♫ Ivory & Mahogany [Closed/Complete] ♫

[premuroso]

Who: Bella Swan [bellatramonto] and Edward Cullen [premuroso]
What: Random meeting at the new music store. Pianos are played. Debussy is praised. Chaos ensues.
When: A few days after he returns [So this technically occurs next week]
Where: Che i Bei Suoni music store downtown
Why: Because they haven't talked yet and they need to! And Edward wants to buy a piano since

Comments

[bellatramonto]

Bella had been meaning to go to Che i Bei Suoni for several days now, but just hadn't gotten around to it. She had just finished yet another one of her books and was in the mood for classic music, rather than classic novel.

The main downtown strip wasn't too far from Charlie's apartment, so she strolled down the streets, hands in her jean pockets, and thought about her chances of running into Jasper.

It was Edward whom she ran into, which was definitely a surprise. Sure, she hadn't forgotten about Jasper's bronze-haired friend- but he'd been MIA for awhile now, or so it seemed, and the last place she was expecting to see him was in a public place in the middle of the day. The two had briefly discussed the new music store in one of her journal entries online, but Edward made it seem like he wasn't that interested in visiting

[premuroso]

After hesitating for a moment, looking around the store to see if there were any disapproving glances, Edward eased himself onto the piano stool. His vision was transfixed by the beautiful instrument in front of him. He hadn't been able to play, barring random circumstances where an establishment would have a piano, for quite a few years. Since his parents had died, in fact. Carlisle had often offered to buy one for him, but he had always refused. Pianos were rather a lot of money and required a large enough space to store them

[bellatramonto]

Clair de Lune, she thought, enthralled. She felt like she was momentarily paralyzed. Edward wasn't just good, he was amazing.

When Bella found the strength to pull her eyes away she looked around the shop at the other teenage girls. They too, had stopped what they were doing and were just standing there with their mouths hanging open. Some of them, the ones who even had the audacity to speak during this masterful display, were whispering to each other frantically- probably congratulating each other on just finding the love of their lives.

Feeling like she'd seen enough, Bella stepped out from behind her shelf and walked over to the piano. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't mystified still, because she was. A large part of her didn't even want to make her presence known so that he could continue.

He's probably just doing this to pick up girls . . . or victims.The other girls in the store had somehow congregated around them, though standing behind divides and shelves. Bella saw them giving her funny looks because she was

[premuroso]

Teenager or not, Edward was usually almost unusually oblivious to those of the opposite gender and the infatuations that they tended to have on him. Jasper himself was probably more conscious, if only because he could feel the crushes that normal girls had on him and feeling crushes was a lot different from reading them in thoughts. The situation was hardly different at the moment. So entranced by the music and playing was he, that he hardly noticed the twittering girls thronging around him. For once, Edward could hear no thoughts, even the loud ones declaring their intent to marry him should he even look their way.

It was a testament to how far gone he was that he didn't even notice Bella as she approached him. It wasn't until he had finished Clair de Lune, fingers resting on keys close together on the piano, that he even blinked, the trance the winding music had held him in suddenly breaking. It was another few minutes before he could will himself to remove his fingers from the ivory keys that felt so comfortable and soothing

[premuroso]

As soon as Edward was outside, he started feeling better. He had never been more grateful for the sweaty, salty, grimy smells of Reggio Calabria and its godforsaken inhabitants. He made sure to breathe in the ironically fresh air as deeply as possible before the flowery scent followed him out of the store and caught up to him again

[bellatramonto]

Your scent. Of course. How could Bella manage to forget about her own blood? Apparently it was the stuff of vampire dreams. She looked down at the sidewalk and shuffled her feet a little. After spending so much time with Jasper, this should have been obvious to her.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I should have known that but I guess the music and stuff distracted me."

Sometimes Bella forgot the fact that she could be in danger even when she wasn't physically bleeding. The blood still coursed through her veins, and it still smelled delicious to Edward and Jasper.

"I can go if you want, though I don't want to," she said truthfully. Edward's little display at the piano had her in complete awe. She absolutely loved learning about what people were like under the surface. When he was playing back there, she wasn't thinking about how arrogant and pompous he was.

[premuroso]

She forgot that she could be in danger even when she wasn't physically bleeding. Edward had always been of the opinion that Bella had a death wish. He was quite inclined to believe that he wasn't exactly mistaken.

He sighed, slightly exasperated, even though he hadn't been with her nearly long enough to actually be exasperated yet. Although, considering the circumstances and her seeming attraction to those who could kill her in an instant, he thought he was rather justified.

"I should be fine out here," Edward said apologetically. "I just wasn't expecting ... you. I hadn't noticed you come in while I was playing."

[bellatramonto]

Bella began walking in the direction of her apartment for no reason other to get him moving. Maybe he'd calm down a bit more if she distracted him.

"Come on," she motioned with her head for him to follow.

There was still so much about him and his 'kind' that she wanted to know. Jasper was very tight-lipped unless she was kissing him, but maybe Edward would be different . . . Yeah right.

Still, there was something in Edward that was missing in Jasper that night that he tried to kill her. Edward wanted her then too, yet he was somehow able to restrain himself and show some compassion. Bella wondered if he had been disciplining himself in some way. She remembered Jasper saying something about it over the online journals.

"Are there other people out there that smell as good as me?" she asked curiously, assuming he was near enough to hear.

[bellatramonto]

Bella stopped walking- thankfully as soon as she was on the sidewalk.

"Because this place sells icies too."

She ambled over to the big glass door of the smoothie shop and swung it open, allowing only enough space for herself to get through. Bella wasn't usually so great with manners...

The list of choices for smoothies was massive, but luckily juice with crushed ice wasn't as popular. There was only lemon-lime, strawberry, and grape to choose from.

"I'll have a lemon-lime icy please," she told the clerk as soon as it was her turn. This whole time, she hadn't even bothered to turn around and see if Edward was in the shop.

[premuroso]

For Edward's part, he barely noticed Bella's manners, or lack thereof. He caught the door smoothly behind her and held it open for a family that had come in on their tails. It was summertime and this was a smoothie/icy shop, so it was bound to be a popular spot. As Edward followed in after the family, he found that his assumptions were correct. The place was incredibly crowded and, suddenly, his senses were on edge again. There were too many people and too many smells, but the one smell that caught in his throat above all was that of their blood.

He managed to swallow the taste and smell long enough to approach Bella and the counter, although he made sure to keep as far away from her as possible without being on the completely opposite end of the shop.

"Cherry, thank you," Edward managed to speak clearly for the cashier. He pulled out his wallet to pay for both of their icies.

[bellatramonto]

Bella was just in the middle of handing the cashier her money when a white hand shot out of nowhere and did the deed for her. She whipped around to find Edward holding a red-colored icy.

"We Swans may not be as wealthy as some, but we do have money occasionally," she told him dryly before biting her straw and sucking on her drink. It was really sweet, but the lime suppressed the sourness in the lemon.

"Though I am impressed you managed to find a blood-flavored icy one among the many choices."

[premuroso]

Edward was taken aback by her comment. It wasn't that he was ever trying to make a statement by paying. It was just that he had been taught to be polite, especially to females, and that usually manifested itself in paying for others or, at least, holding the door open for them. It was reflex more than anything.

"I never said you didn't," he answered, a bit defensively. He slurped at his icy, bordering on pouting without ever actually doing it. Then he looked up at her again, incredulously. "This is cherry."

[premuroso]

"You're still too close," Edward replied shortly. He wasn't meaning to be rude, as Bella was taking his behavior. What she never seemed to understand was that it was either because "rude" and staying as far away from her as possible or drinking her dry without a moment's notice.

If Edward were any other human being with any amount of social prowess, he would have been offended by her words and actions. But, as it was, he barely had enough social skills to string three sentences together to someone who wasn't Carlisle or Jasper or any of the others he had "grown up" with.

So, instead, he took her words as a blessing.

"Maybe that would be better," he nodded, stepping back to push his chair in.

[bellatramonto]

Bella didn't care if her blood bothered him or not. He didn't have to be rude with her.

Exhaling incredulously, Bella leaned back in her chair and let her teeth grind together. She grabbed her cup, violently crushing it into a ball of plastic, and threw it into the closest trash can to where she was sitting.

Jasper was the same kind as him, yet he was able to be around her for long periods of time. He didn't usually make her feel like she was a piece of smelly garbage either.

Yeah, go wash your fancy car, or something, she thought vindictively.

[premuroso]

Edward had begun to turn to leave her when he was stopped short by the vindictive thoughts coming from Bella. He wouldn't have been bothered if Jasper hadn't thought nearly the same things to him the last time he had seen his old friend. His inability to conduct himself properly in a social situation and his general tendency to stay away from people for that very reason aside, it frustrated him that he could be judged for having been left with funds from his dead parents and for using said funds to indulge in a grand total of two luxuries.

As for whether or not she felt she was a piece of smelly garbage, how was he supposed to help the fact that she was incredibly insecure and had attached herself to genetically altered humans whose appearances were more than likely a result of said genetic experimentations?

"I'll take my leave of you, then," he said to her coldly before completely turning away. "I believe I'll go wash my fancy car or something."

[bellatramonto]

Bella perked up instantly. Edward's last comment did not go unnoticed at all, and thoughts began to course through her head, making her feel almost sick to her stomach.

At first, she had to tell herself that she said the car comment out loud, but it didn't make any sense. She never would have said anything like that to him unless she was really provoked. He already intimidated her as it was . . .

Breathing sharply, Bella pushed her chair back and stood up herself. She had a lot of thinking to do.