"If you're free, I was wondering if you'd like to come over to my place for dinner. We could eat around 6 and watch a movie after or something."

I slowly closed my phone and felt the biggest grin ever on my face. Alice looked over at me and also smiled.

"She's back in the game, folks!"

--

Chapter 9

That night, I couldn't stop thinking about Edward. When Alice and I returned home, she told me she was tired and we'd chat tomorrow. I knew she probably wanted to pick out my outfit for my dinner tomorrow night, and I frankly wasn't going to fight her on it. Although he seemed to like me just fine in jeans, flats and a t-shirt covered in potting soil, I really wanted to look great for our second date.

Not a second date, Bella. Technically you have to have a first date before you can have a second. Stupid logical brain.

I was mentally going over what I should wear, what he'd be wearing, what he'd make to eat, what his condo would look like, if he'd kiss me again and every other possible detail, so I simply could not sleep with my mind racing. I looked over at my bedside clock.

1:33 a.m. Damn, I really need to get some rest.

I decided to put all thoughts out of my mind and just focus on one. I hadn't got to wash the sheets with all the rushing around during the day, and they still smelled like him. I pulled them up and conjured up an image of lying snuggled up next to Edward last night, the feel of his arms around me, and his breath lightly grazing my forehead. I happily fell asleep a minute later.

--

At 8 a.m., bright and early, Alice was waking me up by rubbing my arm. I couldn't complain much, as her method for rousing me in the past had been to jump on my bed and say my name over and over. She eventually realized that this did not a Happy Bella make, so now she's much more tactful. Definitely an improvement, if only I could have done something about the hours she picked on the weekends.

"Bella. Oh Bella..." Alice crooned softly.

"Mmm, I'm up," I said, sleepily.

"Come on, we have to figure out what you're going to wear."

"You mean for dinner tonight?" I lifted my head up and checked the clock on my bedside. "The one that's ten hours from now?" Assuming it was still on, anyway. I still needed to give him a call.

"Well, I have plans to meet Jasper this afternoon, and I want to spend some time with him before he goes away tomorrow, so please can we just get started?" She got especially whiny when it came to time with her guy, so I decided to cut her some slack.

"Make me some pancakes, and you've got a deal."

"Yay!" She hopped off my bed and out the door.

I groaned, still pretty tired but also looking forward to the day. I fell out of bed and went into my bathroom to wash my face, brush my teeth, and wake up a little bit. My hair was sticking out everywhere like a haystack, so I ran a comb through it. Before long the aroma of pancakes entered my room, and I went out to the kitchen.

"Mmm, those smell delicious, Alice." I said, taking a big whiff.

"You know full well that breakfast is my thing; would you expect anything less?" She said, flipping them up and catching them back in the pan again.

"No, no I wouldn't. You are pretty fucking awesome," I said, hugging her around the waist.

"Damn right," she said, hugging me back with one arm.

--

I scarfed down my pancakes; they were just so good. Alice knew how much I loved them, so she didn't speak until after my plate was clean.

"So Bella, what sort of look are we going for tonight?"

"Look?" I asked, finishing up my last bite.

"Yeah, like maybe a savvy business woman?"

"Alice, he already knows that I work in a flower shop. That's not a very corporate job."

"Okay then, how about sexy vixen? Or..."

"How about I'm 'Just Bella'?"

"Are you sure?" She asked, not meaning anything unkind by it.

"Worked well enough for me before, didn't it?"

She nodded. "This is true."

"I mean you saw me, I looked the same as I do every working day. I didn't even really think about it until the next day, that maybe I should have been more self-conscious about how I looked compared to him. I just enjoyed myself and didn't really think about it." It was true; I actually felt pretty comfortable around him after we had talked for awhile at that restaurant.

"That's all well and good sweetie, but now that you're in my hands, there's no way in hell I'm letting you go over there in jeans and a grotty t-shirt."

"No, I do want to look nice. Just, you know, still like me. I mean, it is just dinner and a movie. A DVD movie, no less."

"Mmhmm, right," she said, smirking.

"What?" I questioned, wondering what was so amusing.

"Nothing, it's nothing. So let's go see what our options are."

"Wait, I should call him first. Make sure it's still on and all." And get to listen to that sexy voice a little bit more.

"Alright, well hop to it. I'll just be rifling through your closet when you're done."

"Please...be gentle," I pleaded, knowing how she disapproved of at least a third of my wardrobe.

"I make no promises!" She trotted down the hall towards my bedroom.

I picked my cell phone up off of the dining table and called him back on the same number he had left me the message on. It rang three times and then he picked up.

"Hello?" He sounded incredibly sleepy. Shit, I think I woke him up.

"Hi Edward, it's me."

"Oh, hi. How's it going?" he said, still sounding very drowsy. I heard rustling in the background.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you? Is this a bad time?" Please be alone, I thought for the second time in two days.

"No, no, that's okay. I just nodded off watching CNN. Some time late last night or early this morning."

"Oh. Did you not sleep well?"

"I'm a bit of an insomniac; I never really do sleep restfully. Well, except for two nights ago anyway."

"Oh yeah?" I said, feeling the blood start to tint my cheeks.

"Yeah. I had a beautiful woman in my arms. It was very relaxing."

"Mmm," was all I could say.

"Wish I could see that sexy blush right now, too."

My mouth fell open. How did he...? My face reddened to the point of feeling hot. I had no retort for that; he had got me.

He chuckled, but let it drop. "So yes, I was sleeping quite peacefully then. Until my phone woke me up, anyway."

"Well...duty calls, I suppose," I said lightheartedly, trying not to think about how I felt when I woke up yesterday morning.

"Yes, unfortunately, it often does." He sighed, and I waited. "But anyway, I hope you were calling to tell me that you're free tonight." His voice sounded much more untroubled with the change of subject.

"Actually no, I'm not." I decided to mess with him a little bit. I don't know what it was about him that made me feel the need to wind him up, but I did. Like I said, I couldn't help myself.

"Oh. Well...alright," he sounded really deflated, and I felt guilty. I chickened out and decided to let him off the hook.

"I was invited over to this lawyer's swanky condo tonight, you see."

"Oh yeah?" he said. I could almost hear the corners of his mouth rising and that sexy smile forming on his lips.

"Yeah, he's supposed to make me a swanky dinner, followed by a swanky film, or something." God, where was my thesaurus when I needed it?

"Well, that sounds very...swanky." He said it like a question, and then broke into laughter. My heart did a little backflip at the sound of it.

I laughed with him, relieved at the release of tension. "So we're still on?"

"Yes ma'am, definitely."

"Then I'm gonna need directions to your posh palace, so let me get something to write on."

"Oh, it's a 'posh palace' now, is it?"

"Yep." I fumbled around until I found a notepad and pencil. "Okay, shoot."

I took down the directions and we arranged for me to get there at 6, eight hours from now. I hung up and my mind was racing. How in the hell am I going to occupy myself for eight hours? I hoped Alice wouldn't mind loaning me her car, as I knew mine wouldn't be able to make the trip that far.

"Bella! Are you off the phone? Get in here!" Alice yelled from my room.

"Coming MOTHER," I said, walking slowly back.

--

Alice had taken the day off tomorrow so she could spend time with Jasper before he left and drop him off at the airport. I needed her car tonight, so I started to formulate a plan.

"Alice, can Jas by chance pick you up today?"

"Probably...why?"

"Well, I was hoping you wouldn't mind loaning me the car. I wouldn't ask only my truck is out of commission and I don't want to take away from your all's time together..."

She cut off my babbling. "Yes Bella, that should be fine, but why don't you just have him come get you here?"

"On a school night?" I said, referring to the nights before having to work the next day as we often did. "I don't want to put him out by having to drop me back off again late."

"You could just spend the night over there."

I laughed. "Not gonna happen, m'dear." She gave me a knowing look and smirked. "And besides, I think he's actually cooking the meal himself – he'll be too busy."

"Any other excuses?" she said, still smirking at me.

"Umm, no. That's all I've got."

"Okay then. I'll call Jas in a few, but I'm sure it'll be okay."

I lunged at her and gave her a hug. "Thanks Ali, you're the best!"

She hugged me back and muttered, "Yeah, yeah."

We then got back to the task at hand – finding me something to wear that night. To speed up the process, Alice and I both handpicked various outfits and then I modeled them for her. Most of them were "No Ways," but we had a small pile of "Maybes." I dug around a bit more and found a dress, still in the bag with tags on it in the back top shelf of my closet. I pulled it down and lifted the garment out.

"Hey, I forgot about this."

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"It's a dress I bought for our graduation party."

"You mean the one you didn't go to because of that little prick?" Alice remembered all too well my break up with James. She was my rock for the four weeks after that I spent in mourning for our relationship. As soon as the fourth week passed, she got me up out of the bed I had stayed in most of that time and made me rejoin the human race again.

"You've had four weeks, Bella, one week for every year you had together. What's done is done and you are not going to waste any more tears on that jerk from this day forward," she had told me. I was very thankful that she didn't continue to let me wallow in self-pity like that, and gave me the extra kick I needed to get back to normal.

"Yes Alice, for that party." I checked the size. "I think it should still fit."

"Well then try it on already!"

I pulled it completely out of the bag and removed the tags. Too late to return it now anyway. I got down to my skivvies and slipped the dress on over my head. I checked myself out in the mirror while Alice sat and flipped through a fashion magazine on my bed. The dress was really pretty, and I remember now why I had bought it. It was a pretty shade of royal blue and came down to just below my knees. It had short, puffy sleeves, and the neckline plunged ever so slightly. Overall, I thought I looked pretty good, but I had to get Alice's endorsement or it was going back into the bag.

I walked a few steps forward and said, "Well?"

She looked up at me and didn't say anything. This worried me a little, as her reactions to my outfits up until now were much more rapid-fire. "That bad?" I asked apprehensively, picking at the sides of the dress with nervous fingers.

"Oh Bella, it's fantastic! It's not too formal or too casual, and it looks amazing on you! I think the search is over!"

I clapped my hands together once, relieved at not having to play dress up anymore and that she liked the dress.

"I don't recognize it," she said to me while I changed back into my jeans and t-shirt.

"That's because you weren't with me when I bought it," I told her.

"Bella, you shopped behind my back? I feel so betrayed!" she said in mock horror, though I could also sense she meant it a little bit.

"You were out of town, dearest; I didn't have much of a choice," I said, trying to soften her up a bit. "But I did okay, didn't I?"

"You sure did, I'm so proud!" she beamed. "Now what shoes will you be wearing with it?"

--

Alice had called Jasper, and he came by to pick her up at 1. He was flying to Chicago the next evening, so Alice was just going to drive his car there to drop him off and then bring it back to park at our house until she picked him up again. He would be back on Friday or Saturday, depending on how things went with work. I secretly hoped it was Friday, as I knew she was going to be missing him like crazy.

She hugged me, offered a few words of encouragement for tonight, and then they left. I had another nearly six hours left to kill, so I went online and wrote a long overdue email to my mother. She lived in Florida with her new husband and they traveled a lot, so we mostly stayed in touch electronically. Phone calls were reserved only for really important stuff most of the time, and we were both fine with that arrangement.

I thought for a few minutes what to talk about in the email, and then settled for the same information I usually relayed. I told her that work was fine, Alice was doing well, the house hadn't fallen apart, and that I was okay. That was pretty much as exciting as it got for me, unfortunately. I made no mention of Edward because frankly there wasn't much to tell.

Dear Mom,

Had mind-blowing sex with a guy I had just formally met a few hours before.

I think I saw God.

How are things with you?

Love, Bella

I chuckled, finished my real email, and hit send. I surfed the 'net a little bit, and then was soon bored again. I dug out the library book I was working on from my bag and laid down on my bed to read. I rolled over onto my stomach and shifted the sheets underneath me. I caught another hint of Edward's scent on them, and smiled.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew, I was being woken up by the house phone. I reached over to my bedside for the receiver.

"He-hello?"

"You nodded off, didn't you?" Alice knew me too well.

"Uh huh," I said, wiping my cheek. Good lord, I was drooling in my sleep. I hadn't felt that tired when I started reading, but something had definitely done me in. I wondered if Edward, or at least the scent of him, had the same relaxing effect on me that he said I had on him.

"Thought that might've happened. Well, you better get your butt in gear!"

I looked at the clock and it promptly jolted me awake. 5:15 p.m. "Oh shit, is that the time? I better get moving!"

Alice chuckled, "Is there an echo in here? Anyway, have fun tonight. Look gorgeous, be careful, and I want full details tomorrow night! Bye Bells!"

"You got it, Ali. Speak to you soon." I hung up and hopped out of bed, ran into the bathroom and hurried to have a quick shower to get ready for my date.

--

A/N: Sorry for the small delay on this one. I've been dealing with a sinus infection, and my beta has been busy with her own stuff. I'm working on the next chapter now - the big date! That'll be up as soon as it's ready.

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