A/N: OMG! Just found out this morning that this story won the Silent Tear award for best All Human against a bunch of ExB stories with reviews in the thousands. Thanks so, SO much to everyone who voted!! I love all of your faces!! *school girl blush* Now, remember I love you guys! Don't hurt me! *cowers*
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"I can't Leah. I...I can't just up and leave the start of a practice. Tell her I'm sorry."
Emmett turned his back on her and started towards the field. The previously scattered players were now all huddled around the coach as he made large hand gestures and shouted the occasional derogatory remark. She was beginning to feel desperate. It was only with Emmett standing before her did she realise just how badly this could end.
This feeling was familiar, she remembered it well. She had thought Sam's rejection of her was the closest she had ever come to dealing with a broken heart. She knew now that it was nowhere near as bad as watching Jacob turn his back on her for Bella. And there she found her motivation. She wasn't sure if it was the sleep deprivation, the thought of Jacob being with Bella that very minute, or a combination of the two, but she was about to resort to the only thing she knew got results. She was going to give him hell.
"If you can't be a man about this and make it right then she deserves better than you- and I'm more than happy to assist her with that."
His head span back around as his eyebrows furrowed together.
"What?" He asked, caught off guard by her brashness. It seemed he wasn't used to being spoken to in such a way.
"You heard me. This is the perfect thing to get her to stop thinking about you once and for all. Maybe now when I take her out she'll actually keep one of those numbers she gets instead of just pretending to put them in her phone."
"You guys go out together...to pick up?"
She didn't. If he knew her any better he'd be laughing by now. Her mouth was on auto-pilot though so she ran with it.
"Sometimes, I'm more of a wingman myself- not that she needs help. Guys try it on at every opportunity with us so it's not like we go out with the intention of hooking up...technically."
He was starting to get pissed, so she kept going.
"She's given out a few freebies, I mean, you did leave the girl on her own. She's only human, you know?"
Okay Leah, you're taking this a little far now. Reel it back in. Her common sense advised her, unfortunately a little late. He looked like he was two seconds away from becoming the incredible hulk.
" Leah, you can't expect that you guys are just going to show up out of nowhere and tell me, as Rosalie's new 'bff', that she's been sleeping her way around while I haven't been able to look at another girl. What do you think is going to happen here because I'm sure as hell not going to open up my arms and hope she comes running into them?!"
She mentally slapped herself across the face.
Told you it was too far, good work. Enough with the games.
"God, you're a dipshit. She hasn't been whoring herself out to anyone- I was just exaggerating slightly. She's a beautiful girl and she could have any guy in the State with little more than a flirtatious smile. The problem here is that she's completely stuck on you."
He remained silent for a moment before speaking. "So...she hasn't been with anyone else?"
"No. Not yet anyway."
He turned to look back at his teams practice once more.
"You guys went about this the wrong way, you know?"
"I'm starting to see that, yes."
"Fuck it. Jasper can cover for me. I need to at least talk to her."
His agreement to speak with Rosalie sent a wave of relief through her body. She wanted to grab him and throw her arms around him for finally making the right decision.
Wow, I really do need sleep.
Instead she settled for a small head nod and a calm response. "Thanks for this Emmett. You're doing the right thing."
He lifted one side of his mouth "Yeah, yeah, yeah..."
As casual as he was trying to be she heard him attempting to control his breathing, which was getting more and more shallow with each step. As they neared the car Rose got out and he cleared his throat to hide the way his breath hitched upon seeing her.
Leah had no idea why she felt nervous, but she couldn't help it. In her vulnerable state it would do her good to have some of her faith in romance restored. It would also do her more harm than it was worth to watch this fall apart. She really hoped it wouldn't come to that.
They stood facing one another, both hesitant to make the first move. It was Emmett who broke the silence.
"Hey." He said.
"Hi." She replied.
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The four hour car ride home had been interesting, to say the least. The two former lovers sat in the back while Leah drove and tried as hard as she could to not get involved. She found out fast that would be impossible. There were heartbroken words followed by bitter ones followed by shouting. Lots and lots of shouting. Expletives, hurtful accusations, apologies and then more fighting. At one point there was a threat to jump out of the moving car and at another the threat to push the other out.
Both threats were made by Leah of course but that was beside the point.
After the first three hours, came the breakthrough. There was nothing else that could possibly be said as the three sat in silence. Every argument and rebuttal had been rehashed at least twice and the conclusion left Emmett begging Rose to forgive him. Leah's sanity was doing cartwheels when it became apparent that they had finally found their way.
Then came the touching and the kissing and she put her foot down on the gas as hard as she could.
An hour's drive was condensed into forty minutes, and she was glad to be out of the car. Then she could hear the TV at full volume even before she stuck the key in her front door and the dull headache she had acquired on the drive home began to throb. Upon entering she could see both Seth and Edward seated upon her couch, their thumbs moving furiously as they duelled one another as large samurai sword wielding warriors. Edward had a trail of food wrappers and empty bottles littered around him in a circle.
She should have known Seth would befriend the stranger who had fallen asleep on her couch early this morning. It was just his nature. He got that from their dad. She wished that he would be occasionally more distrusting but it just wasn't in him. Thankfully she wasn't so welcoming. Slamming the door behind her, she cleared her throat loudly. Seth turned and dropped the controller, getting to his feet.
"Hey Lee!" He said, glancing at the mess around Edward guiltily. "I didn't think you would be home yet."
"Seth!" Edward shouted "It's no fun beheading you if you're not paying attention."
Leah picked up the controls and turned down the volume on the TV. Edward started to groan at the volume meter that flashed up on the right hand side of the set, still not turning his head around to acknowledge her entrance.
"That's really distracting you know." He moaned. She turned off the TV entirely.
"So is that, I suppose?"
A stream of expletives left his mouth that left Leah with her jaw open.
"Edward! Watch your mouth in someone else's home, and pick up your mess. Who do you think is going to do it for you?" Rose scolded him. He leaned back and groaned before beginning to collect the trash around him, just as his sister had requested. Leah found it strange that for someone so seemingly disrespectful, he was so willing to allow Rose to act as the one authority figure in his life.
It said more to her about the state of his family life than any question she could ask.
"Fucking nazi…" He mumbled; just get the last word in. Rose glared at him and he moved a little faster.
"I would offer you something to eat but I think we're out of food." Leah added while looking at the empty food wrappers Edward was slowly cleaning up.
"No, we cooked!" Edward said.
Seth punched him in the arm. "I cooked, you ate."
"You cooked Seth?" Leah asked. Between her head and the events of the day, the last thing she wanted was to be in the kitchen, although she was starving.
"Yeah, well, I wanted to do what I could for ya Lee's. It's not as good as your stuff but together we made a pretty alright chilli."
Sometimes, very very rarely, she wondered if she possibly had the best little brother in the world. Although those words would never leave her mouth she hoped that a real, heartfelt smile would let him know just how much she appreciated him.
"Thanks Seth. Really."
"You're welcome." He beamed.
She turned around to both Emmett and Rose. "You guys want to eat or did you want some space? If so, you can always head out to the backyard. We have a sitting area where you two could be alone."
Edward finally looked up long enough to see that Emmett was standing behind Rose in the doorway.
"What the fuck is this? I don't want him alone with my sister. His punk ass doesn't deserve her!"
"Nice to see you're still a dick Edward."
"Nice to see you still don't have one Emmett."
Emmett started to crack the knuckles on his right hand. He looked as if he was about ready to punch Edward in the face. Leah tried to remember if Rose had said they were friends at one point or not. If she had it certainly didn't look that way now. Regardless, the last thing she wanted was a fight breaking out.
"Shut up Edward, please. I'm tired as hell and I really can't deal with your bickering right now." She barked at him.
Seth punched him in the arm his jaw dropped as he brought his hand up to rub the fresh, red mark.
"Don't make my sister upset."
She smiled at her brother once again. Something that he always returned with a flash of his own pearly whites.
"We'll take your offer to talk out the back Leah." Rose said. Her hand was tight within Emmett's one, their fingers entwined. As they started walking towards the back door Rose turned her head to Leah and mouthed the words "Thank you".
It was at times like this that she was glad the soppy, romantic, fifteen-year old she once was was still alive somewhere inside of her. She couldn't be happier for Rose, and Emmett seemed a valuable alley.
Now all she had to do was to try to stop wondering what time Jake meant by "tomorrow night" when they had last spoken the previous day. She also had to try and stop thinking about the fact he was with that manipulative bitch Swan who was possibly carrying his child.
She needed to just stop thinking all together.
After an hour of reheating and eating, washing up and putting dishes away, she was left to spend another two hours hanging with the two boys. They each flicked through the channels on the hunt for something that would occupy their minds but with no luck. Edward was glancing at the backdoor, watching protectively for his sister. Leah wanted to laugh. He was half Emmett's size. If they were in a fight, Edward wouldn't be walking away.
Seth also seemed to have a lot on his mind as he spent the evening trying to make sure Leah was comfortable and offering to watch some of her favourite movies with her. She hated that whenever he looked at her there was an apology in his eyes and she hoped that he didn't think this was in any part his fault. Sadly, she knew that through her own pain, Sam had subsequently taken some of Seth's innocence with him, and she hated both him and Bella even more for it.
She yawned for about the fourth time in as many minutes and Seth offered, for the hundredth time, to sit with her while she fell asleep. She declined his offer yet again. She was waiting up for Jake and although it was getting near midnight, he still had time. Swan was probably keeping doing what she could to keep him from her but she knew that he would make it. He had promised after all and a promise between them meant more than any leftover feelings he may still have for Bella Swan.
She hoped.
Seth yawned himself this time.
"Seth, you should get some sleep."
Edward turned his head towards her with a serious look on his face.
"You look like you need more sleep than he does Leah."
"Thanks Ed, but you can just shut up. It's past your bedtime. You can stay in Seth's room tonight if you want."
"He doesn't sleep Lee. He had what I would call a nap this morning and he thinks he's still going strong."
"I am. I'm not big on sleeping."
"Neither." Leah lied. Before the nightmares she was always an eight-hours-a-night girl.
Seth's forehead wrinkled at her words but his scowl was destroyed as he yawned again.
"I'm sorry to do this too you Lee but I really need some sleep. I'm wiped. Emmett and Rosie are outside and Edward here, he'll take care of you...right Ed?"
Edward saluted him "Of course I will, boss."
He raised an eyebrow at him before kissing her lightly on the forehead. "Night Lee. "
"Night Seth."
"Good night, Ed." He said more as a warning than a farewell.
Edward waved it off and moved over a little closer to Leah as he settled further into the couch. She knew he was moving closer to get a better view of the backdoor.
"They'll come in when they're ready Edward."
He looked as if he was about to pretend he hadn't been staring at the doorway when he just gave up and moved back to where he had previously been sitting.
"I just don't like it. That guy completely broke her heart. You should have seen her. She shouldn't just let him off the hook for something like that."
"Well, firstly, they've been talking for close to nine hours now. She's far from letting him off lightly- I heard that for myself on the car ride home. And secondly, how can you be such a hypocrite?"
"What do mean? I didn't break anyone's heart and leave them to pick up the pieces on their own."
He was getting worked up, she could hear it in his tone. She decided to be delicate with her next question.
"What I mean is, how could you continue to shack up with Swan after you found out about her screwing your dad?"
Well, delicate for her. His mouth opened and nothing came out.
"Edward? I'm honestly curious. I don't get how you could be with her knowing that she has done what she is doing to you with your father."
"Well, if you finally manage to score Jake then he'll be doing the things he's done with Bella to you so..."
"What do you mean 'score Jake'? Jacob is just a friend of mine." She lied again. But he didn't know that she wanted Jake in that sense so she was curious as to why he would ask a question like that. He backtracked quickly enough to make her feel uneasy about the question.
"Sorry, I just assumed from the way you talk about the guy. Everyone always wants Mr. Perfect...I just figured you were the same."
"What kind of answer was that?" She said out loud. He looked a little worried.
Then the phone rang and her heart stopped. The only person calling at this time of night would be her Jake. He was late- very very late- but at least he was calling. She ran over to answer it a little too fast.
"Ja...ah- Hello?"
"Leah?! Oh, thank God you're home. Look, you need to get out of there now."
The voice wasn't Jakes. It was similar but not his. The words were too fast, too frenzied, and it took her a second to process what they were saying.
"Get. The. FUCK. Out of there!"
"Huh? Paul, is that you?"
"Yes Leah, look- you only have minutes."
"Slow down and tell me what you're talking about!" She begged.
"What's going on?" Edward asked. He could hear Paul's yelling through the receiver from where he was sitting.
"Leah, were you Port Angeles tonight? At a party with Bella Swan?"
"No... I've been here with Seth and Edward Cullen."
"Look- Bella is in the hospital."
"She's what? How?"
Edward was sitting fully upright now, leaning in towards Leah.
"She was beaten up pretty badly this evening and they're monitoring her for internal bleeding. Leah, she lost the baby."
"Holy shit..." She locked eyes with Edward but it seemed he didn't catch that last part of the conversation. "What?" he mouthed confusion all over his face.
"Where were you tonight?" Paul asked.
"I was home with Seth and some friends, why?"
"Are you sure that's your story?" He said, sadly. He seemed to be looking for a tighter alibi.
"Why Paul?!"
"Because, Bella is accusing you of putting her in the hospital and Charlie wants your blood. He's on his way over to arrest you now. I shouldn't be talking to you about this but you need to get out of there as soon as you can. If you try and make your way to....."
He continued to speak but his words ran together in a stream of incoherency. The last thing she saw was a bright white light before her head connected with the floor.
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