Title: To Be or Not To Be

Written for: Cruiz107

Written By: MarieCarro

Beta/Pre-Readers: Alice's White Rabbit/LaMomo

Rating: NC-17

Summary/Prompt used: Enemies to Lovers. Two people with a common passion should get along fine, right? Unfortunately, classically trained actor Edward Cullen and self-taught actress Bella Swan didn't get that memo, and the two are notorious enemies. But what happens when they're both cast in the same stage production as lovers?

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CHAPTER 2

1 year earlier

My bike felt disproportionately heavier than it should have as I carried it up the stairs of my apartment building. Naturally, there wasn't an elevator when I paid the relatively low price of eighteen hundred a month, but I was just thankful I had my own bathroom and didn't have to share it with anyone else.

I let out a heavy sigh of relief when I reached my floor. I wanted to place the bike down, but my landlady would kill me if I allowed the "filthy, dirty tires to touch her floors". The rule would've made more sense if the corridors had beautifully polished floors, but since that wasn't the case, and everyone stomped up and down the building in their street shoes on a daily basis, I had concluded it was a ridiculous rule.

The only reason I followed it was to keep the peace and not give her any reason to evict me.

As I approached my front door, I noticed several boxes piled on top of each other in the hall. The door across my own was ajar.

New neighbor. Hopefully, they wouldn't turn out to be insufferable people who complained about every tiny little thing while simultaneously making the living situation miserable for everyone else.

I reached into my pocket to pull out my keys, unlocked the door, and went inside so I could relieve myself of my bike. The temp agency had placed me at a warehouse where I loaded trucks all day, and my back was killing me, but I wasn't allowed to kick my feet up and relax just yet.

My agent had gotten me an audition for a drama TV show where the role was planned for only two episodes, but the possibility of that role expanding was rather big. I needed to learn the scene and the character's background, and I only had two days to do so.

There was a knock on my door—a rare occurrence in itself—and I went to see who it could be. Through the peephole, I saw an unfamiliar, young, overall-clad woman with dark eyes and messy, brown hair pulled up in a haphazard bun. Despite the distorted view I had, I could see she was very attractive.

I quickly ran my hand through my hair to fix the messy mop my bike ride through the city had caused before opening the door.

"Oh, hi!" the woman said, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw me, and two red spots appeared on her cheeks.

"Hello," I said and gave her a friendly smile.

She stared at me with an open mouth for a moment, but then she blinked and pointed over her shoulder. "I just moved in across from you."

I looked toward the still-open door to her apartment, and the first thing I noticed was that it was significantly bigger than mine. A surge of jealousy shot through me, but I quickly suppressed it. It wasn't her fault I couldn't afford better living quarters.

"So you're my new neighbor," I said and leaned against my door frame and casually crossed my arms. "You're not a tuba player in the New York Philharmonic, are you?"

She blinked in confusion. "What?"

I shook my head and waved away the stupid joke. "Forget it."

"Okay," she said and fidgeted with the buckle of her shoulder strap. "Anyway, I wanted to introduce myself. I'm Isabella Swan, but I prefer Bella." She offered me her hand, and I gladly accepted it.

"Nice to meet you, Bella," I said and meant it. Then I gave her another smile. I was definitely laying on the charm thickly, but she was a beautiful girl, and I wouldn't mind getting to know her better. "I'm Edward Masen."

Bella smiled, and I was the one who was charmed. "That's not the most common name nowadays," she said. "But I like it. It suits you."

A somewhat embarrassed, involuntary laugh left me, and I reached up to scratch my jaw.

My two-day-old stubble pricked my thumb.

I needed to shave.

"Thanks," I said. "Just don't call me Ed or Eddie."

"Noted," she said and buried her hands in the back pockets of her overalls. "Would you mind helping me with something?"

I assumed she needed help with moving something heavy. My back was still hurting after the day I'd had, but I didn't want to come across as a bad neighbor, so I just nodded. "Sure. With what?"

We crossed the hallway and entered her apartment, and I took notice of her expensive kitchen appliances and high quality décor. She and I were definitely in different income brackets, and I wondered what she was working with since she'd still chosen to live in a cheaper area of New York rather than Manhattan.

"The moving guys just plopped my couch down in the middle of the room, and then left before I could show them where I wanted it." Bella gestured toward a navy blue, velvet, Chesterfield sofa. "I would've moved it myself, but I haven't had the chance to put pads under the legs, and I'd rather not scratch the floor and lose my security deposit on my first day."

"Good call," I said. "You'll find out sooner rather than later that Ms. Banner's quite a stickler when it comes to her floors."

I was relieved to learn the couch wasn't too heavy, and we easily positioned it the way Bella wanted it.

"Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver," she said and pointed at her coffeemaker. "Can I offer you a cup of coffee or something? As a thanks?"

I had definitely flirted when we introduced ourselves, but I wasn't sure if I was interpreting it wrong when I thought she was, perhaps, flirting as well. To spare myself the embarrassment and possibly create an awkward tension with the person I'd live closest to because I was completely off the mark, I decided to bow out.

"Thanks, but I have something I need to do for work. I'll see you around though."

Bella smiled and nodded. "Yeah. See you."

I turned to leave, and my eyes landed on a very familiar book on her counter. "You're an actor?" I asked over my shoulder and held up the copy of Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part by Michael Shurtleff.

"Not yet but hopefully soon," she said and gently took the book from me. "It's why I've come to New York. To break into the business or whatever it's called."

An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach by her casual and almost aloof approach to a business that was notoriously difficult to make a career out of.

"Are you any good?" I asked cautiously. I didn't want to reveal to her that we were in the same boat. Not before I knew her intention and if she was actually serious or if she was just another fame-hungry girl with stars in her eyes. "Where have you trained?"

She shrugged, and my stomach tightened into a heavy knot. "I took theater as a kid, but other than that, I haven't had any training. My uncle's a producer, and he says I've got natural talent. It was his idea that I'd come here and try my luck when my college degree didn't pan out as I'd hoped."

I bit my teeth together hard at what I heard and her blatant disrespect for the craft and everything that went into it, but I forced out a smile to hide my boiling insides.

She was a nepo-baby. One of the types in the business that I despised the most. If she possessed barely enough talent in her pinky finger, with a producer for an uncle, that would be all she'd need to jump start her career with opportunities I'd never had.

"Well … good luck with that then, I guess," I said, and left.