Hi everyone, welcome back! Last week i missed updating Cyprus, so I'm sorry to anyone who was waiting for this. Real life has a way of tapping you on the shoulder and saying "yeah... no. I'm going to make myself more important than usual whether you want to deal me or not." It's been a bit exhausting, mentally. That's my excuse and I'm sticking by it!

The last time we were here, people had their own opinion of my dear Leah Clearwater. I, personally, love apparent blind bitter and thought that she was a fun time. If you didn't like her, I'm interested in what you have to say about Rosalie after reading this. I also enjoyed the Edward comments. For some reason nobody is on Team Old Maid. Edward could be the suited Phantom of Pike Place and you guys would still question why Bella isn't seeing the light! I question her too but she is doing a bit better... right?

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all of Twilight, I'm just living in a fantasy world.


Angela didn't believe me when I told her that I had gotten the flowers and hadn't been asked out on a date. I didn't show her the card, even though it might've proven that I was telling the truth. I wanted to keep that to myself; it was too private to just be used as evidence. When I got home I didn't even want to keep the flowers out on the dining room table, in the open for anyone else to marvel over. I wanted them to last as long as they could and found out on Google that a little vodka and sugar would keep them alive longer, who would've thought?

Over the next few days though, the splendor of the flowers and the note wore off and I began to worry. Who was this mysterious man and why did he have me so wrapped up? How did he always seem to know where I was? I told myself repeatedly that he was no different from anyone else in Seattle and I didn't even want to consider relationships before I met him.

There were quiet moments when I'd just gaze out the window and think about his smile or his eyes or the way he'd said my name, which I realized he picked up from Embry, and then I'd admonish myself for becoming girly and whirly.

And the dreams; they were getting more and more 'adventurous'. There was no more dry humping on a log on the woods, we'd progressed to an immaculate white kitchen that had desert sauces on tap, a swimming pool under a full moon, a bathroom with mirrors everywhere, and what I think was a flowered field in what I had imagined was Central Park. I slept through them all, too. I still woke up hot and bothered but I was no longer planning four course meals in the middle of the day or night.

The only thing that kept me occupied was work. We'd chose four girls and one of them, Bree, I had to fight for. She needed a bit of work and Rosalie wanted to dismiss her, but I liked her. I was asked to find someone special and I was sure that Bree was just that.

"Bree, this isn't a Poseidon Splash… Bree, you're supposed to put two cherries in a Herculean Hand Grenade… Bree your pole work isn't sensual enough. This isn't a fireman's pole and the Frisky Kitten and you're not working for tips."

I was told to sit out when Rosalie made the girls practice their pole work. She said I wasn't to have any input and to only take notes on what I knew they were doing wrong. Rosalie never vocally addressed what I had to say, even though she agreed with all of my comments. Everyone had a general idea of what to do while being a goddess, but it all looked too forced. If someone made a mistake, Rosalie would reset the entire lesson. Everyone had to be precise at the same time or else they were all wrong.

There was a little confusion on my end when Rosalie came in with Mediterranean inspired dances that she wanted to teach everyone. There was a lot of belly dancing and arm swirls included, but besides the moves being a bit sensual I didn't see how they would fit into the club.

"Isabella, why does it matter? I have a vision, and I trust it." I'd finally gotten the urge to bring it up about a week into the practices in the studio.

"But I don't—"

"What?" We were the only ones in the rented out dance studio and I noted that she called me by my full first name. She was defining the boss-employee line.

"Rosalie, this club is your baby and I know you love it—"

"But?" She folded her arms and cocked her head to the side.

"But… I don't see how this will enhance anything effectively. Cyprus is a hit and keeps getting better; there's nothing in the city like it. I know you already know that so why mess with something that won't be declining any time in the foreseeable future."

"Growth is important Isabella. You can choose, if you would like to, to follow it or not. As much as you are an asset to Cyprus I still make the decisions." She arched a brow at me and without waiting for my retort, swayed calmly to the back dressing room.

I guess she put me in my place…

~oOo~

The next day was as if the club conversation with Rosalie didn't even happen. We did drink testing and pole practices until four. Because the studio sessions almost always lasted longer than we thought they would, going into the club to work the half-night shift was only optional for me. I usually declined because after testing drinks, and being in the studio all day, I just wanted to be anywhere that wasn't associated with work. I hadn't taken up my usual schedule at the club in weeks and Rosalie didn't seem have a problem with it.

I hadn't been to Pike Place as much as I'd liked either. Usually I went in the late afternoon after the practices but the Market wasn't intimate during the rush hour; it just reminded me of a crowded city street. There were people just coming and going, not enjoying the smells and sounds because they were just picking up something quickly and trying to get home.

"Alright ladies, I think we're done for the day," Rosalie was twirling her ponytailed hair up into a bun as most of the girls struggled to catch their breath. "Same time tomorrow."

"When are we done with these practices? I wanna get into the club." Kristie, a sandy-haired girl with dimples, asked the same question almost every day since we'd started began meeting in the studio two weeks ago. I tried to tell her that badgering wouldn't help her cause any but I guess that since I was just an 'assistant' I had no clout.

"Kristie, I'm not going to answer this question again. Bree, honey, would you mind reminding Kristie why you aren't in the club yet?"

"Me?" Bree look at Rosalie then Kristie, and then finally me. The poor girl was being put on the spot and didn't know how to handle it.

"Yes, Bree, you. You're the only one who hasn't asked me since I told you in the beginning of these sessions why all why you weren't in the club. Why you were here and not there yet? Answer her."

"Um…" Kristie shot her a glare but Bree kept her eyes focused on Rosalie as she answered the question. "Well, Rosalie, you said that you didn't feel that we were ready because none of us had worked in a nightclub before. You're building us all from the ground up and you only want perfection for your club?"

Rosalie smiled sweetly at Bree while Kristie's glare intensified. The other two girls, Jen and Heather, stood by the dressing room door alert and wary. "Very good, sweetheart. I'm glad to see that at least you are competent and can retain basic information. I guess Bella was right about you having some promise after all."

I couldn't hide the grin as Bree bit her lip to hide her own smile. Rosalie smiled at me, winked and walked to her gym bag on the floor. The girls all walked into the dressing room, Kristie storming past the three of them in frustration.

"When are you going to let then into the club?"

"You too?" Rosalie was checking her phone with her back to me but I could tell that she was rolling her eyes at my question.

"I don't care if you have them in here for a month but if it's in the near future I'd like to know so I can mentally prep for the vampire shift that you had me on before."

"Since you must know, I'm going to test them next Monday night. If they do well I'll have them and you back in on Thursday and throughout the weekend."

I was kind of going to miss my weekends and nights off. I didn't do anything I thought someone my age would do. I was twenty-five and over the club scene already. I did meet up with Maggie and Angela for lunch or and early dinner but there were never any wild and crazy nights for me. Most nights I usually caught up on competitive singing shows and Law and Order. I would've went to visit Forks for a weekend but when I called Charlie he said he'd had plans for the weekend and it would just be a bad time to come up to see him. When did he get a social life and where the hell did I lose mine?

"Bella, do you want a drink?" All of the girls had left the studio and I was tossing on a hoodie and pair of sweatpants over my tights. Rosalie had poured herself a shot and was at the table in the corner of the room closing up the liquor bottles.

"No thanks, I'm driving. How are you getting home?"

"The same way I always get home"

"Which is…" I never did see her leave the studio or the club when I worked there at night. There was a red convertible that was always in the parking lot that I assumed was hers, though. It just looked like something Rosalie Hale would drive, all sex and power and luxury.

"I have someone driving me, no need to worry about me getting a DUI." She rolled her eyes and tossed the shot back. We did the drink tests early in day and I only ever sipped a little bit of the drink if I needed to. Between that and the dancing I was sober and didn't have to worry about getting home.

"Alright well… I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then." I turned to leave the studio and thought about how Rosalie managed to juggle the club and the practices. I assumed she just didn't like to mix family and work but after weeks of doubling her workload it was hard not to assume that any kind of relationship she had outside of her career wasn't strained.

Out on the sidewalk I wondered if I had what it took to balance life. I knew that I didn't need anyone but did I want someone? Rosalie's life was all business all the time, was that what I was destined for?

"Hey Bella!" I look up, breaking from my thoughts, to the male voice calling my name. A man who I recognized was walking to me and I squinted my eyes and tilted my head in confusion.

"Jasper? Hi?" I didn't mean for my greeting to sound like a question but I didn't know why the head security of the club was here, awake, at this time of day. The girls I worked with usually kept the same hours as I did unless they had kids, I figured everyone but Rosalie did as well. "Fancy seeing you here… and while the sun is up."

"Haha, yeah. I try to stay nocturnal but just I'm picking up Rose." He was here for Rosalie, our boss?

"Oh… ok." He noticed my perplexed expression and laughed, cackled even, which confused me even more.

"Finally you're here, thought you were going to be—" Rosalie's heel clicks stopped behind me abruptly. "Bella, you're still here?"

"Um, yeah. "

"Hey, Lee, ready to peel outta here?"

"I'm… gonna go now. Bye." I turned to walk to my truck when Rosalie called me back…shrilly.

I walked back to the pair standing on the sidewalk. Rosalie was fuming and Jasper rolled his eyes at me and smirked. "Listen I don't care what you two do outside of the club. I won't gossip and tell people that you two are—"

"Are what…" Rosalie cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Dating?" I cringed at the word.

"We are not dating! Jasper and I are—"

"Twins." Jasper finished her sentence with a coolness that equally matched her normal ferocity.

"Jasper, we are not twins. Don't lie to the girl."

"Fine. Bella, Rose is my baby sister. I got her by two years."

"Were not siblings, Jasper! And you're only older than me by a year and three months."

My eyes followed back and forth like I was watching a verbal tennis match. I wasn't sure what was going on but I was more confused than I was minutes ago.

"Bella, we're cousins. Not lovers or siblings, thank god. Just cousins."

Jasper laughed and offered me an apology. "Sorry, Bella. I didn't mean to pull your leg like that but sometimes it's always fun to frustrate the Ice Queen over here. We're just cousins but we grew up together."

"Oh please, we didn't grow up together."

"We did to. I lived with you and your parents for four years."

"Four years isn't an entire childhood Jasper."

Jasper huffed and turned back to me. "Bella, we grew up together."

"We did not!" she yelled at him, and faced me, also. "Jasper has already proven to be a pathological liar, Bella. Don't listen to anything he says."

I threw up my hands in defense before Jasper got a chance to issue his rebuttal. "Listen, guys, it's no big deal to me. You're cousins. It's fine with me, really, I swear." I just wanted to get home.

"Isabella—"

"No, Rosalie its fine. I won't say anything to anyone if that what you're worried about. I promise. I'm gonna go now, I'll see you tomorrow."

As I walked away and Jasper loudly yelled, "Bye, Bellaaaa". I heard a thump and then a subsequent 'ouch' from him as well.

I got into my old truck and a minute later a red BMW sped down the street with a beautiful blonde yelling in the passenger seat. I sat there for ten minutes laughing with tears streaming down my face and I didn't know why.