A/N Hey guys, I'd like to take this time to thank everyone who's read and reviewed this story. I'd also like to thank everyone who added it to their favorite stories and all that jazz. You guys are really great and I'm still surprised at how much everyone seems to like this fic. Well, I'll let you get back to reading. Read and Review Please!

CHAPTER 17

Two weeks later, the Cullens and I were getting ready for the ball. Rosalie, Alice, Esme, and I were all in Alice's room getting ready together. Rose and Esme loved my dress; they thought it complemented me very well. I decided that since it was backless I wouldn't do it justice with my hair down, so I let Alice and Rose twist, braid, and curl it and put it up.

Soon we were all ready and going downstairs to meet the guys. All of them but Edward were waiting for us and Emmett's jaw dropped when he saw me, I'd tried to make sure he didn't get to see the dress until now, and it had been worth it. When I was at his side, he kissed me softly and whispered against my ear, "you look absolutely gorgeous Bells. There won't be a woman in the room who won't want to be you, nor a man who won't want to be with you."

I smiled shyly at him. "the women will only want to be me because of the hunk that asked me to go with him," I teased, indicating his flashy black tux and the green vest he'd chosen, most likely with Alice's help since it matched almost perfectly with mine.

"Why thank you miss," he said gallantly with a flourishing bow.

I grinned this time and rolled my eyes. Edward was just pulling his tux jacket on as he came into the room. I couldn't help notice that he seemed a lot less organized now than he had before. When he saw me he stopped dead in his tracks and blinked several times.

I decided to ignore him and led the way out to the limo that was waiting for us. The Cullens obviously went all out for these formal occasions. Emmett and I sat side by side, holding hands. As we rode I looked up at him, smiled, and reached up to kiss him.

Rose let out a noise, "won't you have time to do that later?" she asked.

"Well yeah, but you should never miss an opportunity to make other people uncomfortable," Emmett replied cheekily. "And I know that it makes almost all of you wiggle in your seats seeing us kiss like that."

Carlisle, Esme, and Jasper rolled their eyes. Alice gave him an affronted look and burst out, "after all the times we saw you and Rosalie together, nothing you and Bella did would make us uncomfortable."

Emmett's eyebrows shot up and he turned to me.

"Emmett," I warned, knowing he was planning something. Before I could react, his mouth descended on mine and we were kissing more passionately than ever before, right in front of his entire family. My arms wrapped around his neck of their own accord and his arms wrapped around me, his hands comfortable on my bare back.

When we finally broke apart, the rest of the family did indeed look uncomfortable, "I take back what I said," Alice said immediately.

Emmett's booming laughter filled the car just before we pulled up to the ball. Emmett and I were the last ones out and so we were the most ignored, thankfully. Most people were surrounding Carlisle, as he was the hospital's head doctor. As I glanced around, I noticed that the Cullens weren't the only ones who went all out; there were almost a dozen limos in a line in the parking lot.

I let Emmett lead us into the dance hall and to the chairs assigned to us, and according to our plan, mine read Elizabeth Cahill. We sat down because that's what humans would do. After a moment of silence Emmett sighed and stood back up. "Come dance with me," he offered.

I nodded with a delighted smile on my face. Soon we were twirling around the dance floor. We had had dance class in P.E. and so I'd learned how the Tango was supposed to be done, though I'd never been able to do it before. Now, Emmett and I did the dance in complete synchronization, like one body. I imagined that from the outside it looked beautiful, I did notice that more than one couple stopped to watch us and when the song ended they clapped like we'd done it to entertain them.

After two more dances we went to sit back down, gasping for the air that really didn't do us any good anyway, it was just the exhilaration of the dancing that had us breathing like that. The rest of the family, minus Carlisle and Esme, were sitting there waiting.

"Wow Beth, I didn't think you could dance so well," Alice said, using my code nickname.

"I know, in school I wasn't very good but I've got the hang of it now," I replied.

"Well, I will say that you both looked amazing out there, Beth your dress is absolutely stunning," Rosalie offered.

"Thanks Rose. Why aren't any of you dancing?" I asked.

"This is how we usually do it. We make it look like we're isolated, then we suddenly take over the dance floor, it's a Cullen tradition, the crowd expects it," Jasper replied, his arm around Alice's waist as they sat together next to us.

"Oh, then I guess Emmett and I shouldn't have done that huh?"

Jasper chuckled, "no, I think you did the right thing. Especially since you're new, they won't expect you to be exactly like us right away…"

I nodded understandingly. A moment later Carlisle and Esme returned smiling, obviously having a good time already.

After a second, Alice bound to her feet and tugged Jasper up, "it's time to dance."

Of course, she would pick just then, when a slow song was starting, to go out and dance. Emmett and I joined the rest of the Cullen's and as Jasper had said, we quickly cleared the floor. Our four couples twirled and spun gracefully with the music, not swaying back and forth, really dancing. Everyone was standing around us in a circle, watching the beauty of it.

When the song ended, Emmett and I stopped and started to go to our table to sit down for a while. A gently hand on my arm made me turn.

"May I have this dance?" Edward asked gently.

I looked at Emmett who shrugged. "Alright," I replied, following him back.

He took me in his arms and I hesitantly laced my fingers around his neck. We did not dance as we would have with our partners; we just swayed like we had at prom.

"You look amazing Bella," he whispered too low for anyone to hear.

"Thank you," I said simply, uncomfortable by how his arms had tightened around me.

"I'm serious Bella."

"I didn't say you weren't Edward. But what do you expect me to say? I said thank you, I wasn't aware you needed more praise than that."

"I… Bella, I miss you," he blurted.

I had been expecting this, just from the way he was acting. I had known he would try to make a move on me so I didn't even try to pretend that I was surprised. "I don't miss you," I replied bluntly and truthfully.

"Oh come on Bella, do you really expect me to believe that you're happy with Emmett instead of me?" he asked.

I gave him a glare, "well, yes I do expect you to believe that, because you see, it's true. Emmett and I love each other, we're happy. If anything I'm happier with him than I was with you. Why are you doing this Edward? Why can't you just be happy with what you have with Rose? You left me remember? You broke my heart to be with her. So be with her!"

"Bella, I was stupid for leaving you. I love you. Take me back," he pleaded.

After a second of staring at him incredulously, I pulled away from him so that he no longer held me. "Edward, you know what my answer is. You know that I love Emmett. And even if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to believe you. You told me once that you loved me and then you told me you'd never loved me. I'm sorry but you're just going to have to get over me like I got over you. Besides, you only want me back because you like what you see when you look at me. It has nothing to do with my personality."

He didn't deny it and I didn't let him have time to come up with an excuse, I turned away. But as I was about to walk toward our table, he grabbed my arm, twirled me around and kissed me. After about a second, I jerked away and slapped him in the face. "How dare you!" I exclaimed.

People were staring at us now so I walked away as humanly fast as possible. Emmett was waiting for me near the door and wrapped his arm around my waist as we went outside.

"I can't believe him!" I fumed, pacing back and forth. Emmett hadn't said anything yet and I turned to look at him. "Aren't you mad?" I demanded.

He shook his head, "no Bella, I'm not mad. You see, he only wants you because you're not his. I'm not mad because I won, you are mine, he was trying to steal you from me because he knew he couldn't have you."

He was just standing there watching me walk back and forth in front of him, a slight smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling? Didn't you see what Edward did?" I demanded, even after what he'd said.

"Of course I saw it Bella, and it made me realize how much you love me, and how much I love you. Bella, I think we should talk about something," he said quietly.