A/N: Man, we're so close to the 200 comment mark, I can taste it! Thank you to everyone who's read, commented, and supported this story so far! This story was over a year and a half of energy, so seeing it well-loved warms my heart! Today, we'll see how Bella feels about Seth's assistance as well as a short time jump. If you're interested in teasers and BTS info, come join us at hmerdan's Fiction Spot. Of course, none of this would be possible without Kneon and her powerful red pen!

BPOV

"Come on, Bells!" Seth whined as I marched into the Douro Community Centre. "I said I was sorry! I don't get why you're so mad!"

"Yeah, Seth was just helping!" Brady added.

"You don't get an opinion," I snapped at Brady before turning to Seth. "And you need to mind your business."

"Alright, kids," Charlie interjected, coming between us with his cop swagger followed closely by Sue. "What happened?"

"Your son gave my phone number to a random guy," I growled, arms crossed and scowl firmly on my face.

"Seth!" Our parents scolded simultaneously before Charlie continued. "Have I taught you nothing? You don't give personal information to a stranger!"

"It's not like that!" Seth huffed. "It wasn't a stranger; it was Edward Masen!"

Charlie and Sue looked between the two of us in disbelief, expecting one of us to refute the claim. When we didn't, Dad piped back up. "Well, you still had no right to slip your sister's phone number to him during the meet and greet last night."

"It wasn't last night! It was after he took us to brunch this morning," Seth announced smugly.

Our parents looked at me shocked, but all I could do was nod in confirmation. "Um, well…" Charlie cleared his throat. "We can talk about this later. Seth, you need to get changed." He turned and led Seth and his friends through the doors to the rink while Sue and I went upstairs to grab our traditional arena hot chocolate, nachos, and candy - Malteesers for her, Sour Keys for me.

"Bella," Jacob Black greeted me as we leaned against the snack bar. "Still looking fine as fuck. When are you gonna go out with me?"

"If it isn't my favourite advertisement for birth control," I smiled sweetly as I grabbed my items. "I'll go out with you when vampires can tan." I turned and walked away with a giggling Sue, heading to the bleachers to take our seats, leaving Jacob standing confused.

"So, you want to talk about it?" She asked once we were in our seats.

"What? Jacob? I don't think he knows vampires can't tan," I stated, ignoring her actual questions.

She laughed and shook her head. "No, not about that moron. Edward Masen."

"What's there to say?" I shrugged. "Seth gave my number to him."

"After brunch, apparently." She gave me a questioning cocked eyebrow. "I didn't think they included brunch the next day in Seth's prize package."

"It wasn't…" I mumbled. I ended up spilling everything to Sue - the gross comments worthy of Jacob, the apology, and his invitation to dinner. "But I don't think I'll go," I ended firmly. "I'm not really looking for a relationship."

Sue sighed and took my hand. "Bella, when I lost Harry, I thought my world was over. I always said he had been the love of my life, and he was gone. My plan was to just focus on Leah for the rest of my life." A small smile crept up her face. "So, when she dragged me to meet her junior buddy, I didn't expect that she was also dragging me to the second love of my life." I can't help but smile, remembering that night at North Shore PS. "The point is love doesn't always wait for convenience. Now, if you're not interested in Edward, that's one thing. But if you are, you owe it to both of you to keep the door open. Even if it's only ajar." We shared a hug as Legend by The Score started playing on the tinny arena PA signaling the entrance of the Wolves. "I hope you're not hockey-ed out. The game's about to start." We turned to face the ice as Sue transformed into the perfect Hockey Mom.

Later that night, I was back in my bedroom after a whirlwind couple of days. I was attempting to refocus on my school work, but was easily pulled away when my phone chimed.

see? i told you i'd text before calling. hope seth's game went well!

Maybe the guy deserved a fair shot…

Once spring break was over, time flew by in a rush of activity. As I predicted, classes got more stressful as we neared the end of our undergraduate careers. Combined with work and the Leafs being on the road for the last two and a half weeks, I still hadn't taken Edward up on his invitation to dinner, not that it stopped him from messaging with me regularly, as well as a few conversations on the phone. Thankfully, he took my threat about calling while studying seriously and only did so with permission. It had become almost routine for him to send me a text every morning, usually with a photo attached. His photos from the West Coast were beautiful, but this morning's had just been a photo of the tarmac at Newark Airport with a message saying "glad to get out of jersey - devils fans not happy about last night"

Unfortunately, I had little time to talk today. After a busy day of classes, I met up with Leah and Angela at the library to get some work done. I had a major test coming up in Financial Markets and Institutions, while Ang was deep in an assignment for Advanced Latin and Leah worked on her thesis project. My focus was solely on Pension Funds when Leah kicked me under the table. "Ow! What the fuck?" I scowled, rubbing my shin.

"Your phone keeps vibrating, and it's getting on my nerves," she growled in a low voice. "Can you just check it?"

I mumbled out an apology before opening my phone to a thread of messages from Edward.

you'll never guess what i got today

it's only been my dream since i first got my driver's license

The next message was a photo of a silver sports car.

i can't wait to take her out on the road

isn't she beautiful? the second most beautiful thing i can think of

Chuckling at his barrage of messages and goofy grin while posing with his car, I typed out my reply.

Second most beautiful?

It didn't take long to get a reply.

i was wondering when you'd reply ;)

I couldn't help the blush that crept up on my face.

Well, she's exquisite. While you're out joyriding, I'll be stuck studying in the Bata Library.

why don't you take a drive with me?

I rolled my eyes at his latest message.

In case you forgot, you're in Toronto. I'm in Peterborough. There's two hours between us.

I put down my phone and dove back into my textbook, but it vibrated once more.

but what if there isn't?

Shocked, I looked up and scanned the open area. Surely, there was no way he was actually in the library. Right?

"Bella?" Angela asked delicately. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it was just this last message…" I sighed out loud and passed her my phone. Leah had already been told the entire story when she got back from Iceland.

As she scrolled through, her eyes grew. "Damn… it looks like this guy has the hots for you. Why didn't you tell me about him?"

"There's not a lot to tell," I murmured. "We met in Toronto during spring break and have been texting back and forth." Oh, and he's one of the most famous hockey players in the country. Not that I said that out loud.

Leah hunched in closely so we could keep our voices low. "Do you think he's actually here? Now?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. He only just found out I'm in the library. I can't see him driving all the way out here when he doesn't know where I live or anything."

"Unless he was planning to drive this way anyway, and hoped you'd take pity on him when he said he was close by," a familiar velvety voice interjected from behind me. Angela and Leah looked up; their eyes as wide as saucers. I turned around slowly to see the tall figure of Edward Masen, disguised in a pair of sunglasses and a faded black hat, his ever-present crooked smile etched on his face. "But then he lucked out when you told him exactly where you were."

"Edward!" I exclaimed in a hush. "What are you doing here?"

"I told you, I wanted to take my new car out for a drive. It just made sense to come up here. You know, this library's way different from the ones at BC." He plopped into the seat beside me. "Oh! I'm sorry! I'm being rude. Edward Masen." He grinned and held his hand out to Ang and Leah, both accepting the handshake and introducing themself slack-jawed. "So, you want to take a ride with me?"

"I can't, I'm studying," I explained.

Angela snorted. "You know that material better than anyone. Go, before you distract us more."

"Well… what about my car?" I added, unsure.

"We pooled," Leah stated and held out her hand for the key. "I'll take it home, you go… enjoy yourself." She gave me a sly smirk.

I looked over at Edward, who had a wide smile on his face. "No excuses. So, will you go for a drive with me? We can grab some dinner, I'm sure you've been too focused to eat anything."

"It's true," Angela piped up unhelpfully. "All she had was a banana."

"You can't survive on that!" He stood up and held out his hand. "Come on, let's get you some actual food."

I sighed in defeat and stood up, shoving my books in my bag. "Fine, but I'm paying this time," I stated, swinging my backpack on my shoulder.

"We'll see," he shrugged and took my hand leading me out of the library.

"I can't believe you drove all the way up here," I stated, trying to mask the awe in my voice.

He stopped and turned to me, looking me deep in the eyes. "I told you there was a way to make it work. This is me proving it."

I was stunned silent and continued to follow him out to the parking lot where his brand new silver sports car stood out like a sore thumb amongst all the many years old economical cars in the lot.

"So, this is the dream car?" I asked as he unlocked the doors.

"Yep, a 2018 Aston Martin Vanquish S. Isn't she beautiful?" He sighed as he opened the passenger door.

"Sure," I nodded, climbing into the passenger seat. Honestly, I really know nothing about cars but it looks nice. Once Edward climbed in, I directed him to a favourite late-night spot, then asked, "So, why this car?"

"Why not this car?" He shrugged. "It's gorgeous."

"I'll admit, I don't know cars. What's so different about this from any other sports car? And before you give me its stats, those mean nothing to me with cars."

"I thought you were all about stats," he grinned and pulled out of the parking lot, one hand on the wheel and the other casually holding mine over the console. "When I was fifteen, my dad celebrated twenty-five years of his firm being in business. He always loved James Bond, but his favourite movie was Die Another Day, so when he hit his silver anniversary, he celebrated with a silver Vanquish, like Bond drove. I adored that car, but my dad never let me drive it." He looked over at me and shrugged. "For good reason, why would you let a sixteen-year-old who just got their licence to drive a three hundred-thousand-dollar car?"

"You spent three hundred THOUSAND dollars on a car?" I choked out in shock. That was more than my parents' house cost when they first bought it!

"Nah, they stopped making the Vanquish, so this one's used. It cost one-fifty," he explained casually.

"So, you bought this because your dad never let you drive his?" I asked bewildered. There had to be more to the story than that.

"Not exactly," he sighed. "Growing up, my parents wanted me to be well-rounded. My mom wanted me in music lessons, so I learned piano. My dad wanted me in sports, so I played hockey in the winter and baseball in the summer. I was a decent baseball player, but I was a better hockey player." He looked over at me with a smirk that made me roll my eyes before encouraging him to continue. "Anyway, the better I got at hockey, the more I focused on that. My mom still encouraged piano lessons, but I ended up dropping baseball for hockey summer training camps. When I got recruited by Boston College in my sophomore year of high school, my dad was thrilled!"

"Wait, they recruited you that early? That's, like, grade ten, right? Wouldn't you still have two years left in high school?"

He laughed loudly. "The NCAA is a lot more intense than Canadian university leagues. I had to keep my high school GPA to a certain standard, but as long as I did, they gave me a full ride for college. It's not out of the norm, really." He shook his head before continuing. "Anyway, when I played high school hockey well enough to get into a prestigious school, my dad was thrilled. However, when an NHL scout offered me a spot in the 2016 draft, he was less thrilled. He didn't argue, since so many people get invited, but not everyone gets drafted. Even those that do, some of them never see professional ice time. As long as it didn't impede my path to law school, he could live with it." He groaned and started stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. "When I said law school was the backup plan, I really meant it was my dad's plan. The Leafs called me to training camp the summer before junior year, and he was pissed. And when they offered me a spot on the Marlies' starting roster, he was furious! Kept yelling about how I was throwing away my future, it was a mess." He let out another deep sigh before continuing. "He said a lot of shit to me that night, but I will always remember standing in the garage. I was throwing everything I could into my old Volvo, just wanting to get away. He knew how much I loved his Vanquish, and just started yelling and pointing, telling me I'd never own one if I threw away my future. I didn't even reply, I just hopped in my car and sped off. But I promised myself I would own one of these one day."

"So, you spent over a hundred thousand dollars just to prove something?" I asked.

"It wasn't just to prove something," He insisted, but I wasn't buying it. "Okay, yes, but it was to prove it to myself. And really, I have always loved this car."

"Well, it is a nice car," I conceded. "Right turn here." I pointed to a small building.

"Baba's Bistro?" Edward snorted. "This is not the type of place I thought I'd take you on our first date."

"Who said anything about a date?" I teased. "You just said you wanted to show me your new car and feed me. This place has some of my favourite Middle Eastern food."

"You're a tricky one, Swan. But this means I still get to impress you with a first date," He laughed. I tried to suppress the blush creeping up my face but was unsuccessful, so I just jumped out of the parked car instead. "Seth mentioned you like sailing." He nodded toward the marina across the street. "Is that how you found this place?"

"No, I work in the bank over there." I pointed towards the plaza on the other side. "We have a public boat launch about a minute away from our house. That was my dad's key selling feature when they bought the house. Anyway, I thought you promised me food."

He waved his hand dramatically. "Lead the way." With a nod, I started walking into my favourite shawarma place, however, I was suddenly doubting my decision. This guy bought a six-figure car just to prove a point, and I brought him to Baba's Bistro? What was I thinking? I tried to hide my instant worry as we entered, greeted immediately by a familiar face.

"Bella!" The owner Amun greeted me joyfully. "The usual?"

"Hey, Amun! Yes, please. But with lemonade today." I confirmed.

"Good girl, you drink too much caffeine," He scolded and turned to Edward. "And your friend?"

"What's the usual?" Edward asked.

"Chicken shawarma with rice, salad, and potatoes."

He nodded and quickly scanned the menu. "The same with lamb, please. And just a bottle of water."

"See, Bella? He hydrates! Listen to the man!" Amun scolded me. He confirmed our orders and started carving meat off the spits and placing it on the grill. "How have you been? Too busy to see me?"

"I'm sorry, Amun," I grinned. "School's been hectic; I've only worked weekends lately. I saw Benji this past weekend. He said Tia's close to her due date."

"Yes, yes, almost time. Kebi's been running around like a madwoman getting ready for hafeedi." He scooped the meat off the grill and put it into takeout containers before adding the rest of the items. "Your friend here. Does he like olives?"

I looked up at Edward, willing him to answer. "Yeah, I'm good with olives," He replied, looking like he was trying to get his bearings.

Once our containers were full, we made it to the front register. "Okay, that'll be 30.46." I went to reach for my wallet, but before I could get it out, Edward had already handed his card to Amun.

"I told you I was paying," I scowled.

"And I said we'll see. Apparently not," Edward grinned.

"Let the man pay," Amun urged. "You work too hard. Someone needs to treat you." He handed the card back to Edward. "You kids enjoy your meal. Take care of this one," He warned Edward and left to go back into the kitchen.

I looked around the small space awkwardly and started biting my lip. "There isn't really much sitting space in here…"

"We could just take my car over to that marina," He suggested.

"You'd be okay with eating in your brand-new dream car?"

"I trust you," He smiled and nodded towards the door. With no choice, I followed him outside and hopped back in the passenger seat to make the quick trip across the street to the marina.

Once we stopped, I handed Edward back his container and cutlery. "Now, I should warn you," I started. "This is my favourite Middle Eastern place, but there aren't a lot of options around here. I'm sure you've had way better than this."

"I bet it's as good as any I've had," He assured me. "I love the small mom-and-pop type places. They're way more authentic. Actually, it reminded me of one of my favourite Greek places." He took a bite of the shawarma and moaned. "And this is great."

"I'm glad you like it," I smiled, feeling relieved. "What's the Greek place called?"

He swallowed the bite of food in his mouth, making his Adam's apple bob, and took a sip of his water. I couldn't stop watching his mouth and throat the whole time. "Mykonos Kitchen," he said, knocking me out of my stupor. "It's on the Danforth in Toronto. Demitri's parents own it."

"I'll have to check it out," I said, looking down at my food.

"I'd love to take you there sometime," He offered. "So, how's class been going?"

We spent the next couple of hours talking about school and his road trip, as well as comparing growing up in a small town to his growing up in Chicago. No matter what, there were no awkward pauses in the conversation; it just kept flowing until our shawarma got cold. I didn't even realize how late it was until the centre console caught my eye. "Oh, God! I didn't realize it was getting late!" I exclaimed. "We should head back, my test is at eight."

He looked down at the clock as well in surprise. "Damn, time flies! I should get you home, I've got to be up early too," he sighed regretfully as he started up the ignition.

"I thought you didn't play again until the weekend?" I asked, curiously.

"Have you been checking out our game schedule, Miss Swan?" he asked teasingly. Okay, maybe I'd checked it once or twice… "That blush is adorable. But you're right. Carlisle just likes to get in long practices when we have this much time off. We're starting at six tomorrow."

"Six AM? I'll barely be awake then!"

"Same, but Carlisle still expects us to go all out on the ice," he chuckled. "Anyway, I'm in town until next Friday. I'd love to see you again. Maybe take you out on a second date."

"Second? I thought we agreed this wasn't a date."

He shook his head, "You agreed, and I went along with it, but we had a meal and we got to know each other. This was one of the best dates of my life," he beamed.

"When you put it that way…" I shrugged casually, but I was sure my smile and blush gave me away. "But I don't want to make you drive two hours again, I'll come out to Toronto. What's your schedule like?"

"Killer practice tomorrow, smaller one Friday. Then games every other day from Saturday to next Friday. You?"

"Class and work tomorrow, work Friday and Saturday, off Sunday. Then a mixture of classes and work next week," I stated, running through my schedule in my head. I knew I should put in some study time on Sunday, but it seemed like our only mutual day. If he was trying, so should I. "I'll need to make sure Leah doesn't need the car, but I could come down Sunday."

"If she does, I'm more than happy to come back here," he offered.

I shook my head. "That's not fair to you. If she needs the car, I'll get her to drop me off at the train or something." And I could use the ride to get some studying done and not feel guilty about it.

"If you're sure…" he breathed out. "But if you want to change it up, let me know."

"It'll be fine," I smiled. "You just need to plan something to impress me. It'll be hard to beat takeout shawarma."

"I think I can manage," he laughed. "Just get ready for the time of your life."

"Are you going to tell me what you're thinking?" I asked, biting my lip.

"Nope," he replied popping the p.

"That's not fair," I pouted. "How will I know how to dress?"

"I'll let you know once I confirm everything," he winked at me. I spent the rest of the ride trying to get a hint out of him, but he was like a vault and let nothing out.

When we finally pulled up in front of my house, I was suddenly nervous again. I liked my family home, but it's nothing spectacular. Of course, the familiar black Ford F-150 did nothing to quell my nerves, and I let out a groan.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked, concerned.

I pointed to the truck. "That means Leah's boyfriend, Sam is here. He'll either distract her from the inquisition or he'll assist her. Either way, probably best if I don't invite you in."

He let out a barking laugh. "That's fine, I should get home anyway," He confirmed. I nodded and went to get out of the car before he stopped me and jumped out. He confused me until he came around to my side and opened the door. I took his offered hand as I stepped out and grabbed my backpack in the other hand before he led me up the walkway.

"Well, this is it," I said nervously, biting my lip as we approached the door.

"It's nice," he said sincerely, looking at the grey wood house with a red roof and door. "It feels like a proper family home."

"We do our best," I smiled. Suddenly, the air around us felt heavy, but not unpleasant.

"I had an amazing time tonight, Bella," he breathed, looking me deep in the eyes. "Thank you for giving me a chance."

"Thank you for earning it," I replied, smiling back at him. "I'm looking forward to Sunday."

"Me too," he murmured, his eyes drifting down to my lips. "You have no idea…"

"I think I do…" I replied breathlessly. I couldn't help but look at his pouty lips. Did he want to kiss me? Did I want to kiss him?

"I know you said this wasn't a date, but…" he started before leaning down and placing his lips softly on mine. It was a delicate kiss, as soft as a whisper, but full of promises of things to come. As he pulled away, I couldn't help the smile on my face. "That was better than I could have imagined."

"Yeah, I get that," I sighed out. "I'll see you Sunday, Edward."

"I'll talk to you before then," he promised, and I knew he would keep to his word.