When Rosalie wakes up, she is shuffling towards the kitchen when she remembers her guest. She glances over, seeing Eli on her back, feet hanging off the edge of the futon slightly. The woman is still fast asleep, breathing deeply with an arm flung above her head.

So Rosalie tried to make her plunge-coffee as quietly as possible, but her morning peace is shattered when she checked her phone; and saw a message from Royce at 3 AM.

She dials, furious, and taps her foot until he picks up. "Royce! I said no strippers!" Rosalie explodes. "I can't believe you – no, you should have told your stupid frat brothers that I said no strippers! It's entirely your fault! Oh my god, I'm not arguing about how you just don't care what I say!" Rosalie ends the call, letting her phone clatter out of her phone and onto the counter. It isn't satisfying enough. She wishes she had one of those landlines with the curly phone cords to slam into the receiver. A cute pink fluffy rotary dial one with pink crystals on each number hole …

She is snapped out of her thoughts by a shuffling at the door. Eli looks distinctly uncomfortable. "Um, everythin' alright?" the woman says uncertainly.

Rosalie is sure she'd be embarrassed under most circumstances, but in her own sustained anger she feels nothing else. "I have the worst fiance in the history of the world," Rosalie informs her heavily, Eli's eyebrows dart up, though she seems sympathetic. "I'm going to shower. Help yourself." Rosalie mentions vaguely around the kitchen as she goes to her room and tries to calm herself down planning her outfit for today. She's only lucky it was the weekend; she would loathe to be at work in her current mood.

She feels annoyed all over again. Royce was always acting like all of her ultimatums were negotiable. Like his wheedling would ever overcome her stubbornness. To quote the great Cher Horowitz – As if.

Rosalie had already made concessions; they weren't even going for a marriage interview, or to a Catholic church, and her avó had been furious. Nothing else was going to stop her, in her beautiful, couture wedding gown, walking down that goddamn aisle, exactly as she pictured it.

When Rosalie is rinsed and dressed, she feels a hell of a lot more vindictive than when she came in. Eli has changed into a black t-shirt and jeans, and is putting a wet plate on the dish-rack.

Rosalie is momentarily grateful her guest was cleaning up after herself, and grabs her handbag, double-checking she has her keys in there. "You have any plans today?" Rosalie asks her.

When Eli shakes her head, Rosalie beckons her to follow. "Then c'mon; he'll probably come around here to cry and whine at me," she says with a sigh. "Let's go out." After she'd spoken, she realizes how bossy she sounded, and cringes a little as she looks up at Eli.

Before she can add a contrite 'if you'd like' Eli is nodding with a smile. "Okay; I'd like to have a walk." Relieved, Rosalie checks her e-mails as Eli sits on the floor, lacing up her boots.

Eli looks up at her, "What's on the agenda?"

Rosalie huffs as she tucked her phone back in her purse. "Well, I wanted to get my eyebrows done, and I have to pick up a few files my boss decided to do at home," Rosalie explains. "You wanna see where I work?"

"Uh-huh!"

Eli hisses with sympathy as Rosalie gets her brows threaded. "That looks painful!" she says with pity. Rosalie huffs out a laugh in agreement. Eli is sitting on a little stool in the corner as the beauty tech worked.

"Maybe you should try it," Rosalie suggests. Eli immediately disagrees, and, mischievous, Rosalie cajoles her with a high, wheedling tone. "Oh please, please please …."

Eli wrinkles her nose but starts to laugh. "Fine," she relents.

Rosalie motions for the technician to use the tweezers. The tech plucks three hairs in between Eli's eyes, until she begs off with her eyes tearing up.

"What kind of woman can't stand a little plucking?" The technician sniffs with disdain, looking over Eli, with her boots and meaty arms. Eli ducks her head with embarrassment. Rosalie informs the tech briskly that she was ready to pay.

Eli seems a little chagrined at the tech's words, and Rosalie feels bad. She tries a smile and gets a tissue out of her purse. "You were really brave," Rosie teases her, wiping under Eli's eyes. Eli giggles a little, and then clears her throat. Rosalie finds Eli trying to affect a tough upper-lip really endearing.

Rosalie thought the technician's attitude was abysmal, so she doesn't tip, even though she usually does. The tech seems oblivious or overcompensating, being sure to perkily invite them back next time.

"Let's grab something to eat," Rosalie tells her. Eli seems a little quiet, still, so Rosalie slips her hand over Eli's elbow, walking in step with her. Like a couple of girls out shopping. "You wanna pick the place?"

Eli seems cheered by that, leading Rosalie to a small bar.

Rosalie sits in the booth and watches Eli read the menu. This woman was nice, very easy-going, and while she was broad, Rosie noticed that she tucked herself in a lot; clasping her hands in front of her and pulling her shoulders forward when they had to squeeze by another pedestrian, or if there were someone's ratty kids running underfoot. Considerate, Rosalie realizes after a beat, Eleanor was considerate. Rosalie feels a little bad, now that she's cooled off, to have Eli trailing after her.

"Thanks for coming with me, I kind of rushed you."

"It's fine, thanks for taking me out! I haven't got any friends here, so no plans. It's a nice city, though," Eli says cheerfully, beaming up at the waitress as she comes by. It doesn't surprise Rosalie that the woman orders the steak and potatoes with a beer on the side. Rosalie orders the chicken salad and an iced tea.

"Where are you from, again?" Rosalie asks after they hand the menus over. "Memphis?"

"Tennessee, this place called Gatlinburg, in the mountains," Eli corrects her with a shrug.

"Mountains; good skiing there?" Rosalie asks her. Her father took them skiing on their family honeymoon – Jasper usually tromped around for a half-hour in the snow before going back inside.

"When it snows," Eli agrees. "This is the farthest I've ever been from home!" she admits, looking of all things excited, "Guess I'm a hill-billy. I work at a meat-packing plant; supervisor. The second woman to do it."

"That's awesome," Rosalie says, and she really means it.

It seems Eli notices this, and she blushes a little. "What do you do?" she asks quickly. "Why's your boss got work at home?"

Rosalie hums, flipping her hair to the other side to accept her iced tea with a muttered thanks. "I work in shipping, in an auto parts warehouse," Rosalie explains, her sigh gusting through her noisily. "Lots of days on the computer, filling out forms and on the telephone. I only got the job because my father has a friend."

Eli nods. "But that sounds good, family's gotta take care of family," Eli assures her, "My daddy is a mechanic, but he couldn't take me on to the shop because there's not a lot of jobs around."

Rosalie perks up. "So you like cars?" she asks eagerly.

"Not that mechanic; it's mining equipment mostly." Eli explains, scratching the back of her neck. "Though the mine ain't doing so good," she seems down, for just a second, until her bright eyes meet Rosalie's again. "You like cars?"

"Love them," Rosie gushes, "Jasper's mother, my step-mother, her good friend runs an auto-shop in Austin. I go down there to poke around when we visit."

Eli hums at that, nodding slowly. "Jasper and you don't look too alike."

"Yeah, his mom married my dad when we were in middle-school," Rosalie says. There's another pause as they get their food, Eli thanking the waitress with a cheerful 'ma'am', and begin to eat.

"Did you get to be flower-girl?" Eli prompts, "At the wedding?"

Rosalie shakes her head. "Maid-of-honor; Jasper was best man. It was kind of cool; my mamãe passed away six years before that giving birth to my little brother, but he didn't make it either. It was nice having a sibling after so long."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I was young," Rosalie feels embarrassed, just a little, having brought it up, and clears her throat. "I know Jasper's dad died in the Middle East; once he spat on a military recruiter at school. He hates soldiers, but I think 'don't ask, don't tell' kind of made him mad. His mother stays in bed on Veteran's Day; back in Jasper's hometown, they'd try and bring her pie. Widow's pie – he called it."

After that, they both concentrate on their food.

Tanya opens the door, and she's cheerful, but her grand, swanning way. "Rosie! Thank you for coming around on your day off," Tanya trills, leading them both through to the foyer. "Millennials are usually so particular about their days off!"

"Yeah, sure," Rosalie mutters, glancing around and hoping she wasn't about to see some dude's random dong. Tanya was usually so particular about taking home male models.

Tanya points out the dark brown box on her coffee table. "It's just this one," she says, and mentions to Eli, "Maybe your friend can carry it for you; he seems strong."

"Not a he, but okay."

Eli steps over and picks the box up easily; it wasn't particularly big, and Rosalie probably could have done it herself. She felt a stab of worry as Eli's face remains seemingly calm.

Tanya, though, laughs loudly. "Oh, I'm sorry, I couldn't tell."

Rosalie ushered Eli out the door in front of her "Thanks Tanya!" Rosalie chirps, "I'll be sure not to tell George you took documents off the premises."

"Oh my god, don't even joke!" Tanya teases at the door as she waves them off. "He'll kill me!"

Rosalie watches Eli tuck the box into the back seat, and they climb into the car in silence. As Rosalie drives towards work, she makes a squeaking noise that annoys even her. "Sorry about Tanya," Rosalie says, feeling a little pathetic, and angry that she was pathetic. "I would have said something, but she's my boss …."

But Eli shakes her head, rueful, if anything. "It's fine, nuthin' I hadn't heard before," she says quietly, but it makes Rosalie sad. Suddenly, Eli's face lights up, and she reaches up and turns up the radio. Island In The Stream crooned louder. "Oh, I love this song!" Eli says excitedly, "I had a big crush on Dolly Parton when I was a little girlie."

Rosalie finds herself smiling as Eli wiggles in her seat, dancing to the music. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Eli gasps, her eyes wide and bright, "She's everything I want; always dressed, looking all dolled up! I used to sing Kenny Rodgers' parts and wait for Dolly to sing back to me!"

"That's adorable," Rosalie tells her honestly. And it did sound cute to her. Rosalie thought back to her own crushes. Her first had been Leo in Titanic, obviously. After that she got caught up in Gossip Girl and all her friends thought the boys were so sexy. They'd squeal over them in high school.

Rosalie pulls up to the staff parking lot, and Eli agrees to come up. It's a big monster of a building. Rosalie parks underground, but Eli asks nicely to take the stairs, as the elevator was a dinky thing and that made her nervous.

Rosalie feels bad about how sorry Eli seemed, the big woman insisting on carrying the box too, so they both took the stairs three flights up to where Rosalie worked. Where it was all computers and desk-jockeying.

The actual trip is pretty quick, though; Rosalie drops off the files in secret, while Eli wanders. She comments that the pot plant needed watering, and that their Christmas party flier was crooked. Rosalie glanced over to see Eli carefully repining it straight and nodding to herself when she was finished.

Jasper has the cocktail shaker out when they get back in the later afternoon. Its presence makes Rosalie bite back a smile – there is only one person in the world that Jasper's willing to make cocktails for. "You two have fun?" he asks them cheerfully as they walk in.

"Yes," Eli calls as she unties her boots, "your sister showed me around!"

"Cool," a voice chirps as the bathroom door closes. Archibald Cullen saunters up to them, grinning widely as Rosalie throws an arm around his shoulders. "She can take you to all the boring places, and tonight we'll take you to all the gay places!" Archie tells Eli, who looks down at the little man with a bemused smile.

"Hi Eleanor, I'm Archie!" He sticks out a hand, and they shake. "My man's already told me all about you!" he adds, throwing a wink over to Jasper.

Eli nods, and Rosalie was sure Jasper had already regaled her about his guy within probably the first five minutes they met. "Nice ta meet you!" she says. "The Mississippi Man!"

"My Mississippi man," Jasper agrees quietly, kissing Archie exactly when he proffers his cheek, and hands him something vaguely blue.

Rosalie is wandering to the kitchen to inspect the alcohol laid out on the counter. "Clubbing?" she questions, and claps her hands with excitement. "I wanna come," she declares – it had been ages since she'd been out.

Jasper scoots past her to get beers, and hands one to Eli as she asks him what they wore out in the city, and Jasper tells her she'd be fine just as she is.

"Thought you had to ask Royce first," Archie teases. "Isn't that what he said? When you were picking out your bouquet?" Archie prompts, putting a finger on his chin, his voice high as though he was just oh-so-innocently wondering aloud.

Rosalie looks uneasily at Jasper's suddenly stony expression, and feels a flicker of annoyance. No doubt Jasper was going to harp on her about this later.

Rosalie puts her hands on her hips. "He did tell me that, and, if you'll recall," she says, clipped, "I told him where to shove it."

Archie dissolves into a peal of giggles, but Jasper still has a tightness around his mouth that Rosalie will be very clear she expects Archie to sex away later.

But for now, Archie has red cheeks and a big grin on, as he slaps her ass. "Get dressed and get the whiskey!"

They end up in a dirty little apartment party. Rosalie didn't fully remember the name of the host, or their connection to them. Someone Jasper knew from his stage tour.

Archie is regaling the group of flared-jeans-and-crop-tops on the couch about a hilarious moment of homophobia.

"– I was like really, bitch? Really? In a theater? Surrounding by ballerinas? The dumbest shit ever!" he declares, and the group rally in a cheer.

Rosalie notices that Eli is still nursing the same beer from almost an hour ago.

"What's up?" Rosalie asks her, thumbing back to the kitchen. "Did it get warm? I'll get you another," she offers, mostly because she isn't crazy about sitting on a stained ottoman and wants to stretch her legs. She feels very much like she'd wasted her skin-tight red midi-dress on this hipster-parade – and it was infuriating to be over-dressed when everyone else went casual.

But Eli only shrugs lightly, "I gotta be careful about what I drink – I have the doctor's tomorrow."

Rosalie's brows climb into her hairline, and she sucks in a sharp breath. "That's right! I'm sorry, I forgot!" Rosalie frowns, "Are you tired? When's the appointment? Where?"

"Don't be bossy, Dutch," Jasper's voice carries over to them as he steps up to them both. He smiles in the easy way he did when he's sufficiently liquored up.

Rosalie frowns for a different reason, feeling that sting of embarrassment that would usually cause her to explode. But she ignores her brother and looks to Eli.

Eli only raises a hand flat and tilts it side-to-side. So-so. Rosalie gets up, shoving her brother on the leg as she does under the pretense of getting the room to stand.

"I'll take you back – this isn't clubbing," she points out testily, holding out her hand expectantly.

Jasper laughs lightly, but he crosses his arms. "No one ever said that," he reminds her, making her scowl all the harsher, as he takes his time reaching into his pocket and fishing out his keys. He drops them into her hand. "Come pick us up later."

Rosalie takes Eli's arm and throws a brittle smile at who she thought was the host.

"Get an Uber!" she throws over her shoulder at her brother as she marches down the front steps of the house.

Jasper follows after them, murmuring something to the host that made them laugh. The fact that Rosalie has a pretty good idea that he's muttered some excuse for her makes her even more annoyed. She doesn't care about this party and she doesn't care about the host. Let them think whatever they want.

Eli herself looks vaguely startled, but keeps stride with Rosalie quite easily.

"Eli – you'll come pick us up, won't you?" Jasper calls out the front door after them.

"Yeah, of course man," Eli perks up, nodding eagerly, though she throws an uncertain look at Rosalie when she grunts in frustration. She throws up her hands – knowing Jasper is relying on the fact that Rosalie would feel guilty sending Eli out in the night on unfamiliar streets.

"Fine, I'll come get you!" she snaps, ignoring Jasper wiggling his index finger at them in goodbye.

She extremely miffed as she marches to the beat-up truck Jasper drove them here in – the one covered with dorky slogan stickers thanks to Archie.

"The amount of times he brings me places just to get a designated driver!" she huffily exclaims as she climbs into the drivers seat.

Eli looks mildly contrite. "I wouldn't mind driving," she says softly.

Her demure attitude makes Rosalie pause. She feels a little put-out – she didn't want Eli to think she was a massive cow or anything. She already felt slightly insulted by the idea that Eli would even think that. "I like driving," she admits as she starts the car up, "I'm just being a bitch."

"I could have guessed," Eli says, and Rosalie snaps her head to the side to glare at the woman who just agreed she was a bitch. But Eli only grins, adding, "you did say you like cars."

Rosalie relaxes, huffs out a laugh realizing Eli had purposefully made it seem like she wasn't agreeing with the first half of what she said.

Her brother's beat-up car slunk them through the streets, still alive and bustling at any hour of the night. Rosalie inches forward in the heavy traffic. "… I didn't mean to be pushy," she says at last, "You could have stayed if you wanted to."

Eli laughs lightly. "But you seem to like choosing where I go, Rosalie," she says, but it irks Rosalie that the woman didn't assure her it was fine, and acknowledge the closest thing to an apology Rosalie could give comfortably.

"Stop making fun of me," she says, lightly but firmly, and Eli nods lightly, raising a hand for a moment as though to physically push the air between them. Rosalie realizes she still sounded like a bitch, "please." she adds heavily, and when Eli laughs at her a little she decides to let her.

They drive for a little longer, and Rosalie finds herself a little uncertain as to where she's landed on the Bitch Scale. "You can call me Dutch, if you want."

"I would have told you if I didn't like it, Dutch," Eli says, and there's still that constant cheer in her voice that Rosalie finds so very comforting. "It's because you're too pretty – surely everyone wants to give you what you want."

That makes Rosalie laugh harshly. "I wish!" she declares, grinning at the other woman, "You're so smart, Eli – you're right, that's what everyone should do."

They part ways at home, getting ready for bed in their own separate rituals. Knowing she'd have to go and get Jasper and Archie later, Rosalie wears her semi-bed-clothes – her pajama suit with her Chenille wrap robe with moon and stars on it. Her step-mother gave it to her because they'd bonded over re-runs of The Nanny.

After her shower, Rosalie opts for a sheet mask instead of moisturizing – to better keep herself awake and ready.

She ends up watching make up tutorials online for the better part of a few hours before Jasper texts for a lift.

Rosalie opens her door quietly, conscience of Eli on the couch. She'd turned the living room lights off, and Rosalie's eyes were taking their time adjusting to the dark. "Hey – are you awake?" she hisses into the air.

Blinking a few times more, Rosalie can make out the glow of Eli's phone screen lighting up her face, as she looks at Rosalie. "No, what's up?" Eli asks, smiling a little.

Rosalie huffs once, "Jasper texted me for a pick-up," she explains so Eli would know why she was leaving, shuffling towards her keys, and the front door.

Eli swings her legs over the couch and gets to her feet. "Can I come with?" she asks, her tone as quiet as Rosalie's had been, "I like night driving."

"Me too," Rosalie murmurs, and Eli follows her out the door. Rosalie offers Eli her phone to pick out the music, and Eli gingerly swipes around the screen. After Rosalie has glanced over enough times to see her increasingly-befuddled expression, Eli admits that she still uses CDs in her own car.

"Big red pick-up?" Rosalie guesses.

Eli laughs, throwing her head up, "Almost! White flatbed." That makes Rosalie laugh as well.

It's nice, Rosalie decides, driving with Eli in the passenger seat. She's a good passenger – Royce liked to give her directions that were never right, and blast white rap, which always embarrassed her.

Eli was quiet, she smiles when Rosalie glances to the right to turn. She ended up figuring out how to use Spotify, and Rosalie meets Eli's gaze with knowing amusement when Dolly Parton starts humming through the speakers.

Rosalie was at a red light when Eli jolts so hard in her seat that her Range rocks. "W-wait – over there!" she says, scrabbling for her seat-belt.

Rosalie feels her own shoulders shoot up to her ears in reactive panic, looking out Eli's window into the street. "What? What?"

Rosalie sees a group of men, all wearing white shirts and black pants, huddling in a loose circle on the sidewalk. They looked like waiters on break, animatedly arguing about something, though Rosalie was relatively sure it wasn't going to escalate.

But Rosalie couldn't spot what exactly had so alarmed Eli. The light turns green but Rosalie doesn't move – there was no one behind them and she looks carefully as Eli sucks in big deep breaths, before letting them gush out of her. "… No, it's … sorry," Eli mutters, and Rosalie uncertainly continues down the road, going a bit slower to better keep on eye on Eli. It was obvious the big woman was doing her best to calm herself down. "Um, I'm sorry."

"… Are you okay?" Rosalie asks after a while, when Eli wasn't breathing so loudly. "I think they were all friends, or something …." she offers, glancing at the woman.

Eli nods a little, scrubbing a hand over her face. She had her black durag on, and the movement dislodged it, so the woman whipped it off her head. "Yeah, no … it happened to me," Eli explains quietly, looking out the passenger window. "They beat me, a group of them, threw me into the dumpster …."

Rosalie gasps, and immediately sucks her lips in behind her teeth to suppress it. Eli has her face fully turned to the window, and Rosalie couldn't even begin to guess at her expression. "My god, I'm so sorry …." she murmurs, feeling very inadequate.

Eli shrugs, and she turns from the window, and Rosalie is mostly relieved that her eyes were dry, though very sad. "It was years ago."

They finish the drive in silence. Rosalie finds that when she doesn't know what to say, she simply stays silent. But Eli doesn't seem to mind, she wraps her hair again and looks patient as Rosalie texts Jasper that they had arrived. Neither of them were willing to go and fetch the couple in their pajamas.

Archie and Jasper make their merry way to the car just fine on their own. Archie's dense dancer form means that he was perfectly capable of carrying his much longer boyfriend mostly over his shoulders and stuff him into the backseat.

Jasper beams at his sister, his teeth vaguely blue. "Duchess!" he declares, "I won beer pong!"

Both Rosalie and Eli laugh at him and his obvious excitement, while Archie looks much more vexed.

"Oh, it wasn't!" Archie replies, managing to get their seat-belts on so Rosalie can take them away. Jasper ends up buckled into the middle seat, something he would have normally abhorred, but he was too busy trying to shove himself through the driver and passenger seat and reach Rosalie's phone to change the music.

"Stop that!" Rosalie snaps at him, slapping his hand down.

"They just poured Gordon's and Gatorade into a bucket and he drank it, he's disgusting!" Archie continues in a shrill voice, grabbing Jasper's shoulder and pulling him safely back into his seat. "It's a wonder why I'll ever kiss you again!"

Rosalie can see Jasper's love-drunk and real-drunk grin at his boyfriend, curled around him as he was. "But you will," the cowboy croons, almost sounding like he's gloating.

"Of course I will," Archie snorts dismissively, "what else would I want to do?"

Thought I lost this, but I didn't, and someone was so nice as to send me an ask about it! So here is another installment!