Rosalie POV
Alright Rosalie, focus. It was seven in the morning and I was getting my apartment ready for Bella's visit. I needed to go to the grocery store before I picked her up. There was no food in here. I had spent all night watching the cooking channel so I had a wide variety of foods to make her and I could figure out what her favorite foods were. Once I figured that out I would make them for her as often as she would let me.
I sped, at vampire speed, through the apartment making sure everything was perfect. Candles were set up on the balcony, and ready to be lit, so we would have light in the evening. I had a cabinet in my kitchen where I kept containers of blood in case she got hurt and I needed to feed. I would never allow her to be put in a dangerous situation so I have hunt often. I didn't want to leave her alone so the container of blood would hold me over.
There was a long list of things I had to buy. I planned on making lunch and dinner for her, figuring Bella would eat breakfast before I showed up, something Edward never did. He never even cooked for her. I don't see why. I mean the food is repulsive but it's not like he had to eat it and cooking wasn't going to hurt her unless he threw a knife at her. I snorted. Since when did he care about hurting her?
I rushed the shopping, not wanting to be around the humans more than necessary. Bella was one of two humans I can stand to be around. The second being Charlie, though I haven't officially met him yet. The only reason I would be able to stand him would be because he is Bella's father and he is a very important person in her life. After everything was stored away I hunted and got into my car and drove to Forks.
I drove quicker than normal knowing when Bella got in the car she wouldn't like it and I would have to drive slow. Charlie's police car was gone when I pulled into the driveway at 8am. I wonder why he went fishing knowing his daughter wasn't doing well after we left. Did he go fishing right after we left when she was catatonic? She may be doing better now that she saw me but if I were him I would be afraid of her doing something stupid... or stupider. She did hang out with vampires after all. Nothing could be considered stupider than that.
I shut the engine off and climbed out of my car. I knocked on the front door three times and waited for Bella to answer it. It only a couple minutes for her to open the door, I could hear her in the kitchen. "Hi Rosalie," Bella said shyly, stepping aside to let me in. It was almost as if she was surprised I was here. She probably thought I was going to leave her at any moment. I wish there was a way to convince her I wasn't going anywhere without confessing she is my mate.
"Good morning Bella," I said smiling at my mate. "Did you sleep well?" I prayed she did. The night I watched her I could tell she only slept well when she knew I was there. The thought made me sick, Edward had spent every night with her watching her sleep. It was unhealthy for her and he is a... I cut off at the thought.
"I did," she said. Her eyes said otherwise. She had dark circles under her eyes like she didn't sleep all night and I could hear the coffee pot going.
"You are a terrible liar," I said. I couldn't resist touching the dark circles under her eyes. She blushed. "Are you ready to go?"
"In a minute," she said. I followed her to the kitchen where she poured a cup of coffee. She offered me her cup before blushing and realizing I don't drink coffee. "Sorry, I forgot."
"It's alright," I said smiling at her. It still amazed me how considerate she was, even to vampires. "Did you eat yet?"
Bella shook her head and I frowned. "I wasn't hungry," she said, biting her lip. I resisted the urge to growl, moan, or throw her on the counter and kiss her. I'm fairly certain Bella will be the death of me and what bothered me the most was I didn't care.
"We can stop somewhere on the way to Port Angeles," I offered. "Even if we just get you one of those power bar things, for energy."
Bella laughed. "You mean a granola bar?" I shrugged. "Sure that would be nice, thank you."
I held the car door open for her once she finished her coffee. We drove to the gas station outside of town so I could fill up my corvette. "Here," I said sticking several twenties in her hand. "Buy whatever you would like."
Her eyes widened at that sight of the money, which was at least one hundred dollars, I didn't check before giving it to her. I had a feeling she had never held this much money before in her life. "This is too much," she said trying to hand all buy one twenty back to me. She didn't bring a purse or anything so I was assuming she had no money on her and that was the only reason why she was accepting it. That and I wouldn't let her buy anything.
"Take it," I said refusing to take the money back. "I don't know how much things cost and who knows you might need it. If not you can use it some other time. By the way I got you something." I pulled her new cell phone out of my purse and handed it to her. "Mine and Emmett's numbers are already in there for you." I thought about adding the others but it was best that I didn't. I'm sure Carlisle is mad at me for coming back.
"Thank you," Bella said blushing. Her blush was adorable. She turned and walked to the mini mart and I am ashamed to admit I watched her back side as she went.
Bella came back as I finished filling up my car. She had a small bag with only two items in it in one hand and a bottle of water in her other hand. I quickly replaced the nozzle and opened the car door for Bella. "I suppose it would be pointless to try and give you back the change?" Bella asked. I glanced at her and she was smiling.
"You would be right," I said smirking at her. "I wouldn't take the money back no matter how hard you tried." She ate quietly while I sped down the highway.
"Wow this is beautiful," Bella said when I pulled into the parking lot. I wanted to tell her nothing was beautiful compared to her but I held my tongue. That would open a can of worms that neither of us were ready for.
"It is," I agreed, looking at her.
I escorted Bella up to my apartment and held my breath as I opened the door. Her opinion mattered more to me more than anyone else's. Bella was speechless when we got inside. She had the biggest smile on her face. I didn't think I had ever seen her smile like that, not even around my idiot brother. "I love your apartment," Bella said stepping inside.
The apartment wasn't as glamorous as I usually got but it was comfortable. I know Bella preferred comfort to glamor. "Thank you," I said taking her coat and trash. I hung up the jacket and ran to the kitchen to dump the trash. "Let me give you the tour." I linked my arm with hers and led her around. My apartment had two bedrooms, one for my stuff and one for Bella if she ever wanted to stay the night. Only her bedroom had a bed in it.
"Why does this room have a bed in it?" Bella asked as I showed her her bedroom.
"This room is for you, if you ever want to stay the night here," I told her. "You are always welcome to stay."
Bella had a few tears rolling down her cheeks when I glanced at her. I couldn't stop myself from reaching up and wiping them away. "Why are you crying Bella?"
"It's nothing. I'm just really happy and thank you," she said. It took me a minute to figure it out. My family never offered her a bedroom when we all lived in Forks, it was always assumed she would sleep in Edward's room, but here I was, the ice queen, showing Bella that she was part of the family, part of my family and that I wanted to keep her around. I was giving her a room and a sense of privacy.
"Are you hungry?" I asked, proud of myself for remembering she had to eat.
Bella shrugged. "A little," she said. "But I can wait."
"It might take a while to cook," I said, leading her to the kitchen. I pulled out the list of foods I studied and handed it to her. "This is a list of foods I learned how to cook. Go ahead and pick one."
Bella scanned the list. I think she was surprised by how many things I could make. Esme couldn't cook half the things on this list. "Rose you don't have to cook anything, a sandwich would be fine," she said. I frowned. My mate really needed to get over her aversion to letting people do things for her.
"I want to cook for you Bella," I said. I wanted to dazzle her and force her to agree but I refused to trick her to get what I wanted. Edward did it all the time and I hated it. He didn't care that he was taking away her free will.
"Alright," Bella said finally agreed. "In that case Chef Rose I'll have the chicken salad with garlic bread."
I laughed and started pulling out different ingredients. Bella took a seat on the bar stool and watched. "Do you want help?" Bella asked.
"No thanks," I said. I needed to know I could cook for her without poisoning her. I winced at the thought of killing her, or hurting her in any way. "So was Jacob upset when you told him you couldn't come over?"
"He wasn't happy," she admitted. "I told him I needed to catch up on homework but I would come over after school tomorrow." I growled far too quietly for Bella to hear. I didn't want her near La Push or that mutt. I could smell him yesterday and he was close to phasing. Bella wasn't safe around him but to be fair she wasn't safe to be around either.
"Have fun," I said in an unconvincing voice. Bella noticed. I glanced at her and she was staring at me with her eyebrow raised.
"If you don't want me to go just say so," Bella said. She was far too used to being told what to do. "I'm sure E-Ed-Edward," she winced horribly when saying his name, "I'm sure he wouldn't let me go."
"I am not my brother," I said firmly and a little too loudly. "He was controlling, I am not. I want you to live and be happy." Even if it's not with me, I added silently. The thought hurt my dead heart but it was the truth. Her happiness is and always will be more important than my own.
"I still don't see why you care," Bella said softly. "If all you want is for me to get better than why didn't Alice come? Or Carlisle? Or even Emmett?" Damn Bella and her good observation skills.
I couldn't lie to her anymore but I couldn't tell her the whole truth. I wondered if that made me like Edward. I hoped not since I did plan on telling her everything but not right away. "Alice couldn't come," I answered. "She had a vision that you wouldn't react well to seeing her." The last part was a lie but Bella didn't know that. "Carlisle refused to get involved. He wanted to honor Edward's request." Bella flinched but it wasn't as bad as before. "Emmett wanted to come, he really did but I convinced him to let me come instead."
"You volunteered to come?" she asked shocked. I hated myself for how I treated her. She was so convinced I hated her that the idea of me being here for her was shocking.
"Yes," I said. "I don't hate you Bella. I never did and I plan to make it up to you."
"Do the others know you are here?" Bella asked.
"Emmett and Alice know," I answered. "I'm sure the others know now too but they haven't called me yet."
"Will they be mad?" Bella asked concerned.
There was no use lying to her now. I had a feeling if she asked again why I was here I would spill everything. "Alice and Emmett are happy I came over. Jasper won't be mad. If he knew how you were he would have come himself. Esme and Carlisle are probably mad because I disobeyed them."
"I'm sorry for getting you into trouble," Bella said, typical Bella, blaming herself for everything that happens. "But I am glad you came."
I grinned happily at that and did a mental dance. She was happy I was here. She's happy to see me. Okay may be that was a bit of a stretch but still she didn't hate my presence. "I'm happy I came back," I said trying to control my reactions.
I made sure everything was perfect before I placed the plates in front of her, one had garlic bread the other had her salad. "Thank you Rose," she said. She took a bite and smiled at me. "This is delicious."
Score one for Rosalie, I thought. Take that Edward.
After she ate I spent the next couple hours trying to teach Bella to dance. I was very happy I was a vampire because she kept stomping on my foot. I felt bad for her since it hurt her more than it hurt me but after a while she got better. She was nowhere near as graceful as me or the family but for a human she was doing very well.
It was getting dark outside when I started cooking dinner for Bella. I settled on pasta thinking she would like it. While I cooked she was watching TV which surprised me. I don't think I've ever seen Bella willingly watch TV. I lit the candles outside as the pasta cooked. I made sure the table was set up nicely. It almost looked like a romantic date and that made me frown. I didn't mean for it to look like a date. I would have to wait to see what Bella thought about it.
The food was done and I was leading Bella outside. Her eyes grew wide when she saw everything. "This is beautiful Rosalie," she said taking a seat. I sat the plate in front of her and took the spot across from her. I didn't want to seem rude for watching her so I had a cup of blood in front of me.
I checked my watch and as if on cue fireworks started going off over the ocean. "Whoa," Bella said. "Did you do that?"
If I was human I would be blushing. "Yes, I hired some guys to shoot some fireworks off. I thought you would like it and it's a good moving in celebration."
"I like it," Bella said, taking a bite of her pasta. "Today has been amazing. Thank you Rosalie for everything."
"Anytime Bella," I said honestly. "I talked Emmett. He is pleased you are giving him another chance. He won't let you down again." We sat silently and watched the fireworks while she ate.
"Rose, what happened with you two? You guys always seemed so happy and I didn't think mates could spend so much time away from each other," Bella asked. I wondered if Bella paid attention to what she just said.
"You're right," I said. "True mates cannot be away from each other for too long. However Emmett and I are not true mates. We loved each other very much but we both knew it would never last. Alice had a vision and Emmett will find his mate in ten years."
"What about your mate?" Shit. Quick Rosalie, think of something.
I shrugged. "I'm sure I will find my mate soon." I groaned. Nice job Rosalie now your mate may never believe the truth.
Bella furrowed her brow in concentration. "You said true mates can't stay apart." I nodded. She seemed to be putting the pieces together. "That means E-Edward isn't my true mate," she realized.