I do not own Twilight.
Rosalie's place is quaint, but it's closer to the campus than mine, and her parents pay for her rent, so she tells me not to pay for anything. I ignore her anyways and pay for as much as I can.
It's been a few days since the visitation and the bruises on my wrist are gross and ugly and I'm wearing long sleeves just to keep the wandering eyes away.
Mike and I spoke a little when I gathered my things, and we both decided it wasn't going to work anyways. Our separation was easy, despite the holdup in the parking lot.
He tells me he hopes I find everything I need, and I tell him the same. I don't think either of us knows what that is, though.
Rosalie finds me in the kitchen in the afternoon and tells me that there's someone at the door for me. I'm confused, but she looks too excited so I can only imagine what this is about.
"If you know him, you'd better introduce me," she whispers into my ear as she practically jogs after me to the door.
She flips her hair and checks her tank top just before I pull open the door to her tiny condo, and Emmett stands on the steps, hands shoved deep in his jean pockets, his expression uncertain.
"Sorry," he says when I smile, but his eyes quickly sweep from me, to the leggy blonde beside me. She's already in high flirt mode.
"Rosalie, this is Emmett, Edward's older brother," I say, and her smile drops and she's giving him a pursed look instead.
"Oh," she says simply and then moves away from the door. I shake my head, but invite him in regardless.
It's my turn to apologize now. "She's never met Edward. She has her own opinion of him," I say.
Emmett smiles, but it's a bit sad. It breaks my heart.
"Doesn't everyone," he comments, and I can see the barely-eighteen, fresh-out-of-high-school kid who is trying to keep his family afloat I had met when I first started dating Edward.
"What's up?" I ask, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction, but there's only one reason he would be here.
He chews at the corner of his lip. "I would have called," he says, "but I thought it best to ask you in person."
I already know where this is going and I'm already backing away from him slowly.
"Emmett," I start, but he puts up a hand.
"I know you went through a lot last time, and I know Mike—"
"We broke up," I state and he looks a little surprised, and then understanding.
"Well," he sighs and the look that forms on his face makes me want to do anything that will help him out. With a burnout for a father and a mother who is in and out of their lives, Emmett is the only one trying to pick up the pieces.
"He won't even see Beth anymore," he says. He takes a breath and runs a hand over his face. He looks less like a twenty-three-year-old, and more like someone who's lived through war and back. "I don't know what to do."
"What can I do?" I ask, and it's not rhetorical, it's a literal question. "I don't think he'd want to see me anymore, either," I add, because the expression on his face when he requested to be put back in a cell has cemented itself into my memory.
Emmett drops his head to look at me with a questioning expression. "We both know that's not true," he says.
I bite my lips. "He's going to think I broke up with Mike for him."
"So, don't tell him you broke up with Mike," he says. "I just," he sighs and stares up at the ceiling before looking at me again. "I don't think you realize how much you did for that kid when you came into his life. Some of the shit you helped him through…"
He shakes his head like he's still in disbelief.
"You went through it, too, Emmett," I state, because I feel like he always forgets that he is a part of that family, too. It isn't just Edward's dad that was emotionally and physically abusive; it isn't just Edward's mom that walked out.
"Don't spend all your time trying to fix Edward and forget about yourself," I say, "He would hate himself if he knew you were doing that."
Emmett only nods and I know it's all I'm going to get from him. Both of them have grown up to think their problems are not problems. They don't do well with sympathy or pity because they never got any from their parents.
"What am I even supposed to say if I go back?" I ask. What more can be said?
"I don't know," Emmett says, "but I'm at a complete loss here, Bella."
Because I can see that he's on the verge of breaking, I agree to visit again.
