A/N: Haha I "whore" myself out for reviews and I get less than I normally do. Serves me right, huh? ;). Honestly though, thank you to you who did review. It's because of you that this chapter even exists!!

Although these characters are not mine (nor is anything directly related to "Twilight"), I DO own a really cool copy of "Twilight" and a box of "Twilight" Necco conversation hearts that my Twilight-centric friend gave to me. Yay for me!!
LASTLY, I hope that you like this chapter...I have kind of not-so-subtly been building up to it for quite a while now!

BPOV

I was sitting at my desk with a piece of paper, intent on capturing ideas on how to let Curtis down easily and the reasons why I would be doing so when he revealed himself to me on Saturday.

Written on the piece of paper was one word: Edward.

I honestly hadn't gotten any farther than that, and I was getting anxious. Not only was I anxious because of the dilemma of basically turning someone down who has spent HUNDREDS of dollars on me, but I was anxious because I was running out of time. It was Thursday and tomorrow I had a date with Edward...and then it was Saturday, the day of reckoning.

The rest of this week had flown by in a flurry of school, homework, and Edward. Basically, if I wasn't at school, I was over at Edward's; and if I wasn't doing homework, I was spending time with Edward. Right now, as I sat at my desk, was the first time that I had been home since two days ago, because I had been spending the night over at Edward's house ("taking care of him" ha ha). Edward was consuming all of my time, and I couldn't have been enjoying myself more.

Except for the fact that I hadn't told him yet about me meeting my secret admirer on Saturday, and that thought was making me really antsy. I was so very very nervous about it because I didn't know what to tell Edward about me basically accepting a date with another man. I mean...I know that we aren't officially dating or anything, so it is perfectly acceptable for me to go on a date with someone else. Except it just felt so...weird to be doing so. Because to be frank, I would be upset if Edward went out on a date with someone else. Look at me, playing the role of the "jealous girlfriend" when I wasn't even anyone's girlfriend yet.

Sighing, I looked at the clock. It was 2:00, and I was done with class for the rest of the day. I could really use Alice's help on this, but I didn't want her to know that I figured Curtis out. Maybe I could at least get her input on my Edward ordeal.

"Ali, are you home?" I yelled from my seat, unwilling to get out of my chair to look around the house for her. Besides, Alice has more energy than two of me combined, she can come to me.

Holy shit, all of the stress that my admirer had put on me was making me into a MASSIVE bitch. I'll have to remember next week when this is all over to apologize to all of my friends for being unknowingly bratty to them all.

"Heya Bells! Yeah, I'm here. What do you need, love?" Alice said, skipping into my room.

How in the world did Alice start calling me "love"? That is Edward's nickname for me...and we haven't been around others when he calls me that...and it's not exactly the most common of nicknames around, that's for sure. I felt the wheels in my head turning as I tried to figure out this conundrum that Alice had just caused.

And, for the second time this week, I felt like I was missing something, something important. What the heck is wrong with me...why am I not connecting the dots? I am usually so much more perceptive than this. It's something that I usually pride myself on, and now here I am...a dense idiot who is probably missing something that has been practically spelled out for me.

Shaking the thought away and turning to Alice, I explained to her my dilemma about telling Edward about this Saturday. She seemed surprised that I hadn't said anything yet and then mumbled something about it making sense, but I'm not quite sure what she said because she said it so quickly and quietly. Then, perking up a little bit she told me that I should be 100% honest with Edward about the situation and tell him about the admirer on Friday during our date. Alice assured me that Edward was a reasonable man and that he would be very understanding of the situation.

As I was about to give Alice a hug and thank her for talking through it all with me, she looked at her watch and got a panicked look on her face, exclaiming that she had an online assignment due in a little less than an hour. And as soon as Alice had appeared, she disappeared as she ran off to her room to complete her homework.

I turned back to my "Curtis list" and stared at it for twenty more minutes, not coming up with anymore ideas in that time. Did I hit my head or something? Why am I having such a hard time with this?

Leaning back in my chair, I heard my cell phone ringing.

There's only one thing to do
Three words for you I love you
There's only one way to say
Those three words and that's what I'll do, I love you
(1,2,3,4 by Plain White T's)

I smiled to myself before I answered the phone. I absolutely love the song that I had downloaded for Edward's ring tone, and after much insisting from Alice, I had set it as his official ringer on Monday before I had left to go to Edward's house.

Thank goodness he will never know what his ring tone is...because it's not as if he is going to call me when he is standing right next to me or anything...and at this point in our budding relationship, I don't want him to know how strongly I felt about him.

"Hello?"

"Hello love," Edward breathed into the phone. Very sensually, if I do say so myself.

My knees wobbled at his voice. "Hello Edward. How is your day going so far?"

"Very well, actually. I finished up my homework and I was wondering if you would be able to come over in an hour or so to help me with something."

I hesitated, and Edward must have noticed so that as he asked again. "Please?"

Looking at my "Curtis" list, I sighed. I really had to get that compiled so I was prepared for Saturday, but Edward actually asking me to help him with something made my heart soar. He was actually opening up to me and trusting me enough to willingly help him with something. I couldn't help but feel as though we had taken a step forward in the progression of our relationship.

"Of course Edward. As though you even had to ask."

"Great. Oh, hey love? Be over at my place in an hour or so, but not any earlier, okay?"

"Okay," I said dumbly, still in shock that Edward was actually going to need me for something. I was beyond giddy, to be truthful; and I was having a hard time containing my smile.

Not a moment after I got off the phone with Edward, Alice came storming into my bedroom, practically knocking over a vase of flowers.

"Got your homework done, I see," I said between laughs at Alice's entrance into my room.

"Oh yeah. Didn't doubt it for a second," Alice said hurriedly. "So, going over to Edward's?"

"Yes, as a matter of a fact I am. How did you know?" I questioned, raising my eyebrow.

Alice patted her pointer finger to her temple. "I know these things, remember?"

"Ah yes, how could I forget 'Alice the all-knowing'?" I teased.

"Oh ha ha, laugh it up now before I remind you of my 100% success rate. Eat that Bells."

"Mmmhmm," I said, shaking my head.

"Regardless, let me play with your hair before you leave, okay? I'm really in the mood to curl it."

"Alice, I don't..."

"PLEASE Bella. I can't curl my own hair because it's so short...PLEASE let me do this for you."

The part of my heart that Alice alone occupies melted, and I couldn't resist her. Besides, it's not her fault that she can't for the life of her grow her hair out...the girl's got an attention span of a child and gets bored with her hair a week or two after it gets trimmed, plotting when her next haircut will be. "Okay Ali, when you put it that way...but please make it quick, I have to leave here in 45 minutes."

I barely had gotten the sentence out of my mouth before Alice slipped out of the room, running to grab her hair supplies and products to bring back to my room.

She curled my hair into gentle ringlets and as she finished, she veiled it in a stronghold hairspray. Stepping back from me, she ran back into her room quickly, grabbed her favorite make-up kit, and lightly dusted my eyelids with a smoky eye shadow. Taking her cue, I topped the look off with adding some eyeliner and re-applied my mascara, finishing my look with a neutral lip-gloss.

Alice gave me the look-over and showed me the thumbs-up signal, which seemed odd to me as I wasn't going out on a big date or anything, I was just heading over to Edward's house. Heck, this wasn't even the first time that I had gone over to his house anyways...so why the concern with my hair and makeup?

I quickly slipped out the door before Alice could go all "clothes Nazi" on me and re-dress me. Besides, odds are that I was just going over to Edward's place to do a load of laundry or something along those lines anyways, which wasn't exactly deserving of high-class fashion.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I pulled up to Edward's house, fully expecting to see Felix's car parked in the driveway. For some reason, though, it wasn't there. Maybe he was still at school or something like that, I reasoned with myself.

I pulled the car into park and walked up to the front door, pausing to ring the doorbell before I noticed a sign that was printed off a computer and was hung up on the door and simply read

ISABELLA,
DON'T HESITATE AND COME RIGHT IN

What the hell is going on here? Why did Edward go through all of that trouble to print a sign off on his computer so he didn't have to answer the door? This is quite a curious turn of events, actually.

I entered the house and noticed that all of the lights in the house were turned off and the only light that I could see was coming from what appeared to be candles. Walking into the darkened foyer, I stopped to take my shoes off as my eyes were drawn to a ring of candles that had been lit to my right, sitting on a small table. Walking over to the candles, I noticed a second typed-up sign that was hung up above the candles, bathed in candlelight.

MY BELLA,
PLEASE WALK STRAIGHT TO THE BATHROOM OFF THE MASTER BEDROOM. PLEASE LOVE: DON'T MAKE ANY DETOURS BEFORE YOU GET THERE.

Even though every fiber in my body wanted to ignore my instructions and snoop around the house to find out exactly what was going on, I decided to follow the instructions that Edward was leaving me. He must have a reason for them and I didn't want to ruin what his plan was by directly disobeying what he was asking of me.

I turned to my left and headed to Edward's bathroom. Getting to the bathroom, I noticed that it too was lit entirely by candlelight. Yet another typed up sign was hanging up on the mirror, bathed in gentle flickering light. Walking closer, I stopped as soon as I could read the note.

LOVE,
PLEASE GET DRESSED IN THE GOWN THAT IS HANGING UP BEHIND YOU. I HOPE THAT IT FITS PERFECTLY...ALICE ASSURED ME THAT IT WAS YOUR SIZE.
WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED, PLEASE MEET ME DOWNSTAIRS IN THE DINING ROOM, WHERE I WILL ANXIOUSLY BE AWAITING YOUR ARRIVAL.

Okay, now I was officially wierded out. An evening gown? Edward got me an evening gown. What in the heck was its purpose?

I turned around to look at the gown and gasped, because it was one of the most beautiful dresses that I had ever laid eyes on. Looking at the dress tags, I took note that it was an Oscar De La Renta gown. Ice blue in color and made out of satin, the dress has a lingerie inspired interior boned bodice and a delicate Greco-roman halter tie around the neck.

Slipping it on, the bodice hugged my body ever so perfectly and helped my breasts fit in exactly the spot that they were supposed to without the need for a bra.

I'm usually not a vain person in any way, shape or form, but this dress looked exquisite both on the hanger and on my body.

As I turned to exit the room, I noticed a pair of ice blue ballet flats to my right. Smiling to myself, I thanked my lucky stars that Edward was smart enough to provide me with flat shoes instead of high heels. Most likely because he didn't want to make a trip to the emergency room tonight, but still. This man was GOOD.

I felt my heart flutter in anticipation to seeing Edward, a reaction that has been happening a lot more lately due to the increase of time that I have been spending with him. Nevertheless, no matter how much time I spend with him, I still get excited every time.

I quickly wondered what the purpose of this dinner was going to be. I know that Edward is very old-fashioned in his beliefs, so this event wasn't taking me by surprise as much as it should have been. There must be a grand gesture behind all of this, that's for sure.

But what kind of grand gesture? Oh God, I hope that he is planning to ask me to be his girlfriend tonight. I felt excitement swell in my chest as I thought of the idea as I felt all of my limbs start tingling in anticipation.

It was the idea of being Edward Cullen's girlfriend that carried me into the dining room area. Looking around for Edward, I noticed that he wasn't in the dining room as he promised to be. Again, the room was lit by candles and the way the candles in the dining room had been placed, my attention had been drawn to a last note that had been placed on the table after it was folded in half.

As I opened this note, I was taken completely by surprise. This note was not typed up on Edward's computer as the last ones had been; this one was written by hand in Edward's handwriting, and for the first time, all of the pieces clicked into place. Leave it to me to fit all of the puzzle pieces together at the very last minute.

Reading the note, I felt my hands start shaking with excitement.

My love,
I am done with admiring from afar.
So, by now I'm sure you have realized that I am your secret admirer. Before I get ahead of myself, I wanted to explain to you why I started sending you gifts under the disguise of a secret admirer.
If you remember, I started sending you gifts even before I had fully worked myself back into your life. I have admired you from afar for so long Bella, so it seemed only fit for me to start sending you gifts under that name.
I knew you well even then and knew that if I had sent you gifts under my name, you never would have accepted them. No, not necessarily because it was I who was sending them but because it is in your nature to not accept gifts and in knowing they were from me, you would have returned them to me.
I enjoyed sending you gifts because I wanted to prove to you how special you truly are to me, and at the time, I felt as though I could not tell you face-to-face without scaring you away.
Bella, you mean more to me than anything, and these last few days have been some of the best in my life. In fact, I would go as far to say that you are my life now.
I couldn't stand to "admire from afar" anymore, Bella. I can't stand to do anything but admire from...dare I say nearby? Close-by? I can't stand to stay away from you anymore, even under the facade of sending you anonymous gifts. Therefore, I must sign this note off not as "admiring from afar," but as
Admiring you ALWAYS,
Edward

I stopped breathing.

I think I fainted, maybe?

All I remember is Edward awkwardly trying to pick me up from the floor while I was still holding my last note from my "admirer."

I quickly stumbled to my feet so Edward didn't have to continue trying to pick me up from the floor with one of his arms in a sling.

Shaking my head, I remembered why it was that I had fainted....Edward was my admirer. Relief washed through my body as I realized that it was Edward...MY Edward Cullen...who was sending me all of the gifts. All of the stress that I had been holding on to-in regards to both turning my admirer away and telling Edward about my "date" with my admirer-left my body.

I looked up at a very concerned Edward who was shaking his head while looking at me with a small frown on his face. "Are you okay Bella? I'm sorry about this-I honestly didn't think that you would FAINT. Do you know how dangerous it is to faint around lit candles? I was so stupid..."

I silenced his mouth with mine, as I initiated one of the most beautiful kisses of my life, with the most beautifully ideal man I have ever set eyes on.

My mind was racing a million miles a minute. On one hand, I was the most elated I had ever been in my life...Edward liked me, I mean REALLY liked me. It was obvious by the little things that he himself did...and now I had the added bonuses of what he did for me under the cover of my secret admirer. Not that I was happy with all of the money that he spent on me, but the thought behind everything was enormous...these weren't just simple gifts, they were ones that were specifically picked out for ME. Plain, boring ME.

On another hand, I was pissed off at myself for honestly not seeing all of the obvious clues that were left showing me that Edward was my admirer, not someone like Curtis. Why was it that I was unable to put two and two together? Maybe because even if I had been able to figure it all out, I would have convinced myself that it was too good to be true and ignored the conclusions that I had drawn for myself.

Breaking our kiss, Edward gestured for me to sit down at the dining room table across from him. Taking my seat, for the first time I was able to admire the ambiance that Edward had created in the room. Along with the candles that lined the room, more flowers were scattered around the room with small, short bouquets placed on the table in between the candles that were lit on the table.

Edward had gotten up to serve us dinner (that he had catered for us, due to the limited use of his arms and the short amount of time his decision to move the "reveal" to tonight had left him with). It was then that I allowed myself to ponder about the last thing that I was thinking about.

I know that it was wrong, and I felt guilty for thinking like this...but I was hoping that this dinner meant something else for Edward and me. I never in a million years had thought that Edward was dressing me up to tell me that he was my "admirer." I was hoping hope beyond hope that Edward was going to be using tonight to...finally ask me to be his girlfriend officially.

What was wrong with me? Why hadn't Edward asked me yet?

Did he not want me to be his girlfriend?

A/N: I hope that you guys liked this chapter, because I honestly had a lot of fun writing it. In addition, I know that I dropped A LOT of hints as to Edward being the secret admirer, and I hope that you guys didn't mind that. I know that everyone likes a good surprise, but I liked the idea of dropping hints here and there, the last few being pretty obvious. Besides, that would make the story a mystery of sorts, and I never said that I was a good mystery writer :) (awe hell, who am I kidding? I never claimed to be a good writer either, and yet this story hasn't stopped me)

No flames please regarding Bella's response to being disappointed in not being asked to be Edward's girlfriend. I mean honestly, do you guys blame her?

Thought I would give you guys a moment of "Zen" for the day, just cause it made me laugh and it had to do with the inspiration for the character of "Kat" in my story:
me- "Dude, did you hear that there was an earthquake in Italy?"
(real life) Kat- "They aren't even over in Italy" (referring to the Twilight cast)
me- "What? Oh, this has nothing to do with that! I'm not CONSTANTLY thinking about Twilight! Geeze!"

Once again, thank you to those of you who decided to review last chapter. THANK YOU!!

And since you are reading this story, exactly two months after I had started it...thank you so very much for staying with me!!

Next chapter...a little game of truth or dare and possibly an explanation for the title of the story :)