Recap: In the last chapter Edward met Bella, they chatted, and not much happened besides that :) [I'll do this every time, it gets complicated]

Oh, there is no order of when I'll update... so just be patient. Might come two days in a row, might take a week?

DISCLAIMER? yes, that's it :)

Enjoy :) x

Chapter 2: Strike One.

It had been 2 weeks since Edward had discovered that small bakery, and he found himself wanting to go back there. Not for the fact that when Bella finally got over her panic she gave him an exquisite order of Lemon Cheesecake, no, what he craved was the conversation. He wanted to see her blush again, stare into her eyes, and have a conversation worth having. He day-dreams about the way she passionately spoke about her cooking, while he followed her across the floor of the shop, how she planned to one day open her own bakery, or maybe a restaurant, she had mused. He longed to stand close to her and catch the smell of tantalising strawberries mixed with cake and fresh dough.

With all fairness, Edward was a man, so of course he was attracted to her, more so than he had been to past girlfriends. He couldn't help but notice the way her lips puckered at the side when she thought – he couldn't help the thoughts that came with all that either. It was completely impossible for him to pinpoint exactly what he liked the most about her, her personality or her looks. He waged a war inside himself while walking down that same route, to the 'Little Sweet Shop', he so desperately wanted to ask for her number, he so desperately wanted to take her upstairs and… well take her. But his inner gentleman, the one his Nana Mae injected into him since a small child won out at just the right time, because he had just reached the cosy, little shop.

"Hello, how can I- oh shit!" Bella had looked up from the counter she was manning as Edward walked up to her, smirking. "I mean hi!" she amended a little too late, making Edward chuckle at her. "Uh, what are you, I mean what can I get you?" she stammered nervously.

"Oh, I don't know… That Lemon Cheesecake last time was amazing, but I don't know whether to try something else this time. Do you have any suggestions?" Edward replied, a flirtatious smile still upon his face. He leant in closer to Bella, folding his arms against the counter, the epitome of relaxation.

"Oh, well, you could try the Caramel Layer Cake? It's quite good, but it's sweet, very sweet. Or there is the Shortbread, that's always good for a snack against some tea or coffee…" She rattled on, nervously pointing out several different cakes and their best qualities. All the while, Edward stayed in his position hanging onto every word that came out of her mouth, until – eventually – he interrupted her rambling.

"Would you go on a date with me?" he all but shouted, causing the other patrons to glance at them and the other waitress in the room to drop her jaw in shock. Bella, well, she froze. Mouth open mid-word, eyes expanding and the hand gesture she was in the middle of frozen. With every second she was unresponsive, Edward began to worry. He figured with the amount of attention he usually got from the other sex that this girl would just relent to his request. Her reaction, which was surprising and worrying, was not what Edward expected at all.

"Why?" she had finally whispered, so the prying ears of Jessica, the other waitress, and a few nosey patrons wouldn't hear. But with such a simple question, Edward was stumped. Why did he want to go on a date with her? He doesn't know her, only knows her name. He can't very well say he wants to date her to be able to have sex with her, because the honest truth, that's not the only thing Edward wants to do. He wants to wine a dine her, or do whatever stuff she wants to do… Go paintballing for all he cares. He just wanted to call her his. But then again, he couldn't tell her that either – he'd have a restraining order slapped on him so fast, he'd still feel it in a decade!

"Um, I don't know?" he posed it as a question, hoping that that answer would be right… Judging by the look on her face, it wasn't.

"Then, no." she said an attitude emphasising her answer, then she turned to server the next customer, who had watched the entire exchange on his face, and was still smiling at the fact that Edward was in the same position as he was ten minutes ago. But what made him chuckle was the absolute put-out expression on his face. He sympathised with the poor lad, with looks like that it's obvious he hadn't had to work for an answer before.

Clearing his throat to gather himself back together he turned to leave, missing the disappointed look on Bella's face when she realised he was giving up. Walking back to his house he thought and thought about what answer he could go back and give her. He planned to make a speech of why she should date him. All the benefits of it. he'll, of course, bypass all the disadvantages of dating him – he didn't want to frighten the girl away before he could 'woo' her. However, when he made it to his apartment complex his plans had been changed. His first priority was to get Emmett's first mistake away from his apartment door.

"Now, who the hell let you into this building? Huh?" he said snidely, breaking Lauren's concentration on banging the door down. As she turned to look at him, he knew this was a conversation he wasn't going to be happy with, at all. You see, Lauren was his best friend, Emmett McCarty's, ex-wife, ex-high school sweetheart and ex-baby mama – of course the baby was his and he still sees her… They broke it off after the boys came back from Iraq to find her wrapped around some other guy… Emmett, thankfully, didn't care too much; he quickly got a divorce and was granted shared custody of their little girl, Lily. There was some hassle, but in the end her and Emmett stayed friends, Edward's loyalty to her? Not there anymore, even if it was little to begin with.

"I just met with Tanya" oh, there's no beating around the bush with this one, Edward thought, and she's out for blood. He raised an eyebrow, silently asking, 'what's your point?' "You see, whenever I bring up the fact that you say she cheated, she gets sad, upset, you know?" she had now turned her attention away from the door and to Edward, stalking toward him. "I always wonder why, and do you know what I think?" 'No, but I know you're going to tell me', Edward thought. "I think you cheated on her!" Silence ensued as Edward tried to see her from her point of view, he couldn't imagine how Tanya cheating on him would lead to him cheating on her. But then again he had always thought that Lauren had a screw loose.

"Lauren, stay out of it," he tried to be rational, but the frustration of not being able to find out a plan of how to 'woo' Bella being cancelled won out. "Get the fuck out of here, Lauren."

At first she balked at the tone of his voice, but must have decided it wasn't that bad. "I told everyone, told them what you did to her." She said, smiling evilly. "I mean, they actually thought she'd cheat on you, Tanya is not like that. She's grea-", "Well, why don't you date her?" he childishly retorted. "I know my best friend Edward Mason, she would never do that, and she's not…" she trailed off as she realised what she was about to say. Edward had caught onto her line of thought.

"She's not what? Like you? A slut?" He shouted, probably disturbing the other residence's in the building, but he was beyond caring now. "You know, I told Emmett to stay away from you, that he'd catch something, that he'd get roped into something. But did he listen, no!" He screamed, finally losing the calm façade he wanted to keep. "I told him you'd pull some shit like this, but he said, and I quote, 'My Lauren wouldn't do anything to hurt me.' How fucking stupid can you get!" He had moved so he was standing right in front of her, she was against a wall, backed into a corner like a scared animal. And, just like scared animals, she attacked.

Screaming bloody murder she hit and slapped him repeatedly, trying to inflict some sort of pain on him. Edward, having dealt with this sort of outbreak before new what to do, he stood there and defended himself, letting her get it out before, as he predicted, she stormed off. Probably to go vent to Emmett about how 'mean Edward was to her'.

Finally entering his apartment, Edward had a moment to calm himself down; he always got so riled up when she was around. He's said it a million times; if his friends just listened to him, they wouldn't find themselves in such stupid situations. Although, he couldn't bring himself to regret Emmett's ignorant ways, as that would mean he'd regret Lily, and Lily was his all-time favourite person. Border-lining now with Bella. Lily listened to him, although she was only 5 – soon-to-be 6 she would say – she hasn't had the best up-bringing. With Emmett and two of her Uncles fighting across seas for the first 4 years of her life, only to have her parents split up and her dad to find someone new and have another little girl. Daisy was to be born in 2 months. He wondered if Bella would like her, if she even wanted children. Lily has made it abundantly clear that Edward wanted children. Hell, he spent more time with Lily that either of her parents did with her. He'd take her on lunch dates and all sorts. In fact, if Bella ever said yes to him, he'd be more worried about introducing Lily to her. The last time Lily was introduced to someone it was Rosalie, who took all her dad's attention away from her.

He had always said to her, as soon as her mother messes up, he's taking her with him. Not Emmett, he'd take her home with him. Sighing at where is thoughts had gone, Edward went to get himself a relaxing beer and then put the T.V on, ready for some of the tension to melt away from him. Quickly realising, after he took his first sip of beer, Lauren had actually caught him with one of her flying fists. After going to the bathroom to grab some tissue and to check out the damage he relaxed back in his chair and clenched his teeth every time the tiny cut on his lip stung. Briefly Edward wondered if Bella would be attracted to him now, maybe she liked the bad boy type…

Hey, hope it's up to the people reading this' standard.

[1,828 Words, that's more XD]

Christy x