I was well aware of the fact that I was gawping like a crazy person but under the circumstances it was all I manage to do while my brain processed this new information.

He ran a nervous hand through his hair, "I'm, uh, I'm Edward...you know, from the emails?"

"I know," I whispered with a slow nod, "so he's…."

Edward looked over to where I was pointing, "Emmett, yes," he confirmed.

"Right…"

"I'm sorry, I didn't really know what I ought to do but I thought it best to introduce myself rather than let that great buffoon do it for me. It's good to finally meet you Bella."

The bartender put my drink down in front of me and before I could protest Edward had paid for it and asked for a Martini for himself. I snorted.

"What?" he asked with a crooked smile.

"Martini? Really? Shaken not stirred?"

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled, the same sound that had melted my ovaries over the phone, "you know James Bond took his Martinis 'stirred not shaken' in the original books? Actually shaking a Martini bruises the alcohol and spoils the taste."

"Don't be ridiculous," I scoffed as my heart rate finally began to even out.

"It's true. You can Google it."

"I believe you," I muttered, taking a sip of my drink and looking at the floor.

"If this is making you uncomfortable I could leave," he said, ducking his head in an attempt to catch my gaze, "I was planning to make my excuses as soon as I could anyway."

"No!" I cried, "I mean...no. Please don't leave because of me. I didn't really want to be here either."

"Oh."

"I didn't mean...I meant that I didn't want to come in the first place, not that I wanted to leave because of you. I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I do that. Sorry."

"You really do have to stop apologising."

We sat in silence, sipping our drinks and staring straight at the back of the bar rather than at each other. I glanced over just as he did the same and I caught that half-smile again before hurriedly turning my gaze back to the row of expensive top-shelf whiskies. The silence should have been uncomfortable but somehow it wasn't and it felt strangely intimate to be able to say absolutely nothing in a situation where I'd normally feel forced to desperately fill the conversational void.

"Would you like another?" he asked, tapping the side of my empty glass.

"Sure. Unless you wanted to go...I wouldn't be offended."

"I don't want to leave. It's you that's been avoiding me, remember?"

"I haven't," I felt a blush creeping up my neck towards my face and willed it back down towards some place it would be less obvious. I'd much rather my ass blushed, no-one ever sees my ass.

"No? I seem to recall you ignoring my last suggestion that we meet for coffee."

"Alice interrupted me while we were speaking and then it was time to leave and I didn't get a chance…"

"Were you going to say yes?"

I shook my head, "I don't think so."

He nodded slowly, "I can't blame you I suppose. You weren't to know I wasn't a crazed stalker."

"It's not that," I confessed, "I just didn't want you to be disappointed."

"Why would I be disappointed?"

Why wouldn't you be? "I'm not exactly the person you probably think I am. The whole radio show thing...it's...I'm not really like that. Mostly it's an act."

"We've been talking to each other every day for weeks. If you don't mind me saying, I think I have you sussed."

"Oh really?" I snickered, raising an eyebrow, "got me all figured out have you Mr Masen-Cullen?"

He laughed, really laughed, at that, "I don't think I could claim that at all. What I mean is that you're not as tough as you'd have your listeners to believe. Or as modern."

"Modern?" I frowned, "what do you mean? I'm old fashioned?"

"I don't know if that was the word I was looking for. Perhaps I meant you're not as cynical as you'd have everybody believe. I think you're a bit of a romantic."

The blush was back - on my face, not my ass, "I think I'm far too old for romance."

"That's just silly."

"You're fucking kidding me?!" Alice's screech made us both turn to see her closing in on us, Rose and Em - Emmett - not far behind, holding hands. She came to a stop in front of us, her hands on her hips, "this is him? Him him? Rochester?"

"Alice," I hissed, ready to kill her for giving away the stupid secret nickname.

"Rochester?" he asked, the crooked smile making its encore appearance.

"Nothing," I groaned, "this, if you hadn't guessed, is Alice."

He stood and put his hand out to shake hers but she only threw her arms around his neck and yanked him down into an inappropriately long hug, "I can't believe it! You're so tall! And…" she bent one hand into a claw and made a 'rawr' noise.

"Oh my God," I moaned into cupped hands.

"Hi, I'm Rose," my marginally more acceptable friend greeted him with a handshake. Alice was right, he towered over Rose, even in her high heels. And he was 'rawr'.

"I'm very pleased to meet you both. I take it there's no need to introduce you to Emmett?"

"I've already introduced myself dude," Em chuckled, grabbing Rose's ass and making her giggle like a schoolgirl.

Who are you and what have you done with Rosalie Hale?

"So I see," Edward caught my aghast expression and rolled his eyes at me, "Emmett does have a way of making friends."

"The guys are leaving Eddie," he clapped him on the shoulders, "you gonna go do the boss thing?"

"The boss thing?"

"I dunno, give a speech or something man."

Edward looked at Emmett as if he were mad before turning to me, "I'll be back shortly."

As soon as he was out of earshot Alice grabbed me by my arms, digging sharp fingernails into my skin, "it's destiny Bella, fate. It's a sign from God."

"Like you believe in God," Rose scoffed, "you two are going straight downstairs."

"And we'll see you there Hale. So…." Al looked at me with huge, wide eyes, "is he like, your dream man or what?"

Emmett made puking noises, I could already kinda see why Edward thought he was a dick, "sure, he's dreamy if you want a guy with a stick up his ass."

I ignored him, "he seems nice."

"Nice?"

"She's got a point Bells, he's pretty damn hot," Rose interjected, ignoring Em's injured 'hey!'.

"I'm not saying he isn't, it's just…" I glanced over at him, all mussed up copper hair and long limbs, his eyes a clear, piercing green even from a distance. He was shaking hands with the other suits and he looked really...well, he looked like a grown up, not like the man-boy losers who were normally interested in me.

"Just what?" Alice shoved me in the shoulder. The girl always forgot her own strength when she drank.

I glanced at Emmett pointedly, "can we do the debrief later?"

"You can debrief me any time," Emmett did a passable impression of Beavis or Butthead. Whichever one was more obnoxious. Alice and I muttered 'ew' under our breaths in unison but Rose giggled again.

W
T
F
?

The bartender called out for last orders and, without missing a beat, Emmett threw down a platinum Amex and ordered a bottle of ridiculously overpriced Champagne. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't like the stuff as five flutes were poured.

"Just because you have the company credit card doesn't mean you have to drink the most expensive thing available you know?" Edward re-joined us and nodded to the bartender, "could I trouble you for another Martini please? Anybody else?"

I sheepishly ordered a rum and coke, handing my champagne to Alice who happily downed it before starting on her own.

"He was happy drinking Bud until he got that bloody card," Edward muttered.

"How's the great Americanization of Edward going?" I asked, ignoring the loud guffaws coming from our left.

Edward sighed, rearranging his messy hair for the hundredth time, "he wants to help me choose a car."

"I can see you cruising around in a Cadillac Eldorado."

"Don't even joke. I'm going to end up driving some kind of Dukes of Hazzard thing. Or the A Team van."

"What do you drive at home? Don't tell me," I closed my eyes and placed my forefingers on my temples, "I see a Mini Cooper….no...it's an Aston Martin…"

He laughed, "I have a Volvo I'm afraid. The best in Swedish engineering."

"A motherfucking Volvo!" Emmett bellowed, "can this guy get any more boring? Dude, you want to be driving something with a bit of muscle."

"Emmett drives a monster truck."

"It's not a monster truck," he argued, "it's an averagely sized SUV."

"Alright then," Edward shrugged, adding, under his breath "huuuge."

I'd noticed the bartender becoming more pointed in his attempts to get rid of us, the last people keeping him from locking up and going home.

"I uh…" I said.

"So…" Edward said at the same time.

We did the whole 'you go,' 'no, you go ahead,' 'no, no after you' thing.

"Would you like to meet tomorrow? For breakfast?"

I squinted at my watch, it was after late o'clock, "how about brunch?"

His face split into a huge grin. How was this guy - this completely fucking hot, funny, smart and, if I wasn't mistaken, totally loaded guy - so into me? Internal high five.

"Sure, Emmett mentioned this place…"

"How've his recommendations worked out for you so far?"

He curled a lip.

"I'll message you an address. Guaranteed it'll be better than whatever Butthead over there suggested."

We stared at each other, neither one of us quite sure how to say goodbye. It didn't look like Rose had any plans to detach herself from her newly beloved bozo and Alice was intentionally looking in any direction other than ours.

"See you tomorrow then I guess."

"Yeah," I looked at my toes, my sore packed-into-high-heels toes, "I'll uh...I'll send you that address when I get back to my place."

"Great. That's...great."

"Jesus!" Alice cried, throwing her hands up in the air, "she'll message you the thing. He'll see you there. It was great to meet her. She's sorry it didn't happen sooner. Have a safe journey home. You too."

Edward chuckled while I glowered at Al, "I'll see you tomorrow Bella. It really was great to finally meet you."

I was almost surprised the next morning when I found Edward waiting for me, a cup of coffee in front of him looking completely confused by the sticky laminated menu he held out in front of him. For some reason I hadn't expected him to be there, I'd almost convinced myself that I'd dreamed meeting him. Or at least that I'd dreamed him being so perfect.

I needed to get over the 'perfect' thing. Of course he wasn't perfect. He probably had skeletons in his closet like anybody else. Maybe even actual skeletons. Or some kind of weird rubber fetish. Or…

"Hi," he was holding out a chair for me, "I'm glad you came."

"Of course I did," I grinned, "I couldn't miss your first experience of Seattle's best brunch."

"How do you know this is my first experience of Seattle's best brunch?" he cocked an eyebrow.

"Have you eaten here before?"

"No."

"Then this is your first," I took the coffee the middle aged waitress handed to me in its chipped mug and we silently sipped, Edward gazing around himself at the combination of student hipsters and bearded old people - mostly men but some hirsute women too. While he did that I busied myself with re-examining his features, weighing up the previous night's suited-Edward against that morning's blue jeans Edward with his shirt open over a t-shirt that showed off just the right amount of definition. To borrow from Al, he was all 'rawr'.

"You know Emmett?"

"I do," he replied with what I'd already pinned down as his trademark grin.

"He's not a psychopath with a murky past is he?"

"Not that he's mentioned, no."

"Good. I haven't heard from Rose is all."

I knew Rose could more than handle herself but there was something off in the way she'd been behaving around this Em dude. For one thing she never went home with someone she'd just met.

"Would it set your mind at rest if I were to call him for you?"

Shaking my head I sighed, "no. I'm sure she's far more dangerous than he is."

We spoke for a while about Rose and Emmett. Edward was less surprised by the hook up than I was but then he couldn't have missed the fact that Rosalie Hale was a catch by any guy's standards.

The waitress appeared again, tapping a pen against her pad, "I can't choose," Edward furrowed his brow at the menu he'd now been holding for twenty minutes.

"We'll take two pancake stacks. Extra bacon. And a breakfast skillet. You like root beer?"

Edward shrugged, a slightly panicked expression crossing his features, "I'm not sure…"

"Two root beers. And can we get refills on these coffees?"

The waitress poured the coffees, called one of us 'hon', and sashayed off to bellow our order out to the kitchen staff.

"That seemed like quite a large order."

I gave Edward my wickedest look. At least I hoped it was wicked rather than crazed, and told him "you have no idea."

An hour later we were both slumped back in our seats, holding our bellies, Edward repeatedly opening his mouth to say something but only finding the energy to groan.

"That," I stated triumphantly, "was brunch."

"That," he mimicked me, "was brunch for six people."

"You needed to try it all so you knew what to order next time."

"Who said I'm coming back?" trademark grin.

"Oh you'll be back."

My phone beeped then and I reluctantly retrieved it from my pocket, finding a text message from Rose: I am in love

I turned the phone to show Edward the message, "he must have a huge…" I cut myself off but not quickly enough.

"A huge what? And there was me thinking you were a lady!"

"I never did anything to give you that impression Mr Masen-Cullen."

"That's very true. In fact the way you attacked that sausage certainly suggests otherwise."

I couldn't help myself and laughed until I snorted because, damn it, sausagey double-entendres never get old.

"He might have a huge…" Edward cleared his throat, "but you're certainly a far superior tour guide."

I blushed a bit, like being called a good tour guide was something to blush about. The insane reactions I had had to Edward when he was a mysterious radio caller were nothing compared to the way I reacted to him across an internet connection, and the way I reacted to him across an internet connection was nothing compared to...let's just say that it was a wonder that I was breathing right then. And not just because of the two pounds of bacon I'd just consumed.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I was just thinking how weird this is," I admitted, "I mean, we don't even know each other. How we met, it was just…"

"Weird?"

"Mmm," I noisily slurped the last of Edward's abandoned root beer up.

"I feel like I know you as well as I know anybody else. Is that even weirder?"

"A bit."

He looked as if he were deep in thought for a while, "I work an awful lot. It hasn't left a great deal of space for anything else. I think that's part of the reason the dating thing has been a disaster."

My heart sank a little. I kind of thought that we were on a date. Stupid Bella.

"Well," he amended his statement, "I'd say the problem is 25% work and 75% being set up on horrible dates. Anyway, I guess I just haven't been in a position to get to know anybody."

"You've got to eat though huh?" I indicated the empty dishes and piles of dirty napkins laid out in front of us.

"I have. And I'll also have to eat tomorrow."

"You probably shouldn't eat here every day," I warned.

He shook his head, "I was asking if you'd have dinner with me tomorrow Bella."

"Oh? Oh. I'd love to, but…"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you on the spot. It doesn't matter," Edward fiddled awkwardly with his hair. I was starting to think that he really was as socially awkward as me. Except on him it was kind of adorable.

"It's not that. I have to work early Monday."

"Then lunch," it seemed like a statement rather than a question, "perhaps you have another Seattle must-do for me? After all it seems as though I may have lost my current guide to your friend. I don't think I can quite compete with what she's offering."

"He sounded like a terrible guide anyway."

I made arrangements to pick Edward up from his apartment block the next day and we said an awkward goodbye outside the diner. For a second I thought he was going to kiss me but it turned into a strange hugging cheek-press thing and there was a whole heap of blushing and stuttering from both of us. So, looks like awkward's our thing.

Back at home I found Rose spread out across the sofa, fast asleep in the clothes she had been wearing the night before, her heels carelessly dropped by the front door.

"What a ho," Alice whispered from her perch in the kitchen where she was reading a groundbreaking one-piece v bikini feature in a glossy magazine, "she only got in, like an hour ago."

I raised my eyebrows, "what did she say? Was she with Emmett all night?"

Al nodded, "didn't say a thing, just sighed. She's got it real bad Bells. But never mind that, how was your date with Prince Pantymelter?"

"Ssh," I smirked, making for my bedroom, "you'll wake Sleeping Beauty."

"What's a girl gotta do to get some gossip 'round here?" Al complained in a loud whisper as I shut the door on her and set to organising my next sightseeing non-date date.

A/N: I promise weekly updates then you wait over two weeks for the big meet. Sorry. There was this thing called real life. I'll try my best not to make you wait so long again but this time, no promises :)

EQx