CHAPTER SEVEN
It's an hour drive from Lake Bracciano into the heart of Rome. Call time for was set for six a.m., which meant we needed to leave the house by five. It wouldn't have mattered if call time was at two in the morning, with all the anticipation for my first day, I couldn't sleep a wink. Around three am I went downstairs and had my first Espresso, by five I was on my third and was pretty much bouncing around the house like Tigger on speed. Edward came down the stairs at 4:30 and caught me rearranging all the silverware in the kitchen.
"Bella how long have you been up?" he asked hesitantly.
"Well technically I never went down, however I came down I mean like down here like as in downstairs around three and decided that all the silverware should be arranged differently but then I realized after that perhaps you wouldn't want all your silverware rearranged and so I have spent the last hour cleaning and putting them back in their respective places." I was talking inhumanly fast.
"Um Bella, just how many of those espressos did you have?" Edward questioned.
"Three. Why?"
"I think from now on you should treat the espresso machine like a bottle of whiskey. You're going a mile a minute, what's going to happen around two pm? You're going to crash. I need you to be alert when on set, which means you need to get the proper eight hours of sleep…"
I cut him off, "I couldn't sleep, I mean I tried everything. I counted sheep, I took a hot bath, and I even tried watching The English Patient. I can't help it; it's like a medical condition." My voice was so high pitched any moment dogs would be barking.
"Well, you can take your nap around two today and try and make up some of the hours you missed last night." Edward began pulling out the orange juice.
"You can't be serious. You still expect me to nap on work days?" I was shocked; I mean for one, how unprofessional would it be to go to your job and tell your boss, I'm sorry I can't get those tasks done today I have to go nap. However, in this case, it was my boss telling me to forgo my responsibilities to nap, I'm sure any person reading this that has a job feels pretty sorry for me. But just imagine you had your chance to go to Disneyland for the day and you paid the outrageous price to get in and then you were forced to nap, you would have given up valuable time to sleep! But alas I digress.
"Bella, I'm a thousand percent serious, my trailer has a bed in it, and I expect you to drop whatever you are doing around two pm and go nap. We have a deal; I can see that today you will definitely be in need of some sleep."
"But what will people think when I go in your trailer and don't come out for an hour." God this was so frustrating, the things I have to do to make this dream of mine come to fruition. Of course, to an outsider, I was worried they would think I was helping Edward out with his more private needs. The last thing I wanted was for people to think I was getting it on with the boss, however, I doubt they would ever believe that someone like Edward would go for a plain Jane like me when he could have his pick of the litter.
"Bella they will think what I tell them to think which is that you have to go and deal with my affairs, dealing with my agent and publicist and anyone else who works with me. You know maybe you should stay here for the day, I'm not sure you're going to be up for this and I don't want you burning out on me so soon."
I started panicking; I could feel tears building, "No no no. I promise I'll be fine, I will do whatever you want, please don't take this away from me. Please." I was pleading I think he realized just how upset I became. He came and placed his hands on my shoulders forcing me to look at him.
"Ok. Ok, it's going to be fine." Edward pulled me into a hug, "Please just be careful and promise me if you get too tired you will take it easy." I nodded. Just being in Edward's arms was incredible, I never in my life felt as safe as I did that moment.
Always one to ruin the moment, "Whoa, are we in the middle of a love fest? Can I get in on some of this action?" Emmett teased.
Edward let go promptly, "Shut it Emmett!" wow Edward was irritated.
We finally were on our way; Edward said he would drive because he didn't want me jeopardizing people's lives with my lack of sleep. He had a sleek black Mercedes, whose seat warmers were my new best friend.
Edward, driving like the mad man managed to get us there fifteen minutes early. I have to admit that I was kind of glad I didn't drive that first day, Rome traffic was crazy. We're not talking about crazy Los Angeles traffic where it's bumper to bumper. Imagine L.A. traffic with no use of lanes. Everyone just merges together in one big mess no rhyme or reason for anything. Then you have buses on rails going up and down various streets. Some streets were barely wide enough to fit a car driving through it.
But oh my Rome was magnificent. Everywhere I looked; it was one remarkable building after another. Churches, some seemed to be carved into their locations, others stood tall and impressive. The whole floor of Rome seemed to be covered in cobblestone a feat I found impressive for the many Italian women walking in the highest heels. The first filming location was going to be near the Spanish Steps, a grand cascading stairway with live flowers planted on and around them. These steps had been there for almost three hundred years. Many famous writers and poets had come here to use the steps for their inspiration and sat upon them writing some of the loveliest words ever written.
There was a small street that had been roped off for the production vans and trailers, a whole line of them winding their way through the streets. Edward being the important man he is was ushered through and he parked right next to his trailer. Emmett got out right away yelling a grand hello to everyone, there was no way he would ever need a megaphone. Edward asked for me to follow him to his trailer.
"Bella you can leave your personal items in here and I want you to know that you can feel free to use this trailer. Are you ready?" he looked over at me.
"Yes, I just am trying to figure out where to begin. I'm so nervous." I smiled to him, "Thank you again. I'll never be able to thank you enough for this opportunity. You have no idea how much this means to me."
"You're going to be fine Bella; you will charm everyone just as you've charmed me." We stood there looking at one another, a moment that felt deeply intimate. Somehow it didn't feel weird, in fact, it felt right. We were interrupted by our little trance with a harsh knock on the door. "Mr. Cullen you are needed in wardrobe."
"Come with me." He said and I followed him out the door. "If you are going to start with helping and job shadowing, maybe wardrobe and makeup would be a good place. Provided you don't poke your eye out with a makeup brush." He smiled and winked at me.
"Ha Ha oh, Edward how are you not a comedian?"
"I could be one. I am an actor; I can be anything I want." He teased.
We made our way to wardrobe and I met a lovely lady by the name of Magda. She fussed all over Edward getting on his case about keeping her waiting. Edward explained how I was willing and able to help out, so if she needed an extra hand, I was hers to use. She immediately put me to work and I was thankful for her and Edwards's kindness.
Edward moved onto makeup but I stayed behind to help Magda. She told me that the first day was always crazy, everyone running every which way getting used to the flow of things. She introduced me to some of her assistants, Karen, Michael, and Shannon. All of them were amazingly talented; I always admired people who could sew. It was actually something my mom was very good at, throughout the years I would sit down and design an outfit, dress or Halloween costume and she could make it perfect.
During the day I began to meet more and more people, I was even starting to make a couple of friends. Edward came to check on me a couple of times, he said that he had costume questions for Magda, but I could tell they weren't important. I was really starting to feel the fatigue of not sleeping around noon, but I forced my adrenalin to kick in to keep me moving.
Word was already spreading that we were already behind schedule, even though Edward had already filmed a scene that morning, Lauren Mallory didn't show up for her call time until an hour and a half after. Apparently, she said that seven am was far too early to expect her. I'll never forget the likes of Lauren Mallory, everything I had ever heard about her was true and so much worse than anyone could imagine. If I knew now what I knew then, I probably would have punched her the first time I met her instead of letting her get the better of me.
She struts in and started barking orders like everyone was responsible for her lateness. She apparently knew Magda and the rest of the assistants because the first time she saw me she said, "Who's the fat girl?" I was shocked; I mean what kind of a human being could say something like that toward a complete stranger. I mean I was a size eight and I worked my ass off to get down to that, just because I wasn't a size two she felt that it was okay to give me an instant moniker of "fat girl"? In those couple of seconds between her saying that and the next person talking, I managed to instantly relive my entire childhood. The next person talking just so happened to be me.
"Excuse me, I have a name. My name is Bella I work for Edward Cullen, however, I was just happening to help out today with…"
She cut me off, "You think I care? Ugh." She flipped around apparently disgusted by the art of conversation.
"Now Lauren, you need not be so rude. Why don't you come with me so we can get you dressed?" Magda the saint handled the situation beautifully.
Lauren trotted off and I stood there for a second trying to not let it get to me but the more I thought about it the more it hurt and the more I just wanted to cry.
My thoughts were interrupted by Jerry a production assistant I had met earlier. "Bella? Mr. Cullen is looking for you. He asked for you to meet him at his trailer." I looked over to the clock and saw that it was already three pm. Crap just what my day needed, now I was going to get crap from Edward.
I made my way to his trailer, he was, of course, sitting inside reading over his lines I imagine since his lips were moving.
"You're late."
"Sorry" I replied, taking off my shoes. I laid down on the bed with my back to him.
"Is everything ok?" he asked.
"It's great, just like old times," I said quietly.
I must have fallen soundly asleep because the next thing I know Edward was rubbing my back telling me that it was time to wake up and go home. I felt so tired but it was then I realized how dark the trailer was. I sat up with a jolt. "Oh my God, how late did I sleep?"
"It's seven." He replied.
"I slept the whole day away, crap." This day seriously could not get any worse. I don't know why maybe it was because of Lauren or maybe it was I had just wasted very valuable time sleeping but I started to cry.
"Hey, what's wrong? Don't cry." Edward soothed.
"It's just that this day has been really crappy, crappier than I ever thought possible." I moaned out my frustrations.
"What happened? I thought you seemed very happy with Magda?"
"Oh, Magda was amazing, I just had other issues. It doesn't matter, I'm sorry for unloading on you, you have been wonderful. I'll be fine." I sighed.
He started smiling at me, "I know what will make you happy. Come forth my assistant, gelato on me."
"Assistant, I don't even have a name anymore?" I laughed.
"Not when we are on set, you are Assistant! I expect you to be my beck and call girl and did I say you were allowed to look me in the eye." He was teasing, and it was working, he managed to make me forget about my silly problems.
We finished a delicious meal at a local café, Edward just as he promised, secured me ice cream. When we arrived back that night, I was exhausted and knew there would be no trouble with sleep tonight, which was good since we had the same call time tomorrow morning.
There was a package on the steps which Edward picked up, "It's for you Bella." I looked at the label and it was from my parents. "I'm sorry I gave your address only to my parents, I made them promise not to tell anyone. They were only supposed to use it for emergencies." Leave it to my mother to constitute my birthday as an emergency.
"It's ok, I'm not mad," He said. We went into the house, Emmett nagging me the whole way as to what was in the box. All I wanted to do was run upstairs and open it, but with Emmett's nagging, I gave in and took it to the dining table. Emmett whipped out his Swiss Army knife and tore into the box.
"Emmett let her look. It could be really personable." Edward commanded.
The box was filled with streamers and I had to pull it out to get to the contents. This was so embarrassing.
"Wow, your mom sure likes streamers." Emmett looked at the offensive pile, confused.
I pulled out a box that was splashed with bright colors a big, "Happy Birthday" written upon it.
"Bella, when's your birthday?" Edward asked. Damn, guess I was going to have to come clean.
"Um. Today." I said cringing.
"Today?! Bella, why didn't you tell me?" Edward seemed genuinely upset.
"It's not important, it comes around every year. No big deal."
"No big deal? Don't you know that birthdays are a very big deal? How old are you?" Emmet asked.
"22. Like I said no big deal."
"Well, tomorrow night we are going out to celebrate. When we get home, we will get the whole gang together and go to the best restaurant in town." Edward announced.
"You really don't have to do that. It's ok. I don't even celebrate my birthdays when I'm at home." This was getting out of hand, the last thing I wanted them to do was to go and spend their money on me. I felt like I was taking advantage of them.
"Bella, we are going out, you deserve to be celebrated. No arguments. I'll tell Alice and Jasper. Tomorrow at eight." He went up the stairs. I just stared after him, perplexed.
"So what's in the box?" Emmett licked his lips.
I opened it and looked, "cookies. You want them?" I handed them over and Emmett took off upstairs triumphant.
What a weird interesting day. I couldn't even think about everything that happened today I was far too exhausted; I'd worry about it tomorrow.
AN: Thank you for reading and reviewing.
STORY IS MINE. CHARACTERS BELONG TO STEPHENIE MEYER.