The Right Guy

What I liked so much about Rosalie was that she wasn't one to wait. She wasn't the kind of woman who waited for anything to come to her, she went and found it. Therefore after she had heard about my encounter with Emmett, she decided to set me up.

"There's this guy who's temping at my work. He's just moved to Seattle and he's got this big job due to start in six months but he's filling the time by doing maternity cover at my place." She told me, "He's seems nice enough and pretty easy on the eyes."

I wasn't quite sure what Rosalie did for a living as every time I asked, she rolled her eyes and said,

"Barely worth explaining but I get paid a butt-load of cash to do it and I get my own office."

Rosalie was definitely not shallow and had never doubted that she might be. Had it been she that had met Emmett, if there was chemistry she would have bought him dinner, taken him back to her place and had her way with him. In fact, Rosalie's last boyfriend had been a Starbucks barista and they had been together for six months. She just didn't care what people did. She just cared about the connection, personally and physically. She claimed that she had once dated a man for a year because he could find her g-spot on the first try.

"Maybe I'll go and sunbathe in Denny Park and see if I can find Hot-Golden-Retriever Guy." She mused, tapping her chin with her finger.

"Just to clarify, it was the guy who was hot. His golden retriever was of standard attractiveness." I said dryly, "So what's your guy's name?"

"Tyler Crowley. You can meet him on Friday at seven. I told him to book a table at Café Juanita."

So on Friday night, I found myself walking to the door of Café Juanita, wearing my standard 'first date' outfit. Rosalie had offered to come and help me and I had scowled and told her that I was perfectly capable of dressing myself. I had put on my royal blue wrap dress, low kitten heeled shoes and, thanks to the rapidly decreasing temperature, a warm woollen coat.

I hesitated outside the door to the restaurant and jumped as someone touched my arm. I turned to see a tall man, dark hair and eyes, cute smile.

"Are you Bella?"

"Yes, you must be Tyler." I smiled. Well done, Rosalie.

"It's great to meet you." He kissed my cheek and I smiled again, although his cologne was slightly overwhelming.

He led me inside, his hand on my back and we were guided to a table. After we had ordered drinks and gotten the menus, I started to ask him about his recent move to Seattle.

"I lived in California before but when the job opportunity came up, I just went for it." He explained cheerfully.

"That's very brave." I commented and he shrugged shyly.

"Sometimes you just have to, you know?"

"And how well do you know Rosalie?"

"Hardly at all, actually. We were in a staff meeting and got chatting while we were waiting for coffee. I mentioned that I was new to town and she offered to introduce us." He smiled again. He was so cute. Just shy and sweet and nervous. Judging by the way his fingers were tapping nervously against the table he was pretty on edge about the date.

Hopefully I could put him at ease.

"Well, I'm glad she did." I offered. He gave a slightly high-pitched laugh and then paused as his phone buzzed, "Can you excuse me for a moment? I need to take this."

"Of course." I said and he went outside the restaurant. That was considerate, not disturbing the other diners. Maybe the fresh air would help him relax a little.

I perused the menu, trying to work out if I wanted a dessert later so I could order accordingly and after about five minutes, Tyler sat back down again. His cologne hit me again and I almost choked. Had he refreshed it after his phone call? He grabbed a roll out of the bread basket and began chewing it.

"Sorry about that!" He said loudly, grinning cheerfully through his mouthful of bread and I winced at the volume. "Oh. Sorry. So what are you going to order? I like the look of the lamb. I love lamb. Do you know that I once delivered a lamb? Yeah, on a field trip when I was in high school to a farm. Man, that was weird but you know, it's ok because I figured that I brought a lamb into the world and so it's OK if I ate a few. Hey, are these lights really bright?"

"No?" I said, glancing at the dim lighting. Tyler squinted at them.

"They look really bright. Oh, hey. I'll have the lamb." Our waiter had arrived. He looked at Tyler uncertainly before sharing a glance with me. I gave him a helpless look.

"Do you need another minute?" He asked and I didn't know what to say.

"Hey, these lights. They are really bright." Tyler mumbled, chewing eagerly at his bread roll. "Really bright. Reaaaally bright."

"Tyler, what-?" I began but Tyler jumped up again.

"Be right back!" He half-shouted and strolled out of the restaurant. The waiter and I both watched as he paused, came back, grabbed two more rolls and then disappeared again.

I looked at the waiter and smiled beatifically.

"I don't suppose you have a back door?"

"This way, madam."

"Oh hey! How was your date? I'm guessing not good since its seven forty-five." Rosalie glanced at the time on her phone as I sat down next to her at the bar. I stared at her stonily. She blinked back.

"What? What happened?

Edward placed a glass of wine down next to me and waited, hands resting on the bar.

Rosalie was looking a little uncertain now.

"Bella, what happened?"

"Rosalie."

"Yes?"

"Tyler was fucking high."

Perfect spit-take. Rosalie's sip of vodka and cranberry juice sprayed across the bar, with no small amount catching Edward. He was torn between looking disgusted and wanting to laugh.

Laughter won and I glowered at them as they both collapsed into giggles.

"High? What do you mean, high?" Rosalie choked through her laughter. I rolled my eyes.

"I mean high. As a kite. He was twitching, he went outside to take a phone call and either he was smoking some crazily strong shit or he's a lightweight because he was out of his skull."

They both laughed harder. Rosalie actually had tears in her eyes and Edward was resting his on his arms, face down on the bar.

"The waiter had to sneak me out through the kitchen! I ended up tipping him twenty dollars." I cried and then huffed as this sent the pair of them into further hysterics.

I drank half of my wine in one go and waited furiously for them to finish their enjoyment of my misery. I knew that in a little while I'd find this just as funny as they appeared to but for now…

"You owe me." I hissed at Rosalie as she attempted to look chastened.

"I'm sorry."

"And you owe me." I pointed at Edward and he cocked his head.

"What did I do?"

"You laughed along with her. So you," I gestured to Edward, "can get me another glass of wine and you can pay for it." I nodded at Rosalie as I lifted my glass.

One of the barmen called to Edward from further down the bar and he winked at me.

"I'll be right back with your drink."

"And…?"

"And my most humble apology." He smirked before going to help Sam.

I looked back at Rosalie to see her looking at me with a little smile.

"What?"

"Nothing." She toyed with her glass and I scowled.

"What? Are you trying to think of any meth addicts you know that might want to date me?"

"No way are you good enough for Meth-head Marcus." Rosalie dead-panned.

It took four glasses of wine for me to forgive her.

A/N: Oh my goodness, I love you all for the reviews and follows! Please do leave a review, I love hearing your thoughts on the characters and the story. Thanks for reading!

That English Writer.