Ficawesome Gift Echange

Title: Right In Front of Your Eyes

Written for: MyEdiction

Written By: Readingmama/Vampiremama

Rating: M

Summary/Prompt used: Geek starts a band to get the girl.

If you would like to see all the stories that are a part of this exchange visit the facebook group: Fanficaholics Anon: Where Obsession Never Sleeps

Or check out the C2 on Fanfiction –

http:/www . fanfiction . net/community/FicAwesome_Gift_Exchange/81343/

Disclaimer- I don't own Twilight or anything related to it. Stephenie Meyer owns that right.

Thank you to CullenLovingMom who was beta extraordinaire for this piece.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who participated in FAGE.

Chapter 1

"Hey, Jasper, have you seen my socks?" Edward yelled out into the apartment. He was standing in the middle of his bedroom in nothing but his underpants.

"Which ones?" his roommate replied.

"The black argyle ones?"

Jasper rolled his eyes; all of Edward's socks were argyle. Jasper wondered why Edward even asked. It's not like he would leave them lying about, being the neat freak he was. Edward continued to search his room, finally finding the missing pair in the bottom of his closet.

"Found them," he shouted.

Jasper made an affirmative sound from his place on the couch, glad that he hadn't gotten up.

Edward was the kind of guy who put his socks on before his pants. He was pleased with himself this morning because his socks matched his new argyle sweater. He believed everything he wore was an extension of himself.

Knowing that he would see her today, he wanted to look extra sharp. He made an effort to see her every day, but didn't always succeed. She worked on a different floor than he, and he rarely had a reason to visit.

Edward stared at his hair in the mirror. It had always been hard to tame. But with an obscene amount of pomade, he was able to get it to lay flat against his head. He parted his hair in the middle, because he was kind of obsessive compulsive about symmetry. The slick muck made his copper-colored hair appear black, which he thought made him look more mysterious.

Heading to work, Edward parked in the back of the parking lot. All of the big wigs were given the spots in the front, near the door. Edward was most definitely not a big wig; he was the lowest of the low.

He worked in the mailroom. The job was the perfect hours for him while he was in school. After he graduated, he stayed on for another reason. Even though Edward had the intelligence to run the place, he couldn't bring himself to quit.

Because of her.

Walking into the building, Edward took a right and walked down the dingy stairwell and into the basement. The stairwell smelled like piss again. He wondered how security missed the homeless people who seemed to get into the building at least once a week. Avoiding the obvious puddle of urine on the third last stair, Edward jumped down the last few steps.

A huge smile spread over Edward's face before he even entered the mailroom because he knew that she would be there. It was payday, and the beautiful goddess from payroll made her bi weekly trip down to the "pit", as Edward and his coworkers call it, to hand out the paystubs. Payday was not the only time he saw her at work, but it was by far the longest duration that he was given the opportunity to stare at her, making it his favorite part of the job.

Today, she was especially stunning. She had her long hair pulled back, showing off her neck- one of Edward's favorite things about her. It was graceful looking, and the large diamond that she wore around it decorated it perfectly.

His goddess was dressed in a knee-length, tight skirt and suit jacket, both of which were charcoal in color. Edward glanced down at his own outfit and thought that they matched quite nicely. He was very pleased about it.

Her whole ensemble made him think dirty-librarian thoughts. He wondered for a moment what she would look like with glasses. The thought made Edward shift a little, suddenly uncomfortable in his pants.

Turning toward him, the goddess seemed to move in slow motion. She was just about to smile when another form suddenly inserted itself between Edward and the woman of his dreams.

"Hi, Edward," she said.

"Hi, Bella," Edward replied, a bit more firmly than he intended.

Bella was a good friend. She worked with Edward in the mailroom, but she had uncanny timing for interrupting his almost-moments with Rosalie Hale, the girl for whom he had pined after for the last two years.

Bella wore mostly brown-brown pants, brown shirts and brown shoes. Even her glasses had brown frames, although Edward couldn't complain about that because his frames were brown as well. Her hair was always pulled up in a pony tail which made her look more severe than she should.

"How was your weekend?" she asked, ignoring his tone.

"Pretty good. How about yours?" he replied, trying to peek around her without being rude.

"Um, kind of boring. I just watched TV mostly."

"Okay, listen up, people," Rosalie's voice carried like a siren over the white noise of the room.

Edward thought he heard Bella grumble something, but since his angel was speaking, he wasn't sure. He took a little step sideways to put Rosalie back into view. Edward waited with baited breath as she started calling out names. He loved the way his name sounded flowing from her lips.

"Brown," she said, handing an envelope to Edward's coworker. "Cullen." Edward thought that it sounded like she said his name a bit softer than the others-like a caress.

He walked up, and she held out his envelope. He wanted to touch her hand as he took it, but, as usual, he just grabbed it by the end. He paused for a moment, enjoying every second that he could be close to her. She smelled like honey.

"Thanks, Rosalie," Edward cooed adoringly. Edward wanted to say something more, but she immediately returned to her list and started calling out more names.

Edward saw Rosalie two more times that day. Once, she had even looked right at him. It was, of course, followed by her saying, "Can you have this sent out for me, Edmund?"

"It's . . . uh . . . Edward," he responded.

"Oops," she replied, and Edward was certain that she was very upset by her mistake.

Later that night, Edward found himself reading on his couch. His roommate and best friend, Jasper, was playing X-box, and the noise of the game was making it difficult for him to concentrate on his book. He really wanted to get in a few minutes of reading before their company arrived. It wasn't looking promising.

Jasper and Edward couldn't have been more different. Okay, they could, but one would have to look long and hard to find two people more unalike.

Jasper was outgoing and carefree; Edward was an introvert. Jasper was a serial monogamist; Edward was afraid to talk to the girl he'd been in love with for two years. Jasper was blond; Edward dark. In short, Jasper was the yin to Edward's yang.

Jasper and Edward met through an advertisement looking for roommates. Edward was concerned about Jasper at first, but soon found that his laid back personality didn't mean that he was irresponsible. Jasper kept his stuff clean and paid his bills on time, making him a gem of a roommate.

A loud knock from the lower portion of the door alerted Edward to his sister's arrival. She was a spitfire to be sure, but the poor girl barely stood five feet tall. Edward teased her that, at six foot two, he had gotten all the height . She usually responded that he may have gotten the height, but she got the looks. Objectively speaking, Edward had to agree that his sister was attractive, but was uncomfortable saying anymore on the topic.

"Hey, loser, what's up?" she asked, as Edward turned the lock and opened the door. This was the main reason that Edward had insisted that he and Jasper get an apartment, instead of a house, so that his sister couldn't just waltz in. Automatic locks were a great thing.

"Nice to see you too, dear sister," he replied, glaring at her. She rolled her eyes at him and tossed Jasper a bag of Doritos.

"There's my favorite girl." Jasper oozed charm. He was from the south, and the accent just seemed to trap everyone in it-like flies in a spider web.

"Oh, suck it, Whitlock. The next one is mine!" Alice chirped back.

The two of them became thick as thieves almost as soon as Jasper and Edward had moved in together. They were cut from the same cloth, as Edward and Alice's mother would say.

Every week, they bet on how many times the crazy cat lady across the alley from their building would go running through the streets screaming, "Here pussy, pussy, pussy." Jasper had won that week with his bet of sixteen. The actual number was fourteen, but Alice had bet ten, so Jasper had taken it.

"Are you seriously wearing that?" Alice spouted to Edward.

He looked down and was offended. "What's wrong with what I have on?"

"Oh, nothing," she replied. Alice had unsuccessfully tried several times to change Edward's style before finally giving up.

Jasper ripped open the Doritos bag, and the smell of artificial cheese filled the room. Edward scrunched up his nose, but grabbed a handful. He knew the only way to combat the smell of Doritos was to tarnish your own breath with the foul chips.

Another knock on the door came shortly after. Alice jumped up and opened the door to find Bella standing on the other side of the door with a pizza in one hand and a six pack in the other.

"Bella!" Alice squealed and wrapped her arms around Bella's waist.

Jasper was right behind her and grabbed the pizza that was teetering in Bella's hands.

"Alice, try not to break any ribs this time," Bella responded as the small girl squeezed her.

"I only bruised it," Alice replied under her breath, but let Bella go.

"Hey, Bella," Jasper said, as he opened the pizza box and smiled at its contents.

Alice took the six pack and followed Jasper to the kitchen. Bella stepped into the apartment and saw Edward sitting on the couch.

"Hi, Edward," she said timidly. Edward intimidated her and she found her normally witty self lost when she was around him.

"Hey, Bella," Edward replied kindly.

Monday night was pizza night at Jasper and Edward's place, and Bella had been coming for two months now. She wished that it had been Edward who invited her, but it had actually been Jasper.

A group of her coworkers went out for a drink one night, and Jasper had picked Edward up from the bar. Bella and Jasper hit it off, and he invited her to join them for their weekly pizza meal. Edward had seemed agreeable to the idea, so she readily accepted. She hoped that this time together would help him get to know her better and vice versa.

Unfortunately, after eight Mondays, Bella was still just as mousy around Edward as she always was, but she had come to count Jasper and Alice as two of her closest friends, so all wasn't lost.

"So, how was your day, man?" Jasper asked Edward, as he came back in the room with some plates and the pizza box.

"Good, it was payday," Edward said, his eyes lighting up.

Jasper knew what that meant. Fucking Rosalie Hale. Jasper hated that girl. She was vain and fake and all wrong for Edward. The problem was that Edward seemed to think that Rosalie pissed unicorns and rainbows, and there was no convincing him otherwise. Jasper decided that this was the perfect opportunity to get Edward to see the light.

"Dude, if you really want to tap that, you should start a band," Jasper said. Bella's eyes shot to Jasper, and he recognized the emotion in them. "You play piano, I could play guitar, and if we find a drummer and a singer, then we are set. Chicks dig guys in a band."

"You think?" Edward asked excitedly.

"I know a drummer," Alice piped up.

"Of course, you do," Jasper said mockingly.

Alice dated-a lot. She wasn't slutty, but she liked to keep her options open. You could name any profession, and Alice had dated at least one guy who did it.

"Oh, shut it," she snapped. "Carlisle is kick-ass on the skins."

Edward and Jasper shared a look and broke out laughing. Alice's attempt at using any type of slang came across as hilarious. She once tried to use 'jiggy' in a sentence, and they never let her live in down.

"I can sing," Bella said, her voice so quiet that she wasn't sure anyone had heard her.

Edward looked a little uncomfortable. Bella was his friend, but he needed his band to be good in order to get Rosalie's attention.

"Show us whatcha got, little missy?" Jasper said, giving her a wink.

Bella suddenly felt very nervous. She looked at Jasper and then Alice, as if one of them could help her out. Edward saw her unease and felt bad. He wanted to do something, and the idea popped into his head immediately.

"Here, why don't you tell me what you want to sing, and I'll play for you on my keyboard."

"Oh, okay," she replied, breathing out a huge sigh. Edward went to his bedroom and pulled out his keyboard. He set it down in front of the couch and looked up expectantly at Bella, waiting for her choice.

She knew that this was her one chance. If she could belt something out that Edward liked, she would be in his band, and they would get to spend countless hours together practicing. Sure, it would all be to help him get his girl, but she hoped that he might see what was right in front of his eyes.

"'At Last'," Bella said, staring at Edward.

Edward was surprised. He knew the Etta James' song well, but couldn't believe that Bella would. He placed his fingers on the familiar keys and started to play. Bella's mouth opened and music came pouring out. All of her awkwardness was gone as she began doing the one thing she truly loved- singing.

If Edward was surprised by her song choice, he was flabbergasted by her voice. Gritty, yet feminine, Bella's raspy voice was one of the best he had ever heard. She was so confident standing there that Edward thought for a moment that she looked beautiful. She was the perfect choice to help him get Rosalie Hale.