**Still Rosalie's POV**
Later in the week (Saturday).....
Today my older brother Alex was coming and I was super excited about it. In fact, I might as well be over the moon.
I had Ben over and we were currently having a videogame competition on Jess' PS3. Turns out, I was pretty good at playing Call of Duty.
"Ha! I win again!" I said excitedly.
"What if I say I let you win that time?" Ben asked me playfully.
"You didn't just let me win, did you?"
"Maybe..."
"You're an ass!"
"So I've been told."
Jess was out for the day with John, and her parents were also out with their collegues, so the house was technically ours for the day. Excluding the housekeepers, of course.
After a few more minutes there was a knock at the front door.
"He's here!" I pretty much squealed as I hopped off the couch to answer the door.
I opened it to find all six-foot three of my brother.
"Alex!" I greeted him as I threw my arms around him.
"You're killing me here, Rose." He said jokingly.
"Yeah, but you love me."
"True."
I pulled away and let him inside where he left his suitcases by the staircase.
"What happened to your leg?" He asked me, looking down at my leg worriedly.
"I fell down the stairs." I told him. "It should be good as new in the next three weeks or something."
"That's alright, I guess. What else have you been up to?"
"Nothing much. I was just playing Call of Duty with my friend."
"And I thought I could take a break from the military."
"Whatever."
"So this friend of yours...is it a guy?" He asked me.
"Here we go. Look, Alex, yes, my friend's a guy, but please don't hurt him." I pleaded.
"So I'm too late?"
"Uh...yeah."
"It isn't the same guy that left you last year, is it?"
"How'd you know about that?"
"You'd be surprised what Mum and Dad tell me over the phone." He said.
"But they don't know the whole story. It'd just happened when they'd came back from one of their trips." I replied.
"Well, they told me whatever they told me. But back to my question. Is it the same guy in that room?"
"Please don't hurt him, Alex. You haven't even met him yet."
"I know enough. He hurt you, Rose. You expect me to just let that go?"
"Well I have, and now we're getting along fine. More than fine, actually, but-"
"You got back together with him? Dear God, Rose...what was going through your head?" He questioned me.
"Don't you even lay one hand on him, Alex." I warned him.
"Or what?"
"Just don't."
"Whatever. Do I at least get to meet the guy?"
"Only if you promise not to hurt him."
"Fine, I promise." He told me as we walked into the living room.
Ben paused the game as he stood up and walked over to Alex and I.
"Hey, I'm Ben. Nice to meet you." He greeted Alex.
I bit down on my bottom lip. Please don't hate him, Alex, please don't hate him.
"Nice to meet you, Ben. I'm Alex." Alex replied as they shook hands.
Thank God, we're off to a good start.
That was before Alex tightened his grip and twisted his hand.
"Alex!" I exclaimed as I shoved him away from Ben.
"It's alright. Should've seen that one coming." Ben tried to assure me.
"Damn right." Alex replied.
I gave Alex the best death stare I could. "Back off."
"Whatever. Could you show me up to where I'm staying now?" Alex asked me as he headed towards the staircase.
"Yeah, just a minute." I replied as I turned back to Ben. "I'm so sorry about him."
"Don't worry about it, Rose." He said.
"Is your hand okay?"
"Yeah, it's not broken or anything."
"Thank God."
"Take it easy, Rose. Breathe for a second."
I sighed. "Yeah I know. But I'm still sorry-"
Ben cut me off with one of his amazing kisses. Boy, was I waiting for him to do this. It took all the restraint I had not to turn this into something more.
Stop thinking like that, you sicko. Jesus...
"Rose, I'm still waiting." Alex called out.
"I'm not going to last this visit." I muttered to Ben.
"Yes you will. That's why I'm here." He smiled as he stole one last kiss before I pulled away and walked over to Alex.
"Come on. Up we go." I said as Alex and I made our way upstairs.
We walked down the hallway, made a right, and third door down was his room.
"Just in here." I opened the door and gestured for him to go inside.
"Thanks." He replied as he placed his bags at the end of the bed before coming back out. "So how about some Call of Duty?"
"I thought you wanted to take a break from the military."
"Let's face it, I'm never going to get a break from them."
"If you can't beat them, join them."
"Exactly."
We went back downstairs into the living room where Ben was once again engrossed in the videogame.
I plugged in another controller for Alex and we all sat on the couch...with me inbetween the both of them.
Well that's just great.
After a few minutes, it was pretty obvious who was winning.
"Damn you, Alex!" I shouted. "You've got a major advantage here!"
"Okay. How about two versus one then? You two versus me." Alex challenged.
"Oh it's on!" I agreed.
After a couple more matches, it seemed that Ben and I were still no match for my brother.
"Okay. This obviously isn't working. There has to be something you suck at." I said to Alex.
"Good luck trying to figure that out." He smirked.
"Whatever. Did you want something to eat?"
"Yes please."
"Okay. I'll be back in a few minutes."
"I'll come with you." Ben said as we stood up and walked into the kitchen.
"So what do you think of him?" I asked him once we were in the clear.
"He's a good guy. You two look nothing alike, though. Apart from the eyes, it stops there."
"Yeah. He looks more like our dad. I take after my mum's side."
"I can see that. Why did he enrol in the military?"
"I don't know. I think he just wanted to do something different with his life. Now he gets drawn in every year and he's away all the time."
"You must really miss him then." He said.
"Yeah I do." I nodded.
I started putting together some sandwiches and other stuff which I put on the table and Ben helped me finish cleaning up the kitchen.
"Thanks." I said to him.
"Anytime." He replied.
My phone rang and I fished it out of my pocket to answer it, and heard Jess on the other end.
"Hey!" She greeted me.
"Hey, Jess. What are you so excited about?" I replied.
"Words been spreading that there's going to be a school dance in the next couple weeks."
"That isn't enough time to buy anything."
"Have you seen how big my wardrobe is? Not to mention there's your clothes as well. I'm sure we'll find something."
"Okay, so can I get an exact date?"
"I'll text you the details." She told me.
"That's fine. See you later." I said.
"See ya." She replied as we hung up.
A few seconds later, Jess had sent through the details for the upcoming dance.
Friday September 6th at 7pm.
Well that's just great. That date was only a couple days after I get this brace thing off my leg.
"What was that about?" Ben asked me.
"It was just Jess. Apparently there's a school dance coming up in a couple weeks." I informed him.
"Is that why you're stressing out on what to wear?"
"Maybe..."
"Well, I'm sure whatever you wear, you'll look great."
"Thanks, Ben."
I would've gone in to kiss him if Alex hadn't walked in.
"Later." I whispered to Ben as we sat down at the table.
Alex was at the head of the table, with me to his right, and Ben to his left.
"So...what are you going to do later on?" Alex asked me.
"I don't know. Depending on the time Jess gets home, I might hang out with her." I answered.
"I hope you don't mind, but I've got a surprise for you and Jess later."
"Yeah, that's fine. Do I get it hint though?"
"Nope."
"That's not fair."
"It sort of is." Ben chipped in.
I kicked his shin from under the table. Seeing him flinch like that made me let out a small laugh.
"I'll get you for that later." He threatened me.
"You better not hurt her." Alex warned him.
"Wasn't planning on it."
"Sure..."
I poked my tongue out at Ben. I could tell he was going to kick me under the table, so I moved my legs from his reach. Take that.
I could see the slight confusion in his face, and I poked my tongue out at him again.
Boy, was I gonna get it later.
Half an hour later.....
After cleaning up the table, Ben and I went upstairs to my room. I'd just closed the door when he initiated a tickling attack on me. I could hardly get any words out and my legs gave out, making him the only thing keeping me upright.
"Are you going to kick me again, Rosie?" Ben asked me playfully.
"Probably." I joked.
"That wasn't the right answer."
"I know."
He stopped tickling me and let me stand properly.
"I believe you owe me something from before." Ben said to me.
"Oh yeah...you can wait." I told him.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You heard me. But I'll leave my window open tonight if you really want it."
"You want me to sneak into your house?"
"I guess you could say that."
"Why are you playing hard to get, Rosie?" He asked.
"Not hard to get, I'm just in for a little fun." I told him.
I swear, I thought he'd make a move on me then and there if we hadn't been interrupted by a knock at the door.
I opened it to find Jess on the other side.
"Hey!" We greeted each other in unison as we hugged briefly.
"Are you busy?" Jess asked me curiously.
"Not really, why?" I responded.
"Because we need to start getting our outfits ready for the school dance! It's only a couple weeks away, you know."
"Yeah, I know."
"So how about it? Should we start with my wardrobe or yours?"
"I wouldn't mind looking in your wardrobe, Jess." Ben piped up from behind us.
"Not busy, huh?" Jess asked me, raising an eyebrow.
"We weren't doing anything." I assured her.
"Yet." Ben added.
"Ben!" I hissed.
"Whatever. Do I get to see what your wearing to the dance, or what?"
"No. It's going to be a surprise."
"Of course it is."
"Why don't you go downstairs and play Call of Duty with Alex?"
"Sounds like a plan." He agreed as he kissed me on the cheek before walking past us and down the stairs.
"Come on!" Jess said loudly as she grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards her room.
An hour or so later.....
Turns out, Jess and I didn't have the need to go shopping after all. By the time we finished raiding both of our wardrobes, we'd managed to pull together outfits for the dance.
I know that there's still a couple weeks until the dance, but there's no problem in organising outfits in advance!
Jess had settled on a mid-thigh length, royal blue dress which was backless. She paired this with some heels and a cute little clutch.
I on the other hand, decided on a knee-length, red dress with a sweetheart neckline, with black heels from Steve Madden with a matching clutch and belt from Forever New. I also included a bracelet and dangly earrings from Lovisa.
These were mixes that we'd accumulated from both of our wardrobes, and if I do say so myself, I think we did pretty well.
Jess and I couldn't wait for this dance. It was our final one before the end of year formal, so it had to be pretty special.
"So has Ben asked you to the dance yet?" Jess asked me.
"Does he have to? I'm pretty sure that we're going together." I replied.
"I know. But has he made it official?"
"With who? He doesn't need to make a big show about it."
"It'd be cute if he did though."
"You've got a point there. Hey, have you heard from Zac lately?"
"Of course I have. We did have school yesterday, you know." She said.
"Yeah, but out of school. We haven't had him over in ages." I told her.
"Then I'll be sure that we all go out for lunch tomorrow. It'll just be you, me, and Zac. The three amigos."
"That sounded a bit cheesy."
"Says you. It'll be like old times. Which means, no boyfriends. Got that?"
"You've got a boyfriend too, you know."
"Yeah, I know. I just don't spend every minute of my spare time with him." She told me.
"Okay, whatever. No boyfriends. Got it." I agreed.
"Great! Now let's go see who's kicking who's ass in Call of Duty."
"Alex has been kicking ass for hours. I'm pretty sure he's still winning."
"We shall see."
**Ben's POV**
A couple weeks later.....
I could tell Rose wanted this night to be perfect from the amount of time she spent getting ready with Jess upstairs. I'll never understand that about girls.
It was edging towards seven o'clock when Rose finally came downstairs.
One word: Damn!
Boy, did she look gorgeous. From down here I could see she was also wearing the necklace I got her a few weeks back. She hardly ever took it off, and for that, I was grateful.
"Jess said she'd be catching a ride with John, so we can go on ahead to the dance." She told me as she stopped in front of me.
I sort of ignored that though. I was still taking her in.
"Ben? Are you going to say anything?" She asked me.
"Yes actually. But how could I when you're looking so stunning?" I told her.
Damn that blush of hers.
"Okay, well...thanks, I guess." She said as she bit down on her bottom lip.
"Don't mention it. Let's get going." I replied as we headed out the door.
"Do you mind texting my friend to see if we can catch up tomorrow? I haven't seen him since I left and it's been ages." I asked her once we'd gotten into my car and I'd started driving.
She nodded. "Sure. Where's your phone?"
"Left pocket of my jacket." I told her.
She reached over into my jacket pocket and pulled out my phone.
"No funny business now, Rosie. I can tell what you're thinking." I warned her playfully.
"Sure you do." She smiled.
She went through my contacts until she found my friend and brought up the messages page.
"Wow. You really haven't contacted this guy in ages. The last time you did, it was just before you left about some bet you made." She said to me.
Oh sh*t. Please don't read anymore, Rose. I can't go through with this right now.
"Hold on a second..." She drifted off as she scrolled a little higher up. "This bet's about...me?"
~~ Ooh!!! Looks like our little Ben might be in a bit of a problem here with Rose. Don't judge the situation so fast though, as only time will tell.
I promise that the next chapter will be up soon, so don't fret! Turns out, I'm catching up with a lot more people than expected for Christmas, so the update may or may not be a bit late. Who knows?
Stay tuned, though, and be sure to leave your comments and votes. Until next time, guys!!!
Photo of Alexander to the top who's played by Theo James. ~~