Fifty-one songs later, she pulled into the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. It was only 11:20 so she had plenty of time to find parking, get into the restaurant and have a drink before Edgar would arrive. She found a parking spot directly across from Salmon Bay Café. Turning the car off, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the time. Still only 11:30.

She played on her phone for about five minutes then decided just to go inside and wait. Nervous excitement was prevalent as the server brought her a shot of Malibu Rum and a glass of hard cider. She texted Edgar at 11:45. "I'm sort of in the back corner to your left when you walk in the door." Her phone rang just as she hit "send" on her message. "Hi Edgar. I was just texting you."

"Oh yeah, I see that. Great minds, huh?" he chuckled.

"Yeah."

"I'm about to walk in the door. See you in a sec!"

"Sounds good!"

Even though it was really only about 45 more seconds until she saw him walk in, it felt like an eternity. He saw her and smiled as he walked toward her.

"Hey Alex!" She stood up and he hugged her hello.

"Edgar, it's so great to finally meet you!"

"Yeah, you too. Did you find the place okay?"

"Found it and parked right out front... piece of cake!"

"The one with the Northwestern bumper sticker yours, I presume?"

"How'd you know?" she laughed.

"I'm fairly observant," he grinned. They sat down together, continuing to chat as the server approached them. He ordered a drink then they talked about the menu. "So the fish & chips here are good... the burgers are good and they have sandwiches and stuff too."

"I'm gonna try the fish & chips. What about you?"

"Bacon cheeseburger. Can't go wrong!" They placed their orders then resumed their conversation, never missing a beat. "So tell me about photography for you... I saw the pictures you took of the boat and that you do a lot of sports stuff."

"Yeah, it's been a hobby forever. I have a decent camera and I take it almost everywhere I go. When I finally got to see the Northwestern in-person for the first time, I took a ridiculous number of pictures just to get the perfect five or six," she chuckled.

"You kinda, love that boat, huh?" he teased.

"Kinda."

"Nice. I saw that you come up to a lot of Mariner's games too." She mentally noted that he'd been looking through her Facebook page and she loved that.

"I try to make it to six or seven of them a year. I love driving so I don't mind driving up for a game then driving home afterwards."

"That is a lot of driving."

"I figure, as long as I have music, I'm good to go!"

"What kind of stuff you listen to?" The server set their food on the table and Edgar thanked her.

"Thanks... Um, I like a lot of different stuff. I mostly grew up hearing rock like The Eagles, Boston, AC/DC, Foreigner... classic rock, I guess. But I also love 90s rap and pop and hip hop and alternative stuff and some metal. What about you?"

"I like a lot of different stuff too. I'm sure we have a bunch of music in common."

"Probably. I carry my old-school iPod with me to listen to in the car."

"Show me after we eat."

"Yeah, it's just in my glove box." He took a bite of his burger and sighed happily. "Good?" she laughed.

"So good. You want a bite?"

"I like burgers extra well-done but thank you. You want a piece of fish?" He nodded and opened his mouth, waiting for her to feed it to him. She laughed and fed him a bite.

"Their fish is so good here."

"It is!"

They finished lunch and continued talking over the next hour-and-a-half, never running out of things to talk about. "Did you bring your camera today?"

"Never leave Oregon without it!"

"Is it in your car?" She downed the last of her drink and nodded. "You should go get it. I bet we can get the waitress to take a couple of pictures of us."

"Oh, that would be awesome! Be right back!" She ran out across the street to her car and he took the opportunity to order a dessert and ask the server to take some pictures of them when Alex got back.

Alex walked back in just as the server was setting a piece of apple pie a la mode in front of Edgar.

"Welcome back!" He patted the seat next to him. "She said she'd take our picture." Alex handed her camera to the waitress and told her what to do. She then sat down beside Edgar and he slung his arm around her shoulders. "Come on, snuggle up... I don't bite."

"That makes one of us," Alex replied. Edgar looked at Alex and laughed just as the server snapped the shutter a couple of times. "Hey, maybe look at the camera for the pictures?" she joked and nudged him with her elbow.

"You caught me off guard," he laughed. They finally got a few good pictures and the server handed the camera back to Alex. Edgar handed her a fork and moved the pie closer to her. "You bite, huh?" he smiled at her and she blushed.

"I can't believe I just said that to you," she chuckled.

"Why not?"

"I don't have enough drinks in me to explain myself," she laughed.

"We better order you another drink then, huh?"

"Hey, if we are gonna have another drink, can we go somewhere else? I mean if you don't have anywhere else you need to be."

"Sure. Did you have some place in mind?" She pulled her phone out of her pocket and handed it to him.

"Last year I made this list of places I wanted to see at some point. Do you know any of them?"

"Oh, this is awesome! Let's go to the Nordic Museum then we can go have drinks at Sloop Tavern."

"Sweet! Are they within walking distance?"

"Yeah but I thought I'd take you on a little sight-seeing tour first. Can I drive your car? I wanna check out your music."

"Sure, as long as you're a good driver," she laughed. She reached for the bill for their lunch on the table and he snatched it first. "What are you doing?"

"If I pay for lunch that means you still owe me a lunch some time. Right?"

"I would say so."

"Sweet. Raincheck on you buying me lunch then!" He took the bill and scurried away to the counter with it. She took her phone out and pulled up the video recorder.

"This is Edgar," she spoke to is as she approached Edgar and recorded him paying for lunch. "He is paying for the lunch that I invited him to. That's not right, Edgar."

"Hey, paparazzi... You're buying next time so chill." She turned the camera to face herself and said,

"He's the deck boss so he is in charge!" She laughed then turned it off.

"I'm in charge huh?" he asked as he signed the credit card slip then flashed her the side-eye. "You sure you want that?"

"I ain't afraid of you."

"Oh Alex," he grinned. "The day is young!" She laughed and followed him toward the door. They climbed into her car and he started it. "Alright, let's see what you got on this thing." He helped himself to the iPod in the glove box and plugged it in. Scrolling through the songs, he was impressed by the variety she had in there. "Lotta good shit on here."

"I think so," she shrugged. He put the mp3 player on shuffle and waited to see what song would come up first. "Aww yeah!" The opening guitar riffs for "Possum Kingdom" by the Toadies began and she grinned over at him. Turning it up, she sang along. "Make up your mind. Decide to walk with me... around the lake tonight, around the lake tonight by my side." He smiled back at her then put the car in gear. The song made him take a route different than he'd planned on. "I'm not gonna lie, I'll not be a gentleman behind the boathouse... I'll show you my dark secret. I'm not gonna lie, I want you for mine. My blushing bride... My lover, be my lover, yeah..."

"Speaking of walking around the lake..." he lowered the speaker volume and spoke over the music, pointing to her right. "This is Green Lake. There's a walking path around the whole thing. Maybe we can do that at some point."

"I'd love that! It's beautiful!" She snapped a photo with her phone.

"Carry on," he said turning the music back up.

"Make up your mind. Make up your mind and I'll promise you, I will treat you well my sweet angel. So help me, Jesus..." He looked over at her periodically and she, in turn, would sing to him making him smile. "Give it up to me. Give it up to me. Do you wanna be my angel? So help me..." She skipped over the next couple of songs that popped up. "How far are we going?"

"Bout five or 10 more minutes." Another song began and a huge smile spread across her face.

"Oh, I love this song." He turned it up for her and she laid her hand on his arm in thanks. "Look at the stars. Look how they shine for you and everything you do. Yeah they were all yellow. I came along, I wrote a song for you and everything you do. And it was called 'Yellow.'" At a red light, he glanced over at her and saw the passion on her face as she sang along. "Your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones turn in to something beautiful. You know, you know I love you so... You know I love you so."

"Almost there," he smiled over at her. She saw the Space Needle directly before them. She didn't want to assume that's where they were going but she hoped it was. "Have you ever been here before?"

"No but I've always wanted to go."

"Well, you're going now!" He paid for parking and they walked toward the Space Needle together.

"Edgar!" a random fan yelled at him from 30 feet away prompting others to holler in his general direction. Edgar smiled and waved but kept walking.

"Shit, I didn't even think about the fact that you probably get recognized everywhere you go! Is that annoying?"

"Yeah, sometimes but I try to be cool about it. Like right now, I'd kinda like to just be hanging out with you, not being followed by the people that are now right behind us."

"Edgar!" the man spoke from behind them. "Can I get a picture with you?!"

"Sure." He smiled while the man's wife took a couple of photos of them. Alex stood off to the side and waited patiently. Once the fans walked away, Alex scurried up to Edgar and grabbed his hand.

"Oh my god! Can I get a picture with you?!" she joked.

"Come on, ya dork." He took his hand out of her grasp and held his elbow out to her. She threaded her arm through his and followed him inside.

The Space Needle was exactly as cool as Alex had imagined it would be. They spent a couple of hours there seeing the sights from up high before heading out. It was about 5 o'clock when he parked on Market Street near the Nordic Museum. It had just closed so they decided just to walk over to Sloop Tavern which was just a block or so away.

Edgar and Alex had a great time hanging out at Sloop Tavern. They had a few drinks and snacks while chatting with many patrons. He was approached by a few fans of the show and despite the fact that he just wanted to hang out with his guest, he was very gracious about it. Alex seemed to have a positive effect on his attitude. Being hounded for pictures and autographs bothered him less and he was much more laid back in her presence. In exchange for Edgar posing for pictures with the fans, the fans took pictures of him and Alex together. It was about 7:15pm when they stepped outside so he could smoke a cigarette.

"You don't have to stand out here while I smoke if you don't want to. I know it's gross."

"I don't mind," she smiled sweetly and he couldn't help but smile back. "Shit, it's getting dark. What time is it?" She pulled out her phone and looked at the time.

"You got somewhere to be?" he nudged her with his elbow.

"No," she chuckled. "But it is a three-and-a-half hour drive home and I've got a few drinks on board."

"Don't worry about it."

"No?"

"Nope. Don't worry about it at all."

"Okay. I'll trust you."

"Good girl," he winked.