Actual party time! Bella's there at the very end!


It was beach day, Rosalie drove them all in the silver beast, and the boys were relegated to back. Alice always got passenger seat in the silver beast; Rosalie said her car was a matriarchal hierarchy, and the beast was so big Emmett didn't need the leg room. Which meant no control over the tunes, and screaming at Rosalie when she used her rear-view mirror to reapply her lippy.

"Rosalie, please don't kill us. I know murderous impulses are as familiar to you as bitching, but you must resist." Edward insisted to her.

"I believe in you, babe," Emmett said pointedly, leaning forward and twirling a lock of Rosalie's hair around his finger. She had tied it back into a half-knot to drive and it spilled out behind the driver's seat like gold.

"I don't." Jasper piped up.

But they made it to the beach in one piece. They hopped out of the car, and had a fight over who was carrying what.

"I don't wanna carry the floaties!" Alice protested. She was always stuck carrying them, and their rubber seams always scratched her.

"I'll carry them, hun." Jasper said instantly, already carrying three beach chairs and the outside rug. Edward was in charge of the esky and Emmett had two of the other chairs, the umbrella and the table.

"Alice, you do this every time!" Edward snapped.

"Well, I hate it every time!" She shot back.

"Now, now, no fighting please." Rosalie said and because she drove, she only had to carry the towels and miscellaneous supplies.

The Cullen pair fell silent, until Alice suddenly laughed.

"Rosie, your phone!" She yelled, dumping the floaties and running back to the silver beast.

Rosalie frowns, but glances through her bag and sighs. No phone. She uses her beeper to unlock the car, and Alice jumps half-way in to unplug it from the car stereo, where it had been charging.

She came skipping back while the group waited for her. With a grin and a 'catch!', she tossed Rosalie's phone to her beau.

Rosie grunted, but only scowled, as Jasper's reflexes were very good, and he caught it easily. With a cheeky grin at Rosalie, Jasper held up the phone, but did not place it in her outstretched hand.

His wrist flicked upwards, and it made a perfect arc over her head, where she was too stubborn to make a grab for it, and Emmett dropped the chairs to catch it.

He didn't really fumble with it, but let the chairs fall to the ground. With a wide beam, he tucked a thumb under the waistband of his shorts.

He tugged it open, and Rosalie knows she won't forgive him if he makes this a ploy to fish around in his crotch.

Instead, he swipes on her phone, and aims it down. There's the shutter-clicking sound as Emmett most likely takes the blurriest dick-pic known to man. Jasper muffles his laughter with his hand. Edward scoffs and rolls his eyes and Alice bursts into giggles.

"Great, thanks," Rosalie snaps, snatching the phone and storming away from them.

"Come on, babe! It's only a joke!" Emmett calls out after her, and picks up the chairs. Jasper and Edward fall into step next to him, but Alice shoves past them to run after Rosalie.

The rest of the gang joined them, and the next half hour was dedicated to setting up. With two umbrellas and Samantha's marquee they were all able to leave their things in the shade and go for a swim.

Emmett had Rose on his shoulders, and Jasper had Alice and they were locked in a fierce battle. Until Edward waded over and kicked out Jasper's leg. Then they meandered off for their own amusement. Emmett and Edward had a breath-holding competition, but Edward won because Rosalie dove down and licked Emmett's forehead, which made him laugh and choke. It was his punishment for taking the world's worst dick-pic with her phone.

Sooner rather than later, Rosalie got sick of the water and headed back. She'd bought the Corn King and the Spring Queen to read just two days ago.

She'd only just started when Alice sat down beside her. "Rosie, are you mad about your phone?" Alice asked.

Rosalie frowned. "No." She replied shortly. She wasn't; she trusted them with her things and didn't really care. "It's just that Emmett's never sent me pictures like that …." She muttered. Which was true; she'd sent him two pictures modelling off her new swimsuit. But all she got in return were a string of emoji hearts, which would probably have been Alice's reaction too, so it didn't mean anything.

Alice laughed and slapped her shoulder. "Oh, he wouldn't do something like that to you!" She assured her, and Rosalie sighed at the point missed.

"Well I want him to!" She snapped. Alice blinked, looking surprised, no doubt at the idea of needing to see the body of the boy she liked before being with him. "… It's stupid, I don't want to talk about it." She added, picking up her book again. Alice left her be, pulling out her sketchpad and starting on some new designs.

Rosalie was extremely embarrassed by it all. She did want intimate pictures of Emmett; she wanted to know what he looked like behind the safety of her phone screen before she had to see it in person. And … she was curious. She was interested, and now all she had was a picture of the inside mesh of his swim shorts.

But this was how Alice and she differed. Alice was happy enough holding hands and stealing quick kisses and remaining relatively low-key in public. She felt much more comfortable behind closed doors and in private with Jasper. But Rosalie was terrified; she needed the audience, she needed the distance that public coupling regulated.

00

The footballers had started up a game of volleyball, except no-one completely remembered the rules, and it seemed to be just a way for them to yell 'Spike!' while eating sand. Music was blaring, and Alice and Rosalie were taking dumb selfie with Emmett's phone, because they didn't want to get sand in their own.

"Ladies," Emmett called, plucking his phone from Rosalie's grasp with a grin.

The ride here had been interesting; Alice had gotten front seat, which she nearly always did in Rosalie's silver beast, but Emmett had pulled himself forward by the headrest of the driver's seat, and Rosalie would casually reach up and pet his hand during the trip.

Jasper, who had been wondering off to collect shells, came back and dumped a small pile next to the girls.

"Who's dancing with me?" Jasper asked, his eyes on Alice. Alice loved that none of the boys she knew thought dancing was too beneath them, Jasper especially. He knew she loved dancing, and sometimes when she went to his apartment, they'd slow-dance together, just the two of them.

So Alice immediately jumped up into his arms with a shout. This was no slow-dance song, they had a bunch of popular pop remixes, and dancing to those were fun.

Emmett bounded over to join them, grabbing up Alice under her arms and spinning her so her legs flew out in front of her as she screamed.

He let her go with a laugh and she was flung at Jasper, who caught her in a tangle of limbs and went down with her, spraying sand everywhere. Alice laughed and Jasper wiped the sand from her nose. Rosalie heaved them both up, and Jasper took her in a silly jig while Alice brushed herself off.

"C'mon Edward! Dance with mommy!" Emmett called, and began making peppy cha-cha movements. Even Edward claimed that even if he couldn't dance, he'd still dance, and walked forward obligingly, laughing as Alice grabbed him from behind as Emmett pelvic-thrusted in front of him.

Soon, everyone was dancing, and Katie was pulled into doing some hilarious Bollywood dance moves with Austin. Jennifer tried to start a dabke with Connor and Rob, but none of the other boys had her timing and ended up stepping on each other's feet.

They all ended up jumping on the beat, shouting the last chorus of the song and pressing into each other in a sandy, wet group hug.

00

Rosalie's silver beast ran out of gas on the way home, and they all flipped off the cheering jerks in Jennifer's Beemer as they screamed past them, blaring the horn. At least Rob slowed his sedan to shout out if they were good, before driving off after he got the affirmative.

Emmett pumped, because he wanted to show Rosalie he could do that or something, while Edward went inside to pay, and carefully select the roadtrip snacks.

Jasper popped the trunk of the hatchback and he and Alice were lying in the back, kissing a little. Jasper leaned over her, propped up on his elbows, grinning every time they came up for air.

"This was a good day," Alice sighed. It really was; she'd just had a wonderful party with all her friends, and now she was having a kiss with her boyfriend. Which she didn't get embarrassed about doing because they were tucked away in the silver beast and the only car in the lot.

Jasper kissed her cheek and chuckled into her temple. "I'm glad you're happy, honey." He says softly.

She pulled herself to a sitting position to wrap her arms around his shoulder and rub their noses together. "You make me happy." She replied.

"Good." He murmured, and trailed kisses down her neck. Alice shivered, and planned to ask Rosalie to drop her off at Jasper's apartment. She was happily engaging in some heavy petting in the back of the car, due to the fact that the parking lot was so empty.

Jasper pulled her into another kiss, and she opened one eye to check for Edward coming out of the store. "Mm – hey," she spotted someone, and pulled away. "It's Jacob Black!" She declared.

Jacob was pulling up in a very tiny red car, and Alice wanted to go and see him. "C'mon!" She hopped out of the car and tugged Jasper's wrist. He obediently followed her as she waved. "Hello, Jake!" She called cheerfully. He was pumping gas and glanced up with surprise when she called.

"Hey, doc's daughter." He said, nodding, and nodding to Jasper's behind her. "Peanut butter cookies to go," he said to Jasper. That made Alice laugh; every time Jasper went to Fourth's he'd get peanut butter cookies. Jake would know; Jasper told her about his day shifts, "you're wearing more of her lipstick than she is." Jake told him.

Alice glanced at her boyfriend's face, and his jaw was indeed stained a little purple. "It's just coloured zinc." Alice correctly him absently. She'd spotted Edward through the gas station window and a plan was forming in her mind. Oh, Edward was going to owe her big time! "Hey, listen … umm," Alice leaned past Jasper to see Emmett pulling the nozzle out of the car, and grabbed her boyfriend's arm again, "it was good seeing you! I have to go now!" She called, and raced back to the silver beast.

"… Okay, bye." Jake's voice was faint and relatively unbothered, so Alice didn't worry about being rude.

Alice dragged Jasper back to the car, and whispered furiously to Emmett, who was hanging up the gas nozzle.

Rosalie, who was making a new playlist in the driver's seat and ignoring everyone, grunted as Jasper ran over to tell her what was going on.

Edward paid for the gas when Emmett gave him a thumbs-up from the car, and the snacks he'd chosen.

"Um, hey man?" The cashier called him when he turned to walk out, eyes on the bag of food. Edward looked at her, who pointed to where Rosalie's silver beast … had been parked, as it sped out of the station.

"Sons of bitches!" Edward screamed, panic filling his chest at the idea of just being abandoned this far out of town. This joke was too much, even for Rosalie!

"Dude, language." A familiar voice said behind him.

He spun around and damn near swallowed his own tongue. "Jacob!" Edward squeaked. He cleared his throat as Jake inclined his head in greeting. "My … um, friends left me here." He muttered, waving vaguely to the silver beast's tire tracks.

Jake smiled a little, though it wasn't unkind. "Yeah, saw it … your sister said hi to me." He added, and nodded to the cashier. "Shout my gas and I'll give you a ride?" He offered.

Edward nodded, trying to curb his enthusiasm. "Okay, we can have my snacks." He said, holding up the plastic bag. He probably concerned the poor cashier with how much he was grinning.

Jake thanked him for the gas with another extremely cute smile and waved Edward inside his little Rabbit, closing the door behind him. They pulled out of the gas station with Edward telling him all of the candy he'd bought.

They were on the road for a few minutes when Edward decided conversation was in order. "So … what were you doing so far out of the city?" He asked.

Jake shrugged. "Beach day with some people, it was kind of dumb but whatever." He was actually smiling, though, which led Edward to believe he rather enjoyed himself. It made Edward embarrassingly happy, that Jacob seemed to have had a good day.

"I was just at a beach party too," Edward added, "my sister's been sad lately, so …." He waved his hand vaguely and Jacob nodded, though his eyes were responsibly on the road.

At first, Edward was acutely aware that he shouldn't miss his chance. He needed to be on, funny, interesting, engaging, charming, handsome – whatever! He had this twenty-odd minute car ride to make something happen! Unlike that stupid party where everyone had been too tired to prove that Jake would definitely want to spend more time around them, and more importantly, Edward.

But the swimming and dancing and socialising had made him tired, and Jacob admitted he was beat too, and they sat in silence for most of the trip. Edward didn't really know if he chalked it up to the ridiculous amount of puppy-love, but he didn't think it was a waste.

The silence was nice, companionable, and the music wasn't too shit. Jacob had good taste, something Edward noted with relish. All his friends loved music in different ways; Rosalie loved antagonising him, Alice had very small-name, independent bias, Emmett always sang songs he learnt at the synagogue, or even better, mid-western folk songs. Jasper even had a dinky old Mp3 Walkman, which he needed because his phone would run out of space if he kept his eclectic music tastes on there.

Edward found himself just watching Jacob quietly, the way he drove; easy but not lazy, he even waited until they hit stop signs and red lights to dig around in the snack bag or ask Edward to pick something to eat. His hair was drying from the seawater, but it didn't look stringy on him; just casually mussed and kind of sexy. Edward understood why other, more heterosexual teenage boys wanted to see girls at the beach; the look long hair got from the sea spray was very alluring. He liked watching as Jacob's fingers on the wheel tapped out the rhythm of the song on the radio, and sometimes Jacob hummed along with the chorus.

He didn't want to stop looking at him, hungrily taking in every detail and he certainly never wanted a reason to get out of the car. But he was beginning to recognise his area, and it depressed him.

Jacob dropped him off on the corner of his street at his own insistence. Edward wasn't going to give his asshole friends the satisfaction of seeing him with Jake. Jacob didn't seem concerned, it was only late dusk, the sun setting over the neighbourhood.

"See ya, Edward!" Jacob said, grinning a little. Edward probably said some parting words as well, but he'd never remember what they were. All he could think about was the beautiful brown boy, smiling at him. The sun set behind Jake in a dusky glow, soft and gentle while he said Edward's name for the first time.

00

While Edward was all but floating back home, Jake was driving towards Bella's house. She was getting dinner ready and having a close but carefully vague talk with her mother. Even Jake could tell that Bella's recently tight-lipped conversations were worrying Renee, but Jake didn't have a mom so he liked over-sharing with his old elementary school teacher.

"I'm late!" Jacob declared, all but kicking open the door and not knocking as he walked inside. But both women had identical delighted smiles when they saw him. Bella was messing around in the kitchen; intent on not letting her mother force them to eat her cooking. Her hair was still stiff from the water earlier. "I was busy, with a boy," He continued, laughing at the end.

"Oh, tell me everything!" Renee declared with excitement; she didn't know about the Alaskan boy, but she knew a broken heart when she saw one, so she was extra sweet to him.

"Just drove him home." Jacob piped up; it hadn't been anything, really. Well, it had been sort of funny when his sister threw herself into that huge range rover and drove off.

"I was wondering where you ended up," Bella told him, beginning to smile, "ignore the texts I sent you then." She added, which only made Jacob pull out his phone and turn it on again.

He read them with a laugh. In between asking him where he was; Bella had messaged him saying that if he was getting axe-murdered he couldn't come crying to her about it. They fell into gossiping about the party they had just been to, and Renee excused herself to call boyfriend. Jacob didn't miss that Bella rolled her eyes, hard, but he wasn't going to say anything.

"So, I'm renegotiating my stance … on dating." He said carefully when their silly gossip session died down.

Bella blinked, before grinning. "Oh, this is the guy's son that's obsessed with you!" She said suddenly, looking excited.

Jacob laughed, and nodded. "Yeah, the man giving the vaccinations." He agreed. It was fun going to Doctor Cullen's house; Edward was there a lot, and his entire face went red when he saw Jacob. "… I don't hate the guy." He admitted quietly. He'd been aware of being stared at so intently on the drive home, but it didn't make him feel awkward. It was nice, being paid such close attention, Jacob found himself liking it.

"I think you should go for it. I mean, his father is helping with the reservation, right?" Bella asked. His dating preferences were a little of a sore spot between them, but she'd been careful not to let it show too much.

Jacob nodded, slowly. Doctor Cullen was also crazy rich, though, and while Edward could be cute, with those green bedroom eyes, he was also the biggest WASP Jacob had ever met. Jacob had to weigh his options carefully, dating white people was a little different from just being friends with them, it was like you were more invested, so if they said bigoted shit, it hurt much more.

Jacob was getting good at shutting up Bella's friends, and they were all kind of nervous around him so they didn't fight him or argue or anything like that. But who knew what Edward had been taught? Who knew how much energy Jacob would have to invest to show him otherwise, which he'd actually be obligated to invest if he was his boyfriend.

"I like how I feel around him …." Jacob said carefully. Bella sat down on the kitchen counter, and he sat on a stool next to her. "He cares about me, it's nice." He added.

Bella nodded with understanding. "Hey, you know I'd help, right? I wouldn't let him insult you accidentally." She said, nodding a little. Her genuine concern cheered Jacob right up, and he nodded.

"Yeah, let's talk about it later though."

Renee raised both her hands in defeat. "Don't want to talk with mommy here, I get it!" She claimed, laughing as Jacob faked protesting, before agreeing with her. "Well, I have boyfriend to talk to!" She all but cooed, waving them off as she climbed upstairs.

Bella actually grunted in disgust after her mother left. Jacob pouted at her.

"Still think the guy's just an elaborate cat-fisher because you haven't met him yet?" He asked, his voice sickly sweet. He thought it was weird the way Bela treated her own mother, and more than a little condescending. But he wasn't one to talk about a kid's proper relationship with their mom; he hadn't had one himself for a very long time.

Bella scowled at his light mockery. "Jake! She's been dating him for three months!" Bella said, her voice fretful and angry. "Either she hasn't told him she has a daughter, which, ouch, or he's nefarious!" She argued, raising her voice over Jacob's laughter.

"Well, Bella, apart from full-out stalking your own mother, you're going to have to trust her." Jacob told her, reaching over and ruffling Bella's wet hair. She flipped him off irritably, and went back to fixing up dinner. Bella's relationship with her mother was weird; she was in charge of a lot of things around the house that Jake couldn't see a normal adult entrusting to a teenager; like bookkeeping and tax forms. It was weird, but Jake loved them both, so he didn't question it.


Next chapter: One more party, and Alice makes a really bad detective.