Heyyy!! You guys are seriously so, so awesome, my heart tries to jump out of my throat every time I'm reading your reviews! So happifying! Thanks a million for telling me your favourite stories too, I really appreciate it. Now I think I'll have something to do other than downloading songs from iTunes!
And the reviewers are:
ForeverWasteAway, tthrai01, edwardluva234, edwardsfavouriteflavour, twilightbell17, GinnyBrown is here and now, laibballfan, Child-Of-God13, FrEvrNvrLasts, LookAfterMyHeart, AlwaysAround888, Grillllz, Kevin the Cornbread Slice, x-aly-x, okiegirlforever, Music ADD, jake.n.ash.n.edward, HarvestEclipse31, Rommy (x2), twilightaddict26, musicormisery4105, chrissyhale, CrazZy-BunNy, Bethany Knight, mrsjacobblack91, xx Phyre xx, Ghosts in the Snow, 143twilighter, Screams-At-Midnight, BellaAtHeart, booknerd14, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, bedwardforever, Princess-Tinkerbelle, Bellefire253, books and bojangles, joellen818, cullenVSblack, Intoxicated By His Presence, vampiressuck.
Special Mentions:
The people who were right about who the mystery woman in the reception area was were: LookAfterMyHeart, twilightaddict26, Bethany Knight, xx Phyre xx, Screams-At-Midnight, joellen818.
ForeverWasteAway: Thanks so much for reviewing! I mean, just to make the effort to go and PM me 'cos your reviewing button isn't working... I feel very special just from such a gesture! And thankyou for complimenting my grammar/writing skills, I love to read gramatically correct fanfics so I work to make sure mine are easy to read before I post them. It's nice to hear that someone notices :-D and yeah, Jake is awesome!
tthrai01: You'll find out whether Jake's changing or not in this chapter :-)
twilightbell17: Aww, thankyou so much! It's great to hear your like my story :-D and to find AlwaysBettingOnAlice's story, have a look at the author's note at the beginning of the last chapter. Thanks for reviewing!
LookAfterMyHeart: Lol, thanks, the Aussie flag is awesome! So awesome, in fact, that New Zealand copied it and changed the white bits to red! Silly old Kiwis. But I love them and their accents and sheep all the same lol.
AlwaysAround888: The 'brotherly' part of Jake is the key!
Grillllz: Don't worry!! Bella doesn't think of Jake in 'that way' in this story. Strictly friends. I was sooooooo close to personally sending you this chapter when you asked me to update another, but I managed to control myself. Lol. But, here it is!
x-aly-x: Ha, Ally got very excited when you mentioned her in your review!! Funny kid that one, lol. 5.20am?! Wow. I admire your dedication!! And self-control to not slide off your chair in a sleep induced coma!
HarvestEclipse31: Yeah, I don't really like love triangles either! There isn't a love triangle in this, it's strictly EdwardxBella. Nooo way am I making Bella and Mike get back together - not only would my reviewers hack me to pieces, but I don't think I could handle having to write it myself! No more Mike. He's over. Me and my friends are always discussing our own personal Edwards... in fact, our code word for a gorgeously hot and flawless guy is 'Edward'; as in,
"Hey! Have you seen Edward lately?"
"You mean the blonde Edward who lives on three-o'clock street?"
"Nah, the black haired one who lives just over my back fence."
(Casually looks back over her shoulder.) "Oh, yeah, I saw him a few days ago. He's looking pretty damn yummy these days."
"No doubt!"
Hahah, I'm insane I know. But I love it; I'd hate to be ordinary! And I like your insight on the whole not settling for the hell of settling thing, very wise. I shall try and have a listen to that song on youtube once I've posted this! Thanks for the suggestion! And you're right about the whole moth thing, too.
CrazZy-BunNy: Jacob said "I'm sorry" because he knows that things can't be as effortless and comfortable between them all the time; it's one of those socially unacceptable things. And it's not that I believe people ought to be separated by the status quo; it's how the characters would behave. I try my best to make sure that I'm not controlling the characters; hence why I don't like trying to keep to Stephenie's versions too closely. It's fun to mess with them!
143twilighter: Nope, Bella didn't leave her number in the letter. Lol, I've heard of that 'Pen Pal' story too, I heard the chick who writes it lives inside a cave and spends all her time squinting at her laptop. Lol. Not that she actually has a laptop, because her parents think that one computer is enough for a household of people (fat chance).
BellaAtHeart: When Edward and Leah rushed off, they weren't talking, they were listening...
I can't wait to Beta for you! It's going to be major-style exciting! Hahahahahaha, 'woman spray', hahaha. I love Lynx deodorant (mmm... manly).
AlwaysBettingOnAlice: Lol, you've so much energy. It's crazy - and infectious! Yay for your story, though! I'll be checking the review count on it in a tick.
bedwardforever: You'll find out next chapter what Edward thinks of football players, he'll mention something in his letter.
Princess-Tinkerbelle: French! The language of love! I will totally marry a guy who can speak fluent French. Hottttt. Tracing your art thing!! Hahaha, I wish I'd thought of that when I needed to finish an assignment I was supposed to hand up the following day. I'll keep that in mind now, hmm... I'm so sorry! I turned you into a murderer! Well, at least you had a funeral for it. I had a funeral for a baby mouse once. I was hell upset when it died. I made a little coffin out of paper and everything. Loved your story about The Lost Mother's Mobile Phone! Great stuff! I totally made Alice into a crazy txt genius. I can picture the real Alice Cullen sitting and texting at lightning speed under the table during class without looking. Don't stress, this is most definitely a BellaxEdward story. Thanks for your review, -hugs-!
books and bojangles: I fully agree! I don't want you guys (reviewers) to just be the random pen-names that I get compliments from, I would much rather know what kind of a person you are. Great fanfiction friendships can be forged through the wondrous world of reviewing!
--
As always, thanks for your fantastic reviews everyone! And don't forget to have a look at AlwaysBettingOnAlice's story. And I also recommend jacob is the new black's story - The Real Edward Cullen. I loved it! Look through my reviewer's usernames to find it.
Okay. Hope you like this chapter!
Chapter Eighteen: Second Chances
"Good morning Mrs Cope," I said as I held out my letter to her on Thursday morning.
She took the letter and smiled. She had lipstick on her teeth, but I didn't say anything. Why is she even wearing lipstick? No one remotely attractive (who she would be interested in) ever appears around here.
"Hello, Miss Swan, how are you?" Her eyes darted to the door behind me and I got a small twinge of intuition. Perhaps the principal isn't here yet …
I tried to look normal as I answered; tried to keep the knowing tone from my voice. "I'm fine. How are you?"
"Good, good," she said absentmindedly, openly staring over my shoulder now. The door creaked opened and a short gust of wind hit my back before stopping abruptly as it swung shut again. "Good morning!" she almost shouted to the newcomer.
I didn't have to turn to know the owner of the voice. "Hello there, Helen, any messages?" Principal Cullen asked politely.
Mrs Cope nearly fell over with excitement at being addressed directly, and by first name. Knowing she was completely distracted, I turned and headed out the door, sneakily getting a glimpse at the doctor-come-principal's profile as I left. He really was unreasonably attractive, especially for a late thirty-something man.
I pushed my bag into my locker while I waited for someone to turn up and engage me in conversation. The metal box showed all signs of neglect; there was a slightly musty smell to it, pieces of old paper were scattered on one of the shelves, ribbons, old folders, a photo or two, some beads and pencils were scattered around the place. There was a thin layer of dust coating everything. I gave my swollen bag an extra shove, and was about to slam the locker door to avoid looking at the depressing items a moment longer, something caught my eye. The two photographs were both face-up, and would hold their own dustless patch if I were to move them. I couldn't properly see the occupants of the images, but that didn't concern me right now. What did concern me, though, was the fact that there was a photo missing; there was a square of dustless-surface beside the other two pictures. Wondering where it was, I lifted up bits of paper, but didn't find it. The two photos still there made me curious as to know which was missing, so I picked them up and brushed them off, a smile creeping across my face at the memories.
One was of Alice, Angela, Emmett, Mike and I. It was taken last year on the final day of classes. I remembered that day quite well, and I knew that the memories of this photo would have to be wrestled from my mind when I was old and senile. We all looked pretty much the same other than the recent pairing changes. Angela was looking up and laughing at Alice, who was sitting up on Emmett's huge shoulders. Alice had her hands thrown in the air, and Emmett was laughing with his eyes closed, the happy crinkles at the edges of his eyes giving him the fitting appearance of a gentle giant. Mike was beside Emmett, and I was being held up in a dance-like 'dip' by him while we both laughed. I had thrown my hands out, giving Mike my full trust to hold me up. We were all celebrating our new freedom before even leaving the school grounds; I could see more students in the background on the steps to the gym.
I picked up the other picture, and felt my heart swell. It was of two little kids. The ivory-skinned girl had countless scrapes on her knees and palms from constant trips to the ground. Her hair was messy and clumped with mud, as were here outstretched hands, presenting mud pies to the camera. The smiling boy beside her had dirt-and-water pies in his hands too, and in his hair, on his tanned face, on his clothes, between his five-year old toes… despite knowing how life would turn out for those two careless kids, I felt good thinking that once upon a time all I had to worry about was when Jake would be coming around to play and whether there was yet enough mud to make our own city.
So, if these two photos were here, then the one that was missing was one which I knew I was going to miss quite a bit.
The bell went above me, and I looked up at the clock over my head. It was only the first bell. No need to hurry. Biology was just down the hall.
A movement in the corner of my eye caused me to look around. I saw who was approaching, and smiled at him before turning slightly to put the picture back in my locker. I closed the metal door and took a step toward him, about to say hello when a voice cut me off.
"Save, it, baby, I prefer a woman who knows how to use her mouth for more interesting things than talking."
I spun around, instantly furious, to see Jasper Whitlock coming toward me. Jacob strode past me and didn't say a word, not even acknowledging that I had been about to speak to him.
"Stick your head in a blender, Jasper," I hissed at him, feeling an anger which I was sure compared to Alice's.
He just gave me smug look which made me angrier. I lifted a foot to step toward him, but felt a small hand hold me back.
"Go talk to someone who wants to listen, Whitlock," Alice threatened, stepping around me and removing her hand from my shoulder. I knew I was going to have to hold her back from giving him a good butt-kicking – but right now, I didn't really want to hold her back.
Jacob stepped in then. "Let's go," he said quietly in Jasper's direction.
Jasper half turned to see Jacob out the corner of his eye. "Why?" he said, stunned that his best friend wasn't following his lead.
"Cullen," Jacob whispered even quieter. He looked up to the end of the hall, and Jasper followed his gaze. Alice and I spun to see the principal striding calmly through the hall, gently suggesting to the stragglers that it was time to get to class.
"Fine," Jasper snapped back at Jacob, turning to go back in the direction he'd come from. "See you later," he sneered at Alice, who managed herself well enough to not run after him and kick him into the ground, like I wanted to.
"Ladies," Principal Cullen said as he passed us, sensing that we needed a minute before class. Once he was out of earshot, I let out a big breath.
"Idiots," I muttered.
"No doubt," Alice agreed. "I've gotta go," she said, patting me on the shoulder. "See you soon." She headed off to her class while I opened my locker and ducked down to get my biology books from my bag.
I felt extremely angry, both at myself and at Jacob. The self anger was because I'd actually thought Jacob had changed; had even hoped it. What a stupid thing to want. I was angry at Jacob for not being who I wanted him to be. For not standing up for me against someone who was obviously an up-himself prick who didn't deserve to have a pair of legs on which to walk. It was stupid of me; and childish too, but I straightened up with my books in hand and slammed the door of my locker as hard as I could.
It made me feel a little better.
--
I'd spend the first half of my weekend doing homework; so my Saturday had been lost to the clutches of the education monster. This morning, though, I decided to be a good little girl and do some well-needed exercise. Alice, Angela and I had spent our Friday night watching more sappy movies, crying and laughing and booing at the bad guys. We had also divulged at least half of our collective junk-food horde. As I drove toward the Port Angeles gym, I hope that the two of them felt as fat as I did right now.
I pulled into the parking lot, and was pleased to find that there weren't a lot of cars around. Maybe only a few people would be unfortunate enough to see me try and get fit today.
I grabbed the bag containing my change of clothes from the seat beside me, and made sure to lock the truck before heading across the shady parking lot to the reflective glass doors. I could see myself approach – perhaps a technique used by the gym owners to make people feel more self conscious about themselves? – and hoped that what I was wearing would blend in.
I'd thrown on a pair of half-thigh length shorts, a blank tank top and a dark red t-shirt which was a size too big. I'd bundled my long hair into a pony, and had one sweat band around my wrist. My sneakers didn't look too old nor too new, so I was hopeful no one would pay attention to their real age or lack of use. I'd almost gone with long socks for the added warmth, but my inner Alice screamed up a storm at the horror of it all. Besides, by the end of this self-induced torture session, I doubted whether I was going to care how I looked to begin with as long as there were showers to be had afterwards.
I pushed open the door, happy that I could no longer see myself nor second-guess my choice of clothing.
The entrance had a few chairs in a row along the side of the wall, some abstract artwork lining the space above them. The roof had a large vent in it. There was a door immediately to my left, with 'Staff Only' on it in silver lettering. The receptionist's desk curved out from the wall, causing it to take up at least a third of the rather small room. Straight ahead of me were more glass doors, and I could see a blank wall with words and arrows on them indicating the directions of different parts of the gym.
"Hello!" a bright receptionist woman said as I walked into the rather cool room. She seemed to have no problem with the temperature. I would have been pleased with a heater – but then, this was a gym.
"Hi," I said shyly, approaching the counter. "How much for a day-pass?"
She didn't have to look away to tell me the price. "Ten dollars."
"Okay. I'll take one, please."
I dug around in my bag for my wallet while she typed something into her little computer. She then printed something else from some kind of ticket-machine. The wheels of her chair whirred across the rubber floor mat as she moved back to tear the bit of paper off and handed it to me as I handed her the desired currency.
"Thanks," I said, examining the pass.
"No problem. Have a good day!" she said, quickly whipping her hand under the counter to reveal a pamphlet. She handed it to me. It was a map of the place, along with general guidelines, rules, requirements and lots of other things I knew I wouldn't end up reading.
I stood and stared at the map for ten seconds before she cleared her throat.
"Where would you like to go first?" she mercifully asked me.
"Treadmills, I think," I said. At least I know what to do with a treadmill.
She stood up from her desk so she could see through the glass doors leading into the main body of the gym better. I saw that she obviously spent quality time with the gym equipment. She had a lovely, swimsuit-model figure for which I felt a stab of envy.
"Go through there," she said, pointing at a narrow hall to the right of the shiny signs and arrows. "The actual gym equipment is all off to the right. The courts, swimming pools and showers are to the left, but there's another way to get to the showers through the room on the other side of this wall."
"Thanks," I said, heaving my bag from the floor by my feet. Once I was through the automatic doors, I turned right and headed down the hallway. Lots of doors lead off to the left and right, but none of them said 'gym' or 'weights' or 'treadmills' or 'cardio-equipment' or 'Bella Swan, go this way', which would have been mighty convenient.
Eventually I came to a door with the same kind of label as the others. It said in bold letters, 'GYM'.
I took a deep breath, thinking of the ten dollars I had invested in this afternoon, and pushed open the door.
I had expected to be hit by a wall of smelly, sweaty bodies, but the air smelt sterile; very clean. It reminded me of stepping into a bathroom once someone had just finished showing with vanilla-scented everything. There were people dotted around the place, working out, but not as many as I'd have thought for a Sunday. Maybe Saturdays were the popular days.
I looked around and was relieved to see the treadmills not far off. I knew as soon as the thought of the gym had entered my mind that getting injured was a given, but I'd thought actually getting on the machine first would have come with the price. But no, I tripped on my way over, catching myself on the bar of the treadmill before I'd cracked my skull against it. Lucky, I thought to myself.
My bag hit the ground at the foot of the running machine with a clattering of several deodorant cans banging against each other. I had at least thought of that necessity.
I looked at the machine and was pleased to see that the buttons were all named and easy enough to use. I hit 'ON', then 'Speed?' – 'Slow' and stepped onto the moving black rubber. I stared down at my feet for a while, concentrating on getting them in front of each other without a collision. It went far better than I'd have hoped. When I was confident enough to look up, I started scrutinising the buttons I'd not touched.
There was a 'Time' button, so I hit that, and saw that a little clock started up, timing the length that I'd been running for. There were also screen-changing buttons, so I hit them, carefully avoiding the speed-increasing buttons beside them. I saw that I was travelling at four miles per hour. Deciding that I could go one better than that, I carefully pushed the 'Up' button to take it up a mile. The little screen informed me that my speed was steadily being increased to five miles per hour. I didn't even notice the change; it was being done so slowly. The endorphins supplied by running were making me feel happy, along with the knowledge that I'd only come close to an injury once so far.
A little while later, I checked what my time was for running. Twenty-nine minutes. I smiled. Good effort. When it gets to thirty, I decided, I'll take a break.
"Bella?" A familiar voice asked.
I couldn't help it. It was a reaction. I turned to see if my assumption to the voice's owner was correct, and ended up on the floor behind the treadmill. The machine had given me a fair bit of leverage and I'd only just avoided hitting the stack of weights five metres behind me.
"Geez, way to go! I've never seen anyone do that before!" he laughed, lifting me up around the middle and setting me down on a chair.
"No blood?" I asked, looking up. Tears of pain started to well in my eyes.
"Nah, no blood. Nice egg on your head, though," he said, gently touching my skull. I winced. "Sorry."
"Its okay, Emmett," I said, looking up again at him.
"Back in a sec," he said. I watched him go over to the treadmill and turn it off, checking something on the screen first. He came back with my bag over his arm. "Thirty minutes exactly," he said. I smiled at that.
"Cool." I stood up and put a hand to my head. It was throbbing uncomfortably. "I think I need some ice," I said, stepping toward him and holding out a hand for my bag.
Emmett didn't give it to me. He held on to it with one hand and guided me toward the other side of the gym with the other.
"You look like you could use a drink, too," he suggested, still holding me up. Everything was going a bit wobbly in my eyes.
"Yeah," I agreed. "But ice first."
"Right. Wait here," he said, putting my bag down on a chair and pulling out another for me to sit on. I leant forward on the table, not realising where I really was. After my elbows came in contact with the metallic surface of the table, I looked up.
We weren't in the gym area any more. We were in some kind of café. It was quite cool in here too, but this time I was grateful for it. I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my very stylish wrist band. The room around me was fairly large. All the tables and chairs were the same kind of metallic outdoor sets. The floor was white linoleum; the roof was too bright for me to want to look at for the moment. There was a long counter almost completely covering one wall and two people wearing the same green-and-white uniform stood behind it, chatting happily. Fridges filled with drinks sat at one end of the counter. On one side of the stretch of granite there was a glass viewing window for some salads. I could partially see from my chair that on one side of the countertop were racks of gum, lollipops, sausage rolls and pies and other hot foods heating in a pie warmer beside them. On the wall below the windows were many different coloured kinds of energy supplements and health-food magazines. The whole place looked extremely clean and business like, holding barely any kind of personalisation at all. It was a little boring to me, but perfect for its purpose.
Emmett returned from a door in the left corner I hadn't noticed before. He was holding an ice pack in one hand and a small towel in the other. As he weaved through the shiny tables and chairs, he wrapped the ice in the towel.
"Here," he said, handing it to me. "I'll get you a drink. Want anything in particular?"
I thought for a moment. I knew he didn't have to buy me a drink, but I also knew that Alice's stubbornness wasn't just a random thing – it was definitely a family trait.
"Umm, juice I think."
He turned to go to the counter, but hesitated. "Any kind?"
"Yeah, apple and pear, if they have it."
He nodded and headed over to the fridges. I watched as he scanned the contents of one, then moved on to the second one. He found what he was looking for, because he opened it and pulled out a bottle, then grabbed another drink of a different kind.
He held them easily in one hand while he dug around in the pocket of his track-pants for his money. He got to the counter and the two people wearing uniforms split from their chat, the girl going over to Emmett to serve him.
They exchanged friendly talk before she calculated the cost of the drinks and got the money, then returned his change to him. Emmett thanked her and picked them up, coming over to my table again. He sat down and gave me my apple and pear juice.
"Thanks Emmett," I said.
I unscrewed the lid and took a swig. It was lovely and cold. I looked up and saw the girl who'd served Emmett glaring at me, but she looked away quickly when I caught her.
"Do you know the girl at the counter, Emmett?" I asked him, peeling my eyes from the girl's back and looking at the burly man in front of me. He was guzzling from his iced coffee; he took a moment before he answered.
"Nah," he said, wiping his mouth on his hand, then his hand on his t-shirt. "She just always serves me. Dunno why." He raised the drink to his mouth and continued to gulp it down.
"Well, she - stop doing that or you'll choke! She was glaring at me. I think she likes you, and I think she thinks that I'm here with you."
Emmett choked on his drink, like I'd predicted, and then started laughing.
"As if I'd go for her!" he said mischievously across the table. "Rosalie's enough for any guy. Plus, dating you would be like dating my sister! No offence." he added the last part apologetically.
"None taken." I looked over at her, and she tried to look busy again. I took another mouthful of my drink and let my eyes scan over the shiny surfaces of the room, my thoughts wandering as they pleased.
"Emmett," I said, trying to catch his attention. He had been trying to catch a fly with one hand for the last few minutes, and was concentrating very hard on the task.
"Yeah?" he said, not stopping the hunt.
"Tell me something," I said seriously. He picked up the tone in my voice and dropped his hand back on the table. "How did you and Rosalie get together?"
He smiled at me, and I knew I wasn't crossing a line. But he didn't answer straight away. He watched the fly buzz around the room, but I knew he was thinking so I didn't interrupt him.
"Well," he began, holding his nearly-empty iced coffee drink with both hands. "It was a while ago. I didn't even realise she went to our school at first. I officially met Rose at a party, and at first I just thought she was really hot and would be a good story to tell my mates the next day. But then she came over to me. I was shocked. Too shocked to use the old Brandon charm on her." He winked at me and I rolled my eyes, but laughed too. "We got talking, and I found that she was far more interesting than any other girl I'd ever met.
"She looks like she'd beat down any guy that tried to chat her up, and I was right. Some random came and tried to muscle in on my territory, but she shut him down straight away. Told him to go home to mummy because a girl had told him he wasn't big enough or something along those lines. Made me laugh for ages. I knew then that I didn't want to just hook up with her and brag about it, I wanted to talk to her and learn every detail I could about her. I wanted to show her off to my friends, not just tell them about her.
"So after a while, I asked Rose if she wanted to go for a walk with me. She looked a little bit nervous, not something I'd expected, but she said she would. So I told Alice where I was going, and we went out to the garden of this house the party was at. She showed me a little path through the plants, and it was heaps bigger than I'd thought. We talked some more, and she told me about her friends and how they were being really nasty to her since she'd moved schools. I saw a tear go down her face, but she thought I didn't see it because it was pretty dark. I wiped it away for her, and she looked at me like she'd only just realised I was there. Then I leaned down and kissed her, and I was really scared because at first she didn't kiss me back. Then, suddenly, I was stumbling backwards because she'd jumped on me!" He started laughing, and I realised I was smiling at his story. It was such a cute, romantic way to get together. "So when we broke apart, I asked her if I could please have her number. She said, 'sure, where do you want it?' and I kissed here again because she was just so … perfect. And I called her the next day, asked her on a date. She said yes. I was ecstatic. Then, after we'd been on the boat ride-"
"You took her on a boat ride!" I exclaimed, visualising the quiet river with just the two of them on a row boat under the stars.
"Yep," he said proudly. "And I took a picnic rug. We ate dinner on the water. And then, just before I started rowing back to shore, I asked her to be my girlfriend, and gave her my watch."
"Awwwww," I cooed, thinking of how wonderfully gooey that would make me feel inside if any guy were that romantic with me.
"Yeah," Emmett said, looking up at me and smiling his gentle-giant smile. "So we've been together ever since. We fight like hell, but I love every second of it. I think she's more beautiful when she's angry anyway. And there's never been a second when I've wanted to end it." He paused for a moment, thoughtful. He looked around us, pleased to see the room was almost empty except for the two servers, who were having their own conversation on the other side of the room. "Can you keep a secret, Bella?" He asked me, his eyes sparkling.
"Sure," I replied, leaning in closer to hear his whisper.
"I think I'm in love with her," he said, and I found it very hard not to squeal with happiness on his behalf.
"That's fantastic, Emmett! Have you told her?"
"Not yet. I'm saving it to make it special for both of us. She told me she's never said it to anyone before."
"Well, you have to tell me how it goes," I said, exuberantly happy for both him and Rosalie.
"I will." He drained the last of his iced coffee, and got up to put it in the bin by the counter.
In the short minute he was gone, I thought of many things, and many questions to ask.
"Emmett," I said once he'd sat down again with a pie in his hand. He 'mmph'd to let me know he was listening. "What do you think would have happened if you and Rosalie hadn't met at that party?"
"I think we would have met somewhere else, again and again until either of us made a move." He said this without hesitation, like it was a test he'd studied for and knew every answer off by heart.
I was a little stumped by this. I'd expected a bit more time to phrase my next question. "So, you think you and Rosalie were meant to get together?"
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"Definitely yes."
"How?" I was getting muddled by his infallible certainty.
He swallowed the mouthful he'd been speaking through. "Bella," he said, lowering the pie to speak to me. "If something is meant to happen, it will happen. Fate will give you more than one opportunity, you know. To me, life is not a one-chance game. What use would that be? Almost everything bad is one-chance, so shouldn't the good things be easier to get hold of?"
I thought about this for a moment. "But what about me and Mike?"
Emmett rolled his eyes. "That wasn't meant to be Bella, and you know it."
I should've been insulted by this, but I knew he was right and there was no reason to argue about it. "Yeah, but-"
He cut me off. "No 'but's!"
I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't going to mention Mike again."
"Okay, then go ahead."
"You said that fate will give you more chances… but there's got to be a limit, doesn't there? When does it end?"
"When you die," he said simply. "That's when it ends."
I took another gulp of apple and pear juice.
"You know what, Emmett?" I asked, thoughtful.
"What?"
"You're far better at this relationship stuff than I give you credit for."
"Thanks, Bella," he laughed.
"Any time."
Well. I know that chapter didn't have a lot of juiciness in it, but I liked the idea of Bella having a chat with Emmett and having us all learn that he's more cluey than you'd think. And what better place to run into him than the gym? I seriously considered having Edward walk in on their conversation, but I knew it would ruin the next chapter.
We will see Edward's reply and then Bella's following letter next chapter. I'll post soon! Sorry again about the delay, I was at a friend's house for the last three days. But you love me!
-Shaps