Hello again, lovelies! Loved y'all's response to the last chapter! Yes, the candles at the market are real, yes they are probably the best smelling thing I've ever smelled in my whole life. The Avenue of Oaks is my favorite one. The market is really fun. There's lots of stuff to buy, lots of gift shops along the sides, lots of restaurants. King street is just down from it. The actual area of downtown is the main tourist spot. But stretching out to Edisto, Sullivan's Island, James Island, John's Island, Mt. Pleasant, Isle of Palms, those are all great places to stay and still visit downtown Charleston. I can't recommend it enough if you haven't visited our beautiful city of Charleston! So many amazing things to do and see there!

So, as I've said before, pictures to go with the story are gonna be in the groups.

Enjoy and I'll see y'all at the bottom!

Chapter 7 - What?

BPOV

Sunday, Jasper called and said he was headed to the airport and thanked me for showing him around town.

I called Alice to see when she was free so I could finally get some things from her line.

I was meeting her today at the warehouse where she was getting her designs nailed down, initially made, and stored once she had them produced.

Pulling up to the warehouse, I see Alice's face peek out the front window and wave.

"You made it!" She squeals as I step out of the car and onto the sidewalk.

"Of course!" I tell her as I look up at the warehouse building. "This is impressive, Ali."

"Thanks! Well, it's a jumping off point. Somewhere to start." She says as she pulls open the doors and we walk in. "But this," She waves around to all the clothes on several dozen racks, "will someday get me to the big leagues. I've still got so many things in my head to design, but it's going to take time."

She pulls me over to the racks and we spend a couple of hours going through everything and making piles of things for me to try on and buy.

I've gotta say, Alice definitely has a knack for this. Her designs are beautiful, functional, not slutty, and so fucking comfortable.

That last one is high on my list. I love comfy clothes. And she found a way with her fabrics to have them be gorgeous pieces, but to not have to treat them with kid-gloves. There's nothing I hate worse with clothing than to have to treat them like they're glass. No, I wanna be able to live in my clothes.

They're definitely trend-worthy, too. I could totally see these in fashion week, and every corner of the world.

And I'll help her in any way I can to do that.

"Alice, I can't believe you've gotten all of this," I wave around, "done. It's truly incredible what you've accomplished. Now all we have to do is get you out there in the mainstream and this will all be a sustaining line."

"Thank you, Bells. That's my hope." She tells me as she rings me up.

I pull out my credit card and go to hand it to her, but she shoves it away. "Nope. Tax write-off. Promotional expense. I just have to get a total of what's here." She smirks at me.

I gape at her like she's insane. Which she very well may be.

"Alice, you can't afford to just give me all of these clothes! You're just starting out!" I fuss at her, trying to shove my credit card back at her, which she just swats away.

"Nope. It's all good. I'm in a good spot as of right now. Besides, you were the one that always supported my dream when we were growing up and you pushed me to go to fashion school. It's the least I can do." She says as she bags up everything.

I hug her tightly and we go pack everything into my rental.

"So, are you gonna call Edward sometime?" She asks as we're standing by the car.

I sigh and tell her, "I think so. We started talking the other night and I think we need to get some other things off our chests."

"I gotta tell ya, in all honesty Bella, I don't think he ever really stopped loving you. He went back to his station after you went to L.A. and he was crushed. Every time he came home, I could tell he wanted to hear some sort of information on you. He kept up with you on social media and watched the show whenever he could. He never openly said anything about his feelings, but you could just tell." She said in a somewhat sad voice.

Leaning against the car, I'm not sure what to say to that. I'm not sure how to feel about it. There's so much he and I need to talk about, and if he does still have feelings, then maybe I can start to hope. But I don't want to have my heart crushed again if I hope too much.

"If he does, then I've got a lot of things to think about. It's… Like I told him the other night; I'm not the same person I was before. It's gonna be a process for me to be able to trust anyone like that again. I'm not as even tempered as I used to be either." I smirk at her, knowing she's more than likely seen my shenanigans.

"Oh yes, so I've heard. What was it, a chair through the window of a Starbucks?" She laughs.

"Yeah, well, she was unnecessarily rude and bitchy. She's lucky I didn't throw that chair at her and I aimed for the window." I say with a sigh. "I'm not normally violent. But the people in L.A. just get under my skin and I'm not exactly one for letting shit slide. And I guess when I started doing kickboxing and self-defense, I just let that flow over into dealing with bitches that wanna make a point to stick it to me, however they can."

"I get that. After everything that happened, you probably felt like you needed to defend yourself on all fronts. And if you feel like you're getting attacked, doesn't matter from who, you feel like you need to let the claws out."

I just grab her and hug her to me. She gets me, sometimes like no one else can.

"Thank you Alice. You've always been my best friend, even if I've been gone for a while. I never realized how much I really missed having you in my life." I tell her and pull back.

"I've missed you so incredibly much. And I've been so worried about you since you went to L.A.. Even moreso after what happened to you. Tell me when, and I'm there with you in L.A." She smiles as she hooks her arm through mine as we walk down the street to grab a bite to eat.

Walking into Gilligan's, we're seated right away. The waitress comes by and Alice orders the Lowcountry stir-fry, and I order the grilled chicken with red rice.

Oh my God, how I've missed this grilled chicken. Om nom nom nom.

Yes, ok? I know this is a seafood restaurant, but you'd be surprised at the chicken you can find at a seafood joint. This stuff is grilled in a creamy Italian sauce, and, oh my god, I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Anyways.

"So… I've already asked him, but what do you see happening with Jasper?" I ask after we put in our orders.

Her blush automatically gives her away.

"Well… I don't know. I really really like him. We had an amazing time together, and it's weird how well we mesh. I think we could totally make it work. It may take some time, but… I just feel like I'm supposed to be with him. I really do. He's so sweet and funny. I've never met someone like him. I wanna know your thoughts on him, though." She says with a sweet light in her eyes.

I smile at her and tell her, "Jasper's seriously a gem. He was amazing when we were in Eclipse, and even when the shit with James happened, he was so supportive. I was rather jumpy afterwards and he would just sit with me some days and he was just there for me. He respected my boundaries and let me have my space. In the years I've known him, I've never seen him be a total dickhead, ever. Yeah, he's had his temper from time to time, but never just all out being a douche. He's definitely a good guy, and he's seriously someone I'd approve of for you. So, if that's what you're wanting…" I make a little checkmark sign in the air. "then; check and check. He's got the best friend seal of approval." I laugh at the fact that she's now bouncing in her seat and clapping her hands.

"You have no idea how excited that makes me!" She squeals. "Ok! So, that makes me feel so much better about moving forward with him."

We dig into our food when the waitress drops our plates off.

Soooooo good!

Once we're done eating, we head back to her warehouse and we say goodbye, promising to meet up again before I leave, and I get into my rental and head back to my mom's house.

Sitting out on the back deck of my mom's house, I've been tinkering with some song lyrics that have been rolling around in my head the past week.

It's kind of a mixture of my anger, my fallout, and how it's, in some ways, made me a stronger person. Getting this out onto paper is kinda cathartic for me.

I'm glad mama still has my guitar here because it's definitely what I needed to get these lyrics hammered out.

I think I'll take the guitar with me to Europe, because I wanna be able to write some more if inspiration hits again. It kind of shocks me that inspiration hit me at all, because I've had a block when it comes to writing over the last couple years.

While I'm out here, I work up the nerve to call Edward and see when he wants to get together.

I go to find his number in my phone, but it takes me a minute to figure out what he put it under. When I found it, I laughed because it used to be one of my favorite Meghan Trainor songs, and I used to call him that when we dated.

It also gets the butterflies racing inside because it's a huge sign that maybe he does still love me, like Alice said.

I dial the number and wait with bated breath.

"Hello?" he answers in that smooth velvety voice.

"Well hello, 'dear future husband'." I say, then hear him laugh through the phone. "You think you're real funny, don't you, Cullen?" I tease while he continues to laugh.

"I'm sorry! I had to do it!" He says, trying to get himself under control. "It was your favorite way to refer to me when we dated. I didn't want you to be confused when you tried to call me." He teased and I had to chuckle.

"I can't believe you actually remembered that." I tell him in a lighthearted tone.

"Of course I remembered. I'd have to be dead not to." He quipped. "You can change it if you want, though."

"I'm rather fond of it, so I think I'll keep it." I tell him, and thank goodness he can't see the blush covering my face. "I wanted to see when you were available to get together before I leave."

"Me too." He says softly. "How does tomorrow night sound?"

"That sounds great to me. Is there anything I can bring?"

"Just yourself." He says and we spend a few more minutes talking before I hear mama come in the house and we get off the phone.

Mama sat down beside me as I hung up with Edward.

"Who was that, Bellini?" She asks in a playful tone.

I narrow my eyes at her. "If you must know. It was Edward. We were making plans to get together for dinner."

She squeals and claps her hands, seeming so much like Alice that it's scary.

"Oh sweetie, that's wonderful! I hope you two can work out your differences. That man loved you so fiercely when y'all were together."

"I have a feeling that won't be a problem." I tell her, thinking about how he labeled himself in my phone, as I look down at it in my hands. I hope it's a good omen as to where things may go.

"That makes me incredibly happy, sweet pea. You two were always so good together. I don't want y'all to stay in this state of avoidance forever." She says as she rubs my shoulder.

"We'll see how things work out."

My phone rang from the counter as I was reading over the Disney project and I just about fell off the couch because I was so engrossed in it.

I jumped up and ran to grab it, looking at the screen and seeing it was Rose.

"Talk to me, Goose!"

"Ha Ha… You're hilarious. How's it going over there?" She asks.

I'm kinda cautious on this one because I hear a tone in her voice, and I don't wanna walk into a trap with Rose… She has this way of finding out things without me actually telling her.

"It's good, Ro. I met up with some old friends, went shopping, visited some of my favorite places down here. It's been a great couple of weeks!"

"I have to thank you for the yummy smelling candles that were brought to me by my little brother. I know he couldn't have picked those scents out for me, so I knew it had to be you." I laugh at that, because Jasper is good at many things, picking out smells for women isn't one of them. "By the way… What the hell did you do to my brother?!"

I jerk the phone away from my ear at her outburst. "What in the ass, Ro? What's wrong with Jasper? He was fine when he left here." I ask, worried something happened to him.

"He's been acting like some jabbering butt plug since he came home! He's saying 'y'all' and 'ma'am', talking about plantations and Oak Avenue or whatever. He's got this goofy look on his face… He was on the phone with me while he was in the grocery store and asked me where to find the grits… WHAT THE FUCK ARE GRITS?! I told him to ask someone that actually knew what he was talking about. He even asked me if I had any sweet tea in the house… Why would I have sweet tea? I don't even know what it is or how to make it. What the hell happened while he was out there? He's like a completely different person."

I'm literally rolling on the floor, in tears because I'm laughing so hard. I can just imagine the back and forth that went on with those two because they have a bickering sibling relationship. I'm actually surprised they share a house together. But somehow, they make it work.

"Shut up, Bells! This is some bullshit going on!" She yells and I continue laughing because she can't stand when her brother starts in on something new, like this.

"Rose, seriously, he's just excited about the new experiences he had." I laughed again, because this whole thing is just funny as hell with these two. "People down here have manners that most of the rest of the world don't. The goofy look is probably over a girl he met. Grits are a staple down here, so is sweet tea, for that matter. I keep that in my fridge, at all times. You don't go anywhere and not have that place have either of those on the menu. Food is like a religion in the south. We went shopping through the old market. That's where we found those candles, by the way. The plantation thing is from when I took him to Boone Hall Plantation. It's no biggy. You act like saying 'y'all' or 'ma'am' is completely foreign. I say that shit all the time."

"Whoa! Hold up, hold up, hold the fuck up! What girl?!" She screams, and I have to pull the damn phone away from my ear before I go deaf.

"Dude, calm the fuck down. I'll tell you as long as you stop yelling in my ear." I tell her, waiting for her to chill out.

"Sorry. It's just weird seeing him like this." She says in a much more palatable voice.

"Well, the night he came into town, he met me and my friend, Alice, at a bar, and they hit it off really well. They spent the night together, and the next night, I believe. Alice is a great girl. She's sweet, determined, an entrepreneur. She's got a clothing line she's been getting off the ground, which I think will end up being very well accepted. They're great together, though."

She's quiet for a minute, clearly mulling over what I told her.

"I clearly should've come with him with everything that went on in the few days he was gone." She mutters. "First, you guys go shopping without me, which- fuck you guys, by the way. Second, you go to a bar, WITHOUT ME, and you sing with mister hottie? Seriously? That was one of the best things I've ever seen you do, Bella. It was AMAZING! That guy is so in love with you, it's sickening."

"Rose, it's really noth-" I start but she fucking cuts me off.

"And then! You two find cool as shit baskets?!" and she's back to the yelling. "I'm coming with you the next time you go back home! Jasper's been blathering about all this food he ate out there and I'm really starting to feel like I need some cultural enrichment."

"It's the south, Rosalie. Not a foreign country." I deadpan. "We'll make a trip out here, just you and me, in the future. You'd enjoy the beaches here, too."

"Damn it. You're right; I love me some beaches." She mutters.

Getting ready to go over to Edward's the next evening, I'm nervous. I haven't dated in years, and I feel like I don't know how to do this anymore.

Screw it. It's not like we didn't used to date before. We've known each other for years, we've been intimate. So I shouldn't be this nervous.

Why am I freaking out like this?

Probably because of the time we've been apart. For one thing, what happened to me. For another, we don't know each other as well as we used to. We've both grown as people over the last few years, and now it feels like we're starting over from scratch.

I sigh as I look at the clothes I have laying on my bed. Most of it's from Alice's line. I'm leaning towards the pair of olive green shorts, a burgundy and floral tank and a black kimono style shrug.

It's dinner at his house, and like I said before; we used to date. It's not like I have to get all dolled up to impress him.

Not that I don't like getting dolled up, to an extent, sometimes. But I know I don't have to impress Edward. He's not like that. I'll definitely dress up for him at some point, but tonight's just an easy breezy night.

Finalizing my decision, I throw my curly hair up into a ponytail, put a tiny bit of powder and mascara on, and get dressed.

I jump in the car and make my way to Edward's house.

I almost shit myself when he told me where he lived now.

I pull up at the Hasell Street home and just gape at it.

It's one of those Charleston style homes where it runs long-ways down the lot with the giant porches running the length of the house, both top and bottom levels. It looks like someone picked it up and turned it sideways on the lot from how it would look in any other setting. But, this is Charleston and we do things differently. It's brick and historic and beautiful and just… gah. I love these kinda houses.

And the bastard knows it too…

I grab the bottle of wine and make my way up to the door and knock.

The door flies open and I'm shocked at the female standing in front of me.

"Well hello, Bella."

A/N: Uuuuhhhhhhhh, so I'm just gonna... go hide... Sorry!

I hope you guys all got a kick out of Rosalie. It's just a little lightness to balance out the sadness Bella's dealing with.

Tomorrow, we'll find out who's at the door...

Until then, leave me some love! I may not be able to respond to all of them since ffn isn't sending me all the emails to tell me I've got reviews, but I AM going to the site and reading what's been posted that I've missed! -Muah! for some reason, not all of yours are coming through, but I am reading them! so don't worry!

Love y'all!