(Edward's POV)
"Dude, we haven't done this in so long." Emmett said as he rolled out the red Pokémon sleeping bag on my bedroom floor. I chuckled at the giant picture of Charizard that covered the front.
"Nice sleeping bag," I teased from my bed as I flipped through channels on my TV. I stopped on a boxing match.
"Shut up. It's the only one I could find," he grumbled, "Seriously, though. When was the last time that I spent the night at your house?"
"Mmm… probably before you and Rose started dating." I answered, keeping my eyes on the two men duking out on the screen.
"No way. We're coming up on our one year anniversary," he refused.
"Yeah, I know."
"Huh," Emmett fell silent, lost in the boxing match. He and I had been best friends since my family moved here way back when. He was one year older than me, but that did not make much of a difference. We were practically brothers.
I was so engrossed in the match that I jumped when my door creaked open in my peripheral vision.
"Lights out at midnight, Edward," my mom told me. I looked over at my digital clock: 11:30 pm. Rawr.
"All right, Mrs. Masen." Emmett said, wriggling into his kiddie-sized sleeping bag that was too small for his overly-muscular body. It looked a little uncomfortable, but he did not complain.
"I mean it. You have practice tomorrow morning," she said, staring directly at me. Ugh, track. I loved it and all, but the weekend practices were enough to drive a man insane. I nodded.
"Goodnight, you two," she closed the door, leaving Emmett and I to watch the match. The next time I looked at the clock, it was almost 1:00 in the morning.
"Aww, crap," I yawned, "Time for bed, dude." I leaned over to look at Emmett, waiting for a response. He was face down on his pillow, breathing heavily. I should have known. Emmett had not said a word for the past hour. I turned off the television, chucked the remote onto the floor, and pulled the sheets up over my head.
I awoke to the crashing and clanking of plates and bowls in the kitchen, the smell of bacon leaking into my room. My door was wide open, and the Pokémon sleeping bag was empty. Tiredly, I rolled out of bed and made my way down the hall to the dining room.
"Emmett! Eat your own food!" my sister, Alice, slapped Emmett's shoulder as he reached over and took a strawberry from her plate.
"No!" Emmett chuckled, popping the strawberry into his mouth. Alice slid her plate out of his reach.
"You know, you might want to be careful," I warned, taking a seat at the table, "She puts up with your crap now, but one of these days she's going to snap and bite your head off."
Emmett stuffed a forkful of bacon into his mouth, and then turned to Alice.
"Aww, you know you love me," he spat, putting his arm around her shoulder. Her cheeks flushed. Try as hard as she could, the corners of her mouth still turned up in a smile.
The table shook as a scraggly brown cat leaped not so gracefully up beside her. It meandered over to Emmett's plate and started to sniff at the mound of his eggs and bacon.
"Alice, get your cat off the table," I ordered, standing up to get my own breakfast. It looked like my mom had made a hotel complimentary breakfast and spread it out on the counter, with everything from waffles to eggs to fruit. She always did that when we had friends spend the night.
"Come on, Jackson. You're not wanted here," she said, scooping the cat into her arms and setting him on the ground. Jackson. What a stupid name for a cat. My parents had bought it for her when she joined the family. See, Alice was my adopted sister. She had been taken from her drug-abusive mom when she was nine years old, and has lived with us ever since. Her legal name is Mary Alice Brandon, but she likes to be called Alice. Everyone calls her that. And she keeps her original last name. She said it was her identity, and she did not want to lose it. My parents agreed with her 100%. I thought she was nuts.
I filled a plate with food and sat down to enjoy my breakfast for a while until my mom walked in.
"Oh good, you're up," she said, placing her hand on my hair and pecking my forehead, "Good morning, Emmett."
"Good morning, ." he replied between bites. She sighed.
"How many years have you known me, Emmett? You can call me Elizabeth."
Emmett nodded, but I could tell that he still was not going to call her that. I knew his mind. He did not like calling adults by their first name. It sounded weird.
"Don't eat too much, Edward," my mother warned, "You don't want to run on a full stomach."
"I know, mom. I'm not stupid."
"I beg to differ," Alice commented, grinning. I shot a look at her from across the table. She laughed.
(Emmett's POV)
"See ya," I said, Edward closing the front door behind me. I walked across the street with my sleeping bag in one arm and up my driveway to the front porch. It was cool that Edward and I lived to close.
"I'm home," I called when I stepped inside, setting my sleeping bag on the floor.
"Up here," my mom's voice answered from the upstairs. I jogged up the steps and took a right. The room smelled like fresh paint, and there was soft, classical music playing from and old 80's boom box on the floor. My mom, Esme, was sitting in a wooden rocking chair in the corner of the room, rubbing at her belly. It was not much, but the pregnancy was starting to show a little. She smiled at me as I walked across the empty room to her.
"What are you doing up so early?" I asked her.
"Just some morning sickness. I couldn't fall back to sleep afterward," she explained, then pointed to the paint and rollie-thing that was sitting near the wall, "I got some painting done, though." The whole west wall of the nursery was painted a light green. Both my mom and dad wanted to wait and find out the gender of the baby when it was born. So, instead of just guessing and being wrong, they decided to go for a neutral color like green and make the nursery have a sort of jungle theme (which was totally my idea!) I mean, all kids like animals, right?
"Your father got an emergency call. He's at the hospital," my mom added. Of course. My dad (aka Dr. Carlisle Cullen) was the best doctor around here. It was not unusual to have the hospital call him. Esme pulled herself out of the rocking chair and walked tiredly over to the boom box, pressing the off button.
"I'm going to go eat breakfast. Do you want something?" she asked just as her stomach growled. I shook my head no.
"Nah, I just ate a huge breakfast."
"The Masens always spoil you," she smiled. I shrugged.
"What can I say? They love me."
"Yeah," Mom laughed, then turned to leave the room. She took two steps before stopping and spinning back to face me. "By the way, Rosalie called your cell phone last night. You forgot it on your nightstand. I think she left a message."
I nodded, and she left the room. I followed close behind, walking down the hall to my bedroom. Sure enough, my Blackberry was sitting next to my bed on the nightstand. I picked it up and went to my voice mail. One new message:
Hey, Babe. I was just thinking about you. Just wanted to wish you a good night. See you tomorrow at the bonfire. Sweet dreams. I love you.
Good 'ol Rosalie. She was so sweet. I would probably call a little closer to noon. I knew how she liked to get her beauty sleep.
I galloped back down the stairs and wandered into the kitchen where my mom sat at the table eating a bowl of Lucky Charms. I took a seat next to her.
"So, did you have fun last night?" Esme asked, putting a spoonful of cereal in her mouth.
I nodded, "Yeah."
"Good. What did you do?"
"Eh, play Xbox, watch TV, eat, sleep. The usual." I purposefully left out the part where we looked through a bunch of choice magazines that I had brought over. I'd have to remember to ask Edward for those; I had forgotten them at his house.
"That's fun," she said, "How are Ed and Elizabeth doing?" Ed was Edward's father. They had the same name, so Edward Sr. just went by Ed because Edward Jr. did not like having nicknames. He always went by Edward.
"They're fine," I answered, grabbing the Lucky Charms box that was sitting on the table. I opened it up and picked through the pieces, searching for marshmallows.
"Don't do that!" my mom scolded, taking the box from me, "Besides, I thought you said you weren't hungry."
"I'm not," I agreed, shrugging. I just liked to eat anyway. She shook her head, smiling.
"Did you have any homework this weekend?" she asked. I thought back over all of my classes on Friday.
"I have some Spanish," I answered, knowing where this was going. She sighed.
"I don't understand why you don't finish it all Friday night so you don't have to worry about it over the weekend. Now, instead of having the whole day to yourself, you've got to do that Spanish," she told me. I could have recited that speech with her. All I had to do was fill in the blank at the end with the subject we happened to be talking about.
"I want you to have that done before you do anything with your friends today," she added, taking a bite of cereal.
I nodded. "Fine."
But first, I was going to see what was on ESPN. I got up from the table and meandered over to the living room, picking up the remote from the coffee table and sprawling myself across the couch. The TV made that weird static-y bong sound when I pressed the ON button, and I punched in the numbers to my favorite channel. Oh, good. The Gators were playing. I put a pillow behind my back, kicked my feet up, and did not move from that spot for a whole 2 hours.
(Jasper's POV)
The flames flickered violently as the wind picked up, and I took a few steps back from the fire pit to not get burned. The night sky was perfectly clear, and the stars seemed to be shining particularly bright above me. Emmett was sitting in a fold-out chair across the fire with Rosalie on his lap (how that was comfortable, I have no idea). They were talking and giggling quietly to each other, exchanging kisses every now and then. Edward and Alice needed to get here fast. I did not know how much more of their lovey-doveyness I could handle. I plopped myself back down in my own hair, growing impatient.
Then, finally, I could hear the sound of two people stepping on twigs and such, wandering through the woods behind my house to our bonfire.
"Hey, guys," Edward called, emerging from the darkness. He unfolded the chair he was carrying and sat down. Alice was following behind, "oof"ing and "ugh"ing as she stepped over stuff. My heart fluttered when I saw her.
"Can somebody help me, please?" she asked, struggling with the chair she was carrying. It was obviously too big and heavy for her tiny self. I rushed over to her, taking the chair.
"Thanks, Jasper," she looked up at me and smiled the most gorgeous smile. My heart flipped, and all I could do was smile back. We walked back to the bonfire, and I was careful to set her chair up next to mine.
"So, who brought the marshmallows?" Emmett asked, finally bringing his attention to the group. I swear, the only two things Emmett thought about were my sister and food. That is it. Everyone looked around at each other, searching for the bag of white, poofy deliciousness. Then Alice smacked her forehead next to me.
"Crap. It was my turn, wasn't it?" she realized, "I'm such an idiot."
"Hey, Jazz," Rosalie said, "Why don't you go get some from the pantry back at the house? I know we have some."
Jeez, thanks Rose. I sighed, getting up from my chair.
"No, I'll go. I'm the one that was supposed to bring them, anyway." Alice stopped me, getting up.
"If you both go, then you'll have enough arms to bring us some pop, too." Emmett suggested. I could have kissed him for saying that, but it looked like Rosalie was already doing that for me. Ugh.
"Okay," Alice agreed, prancing out of the circle, "Come on, Jasper."
I hurried along after her, and pretty soon we were at the house.
"Wow, it's so much warmer in here. It's pretty chilly outside," Alice commented, rubbing her arms. They were covered in goose bumps.
"Do you want to borrow one of my hoodies?" I asked. She nodded.
"That would be lovely."
I raced up to my room and grabbed my favorite Pac Sun hoodie from my closet. When I came back, Alice was in the kitchen with the marshmallows in one hand and a 24-pack of Coke in the other. I took the food from her and gave her the hoodie, which she pulled on over her head. She was practically swimming in the thing.
"Mmm…" she sighed, inhaling deeply, "It smells like you."
I did not know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but Alice did not seem grossed out, so I figured it was fine. She smiled up at me, her cheeks and nose still red from the cold.
"Thanks."
I felt like melting into a puddle at her feet. Her big, brown eyes sparkled, beautifully framed in a row of thick eyelashes. Her short, spiky hair was the blackest of blacks, and was very cute. I wanted to run my fingers through it. And her smile was so perfect, I was a little jealous.
"I like your teeth," I blurted out before I knew what I was saying. "They're very straight… and white."
Her smile grew bigger, her nose crinkling. "Aww, thanks! I guess those 4 years of braces paid off, huh?"
She was just a little package of magnificence standing in front of me. I just nodded in response, smiling back. I liked the way my sweatshirt looked on her. It was practically a dress, making her look smaller than normal. She was like a delicate little china doll.
We headed back to the fire, trudging through the thick foliage. That is when Alice grabbed my hand. She slipped her thin little fingers in mine, not saying a word. I had to work hard to keep my attention on where I was going.
"'Bout time, guys. Jeez!" Emmett called as we approached the circle. Alice let go of my hand and pranced over to him with the marshmallows. Rosalie had finally moved into her own chair.
"God forbid you starve!" Alice declared sarcastically. He held out his hands of the marshmallows, and with one quick thrust, she slammed the bag right into his crotch.
"Ahhhh!" Emmett groaned, followed by a few choice words that I will not repeat. Edward cringed in sympathy. I could not help but chuckle as I sat back down in my own chair.
"I told you she's dangerous!" Edward told him, bursting into a hysterical fit of laughter. Emmett could not help but laugh, too, and pretty soon everyone else joined in. Gosh, I loved my friends.
So, what do you think of the story? I've got some big plans for everyone, let me tell ya. It's going to be intense!!
Oh, and just so that there isn't any confusion, I'd like to make it clear that everyone in the story is human. You might have noticed that already, though, what with the sleeping and the eating... or maybe you didn't. Whatev
