Emmett POV
I sat on the front porch with Bella reading over the course description book for the University of Washington. I knew it was awkward for Bella to be hanging out here so soon, but it was Rose's birthday. "Smile you two." Esme said as she snapped a picture. She was over the moon about how things worked out. Carlisle on the other hand was not so thrilled. Edward was a wreck when he left for Brazil on his own just last week. "So, what classes are you looking at?" She asked as she looked at us. She had a way of making everyone fill like family.
"Italian." Bella said as she smiled up at my adopted mother. "101, of course." Bella had this dream of going to Florence, Italy preferably on her honeymoon like Lucy did in the movie While You Were Sleeping. It was her favorite movie. She knew the words to it so well she would talk along with it. Normally this would get under my skin, but she makes it seem so perfect.
"How exciting?" Esme said as she looked at Bella. "You know my mother was half Italian. So, I know a little Italian, but I am sure by break you will know more than me." She said with a laugh.
"We will definitely have to see about that." Bella said as she smiled up at my mother.
"What about you Emmett?" Esme asked me. "You looking forward to anything?"
"Yeah, moving to Seattle." I answered with a laugh. Esme didn't get a chance to say anything before Alice came out.
"Excuse me folks, but there is a birthday cake waiting to be eaten." Alice said with a smile.
"Come on babe." I said as we got up and I took Bella's hand.
"We must let them eat cake." She said with a laugh. She was my little nut case.
"You don't want any?" I asked her.
"I don't know if you boys will save me any." She said with a laugh.
"We can share." I said as I smiled at her.
"Sounds perfect to me." She said before she kissed the side of my face. It wasn't long till we were all in the living room watching Carlisle hold Rose's cake as Esme told her how lucky we were to have her in our family.
"I love you, baby girl." Esme said as she hugged Rose. "Happy birthday." She said before everyone started to sing.
"Bravo." Someone said from the doorway as they clapped as Rose blew out her candles. "That was great. I mean you know when you all shut up." Edward said as he walked into the room.
"Edward you made it." Rose said as she hugged her brother.
"Happy Birthday, Rosie." He said as he let go. He looked at Bella and frowned for a moment before looking back at Rose. "I brought you something from Brazil." He said with a smile. "I will be right back." He said before leaving again.
"Should I go?" Bella asked Rose.
"Hell no, you are like a sister to me and newsflash it's my eighteenth birthday." She said with a smile. "I get what I want and I want you here. Edward can suck it for all I care." She said.
"And I am reminded again why we don't need seven teenagers in one room." Carlisle said as he looked at all of us.
"You will miss them like crazy when they are gone." Esme said as she looked at her husband.
"You have no proof." He said before disappearing into the kitchen with the cake.
Bella POV
I was standing there with my best friends and for the first time in years it just felt so easy. "I got you something and not to sound pigheaded, I feel like it is pretty bad ass." I said to Rose as I handed her a rather large box.
"Can I put my name on that too?" Emmett asked.
"You really want to? For all you know it's a lock of Justin Beibers hair." I said as I smiled at Emmett.
"Please you hate Beiber." He said as he looked at me.
"Fine then it is from me and Emmett." I said as I looked at Rose and smiled. "So open it up already." I said as I looked at her.
"It's a vinyl Styx album." She said as she picked up the copy of their first album that I found by accident last summer in at a Port Angeles thrift store.
"Look carefully." I said as I looked at her.
"Holy crap, it's signed by James Young." She squealed as she looked at me.
"Why else would I go to Phoenix this summer?" I asked as I hugged her.
"You are the best." She said as she hugged me.
"You always have to outshine everyone don't you?" Alice asked me as she came up to us smiling. "To bad we can't listen to it because you're the only one with a record player." She said with a luagh.
"You like the Styx?" I asked her.
"Truthfully I haven't heard a song from them." Alice said as she laughed.
"Here listen to this." Mark said as he pulled out his iPod touch. Next thing I know 'Grand Illusion' is blasting around me.
"I don't really like this." Alice said as she looked at all of us.
"That's the Beiber fever talking." Rose said with a laugh.
"So what?" Alice asked.
"We love you just the way you are pixie." I said as I looked over at her.
"This is crap." Edward growled as he came back in the house.
"Eddy you have to learn to smile through everything." Esme said as she came back in the room with a piece of cake. "A rose for my Rose." She said as she handed Rose the piece of cake.
"Thanks." Rose said as she looked at her mother and smiled. It wasn't a second later we were all laughing our asses off as Mark's iPod switched songs.
"Like A Virgin. WOW." I said as I laughed. I about fell over so Emmett wrapped his arm around my waist.
"May I have this dance?" He asked me.
"Why not?" I said as I took his hand.
"You know this song was playing when I met Carlisle." Esme said as she swayed back in forth.
"It was the Clayton county fair." Carlisle said as he came out of kitchen. He was soon dancing in the living room with his wife.
"I can't believe it's been so long." She said with a laugh.
"Eddy dance with me!" Alice squealed.
"Why not I have no one else." He said as he took her hand.
"You will find someone soon." Rose said with a smile. I think Emmett could tell I felt like I shouldn't be there anymore.
"Come on Bella. You left your book up in my room." He said as he smiled at me.
"Oh." I said as he led me up stairs.
"Keep the door open!" Esme called to us.
"Sure thing." He said. "Things will get better." He said softly as we walked into his room.
"I know." I said as I smiled at him. "I love you." I said as I wrapped my arms around him.
"Love you, Bella-bee." He said as he smiled at me before he leaned down to kiss me. "What are your plans tonight?" He asked me after awhile.
"Well, I was under the impression that we were all still going to the club tonight." I answered thinking about the deal I made with Rose almost a year ago on my eighteenth birthday.
"Right. How come no one reminded me?" He asked me.
"You are supposed to be in Alaska right now." I answered. I don't think he knew that I knew about the escape plan or not.
"Angela told you." He said as he looked at me.
"Yeah." I said weakly.
"Well you were supposed to be Mrs. Cullen right now." He said as he pulled me close to him.
"Yeah. Well this Swan plans on staying this way for awhile." I said with a smile.
"You still might be Mrs. Cullen one day." He said as he smiled at me.
"That kind of what I am hoping for." I said as I smiled up at him.
"You are amazing." He said softly as he looked into my eyes. Edward never made my heart beat like this. He never swept me off my feet with his smile. He never took the time to know me.
"Yeah, well you are perfect." I said as I looked at him.
"Excuse me, but I need to steal your girlfriend away." Rose said from the door way.
"I will see you later." I said as I kissed the side of his face.
Emmett POV
I found myself sitting in the kitchen eating some cake when Edward came up to me. "How was Brazil?" I asked him.
"I just went on my honeymoon alone because you stole my bride from me the night before my wedding and all you say is how was Brazil." He said as he sat down beside me.
"Yeah. Sorry there is no hand book on how to handle this situation." I said as I looked over at him.
"You know part of me wants to knock out. I spent the whole plane ride thinking about coming in the house and punching you right in the face." He said as he looked at me. "But, that won't bring her back to me." He said as he looked at me. "And seeing her today smiling … I could tell she is happier than she ever was with me." He said as he looked at me. "I guess that's what I get for falling for the girl I only asked out to piss you off." He said as he smiled weakly at me.
"I love her, I have always loved her." I said as I looked at him.
"I know." He said as he looked at me. "But, I am still going to steal your cake." He said as he took my plate.
"I am okay with that." I said as I smiled at him. "Are you coming tonight?" I asked him.
"I don't know if that is the best ideal." He said as he looked at me. "I think to spend a whole night with you two I would need a bottle of Jack Daniels." He said with a laugh.
"Well, there is a party in La Push. We were thinking of stopping by afterwards or before. You know Jake there is always boos there." I said as I looked at him.
"Yeah. I hated go around there because he had eyes for Bella." He said with a laugh. "She's your problem now."
"Dude every dude in town had eyes for Bella and even a few chicks." I said with laugh.
"Yeah she is hot." He said as he looked at me. I couldn't believe he was smiling so soon.
"You met someone in Brazil didn't you?" I asked him.
"What do you mean?" He asked. "Because if you mean a soul mate no. But, I did have a distraction." He said as Jasper walked in the room.
"Distraction?" Jasper asked. "Is that the same as slut?"
"More like more than willing heartbroken local girl." Edward said as he smiled at me.
"Well, that didn't take long." Jasper said as he looked at Edward. "Wasn't Bella supposed to be the love of your life. You wouldn't have moved on so fast." Jasper growled at our brother.
"She was making out with Emmett the night before our wedding." Edward replied.
"She came after me." I said as I looked at him. "I let her make the decision. No matter what. I wanted to tell her the night you two went out on your first date, but I stopped myself." I said as I got up and walked out of the room.
"That doesn't make it right." Edward said as he followed me.
"Boys, let's talk this out." Esme said as she looked at us.
"I thought we did." I was heading towards the stairs when I saw the girls coming down.
"What's going on?" Bella asked as he walked over to me. She was stunning in a short blue floral skirt and a black top.
"You look amazing." I said as I looked at her.
"You think so, I borrowed this from Rose." She said as she looked down at her outfit.
"Yeah, you look perfect." I said as I smiled at her.
"Thanks, now what's going on?" She asked again.
"Nothing at all." Edward replied softly. "I was just telling my brothers about Brazil. You would have loved it." He said as she looked at me.
"I don't think I would have. It's not Florence." She said as she smiled at him. "But, I am glad you are doing okay." She said before she turned back to me. "So, did you tell them?" She asked softly. "About Seattle?"
"No, I haven't." I answered as I looked at her.
"What's going on?" Esme asked her.
"I got a job at a record store in Seattle and Renee is renting an apartment for me." Bella said with a smile. "I am leaving in a week. And since the apartment has two rooms, I asked Emmett to move in with me." She said as she looked up at me.
"That's great." Esme said as she smiled brightly. "That will save us a fortune. Campus housing is so damn expensive."
"You are leaving us?" Jasper asked her. "Darn who is going to confuse Alice?" He asked.
"I will do that in video chat." She said with a smile. "And some weekends."
"It just won't be the same." He said as he smiled.
"You will be in Texas in no time. How will I make you laugh then?" She asked him.
"Video chat." He replied.
"Well, bro it seems to me that it is the same then." She said with a laugh. It was no surprise that she saw Jasper as a brother. Hell, if things were different he would be right now. And if I have anything to say about it he would be someday.
"I bet Charlie took the news hard." Esme said as she smiled.
"Not really, he wants me to get a great education so I can come back and run this town." Bella said with a laugh. In my heart I knew that she wasn't planning on coming back. She had so much she wanted to see and well we only live so long.
"I can see it. Mayor Swan." Alice said with a laugh.
"Or Mayor Cullen." Jasper added.
"Come on guys, stop it." Bella said as she looked around the room. "We got to go get our party on." She said as she laughed. She was just a ball of sunshine and it was nice to see that.
Bella POV
We stopped at La Push for the sake of Jake. Well, that and those boys really know how to throw a party. It seemed like everyone from our graduating class was there. "It's kind of sad isn't it?" Angela asked me as we sat around the fire. I was clinging to Emmett for dear life as we sat there. "This is the last time we all will be here together like this." She said.
"Yeah, but I am sure we can find some people to party with in Seattle." I said as I looked at her. Her and Eric were coming to the UW too.
"I know, but still." She said as she looked around. "Here comes Jake." She said as I saw my childhood friend coming towards us.
"Bells, I was hoping you would come." Jake said as he smiled at us. "The others thought that you wouldn't want to come because of what happened last week. It must have been embarrassing calling everyone to tell them the wedding was off." He said as he looked at me.
"Well, Emmett and everyone made a lot of the calls for me. While I dealt with some other stuff." I said as I thought back to me and Edward locked up in Carlisle's office screaming at each other.
"Right, I heard you ended things with him. Very scandalist Bells." He said as I placed my head on Emmett's shoulder.
"They don't call her Hells Bells for no reason." Angela said trying to lighten the mood.
"Well, why didn't anyone else say I was making a huge mistake?" I asked them.
"We thought you loved him." Emmett said as he looked at me.
"Never think again. My heart belongs to you and only you." I said as I smiled up at him. In that moment for at least a minute everything seemed perfect.