AN- Sorry for the long delay. No reasons really can justify it enough. I am already in the process of writing chapter 15 and should have it up by tomorrow.

Disclaimer-I do not own the rights to Twilight or its characters.

Chapter 14- Surprised and Confused

Mondays are just great. Garfield eat your heart out. Yes I was working hard feeling anxious about seeing Edward today. I was racing around which probably was not the safest speed for me. I was working the greens wall. With the spray and the greens rack just recently prepared, the product was all wet so I was all wet. I do try to be neat when trying to fill in the display but it is not always possible. There usually leaves, stalks, and water littering the ground. I was not letting myself get diverted from my task. The Swiss Chard was looking beautiful. It was so crispy ans colorful. I should have been paying more attention to what was going on around me. When I tried to avert my attention towards a customer that was trying to get some greens near me I was startled and I stepped on a slippery patch of leaves and water. I was going down. My one thought was of course there would be plenty of witnesses since I was on the sales floor. Before I could reach the floor and undoubted land in one of my man-made puddles of sludge a pair of arms caught me and rescued me from me from a more embarrassing scenario. I peered up at me savior to see those heart stopping green eyes twinkling down on me.

"Edward." I was at a slight loss for words. He lifted me and moved me out of the way distancing me from the puddle. He did not release me fully. He still had his hands on my arms as to ensure that no other accidents could happen. "Thank you for saving me. That could have been quite the mess and I would have had to spent the day wet."

"Well since I rescued you, do I get a reward?" I was blushing at the thought of such a reward I like to give him.

"Of course kind sir, what do you suggest?" I watched him as he thought it over. I was absorbed into watching his mouth as it twitched while he pondered over the possibilities.

"I have an idea. Have you taken your lunch yet?"

"No not yet." I looked around and saw that there were two other team members on the floor in various locations so I knew I could go for one if I wanted to.

"Do you think your boss will let you leave for lunch now? I have an hour today since the office received a cancellation."

"Actually I don't see that as a problem. I will just let someone know. I be back after I put my cart out back." I walked off a bit fast due to me need to get back to Edward. I was thrilled that I was going to be spending my lunch with him. He beats ready a book any day. I put my cart in the cooler and told the buyer I was heading to lunch. With a nod of acceptance I punched out and took off my apron to join Edward up front. He followed me to pizza island and took a generous slice of southwest BBQ pizza. I picked up the veggie pizza. We took seats out on the patio and sat under one of the umbrellas. I have never used these before. It is actually nice out here.

"So how was your weekend Bella? Did you have a nice visit with your father?"

"Yes I had a great visit. I made dinner for my Dad and Jake and we caught up. I spent a lot of time laughing."

"You never mentioned a Jake before. Is he a relative?"

"No we are childhood friends. My best friend growing up. That boy have me into everything. " I smiled at the memories. " Speaking of getting me into things, he tricked me into joining his bowling league with Quil and Embry. I still can't believe that they will chance injure with my lack of coordination." I started t o chuckle at the thought. I looked up at Edward and noticed he had a slight frown. This confused me I thought about inquiring why, but he spoke up.

"You joining a bowling league with these guys? I did not know you like to bowl?"

"Well I can't bowl so as for enjoying it...I will enjoy the company not the actually activity. When we are together we have a few drinks play some cards joke around, and they will create some sort of mischief that I will no doubt be dragged into. I may have been tricked but I will have fun hanging with my boys."

"Hmm, so you are close with the other guys too?"

"Oh yes, I have known they just as long. We have grown up together. They just were not as close as Jake and I. But that is to be expected since we lived and slept at each other houses. Our parents even put us in the same crib to sleep and bathed us together when we were younger. Boy did we get dirty. I think it was Jakes goal in life back then to see how dirty he could get me. The mud and food fights were legendary. Granted a good portion of those started after I would trip and fall into a puddle or spill my lunch." I looked up at Edward after reminiscing. His face was blank, unreadable. I was disappointed he did not find this as humorous as I did. I might have been mad at the time but looking back at it I see it extremely hilarious.

"You and Jake ever date when you got older?" That was an odd question.

"Um, no. Neither one of us did any dating in school to each other or anyone else. I am not sure about him, but I was happy with how things were. Dating was not on my mind in high school." I was still a bit disconcerted.

"Hmm, so when are you participating in this league?"

"Wednesday nights. Which will be good because I have Thursdays to recuperate. Those boys can get rowdy. I see a few drinking contests in my near future.'

"So this league is just to serve the purpose of getting drunk and causing trouble for these guys?" His voice was stern and lost some of his earlier warmth.

"Not necessarily. It is a fourteen week league. They will not be doing that every week, just I will expect at some point for it to happen. There men in a mostly men league. I would not be surprised. I use to go visit them during the other leagues and I witnessed some rambunctious behavior but nothing all that bad."

"A men's league...You won't be the only girl there will you? "

"I dare say I will not be the only girl. There is always a few." I could see that this was not turning out to be a relaxing lunch so I tried to steer th conversation to something else. "So how was your weekend Edward? Did you have a nice Sunday with your family?"

At this Edwards face started to shift, as he spoke of his weekend his lightness and warmth returned. Me mentioned Alice talking about meeting up with me before she is set to leave on business. We also talked about Saturdays plans. He mentioned watching a movie after dinner and wanted to know if he should pick anything ups. We decided to see what was on demand that night on cable and go from there. I felt a disjointed feeling now that lunch was over. He gave me a kiss on the cheek and headed back towards his office. I headed back in to finish up my shift. My thoughts were going back to his moods during my talk of Jake. I tried to examine it from different perspectives. I was even to the point where I wondered if he was jealous or intimidated by m relationship with Jacob. I ended that thought with how could he with him looking like that and him being the utmost gentlemen. How could he ever feel inadequate. He has never even seen Jake. Maybe if he did he would. Maybe not. Jake is not and unattractive looking guy. If I was an outsider I would perceive him to be smoking hot looks and personality. But in retrospect to me I did not compare to Edward. My thoughts on the subject were cut off with the appearance of Mike.