I need a break from Bound. Some of you know that my brother was in an accident a while back and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He's doing very well, but it was so, so scary. Well, two weeks ago, a close friend suffered the same fate, and they're actually not sure if she'll recover. Anyway, I just need a break from angst, and this is completely angst-free. I originally wrote this as an Emmett/Bella story, but I've been playing around with it and it's morphed into something else. Bound fans, know I do plan to finish the story. Just not right now. Thanks for understanding.

"I accidentally touched a penis, today," I mentioned as casually as possible, taking a sip from my water bottle. Tanya's eyes widened comically as her eyes snapped to mine.

"What happened?" she asked, slipping into boss mode, standing from the break room table, and rifling through her locker. "Let me grab a pen. You don't have another one until two o'clock, right?"

We sat together as I recounted the story of my massage gone horribly wrong. "So, everything else about the massage was normal, aside from the penis graze?" Tanya asked with a surprisingly straight face.

"Yeah, he apologized for being hard and I apologized for grazing and other than a small embarrassed snicker, we moved on from there." Embarrassed as hell, I didn't speak another word to my client. James was actually a nice guy once you got past his cocky demeanor. He was pretty good looking, but just extremely arrogant; definitely not my type. But, he was always completely polite and gentlemanly when he came in for his massages, and he left great tips.

"Thanks for letting me know, Bella. It's always good to document these things, even though I sincerely doubt anything will come of it. James always speaks so highly of you," she spoke without looking up, signing and dating the form. "Sign here."

Thankfully, the rest of my day was completely uneventful; two deep tissue massages and an aromatherapy wrap. As I carried my sheets to the laundry room at the end of the day, my best friend, Alice bounced after me. "Please come! You totally deserve a drink after your day!" She'd been trying to talk me into going to Harry's Bar after work since I told her about the James incident. "Come on! It's quarter wings night!" I'm not sure why she thought cheap hot wings were going to make me agree, but it seemed to be working.

"Fine, but I'm only staying for one drink." I dumped the sheets in the basket and threw away the plastic film and disposable underwear from the wrap. "I mean it. I'm not sitting around watching you get drunk, either. If you want to hang out all night, you might want to invite Jess, too."

x

Jessica was an impressive flirt. The cute boys surrounding her were hanging on her every word. Alice and I shared an amused glance as yet another drink was delivered to our table "from the guy at the bar." Jess just winked and nodded the new guy over. This happened every single time we went out with the cute hair stylist. She was an interesting soul. She was very committed to her long-time boyfriend, Mike, but she loved the attention of men. Mike thought it was hilarious and thankfully didn't have a jealous bone in his body. Jess came home to him every night and as a bonus she never spent any money on her nights out.

Alice and I were a little more low-key. Harry's was a cool dive bar with a huge screened porch and a small bar outside. We always stayed out back to avoid the crowd and cigarette smoke. The bar was packed, though, so more folks were spilling out onto the porch than usual. Alice's head rested on my shoulder, and her product-stiffened short hair made my cheek itch. "I'm gonna go grab a bottle of water. Want anything?" I asked her. She held up her nearly empty Red Stripe and I nodded, making my way to the bar.

"Hey, Bella! What're you having?" I grinned, happy to see my friend, Rose, behind the bar.

"When did you get here? I need a bottle of water and a Red Stripe, please, Madam."

"I just got here. Lauren called in again," she griped, as she grabbed my water and opened Alice's beer.

"Well, I've missed you," I told her sincerely. "You and Emmett should come over one day this week. I'll cook!"

She rolled her eyes and grimaced. "Probably not this week. Em's roommate from college just moved to town and he's got plans with him pretty much every day for the next month."

"Ah well. Maybe just you then. Or you can invite his friend. Whichever."

"Yeah, we'll see. I'll call you tomorrow," she said even as she turned to take another order.

Alice was staring blankly at Jess and her admirers when I got back to the table. "How do you think she does that?" she asked quietly. My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to follow her train of thought.

"Does what?" I asked when she didn't clarify.

"How do you think Jess gets guys to fall all over her like that? I haven't been on a date in two months, and she's got seven guys hanging all over her."

"I dunno," I shrugged. "Maybe it's just her confidence? She isn't trying to find a relationship. Maybe they can sense our desperation?" She shot me a goofy grin, knowing I was teasing.

"I was thinking maybe it's her boobs," she giggled. "Look at those things. They're pretty amazing."

"Yeah," I agreed, rolling my eyes. "They were definitely worth every penny."

Jess looked over at us then, and raised an eyebrow. "Maybe we're not being as quiet as we think?" Alice asked, with a snort.

"Yeah, maybe you're not," Jessica said with a smirk. "They are pretty spectacular, though," she agreed, straightening her back and looking down at her huge chest. Seven pairs of eyes widened and dropped several inches from her face.

"Oh, my god. I'm going home on that note," I groaned, hugging Alice and Jess on my way out.