The morning after the event at the Kennedy Center Bella woke up late and made her way to the kitchen. She'd had trouble going to sleep after getting home and had tried watching a movie, but the noises coming from Alice's bedroom had driven her back into her own room.
She'd tried to go to sleep then, but her thoughts kept going back to Edward. Her mystery man was Edward Masen, Jr. And, she was supposed to go out with him in six days.
Bella couldn't believe that she hadn't recognized him. Now that she had a name to go with the face it was rather obvious. He looks familiar, she thought. What the fuck is wrong with you, Bella Marie?
She'd tossed and turned the rest of the night, still berating herself for not recognizing him and wondering at the completely shocked look on his face when Jasper had started addressing her. Was he worried about mixing their professional and personal lives?
She was.
But, she also wanted to go out with him.
He was handsome, smart, a gentleman, and she enjoyed his company.
He also worked for Senator Aro Volturi.
She knew that that was going to be an issue. She knew it as soon as she figured out who he was and the fact that she kept the fact that she had a date with Edward from Jasper when he asked what they had been talking about was another big clue that she shouldn't go out with him.
But, she really wanted to.
By the time she had gotten to sleep it had been the wee hours of the morning and she was lucky that she didn't have to go into the office since it was a Saturday.
Not that she wouldn't be working in the form of answering emails and taking some calls. It was just the nature of the job.
Stumbling into the kitchen she was happy to see that there was some coffee sitting in the coffee pot and she poured herself a cup before she rummaged through the fridge, relieved to see that they had groceries.
She started to make herself an omelet when Jasper came out of Alice's room wearing nothing but a pair of tuxedo pants riding low on his hips.
Most women would have swooned at seeing a man like Jasper, who was fit and chiseled, walking around with his chest bare. Bella just wrinkled her nose. Jasper was her boss, but she also had started to think of him like a big brother. Besides that the idea that he was almost naked because he'd been doing her best friend killed any romantic notions.
"Really, Jasper, you need to put on more clothes," Bella said as she started to crack eggs into a bowl.
Jasper laughed and sat at one of the barstools that were located at the counter separating the kitchen from the dining room.
"You making one of your special omelets? Can you make one for me and one for Alice?"
Bella arched a brow and started to break more eggs into the bowl. "I thought you two had eaten already since the coffee was already made."
"Uh, yeah, well, we started thought about it and then we, um, we got kinda distracted," Jasper replied sheepishly, running his hand through his already mussed up hair.
Bella rolled her eyes. "I don't need to know anymore."
Alice came in wearing her robe and bounced into the kitchen. "Need to know anymore about what?"
Jasper chuckled. "About what distracted us from making breakfast after we got the coffee started."
Alice chuckled and looked towards Bella. "Sorry. Oooo, is that one of your special omelets?"
"I'm making three of them," Bella replied and started to beat the eggs after adding a bit of milk, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to the bowl.
As she continued to cook they talked about the concert the previous evening and though Jasper wasn't saying much about Senator Cullen's meeting with the President, he did tell them that things went well.
Eventually, Jasper brought up the one subject that she was hoping to avoid.
"Bella got to meet Edward Masen last night," Jasper said to Alice.
Alice blinked and looked to Bella. "Did you?" Something about the way Bella looked at her told her not to ask many questions and she shrugged it off for her sake. "Was bound to happen sooner or later," Alice said and continued to peruse the paper while sipping her coffee.
Jasper arched a brow at Alice's nonchalant attitude, but brushed it off and continued to eat his omelet.
Later after Jasper finally left their place and while Bella was answering some emails on her laptop while sitting on the couch, Alice came over and sat at the other end of the couch and watched her for a while.
Bella felt her looking and she glanced up once, but kept typing. Finally she sighed and asked, "What?"
"So…you met Edward Masen," Alice said matter-of-factly.
Bella blushed and nodded.
The blush told Alice more than if she had said anything. "So you found him good looking."
"Who wouldn't find him good looking, Alice?" Bella said with a sigh, trying to concentrate on the email she'd been working on.
Alice persisted, "So, what'd you two talk about?"
Bella shrugged. "Music."
"Music?" Alice said with a tilt of her head. "What aren't you telling me, Bella?"
Bella sighed and shut her laptop. "He's my mystery man."
"You're mystery man?" Alice asked in confusion then it seemed to dawn on her. "Wait! You don't mean the handsome stranger who walked you home the other night, do you?"
Bella only nodded.
"OH MY GOD, BELLA! You mean all this time that was Edward-freakin'-Masen? How did you not know that!" Alice exclaimed, causing Bella to cringe.
"I told you he looked familiar!" Bella said in her defense.
Alice groaned and palmed her face. "Bella!"
"I know! I know! I'm a complete dork!" Bella said with a groan of her own.
Alice couldn't help but laugh at that. "Oh, it happens all the time. It's kinda hard for the mind to shift from recognizing someone off the pages of a magazine or off a tv screen to what they look like standing right in front of you."
Bella nodded, though that really didn't make her feel all that better.
"So…what happened?" asked Alice, probing for more information.
"He…asked me to go to dinner with him on Friday," Bella said, the blush rising on her cheeks again.
"He what!" Alice squealed. "Oh my God!"
Bella sighed, closed her eyes, and let her head fall against the back of the sofa.
"Did you say yes?" To say that Alice was excited would have been an understatement.
"Yes," said Bella, "but I said yes before I knew who he was."
"Oh," said Alice, her face turning serious. "You're worried because he works for Senator Volturi?"
Bella turned her head, looked at him, and nodded.
"Well, that does present a complication, doesn't it?" said Alice.
Bella just sighed, closed her eyes and nodded again.
"Do you like him?" Alice asked softly.
"Yes," Bella said softly.
Alice nodded. "Then I think you should go."
Bella blinked and opened her mouth to argue.
"Stop. I know what you're going to say," said Alice. "There are lots of reasons not to do it. You work for my dad, he works for Volturi being chief among them. Am I right?"
Bella nodded.
"You can't let your career get in the way of your life. You can't make your career your life for that matter." Alice smiled. "My mother told me that she told my dad that when he first got into office. Said that it saved their marriage…and made him such a good public servant."
"How does she figure it did that? The public servant part I mean…" Bella asked.
"Well," Alice continued, "he wants to do what's right because he wants to make this a better country for his family, but more than that, how can he help this be a good nation of happy citizens if he's not a good, happy man?" Alice sighed. "Bella, I'm not saying that this is going to be easy. Hell, I'm not even saying that it's going to go anywhere between you and Edward. The point is you shouldn't let who you work for or your work in general affect your love life. You just have to learn to separate the two in this case. Again, not easy, but it's possible."
Bella listened and nodded.
"So, you're going to go out with him?" Alice asked with a smile.
Bella nodded. "Yeah, I think I am."
)( )( )( )(
Edward smiled and looked out the window at the balcony where Emmett was attempting to use a small grill to cook some steaks. It was actually a rather amusing sight. Emmett was standing there, huddled over the tiny grill in his parka and beanie, stamping his feet against the cold.
"Is he always this pigheaded?" Rosalie asked as she came to stand beside Edward and look at Emmett out the window.
Edward chuckled and sipped at his beer. "Sorry to say that he is." He looked back outside. "He's going to freeze his balls off."
Rosalie snickered. "I sure hope not." She laughed and shook her head as she watched Emmett. "Do you think he's actually going to be able to cook those steaks?"
Edward snorted and turned away from the window. "No. I'm prepared to order pizza." He sat on the couch and watched as Rosalie sat on the chair across from him.
"How long do you think he'll be at it?" she asked as she continued to nurse her beer.
"Till he gets tired of trying to relight the fire, runs out of lighter fluid, or starts to suffer from frostbite," Edward said.
Rosalie snickered again. "You two are rather close."
Edward just nodded in response. "Emmett's a great guy."
"Yes, he is," Rosalie agreed, looking over her shoulder towards the balcony again.
Emmett was making his way back in. "That's it! I'm tired of restarting the fire. I'm out of lighter fluid, and I think I have frostbite."
Rosalie looked at Edward in surprise and they both broke out laughing.
"I'll order the pizza," said Edward, still chuckling.
Emmett took off his parka and threw it on a chair before he went to grab a beer from the fridge as Edward pulled out his cell and ordered the pizza. Once everyone was settled in the living room to wait, Emmett asked Edward, "So, the Senator tear you a new one last night after the concert?"
Edward sighed and ran his hand through his hair. The previous evening he was supposed to have had drinks with Rosalie and Emmett, but Senator Volturi had insisted on meeting with Edward right afterwards. To say that the meeting had been tense would have been an understatement.
"That bad?" Emmett asked with a frown. When Edward didn't answer Emmett sighed. "Damn, that means you're both going to be running us ragged the whole week."
"We'll figure it out," said Edward.
Emmett snorted and sipped at his bottle of beer. "Let's not talk shop though. Felix told me he saw you talking with a hot little number last night."
Felix was another staffer on Senator Volturi's communication team. Although he was the quiet, he was a cocky bastard and if he'd noticed Bella, well, Edward wasn't too keen on where that might lead.
"Did he?" said Edward as he continued to sip at his beer.
"C'mon, don't be coy, Edward," it was Rosalie that spoke up this time. "Were you taking up a hottie last night?"
Emmett grinned, knowing Rosalie wasn't going to let Edward get by with saying nothing.
Edward seemed to hesitate and grimace as he nodded.
"Oooo, now you have to tell!" said Rosalie.
"Well, there was this woman that I asked out," Edward admitted reluctantly.
Emmett had started to snicker, but now he was just surprised. Edward didn't date. He knew that.
"And?" Emmett did the probing this time.
"And, I don't think it's going to work out. I'll probably cancel," Edward said with a shrug.
"What?" said Emmett with a frown at the same time that Rosie said, "Why?"
Edward shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with all the scrutiny.
"Well, I asked her out before I knew who she was," said Edward with a sigh.
"Who is she?" Rosalie asked, obviously curious. Emmett was also looking at Edward with curiosity and he asked, "Was she a prostitute?"
"Emmett!" Rosalie exclaimed, laughing and throwing a pillow at him. Emmett ducked the pillow, "What! Otherwise she's a lobbyist or a reporter and Edward can smell them a mile away. Avoids them like the plague.
Edward shook his head. "She's not a prostitute, a lobbyist, or a reporter." He sighed and continued, "Her name is Bella Swan…she's Director of Communications for Senator Cullen."
Rosalie just looked at him with wide eyes, but Edward didn't notice as Emmett let out a low whistle. "I can see where that would be a problem."
"I think you should go," said Rosalie, looking at Edward curiously.
Emmett and Edward both looked her way and she shrugged. "What? It's only a date for Pete's sake!"
Emmett's brows drew together thoughtfully and he nodded. "True. Just go with the flow, man."
Edward sighed, closed his eyes, and let his head fall back against the couch, still not sure about what he was going to do.