Hi! Okay - I might have spoken too soon when I said the chapters would be between 3-5K. That might not really be realistic for me. I am trying very hard to stick to posting one chapter every week though, and so far so good!

Also, I just want to preface this with the fact that I was not lying to you when I labeled this as an Edward and Bella story. Please, trust me on that and believe me - I am tragically canon when it comes to those two.

One other bit - if you've rec'd this story somewhere, please let me know! I'd love to be able to thank you! I had a strange burst of visits and story alerts a few days after I posted chapter 1 (not so much on the reviews, though...) and am suspicious that someone might have rec'd it somewhere. It'd be awesome if they did!

See you below!

I do not own Twilight or its characters. No copyright infringement is intended. I do, however, own the plot of this derivative work and ask that this story not be reposted or reproduced without my permission. This story is rated M and not intended for readers under the age of 18.

CHAPTER 2

By the time I strolled into the lobby of the production offices, it was almost an hour after Alice had called. I thought I'd actually done pretty well since I still hadn't showered when she called and considering my morning activities, going out without a shower wasn't exactly an option.

"Bella, hi!" Jasper's assistant Jessica, who doubled as the company's receptionist, popped up from behind her desk and then disappeared again.

"Hey, Jess," I stopped in front of her desk and leaned over to see her crouched on the floor, stuffing papers into six matching red binders. "What're you doing down there?"

"Oh…um…I should probably let Jasper tell you." She flipped the cover closed on each of the binders and gathered them up before standing and straightening out her sweater. "I'll bet you're glad to start your vacation, huh?"

"Yeah. I haven't done much so far, but I was kind of looking forward to doing nothing after being gone so much this year. Are you going to the wrap party tomorrow night?"

"Definitely! I got an awesome new dress for it and I was thinking," she lowered her voice, "that I might ask –"

"Hey! Blackbird! Get in here, you're holding up the show!" My head snapped toward the conference room door where Edward was leaning precariously on the back two legs of his chair, just enough so that I could see him through the doorway and the toothy grin he was flashing me.

"I'm being summoned. Want me to bring those in?" I held out my hands for the binders in Jessica's arms and she handed them over before plopping herself back into her chair. I went into the conference room and took the empty chair between Edward and Emmett.

"Alright, let's get started," Jasper clapped his hands. He looked like he was about to pass out from the excitement of whatever it was he had to tell us, which meant it was probably pretty exciting since Jasper is generally pretty hard to rile up. "Bella, can you give one of those to everyone?"

I noticed name tags stuck on the spines of each of the binders and passed them out before I opened my own. There was about an inch worth of paper inside with three tabs sticking out along the edge labeled "Ireland", "India" and "New Zealand".

"We've got a new contract," Jasper announced, his blue eyes bounced around the room to take in everyone's reactions but most people hadn't looked up from their binders yet. "You all know that our show was the second most watched show on the Travel Network this past season. The network loved the whole thing, but they particularly loved our Route 66 episode. The website saw more traffic than ever with searches on road trips after it aired and they want more. But this time, they want it a little less domestic. "

I couldn't help but feel a little proud about this. I'd worked hard on the show this year and that Route 66 episode had been pretty damn good – we'd worked on it for a whole week and it was the first one that I felt like I nailed, like I was meant for this hosting job and not just a rookie trying not to stumble over my words.

"So, why these three countries? Haven't they been done to death already?" Edward looked a little less than enthusiastic.

"Well, to be honest, it is a bit of a test. They want to make sure we can make it interesting before they invest in a more extensive itinerary. They already know people will watch specials on these places – they're some of the most talked about locations in the online trending topics."

"Trending topics?" Edward raised his eyebrow at Jasper.

"Never mind. They're popular topics in the forums. That's all you need to know."

"When do we start?" Emmett asked, swallowing his last humongous bite of the sandwich in front of him.

"A week from today." Jasper took about a half step back as if he expected some type of retaliation. Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't get it considering we'd all been waiting nearly a year for vacation and it looked like that was getting cut short now. Instead, he was met with silence around the table.

"Well, shit. Good thing I haven't unpacked yet," Emmett balled up the wrapper from his lunch and launched it towards the garbage can across the room.

There goes half my vacation. Good thing I didn't have anything planned.

#WL#

I spent the next two days just doing my laundry, which was officially my least favorite thing in the entire world. There were a lot of things about my apartment that were great – hardwood floors, an exposed brick wall, crown molding – but the lack of laundry facilities in these old buildings really sucked sometimes. I had to load up whatever I wanted to wash and lug it two blocks to the closest Laundromat (which Rose consistently reminded me I should be thankful for since the closest Laundromat to her apartment was eight blocks away) and sit around and wait there for it to be done. And, since my job basically requires me to not be home for relatively long periods of time, thereby building up large amounts of dirty clothes, you can see why doing my laundry takes me so long.

Edward usually came with me and did his laundry too, but he'd gotten an earful from him mom when he called to tell her he wouldn't be able to come out to Seattle for a visit next week after all. She hadn't seen him in a year and she burst into tears upon hearing that this trip would be pushed off (I would know, I was standing next to him when he called and could hear her through the phone) so he decided that he'd just suck it up and go see her over the weekend even if he was probably going to be exhausted going into this new project.

Well, I suppose the laundry wouldn't have taken me so long to do if I hadn't offered to do Edward's for him while he was gone.

"Are you sure about that?" Edward asked as he watched me separate my hots from my colds. "You really don't have to do that."

"I know I don't have to do it, but I have to do my own anyway and this way you won't have to worry about getting it done when you get back. You haven't unpacked yet, right? Just wheel that shit over here and I'll take care of it."

Half an hour later, he was back with his suitcase, just like I'd told him to do.

"Thank you so much, Blackbird. I really appreciate it. Perhaps as payment, I could get us a movie and some takeout? Any type you want."

"Yeah, that would be awesome. I have been craving spicy food so bad. I want something with yellow curry; I don't even care what it is. Just yellow curry and really spicy."

"Okay. What do you want to watch?"

"Don't care. Surprise me."

Edward left me to finish sorting my own laundry and I decided to wait on his. I'd never been in a long term relationship, at least not one where I had regular man-laundry to do, and I'd heard some horror stories from my few married friends. I had this feeling that when I opened that suitcase, I'd want to back out of my offer and I didn't want to get his hopes up just to dash them. I probably should have thought that out a little before I offered it to him.

Edward came back with what looked like just about everything a Thai restaurant could possibly make with yellow curry and laid it all out on my coffee table before queuing up the DVD and calling me out into the living room.

"Holy shit, Edward! Are there other people coming over?"

"No. Why?" He looked up at me, his head cocked just the slightest bit and a confused expression on his face.

"Because this is enough food for, I don't know, like an entire army of people."

"Oh. Well, I wasn't sure which one you'd want the most and it all sounded good to me. Besides, you like leftovers, right?" He twisted the tops off of two beer bottles in front of him.

I did like leftovers, especially Thai leftovers. I glanced at the menu screen frozen on the TV.

"What are we watching?"

"It's a western. The one about Jesse James that I've wanted to watch for awhile. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. Fire it up," I told him as I grabbed one of the boxes and started eating right out of it, foregoing the plates Edward set out.

The movie looked beautiful, and I'm sure Edward must have liked it because half of the reason why he watched movies was for the cinematography, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't bore me to sleep – literally. It was already dark when we started watching but when I woke up with my neck aching from the strange angle I'd had it laid against the arm of the couch, I could just tell that it was really late. The room was bathed in the blue light from the auxiliary screen on the television and Edward was laid out next to me on the opposite end of the couch, his long legs scrunched up in a position that could not have been comfortable.

I lifted myself off the couch slowly, careful not to jostle him awake. I was thankful Edward paused the movie when we finished dinner so we could close the containers and put them in the fridge – I would have hated to have to throw out that much food just because we let it sit out too long. Once I was up off the couch I went to the linen closet and pulled down a fluffy comforter that I'd had since college. It was my favorite one I'd ever had but was from the days when I still had a twin bed and so, being too small for the bed I had now, it had been relegated to the linen closet. I unfolded the blanket and laid it over him, bringing it just to his neck. He made a quiet groaning noise and his long eyelashes fluttered a bit against their resting place above his cheekbones, but he didn't wake up.

I tiptoed to my room, undressed and got under the covers. I didn't bother to set my alarm – I might have had a lot to do to get ready for next week but I was going to cram as much vacation into these few days as possible.

#WL#

I woke the next morning to bright sunlight, just like the day before. If the sun was this bright, it also meant it was really clear and probably really cold, but I supposed that was better than it raining or snowing for my trek to the Laundromat. I stretched my arms above my head and closed my eyes again, laying there and just soaking in the gloriousness that is my bed. For someone who isn't home very often, I'd put an inordinate amount of money and time into making it the most comfortable thing east of the Mississippi. I had a pillow-topped mattress that I'd covered in a thin little pad that could be adjusted to any temperature, cold or hot, whatever you liked. The thread count on my sheets was so high they almost felt like silk and I had no less than six perfectly fluffed pillows at my disposal. Actually, Edward had teased me about all the pillows when I went to buy them, asking why any one person would ever need that many, but I didn't hear him complaining two days later when we used them for a little position variety during…extracurricular activities.

After a few minutes of reveling in the comfort of my warm bed, I tossed the covers off and swung my legs off the bed. The floor was freezing cold under my feet and I scurried out the door and straight into the bathroom where I was met with a half-naked Edward, rubbing toothpaste across his teeth with his finger.

"It's freezing! I'm going to get in the shower and warm up. I'll be fast. You're welcome to take one when I'm done." I stepped into the shower stall with my pajamas on and closed the door behind me before I pulled the camisole over my head and stepped out of the matching shorts. I know Edward and I had biblical knowledge of each other pretty regularly, but we weren't dating – I couldn't just be taking my clothes off in front of him all the time.

"There's an extra toothbrush under the sink if you'd rather use that," I called to Edward as I flung my pajamas over the top of the shower door. "It's pink, but if you don't care about that, you can have it."

I turned the water on and shrieked when the cold spray hit my skin, covering me in goose bumps and making my nipples hard enough to cut glass. My hands fumbled with the temperature knobs, cranking the hot water nearly all the way on.

"What time does your plane leave?" I asked when the water started to warm up a bit and I could finally relax. I waited for a response, but didn't get one. I knew Edward was still out there, I could see his silhouette through the frosted glass.

"Edward?" Still no answer. "Do you have time to go get some breakfast?"

Nothing again.

"Edward?" I cracked the stall door open and peaked out. He stood there, his emerald gaze fixed toward where I stood in the shower. "What are you doing?"

"Deciding whether or not I should get in there."

Oh. A flutter of excitement ran through me.

Here's the thing about my relationship with Edward. Before anything else, we were best friends. Us having a good time together was never reliant upon sex and because of that, ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, the sex wasn't planned. It was usually spontaneous and always fun and that's what made it so fucking good. Well, that and the fact that Edward just seemed to be good at it. He knew exactly what my triggers were and let's just say I could always count on him to get the job done.

I heard the thud of his jeans as they hit the floor and a few seconds later, he stepped into the stall and right up behind me. He wrapped one arm under my breasts and placed one hand on my hip, digging his fingers in a bit and pulling me back against him so that I could feel how aroused he was against the small of my back. The fine hairs on his chest ticked my shoulder blades as he clutched me to him, brining his hand up to gather my hair to one side of my neck as he ghosted his lips just under my jaw on the other side before moving his hand down to pull lightly at my nipples.

I took his hand in my own, bringing it away from where his fingers were playing with my chest and brought them down to the apex of my thighs, releasing a high pitched sigh when he took over and moved them through the lips of my pussy, circling my clit and back down where he dipped in just the tip of his finger.

"You're so wet, Blackbird," he whispered into my ear, his usually velvety voice taking on a husky tone.

"Well, we are in the shower," I panted back, unable to resist the sarcasm, even with him pressed against me and driving me crazy with his fingers.

"You know what I mean." I could practically hear the smirk on his face. "Put your hands out in front of you, against the wall," he commanded me and I obeyed immediately, leaning forward a bit to reach the tiles. Edward reached down and wrapped his fingers underneath my right thigh then lifted it up and out a bit, opening me up to him. He moved the arm under my breasts down to wrap around my belly, holding me in place and balancing me on my one leg as he bent his knees to line himself up and then slowly slid into me, gradually straightening his legs again until he was buried deeply within me and I was standing on tiptoe to give him as much space as possible with my ass pressed firmly against him.

He was still for a moment and I tried to suck in as much air as I could, not knowing if it was the thick, steamy air or the nearly overwhelming sense of fullness that was making me feel like I couldn't get enough oxygen. He readjusted his grip on my thigh, bringing it up just a fraction of an inch higher before he pulled out as slowly as he'd pushed in, leaving just the tip before he sunk back in, setting a pace of long, slow strokes. It was quite different from the veritable fucking he'd given me yesterday but just as good, maybe better.

He continued like this, sliding in and out of my body, with the warm water cascading down my back and in between us to where we were joined together until my thighs started to shake and I knew I wouldn't last much longer.

"Touch yourself, Bella," he told me, his voice strained.

"I…I can't…I'll slip," I choked out as his hips shifted into me and I gasped as the tip of his cock pressed against a wall inside of me, as far as it could go.

"No you won't. I've got you," he tightened his grip around my waist. "Go ahead. I won't let you fall."

I removed my hand from the shower wall and felt down between my legs, taking a second to feel Edward slip against my fingers as he moved in and out before I pressed against my clit with a couple of tight, circular movements. It was only seconds before I felt myself clamp down onto him, releasing a high, breathy moan as a sense of euphoria so intense it was almost painful washed over me. I fought the urge to go limp and I struggled to stay up on my toes, hanging on for Edward while he moved just a bit faster until I felt his strokes become a little more erratic. His fingers dug into my side where they held me up before he was tipped over the edge, releasing himself into me just as the water started to get cold.

He lowered my leg, not letting go until my foot hit the ground and he was sure I was stable, then pulled his softening cock from my body.

"Sorry about that," he said and I turned around to face him, wondering what the hell he could be sorry for.

"What?"

"There's no hot water left and you didn't get to wash your hair yet," he said, shrugging.

"I think I'll live. If you're sorry about anything, you should probably be sorry that you were holding out on me before because that was fucking awesome. I thought I was going to pass out. Congratulations, buddy."

He didn't say anything but I did get one of his full-blown, crinkly-eyed grins. And really, he did look awfully proud of himself.

#WL#

There are few things in the world that I love more than Target. Seriously. When I lived in Seattle, I would go there all the time. Part of that might have been poor planning on my shopping list, but I think it may have been a subconscious sort of thing where I purposely didn't plan that well just so I could go back. Unfortunately, my Target options in New York are not as plentiful. I can go to Brooklyn or East Harlem (and I suppose I could have gone over to Jersey, but that was an even bigger hassle than going all the way uptown), and even then, they're "urban" Targets, which I think means they don't really have all the same stuff.

Fortunately, my favorite part of Target, the travel section, was pretty much the same no matter where you went. I mean, have you seen the travel section at Target? It's huge! Anything you could possibly want, you can buy in travel size there. I even loved it before I got this job. I don't know why, but I just love having mini-versions of all of my favorite products. It makes me happy.

Seeing as how my supply has been depleted from the last shoot, I decide I'll take a trip uptown to restock and maybe pay a visit to Alice on the way back. It's still early on Sunday morning, so I take my time in the shower, blushing a bit as I wash my hair and remember what Edward and I were doing in this very spot less than 48 hours ago. I spend almost fifteen minutes making sure my hair is completely dry before I pull on a pair of tight black jeans, a grey hoodie and my black leather bomber jacket. I put on my sunglasses for the walk down to my favorite bakery where I order a caramel macchiato and a savory roll, which is shaped like a cinnamon roll except instead of cinnamon and sugar, it has sundried tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Fucking delicious.

Satisfied with my breakfast choice, I stroll toward the Canal Street subway stop, taking my sweet time to look at the things I live right next to and never get to really look at. I spy a t-shirt in a vintage shop window that has the logo of some old Whiskey company and it looks like something Edward would like so I stop to buy it for him, shoving it into my cross-body bag and figuring I'll just wash it later so it won't matter if it's wrinkled.

By the time I get to the subway entrance, there's only a couple sips left of my coffee so I tip it back and toss it into a wastebasket before I duck underground to catch the 6 uptown. I only have to wait about two minutes before the next train comes by and I'm glad but not surprised to see that it's still early enough that the car isn't terribly crowded. I find a seat and take out my cell phone to play solitaire when I notice that I have a text message from Edward.

Fight changed, have to cancel dinner. Please forgive me. How about tomorrow? ~E

I'm a little disappointed that I won't be able to see him tonight but it's not a big deal. I see him pretty much every day anyway. I text him back and hope I've got enough service down here for it to go through.

Don't worry about it. See you when you get back. ~B

The train pulls into the 116th Street station and I make my way up the stairs, sliding my sunglasses back on to make the short walk over to Target.

I walk in the door and grab a basket. I never grab a cart because a cart is trouble. A cart means buying more things than you can carry home with you and I don't want to have to hire a cab to get back downtown. Even though I came for travel supplies, I make my usual rounds, starting in the clothing section (where I find a pair of leggings that I reason I must buy because they're a staple item) and move into the shoes. I don't find anything too tempting in the shoe section today, so I move onto makeup and beauty and am deciding if I should try out a different kind of bikini wax when my phone rings.

"Hey, Alice," I answer after glancing at the caller ID. "I was just going to call you in a bit. I'm at Target and I thought I'd see if you were home on my way back."

"Oh, cool! Yeah, I'll be here. I was just calling to see what you were up to. Jasper's been at the office for the last couple of days and I'm bored out of my mind. Maybe we can go do something."

"Do what?" When you're dealing with Alice, 'go do something' almost always meant going shopping at a series of couture shops you were sure to feel out of place in.

"Well, there's a pair of shoes I really, really want and I was hoping you'd come look at them with me."

"I'm not really dressed the part, Alice."

"Oh, come on, Bella. You're very New York. You'd never know you weren't local."

"Well, I'm not very midtown then."

"Why do you care? It's not like you look hideous or anything. I just really need your opinion."

"I guess."

"Yes! See you in a bit then?"

I have to admit, it did help that she sounded so happy about my agreeing to go.

"Yeah. I'll call you when I leave here."

I hang up with Alice as I approached the bins of the travel-sized section that ran the full length of an entire aisle. I notice a man with short, sandy blonde hair in a black wool dress coat and slim fitting dark jeans near the end of the aisle. He looks to be concentrating intently on something and I hope he won't be standing there too long – he was kind of blocking some of the bins I needed to look through.

I start at the opposite end of the aisle from the man and begin making my way down, tossing toothpaste, regular shampoo, dry shampoo, hand sanitizer, clothing wrinkle releaser, and generally everything you can think of into my basket. When I reach the opposite end, I see that the man is holding one pack of empty travel bottles in one hand and a different pack in the other. I've had both of those packs before and, since I feel that I could now be considered an expert on this, I decide to offer him some advice in hopes of moving this process along.

"This one is way better," I say, pointing to the one he's holding in his left hand. "The bottles in the other one are too rigid and they crack if you squeeze them too hard or pack them in too tightly."

His head snaps toward me and now that I can see his face straight on, it looks like he's probably about my age if not just a bit older. His eyes are icy blue and the features of his face are sharp, like Edward's but less masculine, gaunter and with a less defined jaw line.

"I take it you have some experience with this?" he asks me in a voice that's a little deeper than I would have expected and with what I would guess is a Russian accent.

"Yeah. I travel all the time. For work, actually. I've learned my lesson on those ones, but take your chances, I guess." I reach in front of him to grab a packet of make-up removing wipes and throw them into my basket when he surprises me by laughing out loud and tossing the bad set back into the bin.

"Well then…" he looks at me with a raised eyebrow and I gather he's asking my name.

"Bella."

"Well, Bella. Thank you for saving my carry-on from certain disaster. Can I take you out for lunch to thank you for your services?"

Thank me for my services? I glance around to make sure no one heard him and gets the wrong idea about me and I'm glad to see there isn't anyone else in the aisle.

"Sorry. I'm busy for lunch."

He looks at me like he's pretty sure I'm lying and I'm somehow compelled to prove to him that I'm not just saying I'm busy to get out of it. I mean, he's nice looking, I suppose, and in the two seconds I've been talking to him, he seems polite enough. Suddenly, I remember that my dinner plans were cancelled.

"I'm free for dinner though."

"Perfect. So am I. Meet me at Lincoln Center at 7:00."

"Lincoln Center?"

"Yes. Just ask for me at the door, I'll let the guard know to expect you. I'm looking forward to it, Bella." He reaches for my hand and lifts it to his lips, stunning me into silence with the sort of strange formality about him. I don't even have a chance to respond before he turns and walks in the other direction.

"Wait!" I call, coming to my senses and realizing I have no idea who to ask for at the door. He halted and turned to look at me. "What's your name? Who should I ask for?"

"Forgive me, Bella. That was rude of me. It's Demetri Chekhov." And with that, he was gone again, striding down the aisle with a sort of fluidity and grace that I can't say I've witnessed on many men before.

#WL#

I get off the train at the Grand Central stop and make my way toward Alice's apartment near Bryant Park. It's lucky for Alice that she's a trust-fund baby because her apartment isn't exactly the type that's usually in the budget of people in their late twenties, or really people of any age, now that I consider it. Alice's mom was an only child and Alice doesn't have any brothers or sisters, so her filthy rich grandpa didn't have anyone to leave it to but her.

The doorman swings open the glass door when I come up the steps and tips his hat at me, just like you'd see in an old movie or a cheesy TV show which was fitting because George could have stepped right out of a TV show.

"Hello, Ms. Swan. How are you today?" I'd actually spent a good amount of time talking to George over the last year, at least when we were in town. Alice was the queen of 'don't bother coming up, I'll be right down' and then taking twenty minutes, giving George and I ample time for small talk. I really liked talking to him – he reminded me a lot of my grandpa.

"I'm good, George. How about yourself? Why're you working on Sunday?"

"Just doin' a favor for Pete since he's coverin' for me next week," George tells me in his thick Brooklyn accent.

"Oh? Going somewhere?"

"Sure am. I've been savin' up for a little vacation for some time and the wife's been watchin' that show of yours and says she wants to go to Key West, so we're going to Florida." When he says Florida, it sounds like 'Flah-ri-dah'. I love it.

"That's awesome, George. You guys will like it, it's pretty chill. About as different from here as you can get."

"That's what I'm hopin' for, little missy. That's what I'm hopin' for. You here to see Ms. Brandon?"

"Sure am. No need to call her though, she knows I'm coming."

George nods and presses a button behind the desk he went and sat behind while we were talking and the elevator dings open. When I get to the third floor and to Alice's door, it's already cracked open. I knock and then stick my head in and see her sitting on the couch in the living room that's just off the foyer. Alice notices the movement and turns her head towards me, he face lighting up in a smile. Her chin-length black hair's been cut short – really short – like a boy almost but with a slightly longer, wavy bit on top that's parted to the side. I'm stunned, mostly because I didn't know she was going to cut it, but partly because she looks absolutely gorgeous. Not only is her hair surprisingly feminine looking, it seems to make her grey eyes pop in a way they hadn't before.

"I hope that look on your face is just one of surprise and not one of shocked disgust," Alice nervously jokes, bringing her fingers up to touch the newly shortened hairs behind her ear.

"No! Wow!" I say stupidly before I gather my wits together. "Alice, you look amazing. I mean, you've always looked good, but…wow!"

"Phew!" Alice says, giggling and fake-wiping her hand across her forehead. "You're the first person to see it. I got it done this morning, but I didn't tell anyone because I didn't really want to be talked out of it."

"It's a good thing you didn't because I probably would have tried, but it's awesome."

"Well, let's just hope Jasper thinks so. We're going out tonight and I'm meeting him at the restaurant so he won't see it until then. That's actually why I wanted to go shopping – I was hoping to get these shoes to go with a new dress I wanted to wear which, if he doesn't like the hair, will hopefully distract him." Alice goes back over to the couch to pull on her knee-high riding style boots over her jeans.

"Actually, I'm glad we're going now," I tell her and she looks back at me and grins while she holds one leg out in front of her, pulling up on the sides of the boot.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I got asked on a date while I was at Target and the guy seemed a little formal. Maybe it was just his accent. I don't know. Anyway, it might be nice to get something new."

"An accent? Oooh – that's hot. What kind of accent?" Alice jumped off the couch and came to stand in front of me.

"I'm not quite sure, but I think Russian."

"Russian?" She frowns for a split second then shrugs her shoulders. "I wasn't really expecting you to say that. I suppose that could be hot though. What does he look like?"

"He was pretty cute, I guess. In a sort of Legolas without the long hair or pointy ears kind of way. And no elf clothes. Obviously." I plopped my Target bag down on the foyer table next to the coat closet so I would be sure to remember it on my way home.

Alice shook her head and laughed at me. "Normally, since I'm not a huge Lord of the Rings nerd like you, I wouldn't know what you mean, but in this case, I think I get it. What's not-an-elf-Legolas' name?"

"Demetri Chekhov," I tell her, imitating his voice while I dig through the Target bag for the pack of M&Ms I threw in at the last minute. I finally find them and hold them up triumphantly in my hand and spin back around. "I got these for use to share…what?"

Alice is frozen in her spot, staring at me like she's seen a ghost or maybe like I have horns growing out of my head.

"Is that a look of surprise or shocking disgust?" I ask her, tossing her words from earlier back at her.

"Demetri Chekhov?" she asks, disbelief dripping from her voice.

"Yeah. Why?"

She turns on her heel and goes into her kitchen, coming back seconds later with a flyer that she shoves into my hand. It's a program for the New York City Ballet and right there on the cover, in costume and holding a ballerina in the air, is the guy I met at Target.

"As in this Demetri Chekhov?" Alice points down at the pamphlet in my hand. "As in, listed in People magazine's sexiest men alive last year, Demetri Chekhov?"

Holy fuck. How did I not know about this? I actually go to some of these ballet things with Alice.

"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, that's the guy I met."

"What?" Alice shrieks. "What the fuck was Demetri Chekhov doing at Target?"

"Hey! Target is awesome. You can get good stuff there, I'll have you know." My comments fall on deaf ears because Alice looks like she's calculating something and her brain's about to explode.

"When are you meeting him?"

"Seven o'clock."

"We better hurry, then," she grabs her purse, grabs my hand, pulls me out the door and we're off.

Next up, Bella's date with Demetri and Edward returns from Seattle. Also, the gang leaves on the first leg of their trip!

Review and let me know what you're thinking!

L.A.