Rosalie didn’t speak right away. She went back to examining her nails. I closed my bedroom door and stood in front of it and waited for her. And waited. And waited.
“Look, Rosalie,” I said, tersely. “I don’t have all of eternity to wait for you to talk. You’re the one that keeps reminding me. Now either say what you’re going to say or leave.”
She continued to look at her nails and I was getting angry. She can’t just appear in my bedroom, say she’s going to apologise and then sit there and do nothing.
“Rosalie!” I walked over to her and yanked her head so she looked at me. Rage flared in her eyes at my man-handling her like this.
“Look, you vain piece of marble,” I said, holding her face so she looked at me. “I’m going to say this very slowly, so you understand. Say what you’ve got to say or you leave via my window.”
I dropped my hand from her face and continued to watch her. She composed herself and then stood up.
She walked over to the window. I knew it. She wouldn’t do it. She was in the right. She hadn’t done anything wrong at all. She was only trying to make me see sense. Why should she apologise? She hadn’t said anything hurtful or degrading or –
“I’m sorry.”
What?
Instead of leaving my room Rosalie had actually apologised. She had her back to me, looking outside.
“I’m sorry, Kayla,” she repeated. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
She turned to look at me. She was no longer angry. She was, and this wasn’t normal for Rosalie, remorseful. She was genuinely sorry.
“I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. I should have aired my views in a more mature manner. I shouldn’t have insulted you like that or spoke about your personal life. I shouldn’t make you doubt the venom will work or your marriage to Edward. It was wrong of me.”
Rosalie continued to stare at me, waiting for me to speak. I was stunned. I thought she would apologise but not this. She had gone overboard in the apology department.
“Wow, thank you Rosalie,” I said. “That was kind of you.”
She nodded. “Can you forgive me, Kayla?”
Could I forgive her? I contemplated the many ways I could reject her but then Edward popped into my head and I sighed. He took the fun out of everything.
“I can,” I replied. “And I will. I forgive you Rosalie.”
She nodded again and turned to the window, opening it.
“No wait,” I called to her. I walked over to her and shut the window. “I have something to say.”
Rosalie’s immediate thoughts were that I was going to rant at her and throw her out my window. But I smiled to calm her down.
“I’m sorry too,” I said, surprising myself that I’d actually gone through with it. “I shouldn’t have thrown you at the wall and said what I said about you. I didn’t act in a mature manner either.”
It wouldn’t have been right of me not to apologise for what I’d done. I wasn’t the only victim in this. Although she’d done more damage, I done my fair share too. Rosalie was very sensitive on the topic of kids and I shouldn’t have went there.
“There really was no need for you apologise,” Rosalie said, though there was gratitude in her eyes. “I was the one who was unfair and hurtful and mean.”
“And I wasn’t a total angel,” I said. “I did say some hurtful things.”
“Yes, but you shouldn’t apologise. I started the entire argument. You wouldn’t have said anything if it wasn’t for me.”
“True but I still shouldn’t have said it so therefore I should apologise.”
“But there really is no need, Kayla,” Rosalie insisted.
“There is every need, Rosalie,” I insisted.
“Kayla, please.”
I opened my mouth to argue but then stopped myself. We were having an argument about whether I should apologise or not. This was unbelievable. I started to laugh.
Rosalie tilted her head and looked at me confusingly.
“Rosalie,” I said, still laughing. “We’re arguing about who has the right to apologise.”
She smiled and then laughed too. It wasn’t really that funny but it broke the ice between us, helping us to get past the awkwardness.
Rosalie was the first to stop laughing but she continued to smile.
“So,” Rosalie said. “Alice said while I was over here I might as well ask you about flowers.”
I smiled and showed Rosalie to my bed where I sat cross-legged at my headboard and she elegantly sat at the bottom.
“I thought maybe Jasmine for your bouquet,” Rosalie said. “It’s a nice white star shaped flower. But Alice wants them to match the bridesmaid dresses as well as your dress and she wants gold bridesmaid dresses but they’ll be simple spaghetti strapped ones so you don’t need to worry about them outshining you. Now Alice did say something about white roses or white chrysanthemums but I don’t know if you’d like that but-”
Rosalie had gone on like that for an hour or two. I just sat and nodded and smiled where suited and sometimes I drifted off completely because I didn’t know one flower from the next. I was happy that Rosalie was talking to me in a nice way and not in her usual hateful and spiteful manner. I was so busy contemplating this that I almost missed something important Rosalie had said.
“Sorry, Rosalie, can you repeat that?” I asked her mid-way through another sentence on another flower I had no idea about.
“Azalea is a flower symbolizing first love,” she repeated. “You can get white Azaleas so it could represent purity, innocence and first love.”
“I want that flower,” I said, without thinking twice. It was perfect. First love.
“Edward told me to tell you about that flower,” she said, smiling. “He thought you might like it.”
I do like it. I don’t know what it looks like but I’m sure it will be beautiful. Edward wouldn’t mention it if it wasn’t.
“So,” Rosalie said, picking up where I had interrupted her. “Camellias are beautiful flowers that I think would go really well with the Jasmine or Azalea. Or all three if you wanted. Also you might like to know this that the calyx of the camellia falls with the petals when the flower has finished blooming. This is unlike most other flowers, where the calyx seems to hang around the tree even after the petals have dropped. This phenomenon symbolizes an everlasting union between lovers.”
Rosalie was right. I did like that. An everlasting union between lovers. That could be Edward and I.
“I know lilies are usually associated with funerals and death,” Rosalie ploughed on. “But I think that they are beautiful flowers and we have them at the wedding. Not in your bouquet, of course, but even if it’s for decoration on the tables or around the altar.”
“I like lilies so yes they can be somewhere about the place,” I said, struck with an idea. “You take care of it. I want you to deal with the positioning of the lilies and any other flowers for decoration.”
Rosalie looked surprised.
“Me?” She pointed to herself. “You want me to deal with the flowers?”
“Well, yes,” I said, as if she should know this. “You are my head bridesmaid.”
Rosalie looked like she could cry and for a moment I thought she was going to hug me for her arms almost opened to hug me but she must have thought better and continued to go on about even more flowers.
She eventually exhausted her entire mental encyclopedia on flowers which I wasn’t at all upset by. Flowers were flowers to me. Except really special ones that actually meant something to you.
“I best get back to the house,” Rosalie smiled. “Before Alice thinks we’ve killed each other.”
I smiled and saw some warmth in her eyes reflecting back to me. I could see a bright future of friendship blossoming between Rosalie and me.
“I’ll go by window,” she said, as I walked over to the door. “It’s quicker.”
“Well, see you later.” I waved as she jumped gracefully out of my window. I heard her feet land softly on the lawn and also a very quiet ‘goodbye’.
“Awww,” I said to myself. “Rosalie might actually like me. How sweet?”
I reveled in the sweetness of it until I remembered why I’d come up here in the first place. I hurried out of my room and downstairs and sighed with relief when I saw Charlie and Tess were still sat on the sofa.
I walked in casually and stood next to Charlie.
“You two having fun?” I asked.
“Charlie is wonderful,” Tess gushed. “He is so amazing! All the things he’s done, oh my goodness.”
I laughed because she seemed so happy about it. I looked to Charlie and he just blushed.
“Okay then,” I said, patting Charlie on the head. “I’ll just leave you guys to continue talking.”
I hadn’t even walked out of the room before I was ignored and they went back to their little discussion that I had no clue about. I felt sort of rejected but I was happy about it. Charlie was smiling and laughing now at this exact moment more times than I’d seen him in months. Tess was smitten by Charlie and she just couldn’t keep her eyes off him which was gross and cute at the same time for me.
Everything seemed to be going perfect.