A/N- Welcome back kiddos! Well, the angst is over with. The emo-ness is done for. As we Louisianian's say, "laissez les bon temps rouler"! So without further ado, is everyone ready to get queasy in the Big Easy? Shitty in the Crescent City? Thank you a million times over to my amazing, wonderful beta katydid2363.
I of course own nothing Twilight, I do however own a crawfish pot and an oar to stir them with.
Chapter 25
New Orleans Lady
By: Louisiana LaRue
The month of June proved to be the busiest month I had ever experienced. I was more than thankful that is was winding down. I was looking forward to our weekend away back in the Big Easy.
Goodwill had come and gone from Charlie's, picking up all the items I had donated. Jasper was working as much as he could on the set of plans I had given him. I hadn't told anyone what they were. It was a secret between Jasper and myself. I knew once the holidays neared it would be complete and so would the last thing my dad had wanted to recreate.
Jessica had been working nonstop to get the house in show condition. She had hired cleaning crews and stagers to come in and make the place look presentable to homebuyers. A few people had been in to look but so far we had no bites.
School was another thing that had kicked my butt. Thankfully it only lasted one month. Today was my last class and now it seemed I was deemed fit enough to teach in the state of Washington. All in all things were looking up.
I pulled into the driveway after my morning class in a rush because we were scheduled to be at the airport in Port Angeles in two hours. Because of my class there was no way we could leave straight from Seattle so we were taking a small jet from Port Angeles to Seattle and then a commercial plane down to New Orleans. I knew it was going to be late once we got into town but everyone seemed okay with the plans.
I had called Jacob to let him know we would be down that way and he insisted on throwing a party on Saturday for everyone. When I told him my engagement news he seemed really happy. He showed no trace of remorse in the sound of his voice. I had to assume that he had been too preoccupied with Leah to give me a second glance. I was glad for him. It was nice that we were still able to be friends and be with the love of our lives at the same time.
Jasper had crews working day and night trying to get the houses in move in condition. Edward and I had spent so much time in the last month picking out floors and paint colors, plumbing and light fixtures, appliances; everything we needed to make a house livable. When this whole process was over with I never wanted to build another house. I'll never forget when we went into the plumbing store to pick out our fixtures. As soon as the showroom girl started talking about the master shower, Edward and I both knew what we wanted. Lots of body sprayers. Jasper couldn't understand why we would want a car wash so to speak in our shower and we decided that it was better that he didn't understand.
I walked into the house and found bags sitting by the front door. It appeared that everyone was ready to go. We all needed this. We all had been so busy in the last month we hadn't been able to find time for each other as a group. I walked through the living room to find everyone congregated in the kitchen.
"Are you done?" Emmett asked as Edward made his way to me.
"Yes, finally!" I said, wrapping my arms around Edward's waist.
"Thank God! Can we go now? We've got beer to drink and beads to throw!" Emmett shot back, excited like a kid on Christmas morning.
"You kids have a good time," Esme said, reaching over to give everyone a hug.
"Are you sure you two don't want to go? It's going to be fun!" I teased.
Carlisle laughed. "Oh I'm sure. The last time Esme was in New Orleans she made quite the show of herself on Bourbon Street. I'm warning everyone now, stay away from the Hand Grenades."
She playfully swatted at her husband. "Carlisle that was in college. I would never do such a thing now."
"Right," he shot back. "You just better be thankful Girls Gone Wild wasn't around back in our day."
Emmett, Alice, and Edward all moved to put their fingers in their ears. They began to hum to drown out the talk of their mother showing her ta-ta's for beads.
"Let's go," Rosalie said pulling at Emmett's arm, "before he's scarred for life."
"Bye kids, have fun," Carlisle and Esme both said.
We all grabbed our bags and loaded them up in two separate cars. Jasper and Alice opted to ride with Edward and me so that we could talk about a few things regarding the house.
The conversation in the car made the ride to the airport go by quickly. Before I knew it we were boarding the plane in Port Angeles just as fast as we were boarding the one in Seattle. Finally it seemed we were airborne and headed to New Orleans.
Our seats were close together on the plane so we all easily were able to keep talking. Alice and Jasper sat in front of Edward and me, while Rosalie and Emmett were in the aisle next to us. I was just about to recline my seat back to try and catch a cap nap when Alice's head popped up from behind her seat. She was bouncing up and down like a kid on a sugar high.
"What Alice?" I asked put off that it didn't appear I was going to get any shut eye.
"What are the plans when we get there?"
"I don't know. I don't want to be the party planner for this. Let's just go with the flow and see what happens."
"That's a step back," Edward said. Alice stopped bouncing long enough to glare at her brother.
"What do you mean?" Alice and I both asked.
"Well, when we were in New York you had a whole itinerary planned out and now you just want to fly by the seat of our pants?"
Alice pretended to wipe away a fake tear. "I knew I had taught you right. I've already taken the liberty of working up an itinerary."
Before we knew it, all six of us had sparkly pink sheets of paper in our hands with a timeline of things we were to cover while in town.
"Now if you'll notice, tonight I don't have much planned." Alice pointed out as if none of us could read. "I'm sure we'll all be too tired to party so I was thinking dinner and rest. Tomorrow," she said, pointing at Saturday's date on her paper and holding up it for all of us to see, "we have the, I'm sorry Bella, what is it again?"
"A crawfish boil."
"Right one of those with Jacob and his friends. Then Saturday night we party on Bourbon."
"Finally!" Emmett said, throwing his hands up in the air. "Can I get some rest now?"
Alice stuck her tongue out at her brother and turned back around in her seat. I looked over at Edward and grabbed his hand linking his fingers through mine. He leaned down and gave me a sweet kiss before I laid my head on his
shoulder. I was out before I knew it.
***
"Bella. Baby wake up. We're here. Bella?"
"What?" I said coming out of my fog.
"We're here," Edward whispered.
"Already? I feel like I just went to sleep."
"No love you've been asleep practically the whole flight."
"Did I miss anything?"
He laughed. Apparently I had. "Yeah, you missed Emmett and Rosalie joining the mile high club."
"Are you kidding me?"
He shook his head but kept laughing. "I'm dead serious."
"How did you know? Did they get caught?"
"No, they didn't get caught but it wasn't hard to tell what they went off to do."
"Save it. I don't want to hear anymore."
"Ladies and Gentleman, please secure your seatbelts and bring your chairs into the upright position. We will be landing soon."
Vibrations ricochetted off the seat in front of me. Alice was apparently thrilled to finally be here. I did as the flight attendant had asked and braced myself for the landing. Several minutes later we had touched down on
the runway as the attendant welcomed everyone to New Orleans.
"Bienvenue à la Nouvelle-Orléans," she said following it up with, "laissez les bon temps rouler." The unofficial motto of New Orleans.
"That's what I'm talkin 'bout!" Emmett exclaimed. "Let the good times roll indeed!"
We exited the plane and made our way to the baggage claim area. After everyone had retrieved their bags we walked outside to hail a cab. Thirty minutes later we had arrived at the hotel.
I took in the architecture of the Royal Sonesta and smiled. Edward's and my very own house back in Forks was taking on a similar style. Everyday in some way, shape, or form we were going to be reminded of a small part of New Orleans and New York. From the wrought iron railings to the ferns I had already planned to hang from the porches, I was bringing a little bit of New Orleans back to Forks with me.
The hotel was housed on the corner of Bourbon and Conti. The view from our room was going to be amazing. We had the entire Bourbon Street balcony room reserved for us. I had yet to tell everyone what kind of room I had booked. It had cost a pretty penny, and with this being a triple endeavor, money had been no object. In fact, none of us had to fork over a single dime for our weekend getaway. It was all courtesy of Esme and Carlisle.
We piled out of the cab and gathered our bags from the back. Everyone stood on the street corner admiring the lights that had already been lit up above the entrance. 'Desire' it read. Edward moved in closer to me and whispered into my ear.
"You think I'm gonna interfere with you? You know, maybe you wouldn't be bad to interfere with."
I laughed recalling the movie. "Why Mr. Cullen, do you intend on interfering with me?" I said batting my eyelashes.
"You're damn straight I am. We better have a room to ourselves."
"Then I guess we better hurry and call shotgun."
At the same time Edward and I both turned to our friends and shouted, "SHOTGUN!"
The others cast confused looks at us. They didn't understand why we had said such an absurd thing, but in a few moments one of them was going to be spending the weekend in Sofa City.
Rosalie rolled her eyes and strutted down the street towards the gold doors that lead into the spacious lobby. Before she could get half way there, Emmett began shouting, "STELLA! STEL-LA!" at the tops of his lungs. We all started laughing and followed Rose down the street. Emmett ran past us to catch up with her.
Once inside, everyone took a moment to admire the beautifully decorated lobby. Edward and I walked over to the desk to check our party in. Ten minutes later we had the room keys in hand and were in the elevator. The room was on the second floor so as soon as we entered the lift, we were leaving it. I walked across the hall where the only door stood while everyone else hung back. I glanced a look over my shoulder to see them awestruck at what I had done. I motioned for them to follow me inside once I had unlocked the door. There on the other side, greeting us as soon as the door opened, was Bourbon Street and all it's glory. Remembering that we had called shotgun, I ran to the nearest bedroom and threw my bag on the bed. Emmett walked in a daze to the windows. The curtains had been drawn back and you could see all the revelers as they walked up and down the street. Without thinking, he tossed his bag onto the couch. Jasper had been walking around the suite himself when he stumbled upon the second bedroom. Seeing it as an opportunity to snag it, he did the same as I had done. It seemed Rosalie and Emmett were the two that unknowingly claimed the living room as their sleeping quarters.
"It's beautiful," Emmett said. "I don't want to ever leave this room."
"Good, because you just marked your sleeping arrangements for the weekend by tossing your bag on the couch." Jasper said with a wide smile.
"Huh? What?"
"You big goof! That's why Bella and Edward screamed shotgun outside. They were staking claim on a real room," Rosalie said as she smacked Emmett upside the head.
"But Rose baby look," Em said pointing outside. "We got the best view in this whole suite."
I didn't have the heart to tell Emmett that every room had it's own personal door to the balcony. If this was the one thing he thought he had gotten the best of then it wasn't my place to rain on his parade.
"Okay, I'm starving," Alice said. "Where are we eating dinner at?"
"That's not on our agenda?" Edward teased. "And here I thought you had the entire weekend planned out for us."
In true brother/sister fashion, Alice stuck her tongue out at Edward. He rolled his eyes but laughed at his sister's childish behavior.
"Pat O's is right down the street. We could go there," I said.
"Oh! A hurricane sounds divine right now," Rosalie added.
"Well, Pat O's it is."
We had spent the last two hours at a table in the courtyard of Pat O'Brian's. I lost count of how many hurricanes we had drank but I'm sure the picture that the staff had taken of us would show just how many we had consumed. After dinner we headed back up to the hotel where we sat around on the balcony throwing beads at those who passed us by. By one in the morning I had had enough. I had seen enough strange women's boobs and the urine smell of the streets had begun to mess with my head. Soon after I went inside, everyone else did the same thing. We had a big day planned for Saturday and I wanted to be bright eyed and bushy tailed to handle it, along with the night out on the town the following evening.
***
Saturday
We had to meet at Sam and Emily's place in uptown by eleven that morning. Thankfully, each couple had their own bathroom so no one had to wait to take a shower. Water conservation was being taken advantage of by everyone.
I had walked out of our bedroom and into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee when I was blindsided by the whitest ass I had ever seen. Emmett stood at the windows, which were open, as he drank his coffee in nothing but his birthday suit. As quickly as I had come out of the bedroom, I went back in. Edward was in the bathroom shaving when I reentered.
"Coffee ready yet?" he asked rinsing the razor in the sink.
"I don't know. I just got an eye full of your brother's naked ass. I'm afraid to go back out and look to see if the coast
is clear," I admitted trying hard to hide the images that were now seared into my brain.
Edward on the other hand just laughed. He finished shaving as I got dressed. When I thought I had given Emmett enough time to get dressed, I walked back out of the room. Thankfully he was no where to be seen. The bathroom door was shut so I hoped he was getting ready.
I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee. I wasn't prepared for what happened next. Alice came screaming out of the bedroom as if she had been the one who had just seen her brother's shinny hiney.
"Isabella Marie Swan, soon to be Cullen!" she shouted. "Have you walked outside yet?"
"No, I was just about to. What's with the use of the full name this early in the morning?"
"Walk with me," she said gesturing towards the french doors that led out onto the balcony.
I did as she said because no matter who says it, no one likes to hear their full name called out, especially at nine in the morning.
We walked out onto the balcony and I stood waiting for her to explain what had her so worked up.
"Do you feel that?" she asked still huffing and puffing and throwing her hands up in the air as if I could really feel whatever it was she was talking about.
"Feel what? I feel nothing?"
"Are you kidding me? You don't feel that in the air? It's thick Bella and it's making it hard to breathe."
I laughed understanding what she was talking about.
"You think this is funny? I don't have a flat iron strong enough to keep my hair straight with this kind of..."
"Humidity," I said still laughing. "It's called humidity, Alice."
"It's called bullshit. That's what it's called. I refuse to wear a hat like Jasper suggests I do."
"Welcome to Louisiana sweetie."
Still laughing, I sat in one of the chairs and sipped on my coffee while I watched the people sightsee. Alice stormed back inside. I could hear her still shouting about the damn humidity once she had made it inside. Not five minutes later, she rejoined me on the balcony. She never fully stepped outside, but rather choose to speak to me with half of her body hanging in the door.
"What the hell do I wear to one of these crawfishing things?"
"Alice, we're not crawfishing. We're boiling them to eat them, not catch them."
"Semantics. What do I wear?"
"Whatever you want," I said because it would have been a useless attempt to explain to her the fashion do's and don'ts of a crawfish boil.
She stormed back inside still mouthing off about the weather and now the perfect outfit. I sat and enjoyed what little silence I had to myself. Before I knew it, everyone was ready to go. I had called down to the front desk requesting a cab to take us to Sam and Emily's and by the time we had made it outside our cab was waiting.
It was a short drive to Uptown. We all remained relatively quiet during the drive. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. Alice, I'm sure, was still angry over the weather and the fact that I wasn't a bigger help in choosing the right outfit for today's festivities.
When we pulled up to Sam and Emily's house we were immediately met with several familiar, smiling faces. Jacob's was the easiest to spot in the crowd. As we each got out of the cab, introductions were thrown around to everyone who had come out to greet us. Edward stayed close to my side. He knew, as much as I did, that he had no reason to be jealous. After we were all out, Sam ushered us to the backyard where most of the women were waiting. Jacob stayed back to walk along side Edward and myself. As soon as he saw me he wrapped me up in one of his bear hugs.
"You feel a little heavier there Bells," he said setting me down on the ground and extending his hand to Edward.
"Way to make a girl feel pretty Jacob."
"Well I'm sure he has to do with that huge rock on your finger." I blushed and felt Edward pull me closer to his side.
"I better be invited to this shindig."
"Of course Jacob, you and Leah both. Is she here?" I chuckled a little to myself. Edward was doing his best not to show that Jacob still got to him.
"Yeah she's in the back with the other women. I didn't warn the guys about Rosalie. I want to pass along the subtle way you told me."
I laughed out loud at his admission. We rounded the corner into the backyard where I saw the rest of the boys with the same expression Jacob had worn when he first saw Rosalie. Seth was the only one who seemed to have a hold of himself. He walked up to Rosalie and introduced himself but then turned to Alice with a huge grin.
"You're Alice Cullen," he said which thrilled Alice to no end. She beamed and bounced like she always did.
"Yes, well, no. I mean, I'm Alice Cullen Hale. This is my husband Jasper," she said pulling Jasper to her. The two shook hands as Seth still wore the silly grin. "Hey," Alice said, "that shirt is from my spring 2006 line."
Seth looked down at his shirt and shrugged. "I know it's old but it's one of my favorites."
Alice playfully slapped his arm. "Silly boy. An Alice Cullen Original or a J.A.Z. design never goes out of style."
Seth smiled wider as he ushered Alice and Jasper to the bar that was set up on the other side of the yard. The rest of the boys and girls, I had noticed, seemed a little more relaxed as Emmett and Rosalie had them all laughing. It was nice to see all of my friends able to mesh so well with one another.
"Bella, Edward, it's great to see you again," Leah said, making her way to us. "Congratulations are in order am I right?"
"Yes, thank you. We're so excited." I said squeezing Edward's hand that was held in my own.
"Bella, I'm going to let you two talk girl stuff, and I'm going to see what Leah's man is doing to that huge pot over there," Edward said motioning his head to Jacob who had been stirring the crawfish pot with a boat oar.
As he walked away and out of ear shot Leah leaned over a little closer to me. "First crawfish boil?"
I nodded, "Yup and most likely with this crowd, a very memorable one."
Leah and I talked about my upcoming wedding for the most part. At some point during our conversation, Rosalie, Alice and Emily joined us. It wasn't until a live crawfish crawled across the ground that the talk shifted away from weddings to Alice having a meltdown. She began screaming frantically as the mudbug escaped the boiling pot of death.
"What the hell is that?" she screamed frantically as she jumped up and down.
Jasper sensed her despair and like the good husband he was, came rushing over to her side. Everyone else had stopped what they were doing and watched Alice and the crawfish drama unfold.
I immediately started laughing. It wasn't funny because I knew if one of those things pinched you, it could very well hurt, but the look on Alice's face as it crawled past her posh flats, was priceless.
"This is NOT funny Isabella!" she continued on, madder than hell.
Edward came to my side as I clutched it from the laughter. He knew as well as anyone that when Isabella was used in place of Bella that I was in deep shit. Unfortunately for Alice, I could have cared less how mad she was. This was just too funny.
Seth being the good little person he was, picked up the crawfish and looked at Alice perplexed. "Are you talking about this Alice?" he said holding the bug up closer for her to see.
She literally jumped into Jasper's arms as Seth waved the crawfish in the air. "Get it out of my face!" she yelled.
Seth shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the boiling pot where the crawfish were waiting to be dropped into the water. He tossed it inside and helped himself to another beer. Alice looked stunned as Jacob and Sam each held an end of the oar and slowly lowered the pot into the water. Jacob looked up and smiled. Alice lowered her head and cried into Jasper's shoulder.
"Well, we should be eating in about an hour," he said popping the top on a beer for himself.
"Alice honey are you okay?" I asked when I thought it was safe to speak to her.
She sniffled and wiped her nose against Jasper's shirt before she looked up at me. "Th..they were alive when he put them in there?"
I nodded, "Yes there were."
She made a gagging noise as Jasper set her feet back on the ground. "I think I'm going to be sick."
I couldn't help but smile as she marched inside to find the nearest bathroom. I looked at Jasper who shrugged his shoulders.
"She'll be fine. I'll just have to explain to her that they are like mini lobsters and before we know it she'll be eating the hell out of them."
"Good luck with that one."
He rolled his eyes and nodded before he too disappeared into the house.
The day dragged on as the crawfish sat simmering in the pot. Ice chests were filled with corn, potatoes, onions, mushrooms and sausage. Pretty much anything was fair game to be thrown into a crawfish pot. Alice had returned to the party after feeling better about the comparison of the crawfish to lobster. She had however been in search of some butter to melt for the tails. If it made her feel better, I didn't care if she ate the damn things with ketchup.
The boys had newspaper covered picnic tables set up in the middle of the yard. We all gathered around as Jacob and Sam dumped the pot of hot, steaming crawfish onto the table, along with the ice chests full of the other food that had boiled previously.
From out of nowhere Paul exclaimed, "It's crawfish time bitches!"
That statement put Emmett in a fit of laughter. He reached across the table to fist bump Paul at the catch phrase that had caught on with Jacob's friends. I dove right into peeling the tails and sucking the heads without a second thought. It didn't occur to me that the others might have had no idea what to do. I looked up to see Edward eyeing me with a smirk, Alice looked completely disguisted as Jasper tried to show her how to peel the tails, and Emmett and Rosalie were in what appeared to be some sort of race to see who could peel the fastest.
I stopped for a moment to take a drink from my beer. I picked one of the crawfish up and snapped the tail off as I bit into the meat. It pulled away from the shell too easily. Once I had discarded the tail into my trash pile, I looked at my fiancée as I put the head of the crawfish into my mouth and sucked the juices out. He closed his eyes at the act and shifted slightly. Apparently, the act of sucking the head of a crawfish was highly erotic for my Edward.
I smiled and leaned closer to him so no one could hear. "You like that?"
He smiled against my neck as he brushed my skin with the cool touch of his lips. "Very much. So much in fact that I might have to fake being sick so you can help me get better in the bathroom."
I threw my head back and laughed. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh I would. Just keep doing what you're doing. That's all I'm saying."
"Do you have the hang of it or do you need me to show you what to do?"
"Oh I think I've got a pretty good idea from just watching you."
"Hey! Cut it out you too! No sex at the crawfish table!" Jacob joked. The lightness in his tone and the smile on his face told me that all was well with us. I had to smile back. It was infectious.
Paul sat across from Rosalie mesmerized that she could put so much food away. She and Emmett were neck in neck on who had discarded the most tails. She looked up to grab her beer can from the table when she saw that he had been staring at her. She smiled and in Rosalie fashion, sucked the head of one of the bugs, pulling in from her lips as it made a popping noise. Emmett looked at her and rolled his eyes.
"Babe, don't play with your food or the boys around you. It's not nice."
Rosalie winked at Paul who excused himself from the table in a panic.
"See what you did," Emmett teased. "Now he has to go to the bathroom."
"Hey," Jacob called down to Em and Rose. "What'd you do to my boy?"
Rosalie shrugged her shoulders and played innocent. "I have no idea. I was eating and minding my own business."
"Uh-huh. Right," Jacob said laughing. His face twisted from that of a happy go lucky kind of guy to one of concern. I followed his gaze and saw Alice who had her nose turned up.
"What's wrong Al?" I asked while I peeled the skin off of a potato. Skins are just nasty.
"I'm sorry guys. I'm trying, really I am but I just don't know if I can eat this. I mean, Jasper is peeling them or shelling them or whatever it's called but after he hands them to me they have this stuff in them and it's looks really
gross." She said not taking a breath.
I looked closer to see what she had been talking about. Edward, right behind me, agreed with Alice. "You know, I wondered too. But I figured it was seasoning or something. I mean it doesn't taste any different."
I snickered. "Alice that's the..."
Before I could finish my sentence Jasper stood behind Alice shaking his head no. I backed away from telling her what exactly it was. Paul, back from his bathroom break, had rejoined us at the table and finished telling Alice what exactly it was. He never noticed the pained expression that was on Jasper's face that pleaded with us not to tell her what it really was.
"That's the poop shoot Alice," he said, popping another tail into his mouth. He had now taken up a position on the opposite end of the table from Rosalie.
"The what? You've got to be fucking kidding me," she said backing away from the table.
Edward hesitated for a second while he inspected the crawfish tail he had in his hands. After deciding that it had tasted all right before he knew what it was, he tossed it into his mouth. He looked over at me and winked. I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him. I couldn't resist myself.
From his position behind Alice, Jasper grumbled. This was exactly what he did not want to happen. Emmett and Rosalie seemed none the wiser to the problem that had surfaced with Alice and the crawfish. Their piles were getting taller as more beer cans piled up around them. I tried to smooth things over with her. Jasper had successfully compared the mudbugs to lobster earlier, I thought maybe I could try the same approach with shrimp.
"Alice," I said and she turned her head slightly to give me an evil look, "you know how you have to devein shrimp before you eat them?" She nodded. I prayed I was about to make some kind of leeway with her. "Well, it's kind of the same with these. If you don't want to eat the poop shoot so to speak, you can just devein them; like this." I showed her how easy it was to remove and her faced perked up slightly.
"Jazz baby. Along with peeling them, would you devein them too?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice.
He kissed the tip of her nose and agreed. I returned to the table and the crawfish in front of me and began peeling and sucking again. Laughing every time I sucked one the heads because out of the corner of my eye I could see Edward watching my every move. Or suck in this case.
After we had eaten every last piece of crawfish, the boys loaded up the newspaper and dumped it into the trashcans. The rest of us held back and picked up the empty beer cans that were strewn across the lawn. We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting about various things. Our houses being built back home, how I was now a teacher for the high school, and of course the weddings. Jacob kept me up to date with everything that had taken place at the museum since I had been gone. I mentioned that I was surprised that Angela and Ben had not been able to make it and he said that work had been keeping her busy. Everyone had planned on cruising Bourbon with us tonight and she and Ben would be in tow for the partying later on. I made a mental note to call her because I had not been the greatest of friends where she was concerned.
By four that afternoon, a cab had been called for us and we were headed back to the hotel for some R and R before meeting back up with everyone later for a little bit of drunken debauchery.
As soon as we arrived at the hotel I went straight to the bathroom for a shower. It seemed all of us girls had the same idea. The hotel should send us a thank you letter when our weekend was over with. We had conserved so much water by taking three showers instead of six. What could I say? We were thinking green. Before I got settled into absolutely nothing, I remembered that I needed to make sure everyone had washed their hands really good. After eating crawfish, the spicy seasonings could stay on your hands for a while and if not washed properly and then put somewhere, oh like your eyes, it could sting. I didn't know about everyone else but I wasn't going to have my eyes or any other part of my body stinging.
I walked out into the living room and found that the door to the second bedroom was shut as well as the door to the bathroom in the hall. I could hear water running from both rooms. Hopefully they had enough sense to wash up before anyone got into any kind of heavy petting.
I strolled back into Edward and my room. He was nude in the bathroom checking the temperature of the water. I quickly shed my shirt and pants and snuck up behind him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed the middle of his back. He grabbed my hands and eased them down his torso to his hard shaft. I pulled them away. He turned around with a hurt look on his face. I leaned up to kiss him, breaking between kisses to talk.
"Edward we need to make sure that our hands are really clean." He pulled back his mouth but kept running his hands up the sides of my body.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want anything left on your hands from the crawfish and then you stick one inside me. It would burn like fire."
He smiled and leaned down. He brushed his nose along the side of my neck, sliding his tongue across the places he had just touched. As hot as it was becoming in the bathroom, the trail on my neck left me with goosebumps. He worked his way back up and nibbled on my ear. He blew his hot breath onto my neck and ear and that made me shiver.
"Well, let's get to scrubbing. I can't get the picture of you sucking the head of that crawfish out of my mind."
I felt my knees give out as I hastily turned around to the sink and began washing the skin off of my hands. Edward pressed his body against mine and did the same thing. I could feel every inch of him, hard against my body. When I was sure that all traces of seasonings were off my hands, I turned around and threw my arms around his neck. He lifted my body onto the counter so that my legs were open at the exact spot he needed me. It would have only taken one small movement to bring him close to my hot, wet center. One small push forward and his tip would meet me where I wanted him so badly.
I thought about what he had said. He had enjoyed watching me as I sucked the juices out of the head of the crawfish. If he loved that, he was going to immensely enjoy what I was about to do.
I pushed him away and smirked as I lowered myself onto my knees. His bulging cock was right in front of my face. I stroked it gently in my hands before I licked the tip. I swirled my tongue around the head. He moaned when my mouth engulfed him. His hands were fisted into my hair as he guided me along his shaft. My free hand worked against the movements my mouth made. I sucked the tip and used my teeth to graze the sides as I took all of him. His body had become rigid, his moans louder.
"Baby, I never thought I'd see the day when I was jealous of a crawfish. You, ugh, were so seductive earlier," he said while both hands were cupped in my hair. I moaned against him, sending vibrations literally though his cock.
He grabbed my hair tighter and I had to rub my thighs together from his moans and his aggressiveness with my poor hair. I took him in one last time before I pulled back out all the way, eliciting a loud pop. I looked up at him through my eyelashes and began to kiss my way up his happy trail. His hands followed my body until I was face to face with him. His fingers were nestled on my breasts, teasing my nipples.
He lifted me up once more and the one small push forward I had wanted earlier was made. He cupped his hands around my backside and slid himself inside of me. I pulled his face to mine and kissed him hard. He thrust in and out not at a fast pace, but not a slow one either. We weren't gentle and we weren't rough. There was no real urgency. It was just about us. Him and me and the Royal Sonesta's bathroom counter.
I pulled my legs up around his waist and locked my ankles together around his back. We broke apart our kiss and my head fell back. He had pulled himself back further as well and I chanced a look and saw his eyes were watching our bodies. I looked down and could see him moving in and out of me. With one hand resting on the counter, the other gripped Edward's bicep. I could feel his muscles contract as I held on tighter. I couldn't hold my sounds back any longer. I was sure everyone else in the suite was doing the very same thing we were.
"Yes baby. Oh God yes," I moaned as I tried my best to meet each one of his thrusts.
He had one hand gripping my thigh and the other hand started to stroke circles around my clit.
"Bella, I love watching me move inside of you. Do you?" he asked, his breathing hard.
I nodded. My mouth was so dry I couldn't form any words.
"Say it. Tell me how good I feel inside of you."
"Oh, so.."
"Tell me!"
"So good. You feel so good Edward. I'm there baby, cum with me. Oh please, yes, please."
My orgasm began to overtake my body. I felt my stomach tightening up as he continued to thrust harder into me.
"Fuck!" he screamed. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."
His body stilled as he let his release go inside of me. He gave one last thrust before he rested his head on my shoulder. I laid my head against his and stroked his hair. We stayed like that for a minute or so to calm ourselves down. With my fingers still brushing his hair, he looked up at me and smiled. I kissed him and I felt him smile against my lips.
"I love you, so very much," he said as he brushed the hairs that had matted against my face.
"I love you too." I looked over to the shower that still had the water running. "I guess we better get in."
He nodded and pulled himself out of me. He extended his hand and helped me off of the counter and into the shower. We took our time washing each other's bodies and doing nothing more. He kissed me in places I don't think I had even been kissed and washed places I'm sure had never seen a wash rag. When we felt clean, we stepped out of the shower and into the complimentary robes that hung on the back of the door.
The steam had built up in the bathroom from the water as well as our thryst on the counter so I opened the door in the bathroom and also the one that led into the bedroom. Several minutes later, I heard the other doors in the suite open. We had all had the same idea when we had returned earlier.
I made Edward walk out into the living room area to make sure Emmett was dressed or to at least ask him to wear a robe or boxers. I didn't want to chance another encounter like the one I had witnessed this morning.
We all dressed in the quietness of our respective partners. There was no running from room to room to chat with one another. In some way, we all had just experienced a moment of solitude and only wanted to be with our loves.
While I had been drying my hair, Jacob had called to say that everyone was going to meet us at the hotel. From there we would go grab something to eat and then hit the streets. Alice had taken it upon herself to pack an outfit for me tonight, so I quickly threw it on. By the time I had finished dressing, all of the boys were outside watching the passerby's walk the street. Emmett was tossing beads out like they were candy, or like he was the King of Rex on Mardi Gras day.
Rosalie was in Alice and Jasper's room so I sat in there with them while Alice continued to get ready. We complimented each other on our outfits, knowing good and damn well they were Alice's designs. Alice and I opted for summer dresses while Rosalie wore skintight blue jeans and heels. I knew better than to walk to the streets of Bourbon, or any street for that matter in a pair of stilettos, but this was Rosalie and I'm sure she could have walked from one side of the world to the other in them.
We could hear the boys hooting and hollering out on the balcony. All three of us girls walked out there to see what had them in such a fuss. We all looked down over the railing and saw Jacob, Leah, Paul, Seth, Sam, Emily, Angela and Ben smiling up at us. Paul and Seth had their shirts raised taunting Emmett to throw them some beads.
"Oh come on Angela," Emmett shouted down below swinging a set of beads. "You're going to let these guys show you up?"
"Emmett McCarty Cullen!" Rosalie shouted as she marched to his side grabbing the hand that was swinging the beads. "If you want the girl to show you her ta-ta's at least dangle these big beads at her." Rose grabbed the beads that had balls attached to them the size of softballs. "What girl wants to show her tits for some cheap ass set of beads? I'm sorry honey," she said directed to Angela, "he doesn't know his manners."
I laughed at how absurd they were being. "Y'all better get up here before Rosalie decides to show the twins off."
Rosalie smiled and lifted the hem of her shirt slightly. Everyone began to make their way inside the lobby except for Paul and Ben. They stayed underneath our balcony waiting to see if Rosalie was in fact going to flash. Angela returned and grabbed Ben by the back of the arm to usher him inside. Moments later there was a knock at the door. I walked inside to let the rest of our party crew in.
One by one they filled into the suite. Everyone had come in from outside so we all sat around in the living room awaiting our next plan of attack. I introduced Angela to Rosalie and Alice and was aware by the nudge in the side I received from Ben that I had left him out. Angela couldn't keep from rolling her eyes. She explained to Rosalie that it was like he had never seen a woman before. We laughed at the playful banter we all seemed to have with one another.
"So, where are we going to eat?" Jacob asked.
Edward looked over at Alice. "Sis, what does your trusty agenda say?"
"You know what Edward?" she began. "You can take my agenda and shove it straight up your ass."
Edward walked over to his sister and put her in a headlock. Alice screamed bloody murder at Edward for messing up her perfectly sculpted hairdo. She kicked and screamed until he finally let her go.
"What was all that about?" Jacob asked quietly to me.
"Nothing. Alice just has an OCD tendency for things being well planned."
He nodded but still looked unsure.
"Well, where to?" Edward asked again. "Boys and girls, do you have any suggestions?" he asked of the group that lived in the city.
"How about Remoulade? It's just down the street?" Emily suggested.
We all agreed and headed out of the hotel. The walk to the restaurant was short. It was literally right down the street. Dinner flew by at a quick pace. The food was good, very New Orleans, and the drinks flowed like water. I was glad to see everyone had ordered a large amount of food considering the amount of alcohol we had; 'The Taste of New Orleans' being the most devoured at the table. It consisted of a jambalaya, a crawfish pie, and file gumbo. As soon as the description was read, it prompted an outburst of the song, Jambalaya (On the Bayou), being sung by everyone around the table. The liquor was most definitely creeping through our systems. Several tables joined in with us. We had made quite the scene in the restaurant. Of course, having two famous people with you made that happen without a little song and dance.
After dinner we embarked on the one thing Emmett had been dying to do since he had visited me during Mardi Gras. We partied on Bourbon Street. As we walked down the street, the girls and I opted to stop by the Tropical Isle for Hand Grenades, laughing as we tried to imagine Esme tossing one back and flashing in her younger years. The boys on the other hand, went in search for a huge ass beer. Emmett came flying down the street with a huge grin and an even bigger beer in his hands. He approached us pointing at said beer.
"Do you see this? Five dollars for this huge ass beer! And the dude advertising them even said it on his sign. Huge Ass Beer's five dollars!" He sighed, took a sip of his beer and looked as if he was about to cry. "I love this fucking
place."
I laughed while Rosalie looped her arm through his as they walked down the street. Everyone seemed to be attached to someone, with the exception of Paul and Seth, who actually looped their own arms together. I had a feeling those two were verging on the point of no return.
We walked past Razoo's where the music was loud and inviting. Angela and Alice both jumped up and down, dying to get inside the club. As we all walked in, Alice pulled Angela who pulled Rosalie, who in turn pulled me out onto the dance floor. I grabbed onto Leah who grabbed onto Emily so that all of us girls were on the dance floor. We all danced in a circle of sorts while the guys stood by and admired. There was a small platform in front of the dance floor and I noticed Alice eyeing it. It would not be long before she was up there shaking it for everyone. Sean Kingston's 'Fire Burning' began to play and I turned to the guys where I saw Emmett throwing his hands up in the air. Edward and Jasper both laughed, but pushed him out towards the dance floor. He walked over to us girls with the biggest smile.
"This is my jam yo!"
We all danced in a circle around Emmett before he took Rosalie by the waist and began bumping and grinding on her. The rest of the boys joined us as we all rocked out to the music.
We had been in Razoo's for a little over an hour before we decided to move on to our next stop. The Cat's Meow for a little karokee was where we stopped next. I had no intention of singing karokee but Alice and Jasper couldn't be stopped. Drunks and karokee are probably one of the best combinations there is. They did their own redinditon of I Got You Babe. It was bad. Beyond bad to be honest.
We moved on to what became our last stop of the night, Howl at the Moon, a piano bar. We grabbed a table smack dab in the middle of the room and listened to the show that had already begun. The bad thing about piano bars is that if you walk in, in the middle of a set, you are bound to get called out. We were no exception, especially when a one Rosalie Hale was a part of your group. The two guys stopped playing as soon as she strutted across the room to our table. We sat down and waited for them to begin but all they could do was sit and stare.
We all looked around afraid that we had interrupted something. Jacob called out to the men as we sat waiting.
"You gonna play or what?"
The guys looked dumbfounded. The one on the right turned to Jacob and saw the rest of our party. "Any requests?"
"Whatever comes to mind," Jacob said.
"Whatever?" The piano man on the left asked. "Alright, well this goes out to the leggy blonde that just walked all over my heart."
We all looked at Rosalie who had settled in closer to Emmett. He has his arms wrapped tightly around her as the dueling pianists began playing 'Hey Good Lookin'. The rest of us cracked up. Emmett stood up, walked over to the men and slipped some money in their tip jars. He walked back over to Rosalie and extended his hand for her to join him in dancing.
I sat next to Edward, my head resting on his shoulder. He kissed the top of my head and held me. A thought occurred to me; Edward, a piano and a room full of people?
"Edward, you should see if they will let you play."
I felt him laugh against my head. "I don't know Bella. Whatever would I play?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. Anything. I just want to hear you."
"Baby you have forever to hear me."
I moved away from Edward and hesitantly walked up to the piano man on the left. I introduced myself when he took a break from the song. I told him how I was here with Rosalie and Emmett and the rest of the gang (But let's be honest, name dropping Rosalie and Emmett was my best bet in getting this guy to let Edward play.) for our pre/post wedding parties. I knew just asking wasn't going to work, so I slipped him a one hundred dollar bill. He smiled and nodded. I then slipped him a piece of paper that held the song I wanted Edward to sing.
I walked back over to Edward grinning like the cat who had just eaten the canary.
"I'm afraid to even ask," he said pulling me onto his lap.
"Good then don't."
The song finished and the guy I had talked to explained to everyone that there was a special request for a guest pianist.
"Would a Mr. Edward Cullen please join me on stage."
Edward pinched my sides as I jumped off his lap. I slapped his ass as he walked up to the stage.
"This is for you my friend," the piano man said as he handed Edward the sheet of paper with the song. "Ladies and gents, I'm watching this one from Mr. Cullen's seat," he further explained to the audience.
Edward opened the sheet of paper and began laughing. Our friends gathered around and looked at me but I just shook my head smiling.
"Really Bella? You couldn't come up with anything more original?" he said into the microphone.
I smiled harder while I bit my fingernails.
"Alright fine. But let the record show that after we are married I plan on broadening your dueling piano songs."
Alice had her arms wrapped around Jasper's neck as she sat in his lap. Jacob and Leah were in a similar position in the chair next to mine. Jacob leaned across the table so that I could hear him.
"Is he really going to play?" I shook my head yes. "And sing?" I nodded again. The smile had not left my face.
Edward flexed his hands out in front of him to pop his knuckles. He played on the keys for a bit before he started the rhythm of the song. It was an easily familiar song, even without the recognizable guitar intro. But as soon as he began singing, my heart melted.
"Where it began, I can't begin to know when
but then I know it's growing strong."
I could see him roll his eyes as he sang while he kept a goofy smile plastered across his face.
"Wasn't the spring,"
"Ah ah ah ah," everyone in the bar sang out. It only caused Edward to smile wider and laugh slightly into the microphone as he sang the next couple of lines. Before I knew it, everyone in our group had stood up and began swaying to the song.
"Hands, touching hands,"
I threw my arms out to my friends while they did the same thing. It was goofy and ridiculous but it was perfect.
"Reaching out, touching me, touching you."
I looked over and every single one of us were reaching out and singing the words as we leaned to grab a hold of one another.
"Sweet Caroline,"
"Dun Dun Dun," everyone sang out in unison.
"Good times never seem so good"
"So good, so good, so good!" We all shouted like we were at a college fraternity party.
"I've been inclined "
"Dun, Dun, Dun."
"To believe it never would"
Edward continued to play the rest of the song and I was joined by the company of Emmett on my one side and Jasper on the other while they had Alice and Rosalie flanking their empty sides. I looked down the line and saw everyone else filled in the line, all with our arms wrapped around one another as we continued to sing while Edward played. Jasper leaned over and whispered into my ear.
"Great song Bells."
I smiled. It was a great song. It was a great weekend with a great group of friends. To top it all off, the greatest man in the world stood on the stage and played Neil Diamond for me. With all the distance and time apart we had experienced, I knew I was a believer. And if Edward wanted me forever, I just might be forever in blue jeans.
A/N- Ah! Good times. This story is winding down, if you can't tell, and we only have about 5-6 more chapters to go. If you are unfamiliar with the ways of a crawfish boil, I'll be happy to explain to you further. I hope it all made sense to everyone. This chapter was a blast to write and I had so much fun with Alice.
*EDIT* 4:15PM central time
(I forgot to mention this when I posted the story. I was a little excited to get it out there.)
When I was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to hang out on the balcony of the Royal Sonesta. Now, normally I never venture to Bourbon during Mardi Gras. There is just way too many people but when you've got free access to the balcony? C'mon it was a no brainer. Well, walking through the hotel and on the balcony was like my words coming to life. I thought of each one of you who reads this story while I was tossing beads down to the revelers. It really was amazing for me to stand up there, feeling like my words had come to life.
I hope everyone has been checking out the stories I'm rec'ing. They are so amazing. I have one more for y'all. This one is brand new from Hibbleton78 and it's called, Empires of the Mind. Please, go check it out and leave her some love. This story is going to be amazing!! Here is the link, http://www (com) fanfiction (com) net/s/5798963/1/Empires_of_the_Mind
Until next time…
Holly