Cooper colours a portion of the duck before him green, his tongue out focused on the work. What was a glass of wine beside me is empty, the dance floor filled with joy.
I'd met Cooper this morning, and since he'd quickly become my bestie. He was everything Edward had explained and more.
Rosalie hadn't been invited tonight. It was complicated for Emmett to explain, and Rose had completely understood. Tonight she's at home planning out lingerie for Emmett's goodbye. They hadn't done the deed yet, but Rosalie wasn't going to let him head home without it. I'd honestly never seen her so smitten with someone. Normally she plays it pretty cool.
Their date had gone extremely well. He made up 80% of her conversations over the past few days. Even a conversation about the bread being mouldy turned into Emmett. It was sweet. But with Cooper here now I knew Rosalie would adore him.
I'd also briefly met Edward's parents but they'd been busy with Alice. They promised to come say hello eventually. Alice I'd only seen briefly. She was making her way around the room thanking guests, stealing kisses from her new handsome groom.
They were the perfect couple. Jasper was tall, blonde and wore a cowboy hat the whole reception. He tipped it when greeting people. Alice was the perfect bride. Her beautiful dress flowed around her. She was a living and breathing Snow White.
Edward and Emmett disappeared to the bar a little while ago. Both of them asking me if I was fine to watch Cooper about fifty times like it was a burden. Cooper had quickly become my bestie. He was drawn to me. Constantly smiling at me, moving to me to chat. He'd begged Emmett to switch seats so he could be beside me.
"Green goes well, Cooper," I say.
"That's blue," he looks at me confused.
"It's green," I shake my head picking up a blue crayon," this colour is blue."
"Oh," he looks at the crayon in my hand before taking it, "is that your favourite?"
"My favourite is purple," I scan the table before I find and pick up a purple one.
He takes it from me and grins.
"I'll colour in this picture purple just for you," he reaches out for a fresh page before him and gets to work excitedly.
"Woah, even Picasso had limits," Emmett places a wine before me, that I'd asked Edward to grab me, ruffling his son's hair, "is that picture for me?"
"No," he shakes his head, "it's Bella's."
Edward takes his seat beside me, facing me rather than the table.
"You okay?" He asks.
"I'm having a beautiful time," I nod, "your family is so beautiful."
"They think the same about you," he leans in, "my mother invited you to breakfast tomorrow. You can meet them better once there's no formalities of a wedding. She just tapped me on the shoulder to tell me you're stunning. Then she got pulled away by some aunt of Jasper's."
"Oh wow," I bite my lip, "that's exciting."
"Coops will be there too," Edward nudges his nephew softly across me.
"Uncy Ed," he looks at his uncle, "this picture is for Bella."
"Oh so it needs to be perfect," Emmett muses, "write your name in the corner for her."
He leans into the page more, as if the two men are breaking his focus.
"You look incredible tonight you know," Edward captures my attention again.
Rosalie had let me borrow a dress from one of her designer friends. It was emerald green, strapless and tight in the right places. My hair was in a loose bun with curls falling from it.
"Thanks," I flush slightly, "it's your sister who looks amazing. Her dress is incredible."
"She is beautiful," he nods glancing at her.
He catches her eye and she waves at him. Using his hand he motions her to come here. She nods, respectfully waving off the guest who had her attention for a fair bit of time. Alice waltzes over quickly before anyone can grab her and moves to stand beside Edward's chair.
"Jesus they don't stop coming up to hug and ask about the honeymoon. I just want to go bang my husband," she mutters.
"Alice," Emmett glares are her, before glancing at his son, who is still colouring away.
Ignoring him she faces me, a large smile on her face.
"You must be Bella," she gasps, "you're sensational. How on this planet did you get this woman to fall for your stupid space shit?"
Edward's turn to glare.
"Hey," I smile up at her, "you're the sensational one. You look absolutely beautiful. Your wedding has been beautiful. Thank you for having me here."
"It's my pleasure," she places a hand on my shoulder leaning forward to hug me from behind, "you are more than welcome here. You have made him disgustingly happy. Anytime you text he gets this dumb grin."
"I do not," Edward rolls his eyes.
"Liar," Alice smacks her brother playfully, "he practically drools. Now I see why."
"She is pretty great," Edward smiles at me, "Mother invited her tomorrow morning."
"I was about to do just that," Alice nods, "you must give me your number. We can get coffee while this dork goes and star treks."
"Done!" Cooper exclaims patting my shoulder for my attention.
I turn to look at him, his picture proudly held up before him.
The entire page is purple.
"Wow," I gasp, "this is beautiful. You're so talented."
Cooper proudly looks back at his father, checking he heard my compliment too. Emmett nods reassuringly at him.
"I'm going to put this on my fridge at home if that's okay with you?" I ask.
Cooper bounces in his chair, gazing up at me excitedly.
"You didn't write your name?" Emmett offers.
"I did it in purple," Cooper points at a section of the page, his name scribbled over with the same shade of purple.
"It's fantastic," I chide, "Thank you so much for this."
"Would you like to dance with me?" Edward takes the picture from my hands, placing it gently on the table.
"I told you I sucked at dancing," I say.
"It's just swaying to romantic songs. Come on," he stands up, pulling me up beside him, "I'm not, not going to slow dance with the girl I'm dating at my sister's wedding."
As he walks me to the dance floor, I grow more and more bashful with each step. Something about him makes me nervous. But when he takes me in his arms, framing me like a picture, it slips away. We move together slowly swaying among the other couples dancing.
"I am trying to memorise every second with you," He says, "I'm trying my hardest to woo you so when I leave you will want this as bad as I do. I hate that I need to go. If this was a normal thing, we'd date long distance and I'd fly here every other month."
"I know," I smile, "You don't need to worry. There's no long line of men waiting for you to leave."
"That I truly don't believe," he shakes his head, "You're a total catch."
Leaning in, I place a soft kiss on his cheek.
"I'll miss you. I missed you while you were in LA," I admit, "It's crazy. We've only been on like a handful of dates. But I feel it too and I wouldn't dare throw it away because you're chasing stars. It's an opportunity."
"Come to LA next weekend for the week? See if your boss will let you?" he offers.
"I can work from LA," I know my boss won't have an issue with it, "Can I bring Rose?"
My boss had been in the back of my mind all night. But tonight was so beautiful - I was scared to wreck it. I'd tell him tomorrow.
"Of course," Edward smiles, "I have a place in Palm Springs. We can have a relaxing, romantic weekend before I head away. A last little hurrah."
"Okay," I nod excitedly, "That would be fun."
"We can lounge by the pool, go to dinners. Just let me bask in the company of the people I care about and will miss most, all in the one spot," Edward looks down at me.
"We're in," I smile.
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