(This Synchronicity is Rather Idiosyncratic.)
Emmett
Unpacking everything you own is hard. Unpacking everything everyone else owns is hard. But, I managed to finish.
Everything is in its place, for once.
It's not like I did it all by myself, but still. It wasn't the most amusing idea, unpacking. I just wanted to be with Rosalie. But she's locked herself in her newly furnished room. I'll just figure out why.
I stood in front of Rosalie's nice door. My unsure fingers hovered above the metal doorknob.
She might get really angry if I bother her…
But I'd like to spend some time with her! I spent the first day unpacking, the second day I spent hunting gratuitously, and the third day I spent with Edward, which killed my chances of a sweet romantic moment. Well, we had some, but I hadn't really kissed her since that day in Iowa…
The sweet juice of love sloshed in my belly, encouraging me to open her door.
I knocked.
"Rosalie?"
"Come in, babe." She knew it was me.
I cracked the door open, and I'm confused. It's the brightest, bluest, nicest, August morning and there are no lights in her room. Except for one candle.
Rosalie is sitting on the floor, legs crossed, eyes closed. She looked like some ancient revered goddess.
"What are you doing?"
"Relaxing," she said, and then sighed. "Sit." I opened the door all the way, and I sat near the door.
"Relaxing? But, you don't relax." I said, confused again.
"I had an epiphany, okay?"
"An epiphany?" The word was unfamiliar. I didn't use it often.
"Yes. Relaxing is…quite relaxing." Rosalie laughed at herself.
"So what did you want?" I said.
"I don't know, you were the one who knocked on my door, babe."
Right.
"Oh, I did want to show you something," Rosalie opened her eyes and picked up the candle. "Summer's Spring. Charbonneau's candle. It's wonderful."
I cautiously worked my hand towards the thick candle, flame dancing in the dim room. I decided that this would need two hands, and grabbed it.
The wax was periwinkle, or something like that, with swirls of jaunty yellow. Not like I would know the difference between periwinkle and any other blue...
The man put some effort into this. The crazy thing is that I respected that. Charbonneau probably made a ton of greenbacks this way.
A tiny pinprick of primal fear was poking me. Fire! Fire! I figured that if we died by fire, whether the dismemberment or not, it was something to fear. Fire, fire! I made sure not to touch the flame.
I pulled the candle closer to my face, and felt the sudden warmth morph onto my face. I smelled the scent of the wick burning away, of the scent of heat. Then, deeper, I picked up the scents of pennyroyal, pine, something like maple syrup, something mossy, and spring water. Rosalie and I, in the water, happy souls. Climbing out of the racing river, wet and glistening, drying off in the sun. Then the picture disappeared, separating into several scents…
I put the candle down, my nose all cold now. "Jesus, Rosalie. You were right!" I said, still unsure of the Vision Quest I just had, or whatever.
"You doubted me?"
"No. Trust me," I said, hands up in defense.
"Of course I do! But seriously, I believe that Charbonneau had the hots for me, unsurprisingly. He'd be visiting Steele, and I'd be visiting Carlisle, and we'd meet. Twice, but it seemed like more. I think he offered me candles to make me like him more. He'd butter me up with compliments and kiss my hand. He was a gentleman!" Rosalie hummed herself into a memory.
Kissed her hand. I could do better! Kissed her hand. Groveling at the feet of a goddess! Kissed her hand. I'm too bitter about this. It made me kind of angry. She was my girl, and even though I didn't know her at that point in time, I didn't really even want other males touching her. Breathing her air, even. Only I could do that.
I can't let a girl like Rosalie slip through my fingers. Could not. I couldn't function. Kissed her hand!
I crawled to Rosalie's side, and she had gone back to relaxing during my inward rambling. She let her hand fall to the side, but it hit my shoulder.
"Oh, you. When you'd get over here, sweetheart?" Rosalie asked, seeming a lot less alert when she was relaxing.
"Just now."
I just let her scent fill me; mix with the love slosh, the sweet pink waves roaring up inside me. I had a wave of wanting hit me. I grabbed Rosalie's hand, and kissed it.
One of her eyes snapped open. "What are you doing?"
I took my lips off the back of her hand. "Kissing your hand. Better than the candle god ever could."
Rosalie kept her eyes closed. "You have some skill, but you're distracting me," she giggled and tried to pull her hand away. I kept my hand locked around hers as she pulled. She murdered her smile. "Give me my hand back!"
"I don't think I will." I kissed her hand again, briefly, then I continued up her arm.
Rosalie opened both of her eyes and smiled. "You're really distracting," she complained.
"You don't mind." I said, stating a fact. I felt little ripples in her skin and I heard a subtle continuous purr. She was trying real hard to not like this. I reached her neck and planted short quick touches. I wanted to touch her sweet lips.
"I give up, boy." Rosalie pouted, using two fingers of her free hand to extinguish the candle.
"Good," I smiled.
Rosalie
Skill. Everyone respects skill. Emmett possessed skill. What wasn't there to like?
You're being awful submissive. Good Rosalie sang.
I'll let him do what he does. He's…good at this.
Be careful, kid. Bad Rosalie said.
Of course I will. What are you talking about?
I tuned her response out as I felt a shockwave of pleasure hit me. Emmett was getting less precise in his politeness. He left long kisses on my jawbone, growing ever more impatient.
He reached the side of my mouth. "This must be better than Pascal," he whispered. I felt a shiver as his breath tickled my lips.
I trailed a hand down his face. "Impossibly better than Pascal." I agreed.
Emmett seemed to pause, millimeters away from my face. "You're beautiful," he breathed.
My brain wanted to say my usual response to that. "I know."
My mouth really said, "Thanks."
And we kissed.
Wonderfully. Emmett had the skill. I don't think that I even kissed that well. He had the perfect combination of gentleness and typical male domination. I melted in his arms.
As great as it was, my mind wandered. A vampire thing. I was completely aware of Emmett, but my mind still wandered. Especially when you live with Tweedledee, Tweedledum, and Tweedledumber.
He is really good at this. This love thing. Also, I'm not an Alice in Wonderland character, jackass. Vampire Rosalie is sufficiently surprised, minus the last comment.
Where've you been, we all knew that. And, I heard that! I ain't Tweedlenothing! Bad Rosalie scoffed.
Ain't isn't a word. You should get out of the habit of saying that.
Oh, I'm so happy. Why are you two fighting? Good Rosalie drawled.
I notice that whenever I'm touching Emmett like this, Good Rosalie goes into this happy, sunshiny trance. No fighting, no arguments, no opinionated comments. She's happier than me right now.
At some point I ended up on the ground under Emmett. For the moment, he was sufficiently pleased with my face, and was licking my neck.
Precise, but pleasantly wet. Skill. I could feel his venom on my neck, feeling colder than the rest of my skin.
The man had so much skill!
I was seriously losing focus on anything besides my love. It all felt so good.
"You're being very slow," I commented.
Emmett lifted his head from my neck. "Does that bother you?"
I frowned, and found one of my hands playing with one of Emmett's locks. "It does."
"Girls usually like slow, but for you I'll go as fast as you like…" The sentence disappeared into my neck as he buried his head there.
Slow.
So slow!
Wanted him. Now.
Feels so nice. Feels so good.
Careful, honey!
I wanted him, I did.
Jesus, Rosalie. You've been his girlfriend for what, five days? Could you be any hastier? Bad Rosalie warned.
Look, baby. I know you are probably feeling very…like…you're probably feeling lots of emotions right now…and you should…you should… Vampire Rosalie trailed off, her voice of reason slipping away. The boy is...harder to resist everyday...
How the most feral part of me became my voice of reason, I'll never know.
…Another shiver spilt through me, and an uncontrolled moan slipped past my lips.
Slow!
So slow!
"Faster, Emmett!" I hissed. I felt my nails pierce the fabric of Emmett's shirt. I dragged my hands to the small of his back, causing a large rip. He hardly noticed.
The fool wouldn't need a shirt. I managed to hook my nail into the collar and yank down, causing a tear down the whole back. Then I grabbed the mangled piece of fabric and tossed it.
Emmett stopped. "Did you just rip my shirt? In half?"
"If you don't shut up and keep going, your pants are going next," I growled. Emmett grinned.
"Is that a threat or a promise?"
I just kissed him again, hoping that would suffice. I let a hand wander to his chest, feeling the muscles. That never got old.
As nice as aesthetics are, I want you to know, you're wandering into uncharted territories! The male vampire equals uncharted! Do I need to get this on a chalkboard for you? Bad Rosalie was screaming to get her point across.
Keep going! That's the idea, honey! Ignore that blowhard! Vampire Rosalie encouraged. You can trust me…I'm your voice of reason!
I'm not a blowhard! I'm the voice of reason; you're the fucking blowhard, Vampire! Bad Rosalie shrieked.
I've been giving the good advice around here way before you! You're the one always imposing premeditated murder! Vampire Rosalie retorted.
Hey, murder is a decent thought when you live with goddamn vampires! Murder isn't on the same level as love! Murder is easy and fixable and with slight emotional consequence! Bad Rosalie defended.
Oh, would you guys stop fighting? It's not very nice! Good Rosalie giggled.
I tuned them out. I'll just ignore all of them.
Emmett and I...
Everything, everything was going fine. But now uncertainty spilled from my head to my toes. I feel Emmett's hand on the buttons of my dress.
One.
Two.
Fine, okay!
Three buttons down.
Pop! Four.
No, no, no, no! Stop. Stop. Stop! Not like this! No, no, no, no! Stop. Stop. Stop! Going too far, Rosalie! No, no, no, no… Bad Rosalie babbled.
Ignore her, ignore, ignore her! I am your voice of reason. Listen to me! Keep going, keep going. I couldn't lead you astray. I shan't lead you astray! Go, go, go… Vampire Rosalie prodded.
Good Rosalie? What happened to her?
I think…I think you should…stop? I think you should keep going? Keep going where? Stop whom? No, yes, maybe? Good Rosalie seemed confused.
No help whatsoever.
Listen. Listen to me, Hale. You don't know what you're doing. Listen to me, for once! This ain't gonna turn out well. I have a list of standard issue regrets, this is like, the only one we haven't done. I've let you kill people, I've let you be lazy, I've let you be prideful…but not this time… Lust-guided pre-marital sex? Please. We have necks to snap. Where did hastiness get you last time, tell me, Rosalie? Bad Rosalie waited for my response.
…Here? Here, as this stupid soulless...creature. Hastiness got me here, hastiness made me this way, and I can't let hastiness do me like this!
The doubt and uncertainty battled with the wanting inside. Time was kind of running low on the whole internal debate thing.
What's there to lose?
Her dignity!
Emmett
Almost there, the point. I was this close. That close to the moment my subconscious has been crying for since I've met the female subspecies.
And yet, I was fearful. I mean, one would think that Rosalie'd have a damaged soul when it came to love. She wasn't doing a good job showing it...
She did have a damaged soul! Why was I doing this?
Because you like it, and she likes it, and no one else is around. Carpe diem, tiger!
I did like it. It seemed wrong, though. This seems wrong. It is wrong, it's a sin. From what I know, sinning is fun.
What is this, Middle School? You're both adults, you can do what you want!
Shut up. Focus on the moment. Right now.
The pink slosh of love was burning red, roaring. Wanting. The red rage of lust, I guess. I'm so poetic.
Rosalie was my plaything at this point, no resistance…maybe she had something on her mind. I guess she could let her mind wander. My mind was. As I brushed the last button, she went rigid.
Code Red! Mission abort, retreat, retreat!
The next thing I knew, Rosalie was from out under me and to the far wall of her room, clawing at the Arc de Triomphe behind her. She hissed, only more like putting an angry cat into a lake instead of standard grade displeasure. Before my face hit the ground, I picked myself up and stood across the room from her.
We just stood -- angry, confused, and sounding feline -- for a very long time. She'd hiss, or growl, and I might have returned the favor, but other than that it was quiet in the dark room.
I looked at Rosalie's clock. 1:15. The sun was trying to filter through the curtains.
I think I was completely still in a way I hadn't been before. Nothing, I moved nothing. My heart wasn't beating, my chest wasn't heaving, my hands didn't twitch. On the other hand, Rosalie was animated -- shaking and mumbling and breathing heavily.
But after a time, immeasurable time, Rosalie's features softened. She opened the curtains, letting the harsh August sun brighten the room. Then she sat on her bed.
"Sorry, then." Rosalie said, touching her neck.
"Sorry, then." I mimicked. That was all I had, too.
"I guess I let you down?"
"No. It's fine, I was being pushy. My fault, all my fault." I left her in her room.
I entered the bright upstairs hallway, which boasted several windows all letting shafts of sunlight in. It was muted, fickle sunshine, as if there were clouds out there, about to storm.
Makes sense…
…This was horrible. I just wanted to talk!
That's what they all say though, right?
'I just wanted to talk, honey! Really!' Stupid random vampire emotions. What the hell?
I had to get this stupid fiasco off of my mind. Maybe I'd talk to someone else…
…
"So, what happened, Emmett?" Carlisle said, reluctantly closing a thick book. He held it in his lap. What was so great in really big books?
We were in Carlisle's study, a room that always has to be in his house. It wasn't finished. Only half of his books were shelved. The rest were either boxed or sitting haphazardly in piles and mounds, there were enough books to make a little book table which held more books.
I sat down on one of the chairs, and sighed. "It's a long story."
"I'm all ears." Carlisle folded his hands and put them on the book.
I told him everything.
"Oh," he said, as if he might not really know what to say for one second. "I knew Rosalie liked you! What a liar," he ended the sentence with a hearty guffaw, or six. "That's why you're shirt's gone! Makes sense, makes sense!"
That doesn't help. I gave Carlisle this look of complete desperation.
"Ah, sorry. I see that you're really distressed. Let me ask you something, Emmett. What does a vampire value the most?" Carlisle leaned toward me.
"Uh, human blood?"
"Correct. Do you know the second thing they value the most?"
"Uh…no." I didn't.
"Despite the short length of time you and Rosalie have been dating, it seems that you probably felt very strong feelings while you were together. You see, physical love is the next best thing for a vampire. Although Rosalie's past is shaky in that department, she liked it as much as you did. You two both...wanted it, you guys just really didn't want it on the inside. You know? She probably became nervous, so much that she stopped you, forcibly. When it happens, it'll happen."
"Oh, okay. So what's your advice?"
"My actual advice? Just…go talk to her, and try to stay on her good side while you do it," Carlisle smiled that weird Father smile my dad had.
Oh, okay.
Rosalie
Okay, officially. I'm not listening to either of you ever again.
Please, I got you out of there, sister. Bad Rosalie scoffed.
What if…I didn't want him to stop? What if I wanted it right there?
What if she did, Bad Rosalie? Vampire Rosalie spat.
She didn't! She doesn't have to listen to us. She listened to me, Bad Rosalie said. You listened to me.
I didn't listen to anybody! I just had an urge. To stop. Right then. Stop claiming this like it's a bet, or some stupid game! It's not. Ever since I met Emmett, stuff started mattering again. Nothing's a game anymore.
Well, me being the unbiased one here, I'd say that if it weren't for Bad's mental prodding, you two would have probably had crazy sex right then. And I am not refusing! You...liked it, right? Good Rosalie asked.
Well, it was amazing, but I didn't want it. Does that make sense?
No, Good Rosalie sighed. Well girls, there's nothing more we can do about this whole thing. We need to let it go.
When was the last time we 'let it go'? Don't be stupid. Bad Rosalie growled.
Shut up! Just shut up! I don't want to hear you jabber at me all day. Leave me alone, for God's sake!
One of them said something else, but I ignored it.
I went downstairs and met Edward, who was reading another stupid book. I didn't try to destroy my thoughts or anything. I was too pissed.
He cringed, "Jesus, tough day?"
I'm too chock full of emotion for witty comebacks. "Yeah, tough day."
Edward sighed. "Is the love thing like that for everyone, or just you guys? Either way, I hope you feel better. Fix the problem, whatever it is." He shook his head and kept reading.
Reassuring!
I sat down next to Edward on the sofa. I folded my hands across my face. "Edward?"
"Yes?"
"If you ever get a girl, I hope it's not like this."
"I'm sure it won't be like this." Edward smiled and focused on reading.
I closed my eyes, and just sat. The closest thing I could get to sleep.
Seconds passed, and they are interrupted soon later.
"Rosalie." It's not Edward. The apparent uncertainty and smooth baritone alerted me.
I opened my eyes.
"Hi, Emmett."
"Hi. Uh. Can we go driving or something?"
"What?"
Emmett seemed to consider sitting, but decided against it. "Uh, you and I. Can we go for a drive? I'd like to see the actual Tupper Lake. The town's namesake itself! I thought it would be very nice."
Being I, my hands were naturally curved for the contours of a steering wheel. I balled my hand and then flexed my fingers. A drive would have been great, but did I want to go with Emmett? No, I'm angry! I'm all confused! At you, Emmett. Stupid new boyfriend...
"Fine. We can go."
"Thanks. I really appreciate this, Rosalie. You know, I thought you might hate me after earlier…"
"That's impossible…I can't hate you," I said, brushing his fingers with mine. The thing that made goosebumps appear on my skin is that I meant that.
But I understood the context of the favor. Emmett wanted to talk. Of course he did. Everyone just wants to talk to me! We could talk. We should. Clear this air.
Edward interrupted out moment, and I'm secretly glad he did. "Going out, lovebirds?"
To be continued…
Done, finally. Oh my God, thanks for reviews, and faves, and alerts.
I hate the way this came out, and yet I love it. So is life. The whole kissing thing is like writing in French. I know French, but I couldn't write this whole story in French. I don't kiss people often(ever). In the words of Cyanide and Happiness, "We're rare because we don't breed." I honestly use what I read, and what I see on TV as kissing fodder. Heh-hmm. Not my forte. Which is bad for a couple of dudes like this. Too late now!
Glad I finished. I was actually going to make this longer...but...I didn't. I'm gonna drag the whole driving thing into another wonderful chapter.
My next goal is to write the next chapter off of Smashing Pumpkins songs! Woo-hoo! Review if you wanna!
