A/N: First off, I wanna thank everyone for the generous reviews. They really mean a lot and I'm glad to know people enjoy the story so far. I'm trying to stray a little from going line by line on the conversations to give them their own type of chemistry. A lot of people like role reversals only for the humor.
As I always looked at Bella, she was kind of a damsel. I'm trying not to do that with Edward Swan. And I hope I'm doing well. Again, I appreciate the support on this. You're the reason I keep going.
When the rest of us went home, I called the attention of one of my siblings in particular. Rosalie. She was on her way to the garage to shove herself under the BMW. I could tell she was angry with me. She had smelled Edward's scent all over me in the front seat and wasn't too happy. Like the others, she didn't see the fuss over Edward Swan. He didn't look nor seem remotely appealing to her. I was slightly angry at how she viewed him...
"Let's get an early start on the hunt tomorrow," I suggested, standing in the doorway of the garage.
She emerged from the front of the car, on her back, with a sour expression. "And why is that?"
Unlike my other siblings, Rosalie didn't like the silent conversation bit. She knew I heard her thoughts and could easily speak to her through them with everyone else getting one side of the conversation from my perspective...but it was bad enough, to her, that I could hear her in the first place.
"Just you and me," I replied, shirking from answering the direct question.
She stood up in a flash of movement, blurring in the air and stopping right in front of me. "Why?"
I looked back in her eyes, unblinkingly serious. "We need to talk."
She set down a wrench with a loud clatter on her workbench. "Fine, then."
We entered the main room together. Rosalie darted for the stairs without looking back at me.
I need to change. Was her thought.
"It isn't a cocktail party," I muttered under my breath.
Esme was folding clothes upstairs herself. When Rosalie passed her on the way to her room, she shot her retreating back a bewildered look before descending the stairs. Alice was helping Jasper win at chess by mouthing Emmett's next moves over his shoulder.
What's going on? Esme directed at me.
"Early start on hunting," I said.
"Who's hunting?" Emmett asked, turning around. Alice stopped moving her lips at once and began to hum innocently. Emmett was none the wiser.
"Myself...," I started slowly as Rosalie walked down from behind Esme with a navy blue tracksuit on. "and your wife."
Emmett's eyes widened. "You're going on a hunting trip? Just you two? Maybe I should..." ...Referee...? "."...tag along."
"We'll be fine," I assured both Emmett and Esme. Esme was looking worried, Emmett, skeptical. "Seriously."
Oh, dear. Try not to fight eachother, Bella.
"How rude. As if I have nothing better to do than to fight my sister," I responded sarcastically approaching her. She took my face in between her hands and kissed my forehead, giving me a reproving look.
"No fighting," She said out loud.
"Don't worry," I said again.
It was Sunday by the time we reached one of the last hunting spots. I knew Rosalie was expecting me to talk, but it was hard to do when she kept throwing herself out of my range and hunting elsewhere, far off the mark.
For the past two days she did this. Only returning when she was done with her share, asking if I was done with mine so we could move on to another spot. It was annoying, considering it was Rosalie and the tension was thick. Any of my other siblings, I'd have chased to the ends of the earth on a hunt. With Rosalie, probably not.
I realized why when we were nearer the Canadian border and she separated again from my trail, towards a streaming river where she and I had caught the scent of a deer drinking from the water. I sighed. There was nothing else within my range, so I followed her.
Rosalie was so prim when she fed, it wasn't even funny. Not a stain on her. My own shirt looked like I had bought the same version of the previous one just in red print. I wasn't usually so messy...My mind was elsewhere and I really didn't give a damn for bloody clothing when I was sure Alice would buy me a new wardrobe at some point in the future.
"Done?" I asked Rosalie as she rose to her feet and wiped little traces of blood from her lips.
She faced me. "Yeah. Did you want some? I think there's some left."
I felt sloshy. "No."
"Oh," She answered awkwardly then began to march off towards the trees. "Well then. I'll go find something more appealing."
I flitted towards her before she could see me coming, unless she was looking, which she wasn't. My arm wrapped around her neck and threw her down, flat on her back. My eyes shifted crimson very briefly before returning to normal.
"All right, Rose. No more games," I snarled from above, retracting my arm and curling my fingers lightly around her throat. "I said we needed to talk. So don't make this difficult for me. Now what I wanted to tell you was-"
But what I wanted to tell Rosalie, she didn't deign to hear. Instead she broke out of my hold in a flash and shoved my chest with all the strength behind both her hands. I felt us both flying through the air with her weight on top of mine. We collided painfully, with me underneath on the other side of the river bank.
"You were saying?" She asked, smug.
I reached over her shoulder and took a handful of her shirt from the back. Propelling my leg to kick, I backflipped us both and released in mid air. She hit the ground again, but I was standing, my foot pressed into her shoulder.
"I said, no games," I told her fiercely. The smugness died out of her eyes and fury replaced them. I knew her attack had been playful but only in part. She felt delight in being able to overpower me. "What is your problem, Rosalie? You can't even hear me out?"
Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline. Easy, breezy, beautiful CoverGirl. Danielle's Beauty Salon- Where style is created. Glow. Real Health. Real Beauty.
My eyebrows shot up at the suddenly overwhelming power of her beauty ads being shoved in my face. Deliberately.
"What are we hiding?" I questioned over the stream of some airbrushed celebrity advertising for Pantene Pro-V. She gritted her teeth and let something loose that I wasn't supposed to see. The blatant feeling itself behind the thought.
Envy. Ah, with Rosalie, it was all about herself.
I removed my foot from her shoulder and she shot up to her feet behind me, so I was staring at a patch on the ground.
You say anything, and I will hunt you down like the rogue you are. Rosalie spat mentally.
"I really wonder...," I began.
"Don't start,"
My eyebrow shot up and I ignored her warning. "I really wonder what you'd be like if you didn't have your looks."
She grounded her teeth together and I closed my eyes. It was depressing to think about Rosalie, which is why I didn't, unless I had to.
"It's not even about that," She scowled.
I turned around on my heel. "Really? Do tell."
She stepped closer to me, her words almost just wisps in the wind. "Just how do you think this will end, Bella? Do you actually think that human-"
My fingers twitched. "Don't call him 'that human.' He has a name. Humans don't exist to be considered lower than us when we're the ones trying to accommodate them."
"Accommodate them? THEM?" She snarled dangerously. "Bella, we accommodate ourselves before we yield to any human!"
"What are we, royalty? We're not even alive!" I retorted.
"Wow," She crossed her arms. "Is this your way of evading the question? You know this can't happen, right Bella ?"
I saw the direction of her thoughts and it made me cringe. "Not now, Rose."
"No, now. Since you insisted," Rosalie growled, drawing even closer and baring down on me. "Just how do you intend to make this work? You're a vampire, Bella. An immortal. You will continue looking exactly as you are while he ages, grows older, smarter and then begins to deteriorate. And aside from the fact that you'll be the one changing his diapers maybe one day...He's going to want to settle down-"
"Rosalie-"
"-have a wife." Her sapphire eyes brightened. " have...children.."
Agony was going to pull the cord on my carefully placed mask. I knew my expression was starting to shatter. "Please, don't say it."
She looked close to crying herself. "...and you can't provide that."
I inhaled sharply and felt my breath come out cracked. My eyes were stinging, trying to form tears they could no longer produce.
Rosalie's palm shaped to my cheek and she forced me to look at her. "I know you've always put up a brave face...but you knew from the very beginning, how this was going to end. You don't wanna change him..."
"No,"
"And you don't want to kill him either,"
"No,"
"Eternity is a long time, Bella," said Rose. "A very long time. To wallow...to hold on to our emotions. We are forever in these bodies. But I think our minds age with time."
"Get to the point, Rosalie," I snapped.
"I'm saying...," She dropped her hand. "Nothing. I don't think you wanna hear it."
She blocked the thought with more ad slogans going off in her head. I gave a shrug of my shoulders. I wasn't going to force it out of her. Though, I knew what she was getting at. I ran my fingers through my hair.
"I know what you mean, Rosalie," I said more to stop her mental babble. "That you think it's going to end one way or another. I don't think so. I wish I could make it true too. His blood still sings to me like no other I have ever met. I can't change that unless I do either of those things...But...I have to try not to let either of those things happen. I know Alice believes it will happen, in due time...But I don't want it too. For my sake, and for his. I'm not..."
"Not what?" She asked, breaking out of the tirade.
" I'm not going to take his life," I said, my eyes blazing. "I'm not...I love him. I love him as much as you love Emmett."
She stared at me for a long time. I could tell her argument was over. Her vanity and envy hadn't quite died either. But she was thinking my response seemed...right, somehow. Like it fit accordingly to what she was saying. She thought my love was false and slightly untrue, though, which made me clench my jaw. Yet, I could tell there would be no verbal war between us anymore. She had said some of her views on the matter. I respected her enough to let her think I felt the conversation resolved like she wanted me to.
"I'll take you up on proving you wrong,"She said with a malicious glint in her eye that looked quite like a challenge. She took a hunter's crouch and sped off into the trees with me on her heels.
It was midnight on Monday-or technically- Tuesday when we returned. Rosalie's tracksuit looked slightly withered and I had already heard her internally consider buying a brand new one in pink. So I didn't feel too bad. Emmett was wide-eyed to see that both of us were in one piece. He rushed over to Rosalie to give her her welcome-home present.
I slid out of my leather jacket and approached the kitchen where Esme was sewing something alone at the kitchen table. She heard me come in, I knew. There was a slight smile on her face.
"Hello, darling," She greeted without looking up from her needle and white material.
"Hello," I answered, skipping over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Is Carlisle working late?"
"He is. There was an emergency," She stated, looking up when I didn't respond. "Not anyone you know, darling. ..Just a girls' misfortune in Port Angeles."
I scanned her mind vaguely to get a glimpse of what she was taking about. She had only imagined this scene through Carlisle's explanation over the phone. A girl in a very near mutilated state, beaten and scarred in various places. I flinched mentally.
"That's awful," I muttered.
"I know," She agreed. We were silent for a long moment while I hoped she was right and it was not someone I knew. I was grateful for that much at least. I wouldn't wish such a thing on anyone. Even Jessica who had gotten on my last nerve lately.
"Edward called," Esme said abruptly, and I jumped at the mention of his name. A rare thing to occur at all in an immortal.
"Did he?" I asked, trying to sound casual and failing miserably. "How did he get the house number?"
"I wondered that myself," She responded. "but I assume he simply looked it up."
I would have to give him my cell number at some point in the future. While I was glad it was Esme of all who picked up, I shuddered to think what would happen if Emmett was the one to receive the call. He'd probably find it hilarious to pretend I didn't live here.
"Did he say what he wanted?" I asked.
"To know if you wanted to go with him on a double date tomorrow night," She was smiling in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. Like I had just won grand prize in a contest. "He said you owed him. And that you'd understand. He left a number."
She nodded towards the kitchen counter near the phone where I saw a pink sticky note. "He said to text him 'yes' or 'no'."
I started to smile. "Well, if I owe him. No doesn't seem to be an option, does it?"
Esme beamed. "No, I don't think you have a choice. Have fun, dear."
"Thank you, Mommy," I said, swooping down to kiss her cheek again while I flitted towards the sticky note and pulled it off.
Still looking at it, I made my way out of the kitchen, and up to my room, passing my siblings along the way. Alice had decided to wash brand new clothing to give it a unique scent and the house was noisy and smelling strongly of "ocean mist". Jasper was on the couch, chattering away on his own cell with Peter and Charlotte, two good friends of his. While Emmett and Rosalie remained in the garage, giving my Volvo a tune up.
When I resided in the privacy of my own room, I took my cell phone off the shelf and turned it on. While waiting for the load up screen to disappear, I thought of Edward. A double date..
Not a regular one? He was still with that woman. I assumed out of courtesy...Why me though? Why couldn't they have one by themselves? It could have been that the tension between them was taking a new high and he wanted company in the fall.
I was cheered by the idea, my mind taking a new fantasy of comforting a forlorn Edward through his mild heartbreak.
Of course that meant my date was Mike. I'm sure he was happy with that. I just hoped I didn't have to touch him.
I texted the number.
This is Bella. With a Yes.
I stood up and impatiently waited for a response. Maybe I had texted the wrong number? I checked the now scrunched-up sticky note. The number was exactly correct. Was I reading Esme's writing wrong? Did she write the wrong number? It was late...he was probably in bed. He didn't seem the nighttime owl type.
Ten minutes later, my phone beeped.
Okay, Bella With a Yes. Does that mean you're coming tomorrow night?
"Ha ha," I whispered in response to his joke. He was awake. I guess he was a night time owl. Or maybe I woke him up.
Such a gentleman to remain articulate.
I texted back at super speed.
It's Bella with a yes to tomorrow night. Better? Where to, darling?
I don't know if he'd find the nickname offensive. I couldn't help myself with him sometimes.
Three minutes passed.
La Bella Italia. Its in Port Angeles. I can pick you up if you want.
With that truck? I thought I told you you'd be killing it with long distances... I wanted to respond.
I figured he was already picking up Jessica though, and I doubt she would have been happy if he had me in the car with equal treatment as her. I didn't want to ride with Mike either. I knew that was coming.
I'll meet you there. I know where it is. What time?
I set the record straight now. He wouldn't have room to argue.
7:00 sharp. Don't be late, sweetheart.
Oh, good. He wasn't arguing. I wished I could blush at his little nickname. I smiled faintly instead while my fingers were busy texting back.
I'm never late, honey. I'll see you then.
