Hope you guys like it.

Early Saturday morning, Emmett invited me out to meet him at the gym. Having nothing else to, I agreed.

"Is there a reason for dragging me out of bed at this unholy hour?" I grumbled, sitting next to Emmett on the bench in the men's locker room.

He shrugged. "Rosalie's PMSing, Cait's sleeping over at the parents, I need to let out some aggression."

I shook my head. I would never understand Emmett and Rosalie's relationship, not that I really wanted to anyway.

"You guys are nuts. I swear I don't know how you've made it this long."

"I know, man. Don't I know it." We stood up and I followed him out of the locker room to the weight room.

"Anyway, what's going on with you? Any more luck on Match Finder?" Emmett asked, his loud voice carrying to the few other guys by us.

"Can you keep it down? I don't need everyone in here knowing my business." I looked around the room, my gaze catching a few others.

"Yeah, yeah. But what's going on? Meeting any ladies? What about that chick you were hung up on last week?"

I put my earbuds in. "Look, did we come here to workout, or did you just want to gossip like a couple of old ladies?"

Emmett's hands went up in surrender. "Damn. Still touchy. Maybe you're PMSing too. Fine, I'll back off for now just because I don't need to hear any more bitching. But I can't wait to meet her."

Yeah, right. I intended to keep Emmett away from Bella as long as possible.

0-0

The weekend passed fairly quickly. Saturday night, I went out with a couple of friends for drinks, Eric and Mike. When their attempts at getting me to hook up with a woman who had been eying me from where she stood at the bar failed, they began nagging me for information.

"There's gotta be a chick. That girl over there is smokin' and can't stop staring at you and you're turning her down? You're a fool." Eric scoffed.

I glanced discreetly over at the the woman. Yeah, she was hot, in that overtly sexual way. Tall, blonde and leggy. In the past I might have entertained the idea, but not now. Now, I couldn't get my mind off of a short brunette.

"I'm seeing someone, alright? Help me out here, man." I looked at Mike, who was nursing his beer, his eyes fixed on his phone.

Mike and Eric and I, along with Tyler, who was spending the evening with his girlfriend, had been buddies since college.

After a somewhat nasty divorce, Mike recently began dating Jessica while Tyler had been dating the same woman, Lauren, for years.

Eric was determined to hold on tight to his bachelor playboy lifestyle.

"Oh, if you're seeing someone, maybe we could get together, do a triple date or something," Mike suggested, ignoring the angry glare from Eric.

I didn't think that Lauren and Jessica would necessarily get along well with Bella, I didn't shrug off the idea. Introducing her to my group of friends and by extension, their girlfriends, was just another step closer to the big introduction, my family.

"Yeah sure, we could do that sometime."

"I need to get myself some single friends," Eric muttered.

I laughed and nudged him. "Hey, you can come too. Maybe our monogamy will rub off on you, right? Crazier things have happened."

0-0

On Sunday night, I sat on the couch by myself, watching TV, when the phone rang.

"Are you having fun at home, baby?" I greeted Bella.

After making small talk, she told me that her stepmom asked about me.

I asked how it went. "It wasn't bad. Sue's pretty cool about things. She's more concerned about how my dad will take it."

"He'll take it badly, I assume?" I already knew the answer to that one, but asked anyway.

"I think he'll take it badly at first, but he'll warm up to you. I hope."

I laughed. Bella couldn't even make it sound like she believed herself. "Wow, that's comforting, Bella."

"Hey, it's better than nothing! Sue thought that it would be a good idea for you to come to Forks. To meet him. Maybe it would soften the blow? God, I know everything is moving so fast. This is probably freaking you out. I'm sorry. Now I'm rambling. Great."

I could picture her, a look of embarrassment on her face. I couldn't disagree when she said we were moving fast, but that's just how it progressed.

"No, no. Everything about us is really unconventional anyway, Bella. Don't worry about me meeting your dad. I'm fine with it. Unless you think it's too soon for me to, or you don't want me to just yet. I understand." I tried to calm her fears. Sure, I wasn't looking forward to meeting her dad. I don't think any guy did, regardless of their age.

"Okay. I think I'll tell him next weekend? I might go to Forks for a visit. Just to get it over with," she mused out loud.

"Geez, Bella. Tell me how you really feel!" I teased her.

"Sorry, sorry. I just can't really imagine the conversation going very smoothly."

"I could always go with you, if you'd like?" I wanted to take the words back as soon as I said them. What was I thinking? I didn't think her dad would be too pleased to find out about me and meet me all in the same day.

"Nah, that's okay. I think if I give him time to process it and Sue to help him get used to the idea. Then you can come over. Thanks for asking though."

"Of course." Yes, I was being a chickenshit, but I couldn't hold back a tiny sigh of relief, hoping Bella hadn't heard it.

She changed the subject then and when I mentioned my tattooes, Bella's interest piqued.

From the way her voice came out a little breathier, I dared to guess she was….turned on?

Before the conversation could take on a more interesting and undoubtedly inappropriate turn, Chester began whining and pawing at me, needing to go outside.

After asking her to call me when she got back the next day, I hung up.

It was for the best, anyway. Bella was inexperienced, not that I minded, but engaging in a round of phone sex probably wasn't the best way to have our first sexual experience.

Not that I had thought about it, running a play by play in my mind of how it would go.

What she would look like in lingerie. Naked.

I shook my head, clearing it of those thoughts, the act doing nothing to abate the tent in my sweats.

"Come on Chester, maybe we'll go for a run instead."

0-0

The next afternoon, Bella called to let me know she got home safely.

Much to my pleasure, she suggested we get dinner, just as eager to see me as I was her.

"Dinner sounds good. Do you want to come over tonight at 7? We could order in and watch a movie or something." I felt greedy. I wanted her all to myself tonight, without the crowd of a restaurant.

Bella readily agreed.

"Sure, dinner."

Thanks Tropical Sorbet for motivating me to get this written entirely today. Go check out her story, Edroar The Angry Lion inspire her to write, too! (or beg/plead/whine).

See you next time.