
“Bella, why aren’t you here with us?” he asked, slurring his words somewhat. Gavin had been a superb supervisor, even better than I could have imagined, but he never could hold his alcohol. We had spent a few nights after major projects at bars in the city to unwind along with the rest of the crew, but Gavin was always drunk after two mojitos and his partner, Alec, would inevitably have to come and pick him up. Once, Gavin answered my phone when Edward had called, and it had taken a few hours and some phone sex for me to convince Edward that Gavin was gay and much more interested in him than he was me. “Randall just told me you won’t be coming to our last hurrah and I am sooo disappointed.”
“Gavin, my flight back to Seattle leaves in a few hours. I changed it to the red-eye and I’m a little excited to get back.” I paced the small apartment, checking to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind before I threw myself down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I couldn’t believe the summer was already over.
“Oh yes...you have to get back to the delicious, Edward.”
“You do realize you never sound gay unless you are drunk, right?”
“Shut it.”
“Is Alec on his way to come pick you up? Even if I did make an appearance, your lightweight ass would probably be on the way home with him.”
“Bella, I always enjoyed your blunt attitude, you know that. Don’t tell anyone, but you were my favorite intern.” I couldn’t help the blush that creeped over my cheeks as Gavin admitted that to me. “If I was straight or if you had a penis, we could have made quite the couple.”

“Edward, I’d say you are looking well, but you look rather tired,” exclaimed my father as he sat down in my favorite booth and motioned to the waiter to come over. I was already nursing a drink, anxiously awaiting his arrival. His demeanor was clearly not casual, so I immediately got my back up in defense.
“I’d thank you, but there’s no reason,” I replied snidely, knowing full well just how much it would aggravate my father. “So... what brings you by? I can tell by the look of disgust on your face it wasn’t to listen to me play.”
“Don’t get mad at me. Is playing in a dive bar not living up to your expectations? You know, I was never a fan of jazz myself, I always preferred classical.”
“And that matters now because?”
“It just disappoints me that this is the direction you have chosen to take your life in, Edward. You were always much more like your mother than you were me, though I tried to dissuade that as often as I could.”
“Perhaps if you were around more often growing up, I would have been more like you,” I stated firmly, forcing back the shudder of revolt that coursed through me at that thought.














