Title: Artistic Differences Penname(s): HopelessRomantic79 Rating: M Disclaimer: SM owns all the characters, I just make them die. Summary: Alice is an artist, and completely in love with her girlfriend, Rosalie. What happens when Rose decides to stray? AH/AU. Submitted for the 'To Kill a Cullen' Contest Please check out the other entries here : http://www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/community/To_Kill_a_Cullen_Contest_Community/76759/ A/N: Thanks so much to EmmaleeWrites05 for checking this over for me!!! :-)
APOV
"Rose, baby, we're going to be late!" I called from downstairs. I was famously the one that usually held us up, but today I was too excited today to dawdle getting ready. I adjusted the deep red wraparound dress that I had chosen just this afternoon and made sure my makeup was perfect.
Tonight was important.
"I'm coming!" she said, voice almost coming out in a whine. "Gimme five damn minutes!"
I rolled my eyes at myself in the mirror. In the year and a half we'd been together, Rosalie never liked these events and it had always hurt. She always complained that the critics and connoisseurs of art that always came to my shows were pompous and dull, and though she was probably right, I'd never appreciated her attitude. Painting was my life and it wasn't every day that a person got an art show of their own in New York City, let alone ten like I had just achieved. The critics and the public loved me and that was nothing to sneeze at.
I was proud of my accomplishments, dammit and even Rose's guaranteed bad mood wasn't enough to spoil it for me.
"I have to be there in ten minutes and we'll never get a cab at this hour if you don't move your ass!" I called.
"All you'd have to do is flash your tits or maybe kiss me," she replied and I could hear the smirk in her voice. I rolled my eyes again. She was always using our relationship to her advantage, to get things from men, and it truly annoyed me. This was the real deal for me and she used us like we were a show. I didn't want that. I just wanted her.
When she stepped out of the bathroom eight minutes later, I was seething and ten seconds away from strangling her. I had to be there in two minutes and she appeared to be in no sort of rush. I couldn't even take the time to admire the way her body fit into the tight amethyst silk dress, because I was so angry and stressed.
"Oh relax, you can be late to your own show," Rose said, checking her teeth in the mirror to make sure that no lipstick stained them. She was perfect, as usual, but at what cost to my nerves? There were times when Rosalie was absolutely inconsiderate of anyone else's feelings. I had been ready for more than an hour.
"Let's GO," I said emphatically, tugging on her hand even as she tried to shrug on her jacket. "Come on, come on, come on!"
She muttered something under her breath and I didn't even try to catch it. I was rushing her to the elevator, praying silently that a cab would somehow magically appear in front of our building and traffic would vanish into thin air. My optimism knows no bounds.
We stood on the sidewalk in front of our building with no luck. Cab after cab went by, occupied. It was dark and chilly and I shivered against the whipping wind. Winter was on its way.
"I can see your tits through your dress," Rosalie smirked into my ear, standing close behind me. She nibbled down on my ear as I shivered now for a totally different reason. Despite her constant bitchiness and spoiled attitude, I kept her around for just this reason. The reaction she had on my body was chemical, undeniable and ridiculously strong.
She kept attacking my neck with her lips, teeth, tongue and her hands snaked up my chest. I could feel her cup one of my breasts in her hand, pushing my jacket away. I could feel the heat of her hand seeping through the thin material of my dress. Her thumb brushed against my nipple and it tightened under her touch, silently willing for more. I moaned slightly.
It wasn't until a cab pulled over that I realized just what she was doing.
"Rose! Dammit!" I shouted even as I yanked the taxi door open. I hated how she did that. I hated that she used our relationship, just hated it! My love for her wasn't a show!
"What, it got you your damn cab, stop being a baby," Rosalie snapped, giving the driver the address coldly before flopping on the seat next to me. The driver eyed us in the rearview mirror and I rewarded him with a glare and my middle finger. He gave me a disgusted look and pulled into traffic.
We drove in silence until we pulled up to the venue. It looked like there were already plenty of people there, and while I hated to be late, I also loved to see that so many people were eager to see my work. Besides, this way I could make my grand entrance in style, even if it was out of a taxi.
"Alice!" my agent, Bella Swan, said, sounding relieved. "Thank God you're here, the press was going nuts."
She ushered me into the building without another word and I left Rosalie to pay for the cab. She could deal with it. She was going to complain after tonight as is, what was another two seconds of inconvenience for her? She's been a pain in my ass all night.
Bella guided me to the back hallway of the studio where only those authorized were allowed to enter.
Bella's huge brown eyes were wide with concern. "Why were you so late?" She checked her watch one last time, as if to memorize the exact second I showed up.
"Just blame Blondie," I said sarcastically.
She nodded sympathetically. "I understand. Edward's a bit of a diva himself, takes way too long to get ready most of the time."
I snorted. Bella's husband was supremely metro. His eyebrows were nearly as perfectly shaped as mine.
"Now, tonight we have a few art professors, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, even Oxford," she said, and my heart did a little flip. "Even a representative from modern art department at NYU. Next goal's the Tate Modern, huh?"
I laughed. "We'll see, Bella!"
"All ready?" she asked one final time, helping me adjust my dress one last time. "I think they want you to make a short speech and then lots and lots of schmoozing."
"Got it," I said, thankful I already had nine shows under my belt. I was nervous as fuck anyway.
"Need a quick pick-me-up?" she asked, offering me a flask of what I knew would be tequila.
"Yeah," I said, knocking back a mouthful before handing it back to her. "Wish me luck!"
"You don't need luck," she said with a smile. Though she was my age, there were times where Bella reminded me of my mother, or at least a mother. She was so damn responsible and had an incredibly calming effect on me, like she could make me believe everything would be all right.
I slipped out of the hallway and into the gallery to uproarious applause.
Hours passed by and I didn't see Rosalie at all. I was passed from professor to professor, art critic after art critic for hours. A minor celebrity from a famous soap opera even showed up, telling me that she had one of my largest pieces hanging over her mantle in her house in the Hamptons.
I had several glasses of champagne and it was enough to make me forget how obnoxious my girlfriend was being. I was having a wonderful time being the star of the show. Jasper Whitlock, my first and only boyfriend and my number one fan, even showed up. I hadn't seen in him several months and I gave him a huge hug and a smacking kiss on the cheek when I saw him.
"How have you been?!" I asked. Sometimes being with Rosalie was so time consuming she made me forget my own life and my own friends.
"Good, good," he said with his slight Texan accent. I couldn't help but admit to myself that he still made me swoon just the tiniest bit. The perfect gentleman. It had been hard to break things off with him, even when I knew that I was hopelessly attracted to women and not men. "I brought Emmett with me, too, but he's disappeared somewhere."
I knew that Jasper and Emmett were still roommates, even after college ended. They were two of my favorite people in the world and I wished that I had more time to spend with them. We were long overdue for a pizza and movie night, just like the old days.
"Yeah, Rose is someplace, too," I said with a shrug. "But at this moment, I wouldn't really care if she disappeared or not."
"Being… well… Rose-like?" he asked with a chuckle.
"Unfortunately."
He took my hand in his. "Let's go find them then," he said and we began wandering around the gallery, looking for our lost friends and partners. So many people stopped me to congratulate and praise me that it took over an hour just to walk around the room.
Jasper and I got a lot of looks, because most people knew that I was a lesbian. Interesting how it worked like that; hold hands with a man and get raised eyebrows.
We found Emmett by the refreshments. He was inhaling canapé after chocolate covered strawberry like they were going out of style. "Hiya Ali!" he said with a grin, mouth full.
"Come 'ere, gimme a hug!"
"Oh God, Emmett!" I shrieked as he hauled me off my feet into a bear hug. "Put me down!"
"Always so demanding," he teased as he set me back on the ground gently. I teetered on my heels for a second and then smiled up at my friend.
"It's so good to see you," I said. "It's been too long."
"Yeah, we need to have you come by and make us some food sometime," he said, and Jasper whacked him on the back of the head.
"No tact," Jasper said despairingly. "No tact at all."
I could only laugh. "Have you seen Rosalie?" I asked.
"You mean that sexy ass lady of yours?"
It was my turn to whap him across his head.
"Geez, you guys are going to give me a concussion if you do that too many times," Emmett complained, popping another cheese cube into his mouth.
"Like you need to worry about brain damage," Jasper joked. "I think college football did the trick."
Emmett gave him the finger and I decided that I wanted to find Rose, but not before I used the ladies room.
"I'll be right back, you guys," I said and they waved as I retreated to the women's room.
I was thrumming with happiness as I walked into the room. Everything was going perfectly. Everyone seemed to love my latest collection and I truly felt proud to show it off to everyone. I'd even gotten an offer to showcase my work in an exhibit at Oxford University, to my ultimate pleasure. I'd nearly hugged the professor when he'd told me, but I figured that since he was in a tweed suit with suede patches on the elbows, that he probably wouldn't have liked it.
I was humming my favorite dance song when I heard a long and luxurious moan. I knew that moan almost as well as I knew my own name. And my blood went cold.
It happened again, and then once more, and I knew in that instant that Rosalie was in here… and she wasn't alone.
"Fuck, Renesmee," Rosalie sighed. From underneath the bathroom stall, I could see that someone in a dark green dress and black heels was kneeling in front of my girlfriend, whose feet in strappy heels were spread out to welcome what I was sure were fingers and a tongue. "Keep doing that baby, yes, please, oh God!"
Her moans got louder and louder and what would have normally turned me on like no other was making me murderous with each second. I was too mad to even cry. How could she do this to me?!
"Almost, almost!" she barked, and I could see one of her feet teeter off the floor to sling over "Renesmee's" shoulder.
I booked it out of there before I could hear her finale. The last thing I needed was to hear my girlfriend cum from someone else's ministrations.
Jasper and Emmett were well aware something was wrong when I rushed back to them. They followed me silently as I walked out of the gallery. I heard Bella calling after me, but I ignored her. After all, it's my party and I'll cry if I want to, right?
"Alice, please, what's happened?" Jasper asked as we walked out onto the sidewalk. It was getting late, so there were very few people walking by, but it was a brightly lit street and I didn't want to break down here. Not today, at least.
I walked into the alley beside the gallery and they followed, eyes filled with concern.
"I found Rosalie," I said and I knew my voice sounded dead. My stomach was twisting into knots in the most unpleasant sort of ways and I felt like I was going to throw up.
Sure, Rose was a bitch, but I loved her. And this… I couldn't believe this. I would never have guessed she would be capable of this, not really. Not deep down. I was loyal and I thought she was too.
"Alice, you're scaring me," Jasper said and I realized I'd been pacing with my hands tugging at my short hair as I did so. "What happened, honey?"
"She was with someone… another woman," I said, and my voice sounded hysterical, even to my own ears. "Someone named Renesmee."
Emmett's face fell. "I met her. I gave her my number. She's so smoking hot…" Jasper poked him in the ribs and Emmett gave a sheepish, apologetic smile. "Sorry, Ali," he said.
"Great. She's smoking hot! I'm just… adorable. That's all I'll ever be! How can I compete?"
Jasper swooped me into his arms to give me a swift hug. Just as he did, I heard Rosalie's voice again.
"Alice? Is that you?" She sounded completely nonchalant, as if she hadn't just had sex with someone in a bathroom stall. Which led me to wonder if this wasn't the first time she'd done this without me having any knowledge.
I contemplated how I could kill her. Smother her with a pillow? Paint thinner in her coffee? Carving knife to the gut? Accidental gunshot to the head?
Jasper let me out of his arms and I marched straight up to Rose. She was so much taller than me and with that smug look on her face, I felt like I was a child scolding a parent. It shouldn't be like this, I told myself. She shouldn't make me feel this way. We should be partners, equals. And she shouldn't have…
"What in the hell is wrong with you?" I demanded. "Do you think that I'm stupid? That I'd never find out?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, feigning innocence, but her eyes and lips didn't match her words. She and I both knew what she was trying to pull and I wasn't going to fall for it. "Baby, what's the matter?"
"Shut the fuck up, Rosalie!" I shouted, not caring who heard. "I heard you two in the bathroom. Renesmee? Who in the hell is that? Some random fuck you decided to try out when you were bored?"
Rosalie sneered at me. "Maybe," she said, looking self-satisfied. She crossed her arms in defiance, daring me to push her further. And I would. Oh, hell yes, I would.
"Then we're done," I said. "Absolutely, one hundred per-fucking-cent finished. I refuse to be with someone who would do this to me!"
She was still smirking and it was pissing me the fuck off. The more smug she looked, the more I wanted to strangle her and pull out her hair chunk by chunk. My hands went into fists at my sides, poised and ready to take aim at her face, to take a little bit of the beautiful out of it.
"Rosie sweetie, where'd you go?" a seductive voice said and my fists clenched. A gorgeous redhead came around the corner, her hair cascading in ringlets down her back. She held hands with a tall, massively built Native American man whose bulk almost matched that of Emmett's.
Rose looked over and smiled in acknowledgment as if I weren't even there. "Hey Nessie, Jake. I'm almost ready."
Jake looked confused, glancing quickly between Rosalie and I as if trying to process something. From the looks of it, he had been lied to, or at least a few important details had been left out of the equation and he was quickly adding it all up.
I was doing the same. Obviously, Rosalie was getting ready to have a threesome with these two and Jake hadn't been made aware of the fact that Rose wasn't single. From the looks of it, Renesmee was fully aware and rejoiced in that fact.
"Um… is everything OK?" Jake asked and I could tell that he was genuinely concerned about what was going on.
"Just fine," Rose said smoothly. "Just putting away some trash in the alley."
This time, my fists did not stay at my sides. My arm swung back and landed hard against Rosalie. For a flash, my only thought was to smash in her face… but naturally, my bark was worse than my bite and all I got was an "Ouch!" out of Rose. No satisfying crack, no blood, no nothing. This only made me even more angry.
"Get the hell out of my life, Rosalie Hale!" I shouted. "I loved you, you know that?! I would have given it all, but if you want to fuck it up, then by all means. Fuck whoever you'd like! Be a fucking slut for all I care, I really couldn't give a shit! I never, ever want to see you ever again. Just… go to Hell."
I turned and Jasper was right there to envelop me in his arms once again. I could hear Rosalie start to laugh at something Renesmee said, and Jake was trying to get them to shut up, but I couldn't process anything they said. I was beyond caring. It felt like everything that was important to me was gone and nothing really mattered.
At least I had my art.
Emmett's hands joined Jasper's to rub my back soothingly. I couldn't even cry then and I wished desperately that the tears would come, but there was nothing but the dry sobs my body was wracked with. The voices of Rosalie, Renesmee and Jake went further and further away as I heard them leave the alley.
"It's OK, it will be OK," Jasper said and for a flicker of a moment, I almost believed him.
A scream pierced the air and even though it was New York City, we all looked up to see what the trouble was. Squealing tires smoked against pavement and I turned around just in time to see a car swerve to miss Rosalie, who had been wobbling across the street drunkenly and laughing, apparently not paying attention.
My hand flew to my mouth in horror as she tripped and fell, crumpling into a heap on the ground, safe from the first car only to be run over by another. A scream burst through my throat as the first car that had swerved maneuvered out of control only to smash into the car Renesmee and Jake had just occupied, smashing directly into the driver's side door where Renesmee had only just occupied.
Metal smashed against metal, horns blared and dozens of cars behind slammed on their brakes, skidding down the road in a chain reaction down the busy thoroughfare.
"Oh God… ohmigod, ohmigod," I screamed, tears coming easily now. All I could see was a puddle of blonde hair underneath the car and the driver of the second car leaping out of the car to see what he'd just done.
People were out on the street, trying to catch a glimpse and seconds later, the sirens started in. I could feel that Jasper was holding onto my waist, trying to hold me, pull me back from running to Rose, but even he wasn't stronger than my will at that moment. Every car on the street was stopped, so I could run into the road without looking, just like Rose had. Only I made it there safely.
Blood, oh God, there was blood everywhere. Rosalie's hair was caked with it, though I couldn't see where it was coming from. Probably the back of her skull, where she'd smacked it against the pavement and from underneath her dress. Yes, there was a definite maroon stain seeping through the silken material of her dress where the tire had hit. Her eyes were open and lifeless. It was too late.
Rosalie was gone.
The driver of the car that had hit her was in shock. He kept saying, "No, no, no," and then I realized I was saying it right along with him. From a distance, Jake was openly sobbing, too. Renesmee must not have been in much better shape at the moment.
The paramedics shoved me back from her body, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of her open dead ones. The sparkle I'd always loved in her eyes, from better days, was gone. I'd even take her condescending smirk over this. I'd take anything, just so long as she was still breathing.
The tears flowed easily and I was placed back in Jasper's arms. He must have followed out of the alley, as with Emmett. We stood there, Jake with us, disbelieving of what had just happened.
"Please don't go to Hell, Rosalie," I whispered. "Please God, don't send her there, I didn't mean it, I really didn't mean it."
They covered up Rosalie with a body bag, and Renesmee's too, and we were escorted away from the scene.