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Disclaimer: SM owns all things Twilight.
Chapter 4
Jasper drove the whole way there holding and rubbing soothing circles on the back of my hand and I was fine…until we got there. A little burst of panic overcame me and I looked over at Jasper for help.
"Bella it's gonna be fine. They're gonna love you."
"How do you know? They might hate me; I mean I take all your time they might resent me."
"Bella, if I care for you then they will too."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive."
I nodded and released his hand to open the door and get out of the truck. When I jumped out and met Jasper by the walkway I grabbed his hand again for strength.
The Whitlock's had a beautiful two story house. It had a wrap around porch and on the far right there was a two seater swing and a couple chairs on the left side of the door. The house itself was stone. It was like my dream home come true and I was very anxious to see what the inside looked like.
We had just reached the stairs when the front door flew open.
"Bella!" Alice yelled and launched herself at me.
I laughed, the tension leaving me a little. "Hey Aly."
She took a step back and appraised my outfit. "I like that dress. Did you really dress yourself? I mean usually-"
"Yes I did thank you very much."
"Hm. Who knew?"
"Thanks Alice."
"Bells!" Emmett boomed from behind Alice.
I smiled. "Hi Emmett."
"Long time no see," he said as he gave me a big bear hug, lifting me off the concrete.
Once he set me back on the ground he had to keep hold of me so I didn't fall over.
"Alright klutz, you ready to meet the fam?"
I gestured toward the door. "Lead the way."
I grabbed Jasper's hand again as we followed Emmett inside the house.
"Bell and Jasper are here!" Emmett called as he led us to the living room where everyone was sitting.
A curly haired woman and a tall man came over and shook my hand. This had to be the Whitlock's. The man looked so much like Jasper except that he had his mom's curly hair.
"Hi Bella, it's so nice to finally meet you. I'm Mackenzie, Jasper's mom and this is Hunter."
"It's nice to meet you too Mrs. Whitlock."
She chuckled. "Mackenzie please, Mrs. Whitlock is Hunter's mother."
I smiled.
She took my hand and led me away from Jasper. "Bella, these are our friends. I'm sure you've already met the kids."
I nodded and my nervousness disappeared.
"Okay, so, right here is Elizabeth and Edward Sr, Edwards parents," she said pointing to a beautiful bronze haired woman and a dark haired man. Elizabeth smiled and Edward nodded at me. I smiled at them before returning my attention back to Mackenzie.
"Here is Rosalie's parents Molly and Bill." Molly was like a supermodel just like her daughter. She was tall and thin with long blonde hair and pretty gray eyes. I could see where Rosalie got her looks. She and Bill smiled. Bill was nice looking with short dark blonde hair and brown eyes.
"And this is Paige and Jeff, Emmett's parents." Jeff lifted his beer to me and Paige gave me a little wave. Jeff was a big guy he could be scary if it wasn't for the fact that he was smiling. His personality and build had to be where Emmett got his but I could see that in Paige was where he got his dark hair and hazel eyes. I waved back and looked over to the last couple in the room.
The man was tall and blonde with green eyes and the woman next to him had honey hair and soft brown eyes.
"And this, last but not least, is Carlisle and Esme."
"Nice to meet you Bella," Esme said.
I smiled.
"Okay so now that everyone's here, Hunter will start the grill. Bella, you have a seat and visit." Mackenzie directed me toward the couch where Jasper and Alice were and set me between them. Jasper rested his hand on my knee and Alice bumped my shoulder.
"So you and Alice are cousins, Edward tells me," Elizabeth said.
"Yes ma'am."
"But we're more like sisters," Alice said.
"I can see that. Well you girls are always welcome. And Alice, tell Tom and Ann that we look forward to seeing them again."
"I will. I'm sure Mom and Daddy will be looking forward to it as well."
"What are your plans for after graduation Bella?" Paige asked.
Emmett snorted and turned a teasing smile to his mother. "Mom's always been real big in school. If you don't plan on going to college she'll work damn hard to get you to. On April fools day I told her I wasn't going to college and that I decided to convert the basement into my own little apartment and live there. I thought it would be a funny joke."
"Except my darling son decided to pull that little prank on me when I had something in my hands."
"Good thing I have great reflexes."
"What happened?" I asked.
"She threw the glass jar at me and I ducked out of the way. When I told her April fools then she started to apologize."
"Hey no son of mine is going to live in the basement and do nothing with his life."
"That is a horrible joke." Alice said.
"We'll I couldn't top last years one with the fake spider."
"Spider?"
"Emmett's pranks usually lead to someone going to the emergency room." Edward said.
"The spider made Mom break her foot." Emmett agreed.
"Oh my gosh Emmett," I said.
"He's lucky he hasn't given me a heart attack or something yet." Paige agreed.
"You should have seen what Rosalie did," Jasper said, laughing. "When Emmett tried to scare her she punched him and broke his nose-"
"Leading Emmett to go to the hospital," Rosalie said. She smiled and kissed Emmett's temple.
"Yeah yeah, I'll never do that again," Emmett said.
"So Bella? School?" Paige asked getting back on topic.
"Yes I want to go to the University of Arizona, to major in English."
"Good for you."
"Thanks."
"Are you going to live on campus?" Molly asked.
"I'm gonna live with my Mom; she's a short drive to campus and free food and a place to live."
"I understand. Living in the dorms is an experience though."
"Yes, but I'd rather focus on my school work than the parties."
"I like it, good answer," Bill said.
"Anything is a good answer for you Bill," Jeff said.
"I agree, unless it's a disagreement. Want another beer?"
"Yeah, I'll get it." Jeff said, standing.
"Good answer," Bill said smiling.
I noticed that Mackenzie hadn't come in from the kitchen so I stood up and walked in there. She was busy making the salad.
"Need any help?"
She looked up and smiled. "No, but thank you sweetie. You could keep me company though if you'd like."
I smiled and walked over to the bar in front of her and sat on the stool.
"Are you doing okay?" she asked.
I nodded. "Your friends are great."
"They are. So is your cousin. She's a live wire isn't she?"
I chuckled. "Yes she is. She's always been that way. Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Um, Esme and Carlisle, do they have any kids?"
"They have four. Connor is their oldest, he's at NYU right now working on his bachelors, Emma started her freshman year at Texas A&M for vet school and the twins, Bree and Tanner, are in their sophomore year at Sequim."
"Oh. It's just that everyone else was here."
"Everyone else is here because they care about you and wanted to meet the girl that has given my son a run for his money. He's never acted this way with another girl. You're special to him."
"I care about him a lot."
"I'm glad. Now, will you take this to the table?" she asked handing me the salad.
I nodded and grabbed it, placing it in the center of the table. A second later Hunter and Jasper walked in with the meat.
I smiled and Jasper walked over and gave me a kiss. Mackenzie handed us plates and told us to get our meat.
"Why aren't we waiting for everyone else?" I asked Jasper.
"You'll see," he said placing a hamburger patty on the bun on my plate.
Once we had our meat we sat at the bar.
"Watch this," Jasper said and I turned to the doorway.
"Food's ready!" Hunter called and ran out of the way.
There was this commotion like a stampede of animals with Emmett and his dad in the lead trying to shove each other out of the way. Bill and Rosalie were right on their tails followed by Alice and Edward.
Hunter came beside me laughing like the rest of us. "They never grow up."
Emmett and Jeff were piling their plate with food when Alice shouted to leave some food for everyone else. Luckily there was enough for all and we all sat down in the living room to eat and talk.
"So how long have you all known each other?" I asked Mackenzie.
"Oh years. Hunter and Jeff are half brothers, they've lived in Sequim all their lives along with me. I lived across the street from the trouble twins," Mackenzie said.
"Trouble twins?" I asked.
"Dad and Uncle Jeff were so close in age everyone referred to them as twins and they always got in trouble," Jasper said
"Even for things we didn't do!" Jeff said
"Carlisle and I moved next door to them when I was three and he was about five. Mom and Dad wanted to move to Washington from Montana so Sequim was the place to go," Molly said.
"Edward moved in the other house a year later and immediately joined the group. He met Elizabeth in high school when she and Esme moved to Sequim," Mackenzie said.
"And my brother and Edward were never the same when the Anderson sisters moved to town," Molly said. "Two sets of high school sweethearts and one set of childhood sweethearts with Kenz and Hunter."
"That's sweet," I commented. "So what about Jeff and Molly? How did you meet Bill and Paige?"
"College," they said together.
"But other than that we grew up together. The only time we were all apart is when we went to college but we had to come back home. And then we were a family again," Molly said.
"And now we're following in their footsteps," Edward said.
"Family is important," Edward Sr. said.
"We've always said that," Elizabeth said.
I nodded. "It is."
Once we finished eating the fathers went to the game room and the mothers stayed in the kitchen.
The other six of us went to Jasper's room, which was as big as my living room, kitchen and dining room combined. There was a big couch in front of the TV, a bed in the far corner and a desk on the other side with a lap top opened.
Emmett and Edward settled on the couch to play the Xbox and Rosalie sat by Emmett, a car magazine in her hand. Alice went to the computer and Jasper led me to the bed. We cuddled just like we always did at my house and watched they guys play their game laughing when Emmett would get upset.
We stayed until it was dark and Jasper had to take me home.
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