A/N: Not much to say except Welcome to the journey. You'll notice right away that I switched up Bella's name. I feel the need to be different.

No copyright infringement is intended. All recognizable characters are owned by Stephenie Meyer. I own the plot and mistakes.

ENJOY!

7/01/2023

Cherry Pies and Backwards Baseball Hats

Chapter 3

BPOV

My head felt like it was in a vice while an elephant sat on it. It hurt to even try and open my eyes because it felt like they were full of sand.

I reached up to rub them and realized something wasn't right. The pillow under my head was too soft to be mine and the blanket over me wasn't my down comforter. There was barely any light coming into the room once I was able to get one eye open.

As I stretched my arms out, my hand came in contact with something hairy. I moved my fingers around and realized I was rubbing a cranium. I also didn't want to over react, but I couldn't help it when I darted up into the sitting position and screamed at the top of my lungs. I was in a bed with a complete stranger.

The person next to me yelled. "What the hell?"

When the light came on, there was a man next to me in a bed that wasn't mine, and that made me scream again. I shoved the covers off of me and realized I was only wearing a white t-shirt. No underwear, and no bra at all. "Oh, my GOD! You took my Cherry Pie!"

"Your what?" The guy asked as he moved to get out of the bed.

I reached down between my legs and felt for any dampness or soreness. There wasn't any, so I jumped out of the bed only to make my head throb even worse. "Where the hell are my clothes?" I stood at the end of the bed and pulled the t-shirt down as far as it would go.

The man stood up, and I noticed he was wearing a pair of basketball shorts and no shirt. I couldn't help my eyes as they traveled across his very toned body and tattoos that covered his arms. I could see some flowers, a cross, and I wasn't sure, but I think there was a dragon, too. It didn't matter, though, because to me he was absolutely beautiful.

"Look," he started. "You puked all over your clothes so I washed them for you." He pointed to the chest at the end of his bed. "They're right there."

"Why am I here and not at my house?" I was a little scared because I didn't know this man from Adam.

He sighed heavily. "Can we put some clothes on and go in the other room away from the bed?"

"Why? You have an urge to rape me or something?"

He gave me an incredulous look. "You're insane. I'm not gonna rape you. I just think it would be more comfortable away from my bedroom."

"This is your room?" I reached down for my clothes and held them over my crotch.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Yes, it's my room. Now, can we please leave it?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Um.." I waved towards the door.

"There's a bathroom right behind you," he said before going to his dresser and pulling a t-shirt from a drawer. "I'll be in the kitchen. Just walk straight down the hall and you'll find me." He turned to walk away but turned back. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, please, and some ibuprofen if you have any."

Once he left the room, I made my way into his bathroom. Everything was clean and sparkly. There wasn't even a whisker in the sink from when he shaves. If he even shaves. I was too busy gawking to even notice his facial hair.

I looked in the mirror and nearly screamed, again. My face was blotchy and my mascara was smeared down both of my cheeks. I could probably pass as Alice Coopers twin sister, and that wasn't saying much about my hair. It was in every direction possible. I was pretty sure there was a birds nest somewhere under it.

What the hell did I drink last night?

There was a washcloth on a rack with other towels. Further down, there was a shelf full of toilet paper stacked neatly. There was even a few magazines next to the toilet paper. I didn't even want to know what kind of magazines they were or why they were even in the bathroom. There was one, believe it or not, that I could read it's title: Car and Body.

I shook my head and reached for the washcloth.

"Good morning," says the man who I have no idea what his name is. He was pulling a cup away from his Keurig machine. "I made you regular roast because I didn't know what you liked."

"Regular is fine." I took a seat at his small kitchen table.

I was embarrassed because I was pretty sure he saw me naked, and I don't remember a damn thing about it.

"Cream and sugar?" I watched as he took the container of liquid creamer from the fridge and grabbed the sugar.

I nodded as he sat the stuff on the table and took the seat across from me. He watched my every movement as I prepared my coffee the way I like it. "So, are you going to tell me why I'm here?"

He chuckled. "Because you couldn't remember where you lived then you passed out. I was already by my house, so that's why you're here."

"Okay." I nodded at him. "That's understandable." I took a tiny sip of my very hot coffee. "Why was I nearly naked?"

"First, you had vomit all over your clothes. I wasn't about to let you sleep on my couch and stink it up."

"I'm afraid to ask about my panties." I raised my cup to hide my face a little bit. "I have no idea what Tanya kept giving me to drink, but I'll never drink it, again."

He nodded with a smile on his face. "You were pretty messed up." He took another sip of coffee then continued. "As far as your underwear, you shoved them off."

"I'm not so sure about that." I closed my eyes and sighed. "I don't drink like that often, and I don't just take my underwear off somewhere I've never been."

"Yeah, well, I don't normally bring strange women to my house." He stood from the table. "You want something to eat?"

I looked at the time and realized it was closer to noon. "No thank you, but can you tell me why you were in the bed with me?"

"You probably won't believe me if I told you." He grabbed a P3 out of his fridge and returned to the table.

I waved my hand at him. "Just tell me. Get the misery over with."

He smiled at me. "You kept telling me that I needed to vandalize your pole hole." He shook his head. "Whatever that is. Then you took your panties off no sooner than I helped you put a clean shirt on."

"Oh God." I covered my face with my hands. "What else? Don't hold back now."

"When I tried to leave the room after I helped you brush your teeth, you yanked me down on top of you. Then we fell asleep."

I huffed. "You're leaving something out. You've seen me naked so it can't get any worse than that."

"You kissed me," he said then chuckled. "We actually made out."

"Oh for fucksake." I shook my lowered head. "This is so humiliating."

"I didn't mind; you're actually very easy on the eyes and your naked body, well, let's just say you're a ten in my book."

I looked at him surprised. "Thank you. I guess."

"You're welcome." He pushed his hand through his hair.

"You've seen me naked and we've made out, so I suppose we should at least know each others names."

He gave me a huge smile. "You're correct." He nodded. "I'm Edward Mason, but everyone calls me Mason."

"I'm Arabella, but everyone calls me Bella," I said shyly. "It's nice to meet you."

"I can definitely say the same. So, now that we've officially met, what exactly is your cherry pie and your pole hole?"

I was positive that my face was scarlet in color. "Do I really need to tell you?"

"You did accuse me of stealing one and wanted me to take the other. I think it's only fair that I know." He raised his brows at me as he waited for my answer. This was one of those moments that I kicked myself for not having my car near by. Otherwise, I would get up and leave.

I pouted at him. "Fine. My pole hole is my vagina and my cherry pie is my virginity. There, happy now?"

He looked taken aback by my confession. "I've never heard them called that before." He chuckled. "I guess I'm out of the loop."

"I'm sure you're not." I took another drink. "So, can you take me to my car? Or I can have someone come get me."

"Your boyfriend?" I was sure he was fishing for details. "Or a girlfriend?"

"I'm straight, first of all, and there's no boyfriend."

"My bad." He held up his hands. "I can take you now; I don't have any plans today."

I usually tried to see my parents on the weekends, and sometimes Paul would come spend the night with me. I would take him out to the movies or get ice cream. He's only five, so there's only so much we can do. "Do you, by chance, know where my purse is? And do you have a brush I can use?"

He stood from the table. "Your purse is right here." He picked it up off the kitchen counter. "And, there's a brush in the drawer of my bathroom. The toothbrush you used last night is also laying just above the sink."

By the time we were in his truck, it was nearly one in the afternoon. I was sure Tanya has been blowing up my phone, so I pulled it out to look. Sure enough, there were 20 missed calls, and I couldn't tell how many text messages. I was sure there were loads of voicemails waiting for me, as well.

"Thank you for this. Who knows where I would've woken up if you didn't help."

"No biggie." He looked out at the road for a few seconds. "I'm sure if I didn't help you get away from that linebacker, then you probably would have woken up with your cherry pie missing."

I turned to look at him. "Oh my gosh, that's right. You told him I was your girl."

"I did and I'm sorry; it just came out that way."

"No, no." I shook my head. "That was perfectly okay."

"How do you feel about some lunch? I could use a Hamburger."

"That sounds great. What about What-a-burger?" My stomach growled at the thought.

"Can I count this as our official first date?"

"What?" I nearly screeched. "No."

With his brows raised, he turned to look at me. "Will you go on a date with me?"

I already knew what my answer was going to be, but I didn't want to sound so desperate. "You just wanna date me because you hope that one day I'll let you have my cherry pie."

He laughed at me. "I won't lie; it crossed my mind, but no, that's not the reason. I think you're sexy as hell and I've already seen you naked. We've made out like we were going to have sex, but we didn't." He closed his eyes for a split second and groaned like he was thinking of something un-pure. "You're one hell of a kisser, too, so how much more can a date hurt?"

I knew I was being quiet as I thought about how extremely sexy he is and to top it off, he wears his baseball hat backwards. A guy that looks the way he does, and wearing a hat just the way that turns me on, ranks right up there as number one in my book.

He pulled off the interstate and hit the drive thru for some food for us. He drove and ate like he had done it many times before. I was a little impressed because I sure as heck couldn't eat a huge hamburger and drive at the same time.

We still had another ten or fifteen minutes before we reached the parking garage where my car was parked, so I leaned my head back against the headrest and watched as the concrete walls of Black Canyon Highway sped by us. When we hit the tunnel, too many dirty thoughts rushed through my head. The memory of kissing him the night before slammed into my skull like a wrecking ball, and I wanted more. "I'd love to." I finally answered his question. "You say when and I'll be there."

"You don't want me to pick you up?" He glanced at me over his arm that rested on the steering wheel as he drove.

"Well, yeah. I didn't mean it that way. Of course, I want you to come pick me up. Just give me a heads up so I can have my step stool outside waiting." Honestly, his truck was just a tad too high up off the ground for my liking. It suited him, though. Just seeing him behind the wheel, and that damn hat, makes my loins melt completely.

I felt his eyes on me for a second. "What's the stool for?"

I gave him a stupid look. "Duh...didn't you see me struggling to get in this thing?"

He smiled over at me. "I could always pick you up to help you in."

"You could, but that would take all the fun out of me making fun of how big your truck is."

He chuckled. "Oh, I see where this is going, so I'll have you know that I'm not compensating for anything."

"Uh huh. How old are you, anyway?"

He glanced at me, again just as he reached for one of the vape thingies. "You mind?"

"As long as it doesn't smell like weed or shit, then we're good." I watched as he used his thumb to press a button a few times before he raised the contraption to his mouth and sucked on it. Of course, my brain fell into the gutter as soon as his lips touched the tiny machine.

He laughed at me. "Definitely neither of those, and does my age matter?"

I shrugged. "No, I guess not since we've already slept together."

He choked on his inhale and coughed a little. "That's...that's funny." He laid his vape down next to him on the seat then reached for his drink. "I honestly didn't think of it that way."

"Technically, it's true." I shrugged and smiled about my true observation.

"It is." He took a deep breath. "I'm 27. How old are you? And you go to ASU, considering where I met you."

It was my turn to laugh. "Nope, no college for me. I've already been down that road." I straightened up in my seat. "And I'm 23."

His brows shot up his forehead. ""There's no way. You look like you're at least 18 or 19."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Then I noticed we were close to where my car was parked. "Make a left here. I'm in the parking garage down on the left once you turn in."

He pulled into the garage and luckily, my car was on the first floor. Tanya paid extra to have a parking spot for me when she didn't even have a care. "That Honda is mine."

"Nice. Daddy buy that for you?"

I wasn't sure how to take that question, so I gave him a mean look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He shook his head. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"Then how did you mean it?" I was still looking at him incredulously.

"Never mind. Just forget it." He looked out over the hood of his truck.

"I'll have you know that my grandfather gifted that car to me when I graduated from high school at the age of 16. Then my parents paid for its makeover when I graduated college at the age of 21."

He looked taken aback and raised his hands in defense. "My bad."

"Yeah, your bad. Don't judge."

Then he looked at me with confusion. "Wait, you graduated high school at 16? How the hell does that happen?"

"You want proof?" My defensive mode was starting to kick in.

"No. I was just wondering if you started school when you were two or some shit."

I knew I was overly tired with a lingering headache. "I really don't feel like explaining. I just need to get home which is back on the other side of town. I need to shower because I think there's dried puke in my hair."

He waved. "Sorry for keeping you; it's been real."

"Thanks for the ride." I hopped out of his mountain of a truck then started digging in my purse for my keys.

Just as I found them, I heard a car door being shut only to turn around and come face to chest with someone. "Ahhhh!" I yelped. "What the..."

Before I knew what was happening, I was pushed up against my car with a hand on my face and one on my hip. "I think you're forgetting something."

"I'm not..." I started to protest just as his mouth found purchase on mine and I melted. I was a complete pile of goo.

I wanted to push him away. How dare him force himself on me like this? Except, I didn't push him away, so I started responding to the feel of his mouth on mine. My stupid traitorous hands had a mind of their own and snaked around his waist to pull him closer. The head that's supposed to be on my shoulders was in a different galaxy.

I moaned as his tongue slid over mine as if they were meant to be with each other.

Mason pulled away, leaving me breathless. He rested his forehead on mine. "Your phone number?"

I would step back, but my body was already pressed against my car. "Oh, um, yeah," I said breathlessly. "I did forget something."

Mason stepped back when I started to dig through my purse, again. This time for my phone. "What's your number and I'll text you right now?"

He recited his number and I texted, "You better text or call me."

A smile graced his face. "It was very nice meeting you, Bella."

I looked up at him as if I had seen my favorite actor. "Yeah, you, too."

Thank you!

RTB