CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Five, six, seven, eight."
The music started once more and I watched as Audrey went through the first moves one more time. I hadn't seen the whole dance yet but if this short twenty-second piece was any indication of the rest of the dance; I certainly would have my work cut out for me. I was trying to not feel overwhelmed but I swear this is what the celebrities must have felt like the first day of practice on Dancing with the Stars.
They hadn't brought in the whole company yet to show me the whole dance. That would come this afternoon. I had a feeling that Audrey just wanted to get going on teaching me the steps so I wouldn't feel so overwhelmed when I finally did see the rest. The only thought going through my mind was how I was going to remember to dance and sing all at once. I know it was a silly thing to think on. I mean that's like saying you can't walk and chew gum at the same time but you didn't see the moves that Audrey was doing at the moment.
Around two pm; people started to file into the space and warm up for the rehearsal that was set to begin. I stood over on the side with my arms self-consciously crossed over my chest unable to fathom what was about to take place. Seth was able to get me the performance on CD so I could start listening to it and learning my part earlier that week. I had been listening to it my car ever since.
"Guess who?" I felt two hands come up behind me and cover my eyes. The voice sounded familiar but I was still unsure. I pulled back to reveal Mike Newton and his high wattage smile.
"Mike? What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Who did you think was going to be your costar?" he laughed.
"Wait…you were going to do this performance with Tanya Denali?"
He smirked. "Let me just say how relieved I am that you are here in her place." He replied.
I bet. Tanya and Mike dated for almost four years and their break up was rather messy. Tanya didn't take to well to being broken up with even if she did cheat on Mike. I imagine that Mike would have rather done this performance with an angered pit bull over Tanya.
"Why did you agree to do this if you knew Tanya was supposed to be performing with you?"
"I didn't. I signed my contract and then they introduced to me my dance partner. That first couples of rehearsals were rough. I think the choreographers were ready to ring our necks. So so much drama. Of course Warner Bros. tried to make out the great publicity it would be for both of our careers and we were supposed to play nice with one another and give hope to the public that we would be getting back together but somewhere there was a god looking out for me."
"I wouldn't start ceasing your prayers too soon there. I am not the best dancer and I have a feeling that this could be disastrous." I said unsure of myself.
"Well, I'm just looking forward to the kiss at the end. BTW…I use tongue." He tried being suave and I cringed.
"Uh well…B.T. W. I bite." I threatened.
He started laughing.
"Mike, we are ready for you. I want to go through the whole thing once so we can show Bella what we are going to be doing. Okay?" Audrey had interrupted us thankfully and pulled Mike away.
My stomach dropped by the time they were done with the whole performance and suddenly all those words I had spit at Embry when he was in my position seemed to want to bite me in the ass. I knew I needed to look at it as one thing at a time but I was soooo overwhelmed.
By the time I arrived home; my body felt like it had been used as a crash test dummy. Every inch hurt and all I was focused on was getting up the stairs and into a bath. The hot bath did everything right for me and I was so exhausted I fell to sleep quickly.
I awoke briefly to Edward pulling me up and out of the bathtub. I felt him carry me against his chest over to our bed as he dried me off and placed some clothes on me. I was lifted up once more and placed between the sheets and a soft kiss placed on my forehead.
"I love you baby. Sweet dreams."
I think I managed a small smile from Edward's vocal affections but it didn't take much for me to float off into dreamland after that.
The next morning I forced myself to be more positive even though I had to wake up at six am. I was never much of a morning person. Famished from not eating dinner the previous night; I made myself some breakfast before heading off to the studio.
Day two didn't go so bad but I had a hard time trusting myself to be picked up and caught. I was still struggling with ideas that I was too heavy to be picked up by anyone and I felt a tad bit embarrassed for my co-performers on having to be saddled with this task. Tanya was the perfect size and I was just imagining what was running through these guys minds when they had to pick me up instead.
Seth made sure to schedule our rehearsal schedule around Edward's and my Wedding Wishes consultation. I told Audrey that I would be back as soon as possible. The wedding place was in Beverly Hills so the drive wasn't too bad and I even managed to beat Edward there.
I was unable to change clothes from my rehearsal gear and felt a tad bit weird entering the Wilshire location looking like I had just gone on a run but I had no choice. Giving myself a last-minute spritz of Calvin Klein in the car I sent Edward a text letting him know I had arrived. Timidly I entered the very posh building.
"Wedding Wishes, this is Emily how may I direct your call? One moment please." A young girl sat at the receptionist desk as I slowly approached. She looked up at me and smiled.
"Uh..hi…I am here for an appointment. My fiancé is on his way." I managed.
"Hello, Miranda is just finishing up a consolation; she will be with you in a moment. Would like something to drink while you wait?" she answered sweetly.
"I'm fine." I backed my way up to a stone gray velvet couch and placed myself upon it. I looked around nervously. I don't know why but I almost felt like I was getting ready for a rectal exam.
"There are some magazines there if you'd like? Or do you already have something in mind?" she asked.
"Uh…well…I don't have the first clue of what I want. I never really saw myself doing all this. I never really saw any guy wanting to be with me enough to make such a commitment. I wasn't one to play wedding Barbie as a kid." I probably gave her way too much information but being nervous did that to me.
Emily got up from her desk and walked over to me. "Well, when you close your eyes do you picture yourself in a church or on a beach or in a garden?"
I closed my eyes. "I don't see anything." I responded after a moment. "I think I just picture a lot of people. My fiancé wants to invite the world practically."
"Hmmm, if you don't mind me asking what was your first date like?"
I smiled instantly thinking back to that moment. "Perfect."
"It must have been you should see yourself." She laughed softly.
"Edward made me dinner and he took me to the top of his house and it overlooked the lake, the sun was just setting. There were thousands of twinkle lights. I still feel happy when I see twinkle lights." I admitted.
"You could…have a huge canopy made from sheer material and twinkle lights and you and your guests could dance all night under it. There are even some places where you can see stars in Los Angeles, if you could imagine."
"I wish we could get married in Italy where we fell in love." I replied softly.
"Well who says you can't?" she asked.
"I can't imagine doing that to my family and friends. I think it would be a lot of work to get them all there and it would be quite expensive." I shook my head throwing away that idea.
"There are places that have an Italian feel to them. Maybe you should think of a vineyard. Especially in Santa Barbara or Napa there are a lot of vineyards that make for great locations as well as having that Italian feel to them."
"Really? That sounds nice. Um…I'm sorry are you a wedding coördinator? You seem very good at your job." I praised.
"Oh…no I am a wedding coördinator assistant. I have a couple more years before I can do that but someday. Planning a wedding I know some people think it is just about the most stressful time in a person's life but I love doing it because when the day comes and you see the couple and all the happiness laid out for their future. All the hopes and dreams come true, it's magical."
"Emily, why aren't you at your desk." A woman charged out from an office. Emily jumped up and went back around to her seat.
"Sorry, I just had some questions. It was my fault." I tried taking the blame hoping I could spare Emily trouble. The woman stopped in her spot and quickly appraised me. She looked irritated at my clothing choices but then like a bell went off she realized who I was under the garb.
"Oh, you must be Bella." She put on the charm.
Edward walked in right then. "I am so sorry I'm late baby. There was an accident on Wilshire; I had to cut around using Santa Monica. It was a nightmare." He kissed me briefly.
"Hey honey."
"Mr. Cullen, I'm Miranda. I will be handling your consultation today." She held out a hand to shake. "Kristen will be joining us as well. She is the owner of the company. Would you like to come to my office?"
I felt uncomfortable with Miranda. I could feel the fakeness just roll off her and that wasn't because she had yet to really introduce herself to me. We followed Miranda into her office and took our seats.
"Would you care for something to drink? A latte? Soda? Water?" she offered.
"Bella." Edward looked to me.
"I'm fine."
"Don't you want some water to help you stay hydrated since you need to go back to rehearsals later?" he pushed.
"Okay, I guess." I agreed.
"Two waters would be great. Thank you." He replied.
Miranda quickly left to go and fetch.
"What's the matter?" Edward asked quickly.
"Nothing." I replied looking around the room.
"Bella, I can tell something is wrong. I read you like a book."
"I…just…feel…"
"Here we are." Miranda interrupted us to hand us two bottles of water. "I would like to introduce you to Kristen."
Kristen came over and shook our hands. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Cullen, Miss Swan." She walked over to sit behind the desk and Miranda was left to awkwardly stand by.
"So, have you two talked about what you wanted your wedding to be? Here at Wedding Wishes, it is our hope to help make all your wishes a reality" Kristen started.
"Uh…not too much yet. I just want my fiancé to feel the least amount of stress possible." Edward began. "We picked a date in February and I think that we are just hoping that our wedding coördinator can work within our time constraints and be able to deliver what we want."
"What date in February?" Miranda asked.
"February thirteenth." I replied.
Both girls looked down at the calendar before them.
"But that's on a Friday." Miranda stated.
"I know. Friday the thirteenth." I smiled.
"Okay. Well I'm sure most locations will have that date open. I don't see a lot of people rushing to get married on a bad luck date." Miranda answered.
"It's not bad luck. I happen to like the date." I swiftly responded.
I could feel a challenge begin. I could tell that even though Edward could apparently read me like a book he didn't seem to have the faintest idea of the pissing match that was about to start.
"It's right before Valentine's day. How romantic." Kristen cut in sensing some tension.
"Whatever my honey wants; I plan to see she gets it." Edward smiled and squeezed my hand.
"Of course Mr. Cullen." Kristen smiled back, "So, Bella…what do you want?"
I sat there for a moment looking around. "I…I was wondering if I would be able to pick my wedding coördinator if uh…Edward and I decide to go with your company."
"Well, Miranda is the best. She can help you with whatever it is you wish to have." Kristen stated and Miranda stood a little taller.
"I mean no disrespect. I am sure that you are great at your job Miranda but I know that I would feel much better if Emily could be my coördinator. I feel comfortable with her and she just vibes well with me and that's important to me."
Miranda's job nearly dropped to the floor, "But she's just an assistant. She wouldn't know the first thing about being able to provide you with proper service."
"Seeing how I too was once just an assistant, I know that assistants sometimes have a pretty good handle on how to do our bosses jobs sometimes even better than our bosses. Remember honey, when you couldn't even figure out how to do a standard budget sheet?" I smiled over to Edward.
Edward looked so confused as to what was going on.
"I assure you Mr. Cullen and Miss Swan that Miranda really is the best coördinator I have. I know that she could help fulfill every request." Kristen tried to steer us back on path but I wasn't planning on jumping on board so soon.
"I have spoken to Emily about some of my wishes and she has already helped immensely. I know it's important to my fiancé that I feel confident and comfortable with the person who will be helping us. I am requesting Emily for the position but if you don't think that you can accommodate such a request then I'm sure there are other establishments who can." I replied confident.
I was probably sounding like such a bitch to Edward but if I really was about to leave this huge life event in someone's hands I wanted to be able to trust that someone. I had a feeling that Lucy may have some splaining to do later.
"Mr. Cullen, I can assure you that I am up to the task." Miranda was trying to make a last attempt plea. She brought out the big guns with having just the right amount of moisture in her eyes that usually worked when swaying a man.
"If Bella is happy with Emily then so am I. Can I meet Emily?" He asked and I squeezed his hand in appreciation that he was so willing to stand beside me in this.
"Uh…of course." Kristen jumped up from out of her chair. I had a feeling she was ready to do anything to keep what I am sure she must have thought could potentially be her largest commission this year. She quickly went over to the door and opened it calling out Emily's name.
"Can you come in here for a moment, Emily?"
"Yes but I am trying to speak to Creative Dining Creations and they just put me on hold." Emily explained.
"Miranda, can you speak to the vendor please." Kristen looked over to Miranda. Stiffly Miranda left to man the phones and Emily came in with a small smile on her face probably unsure of what I had just signed her up for.
"Emily, I'd like you to meet Mr. Cullen. I take it you have already met Miss Swan." Kristen introduced. Emily shook Mr. Cullen's hand…uh I mean Edward's hand.
"Nice to meet you Emily. You must have really helped inspire my fiancé, she hasn't really told me a thing of what she wants for our wedding." Edward smiled warmly to her.
"Well, I just asked her a couple of questions and tried to give her some ideas since she didn't seem to know what she wanted yet."
"Emily, Miss Swan has requested you to be her wedding coördinator. I have explained that you are still in training but she is quite resolved. Do you think you could be up to the task?" Kristen looked to her. I think Emily's eyes may have just bugged out. She turned to look at me.
"How bout it? You already know what I like? I really need someone I can trust to help make our day magical." I asked.
"You want me? I'm not really qualified yet. I…I think Miranda would be much more equip to handle such an important event." She said softly.
"You seem more than qualified. I have faith in you." I added.
"Emily you would have the full support of the staff here since we know how significant this event is going to be." Kristen looked to her.
"Okay. I will work incredibly hard for you. I promise." The smile on her face said it all.
After a couple more questions I really needed to get out of there and back to rehearsal. Emily said she would be in contact with us to go over some more ideas and I told her that it would have to wait until after December seventh so we set up a time on the ninth. The second that Edward and I exited the building he was ready.
"Okay, what the hell just happened in there?"
"What?" I asked trying to remain oblivious.
"Don't what me. I'm serious Bella. I felt like I was watching a cage match."
"What's a cage match?" I asked.
"Bella." Edward said with warning.
I sighed, "I came in and I had a very nice chat with Emily and it's like she got me. I didn't have the foggiest clue what I even wanted in a wedding. I'm not one of those girls who have it all planned out in my mind. To be honest, I was scared coming here today and she helped me. You weren't around and I felt like she was able to talk me off a ledge."
"Does getting married really make you scared that much?" Edward looked concerned.
"Getting married? No. But having a wedding does. I know that there are going to be a lot of people and a lot of decisions and I feel like everyone will be watching me. You're used to being the center of attention. I'm not quite there yet."
"Well…would you share with me what you shared with Emily? You haven't told me what your ideas are."
"No. As romantic and sweet as it is that you want to make all my wedding wishes come true I have a feeling you would go overboard." I laughed.
"Bella, that's not fair. I'm going to be your husband you should be able to tell me these things."
"I had an idea and Emily helped put a realistic spin on it so I will tell you some things that we came up with later. I have to get back to work." I squeezed his hand one more time and give him a quick peck.
"All right, I'm going to hold you to that. Can I take you to dinner tonight?" Edward asked.
"I have a feeling that I will be exhausted again. Rain check?"
"I grab take out but I want you to eat before you go to sleep again. I'm not happy with the quantity of your food intake at the moment."
"Edward…quantity of my food intake?" I smirked. "You are just too much sometimes."
Edward pulled me closer. My face just inches from his. "I love you, soon to be Mrs. Cullen." Gently he caressed his lips with mine and slowly the kiss became more and more intense. Suddenly a snap was heard and we quickly turned to see that we had been caught by the paparazzi.
"Have you picked a date?" One man shouted.
"When are you getting married?"
Edward pulled me by the hand and ushered me over to the car. "I'll see you at home, my love. Have a good rehearsal."
Edward shut my door and made a path for me to get out before returning to his car. I could just imagine the headlines. Me in my workout clothes, Edward looking hotter than ever kissing in front of a wedding boutique. Charlotte popped up into my head and suddenly I felt guilty for being annoyed. She had to deal with far worse then I. I couldn't imagine what she and Peter must be going through and it made me wonder if as a human race we would ever evolve into a peaceful society. Somehow I think not.
I was able to get back to the rehearsal after been gone for an hour and a half and try to pick up where I left off. We worked until six pm and I managed to limp over to my gym bag ready to get home.
"Bella, can I talk to you for a minute?"
I cringed when I heard Seth trying to get my attention from behind me.
"Why do I feel like you are always the bearer of bad news?" I asked.
Seth smiled widely at my assessment, "Oh Bella, what are you talking about I am the bearer of opportunity. And I come with more opportunities."
"Seth, no. I can't do anymore right now. I need to focus on this performance. No new performances or music videos. I need to do one project at a time for a little while."
"This isn't a music video or a performance. I think we need to get you a little more exposed and so I have been talking with the morning talk show The Onion. They want you to come on and be a guest host next Thursday."
The Onion was this wildly popular morning show in which a group of woman sat around discussing the latest high interest topics. The thing that made them unique was that besides the three woman who were always on the panel they would rotate out a guest host every day which always kept it interesting. I had only seen a couple of episodes myself mainly because I couldn't stand a bunch of Betty's sitting around gabbing, with each one trying to be louder than the next one. The panel was made up of three woman; Daisy who was the nice one, Danielle who was middle of the road and then there was Missy.
It feels weird writing this part of my story. I know from anyone who watched what happened when I guested on the Onion probably couldn't wait to hear what I was going to say regarding this moment in my life. I will honestly say that I wasn't a big fan of Missy even before I went on the show. I guess when I agreed to do the promotion of my album by filing in the fourth seat at the panel I just thought that as long as she played nice so would I. Missy was opinionated…I guess that's the nice way of putting it. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for opinionated people. My belief has always been I will respect your right to have whatever opinion or belief you want to have but you do need to respect that I am allowed the same opportunity to have whatever opinion or belief I want to have. Oh and don't ever try to mess with my family. As many interviewers learned from that fateful day, I tend to become very vocal on issues regarding the people in my life.
Even though the interview turned out somewhat disastrous, if given the chance to go back and either not go on the show or change what I said; I think I would still choose the disaster.
AN: Thank you so much for your reviews; you make it easy to inspire me. Hope you all had a good weekend. Thank you for reading and reviewing!