Chapter 2.

A/N I'm supposed to say I don't own Twilight right? Well duh.

This is unbeta'ed because I have no idea how to find a beta. If you do, please let me know ;)

I want to thank you for reading, following and especially reviewing!

This one goes out to all the waitresses. Waitressing is HARD, y'all.

I was NOT a good waitress.

Three hours into my first shift at The Rose and I was already certain of that. Books, learning, school, that I could do. I'd always been book smart. Balancing a tray on the fingers of one hand while constantly messing up said delicate balance as I grabbed the drinks with my other hand, however, was going to take a lot of practice. I had only broken one wine glass so far, and Tanya, who was teaching me the ropes, said that was fine and everyone broke stuff on the first day, but I just felt so incompetent. I couldn't even open a wine bottle properly, for crying out loud! I was used to drinking cheap wine that came in cheap screw-cap bottles, but now I had to go over to a table, use a weird corkscrew that I was supposed to call a sommelier's knife, and remove the cork right there while the guests were watching my every move.

The sommelier's knife hated me, I was sure of it. I'd managed to break off two corks already, getting little pieces of cork stuck inside the bottle of expensive wine, and I feared for the next time that a guest would order a bottle.

And anyway, what made me decide to become a waitress when I couldn't even walk across a flat surface properly on a good day? All my energy went into focusing on my steps and the damn trays with drinks, and I simply had none left for a genuine smile and politeness when faced with rude customers. Guests. Whatever. I never knew people could be so rude in restaurants. I'd been tempted to yell at more than one person already, but above all, a waitress needed to remain friendly, warm and polite. Rule number one, apparently. I was about as good an actress as I was a waitress.

Tanya was currently teaching me to pour beer. I was on my third try, the first two beers ending up being more foam than anything else, but Tanya applauded my third effort, which looked slightly less dismal.

Tanya had the patience of a saint and I hated her for absolutely no reason. She was a little overly friendly, seemed like a natural floating around the restaurant, smiled and joked with guests, and oh yeah, she looked like a supermodel. I wondered if she ever got really angry or if she was always this ideal specimen of a human being.

"Yes! That's it exactly! Yay, you've got it! Great job, Bella!" I swear, she squealed and clapped her hands as she noticed my fourth attempt at pouring beer in a glass turned out decent enough. Do not roll your eyes, Bella. Tanya is nice.

"Thanks, Tanya! Shall we go see what else I can figure out today?"

And at that, I was back at serving drinks, which was fine by me, because Lord knows I needed the practice.

*.*.*.*

It was 11.30 pm and I was dead on my feet. I hadn't thought about just how much a waitress walks around in a seven-hour shift. My hand hurt from balancing the tray, my face hurt from the constant fake smiling, my stomach grumbled because when you work during dinner rush, you don't actually have time to eat anything yourself, and oh God my feet hurt so much.

But the night was winding down. The four of us – Tanya, Jessica, another girl named Bree, and me – were cleaning up the tables, floor and bar, and the kitchen crew appeared from the back. I hadn't served any food today, just drinks and taking orders, which meant I hadn't had any interaction with the kitchen crew today at all. Mike the Manager also appeared out of thin air. I swear that guy thought managing a place meant sitting in your office and jacking off all day. I was pretty sure he didn't actually do anything useful and I had only seen him twice, briefly, while he had only seen my boobs. And Jessica's. And Tanya's. And a handful of guests'. Come to think of it, the two times he'd come out of his office were times when he suddenly felt the need to go over to a table to ask if the guests were enjoying themselves, and both times he only talked to tables that were clearly occupied by a group of young, college-aged girls. Pervert.

Tyler, Edward and a guy named Eric came out of the kitchen, laughing and talking. These guys were used to the long nights and all the walking around, and they seemed a lot more alive than I felt at that moment, wiping down the bar with a cloth, sweat on my forehead, and my hair a definite mess in its loose ponytail. I was definitely rocking the best Bella look there ever was.

"Hey, Bella," Eric said slowly, working hard on pronouncing those two words. Eric was a good kid, I'd learned from Tanya, but he wasn't all there mentally. This was good news for Mike the Manager, because he'd managed to get some kind of subsidy for hiring a mentally challenged person, and Eric was actually really useful. He wasn't allowed to do the real cooking, but he prepared the salads and side dishes, and took his job really seriously. We'd only shaken hands at the beginning of my shift, but I liked him already, and I greeted him back.

"Dollface!" Tanya suddenly exclaimed.

"Princess!" I hadn't had any real contact with Edward yet, and I had never even heard his voice beyond that short introduction on my first day, but somehow I knew this was him saying this, without even looking. Edward and Tanya hugged. I was pretty sure Tanya's feet weren't even on the floor anymore as he picked her up in some odd bear hug, and I saw Tyler roll his eyes. I was also pretty sure that in general, hugs didn't last for over ten seconds, and didn't involve the girl being twirled around the room.

Wait, were Tanya and Edward together? She hadn't mentioned it. And I obviously hadn't talked to Edward about it, because we hadn't talked… at all. I'd just been daydreaming about those eyes, the one time I had seen them, which was borderline psychopath as it was.

Just then, Edward gently set Tanya down on the ground and turned his attention to Jessica. "Hey, gorgeous!" he said as he kissed her on the cheek. "How are you holding up tonight?"

Jessica mumbled a 'pretty good, thanks Edward' while blushing furiously, and I watched in – I don't know, awe? Shock? – as he made his way over to Bree, and gave her a hug and a greeting as well. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I'm pretty sure I heard him say "hey there, beautiful".

I didn't know what to make of that, and I didn't have time to ponder, because Edward was currently walking towards me. Was I going to get a greeting like that, too? Oh fuck, if that happened, I was sure I was going to be blushing up to my ears and I'd lose the ability to form a complete sentence.

"Hey, Bella, right?" was all he said. He didn't even come close to me. Well, I guess that made sense; we didn't actually know each other and this was the first time he'd said anything to me.

"Yeah. Hi." I managed to mutter. He was looking at me from the other side of the bar, which I was still haphazardly wiping down with a cloth, although I'd been rooted at my spot since the kitchen crew came in. I was pretty sure I'd been wiping the same spot for the past few minutes. Lost in the repetitive motion of cleaning, my own thoughts, as well as his pretty eyes, I tried to force myself to snap out of it and behave like a normal human being.

Edward opened his mouth to say something else. Would he call me by some silly nickname? I mean, Princess, Gorgeous and Beautiful? Really? I knew I wasn't nearly as attractive as the other girls, but hey, maybe I could be Sort-Of-Pretty-Girl. Okay, this was getting to be pathetic. I am pathetic.

"So, Bella. Could you get me a beer?"

Really? A beer. No nicknames. No affection at all. Just a beer. Well, okay then. Point is made, mister chef, I thought, as I made my way over to the tap and got him a miraculously perfect pint of beer.

Thanks for reading! If you made it this far, please take the time to drop me a line. You have no idea how much it makes me (as a first time, inexperienced writer) to receive those little review messages, even if it's only 2 words :) I'm curious what you'll think of Edward's behavior. Muahaha.