Author's Note: Hey guys! I know it's been an insanely long time. I mean, after two years most people just assume that the author gave up on the story and call it a day, but I'm here! My dad passed away a little over a year ago, and then I did some soul searching, and well you can thank my lovely fiancé Katia for getting me back into writing. Anyway, without further ado, here is another installment. Things are about to get going with the villain and whatnot soon, so buckle up. We have a good foundation set up with these too so I'm content moving forward.
A week had quickly gone by without much of a fuss since Rosalie and I's first date, and there wasn't anything that really took the smile off my face. Well, that was until Angela had cornered me after four days of pestering and all but forced me to attend the Forks High School reunion that was being held at our high school. No amount of whining about how I was only supposed to be subjected to such a torture once a decade after graduating would get me out of it, so with a groan I nodded my head in defeat.
That was how I had found myself sitting in our old high school cafeteria getting the worst case of deja vu from our senior year. We were all sitting at what I swore was the same table even though they had all been moved from their original position to make room for a makeshift dance floor, and I was yet again fighting the urge to rub my temples at the sound of Jessica and Lauren gossiping. Apparently Angela and I had missed the memo about Jessica getting engaged to Mike which caused for my best friend's eye brows to shoot up to her hairline since we both very much remembered how I had been hit on by the groom to be not too long ago.
"Do I need to give you another speech about how you're a strong, independent woman so you can stop glancing at Eric and go talk to him," I whispered as we were debating whether or not to taste what looked like questionable punch at best. Honestly, if they were going to invite us back to this place before our ten year reunion, the least they could do was splurge on something that didn't look like Tang's cousin that didn't quite make it out of the testing phases. The color was pink to give them credit, but there were still specks of the powder floating in the liquid that weren't shaken properly, and the orange slices appeared to have been cut by a freshman who had detention the day before.
After watching Angela bite her lip and take a few breathes, the small tell tale signs of her gaining her confidence back were returning. Her back became straighter and she lost the look of trepidation in her eyes which honestly made me smile. I had no idea if she and Eric were the real deal, but after seeing them together for years there was no question about whether or not they made each other happy. Plus, they did the whole being single and finding themselves thing which was always a pretty good step to take in my book. I was pulled out of my revere and internal debate about whether or not to poke a orange slice with the ladle when Ange decided to speak. "Fine, but only if you go and talk to Rosalie, who we both know you're crushing on before you even try to blush and stutter your way out of this one."
Of course, her mentioning my blushing only made it come full force, but I didn't have to turn around to know that the Cullen family was indeed in attendance. The hairs on the back of my neck that were now standing were all the indication I needed. Without verbally confirming nor denying her words, I just turned around and began walking towards the table that held the girl who was plaguing my thoughts more often than not lately. I did manage to catch Angela loudly whispering that I would tell her about it all later, to which I only shrugged my shoulders to hint at a maybe just to tick her off. We both knew I would spill everything when I was comfortable enough. I just never was the girl who gossiped about who they were seeing. Plus, it was pretty hard to gossip about a girl when a pretty big detail about them had to be left out.
As I approached the table, I saw that Emmet had brought Riley even though the latter didn't seemed too thrilled to be there. I couldn't blame her either since I was feeling exactly the same way until they had decided to show up. "I thought you had to graduate from a high school in order to be forced to suffer through one of these."
Rosalie was up before the sentence had completely left my lips which only made them twitch up into a smile. It had been interesting to see the different layers of the vampire over the course of the last couple of days. Esme had always told me that there was more to her daughter than met the eye, and now I was clearly seeing everything she and Emmet had described to me at one point or another. What was great about it was that none of it was done through big gestures. Everything she did was something small that most wouldn't think took much effort, but I appreciated the little things. Like me walking up to her table, her getting up, and then just feeling a hand on the small of my back. Nothing ever felt forced or like it pained her, which was a welcomed change to the last time I was in a relationship with a vampire.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't want us here," was whispered into my ear which made me shiver enough, so the nip to my skin that she decided to add was clearly just overkill that almost made me stumble to the side.
"Yeah, Bella what gives? We were just trying to make sure our tiny human didn't die of boredom. Alice saw you being everything but happy about being dragged here, so we figured we'd make it fun." Emmet's cheeky grin was enough to make me laugh as I gladly took Rosalie's seat that she offered me.
Alice was sitting beside Rose so she quickly leaned over to give me a hug. While they still made me awkward, I was just happy that she had reverted back to herself instead of apologizing to me every chance she got. Personally, I was past that now. I might not have agreed with why everything happened, but I was healing. Nothing was ever black and white, and really all that mattered was that they came back. The whole family was working towards making everything okay, and honestly, I felt like I was a part of the family more now than I ever did before.
Suddenly, Adele's One and Only was playing and couples began making their way up to the dance floor. I looked to my side where Rosalie eventually pulled another chair to and saw hesitation along with desire within those golden eyes. I couldn't figure out why the normally outspoken woman wouldn't ask me to dance if it was something she wanted. I mean, even though I hated dancing due to my fear of stepping on my partner's feet and just looking uncoordinated in general, I had learned to begrudgingly accept my dancing skills that in large part resembled my father's. However, when I looked over at the right moment, I noticed that Rosalie's eyes very quickly shifted towards Edward, who looked even more broody than usual, and I quickly put the pieces together.
Never would I have expected to be the one making any sort of first moves with the blonde, but there I was standing up and offering my hand, which I could proudly add wasn't shaking, to the woman beside me. Her eyes shot to the extended hand and then to my eyes quickly, but it didn't take long for their to be a smile as she placed her hand in my own and led us to a space on the floor. Whooping could be heard behind us as Emmet and Jasper both led their own partners as well.
"Leave it to you to be asked to dance and then lead said dance."
"Well, while I very much appreciate the offer, I know better than to leave these particular moves to you. You forget that I did see you dance with my brother once." One of Rose's hands were on my waist while the other was holding my hand. She made sure to pull me close to her which made me both happy and flustered at the same time. I greatly appreciated it though since the close proximity made it easier for me to move in time with Rose while not making a complete fool of myself.
Although I could see that numerous people were talking about us, I honestly couldn't bring myself to care. If I was stuck living here like many of them were and therefore would have to see them regularly, I'm sure I would've been annoyed, but luckily that wasn't the case. "I was in a cast then, and your brother had me on his feet the way my dad used to when I was little, so not a fair assessment." Although, we both knew she was totally right, I wasn't about to let her know that.
Rosalie just shook her head at my antics as she hummed to the song under her breath. Her voice naturally was incredibly soothing to me, so hearing that was pretty much heaven for me. My head moved to rest on her shoulder as I closed my eyes and just continued letting Rose lead my movements. It wasn't long before I felt her cheek rest against the top of my head. "Bella?" All I gave her was a small hum to signal that I was listening to her, but I had no plans of moving my head or opening my eyes. In that moment, I was probably the calmest I had ever been while inside the walls of my old high school, and I was not about to relinquish that so easily. My reply got my a huff in reply, but I could tell it was playful, so again, no intention to move. "Would you like to spend the rest of the weekend at my house?"
That though got me to raise my head. It wasn't that the question was so outlandish that I was looking at her in shock, I just knew that it was one that she would want to actually see my face when I answered. Luckily, our dancing kept my usual antsy ticks at bay which would probably make Rosalie overthink what my answer would be. Yet, as I thought about it, I couldn't help but wonder what I was even thinking about when it was obvious what I wanted. "Yeah, I'd like that, but you're going to have to lend me some of your clothes again because I'm not sleeping in this dress Angela shoved me into."
"Ah, I was wondering who dressed you since I knew it wasn't Alice or myself, and while your taste has improved it is not at this level yet. I must thank her for the beautiful sight she's given me this evening."
All I could do was roll my eyes at the woman before me. The more time I spent with her, the more I realized why Emmet and Rosalie appeared to have worked so well together. While the put together and classy appearance of the woman before me didn't give way to it as much as Emmet's goofy appearance, she definitely loved poking fun at people affectionately as much as her previous counterpart did. "Shut up. Can't you just be nice and take me home already?"
It was easy to see that the word home made her entire demeanor light up which led to the most gorgeous smile I had ever seen. "Home it is then."