Chapter 9: Confrontation at the Ball

I sat with Jasper until the early morning hours, until he said he should probably escort me to my hotel. Sighing, I allowed him to lead me off. I told him the name of the hotel and he said it wasn't far. We walked for maybe ten minutes and he found it instantly. I was impressed by his knowledge of the city of Rome.

At the doors, I turned back to Jasper. "What will you do?" I asked him, knowing I was about to be reunited with my friends, but had no idea where he was going to go.

He smiled slightly and shrugged. "I know the city, I'll find something."

"Okay," I said uncertainly, sticking out my hand for a handshake. "Thank you for being my companion."

He took my hand and shook, but it felt too formal. Before I knew what I was doing, I had hugged him. He tensed for a moment, before relaxing and hugging me back. "Thank you for trusting me," he replied.

I walked into the lobby and informed the lady at the desk that I was Isabella Swan and that I was a late arrival. She gave me my room number and room key. Wearily, I took the elevator up to the fifth floor (at least it wasn't the ninth floor, I thought grimly) and found our room. I lifted my hand to knock, but before my hand even made contact with the door, it flung open and I was pulled in rather ungracefully.

Jessica and Angela had both locked their arms around me in a tight group hug and were not letting go. Both were talking over each other and I couldn't make out what either one was saying.

"Halt!" I tried to throw up my hands, but couldn't because they were pinned tightly to my side. "Sit and I'll tell you guys everything." I knew they were dying for details. So we all crammed onto the same bed and I told my tale, for the most part, leaving out the parts that involved Victoria and a lot that involved Jasper. When I finished, they were amazed.

"Wow," breathed Jessica. "Bella, I never would have thought you were so…wild."

Missing your plane and rebooking it in the middle of the night was hardly what I would call wild…more like aggravating.

"I'd still like to know who sent us that note," Angela mentioned. "That was so…strange."

I nodded. I would have liked to know that as well, but I didn't want to think about it. I tried to get them to tell me what they had been doing, besides worrying about me.

"Oh!" Jess exclaimed after I had asked, waving her arms frantically. "Big news! Tonight…" she paused for dramatic effect. "We're going to a ball!"

I stared at her, not really comprehending. "Excuse me?"

"We're going to a ball!"

"Wait – we're?"

"Yes Bella, all three of us."

"How did you get invited to a ball?" I asked as dread swirled in the pit of my stomach.

Jessica got off of the bed and began walking around the room excitedly. "I met a guy," she informed us.

"You've only been in Italy one day and you already met a guy?"

"Mmhmm," Jess said. "He's this classy Italian guy. And he invited us." I looked over at Angela, who rolled her eyes.

"Is that really safe?" I asked. "I mean, what if this guy is some kind of creeper?"

"He's not, Bella," she insisted. "He's from a very well-known and wealthy Italian family."

A ball. Lovely. A ball was not that much different from a prom in my eyes. I tried to get myself out of it.

"I don't have anything to wear to a ball," I stated.

"Not a problem," Jess said. "Luckily, I brought dresses."

I stared at her. "Why?"

She smiled knowingly. "In case any classy Italian guys invited me to their ball."

I was so very much against the idea of dressing up and going to a ball, but it was obvious that I wasn't going to get out of this one. And I wasn't going to sit in the hotel room, all alone and vulnerable to an attack. Maybe the ball would be good for me, I decided. There were sure to be a lot of people at a ball, and therefore, it might lessen the possibility of a vampire attack. And furthermore, the Cullens wouldn't think to find me at a ball. What a perfect plan. I kept convincing myself of this as we all settled in to get some sleep.

By the time evening arrived, I felt positively ill at the prospect of dressing up and dancing. Well, no matter, I thought. I just wouldn't dance. I shimmied into Jessica's little black dress and heels and let my friends curl my hair and make up my face. Ridiculous, I thought to myself.

"You do know my mascara will be all over my face and I'll have two broken ankles by the end of the night, right?" I asked them. My ankle was miraculously a lot better, but it still hurt if I put too much pressure on it. Wearing heels was about equivalent to a death sentence.

"Bella, stop, you look amazing," Angela assured me, as they led me out of the hotel room to my doom.

As we stepped out of the cab in front of the "classy Italian guy's" place, I couldn't help but gawk. It was a huge, elegant, Italian mansion.

I was getting nervous. "Are you absolutely sure it's okay that we're here, Jess? I feel like an intruder."

"Don't be silly, Bella," she said, motioning for us to follow her. People were already walking through the double doors.

I groaned and Angela giggled. "Just try and have fun, Bella. It's not every day that you get to go to some fancy Italian ball, is it?"

I had to admit, she had a point.

"What's his name?" I asked suddenly.

"Angelo," Jessica replied and I could tell she was grinning like a fool.

"And how old is this Angelo?"

"Only a few years older."

Angela and I exchanged glances.

"He's young you guys, I swear." Jessica led us into a big, lovely hall, and further, into an even bigger and grander ballroom.

And I had to admit, much to my surprise, that the ball really wasn't that bad. I hung out with Angela most of the time, watching in amusement as Jessica fraternized with the classy Italian guys. We met Angelo, and he was very pleasant and welcomed us to his home. I hid Jessica's heels under our table and enjoyed the sensation of being barefoot. We tried to stick near the tables with food, for the most part.

I hadn't planned on dancing, but was asked a few times by innocent, Italian guys, and feeling bad, I accepted. It was a slow waltz kind of dance, something we definitely did not do back home in Forks. I stumbled a lot, but the Italian guys were friendly and twirled me around the ballroom so that I didn't have to do much. As much as I wanted to go somewhere quiet, being in the center of the festivities was my best bet.

I was on my third dance when it happened.

My eyes had happened to wander to some random spot in the room and I saw Carlisle, in an evening suit, a few feet away, talking with Angelo. I almost stopped right there, but convinced my feet to keep moving. What was Carlisle doing here? My stomach began to churn dangerously as I tried to piece it together.

And at that moment, I saw an arm reach over my shoulder and gently tap the Italian guy I was dancing with on the shoulder. Stunned, I looked behind me and saw Edward.

He said something to the Italian guy in beautiful, fluent Italian, and the guy nodded and smiled pleasantly, handing me over. My mouth dropped open and my eyes widened. No, I thought. No! I wanted to plead with the Italian guy to keep dancing with me, that I couldn't be handed over so easily, but I didn't speak any Italian and the guy was already drifting away.

Warily, I turned to meet Edward's gaze. I could run, I thought. I'd practically perfected that notion, running away from Edward. But something in his eyes kept me rooted to the spot. I noticed that he was as beautiful as ever, wearing a black evening suit that made his pale skin stand out and his eyes glow. But how had he found me here? Was this simply a coincidence?

He put one hand on my waist and I felt involuntary chills run down spine. I let him take my hand and I put my other one stiffly on his shoulder. It was formal enough, and I decided I could take two minutes of that. Maybe. I hoped he couldn't tell that I was trembling. And then, we started to move.

I refused to look him in the eye, because I didn't want to be captivated. I didn't want his intense, lovely eyes to have that power over me, to make my heartbeat race, to make my knees weak. I didn't want to remember the way he had left me in the woods, the way he had told me he didn't want me.

He didn't want me.

A hundred emotions rushed through my system. On second thought, I couldn't take two minutes of this. I would deteriorate in his hands. Everything I'd worked for in the past few months, every ounce of strength I'd built up and every bit of logic I'd stored, could come crashing down and I would be the way I was before. I couldn't do it all over again.

I snapped out of my thoughts when he squeezed my hand, forcing me to look up and meet his eyes. And I couldn't look away. I couldn't breathe.

I don't know what I expected to see in his eyes…frustration perhaps? But I saw something else instead. His eyes were full of endless pain and sadness, and he did not hide it. It was like he was trying to communicate something to me.

And then he spoke. In the softest voice, laced with despair, he whispered, "Bella, talk to me."

"I can't dance and talk at the same time," I found myself saying immediately, as if it would get me out of both deeds.

He looked at me for a moment, before gently pulling me up and setting me on his feet. This reminded me too much of another time, of prom. This was too close for me, too close to other memories and too close physically. If he were not holding me up, I swear I would have fallen down.

"Why are you so afraid?" he asked me quietly.

"Because you left," I said bitterly. How could I tell him about the nightmares, the empty hole in my chest, the intense pain that seemed like it would never leave? How could I tell him that I couldn't even think his name for the first few months, or it would send me back into a downward spiral? Tears burned my eyes as everything came back. Feeling my pulse racing, I stepped off of his feet, back to the cold, solid ballroom floor. I had put a few inches of distance between us and it made me feel slightly more in control.

A look of pure agony crossed his features. "You don't know how much I regret that."

I was desperately trying to fight back the tears threatening to spill. I couldn't talk about it without falling apart. "Please Edward, just say what you came here to say."

He paused for a moment, looking like he'd rather talk about us. But instead, he told me what he had originally came to tell me.

"I'm sure you know by now that Victoria is tracking you down. Alice had a vision, Bella, and she's dangerous, more dangerous than ever. She'll stop at nothing to get to you, to avenge James. That's why you need to come back to Forks with us."

"No," I said through clenched teeth.

"Bella, please, don't be difficult," he said softly. "I'm trying to help you."

"I don't want your help," I said coldly, completely forgetting my fear of Victoria and focusing on being independent, being strong.

"You need it," he said in a low, frustrated tone.

"I don't need anything from you," I said, my voice strained, and I realized what a lie that was. I still felt like I needed him. I still loved him. It was pathetic, but true.

This conversation with Edward was draining me emotionally and I felt that at any moment, I would break down. The song ended and Alice rushed over at that moment, probably noticing that we had upset each other.

He looked at me one more time, his eyes burning a hole through me. And then he took a beautiful red rose out of his pocket and taking my hand, placed it gently in my palm. I could see his heart breaking in his eyes and it was killing me. "You can run from me, Bella. But you can't keep me from protecting you, and you can't hide from the way you know I feel about you." He turned on his heel and disappeared into the crowd.

I stared after him numbly. The way he had just looked almost – almost – made me feel like it had been as bad for him as it had been for me. I bit down on my lip, feeling a single, stray tear make its way down my face. Gently, Alice led me off of the dance floor and to a corner.

"Bella, it's okay," she said softly, wrapping me in a hug. She held me for a minute before pulling back. "Oh Bella honey, you're squishing your rose." She gently took it from my iron grasp and straightened the petals out. She looked at it thoughtfully for a moment while I stared at it dully.

"I know you're finding it hard to believe," she said. "But Edward…" she paused, as if she were unsure of how to say what she wanted to say. "He loves you more than anything. I know it." She smiled sadly. "I watched him pluck out every single thorn on this rose for you." And at that moment she froze, her eyes distant and faraway, and I knew she was having a vision. "Alice?" I said carefully. "What do you see?"

At that moment, Carlisle hurried over to us urgently, Angelo at his heels. He took one look at Alice before they both spoke at the same time.

"She's here."

A/N: As promised, Edward was in this chapter and will be in the ones to come, as well.

Thank you so much for all you're awesome reviews! They keep me on my toes.