Emmett carefully stacks another coupe glass onto the next layer of the budding champagne tower, pleased with how well the boozy pyramid is coming along.
"Hey Siri, play New Year's Eve Jams," Alice calls out from the other room. The shuffled playlist of Edward's favorite indie rock music transitions over into a Cher song, filling the house with upbeat dance music.
Emmett pumps his fist in the air, appreciating the change in genres as he continues his project. "Hell yeah!"
Alice had spent all night and most of the morning decorating the house with countless gold streamers and mylar balloons. Every flat surface was covered in metallic confetti, noisemakers, or some sort of shiny decor. She'd overdone things in her typical Alice style.
His one assigned job was prepping the drinks.
Rosalie walks into the kitchen with Esme, the two carrying crates of bubbly in their hands from the garage. The blond is wearing a black fitted dress with strappy heels, and her hair is pulled over in a deep side part with cascades of big, loose waves.
"You look hot," the football player greets.
"Thanks," Rosalie says, kissing him and pulling up a bar stool.
"It's about time we got some alcohol in here!" Tanya calls out from the couch. Irina and Kate sit with her, gathered around the large flat screen playing the New York City New Year's Eve show. It's almost midnight on the east coast, but they're only just getting settled into their party.
Bella comes downstairs, and it's obvious that she has been put through one of Alice's makeovers.
"Um. Hi, everyone," Bella says meekly.
"Do a spin!" Alice encourages as she flits back in from the other room, clearly outshining her masterpiece with the bejeweled gold dress and metallic gold eyeliner that she's wearing herself.
"I don't want to," Bella protests quietly.
"Why? You're so pretty!" Alice compliments. "Isn't she pretty, Edward?"
Edward perks up at this new development, having been sitting at the counter island watching his friend stack glasses for the past several minutes. "You look beautiful, Bella. You always do."
Emmett snorts in laughter at how red the comment makes the pale girl turn. "Edward and Bella sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-"
Edward punches him in the shoulder.
"Hey, what was that for?" Emmett complains, shoving his friend back.
Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Alice darting back and forth between the kitchen and the living room.
"Alice, what are you doing?" Edward asks her irritably.
"I thought Jasper was getting a ride with Rosalie," she replies.
"He was, but then he said he was going to catch an Uber instead," Rosalie says. "He should have beat me here. I stopped to get gas."
Emmett looks up and sees the short brunette on her phone looking unusually focused. She shakes her head and walks out of view.
The doorbell rings. "It's Eleazar," Alice announces flatly, opening the front door for him.
"Señiorita Carmen?!" Emmett shouts when he sees his and Edward's Spanish professor come in.
"Oh, you know each other!" Eleazar laughs. "This is my girlfriend that I was telling you about before."
"Yeah, she's only the coolest Spanish professor ever," Emmett raves. "I'm sad I'm not going to be in her class next quarter. Who's gonna help me translate memes now?"
"Aw, maybe in Spring," she says encouragingly.
"Bella, this is Eleazar, one of Carlisle's old college friends," Edward introduces the newcomer to her. "And Señiori—erm...Carmen was Emmett's and my Spanish professor last quarter."
Emmett leaves them to their small talk and turns his attention back to the finished tower of glasses he'd worked so hard on.
Esme helps unwrap the bottles of champagne, and Rosalie pops one open, pouring it into the top of the pyramid so that it trickles down the lower glasses like a waterfall.
"Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!" the New York crowd on the television cheers, marking nine o'clock for Seattle.
Emmett grabs a glass from the top and takes a drink of the fizzy alcohol.
"Do you have a New Year's resolution?" Rosalie asks, following suit and picking up a glass as well.
"Yeah, I'm gonna stop skipping my Friday leg workouts and pay Carlisle back for the rent loan. What about you?"
"I don't do resolutions. They're stupid," she says.
He laughs. "Make one up."
"I'll drink more water," she offers insincerely, rolling her eyes and taking a drink from her champagne. "It doesn't matter because people just use resolutions as excuses to say they're going to do something that they never do."
"Uh, yeah, if they're quitters. I've had plenty of successful resolutions. Like when I made a goal last year to do a Sunday Funday every weekend instead of just once a month."
"What's that mean?" she asks.
"So on Saturday nights after our games, we would go out to a party or bar crawl, and then instead of going home after, we would go straight to brunch as soon as the breakfast places opened. That way we'd be sober by the time Monday morning rolls around. And we'd be up early enough on Sunday still to go to something like the farmer's market or a volunteer clean up at the park or whatever."
"You made a resolution to pull a drunken all-nighter to maximize your weekend hours."
"Yeah! It really helped my GPA and social life."
"That's one way to do it," she says, scowling skeptically. "I haven't gone to brunch in forever. I used to go every weekend too, but it wasn't quite as..."
"Fun?"
"I was going to say sloppy or reckless."
He laughs, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "Hey, I'm down if you are. Esme and Alice are really into that stuff, so I'm sure they'd wanna go too."
He gets distracted by scent, her hair, her everything, and it turns into more of a nuzzle that makes her squirm away.
"What are you doing?" she exclaims, her voice rising in pitch.
"What? Are you ticklish?" he says, poking her in the ribs demonstratively. She shirks away quickly, almost spilling her drink.
"You're being obnoxious," she says in an accusatory tone. He can see her starting to smile, though, and it feels good. He likes it when he can get a laugh out of her.
...
"I love this color on you," Edward says, touching the smooth, navy material of her dress and looking at the drapey flutter sleeve approvingly.
"Tha...nks..." she breathes out, getting caught up in a kiss and unable to say much more.
She has a vague sense of the others in the room conversing and doing things that people do at parties, but as far as she's concerned it's just her and Edward. Even time seems to stop existing when they're together.
"DAMN, GET A ROOM!" Emmett's loud voice booms. "OWWW! OWWW!"
Bella's face goes bright red and she pulls away from Edward abruptly.
"Ignore him," Edward says to her, relatively unfazed by the obnoxious taunting.
Emmett guffaws, prompting a few others to join in laughing, before redirecting his attention to the Jenga tower that Kate's building.
Bella hears the sound of the kitchen garage door open and shut softly, along with footsteps.
"What the hell..." Edward curses, his eyes focused across the room on the source of the sound.
She looks over and sees Alice and Jasper, the latter of whom looks...drunk.
Edward gets up and walks over to the pair, and Alice immediately gives him a disagreeable look. "Edward." she says in warning.
"I'm just saying hello to our guest," he replies, crinkling his nose irritably. Bella goes with him into the kitchen hesitantly, smiling at Alice when she catches her eye momentarily.
"Hey," Jasper replies with a nod. He's keeping his distance, but there's no hiding the sway in his step as he trails behind the much smaller brunette.
She'd been around people drinking all night, but there's a distinct smell of liquor on Jasper that suggests he's had more than a few glasses.
"Great, well, now that we've all said 'hi,' I think we're going to go upstairs and call it a night," Alice announces breezily.
"It isn't even midnight yet. Isn't that the whole point of New Year's Eve?" Edward asks, his tone cold. "You're the one who planned this party."
"Not right now, Edward," Alice says with a shake of her head.
"What? We're talking. Were you out with your other friends, Jazz?"
Jasper nods. "Peter and Charlotte were just hanging out in SLU before the MoPop party, so I tagged along."
"Oh, the ones who deal drugs, yeah. I'm sure they'll make a killing tonight," Edward replies. This prompts Alice to grab Jasper's hand and pull him along with her into the living room and towards the stairs.
"Happy New Year!" a chorus of cheering erupts.
Edward starts to follow them, and Bella unsuccessfully grabs his arm. He brushes her off easily.
"Edward, what are you doing?" Bella hisses, trying not to make a scene. Alice is their friend and she's always been nice to her—even if her version of nice meant making Bella sit still while she curled her hair and dabbed cosmetics at her face for two hours straight.
"He shouldn't be here. If she wants to hang out with someone who's clearly only going to cause trouble, she can go to his place, not bring him to ours," he replies irritably, clearly in the mood for some kind of vigilante tirade. "Or is the meth tub not aesthetically pleasing enough, Alice?"
Jasper's brows furrow. "There's no meth tub."
"Bummer," Edward feigns disappointment.
Apparently, there's been some kind of tension going on that Bella hadn't noticed. She wonders if Edward's much more strict on drinking than she'd previously thought, but that doesn't account for the fact that he hasn't been bothering anyone else at the party about it.
"Let's stay down here with the others," Bella suggests. She would ask Alice about it later, perhaps, but for now, she needs to try to calm down Edward.
He doesn't hear her at all.
"Can you stop?" Alice asks, visibly irritated now that Edward's standing in the middle of her path, blocking the couple from going upstairs.
"Sure, once you stop bringing a criminal-slash-addict into the house. Regardless of whatever stupid visions you think you saw, you can't fix that."
Bella tries to get his attention. "Edward!"
Alice turns back around and heads into the kitchen again. The redhead is keen on seeing them out. Bella chases after her boyfriend, trying and failing to grab his arm as he tries to go with the pair into the garage. She trips and loses her balance, stumbling forward.
"Ah!" she cries out.
Jasper turns and reaches to steady her, and she thinks for a moment she'll be okay.
Edward shoves him hard, nudging Bella further off-balance in the process. "Don't touch her!" the redhead snaps.
She's falling backward.
Her arm hits the kitchen counter, swinging out to grab onto something and knocking over the remaining champagne glasses that had been stacked up in the process. Two of the bar stools at the counter island go flying out of the way as she collides with them.
Glass shatters and she slams into the wooden floor, her elbow hitting the cabinet with a loud thwack. Her hands land on sharp, broken shards.
Pain shoots up her arm and she can feel warmth on her palms that she knows is blood before she even sees it.
She tries not to look down at the certainly gory mess. She's afraid to move and make things worse.
"This is your fault! This wouldn't have happened if you didn't come here!" she hears Edward shout.
The room's gone quiet, and Emmett rushes to break up the squabble between the two boys. Jasper pushes Edward away from him and heads through the living room and out the front door. The redhead continues to argue with Emmett.
He looks over at Bella and his face drops. "Are you okay?" he asks, crouching to get a better look at her bleeding palms.
"Esme, can you grab the first aid kit, please?" Carlisle calls to his wife. "Let me by, Edward."
Edward stands up and backs away.
"You're bleeding pretty badly. Do you want to go to the hospital? Or shall I stitch you up here? It's up to you," Carlisle questions in a calm voice.
"No hospital. I hate hospitals," Bella groans. She catches a glimpse of her bloody hands and arm. She feels herself get woozy. "Oh, jeez. That's really...oh..."
Alice hands him a towel and Carlisle shakes his head. "There are shards in the wound. I don't want to push them in any deeper."
"I think we'll head out. Thanks for having us," Tanya calls as she grabs her coat from the entryway closet. Her sisters and Carlisle and Esme's friends follow suit.
Bella almost doesn't notice Alice leaving along with them, but the small girl gives her an apologetic look and mouths "I'm sorry" before going outside with the rest of them.
...
Alice drives slowly through the neighborhood, her headlights lighting up the rainy, winding drive as she looks for Jasper. She turns up the windshield wipers on the car and feels her heart sink when she thinks of him wandering around all alone.
Edward had been too harsh. He didn't know how hard Jasper had been trying for the past month. He'd been doing so well.
She spots him at the bottom of the hill, a few blocks off towards the main road, hunched against the rain, and once again without his coat. He'd left it at the house, but it isn't as if it'd do him any good now that he's soaked.
Rolling down the passenger side window, she calls out to him, "Jasper!"
He continues walking, seemingly pretending not to notice her. How annoying.
"Jasper! Hey!" she pulls up beside him on the street, unlocking the doors. "I want to talk to you!"
He's being stubborn. She doesn't want to get out of the car, but she will if necessary.
Finally, he stops walking and looks over at her with a dejected, miserable expression.
"Your keys, phone, and your jacket are still at the house! How are you getting home without those? Can you get in the car?" she pleads. "I'm sorry Edward was mean. He's being dramatic. Bella's fine."
"He's right, though," he objects. "What's the point of trying if I'm just going to keep screwing up?"
He's definitely still tipsy, but it looks like he's sobered up a bit from the walk. "Can you get in the car so we can stop shouting at each other, please? The neighbors are going to complain and I'm going to lose my voice," she tries reasoning with him.
Oddly enough that works. He gets into the car with a slump.
She drives them back to the house and pulls him by the hand back inside and upstairs.
He sits in the chair by her door while she digs around in the closet for something he can change into.
He might not know it, but she's been shopping for him for a while. She grabs a pair of men's pajama pants and a t-shirt off the shelf.
"Here, you can take a shower if you want..." she comes back into her room and finds him looking sorrier by the second. "Jazz, you don't need to be so hard on yourself. I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll talk with Edward later."
Evidently, he doesn't think so. With a sigh, she starts to remove his shirt so he at least won't be sitting in damp clothes.
He flinches away, sitting up from his slouched posture abruptly.
She's confused by the reaction. "What's wrong?"
"Sorry, I—" he exhales. "You'll see."
"Um. Okay."
Alice slides his shirt off the rest of the way. She doesn't understand his stress. He has a nice, athletic build, no tacky tattoos...
Her eyes stop on the dozens of faded, raised lines running across his arms. Healed cuts.
"I haven't seen you in a short sleeve ever," she remarks. She slides her thumb along his wrist, smoothing over the scarred skin until her hand's holding his.
"They're old," he explains, staying very still and staring down at the floor. "From when I was in middle and high school. Before I started drinking. Another bad habit."
"Oh," she says softly, brushing a water droplet off his shoulder. He'd done it to himself.
"It's...vile, I know."
His resolve crumbles under her gaze, even though he doesn't have to worry. She would never do anything to hurt him. She thought she made that clear.
This new information—as startling as it may be—makes something click for her. She feels like she's starting to understand him better. The drinking, the drugs, and now a history with cutting are all destructive attempts at self-medicating.
"It's okay," she reassures before he can say something self-deprecating. "What's done is done. It's doesn't change anything. I still love you."
"You...what?" he croaks, looking up and making eye contact with her for the first time since they've been back a the house.
She doesn't understand why he's getting worked up again for. "Hm?"
He shakes his head, his brows knitted together tensely.
Oh. Oh. She hasn't said that to him yet, has she? Is it a big deal that she blurted it out like that?
Sometimes it's difficult to keep track of what's already happened and what's going to happen, but she was fairly certain she was making it obvious. They'd kissed, talked on the phone late at night, and slept in the same bed together more than once. To her, at least, those are all displays of love and affection.
"I love you," she repeats as she pushes his hair back out of his face, fixing it for him.
Even if he doesn't say it back today, she's certain he will eventually. She just has to be patient.
Her visions of their future together will come true. She's confident in their shared potential for success and happiness.
She realizes she's holding her breath and tries to breathe again with limited success. She's being impatient and she knows it.
"I love you, too," he says finally.
Alice beams at the three little words she had waited so long to hear out loud, live, and in person.
...
"Thanks for doing this. I really, really didn't want to make a trip to the hospital this late," Bella says, watching Carlisle carefully stitching up the gash across her palm and wrist.
"Oh, especially on New Year's Eve, it would be packed," the doctor chuckles.
They sit in the kitchen, with Bella seated on a bar stool as Carlisle makes quick work of her injury, his hands steady from years of practice in the ER.
Every few seconds, she hears a little plink of glass dropping as the doctor removes shards from her skin.
The beautiful gold decorations throughout the living room, dining area, and kitchen seems so out of place with everyone gone.
She tries her best to focus on his face rather than his hands, for fear that looking at the bloody mess will cause her to faint. She doesn't have a stomach for gore of any kind, even her own.
"I can sure clear out a party fast," Bella comments, remembering how rapidly the other guests had disappeared after the incident. Edward is nowhere to be found, and Rosalie and Emmett had disappeared into the latter's room. Esme, meanwhile, appeared to be tidying up around the house and collecting glasses and dishes from around the space.
"It's not your fault. It's already past midnight, and that's how long these kinds of things last anyway," Carlisle consoles.
"That's easy for you to say."
Bella sees Alice out of the corner of her eye, slinking down the stairs with feline grace. She hands Bella the clothes she had shown up to the house in earlier that afternoon—a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
"Here. Sorry about earlier," Alice says solemnly.
"Don't worry about it. I'm fine. Carlisle got me all patched up," Bella asserts. "Is Jasper okay?"
"He feels really bad about what happened."
"It's not his fault. Tell him it's okay for me, please?"
"I will," she says softly, grabbing a glass out of the cupboard and filling it with water before heading back upstairs just as silently as she came.
Edward returns from the backyard looking serious. He and Emmett had been out there talking for a while after everything happened. He stands beside Bella without saying anything and waits.
"Alright, all finished," Carlisle announces. "You'll likely have some bruising, and it seems like you might have pulled your shoulder when you fell. Take Tylenol as needed for the pain."
"Thanks."
"I'll take you home," Edward says as he stands.
"O-oh, okay," she stammers. She'd thought she would just stay at the house for the night, but maybe not.
He drives her back to Eastlake in silence, and the trip feels much longer than usual.
Once they park, Bella unbuckles her seatbelt and studies his chiseled features and swept-back hair, internally willing him to say something. "Edward."
"What?"
"That's it? Look, I'm sorry I ruined the party. I didn't mean to. Please forgive me."
He gives her a reproachful look. "What do you mean sorry you ruined the party? Forgive you? No, you didn't do anything wrong. Jasper did. Alice did. I did."
"I was the one who fell down and—"
"I shoved you, Bella," Edward says frustratedly. "You got hurt because of me. Again."
Bella shakes her head. "More than anything, I'm embarrassed by how bad my balance is. I'll be good as new in a week or two. What was going on with Jasper and you, though? Did something happen before when I wasn't around?"
Edward sighs. "No. I just don't trust him. He's not safe."
"So you tried to fight him? He always seemed so nice to me," Bella says, chewing her lip in thought. "Are you sure he's like...as bad as you think he is?"
Edward doesn't say anything. He looks very tired. The night's events seem to have taken a toll on him.
Bella grabs her apartment keys out of her pocket. "Okay, so...um, did you want to come up?"
"Not tonight. I'll see you tomorrow."
She'd expected that answer, but it still stung to hear out loud. "Right. Well, good night," she says, getting out of the car.
"Sleep well, Bella."