Five.
I adjusted surprisingly well in Emmett's absence.
I focused on school, and my social life really began to blossom. I played on the school soccer team, spent more time with Alice and Emily, and started babysitting for extra cash.
At first, Emmett came to visit every other weekend. It felt like when the sun starts shining after weeks of teasing behind the clouds. We hung out and watched movies, and I cooked feasts that were way too big for three people.
As Emmett's school got busier, his visits spaced out to about once a month. I missed him, but I was okay with it. His stories of college were silly and wild, just like him and I was happy that he was enjoying this new phase of his life.
Sometimes Edward would visit with Emmett since they both attended UW. When he did, we all comfortably slipped back into our old habits; Edward and Em doing whatever they did, and me following them around. Alice would often join us, evening out the hormones a bit so we didn't end up wasting entire weekends playing video games in the basement.
By the time Thanksgiving break rolled around, I was in a comfortable routine. I had a great group of friends and I'd started getting invited to parties on my own, not just because I was Emmett's little sister.
This year, we'd been invited to spend Thanksgiving with the Cullen's since Edward's extended family couldn't make it this year and our family friends, the Blacks, who we normally spent Thanksgiving with were out of town.
I'd taken to coming over and cooking with Esme. She was an amazing cook, and she seemed genuinely pleased that I'd taken such an interest in it.
On Thanksgiving day I went to the Cullen's house early to help prepare dinner with Esme. She showed me how to properly stuff the turkey and we made her grandmother's secret pumpkin pie recipe. Some time in the afternoon, keys jangled at the front door and Edward called out.
"In the kitchen!" Esme hollered gleefully, cleaning her hands on the front of her apron.
Edward sauntered in sniffing the air. "Mmm smells so good."
"Well, you'll just have to wait til dinner," Esme responded, squeezing Edward's cheeks between her hands as she peppered kisses over his face.
"Oh, hey!" Edward noticed me stirring over the stove. "Didn't know you were here already."
I smiled and dropped the spoon, walking over to give him a hug. It had been a couple months since I saw Edward, and I hadn't realised until then how much I'd missed him.
Edward squeezed me in return, then stepped back to look at me.
"It's been a while, stranger. How's the big city been?"
His cheek quirked into a smile. "It's been good. School is kicking my ass right now, but it's cool. You keeping out of trouble?"
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah Dad, I've been a saint."
He chuckled. "I'm sure you have," voice dripping with sarcasm.
We made small talk as Esme and I finished up our preparations. Carlisle walked in from the hospital and pulled Edward into a tight hug.
"Smells great, ladies," Carlisle said, hovering over the potato I'd just finished mashing and attempting to take a swipe.
Esme slapped his hand away. "Do not touch a thing. Go get changed, I'm going to set the table."
Edward sat at the kitchen island watching me intently as his parents scattered through the house.
I started to feel his stare and looked up. "What? Do I have something on my face?" I asked, swiping the back of my hand over my cheeks.
His eyes twinkled, and he stayed silent for a minute. "You look different," he finally said. "Older."
I didn't know how to respond so I held his stare for a moment before busying my hands cleaning down the bench top.
The doorbell rang and Esme fluttered to the front door. My dad and Emmett trudged inside chatting to Esme as they entered the kitchen. I looked up and saw that Edward hadn't broken his gaze on me until Emmett slapped him on the back.
"Hey bro, trying to get first dibs on dinner?" Emmett chortled.
I walked around towards him and Emmett picked me up into a hug, arms squeezing so tight I swear I popped a blood vessel.
"Jesus, Em. Chill out on the weights," I wheezed.
Carlisle joined us in the kitchen and shook my dad's hand. "Chief, how goes it?"
"Great, great. Glad to have this one back," he said, nodding towards Emmett.
Carlisle slapped Emmett on the shoulder. "You know, steroids have terrible effects on sexual function," he said seriously.
Edward snickered into his shoulder, and an evil grin broke across Carlisle's face. Emmett, never embarrassed by anything, shrugged his shoulders. "Don't hate the playa, doc. Just because I'm naturally built like Adonis."
The whole room groaned at his ego.
"Alright, that's enough! Everyone to the dining room. It's time to eat," Esme announced.
Dinner went by with comfortable familiarity. Carlisle and Emmett talked sports, Charlie and Esme were discussing politics, and Edward and I weaved in and out of conversation as topics popped up that piqued our interest. My dad slipped me a sip of his beer, like he had since I was I kid and Edward and Emmett were allowed one beer each.
After dessert, our parents were various levels of intoxicated and we abandoned the dirty dishes on the table and moved to the living room, joking along the way and bubbling with laughter. Like my dad, Carlisle was a total memory hoarder and had tonnes of old home video tapes. I knew exactly which one he was about to choose. This was a kind of tradition, too. At least once a year, when my family found ourselves at the Cullen's for some dinner or barbecue we inevitably ended up strewn across the sofas in their living room and Carlisle dug up everyone's favourite video. Well, everyone's except mine.
I covered my face with my hands and sunk into the sofa, waiting for the humiliation to begin as everyone else cackled and hollered around me.
The screen buzzed to life and there it was. Me, eleven years old and propped up on my dad's shoulders screaming at the top of my little lungs and fat tears streaming down my face.
Charlie and Carlisle had taken me, Emmett and Edward to see Bruce Springsteen in Seattle. One thing about me, I was a Springsteen girl through and through. He was my first ever crush, and it'd never ever faded. My dad played his music all throughout our childhood, and somewhere along the way, Springsteen had become my religion. I don't think anyone expected my reaction to seeing him in concert to be so extreme, least of all me.
Carlisle recorded basically the whole thing, but there were hardly any shots of Springsteen himself. Instead, his camera remained entirely trained on me as I screamed and cried from start to finish. By the end my hair had messed its way into crazy knots and I had snot running down my face like some kind of feral animal as my dad passed me around to Emmett, then Edward's shoulders. I'd demanded to be up high, refusing to miss a second of the show. The entire recording we could hear Carlisle and my dad laughing hysterically in the background at my truly unhinged screaming.
Everyone was holding their bellies laughing so hard they cried, filling the living room with their amusement. Even I couldn't help but laugh, it was totally ridiculous.
"Bella, really, I still think you might have a chance with him. Maybe you should mail this to him," Emmett cackled. I threw a pillow at his head and felt my face blistering with heat.
Edward was breathless with laughter, sitting cross legged in front of the TV. "I just don't know how you sustained that. Like, how did you not pass out?"
"Sheer will," I sneered, but I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. That had been the best day of my life, though I wished there had been no humiliating evidence of just how happy I'd been.
Edward kept his stare trained on me, and I could see something akin to adoration on his face. It wasn't totally out of character, I'd seen that look on the faces of everyone in this room. It was the look of love, familial bond. But something about the way Edward's eyes softened as he held my gaze made me feel like this look was different.
I averted my eyes and finally, after five more horrifying minutes, Carlisle slipped in a different tape, drying his eyes and taking deep breaths to get his laughter under control.
We sat for hours watching various videos that Carlisle had collected of our two families over the years, each of us bursting with excitement when our favourites came out and relaying our own memories of whatever excerpt we were watching.
After peeling ourselves off the sofas and cleaning the dishes together in the kitchen, Charlie, Emmett and I gathered our jackets and said our goodbyes.
Edward hooked his finger in my back pocket as I moved to leave.
"It was good to see you, Bell," he said quietly. He had that same strange look in his eye.
I nodded and gave him a quick hug. "You too. Let's hang out while you're here, I missed you."
He ruffled my hair and gave me a light push toward the door.