10

I went with Alice to the mall to shop for a new dress for the business party I was going to with Edward. We both knew it had to be a dress I would like beautiful in, just to see how Edward would react.

We had been walking around for an hour and hadn't found anything yet, when I decided to take a break. We went to a little café and both ordered coffee.

"We'll find a dress soon enough," Alice said. I agreed and sipped from my coffee.

"Do you think Jacob will call this week? For another date?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, perhaps he doesn't want to look too eager. But you never know. Don't worry about it." I sighed and wished I could.

We finished our coffee and continued shopping. After walking in and out a few stores, we had found a dress that we both liked. It was navy blue with a v-neck. The body was quite tight, but it had a loose skirt and it was floor length.

I tried it on and was surprised by how good it looked. I decided to buy it and was secretly glad that we were done with shopping. Alice probably didn't agree, but didn't ask to stay longer.

I was sitting at home one night, eating soup as I was watching television, when the phone rang. I put down the bowl of soup, put the volume of the television down and walked towards the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Bella, It's Jacob," he said cheerfully. I smiled as I heard his voice.

"I'm glad you called," I told him.

"Yes, me too. I wasn't sure when would be the appropriate time to call, actually," he said sheepishly.

"Oh, well, this is fine, I suppose. I'm not really an expert on this either," I said, chuckling.

"So, I was wondering if you would like to go out on another date?"

"Yes, I would love too," I said, grinning.

"Great! What about Friday night?" he said. I was about to say 'yes, let's do that', when I suddenly remembered that that was the night that the business party was.

"I'm sorry, Jacob, but I'm busy that night. Perhaps on Saturday?"

"Yes, of course, that would fine," he said.

"All right, see you then!" I said and we hung up. I felt a bit as if I was getting the best of both worlds, with first the party with Edward and then the date with Jacob, but I reminded myself that the party with Edward was just for business.

That night I realized I was already nervous for the business party, even though it was still a few days away.

At work, Edward seemed to avoid me as much as he could. Perhaps he regretted asking me? Or perhaps he was just as nervous as I was.

"I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, Edward," I told him on Thursday, as he was walking by my desk. I had started calling him Edward ever since my small slip-up, but he didn't seem to mind. It did take him some time to start call me Bella, though, but he had gotten use to it.

"Oh, yes. Well… that's nice," he said, not looking very sure about himself. I grinned and nodded.

"Will you pick me up?" I asked him. He looked a bit startled at my comment. I wasn't sure if he had just invited me so I was able to come without a formal invitation and meet the people there, or if we were going together.

"Yes, I will be there at six," he said with a serious look, as if to indicate it was all business, not a date.

"Eh, you have my address, I suppose?" He nodded and when he saw I wasn't going to ask anything else, he walked away.

As I turned to get back to work, I noticed Emma eyeing me with an amused expression.

"So…" she said slowly. "Edward has asked you, now has he?" I shrugged, feeling a blush creep across my cheeks. "I don't think he has ever asked a colleague to a 'business' party before," she said, making air quotes.

"It's just so I can meet people from the business world," I tried to explain, but from the look in her eyes I knew it was to no avail.

"I'm sure it is. Do you know what you are going to wear?"

"Yes, a blue dress with –, " I stopped as I realized that saying this made it seem as if I thought more of this party than would be normal. She chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

"Good luck," she said. I was wondering if I would be needing it. I probably would.

The next afternoon, I was sitting on the couch in my apartment, watching Alice as she ran around in the bathroom, gathering products to 'pretty me up', as she had said.

"Relax, Bella," she shouted, even though she hadn't looked at me. She knew me well enough to know I was feeling dreadfully nervous at the moment. He would arrive in one hour and I wasn't even nearly ready. I wanted to look beautiful, even though it would be futile. I had to stop hoping there might be a chance of us getting into a relationship. I had Jacob, after all. Well, I didn't necessarily havehim, but you catch my drift.

Alice called me to the bathroom, where I found her, sitting on the edge of the bathtub, surrounded by beauty products. I chuckled and sat down in front of her, after which she immediately started pulling at my hair.

Within forty-five minutes, thanks to Alice's magical hands, I was ready to go. She was about to leave as I stopped her from opening the door.

"Are you sure this is going to be all right?" I asked, feeling nauseas from the nerves in my stomach. She grinned and patted my shoulder.

"It will be great, I'm sure it will. Make sure you'll meet a lot of people and in the meantime, see how Edward is acting. You should react accordingly to him. I'm sure you will be fine." I thanked her and she left, worried that she might leave just as Edward would arrive.

I closed the door behind her and walked to the kitchen, where I drank a glass of water. I hadn't felt this nervous since I had to perform on stage at school, onmyown. I was even more nervous than we I had had the date with Jacob. I put the glass back and paced back and forth in my living room. I started as I suddenly heard a knock on the door. I took a deep breath, walked towards the door, put on a smile and opened it.

"Good evening, Bella," Edward said, smiling. I immediately realized how different he was acting than at work. I smiled in return and took the arm he was offering. I closed the door and he led me to his car.

"You look beautiful," he said. I was a bit shocked – he wasn't acting like himself at all. I blushed nonetheless and thanked him.

"The party is in Croydon, it takes about half an hour to get there," he said as we had gotten into the car. I nodded and put on my seatbelt. I was still smiling from the fact he had opened the car-door for me.

The first few minutes were silent, for we both didn't know what to talk about. The only thing we had in common was our work.

"So, how is it to run a business on your own?" I asked, filling the silence.

"It is quite stressful, but you do get credit for the work, so it's pretty satisfying. And I like the job, especially because I'm following up my father. I know he's very proud of me," he said, smiling as he looked at the road. I realized he must have a pretty tight connection with his father.

"I understand, it must be great to work for your father." He nodded slowly, as though he didn't fully agree. He seemed pained about something, but I didn't ask and he didn't explain. The look disappeared from his eyes and he put on a smile.

"Do you like working at the company?" he asked me, looking at me.

"Yes, I really do. Perhaps I'm not the most qualified person or is it my dream job, but I am enjoying it. I have some great colleagues. Emma and Madison, for example." He nodded slowly and stared ahead, with the pained looked in his eyes again.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No, not at all," he said, smiling again. His mood swings were driving me crazy, but I tried to ignore them.

"Is this party a dinner or will there actually be dancing involved?" I asked.

"Don't worry," he said, chuckling, "it's a dinner." I sighed, relieved.

The rest of the drive we talked about casual things, until we arrived. He opened the door for me and we walked towards the entrance.

The large room had been filled with tables. There were already a lot of people inside and Edward seem to know quite a few. He greeted them or waved if they were at the other end of the room. He told one of the waitresses his name, asking where we were seated.

She pointed towards a table on the left of the room, near a large bouquet. We walked towards it and he quickly found his name on a piece of paper, but I didn't see mine on the table. I turned around and noticed that I was seated at a different table than Edward, but as soon as he noticed it too, he walked up to man who was working here. He whispered something in his ear, they both laughed and shook hands. They walked towards the table and exchanged his name with someone else's, so that Edward was sitting next to me. The man thanked Edward and walked away. Suddenly something dawned on me. Edward came back to stand next to me and I leaned over to whisper, "You paid him?"

He grinned and nodded. I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

We sat down and watched the other people walk by. Someone sat down next to me. He looked up and smiled as soon as he noticed Edward.

"Mr Cullen, good to see you here. You haven't visited much of these business parties lately, have you?" he said good-humouredly. He was a short man, a bit on the hefty side and balding. He had small glasses on his small, almost black eyes. There was a constant grin on his face and his eyes twinkled mischievously.

"Ah, yes, I believe you are right. But there is a special reason why I have gone to this one. Mr Bardon, this is Ms Bella Swan. Bella, this is Mr Henry Bardon," he said.

"Nice to meet you," I said, shaking his hand.

"The pleasure is all mine," he said. "A very special reason indeed, Mr Cullen," he said, winking and grinning at Edward. Edward chuckled. I retracted my hand and tried not to blush.

"Ms Swan is my assistant, I have brought her here to make some connections," Edward explained. Henry Bardon nodded slowly and looked at me with an amused look in his eyes.

"Are you sure she can handle the business world?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Edward.

"I'm perfectly capable to handle the business world, Mr Bardon," I said, controlling my anger. From the look in his eyes, I had the feeling he was the kind of person who thought that women were there to clean the house and cook dinner.

"Of course you are," he said quickly, still with that amused look in his eyes.

"Ms Swan is a very good assistant," Edward said, trying to help me. Mr Bardon laughed loudly and gave Edward a look.

Edward coughed and blushed slightly as he understood what Mr Bardon had been thinking. Mr Bardon had probably been thinking that Edward didn't think of me as a good assistant in the way that I was good at my job, but in the way that he liked me personally and that that was the reason I had been hired.

Noticing our embarrassment, Mr Bardon excused himself and left the table.

"I'm sorry, Bella," Edward said, looking extremely embarrassed. I laughed and shrugged.

"It's fine. I should be able to deal with those kind of people in the business world. There will be men out there who think that women don't belong in this world." He nodded, somewhat proudly, and agreed.

A few more people sat down at our table, a few which Edward recognized. Food was served and Edward started a conversation with the man, Mr Clarke, next to him. He introduced us to each other.

"So, I hear that you are Edward's assistant," he said, but in a completely different tone than that Mr Bardon had used. Mr Clarke's was jokingly in a good way.

"Yes, I am," I said, smiling.

"Well, then I think you are doing a great job. I can't imagine what it must be like to be his assistant," he said, chuckling. Edward laughed and shook his head.

"It's not that bad, I'm coping," I told him, chuckling slightly. Edward raised an eyebrow.

"It's not that bad? Well, I must admit I was hoping for a little more than that," he said jokingly.

"All right then – it's great," I said, smiling sweetly. He nodded with feigned satisfaction. Mr Clarke was watching us without saying anything. I realized we must have been acting a little too familiar for a boss and his assistant and I started eating my soup, hoping to divert the attention to Edward. Edward understood and continued the conversation with Mr Clarke.

During the rest of the night, Edward kept introducing me to people. Luckily, none of them were like Mr Bardon. At the end of the evening, I had quite a few business cards in my purse. I was starting to feel tired and Edward proposed to go home. We left the building and he led me to the car.

I was trying very hard not to fall asleep on the way back, but found it difficult. We didn't say much, for Edward was also tired.

I was glad when we finally arrived at my house, but in a way also sad that the night with Edward was over and I hadn't really learned anything about me and Edward.
He walked me to the door.

"Thank you for taking me to the party," I said. He shrugged it off and smiled.

"No problem."

"Good night, Edward."

"Good night, I'll see you Monday," he said, after which he turned around and walked away. I watched him as he walked around his car to get to the driver's side. Before he got in, he waved quickly and I waved back. He started the engine and drove away.

I yawned and got inside. After changing into my pyjamas quickly, I went to bed and immediately fell asleep.