Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up! It's story time!
Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all of Twilight, I'm just living in a fantasy world.
One of the things I loved the most about Seattle in the springtime was the Pike Place Farmers Market. It was open all year long for tourists looking to shop but in the spring everything woke up with the first harvests on the season. The flowers were new, the fruit was ripe and there was something satisfying about knowing that the freshness was consistent.
I browsed some of my regular stalls that were open all year, as well as the seasonal ones that were setting up now that it was mid-April. My mind was already thinking about the different dishes I could make now that I had a full selection of fresh food that was now available to me. I loved cooking, especially when I knew where the ingredients came from.
"Hi, Linda."
"Bella. Hello dear. How can I help you today?" Linda worked at one of the vegetable stalls that were open all year and since I was a loyal customer, I usually got special deals and gossip about other sellers.
"I don't know, I have to make a dessert. My mom wants me to send her something but she doesn't know what. I'm just looking for some inspiration."
"One of the fruit orchards set up last week; they have some pretty nice peaches and apricots."
I could make Renée some apricot tarts or a peach cake, or both. Nothing too fancy, just something, anything that she could brag to her baseball wife friends about. I was always 'her daughter, the chef'. Every time I went to visit her I tried to talk about anything but my job, I didn't want to inform my mom's friends that I wasn't a real chef while they were enjoying my braised lamb or a souffle.
We chatted for a while and I thanked Linda as I paid for some asparagus and tomatoes then went to look for the fruit stall that she told me about. Some sellers had out flowers so the air was lightly perfumed and brought springtime into the North Arcade. I stopped to buy some lilies for my apartment but I was having a hard time deciding between the yellow ones or the pink. I was so focused on the flowers that a voice behind me made me jump.
"A woman as beautiful as you needs roses." The voice was so smooth and velvety, I gasped. Whoever was behind me managed to turn me on as well as scare the hell out of me.
"Excuse me?" I furrowed my brow and turned to see a beautiful man, probably the most beautiful man I'd ever seen, a beautiful man smirking at me like I was the last steak on a grill.
"I said roses. Someone as lovely as you doesn't need to be wasting their time with lilies when there are roses available."
"I like lilies."
"And I like beautiful women."
I narrowed my eyes at the beautiful man, who was also a bit persistent. "Okay, I see that we both have different interests."
I shook my head and turned to walk away and he quickly cut me off. "I also like buying roses for beautiful women," he stated matter-of-factly as his smirk turned into a wide grin. His teeth were white and straight… and maybe even a bit dangerous looking.
"Let me buy you some roses."
"No thanks, I don't care for them much," I said tightly as I raised my eyebrows.
"I've never met a woman who didn't like roses."
"And since we don't know each I guess that statement will remain true."
I tried to cross his path but he blocked me, again. "Edward. My name is Edward."
And then he smiled, again, like I had said something amusing!
"Okay."
"Your name is 'Okay'? How unconventional."
I rolled my eyes and huffed. I just wanted some flowers but it seemed that Beautiful Man was not only persistent but he was cheesy. I grabbed a bouquet of lilies, disregarding the color and walked to pay for them, finally able to bypass Beautiful Man Edward.
"Please, let me pay for those."
"You only buy roses. No thanks."
"I guess there's a first time for anything." I handed the vender cash but Beautiful Man put his hand on top of hers just as she took the money, and reached into his back pocket and pulled out a leather wallet. I took a moment to look fully and Beautiful Man and everything about him screamed 'flawless'. He had on deep navy slacks and matching jacket with a white button-up shirt on under it. His hair, vibrant and bronzed, looked like it was styled by a woman in the throes of passion the night before. I briefly wondered if his back and broad shoulders, which I imagined were toned and just as attractive as his front, had scratch marks across it to prove my theory. His eyes were a deep green that reminded me of the forest behind my dad's house in Forks. I had no idea what could be hidden in them; another warning sign that I should keep away from him. Beautiful Man's jaw and high cheek bones looked like they were sculpted from marble and only highlighted what was undoubtedly the most perfect face that DNA had ever created. Everything about Beautiful Man was either polished or perfect; he was walking, talking, genetic sex. The fact that I was only in an oversized grey knitted sweater, black tights and some old, brown Doc Martens must've made an amusing scene any passerby.
The vender, a woman in her mid-30s, looked like she was having trouble comprehending words while his hand on top of hers. She was a hot sputtering mess, much to Beautiful Man's amusement. At last I knew I wasn't the only one roused by his appeal.
He removed his hand and requested that she use his credit card, a black and silver American Express. She nodded and somehow, in her daze, managed to run the card.
"I believe this belongs to you, Okay." Beautiful Man stated, as he handed me my cash back. I snatched my money and put it in the tip jar; the vender was still staring at Beautiful Man and paid me no mind.
I turned on my heel and stalked off towards the bridge that connected to the Main Arcade building, where most of my favorite fruit vendors were. If I hadn't been caught up at the flower stand I probably would have picked out my fruit and been on my way to my car in the parking garage. I thought I'd gotten rid of the beautiful man but seconds later he was strolling next to me.
"Have dinner with me, beautiful."
I stopped, faced him, and firmly responded. This was his whole reason for harassing me. "No."
"No?"
"No." I said again with a hint of finality.
"Well, why not?" He didn't sound irritated, but intrigued. He was used to getting his way.
"You're quite pompous and I've remained unaffected by your wiles this entire unpleasant encounter. I neither desire nor delight in the thought of spending an evening with someone who obviously believes their omnipotent. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some shopping I need to get done. I suggest that you take your head out of your ass. It's very unbecoming. Goodbye." I tilted my head after my declaration and was prepared to walk away again.
"Okay."
"Okay?" I'd won? I won!... I won?
"Okay… Until the next time I see you." And with that Beautiful Man walked away and left me standing in the middle of Pike Place, confused and a little less than victorious.
I stood there and watched him walk away, toward the Post Alley exit; he didn't even look back at me. I was sure he knew I was still looking at him, though. It took me a minute to finally regain my composure and head to where I should've been; the fact that I was stuck in a stupor angered me a little. Who did he think he was? Most guys can't take a hint but even after I blatantly told Beautiful Man that I wasn't interested, he decided to take on what he thought was a challenge. Nobody won when Bella Swan made up her mind, that much I did know. I hope someone bumps into him and he falls onto that gross gum wall.
Picking out the fruit calmed me down a bit, food did that. I picked up a few more things that looked good and was finally on my way out of the market. I sighed in relief when I reached my truck unaccosted.
I pulled into my apartment community in West Seattle, and grabbed my purchases once I was parked in the spot closest to the stairs that led to my apartment. One of that perks of my work schedule was that I could come and go during the day as I pleased without having to worry about a parking space once I got home. It was just after before noon so I'd be alone for a few hours. I worked last night and stayed awake so that I could go to Pike Place early in the morning. I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep for a few hours. I didn't have to go to the club tonight but I had to stay on my schedule or else working was going to rough. After putting away my groceries, and lilies, which happened to be white, sadly, I undressed and dreamt about the forests behind my dad's house.
~oOo~
"And then he paid for my flowers!" Angela laughed as I told her about my morning in Pike Place. I still didn't see what was so funny about my encounter with Beautiful Man but she did.
"You're the only person I know that would be offended by a hot guy buying you flowers, B. if I were you I would've jumped his bones the second I saw that he was interested. Lord knows you need it" I didn't find anything funny about that last statement and Angela ducked when I threw a roll at her.
'Seriously, Bella, I don't see why the hell you refuse to date." We'd had this conversation at least a dozen times in the last year alone.
"Because I work at –"
"Who cares where you work?!"
"The guys that I've have the luck of going out with. They all think I have all kinds of freaky sex stories and some of them have the audacity to tell me how into role play and threesomes they are! I've never even had a threesome! Being single is comfortable so why date when I know what to expect from the jerks that ask me out?"
"Because you need to be sexed, badly. Hearing you moaning on the nights you don't work would be more entertaining if someone else joined you." That time the roll I threw hit its target.
"I'll have you know that my sex life is just fine and none of your business. When was the last time you had a gentleman caller?"
"Between my master's program and interning I have no time to meet people. If I was having sex and dating it would be at one of those places, and that, my dear, isn't kosher in my book. But you, I don't get why you keep yourself from having fun. You've been blessed with some awesome terrain, my friend, why can't you let some dashing fellow maneuver your twists and turns?"
I rolled my eyes. "I get attached too easily. I have no suitable prospects, Ang."
"Well," Angela sighed, "if you're destined to this life of singality, I'd be more than happy to hire you as an in-house chef when I become a world-renowned doctor. This food is awesome!"
The spring salad that I'd made with the asparagus and tomato I'd gotten earlier was ok. I wanted to make a cold pasta salad but didn't have time to let it sit so I just added some mozzarella, a few herbs and made a light vinaigrette. I had enough leftovers to add pasta to it for later though, so it wasn't a complete loss. I always kept some kind of marinated meat in the fridge, so I threw some steaks on our grill on the patio and baked some potatoes in the oven. Like I said, the meal was just ok, far from my best. Angela went from living with her parents, to living in a dorm her whole undergrad life to living with me as soon as she started her graduate program and never had to worry about cooking. If I used a store-bought sauce to make a meal she'd be grateful.
"Speaking of successful futures, Bella, what are you going to do as far as long-term careers? Have you thought about going back to school?"
This was everyone's second favorite talking point when it came to my life. Everyone wanted to know what I was doing with my future.
"You have a degree in business and went to a major culinary school! You should be dominating the country's most difficult food critics and you've made the authoritative decision not to. Were in our twenties now and everything is fine and dandy but what happens in five or ten years, or when you want to get married and have kids? Are you still just gonna be content with working the night shift?"
"I went to culinary school but I didn't graduate, so it's basically the equivalent of taking a cooking class at a community college. You already know that I know that what I'm doing isn't permanent Angela. I'm not stupid; I'll figure things when that time comes, alright." I sighed resignedly.
"Community college my ass, you rock in the kitchen, you have a gift and should be sharing it with the world. I don't want to see you get caught up in life, B. Yeah, working at that club looks like fun and god knows that you make good money. You pay most of the bills and rent and do all the cooking here and don't even bat an eyelash. I'd never be able to afford to live here if it weren't for you. You're the best money saver I've ever met and my mom is an accountant."
Our apartment was simple and the rent wasn't that high. We lived in a nice complex in an accessible area that wasn't too far away from downtown. There were two good-sized bedrooms and two bathrooms and I didn't really care about the rent because I had the slightly bigger room that had the in-suite bath. If I lived downtown I'd probably pay what our normal rent and have to live in a place that wasn't as big or as nice as where we were. Angela was a neat freak and managed to keep everything tidy even though everything outside of our bedrooms was a weird mix of both of our tastes. She was a great roommate even if she felt like she was getting over on me.
"I just don't want you to make a decision and then feel like you're too old to do something. You deserve more than what you're selling yourself, B."
Angela could see that I really had nothing more to say and smiled at me sympathetically. One of the best and worst things about living with your closest friend was that if there was a disagreement you knew who won and when to just end it. We finished eating in silence and then Angela had some research to do and headed into her room for the night. I knew she wasn't trying to make me feel bad by bringing up career options, but that didn't mean that I wasn't thinking about every other conversation I'd had with my parents in the past and the feeling that I was disappointing them.
I'd be up all night and decided to start on my baking. Since I was shipping out food to Renée I figured making something for my dad would be a nice treat for him since the last time I'd been to see Charlie was when I went home with Angela for Easter. He didn't know I was coming to visit and had already signed up for most of the overtime for the holiday weekend. I thought that this kind of surprise would be just as welcome as I would be. By 6am I had three peach cakes, two with cinnamon glaze packaged up on the side, and a couple dozen peach-apple tarts.
"Now I know why I dreamed I married an apple cobbler last night. It smells amazing out here." Angela hopped up on the counter and popped one of the tarts in her mouth. "Best breakfast ever."
"There's a cake here for us, the rest is for Charlie and Renée." It was Tuesday so I had to freeze everything today if I wanted to Fed-Ex it all by tomorrow.
"I'm going to Forks this weekend, do you wanna come?"
"I'm at the club all weekend."
"Right, you always work weekends. I can drop this stuff off at your dad's if you want."
"That would actually be perfect. Shipping food is a bitch."
I stayed up to talk to Angela until it was time for her to get ready for her internship. After showering the flour off of my body I finally laid in my bed. Within minutes I was dreaming about the forests again.
