My system crashed over the weekend and while I was trying to recover the chapters for BBH I came across this drabble. I'm not sure why I wrote it and I don't have any use for it, but I am pleased with the way it sounds so I thought I would share. Should I turn it into something? Let me know what you think.

Edward looked up when he heard his secretary, Jessica, approach.

So, the usual Friday lunch crowd, Edward?"

"Yeah. But clear my schedule for a couple of hours, will you? We've got some important things to discuss."

Yawning, Edward took a brief moment to check his phone. Someone had been buzzing him with text messages all morning and he had a feeling it was Emmett. He had wanted to avoid this conversation as long as possible, but with Emmett, sooner was probably better.

Emmett : Dude! What happened to you last night?

Emmett: Were you a bad boy?

Emmett: Did Ms. Swan make you serve detention?

Emmett: Did she keep you after class?

Emmett: Did you clap her erasers?

Edward laughed out loud. Clap her erasers? What does that even mean?

Edward: Enough! Are we on for lunch?

Emmett: Deets? Were you hot for teacher?"

Edward: I would think with all your education you could come up with something original.

Emmett: Dude, the classics are the classics for a reason. L8r.

Edward: Later.

Moments later his phone was buzzing again. "Emmett," Edward muttered and looked down at the screen. This time Jasper was calling.

Edward groaned and answered, "Hey."

Dispensing with decorum, Jasper launched into the reason for his call. "What the hell did you do last night?"

Edward closed his eyes against Jasper's outrage. "What do you mean?" he asked, innocently.

"Hmmpf," Jasper huffed. He wasn't buying what Edward was selling.

"Alice says Bella is in rare form. She broke a heel on the stairs, poured coffee all over the director, and broke the copier, all before 9 am. Did you sleep with her? Because I told you that would be a very, bad idea. We're friends, but I will put you down, man," Jasper warned.

"I didn't sleep with her," Edward protested. "Look, are we on for lunch? "

"Yeah." Jasper was resigned. "But I want details. Alice is climbing the walls in her office and we cannot have that, can we?"

Edward sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He certainly did not want that. Alice Brandon was a force to be reckoned with and he was in no mood for a reckoning today. He actually did have work to do.

"Come for lunch, then. Emmett has already demanded the 'deets.'"

After a very productive morning Edward was sitting in front of a roast beef sandwich and his friends.

"Don't keep us in suspense, Ed. What happened?" Emmett demanded, slapping his hand on the desk.

"Emmett, I already told you, nothing happened. I took her home. I saw her to her door. I turned in."

OK, so maybe he tossed and turned for hours, but that was strictly Need To Know information.

"That's bull, man. I saw how you two were acting. We all saw it. You couldn't take your eyes off her and she was blushing so hard she looked like a burn victim."

Edward's eyes flashed to Emmett's.

"Whoa. No disrespect, Ed. She still looked friggin' gorgeous." Emmett held up his hands in supplication. "But what was up with you last night? You looked like a teenager on his first date. Did you bag her or what?"

Emmett leaned forward, an excited gleam in his eye.

Jasper leaned in too, eyebrows raised in question.

"Jesus! What is this high school?" Edward erupted. "I kissed her! OK? I didn't score, I didn't bag her. I walked her to the door and kissed her goodnight."

"But," Emmett faltered. "Then you went in…she invited you in, right?"

"Nope."

"You took her to your place?"

"Nope."

Jasper leaned back and crossed his arms. "Oh, man you've got it bad."

The others looked at him quizzically.

"You're in love with this girl. Damn it, Edward! What the hell am I gonna tell Alice, now?"

"Sorry Jasper, " Edward muttered. "I don't know what happened. I like her. I thought we were friends I mean…" Edward struggled to find the right words. "…this girl has no moves, at all. She's never flirted or come on to me in any way. She makes me sandwiches, for God's sake! But that blush! It was driving me crazy all night. Then I got to the door and I looked into her eyes and for a moment it was like …" Edward muttered a curse. "…I lost all sense of myself."

Emmett and Jasper stared at him, the same look of amazement on each man's face.

Edward clenched his fists on the arms of his chair as recalled the look on Bella's face just before he kissed her.

Her stare was so intense and she had a little smile on her lips.

"You know how women do? That little smile that tells you they don't buy any of your shit? "

The men nodded. They knew.

"Gaah those lips!" he shouted. "I couldn't resist. I kissed her."

Edward flung his hands out in a kind of are-you-happy-now gesture and got up to pace behind his desk.

"It was just a peck. When I leaned back she had that look in her eyes again, and it was so deep I felt like diving in and taking a swim."

"So she wanted you?"

"I don't know. It wasn't lust it wasn't even an invitation. It was…longing, I think. Then I just fell. I mean, I literally fell! She reached up and pushed me back and I kissed her again. You know…longer."

Emmett wiggled his eyebrows in response. Jasper closed his eyes and shook his head.

"And…" Emmett encouraged.

"She broke the kiss, said good night, and went into her apartment." Deflated, Edward dropped into his chair.

He didn't tell them about standing with his forehead against her doorjamb for several long minutes, his harsh breathing echoing in the hallway. No one needed to know that he needed that time to steady his legs, which felt like the bones had been removed.