The following was inspired by the Damien Rice song, Cheers Darlin'. If you haven't heard it, along with all of Damien Rice's songs, you are severely missing out. So check out the song and read/review my story. I have lots of ideas for things to tie into this, so if this story ends up being popular, then the chapter count will just keep going up. If it's not, then I'll cut it short, as I have more writing ideas and other stories to finish. This entire story is from Edward's POV. All human, usual pairings. Usual disclaimer: I do not own these characters, just playing with them for a bit.  Enjoy.

Cheers darlin'
Here's to you and your lover boy
Cheers darlin'
I got years to wait around for you
Cheers darlin'
I've got your wedding bells in my ear
Cheers darlin'
You give me three cigarettes to smoke my tears away

And I die when you mention his name
And I lied, I should have kissed you
When we were running in the rain

What am I darlin'?
A whisper in your ear?
A piece of your cake?
What am I, darlin?
The boy you can fear?
Or your biggest mistake?

Cheers darlin'
Here's to you and your lover man
Cheers darlin'
I just hang around and eat from a can
Cheers darlin'
I got a ribbon of green on my guitar
Cheers darlin'
I got a beauty queen
To sit not very far from me

I die when he comes around
To take you home
I'm too shy
I should have kissed you when we were alone

What am I darlin'?
A whisper in your ear?
A piece of your cake?
What am I, darlin?
The boy you can fear?
Or your biggest mistake?

Oh what am I? What am I darlin'?
I got years to wait...

I sat at the bar, another Friday night, just me and myself, alone.

I signaled the bartender for another beer, my fourth, if I wasn't mistaken. Usually, I'm not a big drinker. But tonight, I just wanted to drown out my loneliness.

I have great friends and a good family. But at night, I went home alone to my cozy house, that I had no one to share with. Sometimes I'd research more medical breakthroughs, sometimes I'd play on the internet, or catch some TV. Most nights I'd try and convince my friends Jasper and Emmett to come out with me for a bite to eat or a drink, or whatever. Whatever to avoid being alone with my thoughts, my can of Spaghetti-O's, and my goldfish, Jinx.

At 29, you'd think I'd have found a somewhat decent girl by now to fall in love with. But I hadn't even come close, not in years, about 11 to be exact. My first and only love didn't even know I existed as I adored her from afar, too shy to talk to her much, although we were lab partners in junior Biology. She was the most exquisite creature I had ever laid eyes on. Even her name meant beautiful. Bella. Just thinking her name riled me up, set my heart beating faster, made my palms a bit sweaty. God, thinking about her now made me feel seventeen again. I wonder what that beautiful girl – no, woman – is up to now.

Last I'd read, from our 10 year reunion newsletter, she had gone to Seattle State and gotten her masters in English Literature – skated all through school on academic scholarships. I had tried to make it home for the reunion in the hopes of seeing her, but hadn't been able to get home from Africa at the time, where I was working with Doctors Without Borders. Apparently, now she was working on writing her first novel and already had a publishing contract set up. She was always one of the smartest kids in our class, her success didn't surprise me. She had been a good student, loved to read, and was always deep in thought. She didn't have many close friends from what I could tell, though she was generally friendly with everyone. Never had a steady boyfriend, but went on several dates with some of the popular boys at our school. I had had plenty of opportunities to ask her out, or even just express the interest to study with her. But I never acted on my feelings, and have regretted it every day since. As I fell in love with her as we shared microscopes and dissected kitten carcasses, I asked as many questions of her as I dared and filed each answer into my memory. She was perfect, and each thing I learned about her made me fall harder. Unfortunately, my self confidence went down as well, and it didn't take me long to convince myself that I could never be good enough for that wonderful and beautiful girl. Not that the guys at our school were much better, the self-absorbed Mike Newton or jock-jerk Tyler Crowley weren't people I could see someone as magnificent as my Bella falling for.

My Bella? What the hell was I thinking? I'm sure she was probably happily married with a couple of kids right now.

At that moment, I could picture Bella, glowing with happiness, being caressed by a loving husband and surrounded by two small children. She was the loving and caring type to create a happy family.

I let out a big sigh. Maybe the right girl would come along for me someday. I was tired of my life being surrounded by so many perfectly matched and blissfully happy couples as I tried to pretend I was okay constantly being the third or fifth or seventh wheel.

I took another swig of my Sam Adams and glanced around the restaurant. It was a nice place for Forks, they served decent steaks, and since it was a Friday night the place was pretty crowded. I looked around at all the couples by themselves, speaking intently, leaning towards each other in the dimly lit dining area. So many people had found their true match, why couldn't I? I sighed again. My day would come. I had to believe that. It was one of the only things that kept me going.

Just as I was completing my sweep of the restaurant, my eyes locked on a woman sitting at a small table in the corner, and my breath stopped. Her long, flowing brown hair was covering her face for the most part, but I could see her creamy skin peeking out from it, and my eyes followed it down her neck to the top of the midnight blue silk blouse she wore. Under the table, I could see a dark colored pencil skirt grace her thighs before her smooth, shapely legs peeked out below, trailing their way down to her small feet fitted with black shiny heels.

She reminded me so much of Bella, of what I imagined Bella to look like as she matured into a woman. At seventeen, Bella had been petite, but voluptuous, her legs long and well-formed, her hips curving gracefully to her small waist, her breasts round and firm. I knew that as she would grow into her body that she would only become curvier, well defined, the epitome of feminine. Never in these past years had I seen a woman such as this that reminded me so much of Bella.

My eyes snapped back up to her face, and I resumed breathing at that moment, sucking in a deep, ragged breath, feeling as if I could really breathe for the first time in 11 years. Her hair had shaken out behind her shoulders as she lifted her head up to look at her date, and I could clearly see her face now, even in the dimly lit room. It was her. Bella. Oh, my god.

She was exquisite. The very woman that I'd known in Biology was grown up and as beautiful as ever. My heart was pounding in my chest, saliva pooling in my mouth, and it hung open slightly as I openly stared at her. I couldn't believe it. After all this time, she'd come home. And as luck would have it, I'd chosen this night to come here.

I pulled myself together. What was I thinking? She was with a date, for Christ's sake. Obviously, she wasn't single. This could even be her husband, or fiancé, for all I knew. It's not like I could just muster up the past years of regret, turn it into an ounce of confidence, and stroll up to her table and beg her to spend forever with me. Man, I must have really lost it if I was even thinking along those lines.

I decided to observe, as objectively and silently as possible, and catch her on the way out to say a quick hello. That meant I would have to quit staring. Not an easy thing to do.

I tried to make my observations very nonchalant. I watched for body language between her and her sandy-haired date and tried to pick up on pieces of their conversation. I silently thanked my lucky stars that I'd been blessed with excellent hearing. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of talking going on.

My breath stopped once more as she lifted her left hand to her hair and gently brushed it behind her shoulder. Mmm, what it would be like to run my hands through her thick, silky mahogany locks… heaven, that's what. Touching her in any way would be heaven.

I broke myself out of my daydream to concentrate on her left hand as she raised it. I nearly jumped for joy as I realized that she wore no ring on her third finger.

But, that didn't mean anything yet, not really. The humans of the male species were not as traditional these days as they once were. Just because she didn't wear a ring didn't mean she wasn't otherwise involved with this man who sat not two feet away from her at the small corner table.

Of course she was involved, I thought to myself. Bella is a smart, beautiful, successful woman. She probably has a line around her corner of men waiting to suit her. It'd be a very long line, if I chose to stand in it.

I shook my head quickly. All of this plotting was going to make me feel sorrier later when nothing blossomed between us. Snap out it, Edward.

A waiter appeared at their table and with a few words dropped a small leather folder on their table. The man reached for it and studied the slip of paper inside, a little too intently, I thought. Why balk about the price when you get the opportunity to escort someone as great as Bella to dinner.

He looked up at her then and spoke a few words, too low for me to hear. She sighed, smiled a small smile as her eyebrows shot up slightly, and then nodded as she reached for her purse. I stared in disbelief as she pulled out her wallet and a few bills, and slipped them across the table to him. Why was he making her pay for part of the meal? Didn't anyone know or care about being a gentleman anymore?

I started to get upset over this. Bella deserved better.

As the man gathered her money and his own and slipped it all into the folder, they both began to stand. Bella slipped on a camel-colored trench coat and reached around her neck to pull her hair out and shake it around her shoulders. The man waited patiently for this, watching her, then spoke a few more low words to her. I watched as she smiled, and held out her hand to him, as if to give a handshake.

A handshake? Surely if they were lovers they wouldn't end their evening with a handshake.

He took her hand and shook it, and then turned to head towards the door. She followed a few paces behind, which also brought them closer to the bar, and I hoped I could hear more of their conversation.

"Well, I had a nice time tonight. It was nice to meet you, Bella," he said quietly to her as he walked.

She stopped suddenly, even closer to the bar now than before, and he turned to see what kept her.

"I think I'm going to hang out here for awhile. The night is still young. Do you mind?" She asked him. Hearing her voice clearly for the first time tonight, melted my heart. Her voice was slightly deeper than most women's, a little husky instead of high-pitched. It was the simple, most sensual sound I had ever heard. (A/N: I've always pictured Bella's voice to be like Scarlet Johansen's, so go with me here).

"How will you get home?" He asked.

"I'll catch a cab," she replied. This guy must not be from around here, or he's just too anxious to get out of here, to know or care that there are no cabs in Forks. But Bella knew that also, so she must want to be rid of him as well if she'd chosen to bust out that lie.

With that, he took her hand and kissed it, quickly, as if he was rushing somewhere and couldn't be bothered with a more elaborate goodbye. He didn't linger a moment longer than necessary. With that he whirled around and was out the door.

Bella stood there for a moment, watching after him, then closed her eyes and signed a little. After a few seconds she opened her eyes and turned towards the bar, picking a seat at the opposite end from me.

The bartender approached her then and I heard her softly ask for another glass of the Hannah Nicole Vineyard's Meritage Red.

This was my chance. I could get up right now and approach Bella, acting as if it I'd just noticed her and then we could exchange hellos. I could ask to join her and we could catch up as old friends would do. I could revise my plans as I saw how things were progressing. I would have to remain cautious and careful of everything I said or did. The last thing I wanted was her running screaming from the restaurant as I professed my undying love for her.

But at that moment, it felt as if ice water was seeping through my veins. My mind knew that it was the fear talking, the surprise of seeing Bella again, the possibility of rejection and all of my insecurities rising to the surface and catching in my throat. But I'd lived through too much regret already to sit around like an idiot as she sat not twelve feet from me, and not act on this pure chance of fate. So I took a few deep breaths, slid down off of the stool, and made my way to stand behind Bella's right shoulder.

My body tingled and surged at being so close to her again, and I knew tears were welling in my eyes as I took in the sight of her. I closed my eyes and took a silent but deep breath, and I could smell her. The scent I'd fallen in love with all those years ago, her strange mixture of freesia, clean skin, and shampoo. The only scent I'd ever wanted to smell in my life. How is it possible she could smell the same after all of this time? Her hair was longer than it was in high school, and it shone vibrantly as it cascaded down her back, slightly wavy all the way down but then twisting into curls at the ends. I could imagine running my hands across her face, sweeping her hair back from her deep brown eyes so that I could look into them, and then fisting my hands in her hair as I pulled in her into me for a deep, passionate kiss, then making love to her all night.

But for that moment, I just let my love for her seep into every fiber of my being, settling into who I am and have always been. And then I worked up the courage to call her name.

"Bella?" I said softly.