One

*Edward*

*Eight Months Earlier; November*

Taking a deep breath and shaking out my free hand, I bounced a little on the balls of my feet before I tightened my other hand around the handle of my briefcase and pushed through the heavy wooden door into the extremely bright and cheerful waiting room.

There were toys, magazines and coloring books spread out around the room in what I could only imagine was an attempt to calm whatever children would be there throughout the day. The front desk was separated from all of it by a thick plastic barrier and there were already two girls sitting behind it, both of them laughing as they seemed to get everything in order for the day, completely oblivious to me until the door slammed.

They both looked up, their smiles still firmly in place as they stopped what they were doing to stare at me.

I shifted uncomfortably, peeling my coat off my shoulders and hanging it on the rack I'd spotted behind the door before grabbing my briefcase again and making my feet move across the red and yellow-zigzagged carpet to walk up to them.

I hated first days with a passion. I hadn't had to deal with one for the past three years of my life and it hadn't occurred to me at the time that I'd be forced to deal with this.

The staring, the whispers, the speculation that came with being the new guy in the office and the constant wondering about my personal life.

Not that I had one of those anymore. Moving to a new place where I didn't know anyone, they didn't know me and they definitely didn't know my parents made things ten times easier if anyone cared to ask about me.

I had no life and I intended to keep it that way for quite some time.

The girl with the jet-black hair and fierce blue eyes shoved open the sliding portion of the partition and rested her elbow on the grey counter space in front of her, smiling brightly at me.

"You must be Edward," she chirped.

I swallowed hard and nodded.

Great. They'd heard about me. I didn't really want to think about what they'd heard. Sure, I'd only told Carlisle the basic facts, but it didn't mean that he hadn't blabbed everything all over the entire office. He'd clearly said that almost everyone was very close to each other.

"That's me," I nodded, finally making it to the counter and placing my hands on the small ledge to keep myself from bolting. "Carlisle said to come in a little early."

"I'm Alice," she stated, sticking her hand over the counter and through the open space. I took it and smiled nervously, shaking her hand and quickly dropping it. "And this is Angela."

"Nice to meet the both of you."

"Come on through the door," Angela stated, her long brown hair falling into her face when she nodded toward another thick wooden door at my right.

I smothered a chuckle as she slapped at it and grumbled something about someone named Ben stealing all of her hair ties this morning. I turned and pushed through the door, looking around and tentatively taking a step to my left. Another counter was there, along with another door and I nearly jumped out of my skin when it opened.

Fuck, Edward. Breathe, dude.

"They haven't gotten your office finished yet," Alice declared, walking over to me and handing me a lanyard with a laminated white card at the end of it. "But they've set up a little area back here for you to use in the mean time."

I nodded, slipping the lanyard over my head as I followed her down the narrow hallway and through a doorway. The room we were standing in was clearly an office supply room; a copier was in the corner, a fax machine was on a counter full of papers, files and extra supplies and it was about as big as my car. And over in the corner, next to the copier, was a tiny space of the wall-length counter that was completely cleared off with a low blue chair pushed in underneath it.

"It's really not much of an office at all," Alice sighed heavily, shaking her head as if it was physically hurting her. "But they refused to let me near it. Esme said your office would be finished by the end of the week so that's something to look forward to, isn't it?"

I looked over at her and offered a small smile, chuckling lightly and tightening my hand around my suitcase handle again.

It was going to be a long fucking week.

"Tanya Azeart will be the nurse that works most with you," she sighed heavily, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure she'll make herself known to you as soon as she comes in this morning."

I didn't like the sound of that. I'd dealt with my fair share of the office crazies and I'd really hoped to avoid all of that this time. This was a pediatrician's office and I'd been practically begging any higher power last night that I wouldn't have to deal with someone like that ever again.

Once had been more than enough in my lifetime.

"Bella will be handling most of your calls, appointments and cases. She works up front with us."

"Bella?" I asked dimly, still staring sadly at the small space that was my office for the next week.

A tiny little piece of counter space was supposed to be my damn office for the next week. I wouldn't even be able to look at a file without hitting my elbow on the damn copy machine.

"She's not here yet." Alice cleared her throat and I looked over at her, watching as she fidgeted and shifted her weight on her feet. "She's going to be a little late this morning."

I raised an eyebrow at her obvious discomfort but let it go and nodded.

The last thing I needed to hear about was drama. And if this Bella person was the main cause of it, I would stay as far away from her as I could.

I wanted to be normal damn it. No more drama, no more issues; just a happy, blissful life doing something that I loved and surrounded by the people Carlisle assured me were like family to him.

"There's coffee and muffins in the break room if you'd like some and we all go out to lunch at Jared's. It's a small diner right across the road so if you'd like to come with us today, you're more than welcome to."

I smiled at her and nodded again, licking my lips.

"Thank you, Alice."

"No problem, Edward. Carlisle will be here in about twenty minutes so if there's anything you'd like to put away…" She trailed off as she motioned to my little corner and I watched as she twisted her lips to the side. "On second thought, just follow me."

She turned on her heel and I followed her back down the hallway and back into the front office, watching as Angela moved her feet from Alice's blue chair and picked the paper off a muffin.

"Do you like your hole?" Angela asked brightly before taking a bite out of her muffin.

Alice laughed loudly, plopping back into her seat and motioning to the extra one next to her. I set my briefcase down and carefully pulled the chair out, sitting down into it as if I might break it if I applied my full weight to it.

"I… adore it," I said through my teeth, nodding at her.

She threw her head back and laughed, shaking her head and brushing crumbs off her shirt.

"I saw a few plans for the new office they were remodeling for you," Alice started, reaching forward and grabbing the bottle of water that was sitting in front of her, "and from what I can tell, it's going to be gorgeous. They're doing quite a bit to impress you, you know."

She tipped the end of the bottle at me before screwing off the top and lifting it to her lips.

"So where are you from again?" Angela asked, leaning forward to peer around Alice and look at me.

"Chicago," I said quietly, shifting uncomfortably in the chair and looking around on the desk space in front of me.

There weren't any personal effects at all and compared to Alice's little space – which had everything ranging from pens with little tufts of feathers spouting out of the top to crazy stickers attached to her computer monitor – it was almost barren. Except for one picture in a simple black frame.

An attractive brown-eyed girl with long brown hair was wrapped up in a blonde man's arms, smiling brightly while he had his face buried into her neck. She'd been laughing; her cheeks were tinged pink and she looked the epitome of absolute happiness.

"That's a hell of a change, isn't it?" Alice stated.

I looked back at her and shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess."

"What made you come to Forks of all places?" Angela asked, tearing off a piece of her muffin and popping it into her mouth.

"I needed a change," I said quickly, sucking in a deep breath.

"Well, I believe you've accomplished that," Alice stated, nodding her head as she screwed the top of her water bottle back on.

I let out the breath and nodded, smiling appreciatively at her. I don't know if she knew that I didn't want to talk about it or if she'd just run out of things to say, but the less that I had to talk about my old life, the better off I felt.

"Yes," I said quietly.

We all looked up as the main door opened and I immediately recognized Carlisle. From the short interview that I'd had with him a few days ago, it was easy to feel comfortable with him. He was nearing forty and you'd never believe it. Either his life wasn't at all stressful or he'd managed to find a plastic surgeon that could work wonders. He shrugged his coat off his shoulders, hanging it up before turning to the front desk.

"Edward!" he bellowed, smiling as he walked up to the counter and leaned comfortably on it. "Good morning, girls. How's everything going?"

"Very well," Angela chirped, popping another piece of the muffin into her mouth. "Just getting to know Edward a bit."

"Don't believe a word that they've said, Edward. It's all bull," he said quickly.

I managed a nervous laugh, my gaze shifting to the framed picture on the desk again.

Something about it just didn't make sense. When Alice had been talking about this Bella person – and I assumed it was her in the picture – she'd seemed nervous and a little on edge. But the girl in the photo looked happy and completely content with her life. It was a complete contradiction and for the life of me, I couldn't understand why it even mattered to me.

"All right, well, come on into my office and we'll get everything set up for you today. I've given you a few patients for the day. Not too many," he stated, disappearing from the counter and walking through the other door.

I stood up, nodding my head and smiling at the girls before grabbing my briefcase. Carlisle opened the office door, poking his head in.

"See you soon, ladies."

They said their goodbyes and I quickly walked out of the front office, following Carlisle down the hallway and toward what I assumed was his personal office. We'd had our interview at a local coffee shop so that he wouldn't be interrupted and it had made things a bit easier for me. I hadn't had to impress anyone else but him that day and it was nice to feel comfortable instead of being gawked at upon arriving and leaving the office.

He pushed through a frosted glass door with his name written in black letters on the front and held the door for me. I quickly walked in ahead of him, looking around at the dark paneled walls decorated with his degrees and pictures of whom I assumed were his wife and his children. The carpet was grey, the desk was huge and shined to perfection, the chairs seemed like you could fall asleep in them and everything was just… homey.

"I assume Alice showed you what is passing as your office for the week?" he asked, wincing a little as he set his briefcase down on the desk and looked at me.

"It's fine," I lied, laughing nervously and slowly walked over to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"My wife, Esme, is in charge of the whole thing. We'd taken a vacation for a few days to go visit some family and apparently, the workers thought that they could take a vacation, too." He sighed heavily and shook his head, sitting down in his wing-backed chair and motioning for me to do the same. "I believe she's sending over a basket of her homemade oatmeal raisin cookies for you later today in apology. You like oatmeal raisin, right?"

I nodded as I sat down.

"It's not necessary. I don't mind, really."

"She won't leave you alone until you accept the cookies and her apology, Edward. Trust me," he said, smirking as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the edge of the desk. "Don't make things more difficult for yourself."

I nodded my acceptance and finally let go of the handle on my briefcase, letting it fall to the carpet with a dull thud. Security blanket; gone.

"Now," he started, clapping his hands once and flicking open the buckles on his briefcase, "I've chosen a few of our regular patients for you to see today. Just as a warm up."

He pulled out a few files and snapped his briefcase closed, moving it to the floor before leaning over and handing the files to me.

"They're mostly just regular check ups and they're all pretty accepting of everyone that we have working here. There is one, though," he started, his voice low. "His mother is very… protective and feels that she knows what's better for him."

I looked up at him to see his head tilted to the side.

"We're just doctors," he smirked, "what do we know?"

"So why does she bring him here if she thinks she knows?" I asked, tentatively opening up the first file and looking through the chart.

"Her husband is more relaxed and laid back; believes in us more than she does. But he's a lawyer and she doesn't work."

I nodded, biting the inside of my mouth before flipping through the rest of the files, doing my best to try to familiarize myself with their medical history in a short amount of time.

"Bella will be the one handling all of your appointments and such. She'll be in at eleven today and I believe your first appointment isn't until twelve-fifteen. You'll want to check in with her just to make sure."

I nodded again, looking up at him briefly to see that his jaw was clenched tightly and his eyes were directed at a spot on the wall above my head.

All right then.

"Let's give you the tour, shall we?" he asked, abruptly standing up and clapping his hands again.

I eyed him as he rounded the desk and walked to the door. Shaking my head and wondering what in the fuck I'd gotten myself in to, I snapped the files closed, grabbed my briefcase once again and stood up to follow him out into the hallway.

Long fucking week, hell, it was going to a long fucking day.

~*~

By the time eleven-thirty rolled around, I'd memorized every single little decoration lining the walls of the hallway, had figured out the easiest way to get to the break room without being stopped, had met Tanya who had followed me around for the better portion of the morning, and had finally gotten the standard white lab coat that Carlisle had forgotten to give to me earlier.

I was bored out of my fucking mind. Carlisle had his own patients to attend to, leaving me on my own until Tanya had found me around nine-thirty. She'd then proceeded to give me every single way to contact her should I ever need her for anything, and I'd spent a good ten minutes hiding in an empty exam room. Now I understood Alice's tone of voice and rolling her eyes when she'd told me about her.

Tanya might have been a future prospect of mine if she hadn't all but thrown herself at me the first chance she got. Her strawberry blonde hair was styled up into some strange twist with little pieces sticking out all over, her make-up looked as though one of our patients had done it and the skin tight scrubs with happy little kittens all over it were just not… right. On so many different levels.

Quickly looking around all the corners before I turned them, I made my way to the front office.

This Bella girl was supposed to be here now and she had all the information that I'd need for the day. If I was going to be coming to her and asking her about appointments and such, I needed to find her and meet her properly. A photo on a desk and everyone's tight-lipped reactions when they brought her up was a warning, not a proper meeting.

Bracing myself and squaring my shoulders as the door to the office came into my sight, I reached it and pushed through it. Alice and Angela were on one side of the office and who I assumed to be Bella was on the other side, quietly working away while the other two giggled and cooed over the newborns in the waiting room.

Angela looked over at me first, shooting me a bright smile.

"Hey, Edward! How's it going so far?" she asked, twirling around in her chair and sticking a pen cap in her mouth.

Alice twirled around as well, kicking her short legs out in front of her and crossing her ankles.

"Not too bad. I, uh… met Tanya."

Alice's eyes widened and she clapped her hands over her mouth, twisting around again so that her back was to me before she leaned on the counter.

I watched from the corner of my eye as Bella turned slightly in her chair, a flush staining her cheeks before she turned back.

"At least you're still in one piece," Angela said, nodding her head and coughing to cover up a laugh. "I don't see any lipstick marks on you. You made it off easy, Edward."

"I don't even want to know," I sighed, shaking my head and reaching up to run my hand through my hair.

"No, you really don't," I heard Bella grumble.

I looked over at her, met with the back of her head as she pushed what was probably an appointment book across the counter to me.

I shook my head and walked over to her side, looking down at the book marked with horrendous handwriting. I could almost feel her tense and I drew my eyebrows together.

What was with this girl?

"Everyone takes lunch at one," she said quietly, studiously staring at the file in front of her.

I nodded, trying to put patient names with the charts Carlisle had given to me earlier.

"Are you coming with us today, Bella?" Alice asked, her voice quiet and almost pleading.

"I actually brought lunch today. I'll probably just stay here and get caught up from this morning."

"I'll bring you back some coffee," Angela offered.

I looked back at them, wondering what in the hell had happened to the two women cooing and giggling and laughing with each other a few minutes ago. I saw them exchanging worried glances and barely suppressed the urge to roll my eyes.

Seriously, what the hell was going on?

Shaking my head again, I turned back to the appointment book.

Why the hell did it matter? I was here to work – not make the best of friends with my other co-workers.

"Thanks, Ang."

She finally looked up at me and the look in her eyes made me hurt.

Pain, sadness, and absolute heartbreak were etched into them and everything I'd previously been thinking about her vanished. People don't look that way with mere drama. No, they look that way when they've been dragged through the mud on the back of a four-wheeler and have lost all hope of ever surviving anything ever again.

I swallowed hard and looked down to see that she was handing me more files. Blinking at them, I stole another glance at the appointment book next to me and noticed that there were at least two more patients added to the ones I'd been informed of earlier.

"Carlisle's booked for today," she said quietly, her voice shaking a little bit. "There are only two more added on. I can uhm… I can change them. Switch them, if you want."

"No," I said just as quietly, shaking my head and reaching for the files.

Our fingertips brushed and she immediately snatched her hand away from me, quickly turning around and hiding behind her hair.

I tilted my head down at the files, my fingertips tingling a little from where we'd touched.

Huh. Weird.

"Tanya will usually have those for you, but since you're here…"

She was back to staring at something on her desk and I took a step backwards, nodding as I tapped my fingers against the folders.

"Okay."

I turned back to Angela and Alice, watching Alice chew nervously on her bottom lip and Angela fidget with her pen cap.

All right, this was just ridiculous. I didn't care. They were all protective of this little mouse with the heartbroken eyes, but I didn't care.

I was here to do a job. Not to care so much about why she had that haunted look in her eyes.

I didn't care.

"Thank you," I said, quickly turning on my heel and heading to the door. "See you two at lunch."

I walked as quickly as I could down the hallway, keeping my eyes fixed on the files in my hand as I made it to my makeshift office. Breathing a sigh of relief that a certain nurse hadn't spotted me, I walked over to the counter and slapped the files on top of the other ones I had resting there.

Nope. Didn't care.

~*~

By the time the day had ended, I was fucking exhausted. My last patient of the day had been the one that Carlisle had warned me about earlier this morning.

And fuck if he wasn't kidding about his mother.

I'd had to walk her through everything that I was about to do. If I so much as twitched in her son's direction, she was standing by his side and wrapping her arms around him, curling him into her as if I'd just brought out a chainsaw and planned on hacking his arms off.

Carlisle had merely snickered at me when I told him all of this, clapped me on the back and said that I had officially made it through my first day at the office. He'd left about twenty minutes later, spouting on about there definitely being more cookies at some point and telling me to head on home before I burned myself out too quickly.

I didn't have anyone to go home to like he did. There wasn't even anything interesting on television tonight – I'd checked out of boredom earlier this morning – and I was pretty sure my furniture wouldn't miss having my ass sitting on it.

That's all I'd been doing since I'd arrived last week. Sitting on my ass, watching television and fielding phone calls from my mother.

She had to keep up appearances, after all, and having her only son run away to some little hobunk town in Washington to get away from her wasn't something she really wanted to announce to her garden club friends.

Hell, I'd even spent Thanksgiving on the couch in front of the television as I ate one of the frozen dinners I'd picked up before getting settled into my apartment. I could've cooked myself a three course meal if I'd felt the need to, but had managed to convince myself that it was a form of rebellion that I hadn't been allowed to have in my early teens. Instead, I enjoyed the fuck out of my frozen turkey and cranberry sauce and had proudly marked it on the calendar as my own private Independence Day.

Maybe I should get out more.

Rubbing my forehead, I sighed heavily and shifted yet again in the chair. It would've been comfortable if it was anywhere near being the same height as the counter. But the chair was ten times lower to the ground and the counter was level with my neck. I couldn't count the number of times my arms had fallen asleep while I was trying to write the latest information in their charts. If I hit my elbow on the edge of the copier one more damn time, I was going to start screaming. As it was, I was positive that there would be a bruise there in a few hours.

Sighing heavily, I dropped my arms and barely managed to bite back the obscenities I wanted to scream out when I hit my elbow again. I'd been spot on about that prediction, at least.

Growling, I stood up and grabbed my things from the counter. Everyone else was gone for the day as far as I knew and damn it if I was going to torture myself in this small corner when there was an entire front desk at my disposal.

I walked out of the supply room and down the hallway, gently kicking the half-open door leading to the front desk. I almost dropped everything I had in my hands when I saw Bella still sitting in her chair, looking up at me.

"Uh," I started, looking over at the two empty chairs next to her. "Sorry."

She smirked and shook her head.

"S'okay."

Well, she seemed relaxed enough now. She was even looking at me for more than two seconds.

"Would you mind if I worked out here? My office," I drawled, surprised when I earned an amused snort from her, "isn't really comfortable."

"Not at all," she said easily, motioning over her shoulder with her right hand.

I noticed a small tattoo on the underside of her wrist when she moved and nodded my head, both in thanks and a little bit of awe. The meek, almost scared girl I'd seen earlier today hadn't seemed like the type to get a tattoo of any kind.

"Thanks."

She nodded at me, offering me a small smile before she turned back to whatever it was that she'd been doing before I'd interrupted.

I finally moved out of the doorway and walked over to the seat Angela had been sitting in this morning. Setting all of my crap down, I plopped into the chair and grabbed a pen from the yellow happy faced mug, playing with it and looking over at Bella.

"Why are you still here?" I blurted out, wincing a little.

Jackass, Edward.

"Making up time," she said easily, her back still to me as she reached for the coffee cup Angela had brought to her after lunch.

I made a face. That had to be disgusting by now.

"Oh."

I rolled my eyes at myself.

Brilliant, Edward.

"You?"

"Charts."

I watched as she threw the cup into a garbage can at her feet and pursed my lips.

Why was I talking to her? We both obviously had things we needed to do and I was trying to start a conversation?

Well, okay, in all fairness, I really hadn't talked to anyone aside from Carlisle during my interview in a week. At lunch, I couldn't shut up – and I'd tried – so maybe I was just starving for attention.

Yes. That had to be it. And just because the look I'd seen in her eyes earlier had haunted me all damn day, it didn't mean anything.

No more drama. Just stilted, awkward conversation with a girl I worked with.

"Oh," she replied.

I rolled my tongue over my teeth and nodded, turning in the chair slightly and looking down at my files again.

"How much time do you have to make up?" I asked, turning back in her direction and threading the pen through my fingers.

Worst fucking idea ever. I was never going to get anything done. I was never going to let her get anything done, either.

"Three hours."

"You're staying here for another three hours?"

"No." She shook her head and turned slightly towards me, grabbing a stack of brightly colored Post-Its off of Alice's desk before turning around again. "I'll spread it out during the week."

And you apparently won't be looking at me while you do it.

"Oh."

I turned back to my files again, still playing with the pen as I finally flipped one open and stared down at what I'd already written. I jumped when someone knocked on the open door and looked up to find Tanya standing there, grinning manically at me and licking her lips.

Fucking hell. Why the hell was she still here? Where the hell had she been hiding? Why in God's name did Carlisle and his wife need to go on vacation so that I didn't have a door to lock?

"How was your first day, Edward?" she asked, completely ignoring Bella as she flounced into the room and sat in Alice's vacant seat. "You're here kind of late, aren't you?"

"Stalking people again, Tanya?" Bella asked innocently as she turned in her chair, her eyes flitting over my face for a brief moment before she stood up and walked out of the room.

No. Come back. Please come back. She couldn't leave me alone with this woman. I hadn't done anything that horrible to her yet; why was she leaving? She couldn't just say something like that and then leave me here with her!

"Ignore her," Tanya muttered, glaring at the path Bella had taken. "It was a joke that got taken out of context. The charges were dropped."

"Uh huh," I mumbled, swallowing hard and watching as Bella reappeared in the lobby.

"So? How was it?"

I looked back at Tanya, vaguely remembering that she'd asked me a question, and shook my head to clear it a little, my grip tightening on the pen.

"It was good. I like it here."

"And just you wait!" she squealed, rolling her chair closer to mine and slapping her hands on my knees. "I'll show you all over town, Edward. You won't have to worry about a thing!"

"Just that pesky case of herpes you have, right, Tanya?" Bella shouted.

My eyes widened and I looked through the window at Bella to see that she was innocently spraying down the toys in the lobby and putting things in their proper places. If I hadn't actually heard her, I never would've known that she'd spoken.

"Not an issue right now!" Tanya snapped, her nails digging into my knees.

"I have to go," I said quickly, standing up and gathering my files once again.

"Why don't I show you some restaurants? We can talk," Tanya flirted, batting her eyes as she stood up and leaned a hip against the counter. "Get to know each other a little more."

"I, uhm…"

"So, are you ready?"

I looked up to see Bella had walked back in the room and was turning off her computer, her coat already on as she slung her little black purse over her shoulder and turned to face me once the screen had gone black.

"Excuse me?" Tanya asked dryly, whipping around to face her.

"I'm taking Edward to dinner." She said it so easily, so nonchalantly that I wasn't sure if she really meant it or not. "Neither of us has eaten since lunch and we're pretty hungry."

Tanya looked back at me and I quickly nodded, doing my best to smile apologetically at her.

"We've had it all planned out since this morning," I confirmed, nodding.

Tanya crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, glaring at Bella.

"Another time, then," she grumbled before stalking out of the office.

"Don't forget to set the alarm when you leave!" Bella yelled out behind her.

I looked over at Bella and blinked at her a few times.

"I hope you're ready to leave," she said quietly, looking down at her feet and crossing her arms over her chest. "She'll be watching."

I nodded dumbly and quickly walked into the hallway and down to my office. I shoved the files into my briefcase and turned back around, surprised to find Bella in the doorway.

Was she sure Tanya was the stalker?

"Have to keep up appearances," she offered as if she was able to read my mind. "Make it look like it's the truth."

"We can uhm… we can go somewhere. I am pretty…"

"I have plans," she said quickly, looking down at the floor and starting in the direction of the main lobby.

Right.

Shaking my head and huffing out a breath, I followed her, catching up to her as quickly as I could and walking beside her in silence as we reached the door. I motioned her to go first and followed behind her, staring at the back of her head as I slung my coat over my shoulders.

"Why is she staying later?" I asked as I grabbed my briefcase from where I'd set it down and reaching in front of her to pull the door open for her.

She flinched away from me when I got too close, quickly walking through the door and waiting for me to walk out behind her.

"Carlisle's asked her to stay a little later and clean up the patient rooms. Our normal cleaning crew just shut down and we haven't found another company just yet."

I nodded, fishing my car keys out of my coat pocket as we walked out of the main building and towards the parking lot.

"Oh."

Could I not think of something else to say?

We walked in silence and before we could part ways and go off to our respective cars, I stopped and waited for her to do the same.

"Thank you," I said awkwardly, jiggling the keys in my hand. "For… that."

She looked up at me briefly, avoiding eye contact as she smirked and nodded.

"You're welcome. See you tomorrow, Edward."

She turned away from me, walking over to the little red Dodge Neon I saw parked in the corner of the mostly empty parking lot and I licked my lips, shaking my head slowly as I covered the short distance to my Volvo and unlocked the door.

Plopping into the front seat, I closed the door and leaned forward, resting my forehead against the steering wheel as I blindly stuck the key in the ignition.

Well, I couldn't say that it hadn't been an interesting first day.

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