"Woo-oh!" Emmett tapped his hand lightly on the panel of the door in encouragement as Edward pushed the new car to its upper limits.
"You had better not leave a handprint."
"Trust me, baby bro."
The look Edward gave him was unamused. "I'm older than you."
"Says the kid who needed an adult's signature to buy a car."
"Bite me, Em."
"Suck me, Ed."
"Later. Maybe. Woop! Hang on."
Edward shifted down as he steered into the skid and the tail slid around smoothly, putting him in position to floor it as the car hurtled down a straight stretch of road.
"I dunno why you're worried about me leavin' handprints when you're gonna wreck the damn thing before we get her home."
"Wouldn't be my first car to end up at the bottom of a ravine."
"You know she scared the shit outta me?"
"Neat trick since you don't have a digestive system anymore."
"I'm serious! Picture me, just launchin' into this great yarn about my sis learnin' how to drive on this ol' crank-start my pa had and next thing I know, we're airborne, 'n she's openin' the door and just climbs onto the roof like some crazy woman."
"I don't need to picture it; I've seen it in her mind, and yours."
"Well, then, you know!"
"I know I was impressed that you didn't even act angry."
"Well I was. I told her she had to tell you."
Edward grunted.
"You didn't act angry either, 'n it was your car."
"I wasn't mad."
"Right," Emmett drawled, not quite believing the younger-looking man. "Because it got you this baby."
Edward made that cocky little smirk. "Mm-hm."
"She coulda killed me!"
"Ha! Not hardly."
"Uh, I don't know if you know this, bro, but vampires can burn."
"You make it sound so easy." Edward snorted. "The only thing I regret about Rosalie wrecking my car is that you climbed out, too. You could've ridden it down and enjoyed the warm fire and lost nothing but your clothes. Poor Rose would've been forced to watch you walk home naked." He grinned and growled low in his chest.
He slammed on the breaks, shifted back down, cranked the wheel hard, and hit the gas, launching the car down the driveway to their house.
Rosalie was nowhere to be seen when Edward skidded to a stop a few feet from their front door.
"Say, Rose!" Edward hollered from the open car window.
Nothing.
"Halloo, the house!"
Still nothing.
"Roooosaliiee!" Edward called in a sing-song voice.
Deliberately nothing.
He and Emmett exchanged shrugs.
Rosalie was sulking, trying to hide her thoughts and pretending to not be there. She wasn't interested in seeing Edward gloating over his new purchase. The car door shut. The front door opened. There was a knock on her bedroom door.
Go away.
"Open up, Rosalie. I know you're in there."
Think you just know everything, don't you?
"I know you want to see this. Come on!"
"What part of GO AWAY doesn't make sense to you?"
"I'm only knocking to be polite. I will break the door down and drag you downstairs if I have to, so come on!"
You wouldn't dare.
"You think not?"
Rose contemplated the low threat in Edward's voice, and the fact that she had been the one to, deliberately, crash his car. Trying to maintain her dignity while still doing as her brother asked, Rosalie left her chair and stalked over to the door which she threw open. Edward was standing on the other side with a cocky grin on his face. She was opening her mouth to tell him off to his face, but he grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the stairs.
"Edward!"
He wordlessly pulled her down the stairs and out the front door, though she huffed and grumbled the whole way.
"Look at that," Edward crooned. "Mercedes-Benz 540K cabriolet, straight eight cylinder engine with twin pressurized updraft carburetors and a supercharger that pushes the horsepower up to one eighty. She'll hit a hundred and ten, or would've if I'd had enough straightaway, but I got her close, didn't I, Em?"
Emmett grunted his agreement.
"Very nice," Rosalie said flatly. "I'm happy for you. Now, if you'll excuse me..."
Edward caught her hand as she turned to go back inside. He thrust the keys into the hand he held. "Why don't you take her for a spin?"
Rosalie studied her brother's calm smile and frowned in confusion. "Aren't you afraid I'll wreck this one, too?"
He shrugged. "You may if you like, but since it's yours, you might want to reconsider."
Mine?!
"Yes."
I... I don't... I don't understand.
"Well, I don't think I can ever repay you, but I reckon your own car is a nice start."
"Repay me. For what?"
"Emmett."
He walked over to the vampire in question and nudged his shoulder with his own as he walked past. Emmett gave her a dimpled grin as she stared open-mouthed at the two before he followed her brother inside. Rosalie couldn't move as a flood of memories fell into place.
The uncomfortable way he'd constantly rejected her. The way he'd always sought Edward's company, and not her own. The way she'd catch his red eyes trained on her brother when they weren't right together. The way their wrestling had seemed almost sexual to her. No, she was sure they were just jesting. They couldn't be lovers. That... That kind of thing didn't really happen. Did it?
She turned to stare through the wide windows in time to see an unhappy expression on Edward's face before the larger vampire caught him in a hug.
Then again, apparently they could.
She felt her resentment fade. She hadn't wanted him, but it had galled her that Edward didn't want her. And it had torn at her heart that Emmett hadn't, either. But if Carlisle had brought home a sister for her, she wouldn't have wanted more from her than the friendship that the two men offered her. She turned back to the car with a smile on her face.
Mine! One hundred and ten miles an hour, huh? Let's just see about that!
"Sh-she doesn't care," Edward stammered as his sister drove away. "She approves, even."
"See? What'd I tell ya?"
Edward laughed with relief.
"I believe I was right, and you... were wrong."
Edward rolled his eyes. "Rub my nose in it, why don't you?"
That's the plan. "Ahem. Didn't we have a little bet? If I'm not mistaken, you just lost."
Edward thought Emmett was mistaken indeed as he grabbed the other man's hand and pulled him to his bedroom.
When Carlisle and Esme returned home that morning, they heard laughter and music before the car had rolled to a stop. They opened the front door to find Edward playing his piano (of course) and Emmett and Rosalie dancing. The constant air of tension that had filled the house for years was absent, and the two exchanged astonished glances at their children's antics. Edward's fingers faltered when Esme's triumphant gasp brought his attention to her thoughts. Rosalie and Emmett were dancing. And laughing. They weren't holding each other, indulging in the flashy foot kicking of the day, but they were dancing.
As the music came to a halt, the two looked at Edward, and then followed his gaze toward the vampires he considered his parents.
An awkward silence descended as Esme and Carlisle glanced hopefully between their daughter and their newest son, but they made no move toward each other.
"Oh, for the love of all that's holy!" Edward growled and threw his hands into the air. He gathered his courage, stood from his bench, and strode determinedly toward Emmett, whose face broke into a wide grin. Edward stepped into Emmett's arms and planted a kiss on his mouth. The taller man lifted him off the floor and returned the kiss with vigor. He cared what Carlisle and Esme thought only for Edward's sake; he needed their approval, but Emmett didn't. Neither man had asked to become vampires, and if they found companionship and more in each other's arms, that was their business.
"Carlisle, did you see my new car?"
"Your - what? I'm sorry?"
Rose linked her arms through her parents' and turned them toward the front door.
Carlisle looked over his shoulder at his two sons as he walked. "But-"
It may have been Emmett he was kissing, but it was Carlisle's mind Edward was watching. The man he considered his father was replaying what he'd just witnessed, but Edward detected only surprise in his thoughts, not condemnation. Edward had been certain that, as the son of a priest, Carlisle would instantly and completely disapprove. Edward's human father would have.
But Carlisle did not. A warm happiness was growing in Esme as she thought of her son's recent smiles and laughter. Did it matter their source? She didn't think so. Rose trotted beside the new car as Carlisle and Esme allowed themselves to be chivvied into taking it for a test drive. Rose was thinking she was going to make sure it was a long one.
Edward would have liked that to mean days and days, but hoped for at least a few hours alone with the man he loved. And if they came home before they were done? Edward supposed he didn't really care. Carlisle and Esme had never bothered to hide; why should he?