chapter 326: chapter 326: nypc (2) – trust.

    [general pov]

    at 9 pm, when the party had barely started, phil and claire walked side by side as they entered.

    claire styled her hair into a classic chignon—gathering it at her nape and tying it into a knot. she wore a classy peach-colored dress with a leg split and carried a small red pouch.

    "they have a free sundae bar! i love it here!" phil exclaimed, his eyes glued to the ice cream cart. he didn''t even notice scarlett johansson standing beside it, eating a sundae with a spoon before she walked away to join her friends.

    "hey, guys! over here!" gloria waved her hand excitedly, calling them over as she sat with the rest of the family. mitch and cam, gloria and jay, ted and frankie were all gathered at the same table in the vip section.

    gloria wore a tight-fitting blue dress with a deep cleavage that made people think she was one of the models or celebrities at the event. she definitely eclipsed some of them in presence.

    "look, look, look! britney''s here!" mitchell whispered to cam in excitement, both of them giggling as they saw britney walking toward the backstage, escorted by her security team.

    "mitchell, this is literally the best party i''ve ever been to in my entire life," cam squealed before turning to frankie. "can i get a peek at the list of all the celebrities coming?"

    "that list is private," frankie replied curtly, leaving ted amazed by how she wasn''t a people pleaser. frankie excused herself to resume her work coordinating the party and greeted claire briefly before she left.

    cam giggled in embarrassment and exclaimed deflatedly, "oh. i guess that wasn''t really appropriate for me to ask."

    jay grumbled to cam, "don''t bother them, cam. it''s an important party for edward."

    "i''m not going to bother them!" cam defended himself hurriedly.

    "hey, guys!" claire greeted her family members as she and phil reached the table. "the party is quite crazy, isn''t it?" claire snickered, bragging to her family.

    "yeah, pepper really knows how to throw a party," jay agreed with a smile. "the drinks, especially, are outstanding." he raised his glass before sipping his whiskey.

    the hidden cia agent sarah walker smiled in satisfaction as she saw jay''s reaction while holding a bottle of euphoria drink.

    near the stage, abed was holding a camera as he filmed maggie.

    as they paused the recording, abed told maggie, "next time, try not to stare directly into the camera for longer than three seconds."

    "stop criticizing my work, or i''ll quit," maggie threatened abed.

    "you hired me," abed replied casually. "also, when are we getting the backstage shots? we need to get a few of those before the performance starts."

    "let''s go backstage, then," maggie sighed slightly as she led abed to the location. she had access, so abed needed her to get inside.

    the recording was just a hobby for both of them, and the video was for personal use only. despite their frequent creative clashes, they had become quite close during their time working together.

    however, as they entered the backstage area, britney''s security immediately pushed the camera away to prevent any footage of her and chased them out violently.

    mickey, edward''s head of security, immediately intervened, placing himself between the mean-looking security guy and abed.

    "no cameras!" the aggressive guy said gruffly.

    "okay, you can calm down now," mickey said intimidatingly. "why don''t i let him talk first? oh, miss newgate. it''s you. i didn''t notice. i''m sorry."

    maggie was a bit taken aback by the sudden politeness but played along immediately. "that''s okay, mickey. just call me maggie as usual."

    the security detail suddenly hesitated, wondering if they had messed with the wrong person. they speculated whether maggie had a connection with ''the edward newgate,'' which made them change their attitude immediately.

    abed quickly explained the situation. "i needed to take some shots before the concert and also get some background footage."

    "you guys cannot film britney. it''s not in our contract," the security detail said gruffly.

    "we''re not here to film her. we didn''t even know she was here. why is she even here?" maggie complained. even mickey was confused by that.

    "she''s supposed to be at the party or resting in her waiting room in the house." mickey turned to the security and interrogated them. "the concert is in two hours. she''s not called up here yet."

    "miss spears is familiarizing herself with the stage," the security detail replied. "just wait until she''s done."

    mickey didn''t press further and took abed and maggie with him as he left. inside the backstage area, chuck talked to sarah using his earpiece as he glanced secretly at britney.

    "she looked dazed, and she''s also crying." chuck reported. "we should get her to a doctor too to see what they have her on." he was referring to any potential medications that were prescribed to her.

    time passed by and the party was in full swing. edward however, had to watch everyone having fun at the party from the window as he had to hide himself first to make an even greater appearance later.

    "i feel like ''squirdward watching spongebob and patrick having fun'' meme." he muttered to himself. even though he was surrounded by many people, the entertainment was without a doubt targeted at the outdoor party. he wanted the sundae too.

    "edward, can we talk?" vanessa asked before the concert, and edward went inside a room with her.

    as edward went to the other room with vanessa, tara teased haley about it.

    "your date left you alone at a party and went into another room with another pretty girl. hmm, what could they possibly be doing there?" she snarked sarcastically, clearly dissatisfied with edward''s decision to leave haley by herself.

    haley, however, didn''t really care. "he''s ed. it will be a lecture or a pep talk."

    "all i heard is that she''s going to make him give her a ''penis talk.'' are you really not jealous?" tara looked at haley incredulously. "whenever a girl even tries to talk to your ex-boyfriend in high school, you used to unleash hell on him—" she added.

    "i''d never unleash hell! when did i ever unleash hell!?" haley was taken aback by the accusation.

    tara recounted, "you made it seem like it was his fault for her talking to him. you started fights and threw things around—"

    "okay, stop!" haley cupped tara''s hand and continued in a whisper, "i have changed. besides, edward isn''t like the other boys."

    "oh, what''s he like?" tara asked playfully.

    "trustworthy," haley replied curtly. suddenly, everyone in the room heard piano music playing. the sound was coming from the room where edward had gone.

    "what song is this?" jenna asked in confusion. finneas replied, "i think it''s debussy''s clair de lune."

    "eww, finneas, why are you saying ''the pussy''?" enid scowled at him. flabbergasted, finneas tried to defend himself. "not ''the pussy''! debussy! he''s a classical musician!"

    "he must''ve had a rough childhood," jacob muttered with some empathy for the classical musician.

    "not really," alex chimed in. "the word only took on the meaning of female genitalia in the 20th century. so i think in his childhood, it only meant ''cat.''"

    "no one is interested in the history of the word, alex. god, both you and your boyfriend are real perverts." elsa grinned as she sipped her drink.

    i scoffed and asked, "why are you so jittery now? have you changed your mind?"

    "i needed to," vanessa said seriously. "but if i fail again—" her eyes trembled.

    i interjected quickly, "then there will be a third, fourth, and fifth chance. you don''t only have one chance, you know?" i stood up and smirked while patting her head.

    vanessa went silent for a moment before saying, "okay then. no take-backs, and i''ll perform today! but not the dance ones. i think i still need some practice for that." she raised her pinky, trying to negotiate a deal with me. i sighed as i interlocked my finger with hers and said, "alright, i promise."

    "and you promise you will become my boyfriend if your date doesn''t go well today," she added.

    "i pro— wait, what?" i was taken aback by the sudden addition, but vanessa sealed the deal with her thumb, saying urgently, "no take-backs! a promise is made!" she quickly separated her hand and stuck her tongue out at me.

    although i was initially surprised, i smirked at her and teased, "i mean, you kinda did a pointless thing. there''s no way the date won''t go well today."

    "really? if i come out of the room with my hair slightly disheveled or my lipstick ruined, do you think she will still be cool?" vanessa smirked evilly.

    then, she dismissed it before i could react, "i''m not going to do it, of course, but if i were her and you left me to be alone with another girl at a party, i wouldn''t be cool about it."

    her words made me realize my mistake. "i didn''t think about that before," i muttered, swallowing hard.

    ...

    after convincing vanessa to perform again, we both walked out of the room together, only to find a crowd had formed in front of the door.

    my eyes immediately searched for haley, only to find her crossing her arms and tapping her feet in dissatisfaction as she glared at me and hudgens.

    "ness, by any chance, will you talk to her first?" i asked vanessa.

    vanessa rushed away, saying, "sorry, i have to prepare for the concert. i have to start it, so i have no time to mingle."

    i walked up to haley and greeted her, "did you wait long? i''m sorry."

    "what were you doing in there with that exotic girl?" tara asked, interrupting.

    my group of friends joined us, and jenna suddenly said, "why are you the one who''s irritated? didn''t edward show us that nothing happened inside?"

    everyone looked at jenna in confusion. alex asked, "what do you mean by that?"

    "well..." jenna stammered a bit, but her answer left me speechless. "he showed us where his fingers were the entire time, didn''t he? they were on the piano keys. so nothing happened inside the room."

    haley widened her eyes in realization and disbelief, immediately relaxing her arms. "oh my god. that''s why you were playing the piano?" she seemed flattered. tara''s eyes darted around as she searched for other points of attack. "he can use other things than his fingers," she countered.

    enid nodded in amazement, essentially ignoring her sister. "that''s really a genius move. although other parts of him can move, there wouldn''t be any disruption to the melody, which would certainly happen if he did anything with the girl."

    elsa joined in, "that''s true. i don''t think he could control it so well if he were making out with her or his penis is ins—" she couldn''t finish her sentence as enid cupped her mouth, stopping her.

    finneas mumbled to himself, "is this how girls'' delusions work? they create excuses that even edward never thought of."

    alex muttered in relief, "thank god i''m not part of edward''s groupie."

    "what were you doing with her?" haley asked me whisperingly as she approached her, holding my sleeve and looked upward to my face.

    "just discussing her performance." i whispered back.

    "i think we can all move outdoors now. the performances will start in half an hour. you guys need to find a good spot for you to watch the new years countdown." i checked the time on my watch and told everyone.

    "do you have something special planned for it? should i record your performance?" jenna asked. enid widened her eyes and scolded jenna, "why are you even asking about that? record it always!"

    as i led the group outdoors to where the main party was, i pulled haley to the side and whispered to her, "look, i don''t want to lie to you, so i''ll just tell you what happened. only if you promise not to tell anyone else."

    "oh no, i''m fine with it already," haley replied casually, which took me aback.

    "really?" i asked incredulously.

    [haley''s commentary]

    "i''ve been friends with edward for a while, so i kinda know how he works. he gets up close and personal with his employees; he''s friendly with everyone except those he can''t stand or who have a personality he hates. he can be a great listener... i like him because he does these things."

    haley smiled sincerely as she crossed her arms. "also, his face," she added playfully, "and his hands."

    [commentary ends]

    "yeah, that''s between you and her. you don''t need to tell me anything," haley stressed again with a smile on her face. my expression froze slightly.

    the whole situation felt like a trap for me. if i told her, she could say, "i told you i''m fine with it," and get angry. but if i just played it off and said, "alright," she''d turn it around on me, saying, "really? you''re not going to tell me anything? you have something to hide?" and got angry again.

    i couldn''t win either way, so i created a different route. i wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her close. embarrassed, haley blushed as everyone watched, clamoring at our interaction.

    "i thought you weren''t going to do anything in public?" she asked, warily glancing around, but her breath became heavier with anticipation.

    "well, i know everyone here, so i don''t really care," i flirted as i slowly brought her hand to my lips and kissed it, essentially announcing to everyone that she was my date for the night. a lot of girls there glared at haley from afar and murmured in dissatisfaction.

    "are you trying to make up for leaving me alone?" haley swayed slightly and whispered flirtatiously, "i told you i''m fine."

    "yeah, i know you are. but you''re also my best friend, and i want to tell you stuff. can''t i tell you stuff?" i asked flirtatiously too.

    she nodded and grinned widely. "okay, you can. but we can wait until the party''s over. we have to hit the pause button on what you''re telling me, ''cause i''m pretty sure a lot of people want to talk to you this evening."

    i finally took my eyes off her and looked around, noticing that many people were waiting to strike up a conversation with me.

    the ''pause button'' was something we agreed on beforehand. since there were a lot of important people at the party, networking was crucial and directly affected the company, so haley suggested we pause the date so i could focus on that instead.

    pepper walked toward me gleefully and said, "edward! you finally made it!" acting as if i hadn''t been shoved inside the house for over five hours.

    "there are a few people i want you to meet," pepper said as he scanned the surroundings to get the location of where those people were.

    haley cleared her throat and tried to move away, "i''ll find a spot to watch the performance—"

    "you''re coming with me," i told haley with a smirk, tightening my grip on her palm.

    "i can''t let people think my date left me behind. i''m not a loser." i said teasingly before pretending to realize i was talking about her, "oh. sorry. that happened to you before. i shouldn''t have brought that up. "

    "ass," she giggled in disbelief. i grabbed her hand, and we walked to the first couple pepper led us to.