A/N: Welcome to my first ever slash story! I'd be totally lying if I said I wasn't scared to death of posting this but I always wanted to write a slash story so I thought, "What the heck?"

Anyway, there will be some angsty parts but this is mostly about finding themselves, making revelations about their lives, and most importantly, learning to not take each other for granted.

Most of the story will be in Emmett POV but there will be some Jasper POV. If you guys would like to see anything in anyone else's POV as the story progresses, please do not hesitate to let me know and I'll do the very best I can to work that out for you.

Let's meet Emmett now, shall we?

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. We all know who does. I just like to play with them…I think we all like to play with them.

EmPOV:

So, the name's Emmett Cullen. I'm 18 years old, just graduated high school and going off to college in the fall. USC baby!

You could say I'm pretty excited about it. Or you could say I'm fucking stoked…either way, you would be correct.

I've lived in Forks, Washington my entire life. I was born here, grew up here, but I damn sure wasn't going to die here. I mean, come on, I do have standards. Who'd want to remain in this shit hole if they had a choice?

Not this guy.

I wanted somewhere warm, somewhere so far away that I couldn't be expected to make regular trips home. Not that I didn't love my parents and my adorably annoying little sister, Alice, but I was ready to be on my own…I needed time to think; figure some shit out. My life, for starters.

The only problem with my well thought out plan was the fact that my best friend in the entire world, Jasper Whitlock, was going to school in fucking Massachusetts. That was all the way across the country from me. I'd been livid when he first told me he'd been accepted to Cambridge and was considering going. My thinking was he'd already been accepted to USC. We'd made plans and here he was, ditching me to move thousands of miles away for the next four years, at the least.

After I'd gotten my shit under control, I found myself feeling kind of proud of him. Cambridge was a big deal and Jasper – he was a smart guy. He deserved this and I wasn't about to be a shitty friend just because I was feeling slighted. Fuck that.

Needless to say, after as much of an apology as I could muster – being one who rarely took anything seriously – we got over our little chick fight and went about our senior year.

One consolation of losing my best friend for the next few years: Our road trip. We'd planned this six week-long excursion over a year ago, taking little jobs here and there to save money for it. We were hitting all of the major cities between here and Miami, well all of the ones we were interested in anyway. Jasper decided it would be a great idea to stay in Miami for a week before getting back on the road. I didn't necessarily disagree with the fact that we'd need a break before making the long drive back but I was kind of hoping for relaxation. Miami didn't scream relaxation to me, but whatever. I was just along for the ride.

"Dude, what the fuck did you put in here?" Jasper panted as he attempted to drag my suitcase from the porch to the trunk of the car.

I couldn't help but laugh. Jasper was such a scrawny little spit fuck. And he complained as much as a woman.

"Put some elbow grease in to it, pussy," I scoffed; slapping him hard on the back and making him lose his grip on the handle.

"Fuck you, asshole!" He shoved me…and pretty hard, mind you. It only served to make me laugh harder though. I couldn't help it. He was getting all bent out of shape and shit. It was adorable.

Did I just refer to him as "adorable"?

Yeah…totally kidding about the whole…well, you know.

Moving on.

"Come on quit being a bitch. Here, I'll help you," I said in my best placating tone.

"Thanks," he huffed; watching me as I effortlessly lifted the suitcase from the ground and tossed it in to the trunk.

I smiled triumphantly at him earning me the middle finger to which I laughed some more.

Lunging forward, I caught Jasper around the neck and ruffled his hair. He hated it when I did that. I mean really hated it.

"Fucker," he mumbled against my side, punching and pushing me to get off of him. Finally all of his squirming got him loose and just in time for my wonderful mother to make an appearance with a cooler full of what I hoped would be food.

"Cut it out you two," she scolded in that Esme Cullen motherly tone. "And if I hear a curse word coming from either one of your mouths again, I'll bend you over my knee. Don't make the mistake of thinking you're too old for that, Emmett." She gave me that stern look for all of three seconds before the sad smile returned to her face.

Mom wasn't thrilled with the fact that I would be going to college in California. She was even less thrilled with the fact that I would be spending the majority of my last summer before going off to college away from her. She's a rather clingy lady and I don't like to brag but I'm fairly certain I'm her favorite. She'd never admit to that, but I have it on good authority and that will just have to be enough proof for now.

"Mom, don't be sad," I told her, pulling her in for a nice big Emmett Bear Hug. "I'll be home before you even realize I'm gone."

"Doubtful," Jasper scoffed and I shot him a look over Mom's head. He chuckled and put both hands up, palms facing forward. If he thought that was an effective peace-making gesture, he seriously underestimates my capacity for holding a grudge. I'd have to work on payback later.

"I'm just going to miss you, honey," Mom said sadly, pulling back to look at me. She placed her hands on either side of my face, kind of cradling my head. I leaned in to one of her hands and sighed.

"I know, Mom." I kissed her palm and pulled her hands down in to mine. "Whatever will you do without me?" I teased her in mock seriousness. A smile slowly spread across her face causing me to smile in return. My mother had one of those contagious smiles. It would light up her entire face and you just couldn't help yourself, you had to smile too.

She playfully slapped my chest and then rose up on her tip toes to give me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I love you, Emmett," she said, still smiling.

"I love you too, Mom."

"Me too, Mom," Jasper cut in, shoving me out of the way and wrapping his arms around my mother.

Jasper had pretty much been a part of our family since we were 6. His dad passed away when he was 3, leaving him and his mom to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, Jasper's mom just sort of gave up. She worked 2 jobs but she also engaged in a lot of destructive behavior leaving Jasper alone about 95% of the time.

The first time I ever met Jasper was on the playground at the end of my neighborhood. He'd looked confused and a little scared. My mom, being the amazing lady she is, soothed him, fed him, and took him home. She'd tried to reason with Jasper's mom but the woman was a Grade A psycho…or at least that was my first impression of her. Trust me, it didn't get much better over the next few years but a small part of me always felt sorry for her. When Jasper was 9, the state finally stepped in and placed Jasper with his Aunt Lilith who just happened to live a few doors down from me and just happened to be one of my mother's gardening buddies.

Pretty much from that moment on, Jasper and I were inseparable.

I smiled to myself thinking of all the shenanigans we'd pulled over the years. I'd never seen my mom as angry as when we drove the golf cart through her Azalea's. Who knew flowers were that damn important? We didn't. It didn't make it easier to make sound judgments when we were high either…just throwing that out there.

Alice and my dad, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, emerged from the house just in time to see us off. Alice muttered something about not being stupid and then hugged me tightly. As far as sisters go, Alice is pretty great. I mean she annoys the ever loving shit out of me most of the time but she's also a pretty cool chick.

My dad shook my hand but then opted for a hug, pulling me in and squeezing me pretty hard. Awe, the poor guy was getting emotional.

"Here," he said after the hug had ended and he'd cleared his throat. I looked down to see a credit card in his hand. "I know you guys have money from your jobs and graduation but I want you both to have a good time. This may be the only chance you get to do something like this, so make it count." He placed the card in my hand and then looked me in the eye. "Do not lose that."

I nodded and smiled widely at my father. He was a great man and I hoped to be half as good as he was someday.

"Thanks, Dad."

He returned my smile and then put his arm around my mother's waist, who consequently was crying…again.

Jasper gave Alice and my Dad a hug, promising to keep me in line – like he'd ever be able to control me, but it eased my parents' worry just a little so I decided to let them stay in that delusional state.

As we climbed in to the car, I began to get a little anxious. I had the feeling that something big was going to happen. Like something life-altering big and I wasn't sure if I should feel excited or terrified. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the first installment of this story.

Did you catch the subtle hint that Emmett's a little lost in his life right now? Hmmm…I wonder what that's about.

I don't currently have a posting schedule for this but I'm going to try to get at least one update a week in, maybe more…we'll see.

Please let me know what you think. As an author, I cannot tell you how amazing it feels to be able to interact with the readers. I love to know your thoughts, predictions, etc. I'll do my best to respond in a timely manner.

Thanks again for reading! You all make my heart smile.