Chapter 10: That's Terribly Romantic

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."
-Mother Teresa

We discussed the position in Italy to death. By the end of the evening I was sick and tired of hearing about how beautiful Volterra was and how much I would love it there, or how much the hospital needed me, could not survive without me.

I ditched my parents and Aro on Sunday to go into Seattle and visit my favourite music store there. I sat in the back for hours on the baby grand they had there. I played all of the symphonies and concertos I could think of and then I started taking requests from the people in the store. I finished it up with my own rendition of "Piano Man" by Billy Joel.

The older couple that owned the story loved me because I brought in a lot of costumers and any tips I got from the day I'd give to them. It wasn't like I needed them.

They always fixed me lunch and tried to set me up with their granddaughter who was still in high school. I laughed and told them I was taken, which wasn't so much of a lie this time around.

They told me I had to bring my special young lady to meet them. I told them I'd try my best to bring her to the music store.

I met Alice and Jasper for dinner at a small café in the heart of Seattle; we sat on the patio in front of the restaurant despite the constant threat of rain.

I could tell from the way Jasper and Alice acted around each other that he was a keeper. He seemed to adore Alice.

Jasper ordered a beer, Alice got a glass of water with a lime and I got a sweet tea and scanned the menu—wishing I had Bella sitting beside me, wondering what her favourite food was.

"Edward, what are you going to get?" Alice whined at me.

"I don't know," I muttered, still scanning the menu and trying my hardest to concentrate.

"Edward, it's not that big of a menu, what's your problem?" Alice she asked, squeezing the lime into her water and stirring it with her straw. She reached for the sugar packets and grabbed three, pouring them into her water as well.

"Nothing's wrong, I just can't decide what I want," I said, furrowing my eyebrows and rereading the entrees for the third time.

Our waitress arrived at our table, leaning down so that both Jasper and I caught an eyeful of her ample bust. Jasper didn't seem to notice, he seemed too preoccupied with playing with the hem of Alice's short dress—and despite my noticing I couldn't help my thoughts that strayed to Bella and her perfect, feminine form.

"What will you all be eating today?" Our waitress purred.

"I want a salad, my boyfriend wants a hamburger and I don't know what my brother wants," Alice said, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring daggers at the waitress.

"I want the mushroom ravioli," I said, picking an item at random, and then fishing my iPod out of my pocket to see if I would get on the Internet there.

Our waitress sighed and said she'd be right back. She could take her time; I wasn't that hungry and I wasn't in a hurry to be eye-raped again.

"Put that away, Edward, we need to talk," Alice snapped, settling against Jasper's side.

"What do you need, Ali, I just want to check my email," I said, not putting my iPod down.

"Edward! Please, talk to me!" She whined.

"Fine," I replied, stuffing my iPod back into my pocket. "What's the matter?"
"What's going on with you lately?" She asked, looking at me with unneeded concern, "You seem so distracted, and I know it's not because of this stupid mess with Italy and Dr. Valencia."

I sighed, unlike with Carlisle I had no qualms with lying to my sister, "I'm not sure if I want to go there with him. I'm mean, he's a creepy psycho; but it's a great opportunity."

"That's not what's really bothering you, Edward," Alice said shrewdly, glowering at me.

I had to bite the inside of my cheek so I wouldn't smirk, "Why would I lie to you, sister dear?"

"Gee, I don't know—you do it often enough, you pretend like I can't tell but I can. Every. Single. Time," she said, her words precise as she stared at me. I looked back into her light green eyes and sighed.

"I met a girl."

She squealed and tossed herself over the table and into my arms, "Jesus, Alice, I haven't even gone a date with this girl yet!"

"But you'll actually talk about her, she's a keeper!" Alice said smiling from ear to ear.

"What do you mean 'you'll actually talk about her'?" I asked, tilting my head to the side as my sister took her seat next to Jasper.

"You always hide your girlfriends, you never bring anyone home—heck I had to snoop through your closet to figure out you were dating that Tanya skank. And the only reason I found out about that was because one of your shirts smelled like J. Lo Glo."

My mouth popped open as I stared at the little terror I called my sister, "What do you mean you snooped around my closet?"

Jasper hid his face in Alice's hair as he laughed.

"It's not funny, man, soon she'll be doing it to you," I said seriously. Alice would, I had no doubt in my mind about that.

"I have nothing to hide," he said. He looked so amused by this whole situation.

I sat back in my chair crossly and started to pout like a child. "Your being an incorrigible busybody aside," I said staring at my darling sister, "why is this so exciting that I've found a girl I'm interested in?"

"Because, Big Brother! You're willing to talk about her; she's not some poorly kept secret of yours!" Alice explained like it was so easy to understand. I still didn't comprehend her logic, but it seemed to make sense to her so I didn't pry.

"When did you meet this girl?" Alice asked, practically bouncing up and down in her seat. Jasper had his head resting against her shoulder and I'm surprised he didn't get motion sickness.

"I officially met her yesterday morning," I said cautiously, gauging Alice's reaction.

"So that's where you were when Dr. Creepy arrived! But what do you mean you 'officially met her' yesterday?" Alice asked.

"Well, I've seen her two before, but I introduced myself yesterday morning when I stopped by her house."

"You went to her house?!" Alice screeched, slamming her hands down onto the table with enough force to splash the first couple of inches of liquid out of our cups.

"Shh, Alice I don't think people heard you in Zimbabwe!" I said in a fierce whisper. We were already getting weird stares from the other people eating on the patio. I glared at my little sister, and she managed to look somewhat abashed.

"Fine, you went to her house?" She said in a stage whisper, leaning across the table to glare at me.

"Yes, to return her book," I sighed, glancing around at the people still giving us weird looks.

"What book?" Alice asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

I sighed and conceded defeat, "I first saw her at the Chinese restaurant after you and Jasper left."

"You were at the restaurant?" Jasper asked, looking between me and Alice.

"Yeah, I was there to crash your date if things didn't work out," I said with a smirk, fully enjoying the enraged look on my sister's face. "I was supposed to spill my drink on her if you weren't worthy of her."

He smiled, "I'm glad you didn't have to spill your drink on her."

"I'm glad, too," I said smiling at him.

"Anyways," Alice said loudly, interrupting us, "so you saw this girl after we left for Jasper's apartment?"

"Yeah, she was having a private celebration with her father, it was her birthday. He said something to upset her and he left, she stayed in tears and then left as well. She left her birthday present on the table. I picked it up and took it with me."

"Edward! What if she went back to the restaurant looking for it?" Alice tsked.

"I gave it back to her! I defended, anyways the next time I saw her was at the hospital; she was dropping one of the nurses off."

"Which nurse?" Alice asked, she was fairly familiar with the hospital staff because of my father's and mine ties to the hospital.

"Leah Clearwater," I said, toying with the paper wrapper from my straw.

"How in the world does your mystery girl know Leah?" Alice asked.

"Leah's mother is dating her father," I said.

"Ah, that's a sticky situation. Parents dating," Alice said.

"Yeah, neither of them seem too happy about it," I said. "But thanks to Leah I found out my mystery woman's name and where she lived and I was able to return her book."

"Oh that's terribly romantic," Alice swooned, putting another packet of sugar into her water.

"Not really, it's more stalker-ish and creepy," I admitted, blushing slightly.

"No, it's romantic Edward. You sought her out," Alice said. Our waitress came back and put out food in front of us, after another failed attempt to catch my eye.

We ate slowly, our bites interspersed by Alice grilling me for information about Bella. I should've been embarrassed to talk so openly about a woman to my little sister but yet again, with Bella I was surprised by how open I was about her.

Maybe she would be different, after all.

There will be more drama. Let that be known. After they 'meet' for real, things aren't all puppies and kittens and rainbows. So, for those getting complacent, and thinking this story is going to be all peachy keen, REALITY CHECK it's not. But that's all I'm sayin'.

Have you ever had a predetermined idea about a boy [or girl, if there are any male readers out there] that was as open and hopeful as Edward is of Bella? I know I have, and that idea was totally crushed. Oh well, we all can't find our Edwards.