A/N: Whew! Almost didn't make my Sunday deadline! A little movie opened this weekend that kind of got all my attention. Maybe you heard of it? It's called "New Moon". Go! Run! Do not walk....run to your nearest theatre and go see it! Chris Weitz made a movie for the fans!

Thanks to my rocking awesome beta TwiDi who keeps me on the straight and narrow!!! Thanks for catching my faux pas!! This is why I need you so!!

Now it's time to find out more about Emmett...

Freeze Frame - Chapter 4

~ Emmett ~

I remembered how much I missed her. Sitting there buck naked and taped to my office chair, I remembered just how much I missed Rosalie Hale. I had to chuckle at the situation I was in. But right now, I was absolutely lost in the memory of her. I couldn't help it. Her panties were draped over my head and I could still smell her perfume in the room. She still wore the same perfume…

It was the longest week ever. That one terrible week in middle school.

Rosalie Hale was blonde. Rosalie Hale was funny. Rosalie Hale was skinny, gawky and the biggest Saturday Night Live fan I had ever met outside of myself. She moved to our school at the beginning of her eighth grade year. No one really noticed her at first. No one had noticed her… except me. The first day I overheard her quoting some of my favorite Saturday Night Live skits practically verbatim; I knew that she was someone I wanted to be friends with.

I decided to take drama classes just to be close to her. Her laugh was loud and when she really got going she would cackle and you couldn't help but laugh as well. The way she would flip her hair over her shoulder used to make me just stare with my mouth open. I was a tool. An early, teenaged pubescent tool that had only just begun to fully realize how cool girls actually were.

Then, Rosalie just disappeared for a week and I felt like I had taken a really hard punch to my stomach. I walked past the rows of lockers every day where hers was hoping to spy her laughing with her friends. Her "older" friends. Rosalie Hale was only 9 months older than me but two grades ahead of me. She was fucking smart as hell. She was the only person I knew who had actually skipped a grade in elementary school.

I kept walking through that week; searching for any signs of her return. When the sixth day had gone by without any favorable results, I knew my ass was grass. I was her slave. Rosalie Hale owned my 14 year old ass.

So, I decided it was time to take a stand. My friend Eric told me to take a chance. Mike told me I was full of shit and should let her come to me. Seriously? Newton? Have you taken a look at yourself lately? I mean, orthodontic thread in the braces just doesn't rank right up there in the hotness factor.

Plus, I was having a hard enough time dealing with my own mother trying to ask me which I preferred the most now… boxers or tighty-whities? Geez… I turn 14 years old and my mother seems to think I am going to become possessed by teenage hormones or something. I have come to the decision that parents are put on this earth to mortally embarrass the living hell out of you.

So, one week of middle school passes without the presence of Rosalie Hale; and I shudder to realize that I am the only one who knows the difference. Yeah. She owns me. I realize this as I unlock the chain around my bike on the bike rack. I've gotten so used to Rosalie riding to school and home with me that her sudden absence is almost suffocating.

I start to feel the beginnings of panic race through my body. I know she has been sick from overhearing her friends talk about it. I race home on my bike. I am winded by the time I get home because of my overloaded backpack. She's got to be okay!!! I miss quoting Saturday Night Live lines with her. I miss how she laughs at my stupid puns; I miss how she feels when I get to steal a hug from her. I…… miss her.

Plain and simple.

Rosalie Hale has stolen my heart. And I don't think I want it back.

I bounded up the stairs and pulled out the old coffee can that I had been stashing money into over the past several weeks. I had been mowing yards on the weekends in order to start my savings fund up for a car for when I got to high school. I pulled out a five dollar bill, stashed it in my pocket and ran out of the house only to jump on my bike and start pedaling wildly down the street.

I made it to the drugstore and immediately went to the greeting card section. I was going to buy a 'Get Well' card for Rosalie Hale. I mean, girls like that shit. Right?

I looked at the soppy ones, I looked at the funny ones and I was just about to give up when I finally spotted the right card. I took my purchase home and dashed back up the stairs.

"Emmett? Where have you been? Can you take the garbage out please?" I heard my Mom holler up the stairs.

"In a minute, Ma!" I answered back. I had been thinking about what to write inside the card. I was scared that if I proclaimed my feelings immediately in the card, she would think that I was a coward. I finally decided on what I wanted to write and sealed the card shut. I slid the card into the back pocket of my jeans and grabbed the bag of garbage as I made my way outside.

"I'll be home in a little while, Ma."

"Emmett? Are you okay? You look a little flushed."

I grinned at my Mom, "Yeah, Ma. I'm okay… I'm more than okay!"

I hauled the garbage out to the curb and promptly jumped back onto my bike and made my way over to Rosalie's house.

I pulled up in front of her mailbox and slid the card inside. I had just snapped the mailbox shut when I suddenly spied Rosalie coming out of her front door.

"Emmett? What are you doing here?" Her voice sounded hoarse. It was deep and sexy. I felt myself reacting to it.

Kill me. Kill me now.

"Uh… just coming to see how you are. You haven't been at school for a week." I stammered. Shit. I was dying. I know she saw me put something in her mailbox.

"I'm feeling better. Thanks. So… did I miss anything really cool at school?"

"Nope. Are you going to try out for the spring show?"

Rose crossed her arms and shifted from one foot to the other. "No… I don't think so. Mom and Dad have been talking about us possibly moving again."

My stomach lurched at her words. NO!!! She can't leave!!! Not now!!!

"Um… that would suck." I managed to say as I wanted to slam my forehead onto my handlebars.

"Yeah. It would. I kind of like it here in Forks." She admitted.

The silence descended between us. I rocked back and forth on my bike and I kept surreptitiously checking the mailbox. Rose caught me looking at it again.

"Um… When are you coming back to school?" I finally asked.

"Tomorrow. Wanna meet up and ride to school together?"

My stomach found its way into my throat. What the hell was wrong with me?

"Yeah!" I answered a little too enthusiastically.

"Cool. Eight o'clock, okay?" Rose twisted strands of her long blonde hair around her finger. The sun caught the lightest strands of blonde in her hair and it was so pretty. Pretty? What the hell was wrong with me? I like Rose. She's a cool chick, but these feelings I get when I am around her, scare the living daylights out of me.

"So… yeah… Eight o'clock tomorrow, sounds good. I need to go. It's getting dark and Ma is gonna worry. See ya tomorrow, Rose. Glad you are feeling better."

She smiled at me and I couldn't breathe, "See you tomorrow, Emmett."

She waved shyly as I started away from the curb of her house. I took one last quick glance over my shoulder as I rode away. She was at the mailbox and pulling out the envelope. She DID see me.

My heart stuttered within my chest.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" I asked myself.

Is this what I wanted? To be taped to my chair naked and realizing that the woman who walked out through my office door earlier, was the woman I was meant to be with? Ever since I was 14, I knew there was something amazingly different about Rosalie Hale.

Fuck. I am such a moron.

I was sitting there feeling like a sorry sack of shit, when I finally heard the elevator doors open. She had come back! I knew she couldn't stay away from me for too long. I heard the footsteps echo down the granite tiled hallway. The steps were too heavy. They were not female footsteps.

Great! The cleaning crew was here. I was going to be discovered by some poor man who cleaned offices to support his kids. I was naked. Some poor man was going to get a shocking glimpse of Thor; and I couldn't do a damn thing about it.

I gritted my teeth and waited for my office door to swing open.

Seconds ticked by.

Finally, I heard the footsteps stop at the office door opposite of mine.

Damn it. This was embarrassing. If there was ever a time for me to call in a favor to God… this was it. I waited. Silence.

"Who's there?" I finally yelled out.

"Emmett?" Edward answered back.

Perfect.

Once again Cullen gets to witness my horrific downfall. When am I going to learn?

***

"So, what's going on between you and Bella?" I asked Edward as we walked toward the elevators. My wrists were still smarting from all the hair being pulled out by the duct tape.

"Nothing." He answered curtly.

"Don't bullshit a bull shitter, Cullen. Something happened between the two of you in L.A., didn't it?"

"What makes you say that?"

"How about every time you look at her, it's like she's something to eat?" I watched as one side of Edwards's mouth quirked upwards.

"Holy Christ! I'm right!" I laughed.

Edward leaned back against the wall of the elevator, "Something may have happened, but I'm sure it won't happen again. Bella doesn't need me complicating her life right now. It would be better off if we were just friends."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Cullen. I'm sure that thought will keep your bed warm at night. Fuck… do you want her or not?"

The doors to the elevator slid open and we walked towards our cars.

"Yeah, I want her. But I'm not sure she wants me."

I turned and jabbed my finger into his chest, "Then fucking change her mind. Go after her. Seduce the living shit out of her."

"Is that what you had in mind when you left with Rosalie this evening? Because that turned out well..." Edward chuckled.

"Fuck off, Cullen. I know what I'm doing. It may take me a while, but mark my words; I will have Rosalie Hale back. I did it once before, I can do it again. "

We walked in silence the rest of the way. I pulled my keys out and unlocked the car door.

"I could use your help you know. I'm not exactly the smoothest asshole out there. Rosalie deserves something more than what I've given her."

Edward rolled his eyes at me, "I don't know, Emmett. I don't know if I want to be involved in this."

"Who the hell are you and what did you do with Edward Cullen? Listen ass wipe, I didn't spend all that time in college helping your geeky ass get laid only to have you revert back the minute Bella Swan shows back up in your life. I tell you what? Let's make it interesting then. How about I help you land Bella? Look, the two of us make a pretty potent team. I say it's a win-win situation."

Edward grinned and shrugged his shoulders, "You're crazy. You know that, right?"

I grinned back at him, "Come on! I know you. You can't walk away from something like this. Think of it as a new acquisition. Go into it with that killer instinct of yours. Those girls will be putty in our hands by the time we're done!"

"I'm probably going to regret this but you've got a deal." Edward shook his head as he got into his car.

"You won't! Trust me!" I yelled back at him. Edward waved to me as he pulled out of the garage quickly, tires screeching. That fucker was going to wrap himself around a telephone pole with his fast driving one these days.

Yeah. I had won Rosalie Hale's heart once. I was damn sure going to do it again.

Rosalie Hale turned down my offer to go steady. I was crushed. She made some excuse about being at different schools soon; and that she really wasn't ready for anything like that. I didn't let on how much she had hurt me and I figured I was still lucky enough just to be her friend. So, I sucked it up and managed to make it through the school year without making a complete fool of myself.

During the summer, Rosalie moved back to Seattle to attend a private girl's school that her parents thought would be much more advantageous in her education. Rosalie and I stayed in touch the first year. The second year she was gone, we talked occasionally. The third year she was gone we didn't talk at all.

I had gone through a rapid growth spurt during the last summer before my sophomore year. I had started to play football and was one of the only incoming sophomores who had made it onto the varsity team. The team had started practicing weeks before school started. Forks High School took its football program seriously. During practice one day, Mike Newton let it drop that Rosalie had moved back to Forks. My heart stuttered at the news. Even though I had dated other girls since Rosalie was gone, my heart still belonged to her.

I grinned at the realization that we were going to be at the same school again. I made the call to her house the minute I got home from practice. I sat there nervously waiting for someone to pick up the phone. Rosalie's mother answered the phone and told me that Rose was babysitting for her neighbors next door. I kindly thanked Mrs. Hale and asked her to have Rosalie call me when she got home.

Several hours had gone by and I kept myself busy reviewing over the playbook that the Coach had given us. Finally my phone rang and I made myself wait about four rings before answering.

"Hello?"

"Um… yeah. Hi. This is Rosalie Hale. Is Emmett there?" Her voice filled both my heart and my soul.

"This is Emmett." I answered realizing that Rosalie hadn't spoken to me since my voice had changed.

"Wow… I didn't recognize your voice. How are you?" She asked.

We chatted briefly and made plans to meet up the next day. Her parents had done the insane thing of having a swimming pool put in their backyard and she invited me over to swim. I grinned knowing all to well that Rosalie was going to be in for the shock of her life. I looked a lot different than I did in Middle School. Tomorrow was going to be great.

I was excited about seeing Rose again. She opened the door to her house wearing nothing but a skimpy bikini. Christ! What a body she had on her! She had literally morphed into a voluptuous blonde Goddess. The look of surprise on her face when she saw me was priceless.

She ushered me out into the backyard and we spent the afternoon swimming and catching up with one another. It was amazing how easy it was to be with her again. We decided to go to school together on the first day. Rose offered to pick me up and drive us to school. Coming in as a sophomore, it certainly wouldn't hurt my image at all being driven into school by a knockout junior. I was going to be the envy of every asshole in that school.

We spent the entire week hanging out again. I wanted to accelerate my studies and Rose offered to tutor me. I knew that I wanted Rosalie as my girlfriend and I think if I had been reading the signals right, she wanted me.

Friday night was our first football game of the season and I had invited Rose to come watch the game. Rose came along with Bella Swan, who was the police chief's daughter and had just moved back to Forks. Apparently, Rose and Bella had bonded over being the new girls in school. I could hear the both of them cheering me on in the stands. At one point as I came off the field, Rose distracted me and I ran right into that pathetic loser Edward Cullen, knocking him straight on his ass.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, four eyes?"

Cullen just stammered and pushed his glasses back up his nose.

I held my hand out to him to help him up. I didn't want to look like a total jerk in front of Rose. Any other time I would have walked right on past him.

"Thanks" He murmured and immediately went to join his other entire little band fag buddies.

The game ended with us winning and the stands going crazy. I had managed to intercept a pass and run it back for the winning touchdown. I knew I had a golden moment on my hands. I quickly showered and went out to meet Rose and Bella in the stands.

As I approached the stand I saw Rose lean over and whisper something in Bella's ear. Bella quickly nodded and started down the steps. As she passed me, she gave me a playful punch in the arm.

"Look at you, Mr. Football hero! Nice work! Looks like you're gonna be the talk of the school next week."

"Thanks, Bells. Where are you off to?" I asked, glancing up at Rose.

"Um… meeting Angela Webber at the café for some cobbler. Maybe we'll see you there later?"

"Uh huh..." I answered. I couldn't take my eyes off Rose. She was smiling down at me and I felt like some goof ball prince who had just slew a dragon or something. I made my way up to where Rose was standing.

"Rose."

"Emmett."

"What'd ya think?" I asked as I shoved my hands in my pocket.

"I think you were pretty damn spectacular! God, that was exciting!!" She answered.

I reached out and took her hand into mine and sat down on the bench. Rose sat down next to me. I rejoiced that she didn't pull her hand away. It was now or never.

"So… this week has been pretty great, hasn't it?" I asked.

Rose looked down at her hand in mine, "Yeah. It has. It's really great hanging out with you again, Emmett."

"Rose? Do you remember three years ago when I asked you to go steady and turned me down?"

She nodded. She couldn't look at me.

I placed my hand under her chin and raised her beautiful face up to look at me, "I think the old excuse of not being at the same school doesn't apply anymore. Rosalie Hale, would you do me the honor of going steady with me and be my girlfriend?"

Rose broke out into a huge sunny smile, "I would love to, Emmett."

It was that moment that I got to kiss Rosalie Hale for the first time. It was that moment that I knew I was in love with her.

Hmmm...wonder what made Emmett cheat on Rosalie? Hit that little green button down there to feed the writing monster with reviews to find out!