Word Prompt: Daydream

With Edward behind the wheel, I had to keep myself from daydreaming. I refused to look over at him for fear of being caught staring, but I still had to wonder how I got here. It was just supposed to be a barbeque at the Tri-Delta house, nothing more, yet Alice now believes she's met her 'one' and I'm in a car going to lunch with a boy who not only has a few years on me age wise, but is pretty hot in the looks department.

I was pretty sure twenty minutes had passed before we pulled up to a small café on a strip of downtown. I had gone into a trance and only came to when Edward opened my door for me to get out.

"Thank you," I thanked him before he held the door open to the café.you've brought a guest today, follow me," she instructed as we both trailed her. As I moved to go around the hostesses stand, Edward's hand held my lower back to guide me. I stiffened for a second by how intimate a gesture it was.

When we came to the small corner table in the back, Edward didn't attempt to pull my seat out and for a second, I was thankful. If I was going to be his friend, there would eventually need to be some boundaries, and this lunch was not a date. At least, I hoped he didn't think this was a date because I didn't. Now I really wished Rosalie wouldn't have said anything to me because I swear her words continue to confuse me even more.

"What are you thinking about?" Edward asked as he set his menu to the side.

"Just about what to get, you appear to be a regular?" I noted and he nodded. "Any suggestions on what I should order?"

"I come here for the Mushroom Swiss burger; it's the best in town. I've heard their salads are good though, as is the mushroom ravioli," he explained, as I take notes and look over the menu. This place definitely wasn't typical college dining and the prices definitely reflected that. I made a mental note to make sure we split the bill, but then I wondered if that would offend him or not.

"I'm Kelsey, I'll be your server today, and what can I get you to drink?" Our waitress asked, Edward ordered a pop, while I asked for a sweet tea. "I'll be right back with those, were you ready to order yet?"

"I'm ready," I spoke up, and ordered the mushroom ravioli, while Edward ordered his typical burger.

When I handed my menu back to Kelsey I noticed Edward's face had an odd expression, so I waited until she was a ways away before asking what his look was for.

"Oh, nothing," he tried to excuse as my eyebrow rose at him. "Sorry, you're just," he paused, "Refreshing I guess is the word I'm going for."

"Refreshing?" I said out loud, though it sounded like a question. "I think that's a compliment, so I'm going to take it as one."

He laughed for a second before his eyes looked up to meet mine. "Definitely a compliment," he relayed. "You don't really say or do what I expect you to, it's refreshing, mysterious even."

"I think you're the first person to ever call me mysterious, but I'll go with it," I accepted before changing the subject. "How has your rush week been going?"

"Can I speak honestly?" he asked, and I nodded my head enthusiastically.

"Of course, it's not like I'm trying to join," I teased, and he barked out another laugh. "I wouldn't make a very good brother, so your secrets are safe with me."

"See, that right there is what I mean," he pointed out before answering my question. "I think we've seen better years. There have been a handful of guys that we're watching, but we don't have a lot of slot opens this year, so it's probably going to be one of our tougher years deciding."

"I'm sorry," I replied. "I don't know about the guy side, but I know our advisor said this is the largest amount of girl's they've ever had. We find out about cuts on Thursday or early Friday, I think."

"Are you nervous?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"I'm trying not to be," I started. "I mean, I know the decision isn't really in my hands so I'm going to do my best to stay where I want to be, but I'm at the point now that there are only two sororities I'll consider. If I don't get a bid to either, then I'll walk away."

"You seem very determined though," he noted.

"I'm sure you were when you wanted into your fraternity," I shot back, and he sat up a little taller.

"You could definitely say that," he replied, though his tone alluded to something else.

"Because?" I pushed lightly.

He sighed and shifted in his seat for a second before we were interrupted by Kelsey and our drinks.

"Can I get you anything else?" she asked sweetly, and I noticed her eyes on Edward, but I tried not to let it bother me.

"No, thank you," he replied before she walked off. I swore I saw his eyes rolls, but I wasn't too sure.

"You were saying," I spoke up and he just stared at me for a second.

"My dad came to UW to get his degree and was part of a fraternity. When I decided to go to school here, he assumed that meant I'd be following in his footsteps, major and fraternity. When I did not follow either, let's just say he could have been happier," he explained, and I momentarily felt guilty for pushing.

"I'm sorry," I said again for the second time that lunch. "I didn't mean to pry."

"No, it's okay. I love my parents, don't get me wrong, but I never aspired to be like them either. I did take into account the Delta house when it came time to rush, but I didn't fit in with them. They actually care about the generational stuff, so I pretty much had an automatic in, but I didn't want it. When it came through, I immediately turned it down. I got the call from ASP ten minutes later and accepted. My dad flew off the handle, but he got over it. At that point, he should have expected me to do things my own way," he explained further. "I was raised by two lawyers, I don't typically waiver about what I want."

"That makes sense," I noted politely. "You want to be a doctor though?"

"That is my plan," he answered. "Specifically, I'd like to be a Pediatrician."

"What made you consider that route?" I asked, though admittedly, my attention was completely on him and his words that followed. A guy, who had a soft spot for children, was a guy I had a soft spot for.

"My dad practices in corporate law, which is extremely boring in my opinion, but my mom's cases, tend to be in conjunction with child services, messy custody battles that type of thing. They each have an office at home so they could work regardless of where they were. Well, I was about nine when I went looking for my mom one weekend to tell her I was ready for lunch, and I found her office empty. Sitting on top of her desk were some pretty graphic pictures from a case she was involved in. She found me looking at them a few minutes later and freaked out. I knew they were lawyers, but didn't know a lot of details at that point. I started asking what had happened to the little boy in the picture and she gave me an abridged version, that he had gotten hurt and she was working to keep him away from those who hurt him," Edward explained, pausing only to take a sip of his drink. "I had already been fascinated by medicine at that point, and I firmly told my mom that day that I'd grow up to be a doctor of children. She'll still recount the story if you ask her, but that event pretty much made up my mind."

"Huh," I dumbly replied because my brain had turned into completely goo by the time he was finished talking. Suddenly, Rosalie's rules about staying away from Edward were going to be harder than I thought.

I was more than thankful when Kelsey walked up a minute later and brought us our food.

"How did you know you wanted to be a doctor so young?" I finally asked in an effort to regain my senses.

"My uncle is a surgeon, and I spent a lot of time at my aunt and uncles house growing up because both of my parents worked, and my aunt didn't. Emmett, well, he's my cousin, so we grew up together basically as brothers. My uncle realized pretty early on that Emmett had absolutely no desire to hear about anything that happened inside an operating room, but I did," he relayed. "It got me interested and I realized that math and science were my strong suits. Emmett decided to go into sports medicine, so all was not lost."

"You must have been close to your aunt and uncle then?" I asked.

"Yeah, in some ways, they're more like my parents than my parents. Definitely more supportive, my uncle is who calmed my dad down when he realized I really did want to grow up and go into medicine, and that it wasn't some silly phase as he swore it was." Edward actually rolled his eyes at the end of his speech, and I realized he had actually revealed quite a bit about his family.

"Well, I'm glad you have someone on your side," I emphasized before turning back to my food.

"What about you?" Edward questioned between bites. "I don't think I ever asked your major."

"Oh," I replied passionately and set my fork down. "I want to be a pediatric psychiatrist."

"Really?" Edward seemed surprised. "Following after your mom's footsteps?"

"Never," I shot back, stunned that he's listened the night before so intently. "She treats adults, and I want as far away from them as possible."

Edward laughed again, while I shot him a glare. "You're hilarious, Bella."

"Why, thank you," I accepted his half-assed compliment with a smirk before turning more serious. "Children are just really innocent and truthful, almost to a fault. I don't want to be sitting face to face with an adult who is going to try and lie and manipulate everything said so I think one way when it's really the next. My mom has always told me that the only way she's good at what she does is by cutting herself off emotionally, and I just can't do that. Children are just little gifts to the world; there is no way I'd be able to disconnect. Plus, I think to be a good counselor you have to be invested in your patients and knowing that I will help bring the sunshine back into their lives is my real motivation."

This time, it was Edward's turn to reply with a 'huh' before we both focused our time finishing our meals.

We didn't say much more before settling the bills and heading back to campus. Lunch had gone a little later than I planned, so I'd need to hurry to make my next class in time. We listened to the radio on the entire drive back and didn't say a word until Edward had already parked.

"Let me walk you to the door," he offered and put his hand on his key.

"Oh, you don't have too," I replied with one foot already out the door. "I'm going to have rush anyway, and I have this class with Alice." I alluded to the fact that Alice would definitely questioned me if she saw us together, and given what Rosalie had told me about Edward, I was sure he didn't want a rumor mill about something completely false, anyway.

"I see," he replied with a crestfallen expression. Realizing I didn't have enough time to focus on that, I simply said a quick goodbye and rushed to my next class.

Sorry for the delay-while it was hubby's day off, we spent the bulk of it, clearing out the rest of our garage so both of our vehicles would fit and replenishing/renewing our tornado supplies to store in our tornado shelter. While my area was not hit, please take a moment to think about all of those in Oklahoma tonight. For reference, I live in 'Middle Missouri", which is technically southwest Missouri.

Sorry about the editing-I'm tired, but Baby A just got to sleep so I could post.