Chapter 5

Bella

I'm talking to Ang as I'm walking to set when a hand carrying coffee extends in front of me. I halt, my eyes trailing up the arm to settle on a handsome face.

"Coffee?" he offers.

"Don't mind if I do." I take a sip and hum. I haven't had a caramel macchiato in years, settling for more low-fat options. "You remembered."

He smiles. "Of course."

Ang clears her throat, reminding me we have somewhere to be.

I smile apologetically at Edward. "I have to go."

"To set, right? Me too."

"Walk and talk?" I ask.

"Lead the way. Seriously, I'll get lost if you don't."

I laugh and start heading to set. We talk about the most random things, but I keep feeling Ang eye me up. I pointedly ignore her though I know she'll get a word in later. She always does.

"Are you nervous about your first day on set?" I ask.

"No."

I give him the eye.

"Okay, a little. But I've taught residents before, and I've been taught as a resident, so I think it will be fine."

"Can't wait to see what you can do, Cullen."

He's about to answer but stops when we come up to set. Actors, directing crew, and behind-the-scenes people are milling all about. It's chaos. I thrive on it. Some people not so much.

But Edward is just like me in that regard. As if he knows what I'm thinking, we grin at each other.

Anton claps his hands to get everyone's attention. "Places everyone!" And just like that, everyone moves to their assigned spots like a choreographed dance. Everyone except Edward, who for a second looks lost before regaining his composure.

Afton saves him by introducing himself and leading him into the trauma room. He positions him at the foot of the bed. "Okay, so in this scene, we're bringing in an eight-year-old boy who's been shot by his friend after they found his mother's gun. The action starts out in the ambulance bay and ends up here." He turns back to Edward. "You've looked over the script and made the appropriate notes, correct?"

"Yes, I have."

"Good. So this will serve as a rehearsal so that any changes can be implemented before we shoot. You have one hour." He leaves, and everyone is now looking at Edward, who clears his throat.

"Everyone has their scripts?" he asks. We all nod.

"Then let's get started. First of all, where are the nurses?"

Tanya, Jane, and Sara, an actress, raise their hands.

"I know this is a show about doctors, but one thing you all have to know is that the nurses run the hospitals, and some of the procedures you're having the doctors do are the nurses' responsibility. Doctors rarely attach leads or take vitals. Of course in a trauma, it's all hands on deck, but for today, we'll have them in the midst of things, doing their jobs. Who are the paramedics?"

Steve and Nicole throw their hands up.

"You're the ones who are supposed to bring the patient into the room. So in this case, make it less rapid fire to pace the walk from outside to inside." He finishes with them, then turns to the majority of the cast.

"Doctors." He looks at me, Emmett, James, Victoria, Jake, and Alice. "This script is already written, so unless it's technical, we'll follow the dialogue with a couple of changes. I get this is an emergency, but some of you will be asked to leave because sometimes a crowded room is a dangerous room. We don't need six doctors saying the same thing."

Everyone starts talking over each other, and he whistles to shut them up. "My point exactly," he states wryly.

That breaks the tension, and everyone laughs. "Everyone will get an appropriate amount of screen time," he promises. "Now let's run this."

We use the hour given, and we all have a good idea of what to do, so Edward steps out of the scene, and we take our places.

"Ready? Set. Action!"

In the first part of the scene, Jake goes left instead of right, and I trip over him, wincing as I hit my still sore ankle on the metal part of the bed.

"Cut!"

Edward is at my side in a second, kneeling down to check my ankle.

"It's okay. I think I anticipated it hurting more than it actually hurt," I assure him. He nods and gets up, showing Jake again how to maneuver. Jake mouths an "I'm sorry," and I roll my eyes. We fall over each other constantly, being the two clumsy people on set.

We run again, and this time, Emmett trips over me.

"Cut!"

"I think I'm the problem here," I say. "I'm obviously in the way."

"No, you're not. Let me show you." Edward comes up and moves Jake here and Emmett there and brings me up to the actor playing our patient. "You're the one who is assessing his injuries. The nurses need to be on that side, so everyone needs to work around you in this scene. Jake, move back a sec." He takes his place. "I'm Jake in this scene, and his job is to listen to the patient's heart while you check his abdomen. The bullet has hit his spine, so the problem is turning him over without you getting knocked around.

"I think we need to have Tanya move to the corner while Jake comes around to the other side"—he moves around to face me—"and on three, we're going to carefully turn him toward you, so we can check for a through and through. One…two…three!"

We work together to move the patient, and it's effortless. "We won't see a through and through as it's lodged in the spine. So dialogue while putting him down gently as he will be paralyzed, though we don't know that just yet."

He comes around behind me. "You need to palpate his abdomen like this." He puts his hands on mine and shows me. "You don't want to be overly aggressive."

I nod and try not to fidget with him standing so close, his breath in my ear. He's changed toothpaste, I notice. And cologne. I stifle my shiver.

"Any questions?" he asks. I shake my head.

He starts to step away when we both hear, "Freeze!" So we do.

Anton rushes the stage and looks us up and down and all around. I can see the gears twirling in his head. "Get me some navy scrubs!" he yells to someone, who takes off.

"Why do we need navy scrubs?" I ask him.

"For Dr. Cullen. I figure it will be more effective if he's just in the scene like Tanya and Jane, so we can get moving. I don't have all day."

The assistant comes back with a couple sets of scrubs and hands them to a confused Edward.

"Just go to that empty exam room and change into the ones that fit you better," I whisper.

"I don't think I want to be on screen."

"You'll be in the background," I assure him.

He looks at me doubtfully.

"How often do you notice Tanya or Jane?"

"Yeah, okay, you have a point." He disappears into the room and comes out a few minutes later. I know I'm not the only one who stifles a gasp.

"Damn, and I thought he looked good in his button-up," Victoria murmurs from behind me.

"More like I'd like to button-down his—" Alice stops cold when she sees me glare at them. "Never mind."

I can tell Edward is uncomfortable with all eyes on him, so I interject. "Can we all get back to work now? I don't know about you, but I don't want to be stuck in this scene all day."

We all take our places, Edward included.

"Thanks," he whispers to me as Anton starts the countdown.

"No problem."

We eventually get the scene done and break for lunch. Edward retreats to his office to receive his delivery of the things I bought him. I grab some pizza and fries and sit down at my usual table.

Almost immediately, Alice and Victoria descend like wolves. Slapping their trays on the table, they make themselves comfortable.

I try to ignore them by focusing on my phone, but Alice grabs it and places it out of my reach.

"Spill," she demands.

"Spill what?"

"What's going on between you and Dr. Hottie?"

"Who, Edward? Nothing," I answer confidently.

"Yeah, right." Victoria snorts.

"He's married," I point out.

"Is that the only thing stopping you?" Alice asks.

Annnddd we're done here. I lean back in my chair, preparing to wait this out. They both should know by now that if I don't want to talk, I won't.

Victoria sighs. "It's her stubborn look, Alice."

"You're a buzzkill, Bella Swan," Alice teases.

I raise my eyebrow in response.

A new tray clambers on the table, and we all look up to see Dr. Hott—I mean, Edward, sit down next to me.

"That fridge is nicer than the one in my apartment, and I spent three grand on that one," he says, stuffing fries in his mouth. "Thank you again," he mumbles.

"She bought you a fridge?" Victoria asks, focusing on Edward.

He swallows. "And a microwave. I'll have to stock it tomorrow. I love pizza and fries, but I have to watch my figure." He grins, and all three of us grin back.

I see Alice notice our identical plates, and it's her turn to raise an eyebrow. I give her an admonishing look.

"So how do you know Bella?" she asks innocently, knowing she doesn't have an innocent bone in her body.

"We went to high school together actually," he answers, shooting me a wink. Even now, he's protecting me.

"That's boring." Victoria pouts.

"Have you met Bella? It was anything but boring. She was the life of the party. Dramatic, but that certainly comes in handy now."

"I was not dramatic, I was—Not dramatic."

"She was a drama queen but not in a bad way. She was the lead in every play. She was the best friend. The best…everything."

"You weren't so bad yourself. He was valedictorian. Straight As. Always wanted to be a doctor, and he did it."

"You always wanted to be an actress, and you did it."

We hold each other's gazes for a hot minute, but Victoria clears her throat, and the moment is gone. I stand up. "I need to read over my lines again, so we don't have a repeat of this morning. I'll see you all in a few." I avoid Edward's confused look and the others' knowing looks.

And I do what I do best—flee the scene.

"Why are you hiding?"

I keep looking over my script and ignore Ang's question. She plops down in front of me.

"What is it with nosy ass people today? Do I have 'be intrusive' written on my forehead?"

"No, you have 'confused AF' written there."

"I'm not confused about anything. Everything is very clearly written in black and white," I say, my tone just a little bitter. I throw my script to the side and sigh. "I don't know, Ang. It's like, here's this guy who I knew more intimately than I have ever known anyone and who I chose to walk away from to follow my dreams. And I swore I would never look back, and I didn't. But I never thought about what I would do if we ever came face to face again. I avoided my high school reunion and blamed it on the show just, so I wouldn't find out. Then I sprained my ankle and BAM! There he is. In all his gorgeous, manly, married glory. And I'm just struggling, you know?"

Ang is wide eyed at my confession. "I think this is the most you've confided in me since we've met, so give me a moment to process."

"Only reason I'm confiding in you now is because you signed an NDA." I give her a few minutes, tapping my foot until she puts her hand on my leg to stop me. I look at her expectantly.

"So this guy wasn't just a guy you knew? He's the guy. And now you're working with him? And you have all these unsettled feelings? And you don't know what to do about them."

"I'm going to do nothing. He's married, Ang. Like 'til-death-do-us-part, forsaking-all-others' married. I would never interfere in that. And he seems happy, and she seems nice. And I don't know what I'm feeling. I mean, am I just transferring puppy love from high school because he was my one relationship that lasted more than a couple months?"

"I'm not so sure what you had in high school with this guy was puppy love. Sounds all-consuming to me. And you aren't a casual type gal. Not from what I've witnessed these past two years. Do you think it's because you never stopped loving him?"

"No. I made my decision years ago. I walked away, and my dream came true. I've thought about him over the years, but I was confident I made the right decision."

"All I'm hearing is I. I made my decision. My dream came true. I'm confident. What about him, Bella? Did you ever ask him what he wanted?"

"He agreed with me."

"Did he, or did he do what you wanted because he loved you?"

"Are you saying I didn't love him?" I demand.

"No, otherwise you wouldn't be agitated and pacing your trailer over this guy."

I look at where I am. I didn't even realize I had gotten up. I stop abruptly and sink down to the bed at the end of the trailer, placing my head in my hands.

"This was such a bad idea." I groan.

"Helping him get a job or realizing there's more to your feelings than you are comfortable with?"

I don't look up. I don't answer. I just stay that way until the door closes, signaling I'm alone again.

Now what the hell do I do?

And I guess we fell apart in the usual way
And the story's got dust on every page
But sometimes I wonder how you think about it now
And I see your face in every crowd - Holy Ground, Taylor Swift