A Rose of Passion

And the Paged Flipped

He only laughed before kissing his lover back into an infinite night.

"That was so cool~! I love his books!" Alice giggled happily.

She was sitting quietly under a tree, away from the other high-schoolers. Somehow, she had managed to escape her annoying cousin Emily. The girl was nice but she was so loud and annoying! Always rambling on and on about this brand, this skirt, this boy, this makeup and whatever else! Honestly! Alice had enough already! Recently though, she had become more persistent and the latest topic on her lips was the hot Spanish teacher. It was Mr Carriedo here, Mr Carriedo there, Mr Carriedo everywhere! Not just Emily but every single girl in high school!

Alice sighed. She didn't get what the fuss was all about. Sure, he was hot but he clearly was married. Or was she the only one to have noticed the golden ring at his finger? Not that she cared. He was a good teacher and that's all that mattered.

Her eyes drifted back to her book and she sighed contently. This book was by far her favourite and she had read it at least fifty times already. Of course, the few other books from the same author were fantastic as well and they all appealed to her. But this one was special. She could feel the heart of the writer in it. How she longed to be able to write like that.

"Hola~ What are you reading here, all alone?" a cheerful voice erupted behind her.

Alice jumped and let out a small cry of surprise. She glared angrily at the laughing girl behind her. All in all, she was the exact opposite of herself. While Alice had a creamy white skin, long golden hair tied in two ponytails, a slim body and small size, the other girl was tall, with a more curvy and voluptuous body than hers. Don't get her wrong, Alice was not flat in the least, it's just that this girl was unusually well built. She had a dark caramel skin, long black curly hair tied up and entangled in a red rose. The only thing they had in common was their gender … and possibly their green eyes. While Alice's were of a deep emerald as deep as sea, the other girl's were of a spring green as bright as the grass.

Alice glared at the girl but only made the other giggle. The blonde turned her head back to her book and plainly ignored the other who was now moving to sit down next to her.

"What book are you reading?" she asked with a very pronounced Spanish accent.

"Why do you care?"

"Curiosity. Won't you tell me?"

Alice reluctantly lifted the book up, showing the title of the front cover. The other girl's eyes immediately sparkled in recognition.

"I know that book! It's my favourite! I love it!"

Alice's eyes widened a bit in surprised and for the first time since she got interrupted by the dark girl, she offered her a small smile. That only made the grin of the other one grow more.

"Aw! You're so cute when you smile! Lindoooo~" She cooed before catching Alice in an embrace.

"Let me go! Why are you bothering me anyway?"

"You're new here, right? I haven't seen you before."

"I'm a freshman. Got a problem with that?"

"Not at all! I'm happy!" The girl grinned happily.

'Is this girl for real?' Alice wondered as she stared in disbelief at the idiotic grin of the other.

"What's your name, cutie~?" the girl asked excitedly.

Alice felt her cheeks go warm and she mumbled half-heartedly.

"Alice. You?"

"Maria! Nice to meet you, cute little Alice~!"

"Stop calling me cute!"

"Do you prefer if I say it in Spanish?"

"No! Just don't say it at all! What do you want anyway?"

"I'm just a year above you and I saw you on the first day. You looked a bit lonely."

"I'm not, now leave."

"But you're here sitting all alone. Don't you want a bit of company?"

Alice cringed at the word 'company'. The company she had always had was her annoying cousin Emily, that crazy French girl Marianne who seemed to have made it her hobby to piss off the younger English girl. They were neighbours so it's not like Alice could easily avoid her. There also was all the bitches who started to befriend her before backstabbing her at the first opportunity. And the boys were scared of her tempered mood or thought she was crazy because she could see ghosts (among other things). Actually, the only person who didn't piss her off completely was her other cousin, Emily's twin sister, Madeleine (one of their parent was French sadly enough). With all those bad relations, no wonder Alice isn't very keen on socialising. She eyed the Spanish girl and shrugged her off dismissively.

"I don't need the company of a bitch who will betray me at the first opportunity. Now, if you could leave, I would be very grateful."

The girl didn't register the 'leaving' part and was solely focused of the first sentence. She frowned and anger flashed in her eyes.

"I'm never going to do that! How can you judge me like that without knowing me first?"

The look Alice sent her immediately shut her up. It's not about judging. Frankly, Alice simply had given up on making friends. That did not keep Maria down for long.

"I'll be your friend! I like you! You're cute!"

Alice blushed again and was about to scream back at her when Maria grabbed her book away.

"Hey! Give it back!"

"Rose of Passion … I really love this book. Do you like reading, Alicia?"

"Who the hell is Alicia? And give me back my book!"

"Alicia is the name Alice in Spanish! It suits you well~"

"I don't care! My name is Alice and I'm not Spanish, I'm fucking English!"

"Si! I know! Have you read other books from Arthur Kirkland?"

Alice calmed down and started conversing with Maria on a more pleasant tone. Talking about her favourite author was better than any of Emily's crazy talk about hot guys. And Maria wasn't such a bad person either. Sure, she was weird and a bit of an idiot, completely oblivious too but she was nice, gentle and always cheerful with a bright smile on her face. Alice felt herself relax and enjoy the tanned girl's company … a little.

Before long, it became a habit for the two girls to sit outside under the tree and talk about books. They even spent lunch break together and would walk home together. Alice quickly realised how popular Maria was. She was friendly with other girls and attractive to the boys. People around them were gossiping on how strange it was that Maria and herself were hanging out together. But when Alice brought up the subject with her friend (yes, she had accepted the fact that Maria was her friend) the Spanish girl only laughed it off.

"Who cares what they think! I think you're adorable and you're a precious friend to me!"

Another thing Alice couldn't get quite use of was the constant praising of Maria. She would call her 'cute', 'adorable', 'sweet' and all kind of other synonyms both in English and in Spanish. Not that Alice didn't like it but it just felt a bit … strange. She wasn't praised very often.

The two were walking out of the school building when screams started to erupt behind them. Neither of them needed to turn around to see who had caused the commotion. It was obviously Mr Carriedo … again.

"I don't get why they are all so excited!" Alice groaned as she felt a headache grow from all the screams around her.

Maria giggled maliciously.

"Si! He's hot but it's not like he's single. Those girls don't stand a chance!"

"Oh? I thought I was the only one to have noticed his ring. You're not one of his fans?"

"Me? Of course not! I see Spanish guys all the time when I go on holiday to Spain! Nothing special about them. I prefer cute little English girls~"

"… You mean you don't have a boyfriend back there?"

"No, I'm not into Mediterranean boys."
"You prefer British?"

"Si! Especially cute little English!"

"I'm not a boy, stupid."

"Si! But you're cute~"

"Whatever … Oh great! I can see my idiotic cousin Emily hanging around him too …" Alice sighed.

"Which one?"

"The short chestnut haired one with blue eyes, wearing a bomber jacket over her uniform."

"With the word 'Hero' on the back?"

"Yep. That's her."

"You have funny relatives!"

"A pain in arse if you ask me."

Alice suddenly stopped in mid track, her eyes wide in stupefaction. Maria watched her in concern before looking towards what he caused her friend to freeze. Eventually, she froze too. At the school's gate, parked outside was a beautiful black car but that wasn't important. No, what was important, was the man leaning against the car. He wore simple dark jeans and white shirt with his sleeves rolled up half way. He had short, messy golden hair and sparkling jade eyes and was holding a bouquet of red roses nonchalantly in his hand. A single, golden ring circled his finger. Now, that man could have been anyone. He wasn't. It wasn't his good-looks that caused the sudden stop of Alice and Maria despite it catching other high-school girls' attention and excited giggles. Everyone was wondering who that hot looking guy was. Alice and Maria knew. They knew all too well.

"Alice … tell me I'm not dreaming …"

"If you are then we're both having the fucking same dream."

The girls hesitantly walked towards the man. He looked up suddenly and a smile illuminated his face. The girls blushed but soon realised that this smile wasn't aimed at them.

What happened next felt unreal. Mr Carriedo managed to extract himself from the mass of fan girls surrounding him and as he walked towards the gates, his face became ecstatic and he rushed like an excited kid towards the man at the car. No one had ever seen Mr Carriedo snap like that. He just pounced on the blond and hugged like there was no tomorrow. When the Spaniard finally released his victim it was only to press him into a passionate kiss which potentially broke half of the school's girls hearts. Not that he cared either way. The Spanish teacher was too focused on his lover to even care about all the stares of his pupils. Alice and Maria were the most shocked of them all. Not because Mr Carriedo was kissing someone (it was obvious from his ring that he had a partner) or that he was gay (they kind of suspected it) but what they really had a hard time to believe was that Mr Carriedo, their Spanish teacher was married to … their favourite author Arthur Kirkland!

"Unbelievable." Was all Alice could say.

Antonio grinned widely as he finally broke their kiss. Arthur was slightly blushing. He didn't feel comfortable with showing off in public and Antonio respected that … to his best ability. But today was an exception! After not seeing his lover for nearly two months, Antonio was overjoyed and just had to express himself. He would probably get scolded by Mr Edelstein later on because of his 'improper' behaviour in front of the school and the kids. But Antonio didn't care. Right now, all he cared about was Arthur and nothing else!

"When did you come back?" He asked excitedly, barely holding back his urge to kiss the man again. He'd wait until they were home. Arthur chuckled as he handed the roses to him.

"My plane landed three hours ago. I thought I'd come by and surprise you."

"Grazie! I'm so happy to see you! I missed yoooouuuu~"

"I missed you too but Antonio could you stop hugging me like that? I'm not going to disappear, you know." Arthur laughed as he was reluctantly released from his lover's grip.

Four years. It had been four years since Arthur's graduation. Only a year ago did they get married (Antonio would have gotten married straight after graduation but Arthur was reasonable enough to take it slow and not rush things.) and Arthur was now a very successful author thanks to his bestseller books … the most profitable one being his personal favourite.

He had had to go away to America for the turning into film of one of his books. Arthur was really excited about this project and could hardly believe that his first and favourite book was going to be turned into a film. Antonio of course was very pleased for him but it meant that Arthur would frequently have to leave and sometimes for several months. It made him sad but at the same time, he too wanted to see his favourite book turn into pictures.

They both stared in each other's eyes, completely oblivious to the world around them until a shy voice erupted behind Antonio.

"Mr … Kirkland?"

Both men snapped back into reality and their green eyes meant two other pairs of green eyes.

"Are you Mr Kirkland? The writer?" the blond girl asked.

Antonio recognised her as a freshman. She was in his class and was quite a good student. Alice. He liked her because she reminded him of his Arthur and made his days less lonely. He also recognised the older girl, Maria, as one of the Spanish pupils. She didn't learn Spanish obviously but he was the teacher advisor of most Spanish nationals in the school.

Arthur smiled softly at the eager looks in both girls' eyes. He also was reminded very much of a certain couple as he looked at the pair of them.

"I am. How may I help you, young ladies?" he bowed slightly and caused the mad giggles of Maria and the blushing of Alice. Antonio pouted a bit but his cheerful grin rapidly came back as he latched himself onto the other's arm.

"I … We are both your biggest fans! We love your books!" Alice said excitedly. She couldn't believe she was actually talking to the Arthur Kirkland! Neither did Maria.

"Si! Especially Rose of Passion! That's both our favourite!"

The two men grinned at each other knowingly, causing a slight confusion upon the girls.

"I'm very grateful for your praise. That book is also our favourite to both me and Antonio."

"So … Are you and Mr Carriedo together?" Maria asked shyly, unsure whether she was allowed to ask.

"We … we noticed your rings …" Alice mumbled quietly to support her friend.

Antonio was quick to answer and with an excited grin he clasped his lips against the author's. When he finally released the Englishman, he turned a delighted expression to the girls.

"Si! We're married! Arthur is a great author, right?"

"He is! I really love his style! And I can almost feel the emotions behind each word!" Alice replied, not caring about the kiss at all. All she cared about was the fact that she could talk about her author … with her author! And Mr Carriedo was actually much more interesting now than she previously thought.

"Oi! Antonio! Stop that!" Arthur complained, his face turning interesting shades of red under the praise and attention … and also because of the show off kiss.

"Why? Your books are great, mi amor~"

"Stop doing that …" Arthur mumbled under the teasing of his partner.

"I didn't expect Mr Carriedo to be married to Mr Kirkland …" Maria wondered out loud.

"Si! We met at this school! Before Arthur was a writer!"

"I bet nothing much has changed. I noticed you still have half of the girls swarming around you." Arthur teased with a smirk and Antonio waved his hand dismissively.

"Si … they're becoming more persistent every year … and now, I can't see you at school anymore! My motivation level went seriously down because of that, you know!"

Arthur chuckled.

"Oh? So you'd rather have me as a pupil?"

Antonio thought for a minute before shaking his head and hugging Arthur.

"No! Otherwise I wouldn't get to see you every day … and night~!"

"Bloody Spanish …" Arthur mumbled while rolling his eye.

Alice's face was bright red and Maria was laughing her lungs out.

"Alice! You're so cuuuute~! Mi tomatita~!" She cooed at her friend making the said freind more uncomfortable and embarrassed as well as angry.

"Stop calling me that!"

"But you are! You're sooooo lindoooo~"
"Ma. Ri. A.!"

The two men watched in silence with large grins on their faces. Arthur's eyes fell on the book Alice was holding.

"Hey girls!"

They looked up from their argument.

"I see you have my book with you … care for an autograph?" Arthur offered and the two girls jumped around excitedly.

"Yes please!" They both said together.

"You know … this story is based on a real one." Arthur said absent-mindedly as he signed the book.

"Who is it based on?" Maria asked eagerly.

"Take a guess." Arthur winked and before they could question him more, the couple walked to their car and left.

"I wonder who he meant." Alice whispered.

"Hey! What did he write?" Maria asked while shaking Alice's shoulder.

"Let's see …"

To Alice and Maria

The end of a tale,

The start of another,

The last word becomes the first,

And the page is flipped once again,

Arthur Kirkland and Antonio Fernandez Carriedo

The girls stayed silent for a few minutes. Neither knew what to say. It will take them some time to understand the meaning behind those words but for now both were satisfied enough with Maria hugging and kissing a blushing and arguing Alice. No rush. The book had only started.