Action

-*+ 5 +*-

{ - I know, it's a crappy chapter. I'm sorry! I knew I needed to update, so here you go. Enjoy! - }

-= Bella =-

"I was completely wrong about him, Rose! He's funny... and sweet... and down to earth..." I sighed as I was staring at the ceiling.

"Bella! Snap out of it, okay?" Rose said as she was on her phone tapping away. "You're being weird!"

"Yeah... you're right. I need to stand my ground. He's just playing the nice guy like he did to everyone else."

"I wouldn't say that. Bella, he might of had quite a few girls before, but I don't think he's low enough to act like a nice guy just to get another girl."

"You know what?" I asked, sitting up and slinging my legs off the edge of the bed. "I'm going to avoid this conversation."

"Oh no you're not!" Rose said, tossing her phone to the side and jumping up from her bed.

"Oh yes, I am. And now, I walk away." I walked dramatically out of the room, flipping my hair over my shoulder.

"Bella! Don't you dare walk away from this!"

"Too late!" I called as I pranced down the wooden stairs.

"This is not over!" I heard Rose yell from upstairs.

"Whatever!"

I walked into our open kitchen that connected to our living room and opened one of the black metal cupboards with a glass window in the front to get one of our plastic bowls.

I placed it down on the white marble counter and grabbed the box of Cap'n Crunch from the pantry. I poured some into the bowl and put the box away before going to lounge on our white loveseat.

I clicked on the TV and grabbed a handful of cereal. I wiped my hands and took a sip of my water bottle when I heard the news reporter.

"Edward Cullen was spotted with Isabella Swan this morning. Relationship, or just a fling?"

I choked on my water and spluttered. What?

I turned the TV up and set down my bottle and bowl.

"In other news with Edward Cullen, he is joining Ellen tonight at 10:00 pm. Maybe she can figure out the question now lingering in all of our minds."

"Not mine!" I screamed, throwing a handful of cereal at the screen. Stupid paparazzi. Edward was right, they're just parasites.

I looked at the clock. 7:30.

"Bella, what are you screaming about?" Rosalie asked as she skipped down the stairs.

"They're asking whether Edward and I are in a relationship or if it's just a fling!" I screeched, jumping up from the couch.

"Well, which is it?" she asked me. I glared at her, and I saw her flinch.

"Neither!"

"Okay, well, I have a date, so... I'm gonna go..." Rosalie said, backing up slowly. Just then did I realize what she was wearing. She had a dark blue cocktail dress on with strappy silver heels and her hair was curled in intricate little ringlets that cascaded down her shoulders to just below her chest.

"With who?" I asked her, forcing a smirk onto my face.

"Umm... Emmett McCartly..." She mumbled, blushing.

"Ooh, and who's Emmett McCartly?" I asked her, smiling even more.

"Edward's manager..."

"What?" I asked. One meet up and now they have a date? Well, I guess it doesn't really surprise me. Rosalie is drop-dead gorgeous.

"Edward's manager is Emmett."

"Well, you look great. Have fun," I said, plastering a smile on my face.

"Thanks, Bells. And, don't worry too much about the news. At least you, me, Edward, and Emmett know the truth."

"Thanks, Rose. See you later."

"See you," and she picked up her keys from the counter and left. I listened to her engine roar to life until it idled to a soft purr and her pulling away.

I decided to do some laundry while I was waiting for 10:00 to come along. I carefully washed the whites first, being careful with my favorite shirt: white eyelet lace.

I was just about to do a second load when I heard a knock at the door. Rosalie would never end a date that quickly unless something went wrong, but even then I remembered her taking her car keys that had her house key on it, too.

I quickly wiped my hands of any detergent and then walked to the door. I opened it up, and no one was there. Just as I was about to close the door, I noticed a large rectangular box on the ground in front of the welcome mat.

I picked it up, shuddering from the cold, damp weather, and then brought it inside. I set it down on the counter and picked up a knife to cut the tape. As I unfolded the box, a small piece of paper fluttered to the linoleum.

I bent down to pick it up, and the elegant calligraphy seemed very familiar as I read the parchment.

'I had a great time this morning, and I hope we can meet up again soon. I look forward to working with you, Bella.

-Edward'

It quickly dawned on me that the same elegant scrawl was from when he signed the check and handed it back to a hyperventilating waitress.

What had Edward sent me, and why had he sent it? He meets up with all of his costars before a movie, what makes me so different?

Unless... I'm not different. Maybe he does this to all of his female costars to get on a good note with them.

My already low mood was spiraling downhill as I thought more and more about it, so I shoved those thoughts into a lockbox in my brain to worry about later. I faced the box again and opened it up all the way.

I gasped.

In the box was a large bundle of beautiful - real - tigerlilies. I remembered telling him that when he was explaining that he was thinking of planting his mother a garden for her birthday, but he didn't know what flowers to use.

I rushed over to the cupboard under the sink and pulled out my favorite vase, turned the tap on to put some water in it, and then ran upstairs to place it on my bedside table.

I rushed back downstairs careful not to trip, and carefully tugged the tied up bundle out of the plastic holding.

I walked over to the sink and snipped the bottom of the stems off in a diagonal pattern, and then brought them upstairs to place them in the vase.

The flowers seemed to brighten the room in a way I didn't think possible before; it brought out the sunlight streaming in the windows and the green of my bedspread and the leaves on the outside trees.

It brought out the natural beauty of the room.

I admired it for a little while before I took the piece of parchment that I had stuffed in my pocket out, and then slid it onto one of the leaves on one of the flowers, facing the bed, so I could read it at night.

It was becoming obvious to even myself now; I was falling for Edward already, and I was falling hard.

And I was starting to like it.