CHAPTER 6: Roses are Red, Violets are Blue

If I was a violent person I would have already thrown Alice out the window. My first mistake of the morning was answering her obnoxious knocking on my door. The second mistake was even agreeing to be up this early. She keeps pushing down on the mattress thinking the she can get me out from under my covers. My body keeps swaying side-to-side like a wave. "Don't you ever sleep?" I ask from underneath, annoyed and still half asleep.

"I can never sleep in for some reason. I have insomnia or something," she says. "C'mon, Bella! Get up!"

"Ugh!" I growl at the irritating pixie. I finally sit up with strands of hair in my face. I try to blow them away but I was too tired to put in any real effort. "Fine!"

Alice starts snickering at my bed head. "Oh, Bella…" she smiles, removing them gently so I can see her more clearly. "Do you always sleep like this?"

"No. Worse."

"You should really wear a cap at night to keep your hair from getting into tangles," she advises and starts going through my luggage. She creates two different piles on the floor.

"Hey!"

"Bella, I'm doing this for your own good." She slowly turns to me and holds up one of my favorite University of Washington purple sweatpants. She places it in the left pile in disgust.

"What are you doing?" I start to freak out. "Those are my favorite sweatpants!"

"Bella," she places her hands on her hips and gives me an unpleasant look, "it's full of holes!"

"So what? It makes it…personal, vintage…and that much more comfortable!" I try to explain. I bought the sweats at the UW Bookstore my freshman year in college and practically wore them everyday around my dorm or when I was studying. It started to wear and tear over time from me always putting it in the washer or snagging onto something. One hole on the knee was from me falling on concrete and scraping myself. I remember I was more upset about the tear in the pants than I was about my wound.

"You're not in the Northwest anymore, Bella. Clothes like these are a sin." She throws more of my favorite shirts into the pile that I think she plans on substituting for fire wood.

"Are you serious?" I give her a horrid expression. Might as well accuse me for being a Salem witch and burn me at the stake for my choice of clothing.

"Well, they should be," she smiles. I roll my eyes.

"You're practically banning everything I own."

"Thank, God."

"Alice!"

"Oh, calm down, Bella," she rolls her eyes again. "I won't throw anything away. I'll just hide them and return them to you once we get back to LA."

"And what I am supposed to wear while I'm here?"

"Well, duh…half of the clothes you saw yesterday in my room are for you."

I groan. "You know I'm not that comfortable in the stuff you put me in. It's just not…me."

"Well, get used to it, my friend. You're a pretty girl, Bella, and you have a nice slim figure. You're my walking model. Here…this is what you're wearing today." She throws another black suit bag at me.

Alice is delusional thinking I was attractive with a nice figure. I look at my plain old self, not able to see what she saw. I only look pretty because of the makeup she puts on me and ran track in high school, which was the only reason why I haven't gained much weight. Being a vegetarian also helps. "This isn't anything see-through…is it?" I try feeling the material inside while it was still zipped in the bag.

She snags the covers from me in one swift motion and rolls it up into her hands. "Just go shower and change! We're being served breakfast in thirty minutes on the patio."

"What?" I scramble out of bed and almost got my foot caught in the bed sheet. "Now you tell me!"

"It's your fault for not waking up earlier," she says exasperatedly. I make a dash to the bathroom and wash my hair as fast I as I can. "Hey, Bella…" I hear her yell from the other room.

"Yeah?" I answer back over the hot running water trickling down my head.

"Your rose is blossoming quite nicely!" she says. I can tell she was smiling as she said it.

"About that, who gave it to me?" I ask, waiting for her answer before I scrub myself with soap.

"How would I know?"

"I know you, Alice!"

"I know you, too, and I know nothing!" she chuckles. She's such a little liar! "I'm going to get a few things from my room. I'll be back shortly. Hurry up!" And that was the end of that short-lived conversation. I know she was leaving to try to get out of my badgering her. The way she was acting last night makes me think she was somehow behind it or was asked for advice by the person who gave it to me. Edward's face pops in my head. Could it have been him? No…of course not. Why would he of all people give me something like that? We just met! Sort of. Well, met again more formally you can say.

A small case of the butterflies grows in my stomach as my mind entertains the idea it could have came from this wonderful creature. I sigh at the thought and decide to squash it like a bug before I got my hopes up too high because there was a good 99.9% chance that it wasn't from him. But what if it was? But what if it wasn't? There was no way he could have given it to the bell boy in time because they drove away in the opposite direction and it was only about a ten minute walk for us. We would have seen the car if it turned around. I hit myself on the forehead to forget about it. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

There was no time to fully dry my hair with the amount of time remaining so Alice combed all my hair to one side and did an intricate braid and placed it in a bun. I don't know how she did it so fast. Alice has me in a mini summer dress that is mint colored with white ruffles around the bottom and nude wedges that tie around my ankles. She knows how I didn't like to wear heels of any kind but what Alice wants, Alice gets. My feet are accustomed to flats so if I break an ankle and become crippled for life, my medical bill is going to be sent straight to her address. She applies light make up and lip gloss and some dangling earrings.

"Perfect!" she beams as she always did when she got what she wanted. My Hobbit-like friend was in a tiered print dress, short like mine, with different designs of light pink, blue and purple in it. It was very chic and looks great on her. She wore huge bangles on her arms and similar wedges but hers were more of an off white. "We have five minutes to spare so let's go!"

She grabs my arm and whisks me downstairs. "Alice, slow down!" I stumble behind her. "Are you trying to get us both killed walking down these narrow steps? Why couldn't we have just taken the elevator?"

"There's no need. The terrace patio is on the third floor, we're almost there," she says. For someone who didn't eat much, she was sure in a hurry. When we get there, the servants are already placing different breakfast items on the table set for four.

"Four, Alice?" I look confused at the setting. "Who else are we having breakfast with?"

"Them!" she points happily to the end of the patio where two men were standing by the fountain having a conversation. "Jasper!" she waves to get his attention. He meets her halfway and picks her up in his arms as she giggles. "I missed you so much!" she plants a hard kiss on his cheek.

"I missed you too, sweetie," he chuckles. He gives her a proper kiss before he sits her down again. Alice looks all googlie-eyed at her boyfriend as if she had just landed from Cloud 9. "Bella, how are you?" he smiles and gives me a small kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, Jasper, it's good to see you. I didn't know you were going to be here?"

"Well, Alice insisted," he grins in her direction. She shrugs nonchalantly, still smiling. "How could I say no?" His hair has grown out since I last saw him. Jasper has curly golden honey hair and was tall like Emmett, standing at 6'3", muscular, but leaner. Alice looks exceptionally shorter standing next to him. If she wasn't wearing any heels, she would truly look like a Hobbit standing next to her boyfriend. "I would have been here sooner but the photo shoot in Ibiza took longer than expected. I have some souvenirs for you guys, remind me to give them to you later."

"Wow, thanks!" I smile. Jasper was a really nice guy. He always brought us back something from his trips. Since he and Alice sometimes had conflicting schedules, they always tried to meet halfway somewhere. "How long will you be here for?"

"He'll be here for a whole month!" Alice exclaims, squeezing his arm tightly.

Jasper blushes. "Yeah, I requested an extension with my next employer."

"It's always good to take some time off," Edward smiles, joining us. I almost forgot he was here! How could I have forgotten about him! He was quietly waiting for us to get reacquainted with Jasper before he came and stood by me. "Hi, Bella," he greets me with his adorable crooked grin. "You look nice today."

"Umm…thanks," I half-smile, blushing. Alice and Jasper give each other silent looks as if I didn't feel awkward enough being around Edward. But, he didn't seem to have noticed.

"Shall we have breakfast?" he asks, holding his arm out to me. I look at him as if he was doing some kind of foreign ritual I'd never seen before. Alice clears her throat and loops her arm around Jasper's, walking ahead of us to the table. I get the hint she wants me to do the same. I did so hesitantly and pace my steps with his. At least if I trip on our way to the table, he'd be able to hold me up in these shoes. And like Jasper, Edward also pulls my chair out for me. What a gentleman!

During breakfast, Jasper tells us about his trip and the different sights he was able to see. Alice always gets jealous of him because of the fun locations he gets to travel to. She does some travelling herself but mostly to the same places like Paris, England, and Milan. Jasper's next stop is to Amsterdam to do a photo shoot for a magazine. Aro also hired him to do some publicity photos for the movie for different cover spreads. Alice is really excited for him as we all were.

Things are going well between the four of us as we sip on our espressos after breakfast. I had no worth-mentioning incidents and Edward stayed dry, which I'm pleased about. I catch him looking at me from time to time whenever I'd get the courage to actually look up in his direction. I wonder where everyone else is or even what Edward was doing here since Rosalie made it clear that they had something important to do this morning. He probably did pay her and Emmett the big bucks to take care of everything for him so he could escape to do what he wanted.

"The flowers are so pretty this time of year," Alice comments, taking in their scent. "I love smelling their fragrance from my balcony…especially the roses." I almost choke on my drink. I looked up and discreetly eye her, while I take another sip. She ignores me, of course, and continues to smile sweetly at Jasper.

"Yes, the flowers here are beautiful," Edward agrees and briefly looks at me. "You don't see these kinds of flowers in LA. They would make a lovely bouquet for someone." I just couldn't look at him after that. Was he hinting at something? All this talk about flowers makes me uneasy. I was debating whether or not to mention the mysterious rose I received last night to see if he would confess if he was the one or not who gave it to me. But, in the end, the chicken in me won and I didn't have the guts to say anything. I decide to keep my mouth shut and just listen and nod my head occasionally. "So, do you like flowers, Bella?" he suddenly asks me with a small smile playing on his lips. All three of them are looking at me for a response when I finally look up from focusing on the napkin on my lap for the last ten minutes.

"Huh? Oh, yeah…I like…flowers," I reply like an idiot. I can't hide behind my hair since Alice had it braided so I took another nervous sip of my espresso.

"What kinds of flowers do you like, Bella?" Alice of all people had to ask me. I step on her toe from under the table. I saw her squeeze her napkin as she made a sour face at me. Serves her right!

Edward is looking at me intently. "I'm not really that picky," I shrug as casually as possible. "I like…peonies, calla lilies, sunflowers…roses…"

"Roses, huh?" Alice stresses. I know she was doing it on purpose.

"You like roses, too, don't you, Alice?" Edward asks his sister.

"Yup, sure do," she nods with a smile toward Jasper. "Jasper is great about surprising me with them even when we're not in the same country."

"It's the least I can do for being away so much," he kisses her hand. My lovey-dovey friends made me want to gag.

"It's okay, Jas. I know how important your career is to you and I support you one hundred percent," she leans in to kiss him. I notice Edward roll his eyes. I smile a little because I often did the same thing when they'd get all lovey-dovey forgetting everyone around them. Edward finally clears his throat.

"Sorry, sorry," Alice giggles as Jasper blushes beside her.

"Anyway…" Edward softly laughs, "Our mom always has fresh flowers in almost every room in the house so Alice and I grew accustomed to being around so many different kinds," he tells me. "Roses are beautiful to look at but…" he starts shaking his head, "I can't stand them." His words surprise me. He didn't like roses? I feel my heart sink from hearing him say that.

"Are you still allergic to them?" Jasper asks him.

"Yeah. I'm fine around every flower imaginable but when it comes to roses…I just have the worse sneezing fit. I'm just glad that their scent is masked with all the other flowers."

"That's a shame." Jasper laughs softly, "Every girl likes roses."

"Yeah, I know," he smiles, rolling his eyes. "You should see the looks I get when I don't give roses."

I was beginning to feel uncomfortable about the subject and hoped Edward didn't bring up any stories about past ex-girlfriends into the mix. While the boys continue to talk about his allergies, I sit quietly, unable to hide the frown on my face. Alice notices and mouths if I was okay. I nod, trying to cheer myself up. I was mad at myself for thinking the rose is from Edward. How could it be? He's allergic to them. I suddenly didn't care who it came from if it didn't come from him. I felt childish for it, but I can't help the way I feel. I can't believe the affect this guy is having on me and it was our third meeting.

Alice is torn between spending time with Jasper and hanging out with me for the day since his flight wasn't really supposed to arrive until tomorrow. He called last night to tell her he was able to get on earlier flight. She figured she could juggle us both. I assure her it was not a problem for me to find something to do with my time. I always did. They hadn't seen each other in weeks and I know how much she missed him, so I can't pull her away from the man she loves. Both she and Jasper say they would make it up to me. "I'll hold you to it!" I say with a smile.

"Thanks, Bella! You're the best!" she gives me a kiss on the cheek.

"Of course," I hug her. I didn't feel like being around anyone after lying to myself that I wasn't going to get my hopes up about my secret admirer so things worked out in both our favors. They also said goodbye to Edward and headed off downstairs.

"It was nice to see you again," I try giving him a happy, friendly smile and frown again as soon as my back is turned. I didn't even give him a chance to say anything and just walked away.

"You have a really bad habit of running away from me," he catches up to me with an amused look on his face.

"Huh? Oh…I figured you had other important things to do so…" I say avoiding his eyes. He easily keeps up with my pace with his hands leisurely in his pockets.

"What are your plans now?" he asks while we wait for the elevator. No way was I walking back up in these shoes! Walking up a flight of stairs for someone like me was just as dangerous as walking down them.

"Umm…I don't know? Read a book maybe?" I shrug. I really hadn't thought about it, I just want to get away and he wasn't making it easy. I want to soak in my own misery for a while.

"On a beautiful day like this?" he gives me a strange look.

"Why not?"

"We've barely had any sunshine since we got here and it's actually pretty warm today. You should try to enjoy it before it rains again," he suggests.

"Thanks for the advice…" I answer blandly. The door finally dinged and slowly opens. He let me in first and then followed. He hit the lobby button before I could press my floor. "Oh, actually, I'm going up," I tell him. I don't know why he couldn't just take the stairs.

He turns around and smirks at me. "No, you're not."

"What?" It was now my turn to give him a strange look. What is this guy thinking?

"There will be plenty of time for you to read a book. Being cooped up in your room all day isn't healthy." He says it as if he knows what's best for me.

The doors open to the lobby. There is an elderly couple waiting to get in who smiles at us as we exit. I step a few feet away from the elevator to let them. I fold my arms by the closing doors, refusing to move from the lobby. Edward has walked ahead of me and doesn't realize I am beside him until he is almost out the door of the villa. He walks back to me, confused. "What's wrong?"

"What are you doing?" I asks, slightly laughing and still confused by his behavior.

"We're going to enjoy the sunshine," he smiles. He makes it seem like such a simple thing.

"Don't you have something important to do today? Somewhere to be? Where's Emmett and Rosalie? Won't they be upset?" I fire my questions.

"You're very…inquisitive aren't you?" he smirks. "I'm sure you'd make a great journalist." I blush at his comment. I was just merely looking out for him. I, personally, wouldn't want to be subjected to Rosalie's wrath. I can picture horns on her head and fire coming out her nose and mouth. "I've cleared my calendar for today. Emmett and Rosalie will call me if they need me for something."

"You just don't want to do any work today—admit it," I raise a playful eyebrow.

Edward ran his fingers through his hair. He always looks so sexy when he does that. It makes me want to run my fingers in his gorgeous locks as well. "Yes and no," he chuckles guilty. "There's some small interviews but Aro would rather have me wait until the conference tomorrow so they're not that important."

"Aren't you worried that someone will recognize you?"

"Are you?" he asks. I swear his eyes sparkled at me. He has such a dazzling affect on me that it was hard to keep myself from completely drooling all over my dress.

"I…uhh…well…no," I manage to stutter. "I'm nobody—it's you they'll be paying attention to."

"Hmm…you think so?" he ask, looking at me up and down. I blush profusely. He was checking me out! Not that I mind, but it was embarrassing to say the least. He laughs off whatever he's thinking and starts to walk again. "If you're not afraid to step into the sunlight with me, I'll be outside. I'll give you one full minute to decide if you want to enjoy whatever today may bring. If not, I completely understand and I promise you won't hurt my feelings." He walks out of the lobby, but not before dazzling me with this green eyes and crooked grin.

Was this guy serious? He wants me to spend the day with him? My Adonis was willing to give little old me the time of day? I must be dreaming. Every inch of me is telling me to run out the door as fast as I can but my feet feel like they each weighed a thousand pounds. I was already imaging all the horrible things that could happen while I was with him. I hope he knows his life was in danger by being around me given that I'm not the most graceful person in Volterra and all its surrounding areas. My heart is running a marathon in my chest. I didn't know what to do! I stand there frozen, terrified almost.

To my everlasting surprise he walks back inside, softly laughing and shaking his at something. "Just c'mon, already," he smiles again, tugging gently on my hand. Oh, my! He has such a caring and trustworthy look in his beautiful green eyes that I can't say no. In fact, I didn't say anything all. I let him drag me outside, which reminds me much of Alice whenever I'm taking too long. I guess they are related.

Author's Note: Who thought the rose was from Edward? Gotcha! (hehe)

Thoughts? Did you like the ending? :) Please review!