A/N: So, basically this is a lovechild of my job working as a ticket seller at county fairs here in OR. You may have seen me if you went to Linn, Clatsop or Douglas County Fairs. ;-) Obviously, these two are going to have a better time than I did. ;-) This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it got out of control, so it will be a lot longer than that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, nor am I SM. Damn.

BPOV

"Alrighty, here's yer booth. Yer register. Yer price list. Yer start till. These're the passes, memorize the colors, here's yer field box, it's got the counterfeit pen, some hand sanitizer, some extra register tape…" My supervisor droned on and on, touching each item as she pointed it out. I kept up easily. This wasn't rocket science.

How I ever got this job, for which I was one bachelor's degree over-qualified, was beyond me. I briefly wondered if it was too late to back out of my job as cashier and ticket seller for the Clallam County Fair in Port Angeles, Washington.

"Lock up, but not before yer register mate joins ya," she drawled. I could tell she was bored herself.

"Wh-" I went to ask, but the door to the booth had slammed closed behind her. I began counting my start till, placing each amount carefully into the register. My area was neat and ready for business.

I wondered briefly who my register mate would be. We'd be spending the next four days locked up in this room together, for 12 hours at a time. I had better like him or her. I sighed. I supposed they'd want to chit chat, too. Business wouldn't exactly be hopping at every hour. I just hoped they wouldn't be overly talkative or rude, or something like that. That would nearly be unbearable.

The time was fast approaching when we were supposed to start charging people. A few straggled in, waving their 4-H bands at me, and I waved them through the gate.

A moment later, the door burst open, and a harried body flew into the booth.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" a silky voice kept saying, and I froze, though my back was turned towards him. Him. I knew that voice, I'd know it for the rest of my life even if he walked out that door again in the next instant.

Edward Cullen.

My heart stopped for a heartbeat, then sped up to an unreasonable pace.

I took a deep breath, and tried to calm myself as I spun around on the metal stool. I nearly had a heart attack as I looked to see him bending over at the waist, fiddling around with his backpack, tossing random items out onto the dusty floor of the booth. If it weren't for the shock of copper hair I chanced to see, I wouldn't know who this mystery man was… though I'd still want to reach out and grab, or even bite, his perfect ass. I bit my lip to keep from moaning.

"I'm really sorry I'm late, my stupid brother had my car out last night and he didn't come back first thing… and it took too long to get here from Forks, stupid semi going forty-five..."

He finally stood, and I immediately noted that he was more built than he was in high school. I shivered at the thought. He still towered over me, but that was no surprise. He was wearing a work shirt just like me, and khaki shorts, and I admired the definition of muscles I could see.

When he finally turned, I was speechless. I had to fight with my jaw to stop from dropping, and much to my dismay, a helpless little whimper escaped my throat, unbidden. He was even more beautiful than I remembered. He had the same angelic face, but somehow more masculine and rough. He had stubble from missing a days shave, and it merely made him look sexier than ever before. His eyes were still that piercing shade of green, with an intensity that made my stomach quiver. And his mouth… I licked my lips subconsciously just thinking about the things I'd like his mouth to do to me.

"Hi, Edward," I said shakily. Damn it. Steady yourself, Bella, I scolded.

"Hi… Bella, right?"

"Right," I said. "Forks High, remember? Lab partners?"

"Yeah, that's right," he said warmly, but I somehow doubted he really remembered. We were on two different levels in high school. He was Edward Cullen, soccer and swimming star, popular and well loved by the entire Forks population. And I was Bella, bookworm and police chief's daughter. Plain and simple.

"Unfortunately, I'm very well acquainted with these bad boys," Edward said, patting the side of the register. "Can't pay through pre-med without manning a register at one point or another."

Med school. Figures. He was always a genius in biology. I kept up pretty well, though science wasn't exactly my forte.

"Yeah, I'll bet," I said dumbly, and I mentally kicked myself.

Edward quickly got his things together, and we were suddenly open for business. A few people trickled in from the parking lot, and we took their money efficiently. By noon, enough people were coming in that I didn't have to worry about awkward silences. We worked well together, only speaking when we needed another roll of register tape or the counterfeit pen.

I was electrically aware of him. I couldn't believe that the four years we'd been apart hadn't changed a thing for me. I felt the same, if not more, for him than I did back in high school, when he hardly noticed I was alive, and he was Rosalie Hale's boyfriend, Prom King, and Valedictorian. True, I was Salutatorian, but despite having every class together, he'd hardly noticed me while I noticed everything he did. It had hurt then, and I was shocked to realize it hurt now.

Around 3 pm, the huge rush of crowds had died down, and we were finally free to sit and wait for new customers, or, as my supervisor preferred, guests.

"So Bella, tell me. What have you been up to these last few years?"

Edward smiled at me lopsidedly, and I felt a furious blush creep up my face. It almost hurt to look into his eyes, but I forced myself.

"Well, I went to UW, and got a bachelor's in English. Just graduated this June," I said proudly.

"So, what do you want to do with that?"

I smiled genuinely for the first time that day. "I want to write. I'm not sure what… a novel of some kind. Something fun, romantic maybe. But my next book will be a murder mystery," I told him, and he burst into laughter.

"Good combination," he said, and I was transfixed by his laughter, his voice.

"I thought so," I said cheekily, trying to make myself lighten up. "It'll make a million bucks. But in the meantime, I've gotta make some money, which is why I'm working here." I gestured towards the ceiling, making my point.

"Same. I mean, I'm not going to write a book or anything. But, as I said before, I've got to make it through med school somehow."

"Are you home for the summer?"

"Just till the end of August," he said, and my heart fell. Only a week or so.

"Where do you go to school?" I asked.

"Dartmouth, but I'll be going to OHSU starting in a few weeks."

"Oh, wow, that's amazing," I said. See? Way out of my league. "Did you like it there?"

"Yeah, it's nice. It was far from here, which was good."

"I bet. I never wanted to come home after school, but one circumstance led to another, and here I am."

"Right," he said thoughtfully, and was quiet for a moment. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

EPOV

At that moment, I wanted to kick myself. I can't believe I just said that…

It's just that from the moment I stepped into the booth and breathed in her scent… a wonderful combination of strawberry shampoo and just plain Bella, I'd wanted to hoist her up onto the register counter and do… things… to her that I couldn't even believe I was thinking of.

And I had to know if that was an option. If I had even one iota of a chance.

"No," she said quietly, and I rejoiced.

She was blushing, which made her porcelain skin glow beautifully. I knew something was up, because I'd thought of the words glow and beautifully. I inwardly growled.

"Are you… did you… are you still with Rosalie?" she asked bashfully, partly hiding behind her thick brown hair.

"God, no. We broke up a week after graduation!" I laughed. "Rose and I… no way. There was a mistake I'd like to forget about forever. "She's with my brother, Emmett, now. Remember Emmett?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, they got together pretty much the day after she and I broke up. Pretty serious now, actually. I think he might propose."

"Really?" Her doe eyes were wide with surprise at this tiny piece of gossip. I'd never pinned her as the kind of girl that really was into hearsay, but I dismissed it.

"Yep," I said, and then a customer came up to buy a ticket, and the conversation was ended. A slow but steady stream of people came through then, and picking up another conversation with Bella was out of the question.

I looked at her from the corner of my eye, watching her as she interacted with the customers. She was quiet, but polite, and knew exactly how to make the customer feel like they were VIPs.

How had I been so blind? She'd been my lab partner, and rival for the best grades, all through high school. We'd grown up in the same town, known the same people, been to the same places, done all the same things, for the most part.

I had never noticed the way she bit her lip when she was nervous or amused. Her long silky legs, despite her tiny frame. The way her hair curled at the ends, and her eyes were a deep brown that felt like they could peer into your soul.

It scared me how instantly and deeply I was attracted to her. I mean, lustful attraction was nothing. That could be expected. Yet as much as I wanted her body, I also wanted to know what was in her mind. What she was thinking, what secrets she kept. I wanted to know her entirely, and that's what scared me. After all, we'd really only been talking for a whole ten minutes.

She was smart, and creative. You had to be both to be a writer. She was beautiful and modest. I had to know more. I had three and a half days to find out all that I could. It wasn't nearly enough time, I could already tell.

BPOV

The rest of the day went by quickly. Much too quickly. I wanted to stay by Edward's side… well… forever. He had a comforting presence, and I felt safe with him. We continued friendly banter between transactions, and later in the day, when we'd both reached for the counterfeit pen at the same time, our hands had brushed together and my entire body erupted in flames. From the startled look in his eyes, I thought he had perhaps felt the same thing, and the idea terrified and thrilled me.

Our shift ended at nine, and we counted our final till. Edward had the rather annoying tendency to count under his breath. I was glad to know he wasn't entirely perfect.

"Shut. Up." I said firmly, though I smiled to let him know I wasn't a total bitch.

He counted louder for a moment, to tease me, then smiled crookedly and continued counting, to himself this time.

My heart nearly stopped beating.

I shook my head, trying to shake several naughty images of the two of us entangled together out of my head, and turned back to my totals.

When we were all finished, we put our money into our bank bags, and signed out on our time sheets. It was twilight, the sunset barely visible above the trees.

"You hungry?" he asked suddenly.

"I… err… yes," I said, shocked. Edward Cullen was asking me to eat dinner with him? Granted, it was at the Clallam County Fair, so that entailed greasy, questionable fair food, but I couldn't have cared less. He might have asked me if I wanted to eat escargot and trash directly from the carnival, but I would have said yes.

"What are you in the mood for? Corndog? Hamburger? Chicken burrito? Noodles? Elephant ear?" He grinned wickedly, and my heart stopped beating for a full three seconds.

"Whatever you want… I don't really care," I told him. I was beyond making rational decisions for myself. Whatever he wanted, he'd get. It was completely pathetic.

"Let's go over this way," he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the food court, if it could be called that.

There were several picnic tables running down the center of the court, flanked by various food stands. Edward zoned in on a stand that specialized in corn dogs, and quickly bought two, and drinks. "You want fries, too?" he asked.

I nodded enthusiastically, and went to get us paper cups of ketchup and napkins. We settled in to an empty table and dug in to our food. I had to admit that after 12 hours in a cramped booth with little food and water, that our meal was amazingly delicious.

Edward moaned in approval as he took a huge bite from his corndog, and the sound sunk into my bones and vibrated down to my very core. My panties were a bit more damp now thanks to him.

I licked my lips and took a bite of my own corndog, and his eyes zeroed in on me. They were intense and dark, and his jaw was tight. I felt a blush fire up on my cheeks.

"So, tell me more about yourself, Bella," he said in a low, seductive voice that was so out of place in the setting we were currently in. I didn't care. The fair be damned, I was with Edward… and he wanted to get to know me.

"Well… what do you want to know?"

"Everything."

EPOV

When she had taken a bite of that corndog… it was all I had in me to not leap over the picnic table and take her over it. I wanted to see how her mouth would look wrapped around my… Calm down, Edward, I told myself.

To distract myself, and to remind myself that I wanted more from her than just her body, I asked her to tell me about herself. I was being one hundred percent honest when I said that I wanted to know everything about her.

She seemed flustered with my answer, so I settled for asking her individual questions, about her school, about her family, about her likes and dislikes. I carefully observed her behaviors, trying not to seem like too much of a creep. I noted she avoided mustard, and always dipped her fries into the ketchup one by one, making sure to not get more than half of the fry dipped in the red sauce. When she took a sip of her pop, she would lick her top lip. Some of my questions made her blush, something I was beginning to appreciate more and more with each passing moment. Each blush gave her away, and it was easy to tell when she was embarrassed or fibbing.

However, that didn't mean she was easy to read. I found myself desperately wishing I could read her mind, know what she was thinking. It was frustrating, but exciting. All other girls I'd ever dated were so predictable, so forward and open. Bella was a book half-open, and I loved that fact.

I wanted to linger with her there, in the fair, all night, but it was late and we had been working for 12 hours straight, and we both had an hour's drive ahead of us back home.

"Hey, Bella, you work tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, of course. Same time, same place," she grinned.

"I was wondering if you wanted to drive together from Forks in the morning. You know, carpool, save on gas, help out the planet, all that jazz."

I hoped to God the look on my face wasn't too hopeful.

She bit her lip and nodded. "Sure. Do you know where I live?"

"Uh, no. What's your address?"

She gave me her address and phone number, so I could call her when I got to her house, and I did a victory dance in my head. Address and phone number at once?

I grinned at her happily, and bade her good night.

We walked out to our respective cars, hers a beat up old red Chevy truck, and mine a shiny silver Volvo. She looked slightly embarrassed at her clunker, and extremely relieved when it started easily with a turn of her key. She gave a short wave, and threw her truck into reverse, driving away.

I watched her until she was around the corner, and then I sat in my car, willing my unwanted hard-on and pounding heart to knock it off.

I shouldn't have felt this connection. Not this fast. Not this strong. But it was there, and I wasn't going to ignore it. Bella had some sort of power over me, and I wasn't going to throw it away if she felt the same for me. God, I hoped she did.