Author's Note: Many thank you's and yes, they're going to meet very soon. I'm excited :)

Nice reviews are better than chocolate, unless maybe you're licking that chocolate off someone.

Thirteen

June

"This seems more like a Rose job to me," I was standing near the kitchen sink, talking to Alice on the phone. Edward was waiting patiently at the kitchen table…not literally, unfortunately.

The last few months had passed much too quickly; I was still absolutely terrified about meeting Edward. I went over the possibilities in my head daily, most of them ended badly; I'm not sure why. We hadn't talked about it much and I still didn't know many details about what was going on. I knew Alice was leaving for New York on August 8th; she wanted to meet Edward, but promised to wait until I got there too. He asked questions about our trip every once in a while, mostly about when I'd be there, September 12th, and what plans I had when I arrived.

"Bella, c'mon it'll be fun. Haven't you ever wanted to judge someone based solely on what they look like?"

"Not really."

"Besides, Rose says she doesn't want to be around all those skinny people; she said she feels like a cow." Rose was due in two weeks and was miserable. She spent most of her time in the comfort of her air conditioned home, though she did come outside in the early evening for our weekly dinner. Suffice to say, she was ready for this part to be over.

I looked toward my laptop and sighed, "ok, I'll be there as soon as I can."

I could hear Alice clapping, "excellent, see you in a bit."

I sat back down at the table and looked at Edward; it looked like he was reading something in a different window on his computer screen. He had his glasses perched on his nose, studying something intently. I fought the urge to run my fingers over the screen. "Hey, I'm back, but not for long. I promised Alice I'd help her look at models at her store today."

He laughed, "that sounds interesting."

"I guess; she wants to look at the crop of girls that show up today and then she's going to look at more when she gets to New York."

"It's nice that you're helping her out this much," he smiled in that perfect lopsided way he had that made me forget anything I'd been about to say. It's true, I'd become an assistant of sorts to Alice the last couple of months. When school let out for the year, I volunteered to teach during the summer session, but that was only part time for six weeks. It let out the second week of July; Alice was practically wringing her hands together waiting for me to be out of work. So far I'd helped her hire a personal assistant who ended up being an absolute lifesaver; she kept Alice's head screwed on the last two months. Rose helped with the actual designing of the new clothes for the show; I tended to be the mannequin during these think tank sessions. She said I was the only one skinny enough to try the clothes on; I hated it at first, but now it was like old hat.

"Thanks, I actually kind of like it sometimes…depending on what we're doing. Anyway, I should get going," I said reluctantly.

"Do you know when you might be back?"

It was 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday, one of the rare days both of us were free. The construction of Edward and Jasper's building addition was in full swing which meant long hours and usually six day work weeks. "No idea, are you going to be around all day?"

"Yeah, I should be. Just send me an instant message, I'll turn up the volume on my laptop so I can hear it," he grinned.

We said our goodbyes and I got ready to leave. Alice's shop was in with the trendy stores on Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills; it was called simply "alice" in lower case letters. When I asked her why she named it after herself she said that she'd worked hard enough to buy the space, people were going to damn well know who owned it.

I debated picking up some food for Alice and her assistant, but wasn't sure if eating in front of the models was appropriate. I decided to do it anyway. I didn't hit much traffic on the freeway, at this time of day though the other side of the freeway was packed with day trippers to the beach. I parked in a garage down the street from her store and grabbed the legal pad I had started keeping in my car and the bags of food. My phone started vibrating in my back pocket so I juggled my things into one hand and reached for it. "Hello?" I sounded a little out of breath."

I heard some light laughter, "Bells? Were you running or something?"

It was Jacob. We'd been friendly since the night we met at the club with Alice; we'd even gone out a couple of times. The first time was the typical dinner and a movie and absolutely no spark whatsoever. I spent most of the night wondering what Edward was doing and what he'd think of me going out on a date. I hadn't told him; I don't know why. Jacob didn't try and kiss me at the end of the night, for which I was grateful, but he did ask me out again. I mostly said yes to be nice. The second date was a little better. We hung around Newport; I showed him the sights. He lived in Los Angeles and rarely got a chance to actually see the beach. We clicked on some level; there was playful banter and all that, but still no spark. In the end, we decided we made better friends. We didn't hang out too much, but usually spoke on the phone a couple of times a week. "Hey, Jake, what's up?" I leaned so I could hold the phone between my ear and shoulder.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to do something tonight. You sound busy."

I exited the garage and stepped into the bright sunlight, "actually I am, sorry. I'm helping Alice pick out models for her show today." He didn't ask me to do things with him too often, but when he did I always got the feeling it was more than a platonic evening out.

I could tell he was smiling, "does she need any more help?"

I laughed, "I think we're all set. I'll tell her you said hi though." We said our goodbyes and I let my phone drop into one of the bags.

I could see the line of models as I approached the store; there must have been at least a hundred girls waiting to be seen. I already felt bad for them; Alice was only choosing a dozen girls for the show. I tried to be friendly as I passed, nodding hello and smiling to them. Some smiled and said hello back, most looked at me coolly. Alice had closed her store for the day and the big glass doors were locked; I knocked and Angela, Alice's assistant, smiled and came to open the door for me. "Oh, yay! You brought food," Angela took one of the bags from me and brought it to the table set up for us. "Go ahead and sit here," she gestured to one of the chairs, "we're going to start letting the girls in soon. I just need to go talk to them for a sec." She smiled again and then unlocked the doors and stepped outside; I could hear her telling the girls how the casting call was going to work.

"Hey, oh you brought food!" Alice walked in from the back and started pulling things out of the two plastic grocery bags. I'd gotten different fruit salads, a bag of Alice's favorite chocolate chip cookies, and water and sodas; seeing the number of girls standing outside made me wish I'd gotten more. Alice munched on a cookie, "you ready for this?"

I shrugged and reached for some fruit.

Angela walked back inside, "can I start letting them in?" Alice nodded and Angela propped open one of the doors. The first model walked in; she was the usual - very tall, very thin and very beautiful. Angela followed her in and sat on the other side of Alice. The model handed Alice her book of photographs and didn't say anything.

"You're eighteen?" Alice asked; the girl nodded. I looked at the pictures in the girl's book; she looked so different in her pictures I couldn't barely tell it was her. "Can I see you walk?" The girl went a few yards to one side and then walked across the store, posed, and walked back. "What do you think of my line?"

"Oh, I love it!" The girl gushed to Alice, "It's feminine, but with an edge. I have the blue dress, the satin one with the cinched in waist."

Alice nodded, remaining professional even though I knew it had to make her a little excited that the model had one of her pieces. "Ok, I have your agency's information, thank you. Send the next girl in on your way out please." Alice closed the girl's book and handed it back to her. "What do you think?" She asked the both of us before the girl was all the way out the door.

I hesitated, "uh, she was pretty…and she likes your stuff."

"They usually just say that to make you like them. I don't think she walked very well," Alice said. I didn't know if I was going to be much help; I had no idea what I should be looking for and I didn't think I could be brutal enough.

"She photographed beautifully though." Angela added.

Alice nodded and looked up to the next model.

We spent the rest of the afternoon like that; I didn't know how Alice could maintain her perfect composure that long. By three o'clock Angela left to get more food. I had picked up enough listening to Angela and Alice discuss the models that I had an idea of what I was doing. "So, Bella, I was thinking," Alice started. "How would you feel about coming to New York when I did?"

I took a drink of my water and swallowed loudly. "You mean in August?"

"Yeah."

That meant I'd be there a month earlier than planned; I'd see Edward a month earlier, have over a month with him. "Isn't Angela coming with you?"

"Yeah, but I want you there. You've been here the whole time, you know my work. I'm gonna need a friend, Bella." She looked at me with her best pleading expression.

"What about Rose?"

Alice sighed, "she's going to have the baby; I can't ask her to spend that much time in New York."

Edward, stupid! You'll get to see Edward for more than a month! "Ok, I'll do it." I said without another thought. "Oh wait, what about school?" I furrowed my brow - that was a good question.

"Don't worry about it, I've already talked to your principal –"

"Are you guys friends now, or what?"

"We chat sometimes. Anyway, she said she can get a sub for the first couple weeks of school, no problemo."

"You could rule the world, you know," I smiled.

She smiled, "yeah I know."

I finally got home some time after seven, hoping that Edward was still around. I sent him an instant message saying hello and got up to see what I could eat for dinner. I made myself a sandwich and opened a leftover soda, pouring it into an ice filled glass before sitting back down. He was waiting for me; we connected so we could see each other as was the norm. "Hi," he smiled slowly and warmly. "How'd it go?"

"Good," I smiled back, "but looking at them made me hungry; you wouldn't believe how thin these girls were."

"I can imagine."

"Do you mind if I eat while we talk?"

"Not at all."

I took a bite of my sandwich, chewing slowly before swallowing. "So, I have some news."

He nodded for me to continue.

"Alice has asked me to come to New York with her when she goes." I watched him carefully.

"You mean on the eighth? Of August?" He leaned forward a little.

I was surprised he'd remembered the date. "Yeah."

"Did you say yes?"

Did he look…hopeful? "Yeah, so I'll be there for a little over a month." I was still studying his face.

He smiled and let out a little laugh, "that's…wonderful." He nodded, "that's really good." He was still smiling.

I was relieved, letting out a sigh. "Good, I was afraid you might not want me there that long." I blurted out.

He looked at me incredulously, "why?"

"I…I don't know. I just thought you might get tired of having me around, you know."

He laughed, "that's not going to happen. I don't think I could ever get tired of having you around." He grinned crookedly, "I can't wait for you to get here."

I couldn't wait either.