A/n:Originally written for the Twifans for Haiti compilation.
This is rather loosely based on a true story. Rosalie is OOC and a little softer than usual so even those of you who don't like Rose (although I have no clue why you wouldn't like her) should be able to deal. ;-) - Oh and it's not my typical style – i.e. I didn't take out Bella, Edward, or half of LaPush. So, enjoy. ;-)
Beta'd by edward-bella-harry-ginny 3 She rocks my socks off.
Preread by Aleighy, my Rav-wife over on UU.
Dedicated to my DH TheDoctor
That first moment when you meet your soul-mate is important; it's life changing. For me, it was hatred at first sight. I was sitting in my usual seat at the back of Tatyana Andreevna Fedorova's Russian class. I was lounging next to the open window, trying to catch the slight late summer breeze that blew across the quad. Professor Fedorova was going over the syllabus and in he walked.
The man was a wall of muscle in a blue shirt and jeans. I clicked my tongue in agitation at his nerve to arrive to this of all classes late. Was he unaware that this particular professor had lived through the Stalinist purges and therefore deserved more respect than most? Besides, what was an obviously new student doing in a 3,000 level Russian class? Shouldn't he be taking Russian 1001?
I mean really?
Really?
WTH?
Then the brick wall murmured an apology and sat down in front of me. He completely dwarfed the desk and blocked my view of the entire room. There were plenty of other seats not directly in front of me. What a rude bastard. I was going to have to change my seat, the seat that I'd sat in for the past two years, just so that I could see around the giant. I hated change. I liked my seat at the back of the room.
Tatyana Andreevna started her lecture and I pulled the pencil out of my bun to take some notes. Andre the Giant made getting anything out of the lecture notes difficult. I had to crane my neck around the expanse of blue material in front of me to catch a glimpse of the corner of the blackboard. How broad were this guy's shoulders?
By the end of class I was so aggravated with the jolly blue giant that I just wanted to get the heck out of there. However, I found my path blocked as he stopped to talk to our professor. My ire only grew when he addressed her in flawless Russian without the hint of an American accent.
"Excuse me, Tatyana Andreevna. My name is Emmett Cullen. I am embarrassed and sorry that I arrived late today. I confused the Monday, Wednesday, Friday class schedule with the Tuesday Thursday schedule and thus I thought that class started fifteen -"
"Stop stop stop," she interrupted in English. "Where my boy did you learn Russian. Because you did not learn it here." My heart sank down to my shoes. Tatyana had a new favorite and he was going to blow the curve.
I groaned a bit and blue giant man turned to acknowledge my presence. He looked at me like no one had ever looked at me before. I was used to guys ogling my cleavage. He didn't. He looked straight into me like he could see exactly who I was and it annoyed me even further.
"I have another class to get to and you're blocking my way," I snapped.
The mountain of man mumbled his second apology of the day and moved to the side. I could barely slide between him and the desk into the aisle. I brushed up against him and grudgingly noted that he smelled nice. He didn't smell like cologne or body wash but like crisp, clean soap with something distinctly masculine underneath.
I went about the rest of my classes slightly out of sync. It was like I left something in that classroom and couldn't find it again. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't take notes. My brain felt submerged in muddy water.
At the end of the day, I boarded the bus to the parking deck through the rear doors and made my way forward. The August heat permeated everything; everyone was slightly damp and smelly by the end of the afternoon. It was a fact of life that one learned to live with. I scanned the other students on the crowded bus, looking unsuccessfully for a place to sit, and there he was, driving the bus. His curls were slightly damp from sitting in the sunny seat at the front of the bus for hours and his shirt was slightly damp. I had never before thought that sweat looked good on anyone.
He was engaged in a lighthearted conversation that I watched from my carefully balanced position in the aisle between two Freshmen. The bus went around a curve and I leaned slightly to maintain my balance. He was talking to my roommate, Alice. I couldn't decide whether or not she was interested in him, but I didn't like it. I wanted to be talking to him. However, I was trapped in a sea of smelly bodies and he seemed miles away. Why did I get on at the back of the bus?
Get a grip, Rose. I told myself.
I wanted to catch Alice when we got off the bus, but the throng of students pushing toward the garage prevented me from seeing her. I gave up and decided to corner her when we got home. I found my little blue Acura and climbed in, eager to get home and find out exactly what my dear roommie had been doing talking to my mystery man. Unfortunately, my fast little car couldn't do me any favors. It was five o'clock and I had to drive through gridlock the entire way home before I could grill her.
However, when I made it to our little apartment, I didn't have to grill her. She was making an elaborate dinner; baked chicken breast with rice, green beans, and wine. Alice wanted to celebrate our first day back. Any resentment that I felt on the drive home instantly melted. She was one of those incredibly organized people who cooked meals on Sunday and tucked them away for the week. She spoiled me. To make matters even better, I didn't have to ask her anything. She volunteered all of the information that I wanted when we sat down.
"So, I met a guy from your Russian class today," she piped up as we began to eat.
"Really, who?" Play it cool, Rose.
"Oh, I don't know his name. He's cute, drives one of the campus buses, really funny..." Alice tapped her chin with the end of her fork and contemplated additional descriptors.
"Obnoxious as hell is more like it," I scoffed.
"Something to share with the class?" Her head cocked slightly to the side and I knew that I'd been made.
So much for playing it cool
"I saw you talking to him," I explained.
"You really don't like him, huh?" she laughed. This was going to turn into the Spanish Inquisition and not in the fun Monty-Python comfy chair kind of way. This girl was a master at drawing out what people really felt and she did it to me quite often. "That's kind of funny because I was kind of thinking that he was your type."
"You're insane." I tried to manage a skeptical tone and expression but she saw through it like water.
"If you say so ..."
The rest of the night was spent in silence. We cleared the table, did our homework, and turned on the TV to relax without saying a word. She glanced at me every so often and I eventually retreated into my bedroom to avoid her. There was no way that I liked that guy. I had just met him and I already had a boyfriend. Granted the whole boyfriend thing wasn't going so well as he lived fifty miles away and went to our rival school which made visits to either campus tense. If I were to be honest with myself, things weren't working.
The problem with my boyfriend, Royce, was that he had a drug problem. Like any good highly functional addict, he had found ways of hiding it. His drug use was something that I ignored until he started to flunk out of school. Over the summer, I put my foot down. Royce's grades had plummeted and I had been planning for our future that didn't involve supporting my drug addicted boyfriend.
~#~#~#~#~
The turning point didn't happen until October. I had been Emmett's conversation partner since the second week of school; his fluency outstripped my own. I had barely earned a low B in the preceding two years of my Russian instruction; Emmett had spent the same two years living in Russia in an immersion program. He took pity on me and came over weekly to grill me on cases, conjugations, tenses, and vocabulary. To be honest, I really needed his help. I needed a solid B to keep my GPA high enough to consider graduate school. However, there was more to it than tutoring. He was kind of my friend, but he was also kind of not my friend. I was a better person when he was around. He made me better.
It had been a rough weekend. The now ex-boyfriend and I had split up and I was crushed, even though it had been my own doing and removing him from my life was necessary. We dragged each other down destructive paths and I couldn't be sure. I couldn't be with him all the time and he had tried to get clean while, but I was fairly certain that he was still doing drugs during the week and on weekends that I wasn't able to visit him. I had no choice.
So, I ended it. I broke things off and then used a scalpel to surgically remove him from my life. I had to stop by his mother's house which proved to be the hardest part of the ordeal. I said goodbye to his family. They had been like a second family to me for years. His mother retained a hope that we would get back together as I dropped off a box of his things and the spare key to his car; the one I had given him for his birthday. I didn't go see his dad. That would have been too much.
I made it back to my place and I drank myself into a sleepy stupor. I sobered up just enough to get to class, only slightly late. But as I walked down the hall a sob bubbled up from my chest one more time and I dove into a nearby stairwell. Someone followed me. I settled at the bottom of the rarely used staircase, and looked up to see who was lurking behind me.
It was him, Emmett Cullen. Part of me wanted him to leave. It was wrong for him to see me hurting over Royce. Royce and the emotional baggage that came along with that chapter of my life wasn't something that Emmett should have had to deal with.
"You need to talk?" His eyebrows lifted.
"No," I whimpered.
"I'm going to be right back."
He dropped his bag next to me and ran back into the hall. He was back within minutes with two sodas and a set of worksheets. I tilted my head to one side and scrunched my eyebrows together.
"I told Tanya Andreevna that you were unwell. She insisted that you needed a drink ..." He looked at the two cans in his hand before offering an apology, "She offered the vodka from her office but I'm not so comfortable with that from a moral perspective at the moment. So, I got us some sodas – and homework."
"Nothing heals a broken heart like homework," I sighed.
"I take it that the boyfriend is out of the picture," he commented almost disinterestedly and settled onto the ground in front of me. He held up a silver can and I took it. "They were out of diet," he apologized.
"The vodka would have been better." I popped the top and dutifully drank my Sprite.
"Judging by your appearance, I'd say that you had enough of that last night. No offense but you look hungover and smell slightly like a distillery." He took a long draw from his can. "It's over?"
"It's over," I confirmed.
"I'm sorry, Rose." That was the last discussion that we had about Royce. He was in the past and it was time to move on. It was also hard to feel bad with Emmett around. His sense of humor and boyish good looks put me at ease. We did our homework on the stairs and skipped the rest of our classes.
~#~#~#~#~
Being sober through the holidays was a challenge. I was proud of myself for not drinking my way through Christmas with the family. It was odd not being drunk at a family gathering, but I managed. I even ran into Royce without succumbing to temptation. Meaning that I didn't fall back into bed with him, and I didn't drink an entire fifth of scotch after I got back to the house. It was a red-letter day.
My cell phone buzzed in my pocket. I flipped it open and answered.
"Hey pretty lady," Emmett crooned from the other end.
"Hi there," I responded.
"Where are you?"
"My parent's house -"
"Good, so you're only like an hour from campus," he stated more than he asked.
"Yeah..." What is Emmett Cullen up to...
"Do you have plans for tonight?"
"Well, not really. I was going to stay home with my mom and step -"
"Come back to school, and come to a concert with me," he cut me off again.
"Tonight?" I asked.
"Yes, it's New Years Eve. All of the pretty girls should be out having fun," he argued.
"Um, okay..." I agreed.
"Good, I'm meeting some friends downtown at the corner of Broad and Main, think that you can find it?" He teased.
"Of course, I'll see you tonight then." I smiled.
"Seven, see you then," he confirmed and then hung up.
I looked up at my mother and grinned.
"I'm going back to school early," I announced.
She laughed as I ran out of the room and gathered my things in a flurry of activity. I got my bags packed, my gifts together, and everything stowed into the trunk of the car in under an hour. I also managed to find my leather pants, a pair of high-heeled boots, and a flattering sweater to wear that evening. It was cold and Emmett had failed to give me any details about the concert. I figured that the leather pants would be warm and still look hot even if we ended up outside.
~#~#~#~#~
I reached the corner just as he did, promptly at seven. My hand slipped into Emmett's like it belonged there. We'd never held hands before but it felt right, comfortable. He looked at my clothes and smiled.
"Smart woman, we'll be doing a bit of walking," he hummed into my ear before turning to his two friends. "Rosalie, I'd like you to meet my brother Edward, and his friend Jasper."
His brother, he just introduced me to his brother. For goodness sakes, I'm wearing leather pants. Doesn't one generally get a warning with this type of thing?
I felt a bit like I was intruding on their night. Jasper seemed kind enough but Edward eyed me suspiciously. I shook their hands and smiled. The two appeared a bit younger than Emmett. They shuffled from foot to foot in the cold. I smiled and mentally applauded the leather pants. They did have a practical use after all. Emmett led me down the street until we reached a large concert hall on the edge of campus. We quickly ducked in and almost as quickly lost track of Edward and Jasper in the crowd. I looked for them but Emmett pulled me along without regard to their absence. We had to squeeze together to make it into the hall. I hadn't had that much bodily contact with Emmett since the first day of classes. My heart skipped a beat and I forgot all about Edward and Jasper.
The evening was spent listening to local musicians. Emmett rocked slowly by my side and occasionally danced with me in the aisle. Just before midnight we all ushered our way out onto the quad and watched the fireworks. I wondered just for a moment if he'd kiss me.
He turned me slightly and cupped my cheek with his cold hand. Our breath formed a curtain of fog around us. He leaned in and his lips touched mine gently. I moved mine softly against his and found that his arm suddenly wrapped its way around my back. I didn't think. All I could do was feel his lips on mine and the sudden pull that my body had toward his. My heart felt like it would burst into a million pieces. It was odd that that one kiss was more satisfying than anything I'd ever done with anyone else. The kiss was a forest fire, ignited by our physical attraction and fueled by dry tinder of the friendship that we'd built up. He'd been patient and given me the time that I needed, and now the time for waiting was over.
From that moment on nothing would ever be the same again. My hand belonged in his. My life intertwined with his like our fingers. I never looked back.