Rule #6: No sleepovers

One month after we christened the hot tub, Jasper officially moved into the house. The office was converted into a smaller bedroom for him, and in return, Jasper helped me rearrange my bedroom so my desk would fit comfortably so I could still work from home.

Jasper likes to cook and listen to his music on the house system at an ungodly volume. He also walks around in shorts and nothing else, which hasn't been a horrible thing to endure, but it means that Edward refuses to hold tight to the rule about him being fully clothed in common spaces, so I get to see him on display more often.

Having a third roommate around has also taken some of the burden off of me as far as household duties go, and I appreciate Jasper for his humor and easy-going nature. He's a lot of fun to be around, but we haven't spent a lot of time alone together.

It's Memorial Day weekend, and everyone is home. Embry is here with Jake, and it's giving me a better chance to get to know him. We're all sitting outside, waiting for Jasper to finish smoking the racks of ribs, talking and laughing, when my phone rings in my pocket.

"Oh my god, Jake! It's Rose!" I scream excitedly as I swipe across my phone, ignoring my best friend rolling his eyes. "Rose? Hi!"

Rosalie was my roommate in college and the ultimate party girl. She got me out of my shell and made sure I had fun in my early twenties. Jake didn't like her; always said she was too much. I think he really didn't like her because she was so free, and he only knew her when he was still closeted.

"Girl, I'm in town! Long story, but we came home to see my parents, and now Emmett's calling some friend who lives here, and we might go over to see him. But I wanna see you! It's been too long." She laughs, and I can hear her boyfriend Emmett in the background, talking to someone.

"Please come over! Look, we have plenty of food, and you know I'd love to see you. So would Jake." I snigger as he makes a retching noise and whispers to Embry.

"Okay, send me your address, and when we finish up with Em's friend, I'll text you."

When we hang up, I text her our address and fill Jasper in. "You'll like Emmett, but Rose is a lot. I love her to death, but she's loud and kind of obnoxious."

He laughs. "I can handle obnoxious."

Turning to Jake, I sigh. "Are you okay if they stop by?"

"Of course, I like Rosalie fine enough." He shrugs nonchalantly, causing Embry and me to laugh.

"Sure, you keep telling yourself that. Embry, did Jake tell you about the time he asked Rose out on a date?" I shoot a dazzling smile to my best friend's boyfriend, who leans forward and grins.

"Ooh, tell me everything."

I spend the next few minutes regaling everyone with the story of a scared Jake trying to ask out Rosalie. Everyone laughs, even Jake, before I run inside to grab more beer for all of us. I hear the slider door open, and I look up to see Edward walking into the kitchen.

"We might have a problem," he says quietly and beckons me down the hall, away from the large kitchen window where everyone can see us.

"What's wrong?"

He rubs the back of his neck. "So, I went to high school with Emmett."

I gape up at him. "You did not."

"Yeah, you know how Emmett played the tuba in the marching band?"

"He just wanted to learn how to play 'Flight of the Bumblebee'," I whisper.

Edward rolls his eyes. "He'd seen too many Looney Tunes cartoons. I played trumpet in the band. Our parents still live on the same street."

I shove him in the chest. "Shut up!"

He's silent for a few moments before I realize why he's dragged me away to talk about this. "You told him."

Edward winces and tries to shush me. "I told him that I had a regular hook up, but I didn't say it was my roommate."

"Emmett will have told Rose by now, and then she's gonna come in here and use her sneaky powers of deduction to figure out that it's me, and she's gonna open her fat mouth, and then everyone is going to know." I slump against the wall, sliding to the floor.

He crouches in front of me and smiles. "Don't you think you're being a little dramatic?"

"Have you ever met Rosalie Hale?" He shakes his head, and I let him pull me up. "She was a criminal justice major. She's a private investigator, Edward. She's Sherlock Holmes, minus the cocaine problem."

"We're fucked."

I roll my eyes. "That's putting it really lightly."

"You know her best; how do we prevent this?"

I start slapping at his arms. "We don't tell anyone!"

"Ow! Fuck!"

Pushing my hair out of my face, I start pacing. "Let me think. Do we still have that bottle of Southern Comfort in the freezer?"

"The full one from that terrible party that Jake threw last year? Yes, yes, we do." He shudders as I smile.

"Good. She'd never admit it, but she loves SoCo. If we can get some shots in her, we might have a shot at shutting this down."

"What about Emmett?"

"He likes to try to match her drink for drink, but he's a lightweight. We'll put him to bed by 10, and she'll follow soon after."

Edward claps his hands together. "Great! Where are they going to sleep?"

Now, I'm stumped. The couch is useless for sleeping; Jasper suffered through it because he hates sleeping on the ship. It has so many lumps it should get a biopsy. We don't have any air mattresses, and Jasper bought a futon.

Sighing, I smile up at him. "I'll take the couch, and they can have my room. If we get them as drunk as we'll need to, there's no way either of them will be able to drive."

"You can't sleep on that couch. None of us can barely sit on it for any longer than ten minutes." I can see the gears turning in Edward's head. "You can stay with me. I know, no sleepovers. But, sex is off the table tonight."

He offers his hand, and I shake it firmly. "Deal."

**BoU**

When our doorbell rings, Edward and I decide that I should be the one to answer the door. We assume that Rose will have figured everything out before they arrive, so I want to surprise her at the door. I'm sure our squeals can be heard all the way to the back yard, and even Emmett makes a comment about dogs barking before I let them in and lead them upstairs.

I offer them drinks before we head outside, and soon enough, Edward and Emmett are wrapped in a manly hug, complete with back slaps, and Rose is saying a kind and quiet hello to Jake. Introductions are made between our roommates and our friends, and I'm counting the seconds until someone brings up the coincidence.

"So, Bella, you told me you were living with Jake, but you never mentioned the other good-looking guys." Rose takes a dainty bite of the potato salad I made before scooping a huge bite up and smiling.

"You're a pig," I tell her with a grin. "No offense, but I didn't think to mention it. Plus, I barely see these guys all that often."

"I'm wounded, darling," Jasper says, and I laugh. "I recently moved in. I just broke up with my girlfriend, and I was practically living with her."

"Well, Edward, you shouldn't be here that often, not with your new bed buddy," Emmett pipes up, and everyone, myself included, turns to look at Edward. His face is appropriately red, and he flips his friend off.

"Shut up, Emmett."

"Eat up, Rose. We're gonna play a game," I say, trying to salvage this conversation. "The name of the game is King's Cup."

"I only play that with SoCo, Bella." Rosalie sticks her tongue out at me, thinking she's won.

I nod, knowingly. "I'm aware."

Two hours later, we've already deposited Emmett into my bed because he thought he could drink seven shots of Southern Comfort on top of the four beers he'd already had. He wraps himself around one of my pillows as Rose, Edward, and I creep out of my room.

Jasper is cleaning up the deck of cards while Jake and Embry pack up all the food. "Oh, are we done?" Rosalie looks to the three men, and I sigh, glancing at Edward.

"I think I'm done for the night, although it was a pleasure." Jasper hands me the cards and tosses the sponge in the sink before heading down the hall.

"And you two?" I look at Jake and Embry, but they both shrug sheepishly.

"We're actually heading to Embry's parents early tomorrow for a family cookout." Jake pulls me into a gentle hug. "Don't drink too much; you'll be sick."

I smile at his whispered warning. "I won't."

"Rosalie, I'm really glad you came by. It was good to see you." Jake releases me and makes grabby hands at her, and Rose dances over to him, and they hug. This is a special moment for me, and I smile widely as Embry puts the last of the food away.

"Where are you sleeping, Bella?" Embry asks me quietly, and I shrug. He looks between me and Edward, and for just a second, I think he knows. "Well, just kick Edward out of his bed and make him sleep on the couch."

He smirks, and I feel a pang in my gut; if Embry suspects, maybe Jake does too. "Bella, just sleep with Edward. The couch is horrible. But, Edward"—Jake lets Rose go and slaps my fuck buddy on the back—"Bella is a bed hog."

Rose groans. "Oh my god, she really is!"

"Okay, you two need to go to bed." I point at Jake and his boyfriend and shoo them out of the kitchen. "You two, what's the plan?"

"Fire pit?" Edward suggests, and I groan silently. A fire means, at minimum, another two hours of super drunk Rose. I love her, but when she's this drunk, she needs to just go to sleep and be done.

We head outside, Rose cradling the liquor bottle like a baby, and grab chairs around the pit as Edward builds a fire. "So, who are you dating now?"

"No one," I say honestly. "I went out with someone a few months ago, but he was …" I gesture, trying to find the right word.

"He wasn't perfect? Jesus, Bella, you've got to get a grip." Rose takes a swig from the bottle and passes it to me. I take a drink as I flip her off. "You're just not going to meet the perfect guy."

"You did."

"Emmett is amazing," she says, dreamily. "But he ain't perfect. He bugs the shit out of me constantly with a million idiosyncrasies, but I also love those things about him. What was wrong with the last guy?"

"No chin," Edward pipes up from across from me, and I glare at him over the small flames. "What? That's what you said."

Rosalie bursts into peals of laughter, and I can't help but join her. I might also be a bit drunk; more than half the bottle is empty by now.

"But was he nice? Was he cute? Were you interested before you realized he didn't have a chin?" She's staring at me, and it's hard to remember what I saw in that guy.

"I honestly don't remember." I shrug, and Rose rolls her eyes before turning her attention on Edward.

"What's your deal? Why don't you date my girl?"

"I already have a preexisting arrangement," he says, reaching for the bottle.

"Oh, right. You're the one with the fuck buddy." She turns back to me. "That's what you need."

Scoffing, I eye Edward. "I do just fine, thank you very much."

"You can tell me, Edward. She's a screamer." I try to shush my friend. She doesn't know that Edward already knows this about me, but that doesn't mean he needs to hear anything else. "Has her bed been knocking on these walls?"

Burying my face in my hands, I can hear Edward's laugh over the crackling flames. "Rose, let up, huh?"

I peek through my fingers to see Rose peering at me. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"The foot in mouth thing? Yeah." I sigh, reaching out a hand to her. "I love you, but sometimes—"

"I know, straight to the moon." She mouths the word "sorry", and I nod. Wild Rose has gotten a lot better over the years, but I knew this might be an issue once the SoCo came out. "Maybe I should go to bed."

"If you want something to sleep in—second drawer in the dresser. Giant shirts." I wink, and she climbs out of her chair to come give me a hug.

"I am sorry."

I know it, so I pat her back and tell her to go sleep it off. I watch as she walks inside and pulls the slider shut behind her.

"You okay?"

"That was college Rose." Sighing, I drag my chair closer to Edward's. "She's brash, sarcastic, and thinks she's always right." He pulls my legs up onto his lap to rub at the balls of my feet. "The problem is that it all comes from a really good place; she just doesn't know how to say it. She's too smart for her own good; I knew this would work." I point to the bottle. "But I also knew it would come at a price."

"She's … a lot."

"That's usually how everyone describes her. But she's always been the kindest person to me, even if it was hidden behind a 'come to Jesus' talk." I laugh but pull my feet away when I realize how comfortable I am. "I think I'll sleep on the couch tonight."

"What? Why?" He looks confused.

"You were just rubbing my feet, Edward. I'd call that PDA." I move to stand up, but he grabs my hand and pulls me back down.

"You've given me back rubs before. And let's not forget that unfortunate ingrown hair incident." He shudders, and I giggle. "I was just trying to be nice. You made all this food for today without any help—"

"Jasper smoked the ribs."

"Bella, I didn't mean anything by it except to be nice." Edward looks up at me, and I finally smile.

"Okay, but I'm going to do a final sweep, and then I'm going to bed. You need to deal with this." I gesture to the fire, and he nods.

"I'll be in after a bit."

"'Night." I walk inside and check the kitchen before heading downstairs to make sure the door is locked, turning off lights as I go. I pop into the bathroom to brush my teeth and pull out two spare brushes for Em and Rose before heading into Edward's room.

He's fairly neat, and I'm grateful that his room doesn't smell like boy. I don't have any pajamas, but Edward has a bunch of shirts folded up in a laundry basket, so I grab one and change before climbing into bed. I'm not sure what side he actually sleeps on, or if he likes to starfish in the middle, but I'll let him deal with that later.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I do remember waking slightly when Edward comes to bed and curls his body around mine.