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 3

"There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

I turned and looked at the young woman suddenly sitting very close to me in the coffee shop where I was peacefully reading my book. I had absolutely no idea who she was, but she was cute and dressed for a night out.

"Can I—"

"There's a man at the entrance. He's been following me for the past twenty minutes. Please, just pretend you know me," she said while hiding her mouth with her hand.

A quick glance toward the entry door confirmed what she was saying to me, and I plastered on a smile.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I haven't been waiting long," I said. I closed my book to give her my undivided attention until the man left. "I asked them to hold your order until you got here."

The woman smiled gratefully. "Thanks, honey. Let me just catch my breath first."

"Of course." I shifted my eyes, and the creep was gone. "Okay, you're in the clear."

She sighed with relief and sat back in the seat. "Thank you for helping me. He tried to pick me up at the bar, and I guess he didn't take the rejection well."

"Clearly," I said. "I'm Dennis." I offered her my hand, and she took it in hers.

"Norah."

"Okay, thank you! Let's stop there for a moment!" Esme called out, and Bella and I both turned to her for notes. "I need so much more emotion from both of you." She looked at me. "Edward, you've got a long background in the theater, but I'm not seeing it. You've gotta give me more excitement. This is the woman who will turn your world upside down, the one you'll marry and spend the rest of your life with. She's supposed to be a fresh breeze in the monotony. I know Dennis doesn't know it yet, but try to find a way to convey this isn't a normal Tuesday occurrence."

Her eyes turned to Bella. "Bella, I know stage theater is new to you, but I need you to take it in when I tell you to project. I can barely hear what you're saying from the front row." Esme dramatically threw her arms out. "I want big emotions, big movements, but most importantly, a loud voice. Remember what I said about the back row?"

"'They're supposed to hear me as clearly as if they were sitting on the stage,'" Bella quoted.

I had to hold in a snort at the memory the phrase triggered. I'd heard that exact thing countless times in school. It was the one advice every stage actor knew by heart, but it was one thing to hear it from a teacher and a whole other to hear it from the director of a professionally produced Broadway play.

Bella's lack of training had been evident many times throughout the rehearsals. She wasn't a bad actor—far from it, and it ground my gears a bit that her "natural talent" wasn't a lie—but she had little to no knowledge of the difference between stage acting and being on the screen. It had slowed us down considerably since she didn't always understand the directions Esme gave her.

All of this would've been fine with me … if I'd still been in school. At this level in my career, it was only frustrating.

How was it fair that Bella Swan would get her big Broadway debut when there were countless other actresses out there who'd done the work, sacrificed their time, energy, and money into becoming great at the craft? Why was she given the chance so many of them would probably kill for?

"Esme, can we take a break? I'd like to speak with Bella for a moment," Carlisle said.

Oh, right! Those other actresses weren't Carlisle Cullen's niece.

Esme grimaced with impatient annoyance but gestured for Carlisle to go ahead. "Fine. Let's take five."

I stood up and walked out into the wings where I'd put my bag and script and immediately wrote down Esme's notes in the margins. Then, I pulled out my notebook and searched out the analysis I'd done of the scene we'd just rehearsed. I read through the answers I'd given to the Uta Hagen questions—a technique that helped you immerse yourself in the reality of the scene—for the tenth time to commit them to my memory and make them a part of Dennis's personality.

It was embarrassing that I was struggling with something so simple as showing excitement in the scene. However, I knew very well that it wasn't the work I'd done off-stage or my character analysis that held me back.

It was my resentment of Bella.

I used to take great pride in leaving my own personal opinions behind whenever I embodied a character. In my school years, I had stood out in my class as someone who didn't shy away from playing the hateful characters, the ones with unlikable rhetoric or problematic opinions. It had been easy because I was always confident the people I surrounded myself with knew the real me, no matter what I played on stage.

Acting in love with someone I disliked so much had turned out to be my biggest challenge yet.

"Wow, that's a lot of notes."

I looked up and saw Bella standing in front of me, sipping from a bottle of water. Much like myself, she hadn't made a single attempt at socializing when we weren't rehearsing. Neither of us felt the need to stay in each other's presence for too long.

"Mhmm," I hummed and put the notebook away. "Did your uncle tell you to talk to me?"

Bella tightened her mouth into a thin line and failed to veil her immediate anger. "It's not my choice, if that's what you mean."

I gave her a mirthless smile. "So what? He's hoping I'll take you under my wing after a couple hellos and how are yous?"

"He said it would be the best for the production if you and I got along," she bit back.

"I see," I said and pretended to consider it. Then I narrowed my eyes at her. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I reserve my respect for those who've earned it." I passed her to go back on stage, but she wasn't done.

"What did I ever do to you to deserve the way you've always treated me?"

I paused and looked at her. How could she not see the obvious reason? Was she really so disconnected from everyone else in the business? Did she only surround herself with other people who'd been fed with the proverbial silver spoon?

Through a clenched jaw, I replied, "You stomped into an area that wasn't yours to stomp into."

Bella narrowed her eyes in angry confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Figure it out yourself."

She opened her mouth to retort, but before she could, Esme called for everyone to gather back around.

"Okay, everyone! Let's get back to it! Edward? Bella? Are you here?"

I swallowed my immediate anger and stepped out on the lit up stage. "Here."

"Here," Bella echoed with less volume.

"Great! Let's jump ahead quite a bit. I would like to see what you've got in the last scene of Act One. When Dennis professes his love for Norah."

I nodded and cast a quick glance at the scene in my script, but Bella appeared more nervous.

"That's the big kissing scene, isn't it?" she asked, and Esme gave her an inquisitive look.

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?"

Bella looked at me for a second, then squared her shoulders and shook her head. "No. Not at all."

"Good. Edward, let's take it from your line at the top of the last page."

I closed my eyes for a second to allow all the emotions of the scene to awaken in my body, and when I opened them again, Norah was in front of me. Not Bella. Norah.

"I know it was stupid of me, but I wanted to have everything figured out before I told you."

"Told me what, Dennis? You've barely said a word to me since I got here."

"I'm surprised you don't already know."

"Know what?!"

"That I love you."

We stared at each other for a beat, and then she ran into action and threw her arms around my neck, her lips crashing onto mine with such uncontrolled force that I felt it split open against my own tooth.

"Ow! Fuck!" I exclaimed and pushed Bella away from me.

"Shit, I'm so sorry, Edward. It was an accident!"

"Edward, are you okay?" Esme asked with concern.

I touched my fingers to my lip and only a minimal amount of diluted blood came back. It wasn't a deep cut, but it stung like hell. "Yeah, I'm fine," I reassured Esme.

"Good, but you should still let someone take a look at that."

I nodded and left the stage to get my things. When I passed Bella, she looked genuinely sorry, but I only felt more annoyed than ever.

Spatial awareness and body control was yet another cornerstone of acting she'd just proved she had no knowledge of.

"I really am sorry, Edward," she said.

I snorted and shook my head. "Sure. Whatever."