time, Jasper. You know how valuable my time is… OK, I'll see what I can do, but I can't make any promises… Fine, fine. I'll call you later and let you know what I come up with."
He hung up the phone and said, "Girl, put your clothes on the rack." He pointed to a rack of clothes with some empty hangers on it.
I dragged my luggage over to the rack and started unloading and hanging the clothes, as he instructed. Once I had everything hung up, he came over and looked them over. He cringed and rolled his eyes a few times. At one time, he made a sound like he found bugs crawling on something. I had to fight to keep myself from telling him to stop being such a fucking sissy. Finally he turned to me and said, "Ok, let's see what we have to work with. Take off your clothes. I need to see all the flaws that I will need to hide or touch up in my photos."
I kicked off my sandals and pulled my shirt up over my head. I had just started undoing my pants when he said, "Good, you're not a stupid shy girl. You can put your shirt back on. I was just testing you."
I wanted to hit him, but I remained silent.
Laurent said, "So, Jasper tells me that you are a musician. I don't know you. Tell me about your music. Play me something you are famous for."
I pulled my iPod out of my purse and found my CD. Alice had insisted I load my CD onto my iPod before the tour, just in case I needed to use it as a refresher if I froze up. I thought it was stupid, but I had plenty of space, so I didn't argue.
I selected Dirty Boy and handed it to him. He listened for a minute and said, "I don't like this type of music, but I like the words. It reminds me of myself. Sexy. You, on the other hand, are not so sexy. You look like a good girl." He made a face like that was a bad thing. "Jasper tells me your next album is going to be titled Stockings and Pearls. Is this right?"
"Yes. That's correct."
"Do you have a song that has that name?"
"No, not yet."
"So, there is a story behind this name, yes?" He looked intrigued.
I thought about what Jasper warned me. "It is a quote I liked."
"What is the quote? How does it go?"
"You're every boy's fantasy in stockings and pearls."
Laurent thought about it and said, "I like it. We will go with fantasies as our theme for the day. First, we need hair and makeup. You go upstairs and shower. I will send Mario out to get breakfast."
He pointed to some stairs, so I headed that direction. When I got to the top of the stairs, I found the guy in the shorts sprawled out on an overstuffed couch watching TV. He looked up at me briefly then went back to his TV show.
I found the bathroom and stepped into the shower. There were a variety of different bottles in there, so I climbed in the shower and started looking through them. I found some body wash that was decent, so I used that. I was looking at the shampoo when Laurent came strolling into the bathroom with a tall red headed lady.
"Victoria, see what you can do with her hair. Bella, darling, don't bother washing your hair. Victoria is going to take care of that for you. Do you need a razor?"
"No thank you. I just waxed a few days ago. I should be fine."
"Good. I hate having to mess with hairy women," Laurent huffed as he turned and walked out of the bathroom, leaving the woman behind.
She stood there for a moment and then said, "Use the black bottle on the right."
I held up the shampoo she suggested. "This one?"
"Yes. Wash your hair and then come back downstairs with your hair up in a towel. You can wear the robe on the back of the door if you like."
She turned and walked out of the bathroom leaving the door open. I quickly washed my hair, like she instructed, dried myself off, put on the robe, and then headed downstairs with my hair twisted up in a towel. I found Victoria and Laurent looking through my clothes again. They appeared to be coming up with a game plan. When they saw me, Victoria came over and led me to a small room lined with makeup tables. She put some gunk in my hair and played around with it for a little while before she was happy. She then moved me to another station so she could apply makeup to me. She made me look like an innocent little kid. Just as she was finishing up, Laurent brought in my jeans and t-shirt.
"Do you mind if we mess these up a little more?"
"No, go right ahead."
He pulled a large pair of scissors out of his back pocket and hacked the legs of the jeans off, turning them into short shorts. He made a few holes in the t-shirt then pulled on them to make them larger. He used the scissors to fray the bottom of the shorts so that strings were hanging down a little. He handed me a push up bra and said, "Here, put these on." I stepped into the shorts and put on the bra and carefully pulled the shirt over my head. Laurent reached into a drawer and pulled out a stapler. He came around behind me and pulled the t-shirt tight, and placed a few staples in the back. It now looked like it was practically painted on and you could see little bits of skin through the random holes. He unbuttoned my shorts and said, "Leave them hanging open like that. Now go put on those filthy shoes. No socks. Leave them untied."
He walked off and went to play with some props. He spread a tan drop cloth onto the ground, sprinkled it with hay and placed a bale of hay in the middle of it. He also pulled a saddle out of a closet and set it beside the hay bale. He looked at me then back at the hay and decided to get rid of the saddle and replace it with a few dirty looking car parts. He shouted, "Victoria, she's working on the car. Fix her!"
Victoria came running over and applied makeup to a few places to make me look dirty. By the time she was done, Laurent handed me a tool and told me to pretend I was working on a carburetor. I told him that I didn't even know what a carburetor was. He laughed and said, "Neither do I, honey, but they tell me that that's what that thing is. Pretend to fix it."
I fiddled with the piece of equipment for a few minutes while he took pictures. He finally had me set it aside and kick back in the hay like I was relaxing. He moved me around a little and adjusted some lights as he took several more pictures. When he was happy with those, he sent me to Victoria to get cleaned up. She used some special baby wipes to get the makeup off then applied a fresh coat. This time Laurent brought me the corset and panties set.
"Put these on," he said as he tossed them to me and left the room. I held it up and looked it over.
"Umm. Victoria, I've never actually worn one of these before. Do you think you can give me a hand?""
"Sure thing, darling, first we have to loosen up all these ties so you can hook it in the front, then I'll tighten them in the back for you."
I did as she told me. I couldn't believe there were so many strings on that thing. I wrapped it around me and hooked all the tiny little hooks on the front. Once I had them hooked up, Victoria started working the strings starting at the bottom and working her way to the top. She kept pulling tighter and tighter as she went. By the time she was done, my waist looked like it was microscopic and my boobs looked huge!
Laurent came in and said, "Take off the panties and put these on instead." He handed me the shiny black spandex pants that Rosalie was letting me borrow. It felt kind of weird wearing someone else's pants with no panties on, but I didn't want to argue, so I did it anyway. I told myself that I would make sure and offer to buy Rose a new pair if she had a problem with it.
Laurent decorated me with some jewelry and gave me some black heels to wear. He had Victoria darken my makeup a little and then said, "Come on, we are going for a walk on the street."
He picked up a camera, changed out a lens, and said, "Follow me."
We walked down the street to a busy intersection. People were staring at me and I felt half naked. Laurent said, "Take a right and go down the block. I will follow behind. Try to shake your ass a little while you walk and only look back at me when I tell you. Now go!"
I turned the corner and started walking. The street was crowded. People were walking around in suits on their way to work. They were gawking at me. I could hear Laurent's camera behind me. The wind picked up and blew in my face. Laurent called, "Look."
I looked back over my shoulder and gave him a smirk because I was feeling kind of sassy at that moment. Instead of turning back forward, I did and little spin and winked at him then went back to walking forward.
"Perfect. Now I want you to sit on those steps over there," Laurent yelled and pointed in the direction he wanted me.
I walked over to the stairs in front of a dingy building and took a seat. Laurent positioned me in several different ways and took my pictures. When he was done, he said, "Come, let's go back. Mario should have food now."
Laurent took a few pictures of me walking from the front as we walked back. He gave me instructions like, "Look sexy" and "Pretend you're a tiger."
I thought he was an idiot. I even gave him my best "Stop being so stupid" look. He took pictures of that too.
When we got back, Victoria helped me get out of the corset and then we all sat down and ate breakfast. Mario, the guy in the shorts, had picked up bagels and cream cheese, fruit, juice, coffee, and biscotti. I ate a bagel with some fruit. The coffee was too strong for me, so I stuck with juice, but the biscotti was delicious. I made a mental note to pick up some of those to take home with me.
After breakfast we started working with different outfits. He had me try on a few different things, but he wasn't satisfied with them. He liked the fringe dress and had me dance around in it while he took pictures. He said he liked the movement. By mid afternoon, Laurent had gone through just about all of the clothes I had brought with me. We had taken all kinds of pictures and I was getting exhausted. I needed a nap but I knew that there was no way he was going to let me get away with that.
Laurent instructed Victoria to give me an "up-do" so she dragged me back into her little magic room of mirrors. She sprayed my hair and started curling it into ringlets. I could hear movement in the other room, but I didn't know what was going on. It took almost an hour for her to get all of my hair curled and pinned in an elegant pile on top of my head. She left a few thin ringlets hanging here and there in random spots and framing my face. She did some kind of magic with my makeup so I looked radiant and beautiful.
Laurent came in and handed me my cream stockings and the robe. "Here, put these on. I have an idea for your album cover."
I slipped the hose on and wrapped myself in the robe. When I came out into the studio, a large bed was set up with satin sheets, the color of milk chocolate. Beside the bed was an antique looking make-up mirror with an old padded stool covered in faded tapestry. Laurent instructed me to sit on the stool, facing the mirror. He adjusted the tilt of the mirror so he could see my face in the reflection while standing behind me. He told me to take off the robe so I was sitting there naked, with my back to him. He draped a piece of cream colored satin low around my hips and hung long strands of pearls around my neck so that they were draping and different lengths down my back, but looked like a thick choker in the front. He adjusted the pearls and made sure the satin was just right before he backed up and messed with the mirror again.
He took a few shots and then adjusted the lighting and took them again. He told me to lift one of my legs up and pretend I was adjusting my stocking. He took pictures of that. Finally he instructed me to wrap the satin around myself and go sit on the bed. I when he looked at the brown of my hair with the brown of the satin, he shouted at Mario to change the sheets. He decided that pale pink would look good, so Mario went to work changing the sheets while we waited. Once Laurent was happy with everything, he had me climb under the sheets.
He took pictures of me sitting up and holding the sheets in front of me. He took some of me lying down on my side, with my leg sticking out from under the sheets. He took a couple of me lying on my stomach, with the sheets draped just barely over my butt. The ones he liked the most were of me lying on my back with the sheet coming up between my legs, coving my boobs. He played with a few different angles and placement of my legs. He then took some of me on my back, propped up on my elbows, with my head hanging back and my ankles crossed in the air. He liked those the best. He even messed up my hair a little and took a few more like that.
Finally he announced, "I think I'm done with you. I'll develop the proofs and send them to Jasper with my recommendations. I'm sure he will tell you see the ones he chooses. I will destroy anything that is crap, so don't worry about that. When I get back from Paris, I will get with Jasper so we can discuss what he plans on doing with the shots he has chosen."
"Thank you, Laurent. I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to do this for me."
"I didn't do this for you. I did it for Jasper."
"Thanks anyway," I said as I stepped into some of my own clothes and started repacking my things. Mario came down as I finished packing and offered to carry my bags across the street to my room for me. I thanked him and took him up on his offer. I expected him to put on a shirt and some pants to cover up the bulge that was not being well hidden by his shorts, but he didn't. He just picked up the luggage and headed out the door, so I grabbed my purse and followed after him.
I thought about what Jasper had said about having guys in my room, so I had Mario leave the bag at the front desk while I got checked into my room. Mario almost stopped traffic when he left the hotel and jogged across the street, back to the studio. He wasn't the brightest light bulb in the pack, but he sure was pretty.
Once I got settled into my room, I pulled all of the pins out of my hair and took another shower to get all the goop off. It was shortly after 5 in the evening when I got dressed and decided to spend some time seeing the city. I picked up a map at the concierge desk and got some dinner recommendations. I decided on a little Italian place, so the guy at the desk called in a reservation and got me a taxi. The area where the restaurant was located was full of funky little shops, so I did some walking around and window shopping while I waited for my reservation. I found a nice purse that was on sale and picked up a nice teal green heavy sweater on clearance. I knew I would be happy to have it come winter time. It fit me snugly and came down to mid-thigh, so I also picked up a belt to wear with it.
At another store, I found an adorable little doll house that I thought would be perfect for Lucy's room, but I stopped myself from even going in and looking at it because I didn't know when or if I was going to end up with her. I did write down the name of the shop, in case I wanted to find out about having it shipped to me later.
Dinner was delicious. The wait staff was exceptionally eager to assist me. Before I left, I posed for pictures and signed autographs for each one of them. As I was leaving the restaurant, I ran into a familiar face.
"Well, well, if it isn't Bella Swan."
"James, I didn't expect to see you here."
"I'm a reporter, Bella. I travel all over the place. What are you doing here in New York? Are you playing somewhere around here?"
"No, I'm just here for the day. I had a photo shoot that just wrapped up. I fly home first thing in the morning. How long are you here?"
"I flew in this morning, waiting on your boyfriend, Edward Cullen. He should be back in the states sometime this evening. I'm sure that's the real reason you're here, so there's no point denying it."
"Actually, I had no idea he was coming back so soon. I expected him to be gone for a few more months."
James laughed; it made an ugly sound. "Bella, when are you going to give up the innocent act? You know that he's coming back for a long weekend then going back again. That's why you're here, after all. You came to spend the weekend with Edward. Where are you two going to be staying? You might as well tell me, I'm just going to follow you there anyway."
"James, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not here to see Edward. I haven't even spoken to Edward in quite some time, so don't follow me if you're expecting to find him."
James laughed and said, "I really hate when people lie to my face, especially when they are so easily proven wrong. I happen to have phone records that show that you have spoken to Edward several times since he's left."
I realized he was talking about my conversations with Esme. That would mean that he knew both mine and Edward's cell phone numbers. I was sure there were some kind of privacy laws that were being breached, but I wasn't sure. I decided ask Rosalie about it when I got home. In the meantime, I would just go on about my business and not worry about this asshole.
"Believe what you want to believe, James. I can promise you that I am not here to see Edward Cullen. Now, if you will excuse me, I really need to get going. I have a lot of sleep to catch up on before my flight in the morning."
I turned and walked down to the corner where a taxi was waiting and climbed in. I gave him the name and address of my hotel and then set back to think about what I just learned. Could Edward really be arriving in New York today? What would he be doing here? Is this just a stop on his way to LA? How long would he be back in the country? Would he finally call me? I doubted it. The hollowness started clawing at my chest and I knew I had to stop wasting my energy thinking about Edward. After all, our time together had only been a fling for him.
When the taxi arrived back at my hotel, I went inside and headed straight to my room. I put down my bags and turned on the TV. I flipped through the channels for a few minutes and then decided to call it a night. It was only 8:30, but I'd had very little sleep the night before and I was dealing with horrible jet lag, so I was beat.
I woke sometime in the middle of the night to the sound of my cell phone ringing. I reached over and answered it just before it went to voicemail. "Hello?" My voice was rough. There was no mistaking that fact that I was asleep.
"Bella? Are you sleeping? Shit. I didn't think to check the time difference."
I sat up so quickly, I got dizzy. "Edward?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I can call some other time," he apologized.
"No!" I shouted, then calmed myself and said, "No, this is fine. I just went to bed early, that's all. Where are you?"
"I'm at the airport in New York. I have a three hour layover before my connecting flight to LA. I'm going home for my mom's birthday. She told me you bought a house in Seattle. Have you moved in yet?"
"No, it needs a lot of work. Right now there are profanities spray painted on the walls and the only working toilet is out in the garage."
"Oh, so you're still at your Dad's. I didn't wake him too, did I?"
"No, I'm in New York, actually. I flew in this morning for a photo shoot. I took the red eye to get here and hardly slept at all. The photo shoot lasted until shortly after five, so I grabbed some dinner and came back to my room to catch up on some sleep."
"I can't believe you're actually here in New York. That's great! I have some time to kill. Do you mind if Peter and I stop by?"
My heart missed a few beats before I found my voice. "Sure, but be warned, the reporter from hell, James Dawson, is looking for you. He thinks you are flying in to meet me for a long weekend. I wouldn't doubt if he is parked outside my hotel as we speak awaiting your arrival."
"Which hotel are you at?"
I told him where I was staying and the room number. He said he would be here in 15 minutes, so I quickly got up and put something on. I put on just a touch of makeup, so I didn't look dead, and tried to do something with my hair. I ended up putting it up in a loose bun because it was just too frizzy to deal with and then I changed my clothes again, so I was wearing something that looked good with my hair. That led me to putting on a little more makeup.
I was debating on whether or not I should wear shoes when I heard a knock on my door. I took a deep breath and then opened the door. Edward and Peter were standing in the hallway. Edward had on a baseball cap and was trying not to look like himself while Peter stood casually beside him.
"Edward. Peter. Please come in. It's not anything special, I'm afraid."
They stepped inside and looked around. The room was tiny. All it had was a bed, a small dresser with an old TV on top and a tiny restroom. There was one lamp in the corner that cast a dim light in the room. Peter peeked out of the curtains and said, "Lovely view of the alley."
I shrugged, "I didn't even notice the window, to be honest. I was just interested in the bed. So, how have you two been? How is the tour going?"
Edward looked like he was extremely uncomfortable. He looked around again and took a seat on the corner of the bed. "It's been okay, I guess. The bus is horrible. The roads are horrible. The driver is insane. The security sucks. Everyone is on everyone else's nerves. Marcus and Heidi almost called off their wedding. Aro and Gianna have mentioned the word divorce a couple of times. But other than that, it's going okay. How did your shows go? Mom said they went well."
"I think they turned out pretty good. I had a great time. Nothing horrible happened. I just haven't had a break yet. Do you remember me telling you about the little girl that I met in Disney World?"
Edward shook his head. "Honestly... No."
"Well, I met a little girl in Disney World. She's three years old. I've been keeping in contact with her foster parents and spent some time with her down in Florida. Her mother is thinking about letting me adopt her."
"Why would her mother do that?" Peter asked.
I told them Lucy's story and then pulled up a picture of her on my cell phone for them to see. Peter seemed genuinely interested and complemented her beauty. Edward looked like he was sick to his stomach and ready to run. He only glanced at her briefly before he said, "She's cute" and handed me back the phone.
We sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment then I asked, "So, how is Jane?"
Edward shrugged his shoulders again, "She's part of the reason I'm back in town. I fired her and now she's suing me. I have to give a deposition on my side of the story while I'm here."
I tried to keep the look of shock from my face. "What is she accusing you of?"
"She says that I didn't pay her as much as the other girls because she refused to sleep with me. Of course that's a load of shit. I never wanted to sleep with her. That's the reason I had to fire her. She wouldn't stop coming onto me. She even tried to climb up on me when I was sleeping on the bus with everyone else around us. I opened my eyes and she was straddling me and trying to get my shorts open. I shoved her bony ass onto the floor, so she got pissed and started screaming at me. This woke everyone up. When she noticed that everyone was looking at her, she started saying that I was begging her to fuck me. When Aro mouthed off and said that she must have been dreaming it, because that surely wouldn't happen in real life, she started pouting and refused to talk to any of us. She didn't even come out on stage the next night. I pulled her aside and told her that I would never have sex with her, so she needed to get that through her thick skull. I also told her that she was there to do a job and not throw hissy fits. I made it perfectly clear that I was deducting her pay for the performance that she missed and warned her that if she pulled a stunt like that again that I would fire her."
"What did she do?"
"Well, she acted like a total bitch to everyone, of course, and then she came out on stage but refused to sing. After the show, she said that her mic wasn't working, but it was working fine when we tested it before and after the show. I called her out on her bullshit and told her that I was going to pay for her flight back to LA and deduct it from her pay. She screamed and threatened to call her lawyer and then call her uncle, who is a big shot at my record company, but I didn't care. I drug her ass to the airport and stuck her on a flight home."
I was picking at a loose thread on the corner of her blanket when I said, "So… You're not seeing her… romantically?"
Edward's head shot up as he looked at me. I couldn't see the expression on his face because I was focusing on the blanket, "What makes you think that I would ever have anything to do with her romantically?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess it's just something I saw on the internet."
Peter started laughing. I turned to him and said, "What's so funny, Peter?"
He came over and sat so that his back was against the headboard. "The two of you. That's what's funny. Rather than talk to each other, you both believe the bullshit you see on the internet. You know if you actually tried to communicate for a change, I think you might not be so fucking miserable. Well, I don't know if you're miserable, but he sure as hell is."
Edward snapped, "Shut the fuck up, Peter. You've said enough."
Peter put his hands up and said, "I've only said what needed to be said. You two have to take it from here. Just keep in mind that we have to leave in 45 minutes."
We sat in silence for a minute trying to figure out where to start. Finally Edward said, "You looked me up on the internet?"
I nodded my head. "Yes. It was a site that tells where celebrities are. It said that you and Jane had a romantic time in Paris together and showed a picture of the two of you holding hands and walking. Jane was smiling."
Edward said, "Jane was drunk and I was dragging her ass out of a bar trying to get her loaded up on the bus. She had been drinking too much champagne. What else did the website say?"
"That you were hanging out in a brothel in Amsterdam and that you were doing drugs again."
He shook his head. "I learned my lesson a long time ago. I will never get involved with drugs again. I can promise you that that is not even close to being true. As far as the brothel goes, it was the only place I could find that would let me reload minutes on the disposable cell phone I bought. I was trying to pay my bill but the guy behind the counter was having problems running my credit card. After nearly half an hour, he realized that someone was on the phone sex line, which apparently is the same line the credit card machine is on, so I had to wait for some jackass to get off at some ridiculous by-the-minute charge before I could pay my fucking bill. While I was in there, I talked to my mom on the phone."
"You looked like shit in the pictures."
He laughed. "You try sleeping sitting up in an overcrowded bus every night for months. The only time I have been able to sleep in a real bed was in Amsterdam and even then the hotel was overbooked, so I had to share a room with Peter and Demetri. The room had two double beds, so the three of us had to share."
Peter laughed and said, "On top of that, Demetri was a mess because Caius had to go back to Australia."
I couldn't help but laugh at the image Peter described. "That sounds horrible. I bet you're looking forward to sleeping in your own bed tonight."
Edward smiled and said, "I can't wait."
We sat in silence for a few minutes then Peter tapped his watch, hinting that our time was limited. Edward took a deep breath before asking, "So, are you seeing anyone?"
"No, why? Did you see something on the internet?"
Edward nodded and started picking at his nails. "According to the website I was on, you've been spending a lot of time down in Florida with a DJ. The two of you were all over each other at a club and there were pictures of you going up to the guy's room."
"I have been spending a lot of time in Florida, but not with the DJ. I've been spending it with Lucy. I was trying to get to know her. I've been going to the prison and visiting her mother, too. While I was down there, I agreed to do some radio station interviews. One of the stations held a dinner and private party for me and 50 fans. Those pictures were probably taken of me dancing with the DJ. He was nice enough to let me change in his room. Emmett was there with us the entire time. I changed in the bathroom while Emmett hung out talking to him in the bedroom. Believe me, nothing happened. Honestly, I don't even remember the guy's name."
"What about the other DJ? The one on your tour."
"I don't know who you're talking about," I said honestly.
"There were some pictures of you snuggled up with a black guy in a bar. In the pictures, I could see you were sitting with other people, but I didn't know who they were."
"Oh, you must be talking about Jordan. He hosted one the shows. He was a nice guy. He sang Dirty Boy with me, but it was the clean radio version," I added. "After the show, he took us all out to a bar for drinks. He tried talking to me, and I'm sure he was interested, but I pretty much ignored him. Eventually he took the hint and focused on the rest of the band. He never even touched me."
Edward looked at me and asked bluntly, "Are you that big guy you're always hanging around with, Bella?"
I looked him directly in the eyes and said, "That's Emmett McCarty. He's my security. No, I'm not, Edward. Why do you care? You haven't even bothered calling until today. It's been months. You didn't even tell me goodbye. You just left a note that practically said, 'It's been fun. See you around.' How was I supposed to take that, Edward? Was there some hidden code in the note that said that you give a rat's ass about what I was going to be doing or who I might be seeing while you're gone? Because I sure as hell didn't see it."
Edward looked confused, "Wait a minute. I told you…"
Peter sat up and was paying close attention to our conversation. Apparently he wasn't familiar with this part of the story. I marched over to my purse and pulled out the wadded up piece of paper and smoothed it out. "Let me help you refresh your memory. Your letter said, and I quote:
Bella,
Sorry I couldn't stay. I had to get to the airport, but I wanted to say thanks for joining me on this leg of my tour. I enjoyed performing with you. Maybe we'll do it again someday. Good luck with the rest of your shows.
Edward
"Which lines am I supposed to read between that say anything remotely indicating that you care? Is it in the 'Maybe we'll do it again someday,' because my brain keeps getting stuck on the 'maybe' part. Oh, it might be hidden in 'I enjoyed performing with you' because I can't seem to get past the 'performing' part of that sentence."
I struggled to keep a grip on my emotions as the color drained from Edward's face.
A/N: I hate leave you hanging like this, but this chapter is really getting long. Their conversation will continue again this weekend….
Before I run, I wanted to thank all of you for the support and encouragement. It really made me feel better. I hope you all had a great New Years. Sorry I have to run. I'll will probably be able to post the next chapter on Saturday.