She walked in wearing grey yoga pants and a cropped white t-shirt that bared one slender, tan, shoulder to the world. Her dark, golden brown hair was intricately braided and held in place by a pink rubber band. She wore no makeup, no jewelry, just ear buds, one dangled freely down the front of her shirt.

She had an air of carefree happiness about her and I was addicted to it already. Her dark eyes scanned the room and when they met mine, she pushed her wire basket my way, smiling brightly.

"Bella."

"Edward."

Without waiting she dug into a bag that she pulled from her mesh laundry hamper, producing a large tattered paperback.

"Turns out, I have read a comic." She handed me an old copy of Calvin Hobbes and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Ahhh, I see, the human boy and his imaginary tiger friend. Very nice." I flipped the cover open and saw her name, Bella Swan, scribbled in green crayon. "You've had this for a really long time."

"Yeh, my dad gave it to me when I was playing library one weekend with a friend. I needed more than just a few Dr. Seuss."

"Agreed. Although Dr. Seuss does have his finer points, one cannot simply run an entire library on Fox in Socks. But I must admit, I am a huge fan of Bartholomew and the Oobleck."

"You like classic Seuss?" Bella dug again inside her bag and pulled out the Spiderman comic I had lent to her last week.

"What, you think just because I read comics I can't enjoy the classics?"

"I didn't mean-" Bella's face lifted to mine and she frowned, "You're messing with me."

"Eh."

Laughing, she leaned in smacked my arm lightly.

"I liked the Spiderman comic. I really like the character of Gwen Stacy more than Mary Jane."

"Ohhhh, this is a fight you don't want to start with the wrong people."

"I take it people are very protective of their comic heroes and their ladies."

"We most certainly are, don't forget it."

Raising an eyebrow in my direction she rolled her eyes and grinned again.

"Gotta start this load." She produced yet another mesh bag, this one much smaller than the one that held all of her clothes, filled with all sorts of lace in pretty yellows and blues. Panties.

"You uh, wash your panties in a bag?" Pink colored her cheeks and I couldn't help but press, "The last time I didn't see them in a little bag."

"That's one of the reasons they are in the bag. Also because I don't want my bras to snag on any other clothing."

Bras, panties and Bella Swan.

I quickly looked around the room and wondered if the older lady in the corner would notice if I laid Bella across the bench and had my way with her.

"So, what do you do when you're not at the laundromat?" Bella looked over her shoulder at me while shoveling clothing into the washer.

"Are you asking if I'm gainfully employed?"

She shrugged that bare shoulder once. "Just wondering what you do when you're not here."

"You wonder about me?"

"I mean," she closed the washer and turned to face me, "I guess so. I'm not going to lie, you're interesting to me."

"I find you interesting as well, Bella." At least I wasn't alone here.

"So," she pushed away from the wall of washers and sat next to me, "What do you do, Edward?"

My thoughts tried to scream out, Are you sure you want to get closer, man? Last time was a fucking disaster.

"I make beer."

"Like, you sit at home with a kit and brew beer in your seedy little apartment?" Bella's smile was slowly driving me crazy.

"No. Like, I own and run a brewery with two friends."

"Wow. That's impressive. I'm sure you all worked your asses off."

"That we did."

"So, how does a business owner not own a washer and dryer?"

"Well, my set shit out on me, I was waiting for replacements but I met this really cool girl and laundry with her is much more fun."

"Oh."

Maybe this whole conversation wasn't a great idea.

Rushing on, I continued, "Your turn, what do you do when you're not at the local laundry washing your unmentionables in a mesh bag?"

"I'm a vet tech."

"Really?"

"Yeh, is that very weird?"

I shook my head, "No, I've just never really met a vet tech before."

Bella's shoulders moved in a deep sigh, "I love animals. I don't have any pets of my own, but I love all of my patients as if they were."

"What's the craziest animal someone's brought in?"

"That's easy; I once had a little boy, about six years old, bring in a garden snail. He said it wasn't feeling well and he needed medicine for it. He was really upset when our suggestion for the snail to get better was to let him go free. But he did it, right out in a small garden on the side of our building."

"Awww, poor dude."

"Yeh, but that snail was definitely better off in the garden than in his old shoe box."

I was definitely not ready for the night to be over and for Bella and I to go our separate ways for another week.

"See you next Friday?"

"You know it, Bella."

"Good."

I watched as she disappeared around a corner at the end of the street before walking in the opposite direction.