"I'm bored," Coraline huffed as she placed a card on the tower she and Emmett had been working on for the past two hours.
"You can't give up on me now! We almost have it to the second floor!" Emmett whined.
"Don't y'all do anything, like, fun?"
"This is our fun," Jasper said from the couch, flipping through the television channels.
"Sitting in the house doing nothin'?" Coraline asked with a roll of her eyes, "I'm going to see what Alice is doing."
"But our tower!" Emmett cried.
"Ask Jasper."
"Jazz? Please?"
"Fine," Jasper huffed.
"Hey Alice?" Coraline asked as she gracefully leapt up the flight of stairs.
"What's up?" Alice replied from her room.
"You like to DO things, right? Like, things that don't involve staring at a box or making a tower out of cards?"
"Of course I do," Alice giggled melodically.
"Than what in God's name can we do?" Coraline sighed as she sat on Alice's bed.
"You love me, right Cor?"
"Of course I do, Alice."
"Help me."
"With what?" Coraline asked as she curiously piqued a eyebrow.
"Okay, so, I bought this karaoke machine a few months back, and I've been trying to get everyone to use it..."
"NO ALICE!" Jasper yelled from downstairs.
"SHUSH JAZZ! See what I mean? They are so stubborn. Help me convince them?"
Coraline grinned mischievously.
"What?" Alice asked.
"Let's go. We're going out for a few minutes."
"Where?"
"We'll talk about it in the car," Coraline winked.
"O...kay..."
"Just come on. I'll drive."
"What are you two planning?" Emmett asked harshly as he leaned on the banister and glared at them as they made their way to the door.
"Just go play tower keeper, Emmett. We'll be right back," Coraline smirked.
She didn't say a word to Alice until she knew they were far out of range of the house.
"We're going to the liquor store. And they WILL sing."
"I love you Coraline. Why didn't I think of that?" Alice laughed.
XXX
"Eddie. Start talking. What are they planning?" Emmett asked as he and Jasper cornered him.
"What? Who?"
"Don't be coy with us, Edward. What are the girls plotting?"
"I don't know! I wasn't paying attention!" Edward whined.
"You hear EVERYTHING, Edward. Don't lie to us," Jazz warned.
"I swear I have no idea. I was practicing what Cor showed me earlier..."
"DAMMIT!" Emmett roared, "The one time we need your invasively annoying brain, and it's no use. Go figure."
"Emmett! Watch your mouth!" Esme said from the kitchen, and he rolled his eyes, "Nessie is sleeping upstairs!"
"Hey, what I do has saved us more times than you can count!" Edward retorted.
"Well, it's not helping right now, so I hate it."
"Why does it matter?" Edward shrugged.
"Because it has to do with Alice's karaoke machine," Jasper muttered.
"Fuck," Edward mumbled.
"Edward! I will not tolerate that language in my house!" Esme yelled.
"Sorry!" He yelled back.
"We are so screwed," Emmett whined as he slumped to the floor and put his head in his hands.
XXX
"Whatever your plan is, we are not giving in!" Emmett said sternly as Alice and Coraline walked through the door with their bags.
The girls laughed when they saw Emmett, Jasper, Bella, and Edward standing in a row, glaring at them.
"You don't have to join us," Coraline shrugged with a smile, "We aren't going to force you to do anything. Alice and I are just going to hook it up, have fun singing like idiots, and drink this amazing alcohol by ourselves."
"Drinking what?" Emmett asked as his eyes lit up a little.
"Nothing for you. It's only for karaoke participants," Alice grinned as she skipped to the kitchen.
"Esme? Carlisle? Coraline and I are setting up the karaoke machine. Wanna join?" Alice asked happily, "We have um... drinks."
"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to do one or two," Carlisle said with a smile, "Besides, I haven't heard Cor sing in centuries."
"Sure, why not," Esme said with a smile as they joined Coraline in the living room.
"It's all set, I think," Coraline smiled as she stood up and popped open a bottle of wine.
"Damn you, woman," Emmett grumbled as he sauntered into the living room, "I'm in, alright? I'm in. Now give me a beer."
"Here, Em," she laughed as she opened one and handed it over, "It'll be fun. I promise."
"I'm holding you to that," he said sternly as he took a swig.
"Um, guys? You can drink alcohol?" Bella spoke up.
"Bells."
"Yes, Emmett?"
"We are all WAY over 21. With the exception of you of course. It's fine."
"That's not what I meant, Emmett," she sneered, "What I meant is, it doesn't do anything, right? So why bother?"
"Oh, it does things all right. We can get just as drunk as any human. It just doesn't last as long and takes a whole lot more to do the job. Hence the reason they walked in with three bags a piece. And why most of it is either wine or hard liquor."
"But how... oh nevermind. Screw the schematics," she huffed as she sat in an armchair.
"We're in," Jasper and Edward groaned in unison as they headed for the hard liquor.
"Bells..." Alice nudged.
"No. No way, I don't sing. EVER."
"She'll change her mind," Edward said from the fold-up table.
"So who's first?" Bella asked as she rolled her eyes at her husband.
"It was Alice's idea. And it's her horrid machine. She's first," Emmett said as he force-volunteered her and sat on the couch next to Coraline.
"Fine with me," she smiled.
"You owe me big time," Emmett whispered to Coraline.
"I don't owe you jack. What's that in your hand? Your fourth beer already?"
"Yeah, good point. This still better be worth it," he smiled.
"Why else do you think we bought so much alcohol?" She smirked.
XXX
"See? I told you it was fun!" Coraline jeered as she grabbed a wine bottle and sat on the couch next to Emmett.
They were the only two still downstairs, seeing as Alice and Jasper had gone to their room, Esme and Carlisle were in his office discussing a trip for themselves, and Edward and Bella had brought Renesmee home.
"Yeah, I guess it wasn't too bad," he winked as he finished off the brandy.
"'Wasn't too bad' my ass, you had fun and you know it," she laughed as she playfully punched him in the arm.
"Alright, fine, I had fun. But I'm also quite drunk. Therefore, most things are fun," he laughed as he threw his arm around her.
"Which is why we bought it in the first place, you silly boy," she said as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"I guess having you live here isn't too bad either," he said as he lightly ran his hand through her hair.
"You really don't hate me for moving in?"
"Of course not! Would I be sitting here with you if I hated you?"
"You did say you were quite drunk."
"Not that drunk. And besides, alcohol brings out the truth in me. Always has, always will."
"The truth, huh?" she smiled, "So I could ask you any question at all, and you would tell me the truth?"
"That's not fair, you and Edward are all anti-privacy telepaths! So you would know anyways!"
"I don't do that, Emmett. Sure I slip every now and again, but it's not often. Maybe twice this past few days."
"So you promise you won't use your freak ability, then?"
"No, I won't use my 'freak ability'," she scowled as she smacked him in the chest.
"Ask away then," he laughed.
"Why did you freak out when I first got here?"
"At first, I thought maybe Carlisle was trying to use you to replace... her. And then I noticed you were blonde, and my suspicions grew stronger. But while I was in my room and you were all downstairs, I thought for a little while, tried to gain some rationality, you know? Anyways, I realized it really wasn't fair to you to freak out like that. You're new, and well, you're Carlisle's sister. One he hadn't seen in centuries, nonetheless. So I figured he was just excited about it all."
"I know how it feels to lose a loved one too, Em."
"I know. I'm sorry about that. I don't know how you dealt with it twice, I could hardly take once."
"It was hard, believe me. And a part of me will always love them."
"I hear that."
"So what changed your mind about me?" she tried to lighten the mood as she snuggled into his chest and he wrapped his arm around her tightly.
"Your just one of those people who are great to be around. You're like Emotion Nazi, except it comes naturally with you, so it doesn't irritate me."
"Oh come on, Jazz is not that bad."
"You see, you don't notice, because you're always in a generally good mood. It sucks. You know when you want to be angry just to get it out?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Well, he doesn't fucking let me do that when he's around. Apparently it stresses him out too much, so he goes all facist on me. All I feel is happiness and relief, when in actuality I want break something."
"That does suck," she giggled.
"See? You're always happy. Always easy-going. It's like, I can't help but be happy around you. And it's not forced happiness like with Facist up there. I... I like to be happy when you're around. It... feels nice. No, it feels wonderful. I haven't been happy in a long time. And I know Esme is exuberant to see me smiling."
"Esme is wonderful. I couldn't have found a better person for Car if I had all eternity to search. Which I do," she laughed.
"She loves you," he smiled.
"I hope so," she giggled again.
"Coraline?"
"Yes, Emmett?" she replied as she looked up at him.
"Thank you. For everything."
"Your entirely welcome," she smiled warmly.
"You know, you have the same exact smile as Carlisle," he grin as he ran a finger down her dimpled cheek.
"Well, I hope we look somewhat alike, or I'd have to question my mother's activities," she laughed musically, "What is it they say over here? 'My mother might have slept with the milkman'?"
"Something like that," he chuckled, "But I don't think you have to worry about that. You are Carlisle are too alike for your own good."
"I don't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment," she frowned.
"It's a compliment," he grinned.
"Well thank you then," she said with the tiniest of smiles as she ran her hand over his dark hair.
"You're beautiful," he whispered as he stared at her every movement.
She looked at him blankly with wide eyes, "I... um... I... I uh..."
"You don't need to say anything," he said lightly as he brought her face to his and planted his lips on her own.