Rosalie sits at the nurse's station, typing in her patient's information quickly as Carlisle comes out of his office.
"I'm going to head down to lunch. Are you about finished?" he asks.
It looks like the other nurse at the station is scrolling her phone, clearly not in need of additional support, so it's a good time to take her meal break.
"Yeah! I'm almost..." Rosalie trails off. "Done."
"My wife is coming for lunch, so you can meet her if you'd like."
She has yet to ask him about his English accent. His LinkedIn mentioned absolutely nothing about working or having gone to school anywhere in Europe, and he doesn't seem like the kind of person who would fake an accent to seem more pretentious or exciting.
"Sure," Rosalie glances over her work briefly before clocking out.
"Do you like Seattle so far?" Carlisle inquires with his charismatic I'm-a-successful-doctor smile as they head to the elevator. "You're living with your brother, you said, right?"
"Yeah, it's fine. He has two roommates and they're...okay, I guess," she says dryly. "They're usually out all night, and then they sleep in pretty late. When I have the morning shift I don't see them at all."
"Is he your younger brother or older?"
"We're twins. He came out first if you want to get technical. He was born just before midnight, so we even have our own birthdays."
"How fun!" Carlisle laughs and they step into the elevator. He presses the button for the cafeteria.
"Do you have any siblings?"
"No, I'm an only child."
The elevator doors open and they exit into the hall.
The special of the day is some kind of fish casserole dish, which Rosalie isn't particularly in the mood for. She grabs a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a fruit cup.
They pay for their meals and a woman with caramel brown hair and rosy cheeks stands and waves at them from a table in the center of the room. She looks older than Rosalie, but not by much. Maybe twenty-six or twenty-seven.
"Rosalie, this is my wife Esme. Esme, this is the new intern Rosalie," Carlisle introduces. "Esme's a home designer."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Esme shakes Rosalie's hand and gives her a warm smile. Her nails are manicured neatly with a sheer pink polish, and a thin, gold bracelet is on her wrist. The shiny finish complements the gold wedding ring on her other hand.
"It's nice to meet you too. Thank you for sending the flowers. They were really beautiful," Rosalie says as she takes a seat.
She can't help but notice they're a picture-perfect couple. She wants to find a reason to dislike them, but they're both so nice.
"Did you get all settled in then?" Esme asks politely. "Carlisle was telling me that you moved here from New York a couple weeks ago"
Carlisle earns a good deal more than Rosalie, but surely Esme's job pays well too based on how she's dressed. She's wearing a pair of dark-wash skinny jeans and a simple white blouse, but her heels have the distinctive red-sole of a Louboutin. Understated, but very chic.
Rosalie shakes her head. "Most of my stuff, including my car, is still in New York. I haven't had a chance to have it all sent over."
"If you need help, I know a good moving company!" Esme offers. "Seriously, just let me know."
"Thanks. Yeah, I will." Rosalie chews on a piece of cantaloupe. "I'll have to find my own place soon. I hate the parking over where Jasper lives, and there's no way all my furniture will fit."
"Jasper's her brother," Carlisle explains.
Esme's eyes light up. "You need to go apartment hunting?"
"This will snowball into her furnishing and decorating the entire place if you tell her yes," Carlisle warns Rosalie with a laugh. "She goes to house showings for fun, and she completely rearranged our living room three times over the summer."
Rosalie smiles. "I can't say that I'd be opposed."
A friend with useful connections and knowledge about the city's neighborhoods and housing is exactly what she needs.
...
Edward feels like he's lost his mind.
He sits in his car after piano practice and scrolls through Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, trying to find Bella.
It doesn't seem like she has social media of any kind, but he desperately needs to find out more.
She's so different, so unlike any other girl he's met before, so...Bella.
He finds her roommate Jessica's Instagram profile with ease. She has fifteen hundred friends, five hundred posts, and looks like she would fit right in at a sorority.
They had seemingly nothing in common, so it's unclear how the two even became friends.
Edward clicks on her Instagram story and taps through to see if she posted anything about Bella.
A picture of an açai bowl. Gym shoes. A meme about cardio. Bella and Angela standing in front of an old pickup truck. The downtown waterfront. Jessica and Angela wearing tutus in a costume shop.
He wrinkles his nose in distaste at how utterly basic the series of images is.
Bella said they were going Halloween shopping, he remembers. He types Seattle waterfront costume shop into Google and a party supply store with five stars pops up.
Before he realizes what he's doing, he starts driving towards West Queen Anne.
He doesn't think it would be too weird. Edward also doesn't have a Halloween costume yet, not that he was planning on wearing one. He can just happen to pass while they're shopping.
Edward parks his car on the street and walks into the shop. He cautiously does a lap around the store before spotting Jessica and Angela near a display of pirate costumes.
He doesn't see Bella, though. He wonders where she could be.
Edward pulls up Instagram again and checks Jessica's story for clues. There are two new additions: a picture of Angela wearing a clown wig while Bella laughs and a picture of Bella ducking like she doesn't want her picture taken. The caption reads she's DITCHING us to go look at books!
His heart does a little flutter. She really does like reading. She's so down-to-earth that she would rather browse through novels than try on flashy outfits for a party.
He tries to remember if there's a bookstore nearby. He pulls up his Maps app and does a quick search. There are three in a mile radius, but they're all in different directions.
He returns to his car and sees the pickup from Jessica's story parked two spaces away.
Bella must have walked.
It's getting dark out. Edward's phone says it's 6:15 pm.
If it's a four-minute drive to any of those shops, that would mean it's probably about a half-hour walk. She should be there by now, but she can't possibly be planning on walking back on her own in the dark, can she?
The idea makes him nervous. She's from a small town and might not know that it's not safe in the city at night. There are creeps and thieves out prowling for innocent, young people who don't know any better. He's seen the statistics. It happens every day.
Edward heads north to the first bookshop and circles the block slowly before checking out the inside. The shop is a little brick building jam-packed with fiction from floor to ceiling, and he would love to take a closer look around if he had the time.
Bella isn't there, though, so he gets back in his car and tries the used bookstore to the south.
He parks, and stealthily heads into the shop. It's much smaller than the last location, so he can see within thirty seconds that she's not inside. He groans and gets back in his car.
The third bookstore is a neighborhood shop with a patio where customers can sit out and read. The fairy lights draped across the pergola are turned off. The door says they closed ten minutes ago.
Edward sighs and starts to question if this was ever a good idea. He should check Jessica's Instagram story again. Hopefully, they went to get her after they finished looking at costumes.
There's a picture of Angela and a big plate of spaghetti that was posted three minutes ago. He recognizes the restaurant. He went there with Alice last summer and it's only a couple of blocks away.
He doesn't see Bella in the picture, though. He wonders if it's because she's out of frame or if she didn't make it there.
She might not be safe.
Edward's come this far. It wouldn't hurt to make one little stop in and check.
He can see if Alice wants to meet him for dinner, then they can casually bump into Bella and her friends there.
Alice might complicate things, though. He doesn't want to deal with her teasing him over his wild goose chase just yet. Also, it would take her at least an hour for her to get ready and arrive at the restaurant.
He speeds to the restaurant and ultimately decides against calling Alice. He'll have to just cross his fingers that they don't see him or find it strange that he's there by himself.
Edward's mind isn't set to rest when he gets to the restaurant, however. He sees Angela and Jessica chattering away in a booth by themselves without Bella.
Against his better reasoning, he starts panicking over not being able to find her. He's circled the surrounding area about two dozen times in the past hour and somehow never saw her walking along the side of the street.
He gets back into his Tesla and resumes cruising through the neighborhood. Another lap or five will help ease his anxiety.
Seconds before he's about to give up, head home, and check himself back into twice-weekly therapy sessions, he sees her.
She's walking along the West Queen Anne playfield, heading north towards the Italian restaurant where her roommates are eating. Edward's heart nearly stops when he sees that there are two large, older men in front of her, moving to block her path.
He sees one of the men pull out a pocket knife and the light from the streetlamps overhead glints off the shiny metal blade.
He zips through the stoplight he's waiting at and practically drives up onto the sidewalk beside her. His phone starts ringing, but he ignores it.
Shoving open the passenger side door he yells, "Get in the car!"
Bella's eyes go wide and she shrinks away as if she's going to be hit by his Tesla before realizing she recognizes him.
"Edward?" she asks, squinting. She quickly scrambles inside and slams the door behind her.
"Put on your seat belt," he demands, peeling back out onto the street going twice the speed limit.
If he wasn't certain that those guys could kick his ass, he would fight them.
"What are you doing here?" she questions.
He hears the seat buckle clicking and clacking as she unsuccessfully attempts to get it fastened.
"I was in the neighborhood," he answers. "Are you okay? What were you doing walking around outside at night like that? It's dangerous."
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. I was exploring the neighborhood. There's so much to see here."
"They were trying to mug you, Bella," Edward says through clenched teeth. "Or worse."
"I know," she says, unusually calm about all of this. "Woah. Slow down. You're driving too fast."
Edward laughs humorlessly. "You almost got robbed at knife-point and you're worried about how fast I'm driving?"
"I have pepper spray, so I'm sure it would have been fine," she defends. "Where are you taking me..?"
"To your friends. It's past dinnertime, and you're obviously in shock. You need to eat something." Edward grips the steering wheel tightly and tries to take deep breaths to calm the adrenaline rushing through his veins. "You should be more careful."
It's going to be okay. Bella is safe, he tells himself.
Safe.
...
Bella sees Jessica and Angela standing out front of the restaurant looking shocked when their friend steps out of the passenger side of Edward Cullen's very expensive, very new car.
She waves at them shyly. "Hey, guys."
"I saw Bella walking down the street and wanted to make sure she made it to dinner safely," Edward says as he walks closer to their group, stopping when he's a couple of yards away. "I'm in Bella's Nineteenth-Century Literature class. My name's Edward."
Angela and Jessica wave at him, gawking at him until Jessica finally speaks up. "U-um, we actually just finished eating. We were about to call an Uber and head back soon since we hadn't heard from you..."
"You weren't answering your texts," Angela quietly adds.
Bella must have taken more time walking to and from the bookstore than anticipated.
"Oh. Yeah, we can head back home. I'm not even that hungry, so don't worry about it," Bella offers. She doesn't want her friends to have to waste money on a ride back to their apartment if her car is parked conveniently nearby. She feels bad she almost unintentionally stranded them downtown.
"No, you should still eat!" Jessica protests loudly. "With Edward! Have you eaten yet, Edward? We can take an Uber. It's literally on its way now, so don't worry."
Angela nods in agreement. "You should go to dinner with Edward."
"Your friends are right, you should eat something," Edward coaxes. "I've been here before and they have really good pasta."
He's as ridiculously good-looking as ever. Bella feels her face getting hot from briefly meeting his gaze.
It's safer to stare at the pavement. The pavement doesn't have glossy, bronze hair, dazzling emerald eyes, and the bone-structure of Adonis.
Her roommates' Uber pulls up and calls out Jessica's name.
Great. Bella has no choice but to stay and eat dinner with him now. Her stomach feels like it's full of butterflies. She's never been out to dinner alone with a guy before.
Based on their prior interactions and her research, he's way out of her league. He's probably just offering to be polite.
She cringes at the thought of potentially becoming the next subject of ridicule on his podcast.
"After you," Edward says, holding open the restaurant door and following her inside.
The waitress seats them at a small table near the window of the dimly lit restaurant. Bella looks around at the decor and the various groups of people dining around them. She can't help but notice how intimate the space feels.
"Can I start you off with any drinks?" the waitress asks, her full attention on Edward. He doesn't seem to notice, however, as he waits for Bella's response.
"Um...can I get a coke?" Bella murmurs.
"I'll have the same," Edward replies. The waitress smiles at him and goes to get their sodas.
Her stomach drops when she sees the prices listed on the menu. Twenty dollars for pasta. Seattle's so much more expensive than Forks. There goes half of her grocery money for the week.
The waitress promptly returns with their drinks and continues to shower Edward with her undivided attention. "What have we decided on for dinner?"
He's waiting on Bella to order again, watching her with a silent, steady gaze. He's so intense.
She looks down at the menu again and picks the least prestigious-sounding thing. "I'll have the mushroom ravioli."
"Make it two," Edward echoes. Either he's not picky or Bella coincidentally happened to choose what he wanted twice.
Taking a sip from her drink, Bella wonders if she was right about him prowling the streets of Seattle at night and fighting crime. His black Tesla is, for all intents and purposes, the Batmobile of the Pacific Northwest.
"How did you find me?" Bella asks. "And how did you know I was meeting Jessica and Angela here for dinner?"
Edward's face gives nothing away, the waitress once again interrupting them to deliver their food.
"Two mushroom raviolis! Is there anything else I can get for you tonight?" the woman lingers around their table, making goo-goo eyes at Edward. She must be smitten. Bella can't blame her for it, because she's feeling pretty smitten too.
"No, thanks. We're good," Edward says, handing the girl what looks like a twenty-dollar bill. She registers it as weird but doesn't ask him about it.
Bella takes a bite of her dinner and her tastebuds light up with joy. It's a damn good ravioli. She understands how they're twenty dollars. Her tastebuds will be ruined after this.
"I was driving around the area and happened to spot you," Edward finally answers. "I...think you must have mentioned the restaurant the other night when we spoke."
"No, I didn't." Bella looks at him with suspicion, uncertain why he would suggest that. "Jessica just found this place on Yelp a few hours ago."
"Okay, I saw it on Jessica's Instagram story," he confesses.
"You follow Jessica on Instagram?" Bella's certain her friend would have mentioned that if he did. She wondered if he's into her. Jessica's a little closer to the type she can picture Edward dating.
"No. I was looking at it because I was trying to find yours," Edward says, picking up a ravioli with his fork. "Which I didn't."
"I have a private account," she replies. "That still doesn't explain why you're here. Are you like...following me? In real life?"
"I, um...yes..?" he stammers. "I guess so."
If there's one thing her mom taught her in life, it's not to trust creepy stalker guys. Even if they are super hot, rich, and professionally-qualified.
"Um. I'm gonna head home. I have a lot of homework." She stands up to leave.
"Wait, don't go!" he drops his fork and knife onto his plate with a clank, his freckled face looking horribly dejected. Bella can't help but find it a bit cute. "I can explain!"
She sighs and sits back down. She can't in her right mind leave the life-changingly delicious raviolis half-eaten, anyway. "So this isn't like some kind of Ted Bundy situation? They're not going to find me stuffed in the trunk of your Tesla out in the middle of the California desert a week from now?"
"God, no! I would never!" he objects, running his hands through his hair. "I'm majoring in criminal law!"
"Is that supposed to make me trust you more? Because I'm thinking you'd get away with it then."
He huffs exasperatedly. "I want to get to know you better. I'm usually pretty good at reading people and I'm trying to figure you out. You seem...different from girls I've met in the past."
"Like there's something wrong with me?" She feels a little sting in her chest.
"No, the good kind of different." He goes back to eating his dinner, looking up every so often with a concerned look. His voice softens when he speaks again. "I didn't want to wait until Monday to get to see you again. I was being impatient."
Bella internally curses herself for blushing so easily. She hopes the restaurant's muted lighting is hiding the fact that her face is bright red.
Her hands are getting clammy.
"You could have maybe...asked for my number?" Bella suggests. He seems pretty mortified by his recent confession, though, so that might not have been an option for him. "I can give you my number if you want it."
"I don't want to bother you."
"Maybe I want you to," she says. Her words sounded a lot less forward in her head, and she cringes at her own awkwardness.
"Okay, sure." He gives her a small smile and looks over at her empty glass. He slides his untouched drink over to her side of the table. "You should drink this. You're probably still in shock if you're not freaking out over what happened earlier yet. Sugar will help."
Bella rolls her eyes and takes a gulp of the soda. "Happy?"
"Yeah," he replies. " Once we're done, I can drive you to your truck. I know it's not far, but I'll worry if you go walking around in the dark by yourself again."
The wheels in her head are turning. Something isn't adding up. "How did you know I have a truck? And how do you know where it is?"
His face drops, "I...saw it on Jessica's Instagram story...and drove past it earlier."
...
Edward gets home a little after nine and parks out in the driveway of the house.
He like nights like these. It's that fleeting time of year when the warmth of summer starts to fade, but the rainy season hasn't started yet. The tree leaves are barely beginning to take on an autumnal hue. The air is sweet. Things feel fresh, new, and exciting.
Dinner with Bella was much more successful than he thought it could ever be. He doesn't know that he'll be able to sleep with how overjoyed he is.
When he walks up the drive to the front door, he finds Alice sitting out on the front steps of the porch waiting for him.
She's still dressed in the outfit she went to school in—a black sweater and skirt set—so she must have either just returned back home as well or she was hoping for an invite out.
"Hey. Thanks for returning my call," she greets sarcastically.
He forgot someone called him earlier. It must have been her. "Sorry, I was busy. I didn't even see it."
"No, I'm sorry too. It was already way too late before I saw what was happening with Bella." Alice hugs her knees to her chest and stands up to follow him into the house. "It's hard when I haven't spent much time with her. I don't get as much insight...and I was preoccupied."
"It's fine. I don't expect you to be all-knowing," he replies. "I almost asked you to come out to dinner earlier. Did you see that?"
"No." Alice exhales wistfully. "I wish I had. I would have loved to go."
"What could possibly be so important that you would miss my first real date?" Edward teases. She rarely misses an opportunity to be annoying.
It doesn't sound like Esme or Carlisle are still up, so he minds his noise level as he takes off his shoes in the foyer and puts his jacket away in the coat closet.
Alice grins, shutting the front door behind them. "I'm planning a dinner party with Esme. I'll let you know when we get the date finalized so you can invite Bella."
"Maybe. Who are you inviting?" She must have another guest she's planning on having over, too, because there's no way she's hosting a full dinner party just for one person—even if that person is as interesting, beautiful, captivating, and magnetic as Bella.
"Hm..." Alice gives him a look like she knows a secret and giggles. "Not sure yet. I want to see Bella, though. It'll be fun—I promise!"
She's lying. She knows exactly who she's inviting. She always does. He wonders if Esme would know anything about it.
Regardless, he doesn't trust Alice's parties. She always goes overboard. Last Christmas they only had Irina, Kate, and Tanya over, and Alice somehow got Esme to agree to flock and decorate three different trees with her, the largest of which was twenty feet tall.
"Your idea of fun is very different from mine," he says.
"That's not true. We both like Broadway musicals," she counters. "You said you'd take me to one last spring and you never did."
She's never letting that go, evidently.
"I was busy with classes. You wanted to go the same week as my midterms."
"Wow, maybe you're right. We don't have the same idea of fun because you don't like fun at all."
"We'll go to the Nutcracker once Christmas rolls around, okay?"
"Yay!" she chimes. "Esme will want to go too. You'll have to check with Carlisle on whether or not he can get the day off."
"Of course." He rolls his eyes and heads up to his room. "Good night."
"Sweet dreams!" Alice's voice sing-songs from downstairs.
He was expecting a lot more questions from her, but he got off easy this time. Yet another stroke of good luck tonight. Things really are looking up for him.
