"I'm sorry, Rosa." I spoke into the receiver. She had called from the phone offered at her hotel suite. I grimaced at the ill-looking Alice sitting against the arm rest of the couch. Rose had to stay in the city for the next few hours due to some fashion business, and by the time she was done, it would be too dark for her to drive. Rosa was a lady who preferred to drive. I didn't expect Alice to want to travel anywhere so soon. "But we're not quite ready for long trips-"
"Where?" Alice's inquisitive voice made me smile, thinking of the hyper Alice I remembered so fondly.
I put a hand on the speaker part of the receiver. "Rosalie wants to meet in the city, but I told her no-"
"Why?' And there was that Alice Cullenciano, the one that wouldn't let you get a word in edgewise if she didn't know all of the facts quick.
"Because…you're not feeling better yet, Ali-"
"Yes, I am! I'll get dressed in ten minutes, like lightening! Tell that cousin of yours we'll meet her… at Lorena's." She sent me a fast smile and bound up the stairs. I blinked rapidly, trying to let my brain register the series of event. I came back to reality when I heard my cousin's voice echo my name for the third time.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, Rosa. Well, I guess Alice is in high spirits today. She wants to meet at Lorena's." Rosa rambled off something to her assistant and swiftly gave me directions before hanging up. An hour later, my driver dropped us off and told me he'd be out around the side, where I would be able to "blend in" more easily. Only thing is, being engaged to Emmett is world-wide news. So, my face and favorite restaurants were worldly known.
"Miss Swan! What is it like-" Alice shoved off the notepads and high flash cameras as we were ushered briskly into the upbeat restaurant. Kurro, the biggest man of Edward's security, was assigned to me. I urged him to order something from the menu, but he insisted on keeping his bearings and standing post a few tables away.
"Vultures." Alice muttered beneath her breath. Rosalie showed up breathless a few minutes later, murmuring under her breath about some accident. "Hi, I'm Alice Cullen." Alice stuck her hand out in front of Rosa, forcing my bombshell of a cousin to smile politely and shake it. "You're Rosalie, I presume?" Alice had a bounce in her voice, the kind of bounce I missed hearing. Rosa nodded, slipping into her wooden seat and sighing.
"Any preference?" My cousin turned to Alice when looking at the wine list. Alice shook her head and launched into a story of her family's trip to a vineyard, and the adventures that ensued. Rosalie was a sucker for a good story, completely ignoring the waiter hovering above the table. I shooed him away, not daring to break the light-hearted moment Alice brought on. "How awfully embarrassing!" I could see the mental notes Rosalie was making; this tale would probably make a top-story column in her magazine, The Buzz. In my time, it was a scandal to run a company, it was certainly unheard of for a girl to have any credibility, and when she did, it was hard to be accepted. But Rosa was brave, strong, and absolutely fierce. After dinner, Rosa promised to meet up again soon. She left her business number and plaza address incase of an emergency and was off.
Our driver took a slow route back to the manor, and I was thankful. The scenerary was breath-taking, even more so than the smog and skyline of the big city. Alice was mostly quiet on the way back to the house. She spoke breifly about a shopping trip she took to California, and conversed about the new space program being constructed in Virgina. It amazed me that a girl of her stature could fit all of that energy and knowledge she possessed. When we settled back in at home and dressed for the evening, she sat against the back of the couch, a glass of white wine in her hand and a smooth record playing. "Thank you, Bella." She smiled up at me. I gave her a small smile and lifted my glass in a kind gesture. "You've helped me- I don't know... breathe." She took a sip of her glass and inhaled a shaky breath. "Reynaldo stole away my want for life, he took with him a part of myself I'll never get back." She gulped, but sent me a reassuring smile. "And I can't help admire him. He was- oh, I know I've spoken too much about him." She stopped short and condescendingly shook her head at herself.
"No, go ahead." I goaded her. "I love to hear you talk about him. Its like some lucid love affair." I giggled, and to her amusement, blushed like a schoolgirl at my brave, yet carefully chosen words.
"Okay, if you speak the truth." Alice winked at me. "Rey...he was a magnificent creature; he finished my trailed off thoughts, he knew my new favorite flower every month, he bought me shoes." Her eyes rounded in a lovely manner, her lips quirking just thinking about him. I failed to remind her that she was remincing about him, and no tears had yet to escape her beautiful, currently clear blue eyes. "He understood better than my own mother. He was always much calmer, more patient than any of my brothers." She scoffed loudly, as if nearly anyone had more patinece and cililvty inside of them than Em and Edward put together. "A lovely sense of humor...and bright eyes. Eyes that captivated you." She pursed her lips, and I imagined that she would cry, but she did not. She merely possessed this farwary face that lit up lightly, yet still had a trace of a shadow across it. I thought of my own man that possessed bright eyes...
They were hazel, green in contrast to my plain brown ones. I suddenly realized all I really knew of him was the severity he owned for others, an unhealthy adoration he held for me, and handsome, mesmerizing opals that sucked me into a vortex. "We first made love on the banks of my family's estate on the Hamptons. It was so beautiful in the dark out there, and I couldn't help but feel...relieved that I had found the perfect guy for me. The guy that I sought for in every male in high school, but never found. I never thought twice; I never asked myself what I would do if I lost him. I never made a second plan." She took a rather healthy drink of her spirit and daintily wiped the tiny roplets that escaped her bottom lip with the back of her small hand. "For those two years, I just knew he and I would live forever." She rattled on some more stories before I just couldn't help myself any longer.
It was the one question people in mourning hated being inquired, I knew that- but it didn't stop me. "Would you do it all over again?" It blurted from my mouth before I had the chance to close it.
She smiled at me, her perfect white teeth showing from her plump, red lips. "I will relive it for the rest of my life."
And that was about the moment that I began to miss my stupid, fake fiancé.