Chapter Seven

The Cullens owned one of the biggest lots in the whole town which made it the perfect venue for a house party. Even better was the lap swimming pool they had in the backyard. So when Esme and Carlisle left for a medical convention out of town and left the house to us that weekend, Rosalie and Edward decided to throw a barbecue party for our friends.

Rosalie invited two other friends we had gone to high school with and who were luckily in town at the moment—Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory. The girls were on the cheerleading squad with Rosalie and that's how we became friends back then. And no, I wasn't on that cheerleading squad. God knows that would have been a death trap. Jessica and Lauren were some of the biggest sluts in high school but they actually had great personality underneath it all, just how Rosalie loved her girlfriends. Both claimed and loved their reputation up until now so neither one of us was surprised when they showed up in skimpy bathing suits. Lauren's suit was more of a yellow-colored eyepatch, though, really.

The sun rarely shone high and bright over Forks so we took advantage of the weather and laid down on our beach towels to get a tan. Rosalie insisted we all needed to go sunbathing because we may not get as lucky in the upcoming days. It was different for me, though. I was well on my way to getting a painful sunburn instead of a good color.

When I started to feel the sting on my skin, I got up and left the girls and decided to play hostess for the other guests that were about to arrive.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw Edward on his way to set up the grill. "Fuck me," he moaned as he looked me up and down, appraising my body in the two-piece black bikini from Seafolly.

Was it getting hot in here, or what?

It was easier to ignore Edward's comment and blame it all on his teenage hormones. The doorbell rang once more, so I ran and left Edward by himself to grab a towel and answer the door.

"Holy jama lama!" I jumped up in surprise. "Please tell me you're not Edward's girl! That lucky bastard!" There was a big muscular man standing at the door, accompanied by a cute blond dude who offered an apologetic look. The two guys were total hotties, believe me, so it was quite difficult to reconcile the fact that they could be just as young as Edward. God, where were guys like these when I was in high school?

"Emmett, seriously?" Blond dude said to the big muscular man, who I now knew as Emmett. Oh, so these must be the best friends Edward had mentioned to me the other night. "My apologies, Bella. This is my brother Emmett. I'm Jasper Hale. We're friends of—"

"Edward, yeah," I concluded, smiling. "I'm Bella Swan." I formally introduced myself to the two brothers and was lucky enough to earn a kiss on the hand from Jasper. Emmett had me in a bone-crushing hug that left me quite breathless.

"Oh my God, her tits are real!" I bit my bottom lip, unsure of how to respond to Emmett's proclamation. But yeah, my tits are as real as they could get. I was proud of my girls even if they weren't as amazing as Rosalie's D-cups.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Jasper hit the back of Emmett's head and stood between the two of us. "I'm sorry about my brother. He was dropped when he was a baby."

Jasper had a good sense of humor, that I noticed. I waved it off and invited them in. "Edward's in the backyard. I'm sure you know your way around the house, so I'm just... gonna go."

After the Hale brothers arrived, more people kept coming through the front door. Eventually, I got tired of personally welcoming Edward's guests inside so I just left the door unlocked. Before the sun set, the pool perimeters were crowded with rowdy high school students. Apparently, Edward misunderstood the definition of 'few friends'. Good thing Rosalie didn't whine and start a fight with him.

Later, I actually had some barbecue with my friends by the pool. Rosalie and I listened to Jessica go on and on about her college life in general and how much she enjoyed being a sorority girl. Lauren left us to dance with some of the guys, only to never come back again. I think I may have an idea where she'd gone off to, just not with whom. Anyway, it's not like she ever remembered names of guys she had slept with, so it was useless to know. We figured that by the end of the night, Lauren would be back in Rosalie's bedroom to slumber party with us, as planned.

Under the nightsky, it was easy to relax in the jacuzzi, in spite the loud music. I smiled as I remembered some of our best high school moments in the Cullens' backyard. Sometimes I wished I could go back just to relive those happy and crazy times. Forks is a quiet town but that didn't stop me and my friends from going all out. We had experienced it all—alcohol, drugs, sex, and all that mumbo jumbo—and like Rosalie always said, 'No regrets.'

Some of the guests had brought more kegs to the party, in addition to what Edward had ordered that morning under Rosalie's name. I had seen a couple of kids snort on coke in the patio but chose to pretend that my eyes were closed. I guess it was only natural that Edward and his friends enjoyed the same privilege, that's why Rosalie didn't get pissed off. Emmett Hale, on the other hand, was a different issue altogether... Now that man sorta pissed her off.

"Hey, ladies, may I join you?" Emmett cheered as he handed each of us a bottle of beer. Jessica and I eagerly welcomed him into the hot, bubbly water while Rosalie just shrugged her shoulders. "Ah, Princess Rosalie, looking beautiful, as always!" I intently watched my best friend hold a staring contest against him.

Now that I think about it, Emmett was exactly Rosalie's type, judging by his physical traits. She loved her men tall, buff, and strong, and Emmett seemed to have it all. When he flashed his dimples, that's when I knew that my best friend would so be a goner for this man.

I waited for something major to happen, but nothing came. Normally, when Rosalie wanted a man, she claimed him for all the world to see. Yet with Emmett, she was, simply put, disgusted. Maybe I was wrong—maybe she just didn't like him.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Emmett," was Rosalie's snarky reply before she climbed out of the tub with Jessica. I almost felt bad for him. As Rosalie's best friend, I knew how awful it was to be on the receiving end of her bitchiness. I didn't know what he had done to her to be punished this way.

Rosalie signaled that they were going upstairs. I could have followed her and Jessica but I didn't want to embarrass Emmett. He seemed like an okay guy and he was Edward's best friend, so I wanted to be nice to him too.

"She hates me."

I cleared my throat, hoping to ease the tension. With a slight shake of the head, I explained: "No, that's Rosalie for everyone. She doesn't easily warm up to new people."

Somehow he found my reasoning very funny. "You think it was the first time we met? Dude, I've known Rosie for as long as I've known Eddie over there, just not as much as my boy, of course."

I looked towards the direction where Emmett had pointed Edward and saw him playing poker with his friends. There was Jasper, some other guys, and a tiny pretty girl whose arms were tightly wrapped around Edward. I'd seen her cling onto him since the minute she stepped into the house. I frowned and looked away.

"Green is definitely not your color, Bella Swan."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied, keeping a straight face.

He just grinned and said: "Sure you don't... But just so you know, Edward is a great guy. He's got hundreds of girls running after him but he's had his eyes set on this one lady for a long time." He gave me a knowing look, his brows moving up and down a couple of times.

"He's my best friend—I cut his hair, threw his eyeglasses on a bonfire, brought his ass to the gym, and taught him most of his moves, you know. Those things took years, girl. I'd really hate all of it to be wasted."

"He doesn't seem to be wasting it at all," I said, referring to that pixie sitting on Edward's lap. Not really, but she was getting there.

"Those girls just come and go. Edward needs some practice and they are all too willing. You know what they say, 'Practice makes perfect.' Most guys need to experiment at his age. You don't even know how much pressure is on him 'cause he's got to catch up with the five year age difference."

"What?" I asked, confused by the last part of what he said.

"Oh for the love of God, open your eyes, woman!" Emmett had been loud, which caused several heads to turn towards our direction. "Look," he whispered quietly and placed his hands firmly around my shoulders. "I promised Edward that I wouldn't say anything to you but it's seriously taking him forever. By the time you fully understand what he's doing, you are going to be old and wrinkled. I'm sorry for that bad visual, but it is what it is. Sometimes I feel like he doesn't listen to a word I say." He sighed in frustration. "He l—likes you... Edward will kill me if I say more. So, I'll leave it up to you to connect the dots and pray that you sort it out before your boy gets me insane."

A/N: Did you like that super long chapter? ;) Many reviewers requested this particular chapter to be much longer so it's 3x the length of the usual. Let me know if I should continue this story.

x Kat / mmecullen