Happy Friday! I'm super overtired, but it's my sister's birthday (32!) and InstaPals was recc'ed by the Lemonade Stand this week, so it's definitely a happy day!

I have nothing to say this week, so I'll see you at the end!

Thanks to my beta, Sunflower Fran and my prereaders: Mariel, RoBiNiSmYbOo, and WiccEdGoddess. This story is definitely a thousand times better thanks to you! Even if I totally ignore some suggestions...

I own an iPad and a MacBook Air, but not Twilight.

The weekend passed without much drama. Edward had been busy for most of Saturday. I logged into the Facebook Live interview he did in the morning. The guy interviewing him had a bunch of questions from the audience. Someone asked what his favorite social media site is. He said Instagram; how he likes to scroll through baking videos and pictures. Someone else sent in a question asking about the girl he had mentioned earlier in the week. He didn't say much, just that he was "off the market," and he hoped people would respect his and her—my— privacy. The interviewer tried to push him to say more, but he shut it down very graciously.

While I watched Edward's interview, I packaged my latest round of ordered paintings before bringing them to be shipped. After that, I went to the diner for lunch.

"Bella!" Mrs. Cope sounded thrilled to see me when she brought me my standard lemonade and promised that my sandwich order was in. "You were in such a fog when you left yesterday. Are you feeling better?"

I grinned. "I'm great, Mrs. Cope. Better than great."

"Your fella from Instagram take you out?" I forgot I told her I'd met someone. Oh well, at least that's what she remembered and not the fact that my daze started when an actor had announced his birthday on TV.

"No, not yet, but we made plans. I did talk to him a lot last night, though."

She nodded. "Well, when you're ready, bring him here so I can meet him. I gotta make sure he'll treat you right!"

I smiled. "Yeah, I'll try and get him here. I'd love to see what you think of him."

Because apparently the universe thinks screwing with me is funny, the TV in the diner was tuned to a celebrity gossip show. Some bleached blonde was explaining in great detail the possibilities for this secret girl Edward Cullen had referenced in a few interviews. It seemed he'd mentioned being unavailable a lot more than just the two times—well, three including today—that I'd seen. He never said how he met his mystery girl and never even confirmed them as being an item with her. In fact, what he was describing each time was a guy who was not in a relationship but who wanted to be.

The TV blonde went on to explain the two possibilities were Tanya Denali and Heidi Volturi. The photos she showed to explain why these were the two options were sickening; all Edward reaching out to grab their hands with a concerned look on his face. I reminded myself the example he gave me was that he would help a friend who tripped and the photos would be taken out of context and turned into them being a couple.

"I can't imagine he's dating either of them," Mrs. Cope jolted me out of my reverie. "They both seem so fake. I can't imagine him going for either of them. Although, I suppose stranger things have happened. Besides, he's talking about his mystery girl like it's a distance thing. How could it be Tanya Denali? Isn't she traveling with him right now? But I think this mystery girl is someone we've never heard of. Friend of the family or something. Someone as kind as him, though. He always seems so sweet in interviews."

I nodded. "Yeah, he's really sweet." She gave me a look, and I realized I'd phrased that just a little too definitely. "In interviews, I mean. I think you're right. I saw one earlier this week with Emmett McCarty. The interviewer was pretty clearly just doing the interview to get gossip and hit on the two of them. Edward dealt with it incredibly classily. Plus, have you looked at his face when he talks about the mystery girl? He looks adorable." I was pretty sure I was flushing. Hopefully Mrs. Cope would write it off as fantasy and nothing else. "He just looks annoyed when they ask him about Tanya Denali."

Mrs. Cope nodded. "That's true. Well, anyway, enjoy your sandwich."

When she walked away, I unlocked my phone.

I'm getting lunch and the TV in the diner is on some celebrity gossip show. Apparently Edward Cullen has a mystery girl and the top two candidates are Tanya Denali and Heidi Volturi.
FWIW Mrs. Cope is convinced the mystery girl is someone no one has heard of and that Edward Cullen seems "too sweet" for either of the aforementioned candidates.-Bella

Well, I don't know about sweet, but I have it on good authority that the mystery girl is about a billion times better than Tanya or Heidi or anyone else.
SHE is definitely pretty sweet though.-Edward

I can't tell you how weird it is sitting here listening to the theories.-Bella

I'm sorry, sweetheart.
I should probably be steering them away from asking about you but… well…
I really like talking about you.
I'm making Emmett nuts.-Edward

Lol.-Bella

After lunch, I went home and did some painting. Rose and I watched another movie that night—not one of Edward's—and he called me in the evening. Sunday was a pretty lazy day. Rose and I drank some pink wine much earlier in the day than was necessarily wise. I baked the layers of chocolate cake for Edward's birthday cake so I could get them set in the freezer, I painted while they were in the oven, and Edward and I FaceTimed for a good chunk of the day. His last press stops for Broken Waves had been Saturday, so he was totally free to just talk on the phone while I stared at his maddeningly enthralling eyes, instead of painting and baking like I claimed to be doing.

Monday, I went to the bakery and promised Angela my funk was over. She quizzed me on my Insta-Man and offered a weekend's worth of new theories on his mystery job. When she realized I'd found out the mystery job—not to mention full name—of my Insta-Man, she tried to get it out of me but gave up relatively quickly. I was grateful, although not naive enough to imagine that would be the end of it. Not telling people I might be about to start dating Edward Cullen was relatively easy. What to tell people if I did start dating Edward was going to be a lot more complicated. I was pretty okay not announcing to everyone I'd ever met that I had a boyfriend, but if said boyfriend was big news, I didn't know how not telling people would go over.

Monday night, my dad called. That was weird, since usually, I called him, although these days we communicated mainly through my liking the dad-like memes he posted on Facebook. When I picked up, I was a little worried.

"Hey, Dad? Everything okay?"

"Well, Bells, that depends. I just talked to Billy. Sounds like Jake is worried about you."

Jake. Shit. I probably shouldn't say, "Jake wants to date me and is pissed that I want to date a different guy."

"Yeah, well, Jake pissed me off the other day, and I told him he had to start respecting me or I was going to cut him out of my life," I said instead. "What did he tell Billy?"

"He says you've started dating a stranger from the internet! Bella, you know how dangerous that is. I can't believe you're inviting a stranger into your life."

"Oh my god, Dad, calm down. Jacob is overreacting and can you maybe consider that you're getting information that's like three steps removed?" I inhaled. I probably should tell Dad everything. "I will explain everything, but you need to promise not to tell anyone, including Billy. Hell, ESPECIALLY Billy. I don't want Jake to know."

"Why not, Bella? He's always been there for you." Trust Dad to push with no information.

"No, Dad," I began. "Jacob has always been around. He's rarely there when I need help. I help him and he helped me move into one college dorm room. I fed him all through high school, and he's always followed me around. I've never been interested in him, and he's been making it very clear lately that I'll be in trouble with him if I am interested in anyone else. I need you to swear this isn't going to get back to him. I don't trust him."

"Fine, Bells."

"Don't tell Billy either, Dad." I could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "Dad, I'm serious. I don't want anyone to know this. It's my news, and I'm going to control it. If it gets out, my life could end up really, really complicated."

"All right, just tell me, you're making me nervous."

"Okay. I guess it started about six months ago. This guy—Masen—and I followed each other on Instagram. We didn't exactly talk, just commented on posts and stuff. And we flirted a bit. He travels a lot for work, and his profile is just pictures he takes while traveling. We eventually started DMing, and last week it ended up coming out that the job he keeps so secret on his Instagram is that he's a super famous actor."

"Bella, please tell me you aren't trusting this guy. He's got to be lying to you." Trust Dad to take the skeptical route. Although, he had a point. It was pretty unbelievable.

"Dad, we've FaceTimed. It's Edward Cullen."

"Wait, the guy from those pirate movies?"

"Yes."

"Holy cow."

"Yep."

"Are you dating him?"

"I mean … not yet. He's coming to Seattle for his birthday, and we're meeting in person and finding out if we want to be dating."

"He's coming to Seattle? Bella—you're not giving him your address right off the bat, are you?"

"He's getting a hotel, Dad." I wasn't sure he was staying in the hotel, but Dad definitely didn't need to know that.

"Well … No wonder Jake is upset. How can he compete with a movie star?"

"Jacob doesn't know, Dad. No one knows, no one except Rose. And I guess whoever Edward has told. I think just one of his friends. He was going to tell his parents and sister soon, but he's waiting until there was something to tell. I was going to tell you after I met him in person."

"What does Jake know, then?"

"He's been kind of keeping tabs on the Masen Instagram page and our interactions pretty much from the beginning. He's hated Edward the whole time. He tells me all the time that I'm too flirty. He tried to ask me out last week, and I told him I met a guy and I wasn't interested. He assumed it was Masen and got really angry. I never confirmed or denied who it was."

"Well, I can't say I'm pleased you're meeting a stranger off the internet, but I guess I understand why you're mad at Jacob," Dad sighed. "Please at least promise me you'll take Rose with you when you go meet this guy? And you'll meet him in public the first time you meet him?"

"We haven't decided where we're meeting yet, Dad." I also wasn't about to promise in public with Edward Cullen seemed like a phenomenal way to get your picture taken and posted everywhere, something I was distinctly not ready for.

Eventually, I got Dad settled enough to get off the phone. He wanted a promise that I would introduce Edward to him if we became an item. I said I would when it made sense. He finally accepted that I wasn't going to bring him home to my dad after the first date.

When I was off the phone, I got ready for bed. Edward had been in meetings all day—his agent, his publicist, and a slew of other people it turned out you had working for you when you were, well, Edward Cullen—but I knew he would call me before I went to bed. We hadn't talked about it, but he always did. I walked back into my room with brushed teeth and hair just as my phone started ringing.

"Good timing," I smiled as I accepted the FaceTime call. "I just finished getting ready for bed."

"I try," he laughed. "How was your day, sweetheart?"

"All right. Angela wants to know all the details on my Insta-Man and his super-secret job since I accidentally let slip I know now. And my dad called because, of course, Jake called his dad."

"Wait, Jacob is back?"

"Umm…" I hesitated. Edward wasn't jealous … was he? "No, not really. He told his dad he's quote worried unquote about me. He told Billy I'm dating a stranger from the internet."

"Ah. Um. Okay. What did you tell your dad?" Edward definitely was nervous now. That was cute, actually. He looked like he was biting his cheek.

"I. Uh … I told him the truth. I didn't want to have to lie to him and have to clear it up later. And if I can't trust him, who can I trust?"

Edward smiled. "Beautiful, I told you before I want to shout about you from the rooftops. I would love everyone to know. I just don't want you mobbed by paps. I don't want to scare you off before you're even really … well. Mine."

I flushed. "Anyway, I told him the truth and he was … apprehensive. He was very pushy that we shouldn't meet in public, although I don't know what options we have besides private unless I'm coming out as your mystery girl." He grinned at the suggestion, like he really did want to date me publicly. "So I was just going to, well, not tell him. Where we end up meeting, I mean. And I hate to do this to my dad, but how he treats this—and you—is kind of going to make or break our relationship. He's always thrown me together with Jacob, and even if he never pushed me towards actually dating him, in retrospect, he's always been thrilled at how much attention Jake pays to me. And I pushed over and over that he couldn't tell anyone what I was telling him about you and that I don't want Jake and Billy to know. But I honestly don't know if he'll keep it to himself. And if I hear that Jake and Billy know, I think that'll tell me a lot about my dad's priorities …" I sniffled. I hadn't actually realized I was testing him when I told Dad about Edward, but I was.

"Oh, baby, are you okay?" Edward's eyes flashed with concern.

"Yeah, I just … I hate that I feel like I have to test my dad, you know?"

He nodded. "Yeah … I'm sorry, sweetheart. I wish I could hold you and make it all better."

I smiled a little sadly. "You'll be here tomorrow, though."

He grinned, a glorious panty-dropping grin. "Yeah, I will. Where do you want to meet? I have a reservation at the Four Seasons and you could meet me there. Or, I could come to your apartment. Or … somewhere else, but if we don't want to be spotted, I don't have any ideas… . I can't introduce Rosalie to Emmett until Thursday because he has to be in LA on Wednesday. He's going to try to fly in late Wednesday, but he may not get in till Thursday morning."

"Um … why don't you come to my apartment? What time will you get in? I should be home from work by 4."

"My flight lands at 3:45 and I'm getting a rental car to hopefully avoid endless cabbies who recognize me. I can come straight to your apartment or go to the hotel first. I can check in online, so it doesn't matter when I actually get there…"

"Come here first," I surprised myself by how definite I sounded. "I want to see you," I added shyly.

There was that spectacular smile again. "I want to see you too, Bella."

We talked awhile longer and eventually hung up and went to bed, high on the thrill of our impending meeting—at least, I was. And I was pretty sure he was too.

Sooo the meeting is next week! I know some people were hoping it was today, but I swear this sets us up for togetherness!

If you haven't seen and are looking for more of me, I posted a one shot yesterday. It's lemony fun with a sexy EMTward!

I'd love to hear what you think of Charlie. Do we trust him? Is he on Bella's side or Jake's?