Edward
"Okay let's run it one more time then I have to go." I brushed the sweat away from my forehead and started twirling my drumsticks between my fingers.
"What's so important about doing your damn laundry? We have a gig next weekend you know." Jasper plucked a couple of strings on his guitar.
"He just wants to see that chick again," Emmett laughed.
"Oh right I forgot. Laundry mat girl." Jasper smiled and looked like he was about to join in on the teasing. I shouldn't have even told them about her. Strange as it seems they pretty much popped a boner at the prospect of me liking a girl. I didn't really date and I didn't really join in on the whole groupie scene of being in a band either. They both thought it was weird but it just wasn't me. I was in it for the music.
"Okay enough." I slammed my sticks together and counted down.
We ran through the song one more time. It wasn't like we needed it or anything; we knew it like the back of our hands. We were a cover band, mostly classic rock. Jasper and I have been working on a few original songs but they just weren't ready yet. And besides despite the whole stigma, I liked being a cover band. I grew up on this music. My Uncle Carlisle was obsessed with it and I guess it rubbed off on me. So did his clothing style and his suggestion of weed as an acceptable extracurricular activity. He always said it was better than any of that hardcore shit that a lot of musicians did. It came from the ground so he just called it the feel good vegetable.
After high school I moved out here with his son Emmett. We honestly didn't have much direction in life so we just bummed around for a while trying to get a band together. Turns out Jasper was looking for the same thing so we just ended up together. We bonded fairly quickly and got an apartment for the three of us. Jasper already had a practice space rented above the car shop where he works so we were set with that and new jobs. I was never so happy that Carlisle took us aside and taught us all that shit about cars when we were younger. I still had a lot to learn but it was easy to pick up and I caught up with the other guys quick enough.
As soon as the last note rang out on Emmett's bass I jumped up and grabbed my laundry bag, which I'd conveniently brought along with me. I didn't want to miss her. Hell I didn't even know if she was coming back this week but I was willing to take a chance. I barely talked to the girl and I was already excited to see her again. I'm a pussy.
"Peace!" I called, pushing the door open.
"And also with you." Emmett bowed and strummed another note.
I laughed and started down the dark street. We lived and practiced fairly close to the laundry mat so I didn't have to go far. I smiled as soon as I saw Bella standing at a washing machine, sorting through her clothes.
"Evening Carmen!" I called, offering a wave her way as I walked in.
"Hey honey! How was practice?"
"Good. You coming to our next show?"
"You know I don't go to those bars Edward."
"What are they too loud for you?"
"No I'm not supposed to. They say I get too rowdy when I mix alcohol with my meds."
If I were fifty years older I would marry this woman. She was like the cool grandma that didn't realize how badass she was. If I was ever having a bad day I'd just come in and talk to her. She always had a way of brightening my day. One time I actually got her to smoke with us.
I walked over to my washer and glanced at the brown haired beauty beside me.
"Hello Bella."
"Edward." She smiled. I noticed she'd already grabbed her licorice supply for the evening.
I went back to sorting my laundry, or I guess what could be considered sorting laundry. I honestly had no idea what I was doing even though I came here so often. I wasn't that guy. I didn't even know you were supposed to separate shit until two months ago and I still didn't do it. If I ran out of room or didn't have enough money, I did smell test. If it smelled alright, it lasted another week. If not, in the washer it goes.
I dug in my pockets for some change and started my washer. Bella was still sorting through her clothes and I didn't understand why girls were so fucking obsessive about clothes. By the looks of it she wasn't as bad as some of the other girls I knew, but they just had so much of it.
I pulled myself up on the washer and started drumming on my knees again. It was a habit; I couldn't help it. Plus drumming was one of the only musical talents that you could practice pretty much anywhere.
"What were you practicing?" Bella asked, handing me a licorice.
I took a few pieces and took a bite. "I'm in a band."
"Oh really? What do you play?"
"It's not obvious?" I took two of the licorice sticks and started playing some imaginary drums.
"Drums. Nice." She smiled and started on another pile of clothes.
"Well I play guitar too and I guess I sing, but in this band I play drums."
"What kind of music do you play?"
"Mostly classic rock." I didn't expect her to know much about it. I barely met a guy who had decent taste in music and most girls I knew only listened to Top 40. But I guess I should have realized that Bella wasn't like most girls.
"Like Journey classic rock, Bad Company, Steve Miller Band, Grand Funk Railroad?"
My jaw dropped to the ground. "You know classic rock?"
"Yeah I don't know why. While everyone else was listening to Britney Spears I was rocking out to Rolling Stones," she shrugged.
"Will you marry me?"
She laughed and shook her head as she dumped the last of her laundry on top of the washer. I almost choked on my licorice when I saw the lace contraption roll out. Definitely the opposite of the parachute panties I saw last week.
"Oh my God…" She whispered, quickly grabbing the lingerie and stuffing it back in her bag. "Dammit Rosalie." She shook her head.
"Who's Rosalie?"
"My roommate." She kept her eyes on her laundry and I had a feeling she was embarrassed. The flush on her face was like a Magic 8 ball screaming, "I'm fucking mortified right now and want to crawl into a dark hole."
"So did you grow up around here?" I chewed on my last piece of licorice.
"With my mom in the suburbs." She nodded.
"And your dad?"
"Um…" She shifted uncomfortably. "Never met him."
"Wow. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I guess if he didn't want me then he doesn't deserve a relationship with me."
"I guess that makes sense. Don't you ever miss him? I mean miss having a dad around?"
"Of course. But my mom would do anything for me so I guess I just have to focus on that." She loaded her things into her washer and hopped up to join me. "What about your parents?"
"Died when I was two. Car accident. I lived with my aunt and uncle growing up."
"Sorry to hear that."
"It's okay. It was a long time ago."
My washer beeped and I transferred my clothes to the nearest dryer. The front door opened as I pulled myself back up onto the washer and a tall blonde stepped in.
"Rose what are you doing here?" Bella said.
"I was bored." The blonde's eyes shot in my direction. "Just wanted to see what you were up to. I'm Rosalie." She smiled and extended her hand to me.
"Edward. So you're the roommate?"
"I see Bella's been talking about me. All bad I hope."
"The worst," I joked.
"Rose you seemed to put some of your…items in my laundry." Bella tried to discreetly hand her the lingerie from earlier.
"Those aren't mine. Those are yours." Rosalie took a licorice and bit of a large piece.
"Rose they are not mine."
"They're yours now. Don't you like them? Let's get a man's opinion." Rose winked and turned towards me. "Edward do you like Bella's new lingerie?" She held up the lacy frock.
"Uh…" As soon as she said that all I could think about was Bella wearing that and I did all I could do not to excuse myself to rub one out in the bathroom. "Yeah. It's sexy," I stuttered.
"See? Edward thinks it's sexy. You're keeping it." Rose threw it back at Bella. "So Edward. What exactly do you do?"
"I work on cars. And I'm in a band."
"Is this one of those things where you say you're in a band to get laid or are you really in a band?"
"I'm really in a band. I play drums." I smiled.
"That's fucking awesome." Rosalie said.
"Most of the time."
"Are you playing anywhere soon?"
"Yeah we actually have a gig next weekend."
"Where at?"
"Bar down the street."
"Maybe we'll stop by."
"Rose," Bella scolded.
"What you don't want to come?" I kinked my eyebrow.
"No it's not that. I just don't want to force you to invite us." She shook her head and started hanging up some of her things. She transferred the rest of them to a dryer.
"Bella," I leaned in close and smirked. "I would really love for you to come see me play next weekend. Will you come?"
"Bella. He wants to know if you'll…come?" Rosalie laughed.
"We'll see," Bella whispered.
"So do you guys have a website or something so we can memorize all your stats like all the other groupies?" Rosalie asked.
"Yeah." I pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled down the address. "Although I'm not really into the groupies." I pushed it over to her and glanced at Bella.
"Pity."
"I've got friends though. Or I guess one friend that's not taken."
"What's his name?"
"Emmett. He plays bass guitar. Jasper's been seeing this girl Alice who works at the bar. She actually helped get us the gig."
"Rose I thought you were going to give the whole dating thing a rest," Bella said.
"Who said anything about dating him?" Rose winked and started towards the door. "See you next weekend Edward!"
"Bye Rose." I took one last licorice before my dryer timer went off. I started throwing my clothes into my bag and closed it up.
"So I'll see you next time?" Bella smiled.
"Uh…actually I won't be here next week. Practice for the gig." I shrugged. I tried to think of a smooth way to do this. I was never one to make the first move and I usually ended up fucking everything up anyway. "So I should probably get your number….just so I can…text you the gig info and everything…" I mumbled, diverting my eyes down to the floor.
"Oh. Okay. Sure."
I pulled out my phone and punched in her number as she rattled it off. I saved it under "Bella" and called it so she would have mine as well.
"If you have a missed call it's from me," I laughed.
"Okay. I'll see you soon then." She offered a slight wave as I threw my bag over my shoulder. I said a quick goodbye to Carmen and headed back to the apartment.
As soon as I walked in I knew they were smoking. I could smell the earthy scent wafting through the apartment and I wanted in.
I set my bag down in my room and followed my nose. Emmett's bedroom door was closed so I assumed they were in there. We barely ever did it in the common areas because we were paranoid about our landlord finding out.
I whipped the door open and Jasper started choking as Emmett screamed.
"Fuck you Edward. You almost gave me a heart attack!" Emmett grasped at his chest and tried to catch his breath.
"You'd think you'd be a little nicer to me considering I just found you a…date for the gig next week." I took the joint from Jasper and sat down.
"Who?"
"Bella and her roommate are coming." I took a long drag and held the smoke in.
"No shit. Is she hot?"
"Blonde. Nice rack. Tan." I grabbed my flask from my back pocket and took a sip.
"Edward are you fucking with me?"
"Not one bit." I took another drag and passed it to Emmett.
"Aw buddy. You're always looking out for me." He put the joint between his lips and jumped into my chair, rubbing his hands roughly through my hair. "What's her name?"
"Rosalie."
Emmett grabbed a cup from the table and held it up. "To Rosalie."
"And Alice," Jasper held up his cup and blew up a cloud of smoke.
"To Bella." I raised my flask and clinked it with their cups.