-:- 7 -:-

Betas: shinrai and Fmfg

Summary (made by Ele05gs): What's worse than going to a wedding full of people you don't know? Rose can think of a few things-going without a date or going with your dad! But maybe not everything is lost, because as we all know, weddings tend to have surprises.

-:- For bitter or worse -:-

Rosalie looked at her reflection in the mirror one more time and then sighed deeply. Why did she have to go to this wedding? Her dad's colleagues weren't exactly on her interesting people list. She could already imagine how it was going to be: hours and hours of sitting at the table and listening to old people complaining about the food.

"Ugh!" she growled as she angrily kicked off her high heels. Those bitches were killing her feet already. Though, she wasn't planning on saying that out loud since she practically convinced her mom to spend her entire allowance on them. How could she have known those heels would practically cut off the blood circulation toward her toes? These shoes were perfect for the night blue dress she was wearing.

"I guess beauty comes with a little pain," she mumbled to herself. Rosalie let herself fall on her bed, trying to come up with an idea to get out of this. Maybe she could fake the flu or break a leg or …

"Rosalie, are you coming?" her dad yelled.

Rose shot up straight, and looked around the room.

"Damn it," she cursed. She'd fallen asleep. Quickly, she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror to see the damage. There were a few wrinkles in the dress, but it was still presentable, even her hair wasn't that bad.

"Rose!"

"I'm coming!" she yelled, while quickly putting on her heels.

"Rosalie!"

"All right, all right!" she said, irritated, as she came down the stairs. "You don't have to shout!"

"Ah, look at my gorgeous daughter," her father said, less loud and more calm. "You look absolutely wonderful." He took her hand and guided her to the car that was waiting outside.

"Thanks, daddy." Her father was looking proudly at her and Rose felt herself blush.

"Your mom would have been proud." They both looked away, both wishing she could have been here.

"I know you weren't looking forward to this, Rosie, but maybe it won't be that bad." He helped her inside the car and that was the end of the conversation.

"Yeah, right," Rose thought. "As if I'm going to dance with old people."

For the second time that day, as the car took off, she wished she'd faked the flu.

-:-

"Please," Rose begged, out of breath. "Let me sit for just a few minutes. I can't take it anymore."

Rose smiled while looking up at Emmett. She'd been on the dance floor for over an hour and basically had the greatest time of her life. The reason for her mood change was Emmett, the handsome son of her dad's boss. Rose enjoyed every second with him and wondered why her dad had never mentioned Emmett before. To think that she hadn't wanted to come in the first place. She would have missed out on this.

Though, her shoes were literally killing her feet right now. She could barely walk another step without a grimace of pain on her face.

"Sorry, princess," Emmett joked. "You're really suffering, aren't you?"

Rose nodded, smiling a little.

"Okay then, take them off!" demanded Emmett.

"What?"

"Those things are torturing you, so take them off." He was grinning wickedly, while Rose was looking at him with wide eyes. "Don't take it the wrong way, I love the shoes, but I bet you look every bit as gorgeous without them."

If Rose hadn't been blushing before, she definitely was now.

"Wait, I got it," Emmett said loudly and pulled her up by both hands. She blindly followed him to wherever he was going. Half a minute later, they were sitting at the playground next to the building. Rose placed herself on one of the double swings, while Emmett leaned against the pole.

"Were you looking forward to coming to this as much as I was?" he asked, with a devilish grin on his lips. Rose grinned.

"Honestly? I was thinking about faking the flu," she joked.

"No way!" he exclaimed loudly. "I put a cup of hot chocolate against my face to convince my mom that I had a fever!" He stared into Rose's eyes for a tad bit too long. Rosalie was the first to look away.

"I mean look at me." He gestured at himself. "I'm like an oaf in a monkey suit. Very flattering." He flashed a dimpled smile and Rose laughed out loud.

"Too bad your flu plan didn't work out," she said lightly after a while. "Otherwise, you could have given a big party for all your friends!"

"Yeah, sure," he grunted. "Some movies, popcorn, dancing till the middle of the night, being with the people you like, sounds fine to me."

While he said those words, he crouched down before her. Carefully, he took Rose's leg and pulled it up so that he could remove those killer heels.

"A bit like tonight, then." He smiled at her and Rose nodded. It really did feel like she'd known Emmett for a long time and then to think that she didn't even want to come a few hours earlier. She made a mental note to thank her dad for forcing her to come with him.

Emmett was like her prince charming, coming to her rescue. Or well, at least to the rescue of her feet. She grinned to herself. The wind blew heavily and her golden blond hair was swept across her face. She heard Emmett smirk.

"Come here," he said and he pushed himself to the side as much as possible so that he could sit next to her on the little swing. His arms loosely embraced her lower back, and she felt him leaning his head on top of hers.

"I'm glad I came," he murmured.

"Me too," Rose replied. She hadn't wanted to come, but sometimes, things don't turn out the way you thought they would. An unexpected surprise indeed.