Not Without A Fight
Annaleise Marie
Round Sixteen
AN: First off, thanks so much to all of my reviewers, especially those who wished me well, and of course those who wished my brother well. He's doing great, considering, and getting better all the time.
Now, I own a pair of ballistics-proof glasses, courtesy of the Army, but I do not own Twilight. That's Stephenie Meyer.
/
RPOV
"Rosalie," Jasper started slowly at breakfast the next morning.
"Hmm?" I asked, sipping my coffee and trying not to wince as the hot liquid hit my raw lip.
"What's with your face?" His tone suggested he already knew, and was merely confirming.
"Mom and Dad made me go apologize to Royce last night," I said. He nodded. My guess was he didn't really know what to say. I was glad he didn't, anyway, as Mom chose that moment to walk into the kitchen.
"Good morning," she said cheerfully, blowing past us and opening the fridge. "Rosalie, your father and I have to leave a little sooner than planned, so—" she turned to us as she closed the fridge with the hand that wasn't clutching the milk carton, and for a moment she froze. Maybe everything froze. Was I breathing?
It didn't really matter, I guess, because in the next moment the world unstuck and she let out a strangled sort of shriek. She clasped her hand to her mouth quickly to silence the sound, evidently forgetting about the milk as it crashed to the floor, the seal breaking and sending milk spattering over the hardwood floors and lower cabinet facings.
"Wow," Jasper said. Mom's eyes flickered to him.
"Jasper, could you go upstairs for a bit?" she asked, trying her best to keep her Emily Gilmore in-control persona firmly in place.
"I'm eating," he answered simply. "Apple Jacks. Luckily I got down here before we ran out of milk."
I don't know if Mom heard him or not. She didn't respond, either way. I thought for a moment she was just stunned, but then, without a single word, she turned and left the kitchen. Jasper raised an eyebrow at me. A moment later we heard the front door open and close.
"It's hard to bake without milk," I said, shrugging.
"She's in her bathrobe," he answered. I froze, my coffee mug halfway to my lips. I knew what that meant. Our mother wouldn't be caught dead in public in that state of undress. So where was she going?
We stood at the same time, rushing for the front window to verify that Mom's car was still in the driveway before surveying the yard. Jasper spotted her first, on the McCarty's porch. I barely had time to register this fact before the door was opening and Emmett's mom was welcoming her in, looking politely puzzled.
Oh, good grief.
/
EPOV
Too early. Too early for yelling. So much yelling. So fucking shrill. What the fuck is going on?
My eyes snapped open a few minutes later as I fully processed my own thoughts, and a few of the choice phrases floating up the stairs.
"How dare you suggest such a thing?"
"Maybe if you weren't such an absent parent, you'd be able to see the problems right under your own roof!"
"I'm an absent parent? I'm an absent parent?"
"Never see you home, it's no wonder your son turned out the way he has!"
"I work at night to support Emmett and I'll have you know he's turned out just fine!"
I dragged myself out of bed, finding a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt before going to inspect the source of the commotion.
"It's no wonder you move all the time! This probably isn't the first time this has happened!"
"Emmett wouldn't hurt anyone!"
"He hit my daughter!"
Oh now that did it. I burst through my door, taking the stairs two at a time and skidding into the living room. My mother and Rosalie's mother were in a sort of face-off. Clearly they had both been sitting, judging by the mussed furniture and the mugs of tea on the coffee table, but now they were inches away from each other, faces twisted in fury. Mrs. Hale was a good head taller than my mom, but she was clearly having trouble standing her ground. My mom has this bizarre ability to grow when she gets angry.
"You!" Mrs. Hale hissed, her attention turning to me. I raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't give me that look, you know what you did!"
"I know what happened," I corrected her coldly. "But I had nothing to do with it."
"Liar," she hissed. "Everything was fine before you moved here, you little—"
"Enough!" my mom interrupted, her eyes flaming. "I think it's time for you to leave, Lillian." There was a tense silence as Mrs. Hale attempted to stare my mom down, before she stomped past her toward the front door. Mom followed her, catching the door before it could hit the wall after Mrs. Hale flung it open. She smiled sweetly.
"Thanks for stopping by, Lillian," she said. For a moment Mrs. Hale looked like she wanted to spit nails, but then the door swung shut in her face. Mom sighed and shook her head, turning to walk back to the living room to gather up the mugs of tea before heading to the kitchen. I followed her dutifully.
She was silent as she rinsed the cups in the sink before loading them into the dishwasher. I took a seat at the kitchen table, waiting. Finally she sighed, turning towards me, leaning back against the counter, her arms crossing over her chest.
"Emmett," she started carefully and then paused, her eyes searching mine. "Did you hit Rosalie?"
Well, that was sudden and abrupt.
"What? No! How could you even think that?" I defended, my hand coming down hard on the kitchen table. Okay, that probably didn't help my case.
"What am I supposed to think?" she asked, looking tired. "Lillian Hale shows up at my door with the attitude that Rosalie's half-dead or something, and that you did it. You said you know what happened. What is it, if you really didn't do it?"
I bit my tongue, weighing the options as Mom looked at me expectantly. I could tell her everything, but I didn't think Rosalie wanted that. It was her story to tell, and she had kept it a secret for her own reasons. I could tell her the bare bones of it, and hope she believed me, but it would sound like a shoddy explanation at best.
She continued to look at me, her gaze unwavering, until finally I sighed.
"Royce King, you know, her ex-boyfriend—" Mom opened her mouth, I guess to reopen the previous day's argument, but I raised my hand to stop her. "Her parents made her go to apologize for something she told them last night, and he hit her. She has a split lip and most of her face is bruised."
Mom was silent, as though waiting for me to continue. I weighed my words carefully.
"The Hales don't want to believe that Royce is capable of that, and what Rose told them, so I guess since they know that she and I are together, I'm the go-to."
"What did she tell them?" Mom asked.
"Hmm?"
"What did Rosalie tell her parents that they wanted her to apologize for?" she clarified. I sighed again. I couldn't feel like I was somehow betraying Rose by telling her this.
"That Royce raped and beat her the whole time they were together, and that they've been broken up for months," I said, watching her eyes widen. Yup. Emmett Fucking McCarty, King of the Shock Value.
"Emmett!" she exclaimed. Wow she sounded upset. Definitely hadn't expected that. "What's wrong with you?"
"Me? I just told you, I didn't do anything!" I protested. She gaped at me.
"That's the problem! You knew this was going on and didn't tell anyone?" she demanded. Jeez, when she puts it like that, it kinda makes me sound bad.
"It was over by the time I moved here. As far as I know, last night was the first time Rose saw him since then, and it was her parents who threw her in there, after she told them what happened!" I said but Mom was still shaking her head. I just couldn't win.
"I don't know what's gotten into you lately," she said. "You don't seem to be making good decisions—"
"Let's not go there again, Mom, please?" I asked, rubbing my hands over my eyes hard to stave off the dull throbbing that was beginning to start there. "I had my reasons. I don't even really like that I had to tell you this now, but well, I didn't really have a choice. It was tell you, or have you think I may have hit a woman."
I stood up, pushing my chair back up to the table.
"You should get some sleep before work tonight," I said. "I have a carpet shampooer to rent." I started to head upstairs to change before heading out, but her voice stopped me.
"Emmett, honey," she said softly, her hand reaching out to rest on my arm. I half-turned back to her. "I'm sorry. For what happened yesterday. This place has thrown me for quite the loop. I'm sure you've been doing what you think is right."
It wasn't what I would have chosen for her to apologize for, but it was something. And really, my mom was the only person I had been able to count on since my father had died, even if she sometimes slipped up. I turned completely, leaning down to hug her.
"I'm sorry for what I said."
"No, you were right," she said softly. "I thought maybe I could start something… But I guess it's still not right, is it?" I was quiet, not sure what to say. She cleared her throat and looked away from me. "That's why, at the end of the school year, we're moving."
/
RPOV
Mom and Dad left again the next day, but not before we'd had a long "talk" about what happened. They never once acknowledged that I was telling the truth, and constantly made references to their beliefs that Emmett was responsible for all of this, but they had at least agreed that I probably shouldn't see Royce anymore.
The door had barely shut behind my parents as they departed than Alice had burst through the patio door, relief seeming to wash over her. She hadn't been over as much as normal, with the much stricter rules in place with our parents home. I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Hi, Rose!" she said cheerfully, turning her attention to me before double-taking violently. "Whoa!" was all she managed to force out.
"Yeah, Alice, I know," I sighed.
"Are you sure? Like, have you seen your face? Because you are way too calm to have seen it," she said, sounding genuinely concerned.
"I did it on purpose, Alice," I said. I expected her to look confused, or like she was questioning my mental health, but she just nodded.
"Did it work?" she asked, taking a seat at the kitchen island.
"Kind of. I'm finally free of Royce," I said and she smiled. "I think it's mainly to keep me from further tarnishing his reputation, and my parents think Emmett did it, so it's not all good, but well, it works I guess."
"Definitely. I mean, I hate that they're accusing Emmett of that, but anyone with half a brain would know that it's not true," she said, shaking her head and then looking at me apologetically. "I don't mean to call your parents stupid or anything."
"No, they're acting pretty stupid," I conceded. She smiled sheepishly. At that moment Jasper tromped into the kitchen, his wrestling bag slung over his shoulder.
"What're you doing?" I asked him.
"Today's the first practice since the holiday. Gotta get ready for the big match," he said.
"But I just got here," Alice whined.
"My two great loves, competing for my attention," Jasper said dramatically, feigning a pained look. "I'll make it up to you later, okay?" he asked, leaning down to kiss Alice.
"No can do," she said before quickly returning the kiss. "We're having a girl's night."
"We are?" I asked.
"Yes, we are," she said, giving me a pointed look. I shrugged.
"Okay then," I said and Jasper looked between the two of us questioningly for a moment.
"I'd stay and try to figure this out, but I'm running late," he said. "I'll see you later."
"So," I said once he was gone, looking questioningly at Alice, who just smiled back innocently. "Girl's night?"
"Oh that's right! I should call Bella!" she said, skipping off to the living room, pulling her phone from her back pocket and scrolling through the contacts.
/
EPOV
"Man, what are you doing?" I jumped as someone shouted at me and quickly turned off the carpet shampooer, spinning around to see Jasper standing by the stairs, looking horrified.
"Jeez, don't any of you ever knock?" I demanded, trying to calm my now-frazzled nerves.
"I did. I guess your need to compete with June Cleaver was affecting your hearing," he smirked. "Are you coming to practice or what?"
I groaned. I had completely forgotten about practice, with everything else that was going on.
"Yeah, hold on a second," I said, unplugging the shampooer and bounding up the stairs.
"Hurry up, Margaret, and don't forget your heels!" he called after me.
"Margaret?" I shouted back, searching for my bag.
"Margaret Anderson, the mother from Father Knows Best," he yelled. "Really, you should know your competition, Donna Reed!"
"Shut up," I grumbled, coming back down the stairs and grabbing my keys off of the hook by the door as I went. "Just for that, you can't ride with me. Better start running, Lassie."
"Lassie?"
"Just keeping with the fifties sitcom references."
/
"Let's go do something!" Jasper insisted after practice. We were hanging out in my living room. I had finally finished the carpets, much to Jasper and Edward's amusement.
"There's nothing to do around here, man," Edward said, flipping through the television channels.
"The girls are having their girl's night, so we should do something manly."
"Something manly?" I asked skeptically. "Like what?"
"I don't know… Spit, jump off something, fight a bear, drink to excess and burp loudly because they're not here," Jasper said, shrugging. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. I mean, probably not about fighting a bear, but the rest of it. "I vote for drinking, personally. And pool. There's a place in La Push we could go to."
"We're underage," I reminded him. It wasn't that I had never drank before, but even I knew it usually had to be at parties and such.
"Trust me, it doesn't matter," he said confidently.
/
Edward cursed as the eight ball snapped into the corner pocket and Jasper smirked.
"I'm not playing anymore. I give up," he announced, sliding five dollars across the table to Jasper for the third time. "I'm losing too much money on it."
Jasper laughed and disappeared to the bar with his winnings, coming back with a pitcher of beer and joining me and Edward at the table. There was a long silence.
"Man, we suck," Jasper finally said, seeming amused.
"What?" Edward asked.
"We've been trained so well by our girls, we don't even know what we're supposed to talk about with the guys," he said. He had a fair point. "What did we talk about, back before we were whipped?"
"Sports?" I suggested.
"Movies," Edward added.
"Music," Jasper said. "And pussy. But since we actually have that now—" He was cut off as Edward let out a derisive sort of snort. Jasper turned to him, latching on to the opportunity. "What, don't tell me you and Bella aren't fucking?"
"Nope," Edward admitted. "Well, not yet, anyway."
"Haven't you two been together since like, the dawn of time?" Jasper asked. I laughed. He was right, from what I had seen Bella and Edward were a hundred-year-old couple trapped in seventeen-year-old bodies.
"Two years," Edward corrected him.
"Oh, my bad," Jasper said, raising his hands in mock-defeat. "What's the hold-up, then?"
"I'll have you know I'm a fucking gentleman, asshole," Edward informed him. Jasper let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like 'pussy', but motioned for him to continue. "I don't know, I guess we've been waiting for the right time. Or," he amended, rolling his eyes, "I've been waiting for the right time."
"Ah, Bella's getting impatient," Jasper said knowingly, taking a deep drink of his beer. Edward nodded.
"I don't see the problem," I said. "I mean, you said you love her, right?" Edward nodded. "So fuck her."
"Yeah, cause it was so easy for you, Emmett," Jasper laughed.
"It wasn't that bad."
"Please, it was like pulling teeth."
"Anyway," I said pointedly, turning my attention back to Edward. "What's the problem? She loves you, right?" He nodded. "And you want to have sex with her?" He nodded again. "So man up and do it!" Edward muttered something that I couldn't hear over the music in the bar. "What?"
"I'm a virgin, okay?" he said, louder.
"No shit?" Jasper asked, sounding shocked. "But… how? All I hear from the girls at school is 'ohhh my gawd, Edward is like, so hawt, I would so totally'—" he broke off suddenly, looking pained. "Sorry, I refuse to repeat some of that."
"Because I'm a fucking gentleman!" Edward repeated, looking almost amused by Jasper's shock.
"Okay, okay, so you're nervous. But I mean, it's not like it's hard to do it," I said. "I mean, you've made out with Bella before, at least, right?"
"Yeah," he said hesitantly.
"So, try it naked and just… see how it goes from there," I said, shrugging.
"That," Jasper said, "sounds so awkward. Hey, Bella, let's get naked and see where this leads."
"Exactly," Edward agreed. "And I want it to be perfect for Bella."
"Well, I don't know what to say. I'm not exactly going to choreograph it for you," I said. Just the idea left a bad taste in my mouth.
"So what, you just… let it happen your first times?" Edward asked skeptically. "And it went well?"
Jasper and I both laughed.
"Of course it didn't go well! Are you kidding?" I said as Jasper shook his head, looking amused.
"My first time was with Jessica Stanley," Jasper started, nodding as Edward let out a disgusted noise. "Yeah, but hey, I was young, and stupid, and had yet to find Alice and was thus incomplete." He stared at me as though daring me to mock that. I was sorely tempted. "Anyway, I had no idea what I was doing. It should be simple, right? I mean, every teenage guy has jerked off before, and it should – and I hold to this to this day – it should be that easy, just with another body instead of your hand. But no, girls have to get in the mood, and then you're fumbling around because frankly, girl's bodies are confusing as hell, and then it's hard to last long, no matter what you do."
He took a swig of his beer and looked at Edward, who was looking exceedingly distressed. I didn't have the heart to laugh at him, even if I thought Jasper's account was a bit extreme.
"But," Jasper continued, "it's something that must be done, and it only gets better from there. You need practice, like anything."
"Is it really that bad?" Edward asked me, almost pleading.
"Worse," I said gravely. I couldn't resist. It was too easy.
"Worse," he repeated dully.
"Oh yeah. I broke my nose my first time," I said gravely. This was entirely, one-hundred-percent true. And definitely worth exposing to see the look on Edward's face.
"How?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm kinda curious about this one, too," Jasper said, looking almost awed.
"Well, we were on this trampoline, right," I started and Jasper burst out laughing. "I mean, it was only fitting. Katie Stewart put the tramp in trampoline, after all. So anyway, we were on the trampoline and while I didn't have any of the trouble Jasper mentioned, we did knock heads pretty hard. Her forehead hit my nose and before I knew it, there was blood all over the place and she was freaking out and I wound up having to go to the ER so they could rebreak my nose so it would heal right, with my mom screaming about how did I manage this one. Never got to finish, but it's a hell of a story, and the mood was ruined after that, anyway."
"What did you tell her?" Jasper asked between gasps of laughter. Edward looked rather ill.
"Katie wasn't really a girl who you called back; very hit it and quit it. So I didn't really feel the need to tell her anything," I said, shrugging.
"No, what did you tell your mom?" he asked, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Oh, I told her that I got hit on the trampoline. I wouldn't lie to my mother," I said, acting offended that he would suggest such a thing.
"Yeah, bet you didn't tell her the whole story, either," Jasper said. I shook my head.
"Fuck no."
"You guys are really not comforting," Edward grumbled. Jasper took a second to calm himself and then turned his attention to Edward, looking at him seriously.
"Okay man," he started carefully. "What we're saying is, there's not much you can do. First times are always awkward. But you love Bella, and so no matter what, it'll be fucking beautiful and fulfilling or some shit."
"Very nicely put," I congratulated him.
/
I finally made it back to my room sometime around one in the morning, a little more tipsy than I would have liked. Probably a little more tipsy than I realized, since it struck me as a good idea to just flop down on my bed without even changing into pajamas, falling asleep quickly.
I hadn't been asleep long, though, before I was woken up.
"Emmett," Rosalie hissed, tapping my shoulder. It took my eyes a second to focus on her.
"Hey babe," I said. My voice was pretty steady. It was getting hard to judge my level of intoxication. I sat up and motioned for her to sit beside me. "I didn't think you'd be over tonight."
"My parents left early," she said. "All the easier to ignore the issues."
"Yeah, I've heard. Your mom came over here and started yelling all about it to my mom," I said. If nothing else, this conversation was proving to be thankfully sobering.
"Sorry about that," she replied sheepishly. I shrugged. It had happened, there wasn't really much I could do to change it now.
"So what's the verdict?" I asked. "How did your parents react to your 'evidence'?"
"We're pretending it never happened," Rosalie said softly. "All of it, my parents are acting like it's just a giant void in our lives, where absolutely nothing noteworthy happened."
"That's… really sad," I said, running my hand up and down her arm. It was an awkward gesture, but all that I could think to do.
"That's reality," she countered, sighing. "Sometimes reality is sad." Her angelic features reflected this statement for a moment before she smiled softly. "But at least I'm free now."
"Free?" I asked, chuckling. She nodded. "I don't know babe, you're pretty good and stuck with me, aren't you?" I almost winced at how untrue that statement was proving to be. But I couldn't tell her now. The end of the year was still a ways away, and this was… sort of good news. There was no sense in bringing it up now.
"But that's my choice," she said. "And I'm free to be good and stuck with you."
Her relief was evident in her entire being – the way she held herself, her smile… I wished I could feel that same relief, but I knew I still had something to do before I could.
/
AN: Originally, boy's night wasn't in this chapter, but without it, it was very short, and heavy, as far as my usual content goes. Sorry if the addition made it too fluffy, but I hope you enjoyed it. I had fun writing it.
As a side note: to those of you who reviewed last chapter and did not get a reply/smuttake, I am so sorry. I transferred my files to my new computer from my BlackBerry, and of course, the file got corrupted. This isn't the first time this has happened, and you would think I'd learn, but unfortunately I'm a little slower than that. I do apologize and I'm working on rewriting the smuttake, but it may be a bit longer before it gets to you. Again, I am so, so sorry.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Reviewers get their choice of edible underwear or a candy necklace. I myself choose the necklace. It's much more appropriate to snack on in public. Lol!