บท 108: Chapter 108: Bucketlist.
(This chap is very long lol)
[Edward POV]
As I arrived at the studio in the desert, I threw my luggage to the side of the room before sitting down on the audio equipment panel. Dressing comfortably in my black hoodie with the Whitebeard 'One Piece' logo on the back of it, and gray sweatpant, I greeted Leo who was eating a sandwich in the studio pantry.
"Missed me guys?" I asked cheekily while playing with the huge musical synthesizer. The panel produced an R2-D2 sad beeping from my touch.
"Aww. Don't worry. I'll be here till Sunday. I promise."
Then, the panel produced a happy beeping sound. Pepper rolled his eyes as he watched my shenanigans and he patted my shoulder. I turned to him before he said, "Look at this. I guess your 'friend' has gone mad."
He showed a Youtube fan video of Taylor's latest concert that had been trending on the internet after its release.
"Huh? Although I love crazy chicks, what did she do exactly?" I asked in confusion.
"Just watch." Pepper replied with a solemn expression. As I took the tablet from him, he snapped his paper fan and fanned his face quietly.
[♫♪Starlight - Taylor Swift♫♪]
"Oh this song." I muttered as I heard the intro.
"You know about it?" Pepper asked in bewilderment. I nodded before focusing back on the concert, not wanting to explain that I heard the song in my previous life before.
"Yeah. It's about one of her idols, Bobby and Ethel Kennedy. It's a song about their life story." I replied, making Pepper breathed in relief.
Inside the video, Taylor was wearing a beautiful white coloured princess-like dress and was sitting on a stool, holding her guitar.
The part where she told the fans that she was inspired by me and wanted to sing a new song of hers in the concert was cut out of the video as the fan who recorded this couldn't get her camera recorder out fast enough, but it was included in the caption.
Taylor started to sing, "♫♪I said, "Oh my, what a marvelous tune"... It was the best night, never would forget how we moved..The whole place…Was dressed to the nines…And we were dancing, dancing… Like we're made of starlight… Like we're made of starlight…♫♪"
I bobbed my head at the tune and asked Pepper, "So. What's wrong exactly?"
"Keep watching."
"♫♪I met Eddy- on the boardwalk summer of '45," The fans could see Taylor widened her eyes and blushed as she sang the wrong lyric, but she continued, bracing the embarrassment. My face froze as I realized the consequences of this, and Pepper just nodded knowingly as he saw my reaction.
"♫♪ Picked me up late one night out the window, We were seventeen and crazy running wild, wild
♫♪Can't remember what song he was playing when we walked in♫♪
♫♪The night we snuck into a yacht club party
Pretending to be a duchess and a prince♫♪"
[General POV]
"THIS…SHE'S TALKING ABOUT THE PARTY BEFORE-" Before Anna could exclaim, Kaya cupped her mouth and shushed her. Kaya whispered admonishingly, "Ed wasn't supposed to be at the party remember? So SHUT UP!"
In the Dunphy's house, Claire narrowed her eyes as she heard it. "I KNEW IT! I knew they did something wrong at the party!"
Haley and Alex looked weirdly at Claire, but she wouldn't explain what she knew. In Mitch and Cam's place, Cam screamed in excitement again before he said, "Remember Love Story at the concert? Where they roleplay as a prince and a princess?"
Mitchell jaw dropped in awe before he nodded in realization, "This…is a confession song right?"
"♫♪And I said, "Oh my, what a marvelous tune"
It was the best night, never would forget how we moved
The whole place
Was dressed to the nines
And we were dancing, dancing
Like we're made of starlight, starlight
Like we're made of starlight, starlight♫♪"
At the dock, Ted wiped his sweaty forehead as he saw countless new bookings for his yacht trip. "How does this happen?" He asked.
Dwayne beside him said gruffly, "One of the fans found the website. Granted Edward never hid it, but now we get bookings from all over the country. Some even from abroad."
Suddenly, Ted's phone rang. It was an unknown number, but he still picked it up as he was taught to be polite.
"Hello?"
"Hi. Sorry for calling you late at night. I got your number from your son." A familiar voice greeted Ted from the other line.
"I'm sorry. Who's this?"
"Me? I'm…Robert Downey-"
…
♫♪He said, "Look at you, worrying so much about things you can't change
You'll spend your whole life singing the blues
If you keep thinking that way"♫♪
♫♪He was tryna to skip rocks on the ocean saying to me
"Don't you see the starlight, starlight
Don't you dream impossible things"♫♪
Edward turned to Pepper and said, "I got a bad feeling that this is not all?"
Pepper nodded and said, "You're quite sharp. Yeah. Taylor went rogue and announced she's leaving her agency today. Allegedly. I still can't find a statement from her agency."
"Wait what?!" Edward exclaimed in shock. Although he had inserted a hidden clause in the contract in preparation to help Taylor get away from her agency, he never thought she would go wild on her own. And she really didn't, but Edward didn't know that yet.
"But. The penalty!" Edward asked in bewilderment.
"10 million dollar contract breach penalty, and losses of her songs copyright." Pepper said with a solemn face. "But nothing is concluded yet. This may be some reporter twisting her words. We still don't know for sure."
Edward breathed in relief.
"♫♪Ooh, ooh he's talking crazy
Ooh, ooh dancing with me
Ooh, ooh we could get married♫♪"
The fans shouted in excitement as Taylor sang the lyric, causing Edward to be taken aback. However, to Pepper's astonishment, Edward showed a grin instead of becoming worried.
"Why-Why are you reacting like this?" Pepper asked fearfully.
♫♪Have ten kids and teach 'em how to dream♫♪
Edward replied, "I don't know. Becoming Taylor's song is on my bucket list. I can cross it out today."
"♫♪"Oh, my what a marvelous tune"
It was the best night, never would forget how we moved
The whole place, Was dressed to the nines, And we were dancing, dancing…
Like we're made of starlight, starlight!
Like we're made of starlight, starlight!
Like we're made of starlight, starlight!♫♪
♫♪Like we dream impossible dreams
Like starlight, starlight
Like we dream impossible dreams
Don't you see the starlight, starlight
Don't you dream impossible things♫♪"
The video ends as the audience cheered at the red-faced Taylor. She did make a disclaimer about this song's connection with Edward, but the media had already gone crazy with the incident.
"We need to back her up a little, and downplay the entire incident. Also, this is a good chance for Taylor and I to build our online presence if we play this properly." Edward muttered as he saw the online reaction.
"Also, can you contact the Twilight movie studio?" He asked as he turned to look at Pepper. "Like, Right now?"
-Taylor's concert venue, Ohio-
"So, are you going to tell me what happened out there?" Taylor's lyric writer asked in a cold tone while pushing her glasses up with a solemn expression as she faced the idol lazing around the couch in front of her.
"It was a slip of the tongue. Everyone can make mistakes." Taylor answered with disinterest as she kept fiddling with her phone, her innocent girl persona had been lifted as she finished the concert today.
"You don't make that kind of mistake! Don't you know what a big deal this is-"
"SHUSH!" Taylor raised her finger at the assistant as her phone started to ring. She grinned and cleared her throat a few times before answering the phone with a depressed tone.
"Ed. I'm so sorry!" She said hurriedly. The lyric writer/assistant widened her eyes in disbelief as she saw the change in treatment. Taylor quickly chased her away as she continued to talk with Edward.
"No worries. I kinda liked it." Ed replied, causing Taylor to break into a wide grin.
"You did?"
"Yeah. But I would love it even better if the song was truly for me, and not just a slip of the tongue."
"Huh?" Taylor tilted her head in confusion.
"Didn't you make the song based on Ethel and Bobby Kennedy? The one who created the animal life sanctuary?" Edward asked.
"Oh that." Taylor said with a tiny bit of disappointment as Edward managed to find out the true meaning of the song. Her plan to test Edward by slipping her name in the song as she was satisfied with his answer to 'What are we' failed as Edward wasn't even bothered by the name mentioned in her song.
'But..he said he would love it if the song was truly for him? Was he expecting something more? Should I really? But the scandal! Urgh! Why must god make him too young for me!' Taylor's thoughts spiraled in agony as she talked to him.
"Right now, we have a big opportunity to raise both of our names up. It'll work even better for me because I'm planning to release my new singles this Saturday."
Taylor was bewildered and asked, "YOU'RE RELEASING NEW SONGS! FOR WHO!"
"For who? For me of course?" Edward replied in confusion. Taylor calmed down a bit and said, "Ah. Sorry."
Edward laughed and shared his plans with Taylor.
"I won't do it if you feel uncomfortable with it-"
"Wait. You want us to flirt a bit on Twitter?" Taylor asked in disbelief, her smile spread from ear to ear.
"Basically. Yes. The public loves the drama." Edward replied.
He already knew multiple ways to benefit from a scandal based on his future knowledge. When Taylor's speech was interrupted by Kanye, her popularity exploded because of the scandal, and Edward planned to do the same thing with both of them right now.
"Let's do it!" Taylor excitedly agreed to what Edward was proposing.
"Good. I will start." Edward said before he typed out a tweet mentioning the incident today.
@EdwardNewgate: Well…this is awkward. (article link) @TaylorOfficial, Isn't 10 children too much? I was only planning for 3 to 4, but if you insist… 😜
Lily– Edward's Fan Club president noticed the tweet and notified her entire army to make his tweet go viral. Within minutes, there were already 10,000 shares of the tweet, and over 50 thousand likes. She however, was frowning as the group's fantasy was quickly broken by Edward's quick reaction to the incident.
"The forum instantly stopped after Edward's tweet. Was he planning this or…" Lily muttered. The Tayward Shippers were going crazy before with a whole lot of conspiracy theories about Edward and Taylor's relationship.
Some theorised that Taylor was the one who were overreaching in the relationship, but now that Edward was blatantly flirting with her, all of them fell into a confusion.
Replying to @EdwardNewgate : @TaylorOfficial : You'll be so lucky. 😝. Anyway, that's a slip of the tongue. I wasn't singing about you. 🥰 ☺️
EdwardNewgate: Really? We weren't 17 in 1945? Our yacht venture is already exposed, so next, people will know we're actually immortal vampires. (Tease.emoji)
TaylorOfficial: 🙄 We're not in a Twilight movie.
TwilightOfficial replying to @EdwardNewgate and TaylorOfficial: Did someone say, Vampire?"
"AH SHIT! IT'S A MARKETING PLOY!" Lily shouted by herself before she rubbed her head in frustration, turning her blonde hair all messy. "So, even the slip of tongue was planned huh!"
She made her own theory about the whole incident but didn't share it with the others as she was supporting both Taylor and Edward. Most of the fans shared the same sentiment, but that didn't pour cold water to their excitement as Twilight released the "Two Is Better Than One" music video right at this moment!
The reaction, like Edward expected, was explosive!
But, that wasn't all for the fans' surprise today.
"Are you sure about this?" Pepper asked as Edward shared his thoughts.
"Well… She sang it for me, so I need to do a reply song right?" Edward said with a grin before typing something on his Twitter page.
@EdwardNewgate: Hey @TaylorOfficial. Wait for an hour! I have a surprise for you! You CAN…expect a reply song for this, so be excited! A simple pre-release for my upcoming album, released on my website!
-Mitch and Cam's house-
"KYAAAHHH!" Cam screamed girlishly after he saw Edward's new tweet. Even Mitchell beside him was impressed after seeing Ed's response to the whole situation.
"Oh my god! I thought it was over when they released the music video." Mitchell exclaimed.
"I need to call Pepper! Damn, why is he not answering!" Cam stomped his foot dramatically.
"Maybe let it ring first?" Mitchell said, rolling his eyes.
"It went to voicemail!" Cam
-Dunphy's house-
Inside the girls bedroom, Haley was walking back and forth in the middle of the room while Alex was sitting on her bed.
"Urgh! What is he doing!?" Haley groaned in frustration as she kept texting Edward to ask about the whole scandal, but Edward wasn't responding as he was busy recording at this moment.
"Stop bothering him." Alex admonished her sister, despite the fact that she was also doing the same thing.
"Does he really want to date that lanky skank? Does he know what kind of mess he'll be in if he did that? The public will tear them apart!" Haley exclaimed in concern for Edward, and also with a tinge of jealousy in her tone.
"I don't think Edwards is dumb enough to do that. I'm sure he's just banking on the whole drama to further promote his artistic image by not wasting the free publicity. Can't you see how fast their followers counts are rising? Edward is at 1.2 million followers now and Taylor is at 2.2 million. It started with Ed only had 500k followers. "
"BUT STILL!" Haley exclaimed before she whispered, "Why her?"
-Jay's house, Kitchen-
"Manny. What is this Twitter thing? And why do Claire and Cam want me to look at it?" Jay asked in confusion after he received continuous calls from the members of his family.
Manny replied excitedly, "It's a social networking website. You can share your opinions with others, and also-"
"Stop Stop. I don't want to know that. I just want to know why Claire is asking me to check it out." Jay said hurriedly. "Only then, will they finally let me go to sleep." Jay sighed helplessly. It was almost 9 o'clock in the night, so he was already feeling sleepy.
"Oh. Can't help you there. I don't have an account." Manny replied.
"Then, can you help me make an account?" Jay replied while rubbing forehead. All of the 'trending' stuff and 'viral' stuff was giving him a headache.
"Why don't you ask my mom to do it?" Manny asked innocently.
"Well for one thing, I don't want to embarrass myself. Can you help me do the account thing or not?"
"What account? What are you guys talking about?" Gloria suddenly walked into the kitchen wearing her pyjamas and asked casually.
Jay flinched and said, "Nothing hun. I just found Manny still awake when I came down."
Manny froze in confusion, and gave a side eye at Jay, but didn't expose him as Jay mouthed, 'I will give your permission to make an account later'.
Jay ran away from the kitchen quickly, leaving only the smiling Gloria and the innocent Manny there. But the second Jay walked upstairs, Gloria's face turned solemn and she asked Manny hurriedly, "Manny. What is this Twitter thing? And why do Claire and Cam want me to look at it?"
Manny froze again, feeling a sense of dejavu from his mother's request.
-Jenna's New House-
After the whole incident with the producer, Jenna and her mother left the house and rented a duplex near the city, where it was only a few blocks away from where Elsa was staying. Therefore, it was easy for them to hang out together in Jenna's room.
"Why are you so interested in this? I thought you're still mad at Edward?" Elsa asked as she saw Jenna kept asking questions in Edward's fanclub forum.
Jenna shot her friend a glare before turning back to her laptop, "If he just apologise to my mom, then-"
"Didn't your mom say she was the one at fault?" Elsa asked again, causing Jenna to be annoyed. "Shut up!" She shouted at her friend. "Anyway, I won't talk to him again until he apologises!"
Elsa shook her head and muttered to herself, "Well, I don't think he's ever going to do that."
Not only those who were close with him were feeling antsy and excited to hear his reply song, even the popstar who was getting the reply was squealing and excitedly calling her friend Selena as they talked about the matter.
"I'm SO FUCKING JEALOUS!" Selena cursed as she watched the whole drama going on. Taylor sniggered and before saying nervously, "I don't know what to do now? Should I just really quit the agency? Maybe leave the tour and go to him? Or buy a house next to his-"
"Stop that you crazy psycho!" Selena stopped Taylor before she could spiral any further. "You know you can't do anything until he's legal!"
"I KNOW THAT!" Taylor retorted back. "He gave me the same answer when I tried to ask about our relationship before! So should I just wait? I have a life too you know! Multiple men are asking me out on a daily basis!"
"THEN DATE THEM!" Selena replied exasperatingly.
"THEY AREN'T HIM!" Taylor retorted back.
Selena sighed and said, "You guys are both crazy. Just don't do things you'll regret."
Taylor clicked her tongue before she became nervous again, "Arghh! Why is the clock moving so slowly! How much more time left?"
Selena checked her phone and said, "It's just been 5 minutes."
Taylor punched the air with her whole body to show her frustration before calming down and tried to pass the time by asking Selena a few things. But then, Harvey called her, so she put Selena on hold and answered the lawyer's call.
"Hey Taylor. Sorry to ask you about this, but…do you have Snoop dogs or Eminem's phone number?"
"Huh? What do you want them for?" Taken aback, Taylor asked in confusion.
"Well Ed needs a rapper, and those guys are the only ones Pepper knows. Or at least I think they are after all he did ask for 'Snoopy something' and 'M&M'." Harvey replied with a heavy sigh.
"Rapper?" Taylor held her chin as she fell deep in thoughts before she replied, "I think I can help you out with that. But, I need something in return for the favour."
After an hour, Edward kept his promise and released a simple video on his website. A 'Behind the scene' that was exclusive to the 'true' fans, which had already settled their subscription to his channel, as Edward never hid the fact that they needed to pay to see it.
Even Taylor's video was exclusive for her concert audience, but was illegally recorded and uploaded to Youtube, so no one could complain about Edward safeguarding the rights to his own songs. Of course, with only 1 bucks per month for the subscription to have access to behind the scenes videos, most fans didn't have any complaints.
"IT'S UP!" Haley exclaimed after she saw the link. She clicked on it hurriedly, and so did Alex. Claire and Phil watched it together using the same laptop, so did Mitch and Cam, and Jay, Gloria, and Manny.
"What should I do?" Luke asked as he walked behind his parents.
"Come watch with us!" Phil grabbed Luke and put him in the middle of him and his wife before playing the video.
The video started with the Entertain logo, and then it changed to Edward sitting crossed legged on the floor of his recording studio while holding the Taylor guitar in his lap. There was exciting music playing in the background, "'Cause you're a natural! A beating heart of stone! You gotta be so cold!", which made Edward turn to his left and shout with a playful smile, "Leo. Come on! I'm recording here man!"
The song abruptly stopped and Leo's voice could be heard from the background, "Sorry boss-man!'
Edward turned to the screen again and said, "Sorry about that. We're currently getting ready for the Singles release this Saturday. I truly didn't expect to make an exclusive today, but here we are."
He had taken off his hoodie, and was only wearing a simple tight white shirt and had a metallic necklace around his neck in the shape of a wolf head.
Enid squealed as she saw the necklace and muttered to herself, "I need that!" Her sister Tara rolled her eyes and said, "I thought you would focus more on his muscles."
"You're right! He's getting hotter and hotter!" Enid exclaimed.
Edwards' casual behaviour in addressing his fans quickly earned him a lot of goodwill from them. Taylor's attention however was focused on the guitar he was holding, and she giggled to herself, "He's using my gift, to sing a song… to reply to my song…"
Edward continued without knowing people's reaction to his video, "This looks kind of shabby but this will only be for you my most loyal fans. So here it goes, I hope you enjoy this as it will remain exclusive for all of you in the "Superfan" Club until further notice.
A lot of fans laughed as Edward said that, such as Lily. She muttered, "Superfan? That sounds about right!"
"Taylor's song gave me inspiration today. It made me wanna sing something about a gorgeous young girl with striking electric blue eyes that I have met before." Edward muttered, not wanting to deal with the claim that he wrote this song for someone specific.
Cam snorted and said, "Taylor's got blue eyes. Why don't you just admit it already?"
Mitchell admonished him and said, "And then what? Destroy Taylor's career? He's handling this with a lot of maturity Cam. He should be applauded for that."
Edward took a deep breath and played a simple melody using the guitar.
[Ed Sheeran- Tenerife Sea]
"♫♪You look so wonderful in your dress, I love your hair like that. The way it falls on the side of your neck, Down your shoulders and back. ♫♪"
Taylor touched her curly hair with a grin on her face, unaware that her ears had turned red as she reminisced the time she and Ed played together on top of the yacht. (chapter 51)
"♫♪We are surrounded by all of these lies…And people that talk too much♫♪"
Edwards' dreamy voice made the viewers who were watching fall into a daze and have a big smile plastered on their face.
"♫♪You got the kind of look in your eyes, As if no one knows anything but us♫♪"
"Huh? What does that mean?" Haley asked.
"They are at the centre of attention, but they could only see each other?" Alex guessed.
"Thats-" Haley grimaced, but then stopped midway and changed her sentence, "...Sounds about right."
"♫♪Should this be the last thing I see? I want you to know it's enough for me… 'Cause all that you are is all that I'll ever need♫♪"
Cam wiped his tears with a tissue as he sobbed and said, "That's so damn beautiful!" The next sentence however almost killed him.
"♫♪I'm so in love! So in love! So in love! I'm so in love♫♪"
Haley, Alex, Jenna, and Abby who were watching the show froze while Taylor covered her blushed red face with her curly hair, not knowing how to face Edward again after this.
"♫♪You look so beautiful in this light, Your silhouette over me, The way it brings out the blue in your eyes, Is the Tenerife sea♫♪"
"Beneath the spotlight?" Lily guessed, and it wasn't only her who came to the same conclusion.
"♫♪And all of the voices surrounding us here
They just fade out when you take a breath
Just say the word and I will disappear
Into the wilderness♫♪"
The way Edward sang the romantic song while making eye contact with the fans once in a while made them fall deeply in love with his charisma. It got them wondering, 'When will it be for his next concert?'
"♫♪Should this be the last thing I see?
I want you to know it's enough for me
'Cause all that you are is all that I'll ever need♫♪"
The media was going crazy tonight about the Twilight Music Video promotion release, Taylor leaked songs, and now, Edward's confession song, making it impossible for them to focus on only one thing to write for tomorrow's headline, not knowing that all of them had fallen into Edward's palm using his image management techniques.
"♫♪I'm so in love! So in love! So in love! So in love♫♪"
Jenna asked Elsa in a cold tone. "Have any of his songs before this mentioned something about love?"
Elsa gulped her saliva and replied, "Not that I know off."
"♫♪Lumière, darling! Lumière over me! Lumière, darling! Lumière over me! Lumière, darling! Lumière over me♫♪"
"Light? Illuminate?" Alex tried to guess the sentence's meaning. Mitchell however was impressed with Edward's perfect French word pronunciation, and even got goosebumps on his arms from the performance.
"Chills! Literal, CHILLS!" Cam exclaimed.
"♫♪Should this be the last thing I see?
I want you to know it's enough for me
'Cause all that you are is all that I'll ever need♫♪"
"That kid. I never knew he could be so romantic." Ted muttered to himself.
"♫♪So in love
So in love
So in love, love, love, love
So in love♫♪"
Gloria hugged Jay's arm and laid her head on his shoulder as she was mesmerised by the song, "Ay Jay. I don't want it to end." She muttered.
Jay nodded and said, "Although it's not 7 years, this one is still good."
"♫♪You look so wonderful in your dress
I love your hair like that
And in a moment, I knew you best♫♪"
Edward ended the song abruptly, beats of sweat rolling down his forehead. He was under intense pressure the whole time as he needed to sing the song perfectly in one take.
"That concludes the song, [Tenerife Sea]." Edward said with a grin, not expanding on the fact that he purposely picked this song to sing as it was one of the most difficult songs to understand among all the songs he had heard before.
"Like I said, this song is inspired by a gorgeous lady with striking blue eyes that I had the pleasure to meet."
Till the end, he didn't claim that the song he wrote was for Taylor, making it impossible for the fans to get the evidence for their dalliance.
"Stay tuned for this Saturday. After getting to the top chart with the Singles 'Love and Heartbreak', I will release 3 more singles with the theme, 'IMAGINE!' See you guys soon!"
The video ends there, and most of the audience was left in a daze as they still couldn't believe that the video had ended like that. After collecting themselves, they became excited and curious about Edward's next songs. For the subscribers, they also found a few cover songs posted inside the exclusive fansite, and couldn't help but click on the next video as they couldn't get enough of Edward.
[Edward POV]
After finishing the video livestream, Pepper gave me a white towel to wipe my sweat.
"Can't believe in an hour, you recorded 7 videos of yourself, coded the website, and planned everything almost to perfection." Pepper said. I grinned and wiped my head before tossing the towel to the side. "Are you sure you're 15?" He asked in suspicion.
"I'm just built different from the other kids." I replied cockily before walking to my laptop to oversee the reactions and data from the livestream today.
"500.000 new subscribers. So, 500 grand in just an hour. Eh… I think I can do better."
The keyword Tenerife Sea quickly became trending on social media, and Taylor reached 3 million followers on twitter while I managed to reach 2.7 million followers, increasing both of our influence to the public arena today.
I checked my Twitter page, and laughed as I saw what Taylor had posted.
TaylorOfficial: Awww 🥰 😍 You are on! I don't think this is over! Something tells me you all can expect a new song pretty soon."
I quickly reacted before Taylor could destroy everything I strived for today.
EdwardNewgate: @TaylorOfficial Yeah. A new song from both of us, as we're going to start our joint project together pretty soon!
I called her quickly to prevent her from tweeting again and said, "I'm looking forward to a new song if you really want to create one for me, but don't tweet anymore without my permission okay?"
"Yes Daddy." Taylor replied submissively in a sexy voice.
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