24

2:53 a.m.

"You're seriously a cop?"

I look up at Alice and smirk, nodding as I slice into my third pancake. She looks at Bella, shaking her head.

"Bella. When we moved in together you assured me there would be no cops coming around."

Bella lets out a long laugh, cutting another bite of her own pancake.

"Alice, Edward so does not care you are high."

Alice's eyes shift anxiously toward me and I snort.

"I don't care," I confirm. "And if you can cook this well stoned, more power to you," I say, holding up a bite of pancake speared on my fork before I shove it in my mouth.

Alice lets out a tense breath.

"Thank god," she moans, reaching for her purse. She pulls a joint out of an empty mint tin and roots around for her lighter. "I hate not getting to finish a blunt before bed," she mutters around the joint. I smirk.

"You sound like my brother," I tell her, shoving another bite into my mouth.

She lights the joint, taking a deep inhale. She looks at me as she slowly breathes the smoke out.

"He sounds like he knows how to have a good time," she says after a moment.

I nod. "I think he'd agree with you."

She smiles, then turns to Bella.

"Okay, so tell me how it went. Was your dad a prick?"

I look at Bella curiously. I wondered what could be bad enough to drive Charlie Swan's future son-in-law away from his own engagement party early.

Bella rolls her eyes.

"Naturally," she grunts. "He invited all these boring-ass people no one cares about. Whenever anyone asked Leah what she does for work, dad was right there trying to make it abundantly clear that he disapproves of her being an elementary school teacher. Like she isn't a fucking saint for putting up with those gremlins she works with," Bella shakes her head. "Anyway, it was a full night of shaming Leah and trying to put pressure on her to go back to school to get her MBA."

Alice sneers. "She was practically suicidal in that program." She coughs once, then shakes her head. "What did he say about Jake?"

Bella rolls her eyes.

"What we expected." She looks at me. "Jake is a mechanic. He owns his own garage, but my dad nearly had an aneurysm when he found out." She stabs at her pancakes. "He's always treated Jake like he's not good enough to marry into the family. It's gross."

I can feel the back of my neck starting to sweat. Bella and I are on day two of whatever the hell this is, but I can already feel the pressure of her father. What if we get to be more serious? What would he think of me? Would he disapprove?

"Was he on your ass about the internship this summer?" Alice asks, taking another hit of her joint. I look at Bella curiously.

"Of course," she grunts. She looks at me. "Dad doesn't think chemistry is the right path for me. He's been pushing me toward politics for as long as I can remember." She rolls her eyes. "The thing is, I think I'd actually like politics, but if I got into it, it'd have to be two thousand miles away from his sphere of influence. I don't want to be a pawn for him."

I let out a breath. I didn't know any of this about the man, though given his relative age and position, it's no surprise he's driven and ambitious, always looking for connections wherever he can.

It's a shame they've had to come at the cost of his relationship with his own daughters though.

"He wants you to intern this summer?" I ask, finishing off my pancake.

"Yeah," she says, looking up at me. "He got me this internship opportunity with Senator Newton." She reaches for her glass of water, shaking her head before she sips. "But I wouldn't be caught dead near Newton's campaign."

I wince, nodding in agreement. Newton's reputation is highly questionable, and his politics are archaic.

"Anyway," Bella sighs. "The whole night basically blew until Edward came and rescued me." She looks at me, her hand landing on my thigh as she grins. "Oh! That reminds me!" She gets up and sprints out of the kitchen. I look at Alice who takes another hit before offering me the joint. I wave her off.

Bella comes back and holds out her phone. I laugh, taking it and immediately programming my number in. I send myself a text so I have her contact, then hand her her phone back.

"You saved your number under 'Edward Cullen'?" she asks, looking up at me. I arch an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, what else would you save my number under?"

She giggles as she types. When she's done, she shows us my new contact.

Officer Sexy complete with a little siren and eggplant emoji.

The three of us dissolve into laughter at the table.