Alright, so this is my first attempt at fanfic. I had this idea bouncing around in my head, and finally put pencil to paper when I was without power for a solid week.

Big hugs and lots of cheesecake to Cat for agreeing to beta this creature for me! :)

--

I was 25 now. I'd just had my birthday the week before, and figured it was a pivotal point - a time to actually take stock of my life and what I had accomplished thus far.

The results were depressing.

Twenty five years, a quarter of a century, and what did I have to show for it? I lived in a rented house, shared with a roommate no less, worked in a flower shop, and had no actual love life to speak of. The first two weren't entirely bad, as I did have a great roommate who had become my best friend over the four plus years that we had lived together. I found Alice's name in the college newspaper, and we moved in together shortly after graduation. She was the same age as me, but shorter, spunky, and optimistic to a fault. I studied English and languages, she focused on fashion design. I was definitely the more cynical of the two, but we provided a nice balance to one another. Honestly, she was my roommate, best friend, and chief fashion adviser; I don't know what I'd do without her.

Ah, graduation. Yes I did have a degree; I majored in English. I'd really always wanted to write, but lost my motivation after college ended. I suffered a spectacular breakup with James, the guy who decided after 3 years together that he "couldn't be tied down to just one woman" after we graduated. I was heartbroken afterwards, got lazy, and the muse left me. Bitch.

I worked in a couple of retail jobs over the years, mostly bookstores, but even that didn't hold my interest long. The ten months I had spent at "Eternally Yours Flowers and Gifts" was the longest I'd held a job since high school.

The shop did fairly good business, but still left me plenty of time to surf the internet or read, which was part of its charm. The pay wasn't great, but I did well enough to pay my half of the rent and bills, with a little left over. My truck was on its last legs, so I didn't mind walking the 2 miles to work most of the time. I typically only had one night a week where I closed after dark, and Alice would come pick me up and take me home.

It was unusually busy in the shop for a Thursday afternoon, or any day of the week for that matter. I had just finished taking one phone order when a customer walked in. He looked confused at first, and then asked if I had a catalog to look at so he could pick out something "extra special". I dug out one of the order catalogs and ushered him to a nearby table, when the phone rang again. I told him to sit and have a look and then excused myself to go back to the counter to get the phone. I grabbed a pen and notepad before answering to jot down the order.

"Hello, Eternally Yours."

"Yes, hi. I need to have a bouquet of yellow roses delivered on behalf of Mr. Edward Cullen. The account number is…."

I recognized the voice of the woman right away. As I started to write down the info, the customer walked up and threw down the sizable catalog right on top of the pad I was using, directly in my line of vision. I just barely got my hand out in time.

"Sir, I am on the phone with another customer right now. Please give me a moment and I will be right with you," I said, cupping my hand over the mouthpiece.

The female voice on the phone continued, "Did you get that? Send to Miss Ro—"

The obnoxious customer started again, "I just have no clue what I'm looking for here. I really want to get her something special. Something that says 'It's you that I really love, and that fling with your best friend didn't mean a thing.'"

"Sir, please." At my emphasis on the last word, he caved finally and took the catalog back to the table and flopped down into a chair.

I removed my hand from the mouthpiece and hurriedly jotted down:

E. Cullen

1 dozen y. roses

Rose H

"Yes ma'am, I'll get it taken care of. Thank you, goodbye."

Sighing, I hung up the phone and went over to help the man who'd apparently had an affair with his girlfriend's best friend.

I glanced over at the clock on the wall. Just three more hours, I thought to myself, while trying to help the cheater come up with just the right arrangement and message to send. After settling on a nice bouquet of purple hyacinth, conveying 'I'm sorry, please forgive me.', the jerk paid and left the shop. I went back over to the counter to finish work on the phone orders. Right on top was the one I had taken not 15 minutes earlier.

Ah, Mr. Edward Cullen. I was pretty familiar with the name at this point. He sent flowers at least once a week, to different women, always called in by the same woman, presumably his secretary. I remember thinking early on how this guy must be quite the super stud, but I had since gotten used to him being a regular customer. The message on the card was always the same…

Thanking you for a remarkable evening, Edward

I glanced back at the sheet I had written the order on.

"Crap, I didn't get a last name! Or an address!"

I couldn't very well call the lady back and admit that I didn't listen or get all of the information the first time around. Thinking for a minute, I was sure I recognized the name from a similar order about a month ago. I walked into the back room and dug into the filing cabinet for last month's orders. Finally, success! I found an order to "Miss Rosalie Hale," copied down the info and started on the arrangement of yellow roses.

About ten minutes later, the door in the back room opened.

"Hey Bells, got anything for me?"

"Yeah, Emmett. Nearly done here, and I have three others ready to go."

Emmett was the delivery guy, and quite the character. He was a very stout guy and full of muscles, but not so much that he looked like the Incredible Hulk or any other comic book character. He had the greatest disposition, and once you got past the intimidating appearance, there really was a sweet guy underneath. He'd worked at the florist longer than me, doing deliveries in the day. On weekends, he was a bouncer at a great club and bar called Molly Malone's. The muscles definitely came in handy there, though he rarely had to use them. Usually just a look and a flex, and whomever was causing trouble would back off in a heartbeat. Alice and I would go to the club on the nights he worked sometimes to hang out with him, have a few drinks, and dance. Well, Alice danced and I tried my best to keep up without breaking my shins. There were two floors at Molly's, first floor was the main dance floor with a small bar, the second floor was the larger bar with tables. Emmett usually worked the main floor, but ended up on the top floor with us where we would have drinks and conversation towards the end of the night.

"Coming to Molly's this weekend?" He asked, playfully swatting me in the arm. "It is Ladies Night on Saturday, you know. Might be a good chance to snag you a man."

"Me? What about you?" I asked, indignantly.

"Uh, I don't really need a man, myself." He grinned, baby blues sparkling at me.

"Not a man, you clown." I punched him in the arm. "You're just as single as I am."

"Yeah, but I'm just selective. What's your excuse for the long drought?"

"I'm...it isn't...ooh, SHUT UP, EMMETT!" I said, exasperated. Has it really been that long?

He laughed his heartiest laugh and mussed with my hair. "You know I'm just messing with you, kiddo."

He wasn't going to get off that easily. "Emmett, you're only a year older than me," I huffed.

He let out an exaggerated sigh. "Sorry, enough talk about Bella's love life, or the lack thereof. I'll just get these orders out to the van. Ma'am." He nodded at me before walking back out to his van, flowers in tow.

I finished stewing while he was loading up, and he was back in about a minute later.

"Joking aside, are you and Alice going to come out this weekend? I'll need a break from all the horny guys that are sure to be out, and you two are always a blast to hang out with."

"Probably, though I'm not sure yet. Might depend on if she has plans with Jasper or not."

Jasper was Alice's boyfriend that she had been with for close to a year. They actually met at Emmett's club one weeknight; he was playing acoustic guitar and singing on the smaller stage upstairs. To hear her describe it, their eyes met and it was kismet. Fate. They've been pretty inseparable ever since.

"Well, I'll get going. That one ready?" He pointed at the yellow roses in front of me.

"Yep, another one for Cullen's Angels!" Emmett chuckled at that, as we'd come up with that nickname together weeks ago. "Take her away!"

"Thanks, Bells. I'm probably done after these, and I'm off tomorrow, so see you Saturday maybe?" He did his best pouty face for me.

"I can't say for certain Emmett, but you probably will, yes." He smiled his best cheesy smile, and I laughed at him. "Have a good night."

He waved at me as he walked away, and I resumed my duties of watching the clock and playing spider solitaire.

--

I couldn't have been happier it was Friday, even though I had no actual set plans for the weekend yet. Alice hadn't been around when I got home last night, and I came home to an empty house. She had left a note on the fridge about spending the night at Jasper's, so I didn't even get to mention Saturday night to her yet. I tried her cell phone, but just got voice mail. I ended up having breakfast, doing laundry, and then headed off to work.

I went in at 12 and was due to close the shop at 8. Friday was our only late night, as we typically closed at 6 during the week. I brought in a library copy of The Merchant of Venice, as mine had been missing for awhile now, and dove into it.

At about 7:45, I decided to go ahead and close up shop. I hadn't had so much as a phone call in the past two hours, so I figured I could close up, do a bit of tidying, and be out by 8. I locked the front door, flipped the open sign over, and started to sweep. The phone rang just as I was done sweeping and tidying up books and the display arrangements. I took my work smock off over my head and reached for the phone.

"Hello, Eternally Yours."

"Hiya!"

"Hey, Ali. Long time, no see!" I said, feigning hurt.

"Oh please, it's only been a day. Did you miss me that much?"

"Of course I did."

"Aww, I feel loved."

I heard a muffled voice in the background. "Don't be jealous, Jas, it's just Bella."

"Just Bella. Wow Alice, thanks for the ego boost."

"Girl, you know what I meant."

"Yeah, yeah. So, what do you all have planned for the evening?"

"We're going to a late movie in a little bit, and then I was thinking about spending the night over there again. Unless of course you need me at home."

I sighed. "No, of course you should go. I'll be fine, and at least one of us is having a healthy love life." I admittedly had to live vicariously through her in that area nowadays because I was experiencing a "drought," as Emmett had so eloquently put it.

"Yay, thanks Bella!" She clapped her hands together on the other side of the line. I could hear Jasper yell, "Thank you, Bella!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"And Bella, I know your Mr. Right is out there, you just haven't found him yet. He could be just behind the next door or something, you really never know."

"Alice, my luck never goes that far. If it were as easy as picking doors, I'd probably end up picking the door with the year's supply of Rice-A-Roni behind it instead of the grand prize."

She laughed, "Silly Bella, you'll see. Anyway, we could make up for tonight on Saturday night, just you and me. Wanna do something?"

"Actually, I was just talking to Emmett earlier, and..."

BAM, BAM, BAM!

I jumped and my heart started to thud. I looked up to see a dark figure at the door.