I tapped my heels nervously on floor of the subway. Am I even on the right train? I looked again to the map of the complexity that is New York City metro system. Nope, nothing looked remotely like it was on the planet Earth. I flipped it upside-down, as if doing so would clue me in on where in the world I was heading.

I think I'm lost. I texted Jacob, my boyfriend of 4 years, hoping that he would be feeling guilty for taking the car this morning. A whole month of living in the Village in New York and I was lucky enough not to have to take the subway. But this first Monday of September marked the first day of Jacob's graduate school classes at Columbia, where he was starting law school. Once that letter of acceptance came through the mail over 6 months ago, our life has moved all the way across the country – Seattle, Washington to the Big Apple.

"Oh Baby!"

I went wide eyed to the text alert of Jacob in a high pitched voice exclaiming, "Oh Baby." Some of the people next to me just stared, a few smirked. I felt my face redden, and tried to ignore the glances as I opened the text to read - Just smiled at that, hope the evil subway dwellers don't eat you for lunch ;).

With a giggle and a shake of my head I replied - Only time will tell. Hope your day is going well, I'll call you after the interview.

Suddenly, the train stopped with me lurching forward, practically falling out of my seat. As the doors opened up, I started to panic. Is this my stop? I had to calm myself. Think Bella, where are we going? The Upper East Side! Right. I took one last look at the map before deciding it was of no use and tossing it beside me. Looking to my left I saw a young man, who was standing up getting ready to exit. He was reading a magazine while simultaneously listening to his iPod. If he knew where he was going without having to look at the signs or listen, he's the guy I needed to ask. I tapped him on the shoulder,

"Excuse me," my voice came out not as quite as large as I would have liked it to, but he took an earphone out and tilted his head back without looking up from his magazine. I took that as a sign to continue, "Um, if I'm trying to head to 86th and Lexington. Am I getting off here?" He replied with a thumbs-up. Okay, so far so good.

Coming to the top of the stairs from the subway, I took a deep breath. I was on 85th street, so I just had to walk up one more block, which seemed easy enough. I was looking for a restaurant called 'Mason's'. I had applied to so many restaurants in the area, that I couldn't tell you which one was which anymore.

Back in Seattle, I had waitressed at a local dinner in town. It never was too busy, but the experience looked good on my resume and hopefully would be at least a foundation for future serving incidences. While I made a solid 50 dollars a night there, I've been told you can make up to 300 dollars if you work at a nice restaurant here in New York. And that's exactly what I'm aiming to make, Jacob's school funds are not going to pay themselves.

I squinted my eyes at the maroon, vertical sign for the restaurant up ahead which read 'Mason's. As I came up to the door, I quickly glanced at the menu, just to know what kind of restaurant I had been hired for as a waitress. The only item I recognized on the menu was the word "spaghetti". I assumed it was some kind of Italian cuisine, but the rest looked like Greek to me. I tried to read one of the main entrees – "Bucatini alla Matriciana." Already I started feeling nervous; maybe I should've researched this place online.

Well, there was no turning back now. I took a deep breath and once again took in the outside of the restaurant. To be honest, it didn't look like anything special. It was so tiny foundered between the two office buildings on either side of it, as if it was just squeezed right in the middle. However, it did have some character if you really looked. The architectural decor in particular that caught my eye was the two stone pillars bordering the door. Perhaps I was right in guessing Greek.

I slowly opened the main door and let myself inside. In entering, I was met with a greeting podium of some sort, as well as soft brown benches I assumed were for people waiting to be sat. But there was no one in this area at all. I checked my watched again to make sure, but 3:00 this afternoon it was, and 3:00 this afternoon they told me to be there. Maybe they're not open on Monday's, I thought as a continued through the waiting vicinity. There were a few steps which I walked down that led me to the main dining area, which I also were hoping would lead me to who was in charge of this place.

Searching for the owner soon left my mind as I was met with low ceilings, burgundy walls, and quaint circular tables, all set up with wine glasses, silverware, three little, but different height candle all lit on top of cream table cloths. If you got real close, you could see small rose petals scatter in the center of it the table as well. My eyes scanned the walls at I was met with brilliant paintings of statues and stone buildings. Ah, I was not hired for a Greek restaurant, but Roman. The stone pillars, paintings, even the general ambiance just whispers Rome and romance.

But the big surprise wasn't until I continued down another three stairs. The brown soft floor extended into a stone-looking tile, and my ears were met with soft playing of Italian Opera. I tried to walk quietly in my flats, not wanting to disrupt the quietness of it all. However, I gasped as I looked up. The ceiling domed, and the stone pillars were staples of the circular room. The burgundy color remained on the walls, though you would almost feel as if you were in the Colosseum. In the middle of the tables, there was a big open space. I walked to the center, wanting to gather it all in.

"You must be Bella!"

Suddenly shaken out of my focus, I gasped and turned around to see a young woman, petite as can be, smiling wide with her hands clasped at her chest.

"H-hi. Yes, that's me, Bella," I stumbled out nervously with a half smile. Something about her just made me feel so, not collected. I took a breath, "Sorry, I was just admiring the amazing detail and structure of the restaurant here."

She let out a soft giggle, walked close and lay a hand on my shoulder, "It is beautiful, isn't it? You know, Carlisle, the owner, always said his great-grandfather wanted to capture the true essence of ancient Rome when designing this restaurant, because, well that's where he was from. No one ever imagined he could create these breathtaking structures in such a tiny amount of space."

The girl was back to staring at the ceilings, while I couldn't pull my eyes away from her. She was beautiful, with her short black hair and almost golden eyes. I couldn't ignore the electricity of her hand on my shoulder. I shifted my gaze back to the dining room, "Breathtaking is right. He did an excellent job of making it a real-feel. I half expect some gladiators to come rushing out to duel."

Her laughter filled up the room, "That wouldn't be so far off, what with some of the chefs and servers around here. The one waitress, Rosalie, would probably love to get a good spear into a few people that are employed."

Oh no, you know no matter how old you get, drama never seems to cease. "Sounds like a bit of trouble?" I replied, suddenly a tad anxious again.

The girl must have noticed my change in expression, "Oh no, no. I don't mean to worry you. It's all in good fun. Rosalie's brother and boyfriend both work here, so you can imagine the little bickering that can ensue. It's actually quite humorous at times." She squeezed my shoulder in reassurance and continued, "You seem like a likable person though, and I usually have a pretty good read on people. Like right now, a little nervous are we?"

I had to smile at this, and I covered my one cheek with my hand to see if I was turning red, "I feel like an open book sometimes, my emotions are always on display."

"Not a bad thing, red looks good on you," she smirked and turned to face me, "But anyway, I don't think I've formally introduce myself. My name is Alice, server extraordinaire." Alice mock-bowed and then reached out her hand.

I took her hand, bowing back to her, "Pleased to meet you."

As our hands touched, her eyes locked on mine. She gazed into them for a second longer than what seemed usual, as if she found something curious about them. My heartbeat picked up a bit, and for a split second, it was like I almost forgot where I was.

It felt as if she had a similar experience, as she let out a breath she seemed to be holding. She glanced down at our hands, back up to my eyes, and with a gentle squeeze, slowly released my hand.

A quick shake of her head, and she smiled once more. "And this, my dear, isn't for dueling soldiers," Alice spoke, referring to our conversation from earlier and motioning to the center space, "it's for dancing!"

Leaping across the tile, Alice turned gracefully into a pirouette and then curtsied before me. I brought myself out of the little reverie and clapped for her; Alice seemed to be an absolute delight, "Bravo."

"And now for my next routine, I call Bella to the cen-," Alice started to gesture me over when she was interrupted,

"Isn't that just like you Alice, always putting on a show," A tall blonde man laughed at the dancing girl. I was thankful he interrupted her when he did. I had a feeling she was going to summon me to a dance, and well, let's just say Bella is to dance as a dolphin is to riding a bike.

"Hello there, my name is Carlisle, and you are Bella?" He stuck out his hand.

I took it and smiled, "Yes, that's me, here for my interview."

"Yes, yes, the interview. Sorry I'm late, had to finish a sales report that was supposed to go out last night, but we were just here so late after someone's wedding reception. Why don't you have a seat," Carlisle rubbed his forehead and smiled, looking a little stressed out.

"Typical," Alice chirped beside me, "Nothing here really runs smoothly, but it's the chaos that makes it exciting."

"Speaking of chaos, Edward and Emmet are in the back trying to whip up the filling for the mille-feuilles, and I can only dread to envision how they are carrying that task out. Esme hasn't returned from picking up the roses yet, and I'm sure the boys could use a woman's touch. Alice, if you will," He gestured to the back of the kitchen.

As if on cue, a loud clanging of some pots or pans rung out into the dining room and a man yelling, "DUDE! I told you it said to beat the WET mixture before you had the dry stuff!"

Alice giggled and started to walk to what I assumed was the kitchen, "That would be Emmet. Let me go save them from themselves." She turned to leave, but not without giving me one last smile.

Carlisle sighed, "Ah, okay. Now that that is, well, sort of taken care of, we can focus on you. Let me find your resume." He started shuffling around papers that were in front of him, looking agitated when he couldn't find what he was looking for.

My mind reverted back to the obvious, however, that there wasn't anyone in the restaurant. It was almost 4 o'clock and not one customer. "So, Monday's kind of slow here?" I asked Carlisle, gesturing to the empty restaurant.

Carlisle looked up and cracked a smile, "Oh, we don't open until 4 p.m. on any given day, and we are open until the last guest leaves, which kind of explains our late nights around here."

Duh,Bella. How could I have not thought of the restaurant just not being opened yet? Stupid mistake. Did he say 4 p.m. though? I double checked my watch, it was 3:45.

Carlisle was now looking through other clipboard he left on the floor, still for my resume when I spoke up, "Um, excuse me, did you say 4? Because it's 3:45 right now, and-,"

Carlisle immediately looked up with wide eyes, "3:45? Oh my, how does time go so fast?" He quickly stood up and put his hand on his forehead.

"Okay, this is what we're going to do. You've been a hostess at the diner you worked at before, correct?"

I nodded.

"Tonight, that's what you'll be doing here. Fairly easy, really. All the reservations are marked down, and all you have to do is seat them to their reserved table," He explained while gathering his things.

I was starting tonight? As in, right now? I hadn't even dressed for the job tonight, let alone all the table numbers and anyone's name except for Alice's and Carlisle's. "Are you sure you want me to start tonight? I mean we didn't have an interview yet, and I'm not sure how I'll even do as a hostess without the training yet," I tried to reason with him.

"You'll do fine, and instead of the interview, this will be your 'dry-run' so to speak. Alice and the others will help you out, no worries," Carlisle put his hand on my shoulder and smiled.

"Yes, you'll do fine," Alice beamed from a door in the back, "Now come on, let's get you dressed!"

I took a deep breath, feeling the nerves creep up. I was starting to believe what Alice said about the chaos around here.

A/N:

Bellice takes New York. Well, not yet of course, they just met. What do you guys think? I'm in love with the idea, and I have a good grasp on what is to come and what that entails. I would love to hear your thoughts, and especially critiques on my writing style. You help me help myself :).

Love, Avery.