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 7
I faced Bella and looked deep into her dark brown eyes, but when she opened her mouth to speak, I was mesmerized by her lips.
"Your only focus should be on me," she said, her words soft and seductive but impressively demanding.
My mouth went dry, and I swallowed hard as I took in the exposed skin of her arms and legs.
"Is that going to be a problem for you?"
My eyes snapped up to meet hers. There was a challenge there that I found intriguing, and I wasn't one to back down. If she thought I wouldn't go through with it, I looked forward to proving her very wrong. I stepped forward until I felt her body heat through my clothes, then smiled. "No problem. You have my full attention."
I leaned close enough to brush her lips with a kiss, and she immediately swept her tongue across my bottom lip. It encouraged me to open up to her and deepen the kiss, pulling her closer into my arms.
I massaged her tongue with mine, and she responded by raising one leg and wrapping it around me. I moaned, and when she slid her arms over my chest to grab onto my shoulders, I had the perfect grip to lift her up and deposit her on top of the dressing room table.
Bella leaned away from the kiss. We were both panting heavily, but her heaving chest hypnotized me. Her breasts pressed against the neckline of her top, and I wanted to take it off to give myself a better view.
"You'll have to do more than that if you want to impress me," she said, breathless but with the same challenge as before.
I gave her a smirk, and without wasting another second, I dropped to my knees in front of her and hitched her legs over my shoulders. I pushed just enough fabric out of the way before pressing my mouth against her slick center.
"Aah ..." she breathed out. She combed her fingers through my hair before grabbing a strong hold of it. When she lifted her hips closer to me, I happily obliged. Being with her like that was everything I'd wanted for almost a year. Tasting her was better than I ever could've imagined.
Her audible short breaths turned into fully vocal cries of pleasure when I thrust my tongue into her.
I could tell she was close, and I looked forward to witnessing her expression when I got her over the edge. All I needed to do was keep doing exactly what I—
"Fuck!"
The expletive startled me.
I opened my eyes, and it took me a while to process that the most erotic experience of my life was nothing more than a vivid, mind-boggling dream. I still felt the weight of her legs on my shoulders, her hand grabbing my hair, and her wet heat on my lips.
The subject of my dream stood less than fifty feet away from me. I had no idea what she was doing, but she was bent forward, and seeing her in that position did things to my still sexually clouded mind. Stirrings made me aware of my embarrassingly noticeable erection, and I quickly re-positioned my legs to hide it, hoping Bella hadn't seen it while I was sleeping.
"What's happening?" I asked as unbothered as one could be after waking up from a wet dream about their nemesis.
Bella was still bent over, and she threw me a look before standing up and putting whatever it was she had knocked down back on its shelf. "Nothing," she said, but there was a small, amused smile she was poorly trying to hide.
I feared the reason behind it but didn't know how to smooth it over.
"And as much as I appreciate you tucking that away, I've already seen it." She pointedly looked right at my crotch, then back up at my face, which was, undoubtedly, bright red. "It was hard to miss once you started moaning," she finished with a laugh.
Why wasn't the hole in the floor I requested opening up? Why was I forced to endure this? What had I done to deserve such humiliation?
I cleared my throat and decided the only thing I could do was act as if nothing was wrong. "How long have we been here now?"
"About two hours. You'd think someone would notice our belongings in the dressing room."
A surge went through me when she mentioned the dressing room, and a flash of my dream sped through my mind.
"Stop it," I mouthed to myself, but it was easier said than done. The floodgates had opened, and closing them would be next to impossible while still sharing forced proximity with Bella.
It wasn't the first dream I'd had of her. Far from it. But waking up from one in my own bed made it so much easier to squash down and ignore.
"When did you fall in love with the theater?" Bella suddenly asked. When I looked at her, I saw her intensely studying the classic masks of Melpomene and Thalia, the muses of tragedy and comedy.
I pushed my immediate embarrassment aside and focused on her question instead. "Why do you ask?"
"Every actor has a story about it, don't they? For me, it happened in middle school. It was just a standard school play. Nothing fancy. Probably not very well rehearsed. I don't remember that part too well. But what I do remember is saying my lines, then looking out at the audience and seeing Uncle Carlisle sitting next to my parents with the biggest, proudest smile I've ever seen."
She quickly wiped away a tear before smiling, and I found myself wondering what part of that story caused her to cry. It was sweet. Nothing sad about it. I was also struck by the eerie similarities of our backgrounds.
"It was in middle school for me as well," I said. For the first time, I answered one of her questions without feeling suspicious or getting defensive. It was a nice feeling. "I played Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol. Haven't looked back since."
"That's nice," she replied, still smiling. She was even prettier when she smiled.
I blinked and shook my head. One simple exchange without fighting and I was already appreciating her appearance. What was wrong with me?
Something occurred to me then, and I looked at Bella in confusion. "But if you fell in love with theater back then, why haven't you studied any acting since?"
Her smile fell, and for a moment, she appeared to have gone back in time in her head. When she answered, her voice sounded emotionally closed off. "My parents didn't want to support such a frivolous hobby."
"So what did they want you to do?"
She snorted without a trace of amusement. "I have an involuntary MBA. Before I moved to New York, I had my own company that they invested in. I sold it after only two very successful years to finally pursue my dream. Uncle Carlisle invited me here, and they haven't spoken to me, or him, since."
"I'm so sorry," I said.
Bella laughed loudly in response. "Never thought I'd see the day Edward Masen would feel sorry for me. Apparently, miracles can happen!"
My guilt lay heavy in my stomach and churned uncomfortably. I had misjudged Bella Swan in every respect, and it was no one's fault but my own. I had equated her with people she was in no way associated with, and I had allowed my own bitterness and jealousy to poison my perception.
I had been more than unfair to her, but a year of anger was a long time. How could I even begin to atone for my past behavior?
An apology wouldn't be a terrible start.
"Bella, I—"
"Don't say you're sorry because, right now, I won't accept it," she said and locked her eyes with mine. Her brown depths were unyielding. "I told you that you don't get to judge someone you don't know. Well, you don't get to say 'sorry' after being stuck in here with me for two hours and believe that smooths everything over because you know parts of my story now. It doesn't work like that."
I swallowed hard and stood up with some difficulty. Falling asleep against a concrete wall in a sitting position would make anyone stiff. "I'm not under the impression an apology rights everything. I'm just trying to take accountability for what I've done."
With great hesitation but also willingness to admit I'd been wrong, I offered Bella my hand to shake. She took it with visible reluctance.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"Okay."
We parted, and another silence settled over us. It was still tense, but it wasn't the heavy, awkward tension of enmity. It was more because of the slight fear of the unknown. Bella and I had been self-proclaimed enemies for a long time. What were we without that feud?
Colleagues?
Neighbors?
Acquaintances?
Friends? No, that would be a failed attempt at taking it too far.
We didn't say another word to each other, and twenty minutes later, we finally heard the merciful sound of running steps and a heavy metallic door being unlocked.
