Disclaimer: I still own nothing and this disclaimer applies to every chapter of this story.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed and/or put this story on your alerts! I really appreciate that! A note about this chapter - there's a part where Kelsi remembers an incident with Ryan and things heat up a little bit. It's really not too bad and I probably don't need to put in warning, but for the sake of caution I am. Another thing I want to bring up is a decision Ryan and Kelsi made early in their relationship that we find out about. It's not meant to be preachy or anything and I don't think it comes across that way. If so, it wasn't intentional. This is just a decision I could see them making and I threw it in because it gave me another rose for her. Speaking of the roses, I have ideas for a few of the remaining roses (15 left after this chapter) but might need some help with ideas for the others. If you have one, let me know! Remember, all the rose is is a reason why Ryan loves her. It can be about anything. Don't worry about the color (unless you want to) - I can figure that out. Hope you all like this chapter! Reviews always appreciated.

Kelsi and Chad had just reached Kelsi's apartment building when her cell phone rang. Reaching in her purse to pick it up, she smiled as Ryan's name flashed across the screen. "Hi Ryan," she said as she answered.

"Hey birthday girl," he replied cheerfully. "How's your day been so far?"

"Well let's see..." she trailed off, noting that Chad had slowed his pace and was pretending to be fascinated by the surrounding buildings to try and give her some privacy. She focused her attention back on her phone call. "I woke up to a beautiful flower on my bedside table and a really sweet note. I've talked to your parents and been to the old practice room and now I'm hanging out with Chad. I can't believe you went through so much trouble." She paused as she considered what she had just said. "Actually I can, but it was still a surprise. A very nice surprise."

"I told you I'd make it up to you," he reminded her and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"That you did," she agreed. "But tell me – would you happen to be the person who's apparently waiting at my apartment?"

"No I wouldn't," he said softly. "But you'll be happy to see this person. Trust me."

"Okay," she sighed. "Ryan?"

"Yes?"

"Is there any chance I might be seeing you at some point today?" she asked.

"I guess you'll have to wait and see."

"Hmm...You didn't say no."

"I didn't say yes either," he reminded her.

"Right, but by not saying either what you're actually saying is that there's a possibility. Right?" He laughed.

"Well you know what they say, Kelsi. Anything is possible," he said lightly. "Like I said, you'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, I should probably let you go so you can see your guest. Well your other guest. You'll be hearing from me again later on."

"So I'll see you later then?"

"Nice try, Kelsi," he laughed again.

"It was worth an attempt," she chuckled. "Hey."

"What?"

"This was really sweet of you, Ryan," her voice grew tender. "I don't know many other girls who have boyfriends who go through all the trouble you go through for me and I...well it means a lot to me. That sounds lame but..."

"No, it doesn't," he cut in. "It's no trouble, Kelsi. I like doing it."

"I know that," she smiled though he couldn't see it. "That makes it all the more special. I love you."

"I love you too, baby," he said softly. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. Bye Ryan."

"Bye birthday girl." Kelsi hung up and looked back towards Chad; who was currently pretending to be studying a tree; and laughed.

"All right, come on," she said to him. "Let's go see who's waiting for us."

"I already know who it is," he reminded her, grinning. He opened up the door to the building for her and then followed her up to her apartment. They rounded a corner and Chad instinctively held his hands over his ears, anticipating a scream as Kelsi saw who it was. Sure enough, a split second later it came.

"Taylor!" Kelsi exclaimed.

"Kelsi! It's so good to see you!" Taylor replied, just as enthusiastically. Chad rolled his eyes while the two of them hugged and babbled on for a few seconds about this and that, though he couldn't help smiling. He and Taylor had gotten married a year and a half ago and neither one of them had seen Kelsi or Ryan since the wedding. Actually, they hadn't seen any of their high school friends since the wedding - with the exception of Troy and Gabriella that is.

"It feels like it's been forever!" Kelsi said.

"I know! We all need to find ways to see each other more often. I miss everyone!"

"Um ladies?" Chad spoke up, finally. "Not to interrupt the reunion, but we're on a schedule here."

"Since when do you care about schedules?" Kelsi asked and then chuckled. "When they don't involve basketball, that is."

"Since I married her," Chad replied, jerking his thumb in Taylor's direction. "I'm even getting more organized," he added, giving a mock shudder. "This whole marriage thing gets a little scary. Of course..." he trailed off, grinning at his wife. "Taylor has finally gotten a hold on the rules of basketball. Most of them anyway." Kelsi let out a mock gasp as she looked at Taylor.

"You? Getting into basketball?"

"Yeah well, it helps keep the peace. We're all about the peace and harmony right now," Taylor laughed. Kelsi raised an eyebrow. "Well...most of the time," she corrected.

"We try," Chad put in and the two of them exchanged a smile. "But really, we don't want to be late."

"Late?" Kelsi perked up. "For what?"

"Something. You'll see what," he replied innocently. "Taylor?"

"Yes, your rose." Taylor offered Kelsi her next rose. This one was a beautiful shade of burgundy. "As you've come to find out, each color comes with its own special meaning. The burgundy rose, while also being a symbol of elegance, stands for simplicity and beauty. Not just beauty but unconscious beauty. When we were in high school, you used to try so hard to blend into the background. You almost tried to make yourself invisible and it worked most of the time. Never for Ryan. He always saw you, Kelsi, and he always thought you were beautiful. But it's an unconscious kind of beauty because you don't even realize how beautiful you are, how beautiful he thinks you are. It's one more reason why he loves you."

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Inside the apartment, Kelsi added her new roses to her vase. She let her gaze linger on the burgundy one. "Unconscious beauty, huh?"

"It's a very appropriate description for you, I think," Taylor said, studying it as well.

"Where does Ryan come up with this stuff?" Kelsi asked, shaking her head.

"Speaking of this stuff..." Taylor started, glancing at Chad. He nodded.

"We're taking you on a trip," he finished.

"What?" Kelsi looked back and forth between them. "To where?"

"Albuquerque," both Taylor and Chad said at the same time. Kelsi blinked a couple of times.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes," Taylor grinned. "You'll probably want to go into your room and pack enough stuff for a couple of days."

"But...my job...I can't just take off and leave!" Kelsi exclaimed.

"That's been taken care of," Chad assured her. "Ryan called your boss and worked it out."

"You're serious."

"Yes, we're serious! Go pack. There may be another present in there for you." At Kelsi's look, Taylor laughed. "We saw Ryan at the airport and he gave me your spare key so I came in before you got here."

"Why'd you wait outside the apartment then?" she asked. Taylor shrugged.

"I wasn't out there the whole time, but I got impatient."

"Now seriously – go pack already," Chad said. Kelsi shook her head again as she headed back into her bedroom. There on her bed sat her rolling suitcase and on top of that were three orange roses lying on top of another note.

"Oh Ryan," Kelsi sighed. "What does the orange rose mean, I wonder?" She sat down on her bed, moved both roses aside and then picked up the note...

Hey baby,

You're starting to develop quite a colorful collection of roses, aren't you? You have white and yellow, pink and burgundy. Now, as you can clearly see, you have orange. Why are you getting three roses at once? It was easier that way, especially since there's still so many of them left. I decided to give you a little bit of a break. The orange rose has a lot of different meanings. The first one I'm going to mention is new beginnings. The yellow rose stands for friendship and the red rose for love – so the orange rose can symbolize the transition from one to the other. That is what one of your roses stands for. We had a pretty easy transition from friendship to a romantic relationship and I will always remember that time as a very sweet period of our relationship. I want you to remember that time as well.

The orange rose is also a symbol of passion and desire. I think if we asked any of our friends to describe our relationship in one word, that that word would be sweet. I don't think the words passion or desire would even come to any of their minds. After all, our relationship is much different than, say, Chad and Taylor's. We have what I would call a quiet kind of passion. It's there, but it's not always noticeable. One of your roses is for one of the defining moments of our relationship: our first fight. Remember that?

Kelsi chuckled softly as she let herself remember that awful night. It had been during the last semester of their first year of college. Both of them had had about a million and a half things to do and absolutely no time to get it all done. They were both struggling with pressures from school and work and neither one had gotten much sleep in about a week. Kelsi couldn't even remember what had started the argument. The stress of that time had, quite simply, been more than either of them could handle and they had ended up taking it out on the one person who meant the most to them: each other. The fight had escalated quickly and pretty soon they were literally shouting at each other. Both had gone too far and said things they hadn't meant. Ryan had eventually stormed out of the dorm room, slamming the door as he left. Kelsi had flung herself on her bed, sobbing, and had cried herself to sleep. It was, without question, the worst fight they had ever had. The fight had certainly been a passionate one. Kelsi focused her attention back on his letter...

I'll probably always remember that night as being one of the worst of my life. After I left, I had been torn between still being mad at the things you had said and feeling like the biggest jerk in the whole world for making you cry. It still breaks my heart to think that you cried yourself to sleep that night because of me, though I know you've long since forgiven me. So why a rose to commemorate the event? Because it was a milestone for us. A bad one, admittedly, but a milestone all the same. We learned a lot from that fight and now one of the things I love about you, and about us, is that we've learned how to disagree without having a major blowup like that. It made our relationship stronger.

As far as your third rose? Well that one actually ties into the second one because it was inspired by the same event. Or, more specifically, the morning after. That was a different kind of passion all together.

Kelsi was suddenly extremely grateful that she was all alone in her room while Chad and Taylor stayed out in her living room. She could feel her face heat up as it was and the last thing she needed was for one of them, especially Chad, asking about it. She remembered that morning very well. She had been woken up by her roommate at the time; a friendly girl named Annie that Kelsi was still friends with. The dorm they were living in was actually more of a suite with a couple of bedrooms and a living area. Annie had been on her way to her first class when she opened the door and found Ryan looking completely miserable on the other side. Kelsi had taken her time getting up and dressed, partly wanting to make him wait and partly scared to see him again. She had slowly made her way into the room and for a moment the two of them had just looked at each other. She had never seen him looking so awful, before or since. He had still been wearing what he had been wearing the day before and hadn't shaved. The two of them had taken a few steps towards each other and he had been the first to speak.

"I'm sorry." He had whispered the words and then moved closer to her. Her eyes had instantly filled with tears and he had very cautiously put his hands on either side of her face. "I'm so sorry." He had kissed her forehead and then other parts of her face, pausing between each kiss to apologize. She had let out a sob and had apologized as well. She had given him a soft peck on his lips and then another. And another until they had both leaned in for a longer kiss. When that had ended, they had just looked at each other for a few seconds and then it was almost as if the air had visibly changed around them. The kiss had slowly built in intensity until it had reached a point that could only be described as electric. They had ended up on the couch and Kelsi had remembered feeling like she was practically on fire. She also remembered knowing where they would end up if this kept up and thinking that it would probably be wise for them to stop. Before she could make any attempt at stopping, however, his lips had moved to her neck and all rational thoughts had flown right out of her head. The phone had rung at that point and she had said something about ignoring it, which he had been all too happy to do. The answering machine had picked up and a voice had come on. Out of all the people in the world that it could have been, it had been Kelsi's father. They had managed to ignore him until he made some joke about hoping that her and Ryan were behaving themselves and that if not, he might have to make good on a threat jokingly made years before about buying a gun. Ryan had pulled away from Kelsi so fast that it was almost comical. Kelsi grinned as she remembered how she had tried to convince him to ignore the message, but it had been no use. She focused her attention back on his letter and was again grateful that she was alone...

We had a close call that morning, though I can't say I hated it. We've had countless more close calls since. Our relationship may not be marked by a never-ending flow of passion, but it's still there. It's just a quiet kind of passion like I wrote earlier. That's a term I would use to describe you as well. You have that sweetness about you and can still be shy, but it doesn't mean you have no passion. It shows up in your music and it shows up in some of your kisses. Every now and then you surprise me with one so intense that it makes me momentarily forget my own name. Forget everything, even, that's not you. I love that you feel so comfortable with me that you can let go like that. Though it's probably a good thing you keep that under wraps a lot of the time because otherwise I wouldn't be able to get anything done. You have the ability to make me absolutely crazy and half the time you don't even know you're doing it. But hey, I don't hate it. In fact I absolutely love it.

And I love you,

Ryan

P.S – If I know you like I do, you've probably turned an interesting shade of pink right about now. You might want to go to your bathroom and splash some cold water on your pretty face before you go back out to Chad and Taylor.

Kelsi laughed softly as she finished his letter – he really did know her well. She was once more eternally grateful that she had been able to read this letter in private. She slipped into her bathroom and was surprised to find a white rose taped to the mirror. The accompanying note lay underneath it, folded in half on the sink. She picked it up to read it...

Before I explain this rose, I want you to take a look at yourself in the mirror.

Kelsi's brow furrowed as she looked in the mirror. She noted that her face was still pink, though it was starting to resume its normal color. Aside from that there didn't seem to be anything worth commenting on. She glanced back at the note.

I know I talked about your innocence in your first rose, but I wanted to bring it up again to write about a different type of innocence. I was thinking about a conversation we had after we had been dating for a couple of months. You had slowly turned about as pink as I imagine you are now as you told me there was something you wanted me to know, especially if things were going to get more serious. We had gone for a walk after school and ended up at the park. We sat down on one of the benches and you had turned toward me and grabbed for my hand. Then you let go of it. And then grabbed it again. I put my other hand over yours and asked you what was wrong since you seemed so nervous. You kept your gaze on our hands and told me how you had decided to wait until marriage. You knew other girls in our grade who slept around and had decided that while that might work for them, it just wasn't for you.

I remember you were so worried that I was going to break up with you right then over it. You were, of course, wrong. It was something new to love about you. How you were so willing to do what was right for you even if it wasn't the most popular decision in the world. I really respected that about you and still do. You can look at yourself in the mirror and know that you still have your innocence. Your decision brought me to the same one. People who know we're waiting always seem to think that we're weird. That's fine with me. I don't care what people think. It's the right decision for us and for our relationship. It can be a hard road to take sometimes but we've managed to avoid crossing that line. I believe that when the day that we do cross that line comes – after we walk down that aisle as I believe we will someday – that it'll be that much sweeter because we made the decision to wait. And for the record, I would wait forever for you because you are worth waiting for.

Love,

Ryan

Kelsi finished the letter and then wiped away a tear that had started to roll its way down her cheek. She was so lucky to have a boyfriend like Ryan who respected her so completely and she made a mental note to tell him so the next time she saw him. She set the letter down and quickly splashed some cold water on her face, taking care not to get the letter wet. A knock on the door made her jump.

"Hey Kelsi, I don't want to rush you but we should probably make sure we leave in about half an hour so we can make our flight," Taylor called from the other side.

"Okay," Kelsi called back. She carefully peeled the tape off the mirror so she could retrieve the rose and then set about getting all her things together for trip. While she did so, she couldn't help wondering yet again if she would see Ryan that day. It seemed that with every new rose and message that she missed him a little bit more. She wasn't the type of girl who needed to be around her boyfriend continuously in order to be happy; she didn't consider herself to be the clingy type at all. But there she was, not even twelve hours since she had last seen him, practically desperate to be in his arms again. It seemed like with every rose that she not only discovered a new reason why he loved her, but that she kept discovering new things to love about him. As she packed, she found herself shooting up a prayer to God in heaven above. A prayer that she would, indeed, get to see her beloved Ryan by the end of the day.