Not Without a Fight
Annaleise Marie
Round Twenty-Two
AN: I forgot to mention in the last few chapters that I still don't use a beta reader. So of course, any mistakes in my story are mine alone. I don't use one because I can get you chapters quicker if I don't have to work with someone else, and my mistakes are pretty minimal, but if I ever post anything that just does not make sense and you think it may be a mistype, please let me know and I'll fix/clarify it. Thanks. :D
Also, this chapter came with the realization that I have not written a real lemon in something like two years which led to such gems on my Twitter such as, "I just realized I haven't written a lemon in two years, either, and I AM LOSING MY FUCKING MIND GUYS! HOW DO YOU EVEN SEX IDEK OMG" and, "Why is it not acceptable for lemons in a multi-chapter story with plot to begin simply 'Emmett mauled her like a fucking bear'?" Along that line, if you enjoy watching authors spaz over their work since we make it look so effortless here (now isn't that laughable), feel free to follow me on Twitter. I pretty much spaz 24/7, and I love interacting with my readers. I also recommend following Hans153 and HoudinisBox (FFn: Nachos4Children) as they are both friendly, fantastically humorous people and excellent writers.
Also, on the subject, if you are not 18 or legal age wherever the fuck you come from, I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT TO KNOW. WE ARE ALL GOING TO PRETEND YOU AREN'T READING THIS, AREN'T WE? You know the drill.
X
EPOV
Rosalie and I sat on her bed facing each other, our legs crossed, eleven college letters spread out between us. Rosalie's six, and my five. Eleven different school crests.
"You know, it doesn't really matter what they say," Rosalie said quietly. "We didn't apply to any of the same schools. So no matter what…" she trailed off, her eyes darting up to meet mine. I nodded. Neither of us had said it, but it hung over us, the knowledge that for either of us to move further in our lives, we would also have to move apart. It was no longer just a question of whether my mom would move or not.
"We can get through this, right?" she asked. I just looked at her. Rosalie was a lot of firsts for me, as jaded as I had thought I was on all matters of romance and relationships, but I couldn't really promise that we could get through a long-distance relationship. When I moved before, it had always been the automatic end of everything. No questions.
I had no doubt I could be faithful to her, but could I withstand being in a half of a relationship, from the other side of the country? Having her, being hers, but never being able to see her, hold her? I had never tried. I didn't know.
"It's a year," I said. "At that point, one of us could transfer."
Rosalie nodded and took a deep breath. I reached for the first envelope and she followed suit. Virginia Tech for me, University of Washington for her.
We opened the envelopes, unfolding the letters.
"We are pleased to inform you…" Rosalie read off, looking up at me.
"We regret to inform you…" I read in turn, smiling wryly and flipping the paper around to show her the blatant rejection.
"Their loss," Rosalie said, shrugging. We each picked up a new letter. Seattle University and Penn State.
"We regret to inform you…" Rosalie read, shrugging. "It was like, my third choice anyway."
"We are pleased to inform you," I read, grinning. "Excellent."
"Not a bad school, for three thousand miles away," Rosalie agreed wryly.
We continued in this way, with me being accepted into Penn State, George Mason, and University of Baltimore, and Rose getting in to Washington State, University of California, and Arizona State University.
"Not bad choices," I muttered.
"No combination of schools less than three thousand miles apart," she pointed out. I smiled.
"It's quite a while before we have to worry about that, though," I said, trying to smile at her. She nodded, shifting to lay on her side.
"I know," she said, sighing. "It's just hard to think about it."
I reached over and brushed a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
"We'll get through it." The promise that had been so hard to make moments before came forth freely now. "We'll get through it," I repeated, more to strengthen my resolve than anything. "We have to. I love you too much to lose you."
She sighed, letting her eyes close as I ran my fingers through her hair. I cupped the back of her head, gently pulling her towards me as I leaned forward to kiss her softly.
Oh fuck. It had only been about a week since I had last had her, but with all of the tension going on it may as well have been two years. That simple kiss set me on fire faster than I would have thought possible. I pulled away and grinned, grabbing her wrist and pulling as I leaned back until she was over me, her body pressed against mine.
She slid up to meet my lips with her own again, sliding her body against mine, and I felt my cock twitch. I groaned into her mouth, my hands moving to slide under the hem of her shirt, running along the smooth skin of her back. She arched into the caress, causing her to grind against me. We both gasped and she sat up, pulling me with her.
She pulled on my shirt and I raised my arms, helping her to pull it off quickly before I returned the favor, ridding her of her shirt and then bra. I drew her against me, relishing the feeling of her bare skin against mine, and trailed kisses from her jaw down her neck and to her chest. She gasped again when I reached her breasts, kneading one gently in my hand as my mouth found the other, licking and sucking, reveling in the taste of her skin.
She pressed against me harder and I let my teeth graze her nipple, grinning against the tortured skin as she cried out, her hands squeezing my shoulders hard.
My hands moved to the button on her jeans, deftly undoing it and the zipper, sliding my hands under the waistband and pushing them down with her underwear. I moved, pushing her back until she way laying under me, her head at the foot of the bed, and pulled her pants off. Finally, she was completely naked, spread for me, her body flushed.
I knelt between her legs, kissing from her chest down her stomach, pausing to flick my tongue in her belly button, causing her to squirm.
"Emmett," she hissed, her voice pleading as I continued downward, kissing the inside of her thigh. I grinned up at her, keeping eye contact as I kissed further up her leg, slowly drawing toward her glistening center. "Please," she gasped, her eyes glued to mine.
I blew gently against her slit and she threw her head back, crying out in surprise, her back arching and her hips bucking. I fucking loved how responsive she was, how much I could affect her without even actually touching her. I moved forward and gave one long, slow lick over her core. She cursed loudly, her thighs shaking and her heels digging into the bed.
I wanted more of her, needed more. Like a starving man, a taste wouldn't suffice. I buried my face against her, going to work with my tongue and lips, flicking and sucking at her clit until it sounded like she was about to sob. Without pausing, I thrust two fingers into her, curling them and stroking her inner walls, feeling them spasm and contract as she got closer. I pressed my tongue flat against her clit and moaned. She bucked as the vibration of it traveled through her and I grinned.
I moved back up, keeping my fingers inside her, thrusting them steadily, and kissed along her neck and chin before drawing back.
"Rose," I said, my voice raspy. "Look at me." Her eyes fluttered open on command, dark with lust. "Come for me," I commanded, feeling her walls quickening around my fingers before I even said it.
She cried out, her thighs clasping together, trapping my hand as she came around my fingers, her hips bucking and grinding. I captured her mouth, devouring it and her cries until it was over and she pulled away, gasping for breath, her body going slack.
"I love you so much," I muttered, gazing down at her. I felt it like a veritable weight in my chest, my love for her. At that moment, it seemed almost impossible to contain.
"I love you too," she said, her breathing calming. "That's why it's so hard to think about losing you."
"You'll never lose me," I promised.
After that everything was slow, tender. Our bodies seemed to meld together until I couldn't tell where I ended and she began. Nothing else mattered. Time stopped as we moved together, bringing each other to the peaks of pleasure again and again until we lay, exhausted and sated, in a tangle of sheets and our own limbs.
X
RPOV
By Wednesday, I had developed a new tactic in coping with mine and Emmett's impending separation: I simply wasn't going to think about it. I was going to enjoy the time we had together, and trust his word that I wasn't going to lose him.
Although how he could really promise a thing like that, I didn't know. It was comforting nonetheless.
Without that stress, we sort of began to seem like a real couple for the first time since we had met. It was surreal, and in its own way set me on edge, but I tried to ignore it. Just because we were finally acting normal didn't mean something was wrong.
Emmett started sleeping and eating again regularly.
I don't care what anyone says; sometimes you can fix a problem by ignoring it.
"So I've been thinking, and I think our best bet would be to hit the stores this weekend, before the rush," Alice said as soon as she sat down at lunch one day. I looked at Bella questioningly. She just shrugged, her eyes wide and nervous.
"What for, Alice?" I asked cautiously. Alice had her serious-shopping voice on, and I enjoyed shopping as much as the next girl, but Alice could be a bit dangerous in that mode.
"Prom dresses," she said, her tone suggesting that she was just itching to add a duh at the end. Bella looked up again in alarm, freezing mid-bite of her salad.
"Prom is still three months away, Alice," I said. Bella nodded quickly in agreement. "And anyway, I don't think Emmett and I are going."
"Of course you are," Alice said dismissively. "You can't miss prom. It's a rite of passage. Not going to prom would be like not wanting to celebrate your birthday or act in a school play or something."
"None of which I enjoy doing," Bella pointed out.
"I don't know, it could be fun," Emmett said. Everyone turned to him in surprise. Bella looked worried and I knew why. Emmett would have seemed like her most likely ally in this battle. "What?" Emmett asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "Are you really telling me you would pass up a chance to see all of this in a tux?" He mock posed, flexing his biceps. "I clean up real nice, if I do say so myself."
"It doesn't matter how you look; everyone knows this is their night to feel all fancy and classy and shit," Jasper answered, smirking.
"I'll have you know I'm classy as fuck," Alice said mid-bite of her sandwich, pouting around the food.
"Clearly, darlin'," Jasper teased.
"Edward?" Alice prompted after she had swallowed her food, looking at him expectantly. Bella's eyes snapped between the two of them as Edward seemed to consider it.
"I'm with Emmett, it could be fun," he said. Bella gaped at him mutinously.
"Edward!"
"I'm just saying, maybe Alice is right. Maybe it's just one of those human experiences you're supposed to have," he said, shrugging.
"Thanks for the advice, grandpa," Bella grumbled, but there was no real malice behind it.
"What can I say, I'm a timeless soul," Edward said, stretching and leaning back in his chair.
"So this weekend, then? We'll all go up to Port Angeles," Alice said excitedly.
"I don't know, it seems kind of conventional for us," I said, grinning at Emmett.
"Come on, babe, we can battle it out with each other again next week. No harm in going on a group date like a normal couple just this once," Emmett returned, laughing. Bella rolled her eyes.
"Fine, we're in, too," she said, sighing dramatically. I laughed. You'd think someone had just suggested that Bella go to the Congo for a year and rebuild villages or something. Actually, she might be more into that.
The bell rang for class and we gathered our stuff up, Alice making a promise that sounded more like a threat to have Bella come to our place that night to set up definitive travel plans.
X
EPOV
When I got home from school I found, to my great ire, a silver Volvo parked next to my mom's car in the driveway. I pulled up along the curb and got out, cutting across the grass to the front door and opening it.
My mom's voice floated from the living room, stopping me in my tracks.
"No, he's been doing much better the past couple of days," she was saying. "And he got his college letters in, so that's a huge relief."
"So stay," Dr. Cullen's voice answered simply.
"It's not that easy," she sighed. "All of the schools that he applied to are back East, and I want to stay close to him."
"Esme, stop using your son as a reason to run away," Dr. Cullen said, sounding exhausted. I wondered how long this conversation had been going on.
"I'm not. But we're a family and we need to stay together," Mom said in that tone of voice she always used with me when a subject was closed.
"He's going to college. He doesn't need you to be there twenty-four-seven. Kids develop their independence in college. It's normal. It's okay to start focusing on you when that happens," Dr. Cullen said. Mom was silent.
"I just don't want you to leave before we know what this could become," he continued after a minute. "I care about you, Esme. I want to give us a chance."
There was a pause and I held my breath. If he could convince her, then she would still be living here. Then this is where I would be coming for school breaks and summers. I could see Rosalie easily every couple of months, without having to skip out on Mom or choose between them.
"I'll think about it, Carlisle," Mom finally answered, her voice barely audible. "I'll put off the planning for the move for a few months, and we'll see where this goes. But I still need to do what's right for my family in the end, and if this isn't it…" she trailed off.
"I understand," Dr. Cullen said. I shut the door, finally signaling that I was home. I heard my mom's heels click across the hardwood and then she appeared around the corner, Dr. Cullen close behind her.
"Emmett," she said, looking uncomfortable. I guess the last time I had found out Dr. Cullen was here, I hadn't exactly been polite. "How was your day."
"Good," I said. There was an awkward pause. "I was actually going to go over to the Hale's. Alice wants us all to go to Port Angeles this weekend with Bella and Edward." For some reason at this point I nodded to Dr. Cullen like he didn't know I was talking about his Edward. "They want to go shopping for prom and we're supposed to plan it out or something."
"You're going to prom?" Mom asked, sounding surprised.
"Bella agreed to go to prom?" Dr. Cullen asked at the same time. Really, I could understand his surprise more than my mom's.
"I went to prom last year," I pointed out. "And I think Bella agreed under duress, really. Everyone else is really into it."
Dr. Cullen nodded. There was another moment of tense silence.
"Well, we were actually thinking of going out to dinner, so that works out well," Mom said, looking at Dr. Cullen questioningly.
"Sounds good," he agreed, smiling. As cute as it was that they were like, officially dating now or whatever, this was getting really uncomfortable. I dropped my books on the table in the hall and made my way back to the door.
"Have fun, then," I said. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"So anything short of death or hard drugs then?" Mom asked. I was almost offended, but then I saw that she was smiling. For the first time in a long time, Mom was joking with me.
"I like to set the bar high," I joked back, shrugging.
X
"Bella and Edward will be here in a few minutes," Alice chirped happily, poking the screen of her phone.
"Do you just check up on all of us all day on that app?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. She looked at me and shrugged. Beside her, Jasper caught my eye and shook his head almost imperceptively.
"I just like to know where people are," Alice muttered. I didn't really get it, but I heeded Jasper's warning and let it go. "Anyway, I was thinking we should go up Saturday morning instead of after school Friday, since it might take awhile to get everything we need."
"The stores will still be open for five hours after we'd get out of school and get up there," I pointed out. Rosalie laughed and Jasper shook his head.
"Like I said, not enough time," Alice said, grinning.
"You guys are going to try on dresses for more than five hours?" I asked, dumbfounded. I would never understand why it took girls so fucking long to do everything.
"Emmett, trust me man, as the guys we'll just go hang out and fuck around until one of them decides to let us know what color our vest needs to be, and then we'll go order a tux. Ten minutes of effort on our part, tops, and they do all of the actual work," Jasper explained.
"Unless you want to follow us around while we shop," Rosalie said, grinning. "We could always use someone to carry our bags."
"I would do just about anything for you, babe, but please don't actually ask me to do that," I groaned. She laughed, turning to lean against me as I put my arm around her, taking comfort in the feel of her body against mine.
The door opened and closed and after a second Bella and Edward came into the living room. Poor Bella looked like she was walking to face the firing squad. I didn't really get the big problem. Girls were supposed to be all over this prom shit, weren't they? Wasn't it like, the third most important day of their lives, after their wedding day and the birth of their first born?
And I guess their high school or college graduations because women are not trophies or walking uterus' for the free use of men, as my mom would say.
Point is, I thought this was supposed to be some important and fucking magical shit.
"I guess Edward's dad was right to be surprised that you agreed to go," I said to Bella, trying not to laugh. She shook her head.
"Dances aren't really my thing," she said.
"It's not a dance, Bella. It's prom. It's the social event of senior year," Alice said exasperatedly.
"When did you talk to my dad?" Edward asked.
"He was at my house when I got home. He and my mom were talking," I said. He nodded.
"And?" Alice prodded. Of course she knew about my plan with Edward, but I didn't want to bring that up in front of Bella.
"And they're going to dinner tonight," I said pointedly.
"But what about—" Alice stopped talking abruptly as Jasper nudged her. Bella looked between the rest of us, her brow furrowed.
"What's going on?" Bella asked.
"Nothing," I said, keeping my voice even. "Alice just knows that my mom and Dr. Cullen dating is a bit of a sore spot for me."
"Okay," Bella said slowly. She didn't look altogether too convinced. I wasn't surprised. Lying on the fly was never really my strong suit.
"So…" Rosalie began after a tense moment. "We'll go up Saturday morning, then?" Everyone was quick to agree with her, and we all went back to discussing the trip with a great bit more enthusiasm than we had before.
X
AN: So, in an attempt to get my funny back – because I feel like it's really been lacking since I came back – I bought "The Snark Handbook" by Lawrence Dorfman. It may or may not have helped, that remains to be seen, but if you enjoyed the humor in this story before the hiatus, I would highly recommend that you check out this book.
I should mention that, while I appreciate hearing from everyone, I have changed computers in the last two years. So I don't have files of my smuttakes and other tidbits that I was offering as a thanks for reviews on certain chapters. Unless someone who received it can still dig it up, I'm afraid there's no way for me to send them to anyone now. So sorry. D:
Also, I've decided I am going to post chapter previews for this story on my livejournal. However, when I went to post the preview for this chapter, the site was down. I'll start posting them as soon as the site's back up, so be on the lookout for that if you're interested! The link is on my profile.
Let's see… it's been awhile since I've bribed you guys. Reviewers get… a snarky comment from me straight from "The Snark Handbook", that I of course mean in the best and most flattering way possible. You know you want the snark, and I can't wait to hear from you, so let's do this!