[Disclaimer] Everything Twilight belongs to SM

[A/N] Blows kisses to everyone who took the time to leave me some review love. Your encouragement means a lot to me. Thank you, girls.

**Jolly Ranchers**

Slowly, very slowly, I circle my fingertips up her bare forearm and down to her wrist again while my eyes stay focused on her face the entire time. Then, after a few minutes I take her hand, guiding it to my lips to blow a feather light kiss over the back of her hand.

"I'm nervous." I whisper, snuggling against her chest. The steady rhythm of her heartbeat seems like the most beautiful sound on earth to me right now.

"Me too,"

"But you don't have to, Bella. I mean you have done this before and apart from that you can't imagine how it is like to be ashamed of your own body."

"I hate the way you see yourself."

"I'm sorry. It's hard to believe that someone, anyone would actually like to be with me the way I look like."

"You don't see yourself the way I see you." she whispers, while she starts to draw circles over my wrist over and over again.

"I'm nervous too. I've never been with another woman before and apart from that I don't even like sex that much."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Sex is just sex. It's cold and mechanical."

"Maybe you didn't do it with the right person."

A deep sigh escapes her mouth before she lowers her lips to mine again. Kissing her makes me feel all tingly, like there are suddenly magical flames burning through every single inch of my body.

"We should wait."

"Don't you want to sleep with me because I'm fat?"

"Alice, for fucks sake, the next time you'll call yourself fat in my presence, I will put you over my knee and spank you. I like you. I like you more than I should and I don't care about your weight."

"You really like me?"

"Do you want me to write it down for you? I like you. I like you a lot."

Cupping my face between both of her hands, her mouth finds mine in a slow, gentle kiss. My tongue nudges playfully against her lower lip until she parts her mouth with a groan and I swirl the tip of her tongue against hers.

Then I feel her hands stroking up my sides again and this time I try not to panic. Her touch is tender and light as a feather.

"Is this okay?"

Instead of answering her, I kiss her again, letting my right hand slip underneath Bella's shirt. My fingertips touch against the lace fabric of her bra and when I circle my fingers a bit higher to massage the small mounds of her breasts, I can feel her groan against my mouth.

Her nipples start hardening against my palms and I pull her shirt over her head to caress her entire upper body with open mouthed kisses.

She's so beautiful and the way she feels like is so heavenly. I want to touch all of her warm, silken skin.

The dampness between my own legs increases when both of her hands glide over my breasts. I don't dare to keep my eyes open when she lifts up my shirt and leans over to unclasp my bra.

"So soft, you are so soft and full here."

The warmth of her breath tickles my sensitive skin before she closes her lips around one of my nipples. The tip of her tongue flickers against it and I whimper in an attempt to suppress a moan when she starts suckling it gently. Fuck, this feels so good, so very good.

My left hand fists into the messy curls of her hair, trying to keep her mouth right where it is now. I squeeze the pebbled tips of Bella's breasts between my fingers and it makes her entire body shudder in my arms. I feel powerful and alive in a weird, unfamiliar way.

Suddenly the door to her bedroom is pulled open and a shrill scream makes Bella jump from my lap.

"What the fuck are the two of you doing here?"

"Nothing," I murmur, grabbing my shirt from the floor as fast as possible. My face is probably red like a ripe tomato now. God, this is so incredibly embarrassing.

"Rose, leave. This is none of your business."

"So, it's either nothing or none of my business. You know what? I don't even give a shit."

I try to stand up from Bella's bed but my legs are weak underneath me, boneless somehow and so I give up and just remain sitting right where I am.

"Please don't tell anyone." Bella asks her cousin while she tries to comb through her hair with her fingers before twisting it into a sloppy knot.

"You don't want people to know you're a dyke. I can understand that."

"It's not like that. Well, the truth is I don't want people to know I'm dating a minor. It would cause a lot of trouble for me and Alice."

"Oh I see, especially since you are working for her father. Don't you think I haven't figured that out? It was Mom who suggested you as a personal trainer to her Dad. She accidentally told me during our shopping trip to the mall yesterday."

I can't stand Rosalie's stupid mother for crying out loud. She fucked up my parents' marriage and I'll never forgive her for that.

"Well, I quit the job. I don't want to work for an arrogant asshole that doesn't care about his child's happiness."

"What about the money? I thought you wanted to move out here?"

"I'll move out, it just may take a bit longer until I have saved enough money."

"Stay as long as you want. I like having you here."

"Thanks, Rosie."

"You are welcome. So you and her are together now? Like a…like a couple?"

Bella wraps her arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer against her side. My face is on fire, the blush will probably stay on my face permanently and I will need some laser treatment to remove it.

"Yes, we are."

"For real?"

I nod my head, for my mouth is way too dry to bring out an audible response right now.

"And you are sure this is not just a phase, B.? I mean, you are still a bit pissed off at Jake about the divorce." She asks Bella who starts circling her fingertips over my knee before resting her hand on it after a few moments.

"How I feel about Alice has nothing to do with how I feel about my ex-husband."

XXXX

My mother is in an excellent mood when I come home later in the evening and I assume it has to do with my brother's decision to move back home.

"Let me guess, Em, there weren't any empty plates left at Jasper's place and you thought moving back here would be easier than doing dishes. It's not a job you are too familiar with."

"I'm happy to see you too. Where have you been the entire day?"

"With friends,"

"You don't have any friends and if you had, you wouldn't be blushing if someone asked you about them."

"Emmett, fuck off!"

"Sweetie, please don't fight with your brother again. I'm so glad he decided to come home. This boy he lived with. I think he's a bit creepy."

"Jasper is a freak."

"Well, maybe you and he should date then. The two freaks of you would be a good match."

"Stop teasing your poor sister. She'll find a nice boyfriend soon."

When she says that, she leans over to plant a kiss on my cheek. Then she pulls back, a bit too abruptly and circles the tip of her thumb over my neck.

"Mary Alice, is that a hickey?"

Fuck. My. Life.

Emmett stands up from the couch to take a look at it too while I wait for a hole to open up in the middle of our living room, A huge hole that will swallow me to get me out of this embarrassing situation.

"Who gave you that?"

"Mind your own business and leave me alone."

"Oh sweetie, don't be like that. Tell Mommy about your boyfriend."

"I don't have a fucking boyfriend."

"He is probably ugly, so that she's ashamed of him."

"I hate you, Emmett. Great to have you back home again. I truly missed your charm. Now, leave me the fuck alone!"

I rush to my room, and sit down on my bed, fumbling for the little box underneath my bed. The first piece of Jolly Rangers is already between my lips when Mom's head appears in my doorframe.

"Did you stop with your diet?"

"No," I mumble, stuffing the rest of the package underneath my pillows.

"I just felt like I needed some sugar."

"It's okay, sweetie. Look, I came here because I thought it would be good if you and I had a little talk about boys and stuff in general." She tells me, sitting down next to me on the bed.

"We had that conversation six years ago when I got my period. I don't think the basics about sex have changed that much since then. I know what goes where."

"Well, yes but the thing is that six years ago you didn't show up here with a hickey on your neck. My little girl is growing up. Did I even allow you to do that?"

"Hmm," I mumble, chewing the rest of the candy that's still in my hand. I remember how Mom used to feed me with baby food when I was already in first grade. I wonder why she did that. Did she love me more when I was still a little baby?

"Mom, can I ask you something?"

"Yes, sweetie. Look, if you want me to set up an appointment with my gynecologist to get you on the pill, I will do it. I'm not as old-fashioned as you think I am."

"What for should I need to take the pill?" I ask her, raising one eyebrow.

"Baby, I don't want you to get pregnant before you are ready to have a child and condoms are not that safe. It would mess up all your plans for College and everything if you had a child now. Teenagers are not really ready to fit the needs of an infant. You can see that with Charlotte."

Charlotte is Emmett's birth mother. She lives in Tennessee and tries rather success less to become an actress. As far as I know she managed to appear for like ten seconds during a shampoo commercial about five years ago. That has been the highlight of her career so far. My parents send her a picture of my brother on his birthday every year and sometimes he calls her on the phone. I will never be able to do that with my birth mother because she didn't find it necessary to leave her address at the hospital in Biloxi I was born it. She didn't want me and I highly doubt that her views on that have changed over the years. Sometimes I hate her but I'd like to know if I look a bit like her. I'd really like to know that.

"Baby, I want you to be responsible if you consider being sexually active."

"I'm not planning on having sex any time soon." At least not with someone who could knock me up, I add silently in my head, unable to keep the idiotic grin from flashing over my face.

"Is it someone from school? I mean, the boy who gave you the hickey."

For a moment I'm very tempted to simply tell her yes but then I'm too worried she might show up there tomorrow to take a look at my admirer.

"Alice?"

"No, it's not someone from school. Please, stop asking about him."

"It's not one of your teachers, is it? I saw this documentation on TV last night about intelligent young women falling for older men. There was this one case about a—,"

"Mom, that's just gross. Can't you just try to trust me with this? I will tell you about him when I'm ready."