Roses are red, Violets are blue, Stephenie Meyer owns all, IMDB have Jessica/Eric and Mike added. (Rumoured).
Know the Ropes—'To understand how to do something. To be acquainted with all the methods required.'
Bella POV.
"Rosalie!! I need some shades!!" I begged as I frantically tugged my top on over my head.
"Closet!" Rosalie called out with a mouth full of toothpaste. I cringed back at the rabid dog look that she was exhibiting at the moment.
"Alice!! Get out bed damn it! Jaspers going to be there you know!" I hissed at her after giving the bed a small shove.
"Jasper?" I couldn't help but laugh at the longing tone in her voice. We'd only just left their room about 6 hours ago.
By the time I'd retrieved the sunglasses, Alice was out of bed, frantically getting dressed while Rosalie touched up on her makeup in a desperate attempt of hiding the bags under her eyes.
I stuck the sunglasses on ten minutes later as we stepped out of the room. "We're ten minutes late guys…" I wrung my hands as the elevator took us up to the conservatory.
The three of us stood outside the windowed door for a few moments as we studied the class. There were three long tables on each side of the room which held six people each, with space in the middle for the teacher to walk down. The right side of the room was full, but thankfully, the back row on the left side was completely empty.
"Look, we can slip in and go to that table, we can look around for the guys once we're in." I declared as I slowly began to open the door.
A very floral scent hit my senses as we slipped into the room. There must have been tens of flowers in the room which made it hard to detect any particular flowers scent. The humidity in the room was also surprising, I felt as if someone was applying a small amount of pressure to my lungs and as if the air had just become heavier.
Thankfully, we made it to our desired table undetected. We stared blankly at the wicker baskets in front of us for a few moments before Alice spoke up. "What the hell do we do now?"
I glanced at some other people's arrangements and decided to mimic them and hope for the best. "Just improvise!" I whispered as I began to stick in some funny looking green blocks into the basket. I expected them to be like sponges, but their texture was more like sand paper.
Alice and Rosalie followed my lead and shoved their green blocks into their baskets as well. "What now?" Rosalie hissed as she craned her neck in an attempt to spy on some other people.
"Good Morning Miss Lacey" A familiar voice called from the door behind us. I broke out into a foolish grin as I remembered the relatively good night that we had last night and how I remembered the little detail that Edward had hissed me twice.
"Ahhh back again are we?" The woman replied before she flapped her arms in a signal for them to find somewhere to start.
"How are we this morning?" Emmett asked as the three of them drew nearer to us. "Ahhh like that is it?" he answered himself as he took in my sunglasses and our general tired appearance.
They passed us after the quick morning pleasantries and began to work on their arrangements on the other end of out table. I quickly took of my shades, feeling silly and stuffed them in my pocket.
"Damn…look at them…they're already ahead of us." Alice pouted as the three of us watched as they started to stick in some green leaves and flowers into the green blocks.
"This is lame…" Rosalie sulked as she leant forward, cradling her head as she rested her elbows on the table.
"Rose?" Emmett's concerned voice came from the lower end of our table. She made no notice of him, she simply remained motionless. "Rose?" Emmett's voice was getting ever clearer as he advanced. "Rose what's wrong?" he asked in concern as he stepped up beside her and placed a big strong hand on her shoulder.
I hid my surprise quickly as Rosalie twisted her head in my direction and gave me a quick wink and smile before she turned to Emmett on her other side. She pulled away from the table and looked up to him with a heartbreaking look on her face as she whispered, "I don't know what to do…I think I'll have to leave…" she finished with a drawn out sigh.
"No, don't go, I'll come and work with you…" he pleaded as he grabbed hold of her hands. I watched the scene unfold in awe as I marvelled at how Rosalie could have caused Big Bear to break down into pleading.
"Thank you" she whispered back to him with a sweet smile before the both of them turned back to their basket. I caught Rosalie's devious smile as she glanced at me.
Damn…she's good…I shook my head as I tried to figure out which plants to put where. After a minute or so of fruitless contemplation, I lowered my head to the table on folded arms in hopelessness.
I gasped as I felt a spark flitter across my skin as a soft hand ran across a bare area of skin at my lower back. I quickly straightened up, and met a pair of laughing green eyes. "Would you like some help?" he asked as he gestured to my basket full of green blocks.
"You don't have to…" I sighed as I looked around at the other people's creations.
"I want to...plus, Jasper and Emmett have all ready been reeled in." he shrugged as he leant against the table.
I looked to both couples and noticed that they were getting on well with their creations. I could feel the envy swirling within me, so I told him meekly, "Ohhh…okay then, you can help me."
He gave me a crooked smile which I was sure caused my heart to stutter. I watched as he studied my basket. "You've put the Oasis in pretty well." He commented as he pressed the green blocks.
"So that's what their called." I smiled at his sort of comment. I followed his orders as he began to place some green foliage into the green blocks, creating some sort of intricate design.
"Pick some flowers that you want to put into the arrangement." He told me with a nudge to the shoulder and a smile. I followed his orders and firstly picked the bunch white flowers which had random blood red streaks along them, as if they were bleeding. I then picked some red roses and some other flowers in various shades of purple.
I pulled the flowers closer to me as Edward finished with the foliage. "Done picking?" he asked as he looked at my pile of flowers. I gave him a small nod before I held a few in my hands to give him. "No you don't, you're doing this bit." He smirked back at me as he crossed his arms defiantly across his chest.
"What?! I don't know where to put them in!" I protested as I placed the flowers back onto the table.
"I'll help you silly!" he said dramatically as he quickly moved, to stand behind me. I was just about to ask what he was doing when I felt his hands reach around me and clamp onto mine.
My cheeks flushed as I felt his body pressed tightly against mine. I could feel his breath at my ear and his chest moving rhythmically against my back with each breath that he took. "What do we do now?" I asked after a few seconds of him simply holding my hands.
"I give the orders, and you follow them" he whispered in my ear in a low tone as he moved my left hand to pick up a few of the red and white flowers. He whispered orders into my ear as he moved my arms around to place the flowers into the Oasis.
"Looking good…" he whispered in my ear as I realised that half of my flowers were all ready in. His breath tickled my ear and embarrassingly caused a shiver to run through me.
As we started on the roses, I inevitably pricked my finger on a thorn. "Shoot!" I grumbled as I my finger throbbed in pain.
"What is it?" Edward asked with a hint of panic in his voice as he turned my hand over. His right hand left mine as he rummaged in his pocket for something. He pulled out a long strip of tissue paper and began to bind it around my bleeding finger. I stood, amazed, at how gentle his hands were and at how little pain I felt.
"Better?" he asked as he clasped both of his hands around mine. I nodded my head and thanked him before we set out to finish our basket.
"What the…?" I asked in confusion as Edward began to pick up the roses and place them into the arrangement.
"Sorry, but I don't want you pricking your finger again." He explained as his upper arms continued to contract around me as he moved around.
"Edward…let me do something…" I asked in a sad tone.
"Put your hands on mine then." He negotiated as he halted his hands movements and held them out for me to place mine on his.
I wrapped my hands half around the back of his hands and half around his wrists. My hands were smaller than his, making it impossible for me to envelop his as he did to my hands.
He worked at a much faster pace than I did and finished the roses within minutes. "Okay, I think you can manage these…" he teased me as he pointed to the variety of thorn less purple flowers that were left to put in.
He quickly moved his hands and enclosed them over mine as we began slotting in the last of the flowers. My heart picked up its beat as Edwards's hands tightened around mine as Miss Lacey came over to inspect.
"Teamwork Edward?" the 40-something woman asked in a flirt voice as she stopped beside us.
"Yes miss" Edward answered curtly as we placed another flower into the arrangement.
"Well, it's looking good so far, well done you two." She praised him with an over the top smile as she moved away from the table.
I blushed and felt the breath escape me as Edward pushed himself tightly against me, pressing me between him and the table. I could feel the hardness of his chest against my back at the proximity.
"Sorry…she likes to pinch me butt" he whispered in my ear as he maintained our close contact. He didn't relax, or step back from me until the woman had moved away from Emmett. My body tingled where his body had been pressed up against mine, as if it was protesting from the loss of contact.
We finished our arrangement before the other two pairs and gloated at how great our arrangement looked. Edward let go of my hands after a small squeeze, and stepped back, severing all contact between us. I frowned at the odd feeling of anxiety that passed through me as I stood alone.
When I looked back to him, I noticed to my joy that he had his arms held open to me. I guessed that he'd seen the look of disappointment on my face once he'd moved. I gladly stepped forward and rested my back against his chest as we head been stood before. I picked up a stray flower from the table and twirled it in my hands as Edward enclosed his arms around my waist. My mind ran with questions, like 'how does being with Edward like this seem so natural?' I decided to forget about it and simply enjoy the moment, instead of over thinking.
I felt his head lower slightly to my ear as he asked me, "So, do you like your basket?"
"I love our basket." I returned with a smile in my voice as I emphasised the word 'our'.
"Ours is it?" he asked as he gave my waist a small squeeze.
"Yep, ours, not mine." I told him defiantly as I looked at the beautiful creation.
"Whatever you say boss." He muttered as Emmett and Rosalie declared that they'd finished. They both stepped away, Emmett with his arm over Rosalie's shoulder as they studied their creation. Their arrangement was in a variation of blue colours and a sprinkle of white.
"Tada!" Alice called out cheerfully as she and Jasper completed their arrangement seconds later. Theirs was bright, with their variety of yellows, oranges and greens.
We each complemented each others finished creations as Miss Lacey declared that the class was over and that we could take our arrangements with us, or leave them in the conservatory.
Edward quickly grabbed ours once we'd detached from each other. "We can put it on the veranda, between our rooms if you want?" he offered as he led the way out of the room.
"I don't mind, as long as I get a picture of it to show Renee" I declared which caused Alice to agree and begin to talk about the possibilities of making another arrangement when we get home now that we knew how.
At the mention of going home, each of us sobered up from out happy nature, and became silent and contemplative. I realised that I had no idea where Edward lived, but I decided to find out more about him tomorrow night, when we went on our date.
Edward POV.
The mention of home cut at me. I loved my home, my family, but this cruise also had its perks. I didn't want it to end. Thankfully we had just over two weeks left. "Come with me, you can help me find the perfect place." I told Bella as I motioned to our flower arrangement.
"Sure." She answered with a huge smile as we stepped into my suite. "O, god the money, where did you stash it all!" she laughed as we passed the now bare dining table.
"We gave it all to Tanya to lock up in a secure safe…do you mind?" I asked as we passed the glass doors onto the veranda.
"Why would I mind? It's your money." The look on her face made me think that she truly believed that.
"You were the one who won it." I told her decisively as we reached the partitioning rail between our veranda and theirs.
"It was your money that I used." She argued back with a stubborn look on her face.
"We'll split it then, right down the middle." I suggested as I toyed with the arrangement in my hands.
"Nope, its all yours, I don't want it." She told me with the same stubborn voice as before.
"Fine" I answered. I foolishly guessed that she'd back peddle and haggle. She didn't, she just looked relieved.
She diverted our conversation as she turned and asked, "Where do you want to put that?" as she pointed to the flower arrangement. "We're going to have to stick it somewhere where there's shade." She said rationally as she walked to the end or the rail which ended with some generous shade.
"That'll do." I stated as I dragged a wooden table over to perch it upon. Emmett and Jasper soon followed and did the same. From where they sat, all of us would be able to see the flowers.
Lounging on the deckchair, looking out to sea, Emmett called out, "What are we doing tonight?"
"We haven't been to the club yet have we…" Rosalie stated as she glanced around at all of us.
"Club then?" Jasper asked as he joined Emmett on the deckchairs.
A collective agreement ensued around us before the girls told us that they would regrettably have to leave to sort out their clothes for tonight. "And I need some breakfast too." Bella admitted as she gave her flat stomach a pat. They left minutes later promising to contact us soon. When Bella departed with "Goodbye Green Eyes" I wondered if she meant something by that, like she'd be on the internet in her room.
I quickly dashed inside and logged on to my Instant messenger. A few minutes later I heard a distinctive sound, telling me that someone had logged on.
Klutz: I didn't think that you would have worked that one out. Woops!
Green Eyes: I'm not just a pretty face you know! So, what's up?
Klutz: I just wanted to tell you that Mike was planning on being at the club tonight. That was the 'big' question that he asked me before-sorry it wasn't something more shocking. It was fun teasing you!
Green Eyes: You are still going tonight aren't you? You're not cancelling?
Klutz: No…I just don't want to see that stupid jerk. I can't believe how nice he was at the start, and how well I got on with him. 'Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me' I guess!
Green Eyes: Don't put yourself down! He plays a well practiced game.
Klutz: Suppose so. I will be at the club tonight; Rosalie just shouted something about 9pm? I guess that's when were going.
Green Eyes: That's cool-it gives us all day to catch up on our cartoons and sleep!
Klutz: Same here…with the sleep anyway-so tired!
Green Eyes: I guessed as much. Those shades's suited you, but I rather it when I can see your eyes.
Klutz: Really?
Green Eyes: Yes-why hide them? Even if they are bloodshot…ha-ha!
Klutz: Okay, okay! I'm off for some sleep now! See you later! X
Green Eyes: X
I smiled to myself as I shut off the computer. She's sent me an 'X' this time. I wondered if maybe there was something in that.
Club chapter next! I absolutely hate clubs; I love my rock and heavy metal. My only experiences at a clubs are sitting in the corner for about 6 hours-getting wasted with my twin sister while my mates dance. I prefer pubs, but I'll try my best to make it a good'un! I've even been listening to some Clubland music for inspiration-:O
Keep the Reviews coming please!