Hi another A/N advocating for social justice. Please donate to mutual aid funds/bail out funds/BLM. Try your best to buy local and from Black-owned businesses. Sign petitions. Book recommendations: The End of Policing by Alex Vitale and Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis.

Sad Sad City- Ghostland Observatory

Creve Coeur 1- Hobo Johnson

"Excuse me?" I looked to Rose in confirmation. She would never allow this. She didn't care for prolonged contact with humans, only tolerating it because both Emmett and I enjoyed them. It's not that she dislikes humans, or thinks herself superior- she thinks she's superior to everyone, human and vampire alike. Humans remind her of what she's lost. Their potential for growth, life, family… it makes her dwell on what she can never have, and she doesn't like being reminded of it.

"We're having a graduation party!" Alice squealed, but I kept studying Rose, who wouldn't look at me.

"You didn't graduate," I point out, though I think I'm fighting a losing battle. Alice is a force to be reckoned with.

"But we did. And you only graduate high school once, Bella," Emmett smiled condescendingly, putting on a show for the one human not in the know.

"A party? Here?" This goes beyond bringing one human to our home. This would mean dozens of humans, pressed against one another in an enclosed space, sweating as music thumps…

"Yeah, here! Rose and I are graduated, Bella! It's a big deal!" Emmett was laughing at his own dumb joke.

"And how are you going to manage this?"

"Mom and Dad are out for the night so we got free reign!" I rolled my eyes at Em calling Esme and Carlisle mom and dad- it seems so mundane in the third person.

"This is a little last minute, isn't it?"

"As if every student at Forks High won't drop their plans at the chance to see the elusive Cullen home," Rose said, her tone biting. Ah, there's my girl. Rose also wasn't pleased with these plans, so this was all Alice and Emmett.

"Is this really wise, though?"

"Bella, come on. This is the last time we're going to all be together like this," Alice pleaded, her green eyes huge and begging as she batted her eyelashes at me.

"I don't know. We don't have decorations, or food, or drinks…"

"Let Rose and me take care of it! You three go back to their place and go get ready while we set up. It'll be a surprise!" Emmett was far too excited for me to be comfortable, and I didn't see why Rose was going along with it all.

"It's your party. Why are you the ones setting up?"

"I have no idea." Rose rolled her eyes and grimaced.

"L-Let them have their f-fun. Th-There's no p-point in ar-arguing against Alice," Edward said, sitting up. I immediately felt the loss of his head on my lap and his hair in my fingers.

"Come on, Bella. Em and Rosalie need time to set up! And we need to go get ready!" Alice squealed, and I let her pull me up, shifting my weight so she wouldn't feel how heavy I am and jostling Edward in the process.

Alice had directed Edward into the back seat of my car so he could rest and we could "talk", which mostly consisted of Alice telling me about patterns and fabrics, and debating the pros and cons of wearing a dress or a skirt/blouse combination.

"I'm sure everyone else is going to be showing up in jeans and t-shirts," I noted, interrupting her rapid-fire one-sided debate as I pulled into the driveway behind the police cruiser.

"Bella!" Alice gasped, pausing as she flitted up the front steps, "Don't even imply that we would show up looking like anything less than our best!" She shook her head, continuing up the steps and through the front door, shaking her head. "It's like you don't know me at all."

I couldn't help but smile at the dramatics of my tiny best friend, wrapping my hand around Edward's and following her inside.

Alice was a whirlwind of activity in and of herself. She sent Edward to the kitchen to eat something, then directed him to stay downstairs "while the ladies get ready". Apparently, this involved me sitting on the closed toilet seat and watching as Alice painstakingly plucked every errant hair on her brow, then applied a thick white cream to her face and waited as it hardened.

"So why are we doing this again?" I asked, half-whining while still hoping for an actual answer. Alice seemed to sense my need for a genuine response rather than Emmett's teasing about graduation, but she was cryptic in her honesty.

"This is going to be the last time for us to all be together for a momentous occasion like this. Everything is going to change soon… what with Emmett and Rosalie going away and all. It's important for us to have this night together, and I think it might be important for you and my brother," her serious and contemplative tone lilted into a teasing one with her next sentence, "Besides, high school parties are a right of passage in any relationship!"

"Is that a requirement?" I asked.

"Yes. Didn't you get the handbook?" Alice giggled, wetting a small towel and wiping the mask from her face, leaving behind pinkened skin.

"I must have missed that one. I'll have to be on the lookout for it, I could probably use one."

"You're doing more than fine without one," Alice glanced at me from the side of her eye, looking back into the mirror and pulling at her skin. "Do you think this redness will go away soon?"

"I don't think any vessels are broken or anything. It should fade." Alice seemed content with my assessment and turned to me, a small makeup bag in hand and a mischievous glimmer in her green eyes. I leaned back until I was cornered between the toilet and the shower, my eyes widening.

"Alice, please…" I begged, "I'm already coming to your party

"Bella, this night is as much for you and Edward as it is for me!" She stopped down in front of me, not even needing to bend herself much to reach me where I sat, "Now sit still and close your eyes."

I tilted my head up and let Alice swipe shadow and liner across my lids, hoping with all I had that she wasn't going to make me look ridiculous, though I really didn't think she would do that to me.

"What was your favorite fashion era?" Alice asked, curling up the liner pen along the crease of my eye.

"Of the twentieth century? Nineties, I guess. Very casual- jeans and flannel and all."

"Your style is still inspired by it, I guess," Alice sighed, "At least we live in the Pacific Northwest. The grunge aesthetic has never died here."

"Just call me Kurt," I joked.

"Oh gosh, at least be the Sonic Youth girl."

"Sonic Youth is a New York band," I pointed out.

"Okay," she huffed, "Well, what's a nineties Seattle Sound band with a girl?"

"7 Year Bitch?" I offered, mentioning Rose's favorite grunge band. Emmett loved grunge music at the time, and Rose had decided that if she was going to go to shows, she'd rather go see badass angry girls than sweaty, dirty men. Needless to say that they saw quite a few Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney shows before she would let him drag her to see Nirvana.

"I haven't heard of that one," Alice admitted, leaning back to study my face, "But I bet none of them ever looked as stunning as you do right now." She pulled me off the toilet lid and stood next to me in the mirror.

Alice was good, and I never should have doubted her. My eyes looked impossibly bigger, a gentle dusting of grey and purple on my lids drawing attention away from the omnipresent bruising under my eyes that only ever truly faded when a vampire had fed from a human, and even then the markings come back with the first twinge of thirst. The eyeliner was black and thick but not overdone, swooping up at the outside of my eyes to blend in with my lashes.

"Wow," I said. I looked… beautiful. In a real, tangible way, not in the unnatural way that comes with being a vampire. I looked oddly warm, like someone who could be worth standing by Edward's side.

"I know, I'm a genius," Alice grinned at me in the mirror, then her smile softened, "But I had a pretty stunning canvas already."

I rolled my eyes at her compliment, but accepted it because Alice had no motivation to say anything but the truth to me.

"So what about your favorite fashion era?" I asked, moving out of Alice's way as she started to apply her own makeup, beginning with a pale liquid swooped under her eyes before expertly dabbing at it with a sponge.

"I always thought I would have fit in well in the twenties," she said, beginning to smudge the lid of her eyes with a dark charcoal, "I have the short hair, and the body type of a flapper-"

"Not to mention the energy!" I laughed, interrupting her.

"And I like jazz, too! I've always wanted Edward to play jazz pieces on the piano, but he's terrible at them- it requires a bit more spontaneity than my brother is capable of."

"It's also not an easy genre to play on a piano with no accompaniment," I defended. "But the twenties would have definitely been your time to shine."

"I hope short hair makes a comeback," she brushed through her hair, and I hid a laugh behind a cough when the back of her hair stuck up, almost looking like the bill of a baseball cap if she had put it on backwards.

"You'd look good with finger waves, and it lasts a few days so you wouldn't have to deal with your hair."

"Is that like Bette Davis?" she asked, running her fingers through her hair before sighing and squirting mouse into her hair to mold it out into her normal spiked style.

"Yeah, and you've got the perfect length for it, too."

"I think I'd like to try that sometime."

"Anytime, Alice. It just takes a few hours to set and then you're good to go."

"Maybe we could go to Seattle and go dancing or something, give me an excuse to do it," she grinned at me conspiratorially, and I noticed that one side of her mouth pulled up slightly higher than the other, just like Edward.

"And an excuse to play Bella Barbie again," I laughed, letting her pull me into her bedroom where several outfits were laid out on her yellow bedspread.

"As if I really need one!" she laughed, whirling through and tossing two dresses and a blouse onto her desk chair haphazardly, clearly creating a discard pile as she surveyed the remaining options.

"The green one would look great with your eyes," I said, holding up the silky slip of emerald fabric that was a little risqué but would drape her frame well. Fashion certainly wasn't my forte, but I knew it would mean a lot to Alice if I put forth some effort and connected with her over her favorite activity.

"Hmmmm," she hummed, taking the dress from me and holding it up to her body, "Yeah, I think you're right. Unzip?" She turned so I was facing her back, holding the straps of the little dress she had put on to attend graduation as I pulled the zipper down.

Alice's bare skin bore a terrible resemblance to Edward's- pinkened and puckered scars running across her torso with two small markings of cigarette burns on her stomach, permanent reminders of the years they spent with abusive foster parents. I didn't understand how someone could do something like that to small children.

I had seen plenty of horrors over the years, of course, but mostly carried out by vampires, our baser nature being inherently violent and cruel. But a crime perpetrated by a human against a child, taking a knife to their skin and relishing in their pain, smothering the burn at the end of a cigarette with the soft innocence of a child's flesh…

"What do you think?" Alice asked, smoothing the front of the dress and snapping me away from my bubbling anger. It was really quite perfect on her, the fabric cinching at the waist and a sweetheart neckline giving her the illusion of more dramatic curves. It was almost twenties-esque, too, with little cap sleeves and a hemline that tapered down to mid-thigh in delicate layers.

"You look stunning!" I said honestly, smiling when she twirled for me, dipping into a mock courtesy in thanks.

"I have a dress for you, of course," Alice turned and handed me a garment bag that had been hanging in wait on the closet door. "I know that blue's your color, but every girl needs a little black dress. And the purple eyeshadow would definitely clash." She shuddered in horror at the thought of uncoordinated makeup as I slipped the sleeveless dress over my head.

It was nice, soft black fabric that clung to my skin gently, stopping above the knees. And I had to admit that as much as I disliked the primping and prodding that was associated with Alice dressing me up, not to mention the minor separation between myself and Edward, that she knew what she was doing.

"Perfect!" She exclaimed, reaching up to run her fingers through my hair and groaning as it fell into place, "I'm so jealous of your hair, by the way. It's always perfect, never any of these ridiculous cow licks." I just shrugged, unable to tell her that it was the transformation that coiffed my hair through no effort on my own behalf.

"I like your hair. It fits you," I reached down and twirled one spike of her black hair between my fingers, "You're too exceptional to have normal hair." Alice grinned at my compliment, her shoulders straightening in pride.

"Come on, I need to make sure your boyfriend is actually ready and not eating every leftover in the fridge," Alice said, her hand encircling my wrist as she pulled me out of her room and down the stairs, stopping only to grab two pairs of heels from behind the bedroom door.

Edward was ready, though he was also standing at the kitchen counter piling together an extremely large sandwich with multiple ingredients I didn't know went together- I mean, potato chips, roast chicken, and peanut butter? It all seemed disgusting to me, but this looked and smelled immensely repulsive.

"If you get anything on that nice new shirt I got you, I'm going to put peanut butter in all of your shoes," Alice threatened, popping a stray potato chip in her mouth before hopping up to sit on the counter next to him. Edward rolled his eyes and picked the sandwich up, taking a massive bite without breaking eye contact with his sister.

I felt flushed at the sight. He looked wonderful, his white button-down well fitted and his black slacks hanging low on his hips, but I had always loved watching him eat, even from that first day in the cafeteria. The sight of his full lips wrapping around his sandwich, his sharp jaw clenching with each bite, the bob of his Adam's apple with each swallow. There was something profoundly sensual about the act, though Edward seemed completely oblivious to this as I wrapped an arm around his side and leaned my head on his shoulder, letting him continue his pre-party snack.

"I hope Emmett got all of the snacks and drinks," Alice said, more to herself than anything she wanted us to respond to. "And I checked with Charlie. He's fine if we stay over at your place tonight, which means sleepover!" She squealed, her voice raising an octave on the last word in her excitement.

"So you just decided to have them throw this party today?"

"Decisions are important, Bella," Alice said mischievously, tapping her temple with her index finger. Edward's head snapped up from his sandwich as he gave her an odd look, brows furrowed and eyes narrowing before he returned to finish the end of his meal.

"I still can't believe you convinced Rosalie of this.

"Alice is a f-force of n-nature," Edward said, ignoring his sister as she stuck her tongue out at him and walking with me to the front door. I slipped my coat on and pulled Edward's rain jacket on him, running my hands along his sharp shoulder blades as I did so.

Alice babbled in the backseat the whole ride over, commenting that the rainless weather would hold, hoping Emmett followed her instructions and remembered all the drinks he should get, and that they had told enough people in the senior class to come that everyone would show up. I agreed with Rose on that one- the nosy humans of Forks High wouldn't be able to resist coming to the mysterious Cullen home. I doubt it would matter if their great-great grandma flew five thousand miles just to have dinner tonight, they would find a way to get out of it to come to our party.

Alice stopped talking when I pulled off the road and turned down our street, the only sound in the car their breaths and beats of their heart. Edward's breathing hitched in a gasp, and I couldn't help but to agree with his awe.

It was absolutely stunning. The trees that lined our mile-long driveway were laced with fairy lights, giving the sky an ethereal glow in the early evening. The whole house was lit up, flowers and tea lights covering every surface and looking far more elegant than the staple streamers and balloons.

Emmett had set up heavy-duty music equipment complete with speakers throughout the house and a turntable upon which he would certainly be scratching records before the end of the evening. I wanted to check out what else they had done, specifically with the upstairs and making sure no one could go into our rooms, but Edward had me by the hand and was intent on heading straight for the kitchen.

I let him lead me, and leaned against the counter as he surveyed the spread of snack foods, picking through and popping various fruits and chips into his mouth. I found that strawberries were my favorite. Edward's mouth wrapped around, biting into it, sticky sweet pink juice dripping down his chin- the visual sent me spinning. Luckily, they also seemed to be Edward's favorite, and I was treated to a pre-party show in the kitchen as I clutched at the counter, holding myself in place.

"What?" he asked between bites, looking at me with eyes so wide and innocent I couldn't help but to smile softly and lean forward to kiss him. He was too absolutely delicious and utterly irresistible, with his red-stained lips and his mouth tasting of fruit and honey.

"I love you," I whispered, drawing back from the magnetic pull of his body to lean back on the counter again.

"I love you," he said, his green eyes so soft and tender that I resented Alice for doing this party tonight. I wanted time alone with my Edward, where we could talk and kiss and get into bed early so Edward could rest his head on my chest and wrap himself around me in his sleep and stay there all night.

"Are you alright?" I asked, concerned about my mate and his processing of everything that had happened today. Truthfully, I was still waiting for him to say that I wasn't worth all of the effort and energy, waiting for him to realize that he could do far better than me with a more equal match.

"I'm f-fine." He set down his plate and wrapped his arms around me, pressing my cheek into his chest and trapping me between his body and the counter. There was no place I'd rather be.

"Where do you want this, Alice?" Emmett called, walking into the kitchen with an actual keg in his hands. I broke from Edward's embrace to glare at him.

"What the hell is that?" I hissed, gesturing to the metal container that he was carrying with ease.

"Just put it on the table. Do you know how to tap it?" Alice called from the next room.

"Yeah, I got it!" Emmett replied, ignoring me as he pulled out the pump and adjusted the level, fitting it to the top of the keg and twisting.

"Emmett!"

"Loosen up, Bella. Christ, it's not like we're laying out a pile of cocaine and condoms!" Emmett laughed, continuing opening up the keg. Edward shifted next to me, and I could feel the heat radiating from the rise of his blush.

"No one here is old enough to drink."

"Like th-that's ever s-stopped high schoolers," Edward said from next to me, and I looked at him in frustration. How could he not see the problem with us throwing a party and getting students drunk? If Charlie found out about it, he could arrest us, or Edward and Alice could get in trouble, not to mention the attention it would bring to the family of vampires up the street.

"It's going to be fine, Bella," Alice trilled, still rushing around the living room straightening the decorations and laying out stations of chips and water.

"If children get drunk here…" I threatened, throwing my hands up in the air in defeat. It seemed that my feelings and opinions today were going to be completely overridden by my brother and Edward's sister and their party conspiracy.

"We can only hope!" Emmett chuckled, finishing with the keg and pouring out the inaugural beer. "Want?" He asked Edward, holding the cup out. I held my breath, waiting to see what Edward would do. On one hand, I didn't think it wise for him to drink. Not only was his brain still forming, and alcohol can have an impact, but it is a depressive agent and we had enough to worry about on that front.

On the other hand, it would mean lowering his inhibitions, a chance for Edward to let loose a bit. I thought I might like to see him a little wild, with the flush of drink on his smooth cheeks and the easy laugh of someone experiencing the effects of alcohol.

My musings ceased in two seconds when Edward shook his head, and Alice danced in to take the drink with no prompting. She tilted it back and swallowed, her delicate features twisting into a grimace at the initial taste. "Wow, that's disgusting."

Emmett boomed out a laugh, and even Edward was smiling at the sight. Alice took another drink and shuddered, walking back out into the living room, cup in hand and muttering to herself about the taste of alcohol.

The doorbell rang soon thereafter, and then began the steady stream of people into our most sacred place of privacy, always coming in in large groups- likely they were all too intimidated or nervous to arrive alone or with only one or two friends.

Alice had dimmed the lights down, the rooms only softly glowing, and Emmett began his deejaying, playing a song with a thumping bassline that made it difficult for the humans to hear one another, but also drowned out the sounds of their hearts into an overwhelming cacophony of beating.

As per usual, Emmett and Rose began the dancing. Rose was dressed in leather pants and a strapless red top, the dim lighting and the pale of her skin making the color stark and emphasizing her otherworldly beauty. They were pressed up against each other, grinding with the rhythm and completely focused on one another in a stare that I recognized instantly as their foreplay. A few trees would certainly be felled in the forest tonight.

Alice was at the dining room table, arranging cups of beer into triangles on the wood with Angela as Tyler and Mike poured them out from the keg in the kitchen. Tyler grinned and pulled a small white ball out of his pocket, eliciting a whoop from Mike as Angela and Alice gathered at one end of the table.

"Bring it on, boys!" Alice shouted, clapping her hands together and bouncing. Tyler's smile widened and he tossed the ball with a flick of the wrist, landing it in the center cup with a plop as a few droplets of the sticky alcohol flew onto the immaculate wood table, though no one else seemed to notice the spill. Angela and Alice both groaned, and Alice reached over to fish the ball out and tilted the cup back to consume the beer in two swallows.

"This is such a bad idea," I sighed, turning to face Edward. He cocked his head in question, but opened his arms to me anyways, wrapping them around my back so I was pressed to his chest and leading me in a gentle sway that was not at all on beat with the quick tempo.

"You're w-worried a-about exposure," he stated, so observant and intuitive.

"Drunk teenagers in our house? We're just asking for trouble."

"If anything, th-this m-makes you blend in m-more.," he said quietly, whispering into my hair, "P-parties are n-normal, and you are s-s-so obviously not."

I laughed, unable to be truly tense when I was in Edward's arms. "I can't believe you just called me abnormal."

He returned my laugh, and I could feel the vocal chords vibrating from where my cheek was pressed to his chest so deliciously. It was a sound I did not hear nearly often enough, and I vowed to make sure he laughed more, even if it was at my expense.

"In o-only th-the best w-ways," he promised, kissing the crown of my head and making me feel like the most cherished and precious person on the planet.

I stay there, tucked under Edward's chin as he watched the beer pong game behind me, laughing at the appropriate times and cheering for his sister and Angela when they eventually won.

Alice felt she had enough to drink and excused herself from being challenged by two seniors for winner, but I could feel the energy radiate off of her as she quickly stopped Jessica from joining Angela.

"Ben! Hey! Would you mind playing with Ang? I'm feeling a little light-headed, but I don't want to let her down," Alice pleaded with the short boy who had been lingering at the corner of the dining room, always conscious of Angela.

"Alice, it's fi-," Angela started, but Ben launched himself off the wall, nearly stumbling into Jessica in his eagerness to grab the ping pong ball and stand at Angela's side.

"Yeah, I'd love to play!" he said enthusiastically, and I turned a bit in Edward's arms to look at them. They looked adorable in the most mismatched of ways, both with flushed cheeks, though I sensed that the alcohol contributed to both of their states. Ben only reached Angela's chin, but he tilted his head up to beam at her as if she was a goddess, and Angela couldn't help but return the smile, leaning into him slightly and standing close as they began their game.

Angela and Ben won again, and at that point, Angela was so uncoordinated that when Eric and Mike challenged them, her tosses were wild and often missed even the table. Ben drank most of the beers as Mike and Eric won handily, then the new couple moved into the kitchen for Ben to pour her a water and offer her some snacks to soak up the alcohol. I couldn't help but to eavesdrop on his gentle tending to Angela's tipsiness, coaxing her reassuringly and teasing when appropriate.

"Do you want a drink?" I asked, not wanting Edward to be denied a normal high school experience, though I hoped he wouldn't want one.

"I d-don't l-like the t-t-taste," he said, his voice oddly shaky.

"Is it really that bad?" I asked, thinking of the disgusting stench of fermentation that now permeated the enclosed space of my home and understanding Edward's aversion, though most others seemed to enjoy it.

Edward drew in a ragged breath, and I pulled out of his arms to look up at his face, tortured and twisted as he swallowed thickly. He clenched his jaw and pressed his hands to my back with an increased pressure I recognized to be tight. I recognized the inner turmoil that manifested with a memory, and I moved my hands from his back to his face, cupping his soft, sculpted cheeks in my palms and tracing the apples of his cheekbones with my thumbs.

"Do you want to go outside?" I asked softly, wanting to escape to somewhere private if this was to devolve into a panic attack. He nodded once, a lock of bronze hair falling over his eye with the movement. I gently brushed it aside, placing it back where it belonged- standing up nearly straight at the top of his head before lacing his fingers with mine and leading him through the crowd of children in the living room to the glass wall at the back of our home. His heart was only beating slightly faster than his norm, and the only other indication of discomfort on his now-blank face was the puckering wrinkle at the bridge of his nose and the tight set of his full lips, two traits no one else could possibly be attuned enough to him to notice.

I opened the door, and we slipped out to the empty balcony and into the cool summer night air without notice, blocked from the steady rain by the overhang Esme had erected whilst trying to make our home as human-friendly as possible for Edward, though we had yet to come out on the balcony before now.

"Do you want to share with me what you're thinking?" I asked carefully, not wanting to push.

Edward paused, pulling a hand from me to rake it through his long hair, though the other was still threaded with my own, dangling between us as I stood facing him. I gave him the time he needed to process whatever my offering him a drink had triggered, and I would wait patiently for him to tell me what had happened, if he chose to.

"J-J-James d-drank," he started, swallowing again and meeting my eyes. It was reassuring, seeing him like this. There were no tears gathering, no pound of his heart as his chest heaved to gasp for breath- no, he was calm and in control, telling me this detail because he wanted to share it with me, "He d-drank beer, and I c-could t-taste it on h-his b-b-breath."

My ensuing emotion was fleeting, and lasted no longer than a moment before I tamed it behind a calm, understanding mask. The rage bubbled in me, a flame threatening to consume and I worried that I would not be a phoenix that rose from the ashes, but rather a monstrous volcano of pure anger that destroyed everything around me.

How dare he.

How dare James touch my mate.

How dare he touch those full, arching lips that were so clearly mine.

How dare he corrupt something as prosaic and pedestrian as a beer.

How dare he intrude upon so many moments I was meant to share with Edward.

How dare he.

How. Dare. He.

Resisting the urge to rip one- or several- trees from their roots and pulverize them, I took a deep breath and centered myself, my world and emotions shifting around Edward as I took my second to process what he told me.

"I'm sorry," I said, choosing a simple response and lightly squeezing the hand I held still.

"Me t-too."

We were quiet for a while, letting the space around us still and silence as the reality of what he had told me filled us and slowly dissipated, melting into the soft patter of the steady rain and the clean smell it carried. Behind us, the party was continuing on- a new drinking game was started on the dining room table, and Emmett flipping to a new setlist on his deejay stand with Rose standing next to him, scanning the room as a conscious supervisor. But before me was Edward, my beautiful and perfect mate.

I adored the planes of his face, the angularity alluring and beautiful and making it seem as though he was sculpted of the finest, smoothest stone. Each thick, dark lash on his lavender lids was expertly placed to frame those eyes I loved, glimmering emeralds where each leaf of his iris unique and deep and of a varying shade of green. I loved every single thing about him.

"Bella?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes?"

His gaze darted down to my chin- or perhaps a bit higher- before travelling back to meet my eyes. "Can I kiss you?"

"You never have to ask," I smiled, leaning in to him and tilting my head up, pressing the balls of my feet onto the deck to arch up to meet him. We melted together, Edward's soft lips pliant against mine as I felt the familiar warmth spread throughout me, a consuming joy that I thought could possibly lift me from the ground, freeing me from gravity as I went soaring.

He was impossibly sweet, the taste of his closed mouth more delectable than any blood, and the gentle burn in the back of my throat intensified with my thirst for him. I tilted my head slightly to avoid bumping my nose with his, and pressed closer to him so I could feel the slick pink of his lips all the better, memorizing the curves of his full lips as they yielded under my own.

I could have stayed there forever, just holding Edward in my arms and wrapped in the throb of his pulse that drowned out so wholly all the background noise, but the distinctive sound of vomiting wrenched me from my trance and forced me to pull my mouth from Edward's- which elicited a small, incredibly quiet whimper from him. I couldn't hold back a grin at the sound that I so empathized with, and his blushed and looked down to the ground, but his lips pulled up crookedly as we shared in the sorrow of our separation.

"Someone is throwing up in the front yard," I told him, grimacing as I heard whoever it was wretch again, the liquid splashing onto the ground. I sighed, moving even further out of Edward's embrace, though I placed my hand in his. He shook his head, as disgusted by the teenage drunkenness as I, and I led him back inside and through the dancing children.

Alice was lounging at the kitchen counter, trying but failing to shuffle a deck of cards with her small hands, her thumbs unable to arch long enough to bridge the cards together. Edward smiled softly and took them from her hands, shuffling them with ease, as I walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water.

"I'm going to go attend to whoever is outside," I told Edward. He nodded in acknowledgement, dealing out the stack between himself, Alice, and two other students from our class, Austin and Katie. Alice was explaining the rules, which sounded a bit like poker except the cards in ones hand could be auctioned off using the excess cards as currency, and I had never heard of it so I assumed that Alice or Edward had made it up.

I continued listening to them for as long as I could, but the hum of talking and the pounding music combined with my newfound concentration on ensuring the health of the teenager vomiting in Esme's garden, who I discovered was none other than Mike Newton, made it difficult to focus on Edward.

"I brought a water and some paper towels," I said, gliding down the front steps to Mike's side. He groaned, his pale skin shining with sweat and the moisture of the light drizzle of the evening's rain.

"Mike, can you hear me? It's Bella." I needed to make sure he wasn't blacked out, and wouldn't suffer any consequences of this night besides a hangover. He moaned, doubling over and clutching his waist before heaving again, though all that was expelled was some sour bile stretching to the soil.

It was absolutely disgusting, but I had spent enough time in the medical field to act calmly and without reaction. I moved to his side, holding his elbow in my hand and guiding him to sit on the bottom step. I smoothed the hair from his face, collecting sweat on my hand as he shivered at the cold.

"Drink some water," I urged, uncapping the bottle and tilting it down his mouth. After two swallows, he took the bottle from me and slowly finished it, stopping when I told him to take it slow so he wouldn't just through it up.

"'S spinning," Mike slurred, his hazy blue eyes darting around as he tried to focus on getting his bearings straight.

"I know. Keep drinking water and you'll feel better."

I stayed crouched before him, patting his shoulder reassuringly and trying to keep the nausea at bay. After a few minutes, the front door opened and I looked up to see Lauren Mallory standing on the front porch, looking down at us.

She pursed her lips, but padded down the stairs and wrapped her hands around Mike's neck, her long nails digging into his supple skin as the vessels around them contracted, leaving the area reddened and painful. Mike winced, but sat up and leaned back into Lauren.

"I think I should take him home," she said, scraping her nails through his hair.

"Would you mind going inside and getting him some more water and maybe some bread, first?" I asked, wary of releasing Mike to Lauren in such an inebriated state. She arched a brow at me but didn't arguing, standing up and flicking her pale blonde hair over her shoulder before intentionally sashaying back up the stairs.

"Mike, are you okay to go home with Lauren?" I asked once the door was firmly closed behind Lauren, the music inside most definitely drowning out my question.

"Yeah, 's fine," he murmured, pressing his fists into his eyes as we waited for Lauren to return. She came back in a few minutes, her purse slung over her shoulder and a sandwich and water bottle in hand.

I let Lauren tend to Mike, shuffling away to stand in front of them as Lauren sat beside him on the stairs and gently nudged him into eating the sandwich. He was more and more conscious by the minute, the alcohol breaking down in his liver and his kidneys processing the waste. Once he finished the second bottle of water, I was comfortable enough with his level of inebriation to release him to Lauren's care, walking beside them and gasping his elbow to steady him as he collapsed into the front seat of Lauren's tiny Honda.

"You can call me if you need anything," I told her, closing Mike's door as he slouched in the seat.

I could tell she wanted to say more, likely snarky or mean in typical Lauren fashion, but she held her tongue and forced a smile. "Thanks."

I bade her farewell and reiterated my offer of help, then turned on my heel and quickly walked back down the driveway and flew up the stairs once I was sure that Mike wasn't impacted by the motion and Lauren was safely on the road with him.

I spotted Alice immediately as she leaned against the wall in the living room with a red cup in her hand, talking to a new graduate about what applying to college was like, her pale skin flushed and her pupils dilated, large even under dim lighting. She seemed completely enraptured by everything she heard, from writing out a personal statement to the careful handwriting that should be used while addressing each envelope.

"Do you know where Edward went?" I asked Alice, scanning the crowd of sweaty, dancing bodies. It seemed like every teenager from Forks to Port Angeles was crammed into our living room, grinding against each other to the throbbing thump of the techno junk Emmett was playing.

"Bathroom?" Alice suggested, distracted by the spillage of a soda on the kitchen counter and dancing off to admonish the stumbling offender.

I couldn't hear him anywhere. I was so finely attuned to his heart, but the beat of the music combined with the compact assembly of other humans drowned out his signature steady rhythm.

I circled downstairs to the first floor, where the party continued in a far less frantic manner, people lounging on the couches and talking. I didn't recognize half the faces there, and all looked older, so I guessed they were from Port Angeles, or maybe older siblings of my classmates. But still no Edward among them, not even in the closed-off piano area that Emmett had barricaded with old wooden room dividers from the half-restored cottage in our backyard.

My concern was growing. Emmett had to take a breather, and Rose went with him, leaving me here alone to supervise the impromptu party that wasn't even my idea.

I had no idea why we were doing this, and my frustration escalated as I continued combing through the crowd for my mate. It made no sense, but Alice had been so insistent that we just had to throw a graduation party tonight, and now I couldn't find Edward.

I walked out the back door and onto the balcony, the clean night air a welcome reprieve from the thick sent of sweat and hormones inside. But still no Edward. With a wall and some distance from the speakers, I could hear far into the forest and he definitely hadn't wandered off out there.

I walked back inside, then narrowed my eyes at the staircase before slipping through the crowd. He couldn't be upstairs, could he? Emmett had pushed a dresser in front of the top step, making it clear that no one was welcome up there.

But as I rounded the steps, I could hear him, and I sighed in relief. I don't know what I was expecting- some vampire that I didn't smell whisking him away, or a shapeshifter showing up and magically vanishing with Edward without a trace? As always, I was overreacting. Edward had clearly just climbed over the dresser to use the upstairs bathroom. I imagined the downstairs one might not be all too clean after who knows how many buzzed teenagers rotated through it.

But Edward wasn't alone.

I jumped over the dresser gracefully, vaulting over and walking through my first step, rounding the corner to see Edward.

Even knowing he was up here, actually seeing him, whole and safe, was such a relief. You were overreacting, I reminded myself, but I couldn't hold back my grin at my lovely mate, with his messy bronze hair and pale skin luminous in the soft lighting. He was leaning with his back pressed to the bathroom door, and I had been so focused on the beat of his heart and his delicious scent of honey and sunshine that I didn't even realize there were two people already in the bathroom.

I could hear slurping, and a masculine sigh, and… oh.

"It's Jessica and Tyler," he whispered, eyes still pressed tight.

"Did you… see?" I asked, concerned about the answer. He nodded in response, movement slow and deliberate. He had accidentally walked into the unlocked bathroom and seen the salacious act with his own eyes. It was no wonder he seemed stunned and stiff.

"Well that's just disgusting," I groaned, leaning into Edward to pound my fist into the wood next to his head.

"Shit!" Jessica cried, her lips popping off his penis. She ran to the sink a started washing her hands, splashing water on her face, as Tyler grumbled about not getting off while zipping his jeans up.

She opened the door shyly, trying to just slip past us and back downstairs. Her face was bright red, her dark hair mussed from where Tyler had his fingers in it. I stood aside, tucking myself into Edward's side, and let Jessica go without another word, her shame punishment enough. I could hear her gracelessly climb over the dresser and stumble down the stairs, her ankle rolling with the loosened strap from her right heel.

Tyler strode out of the bathroom, making a big show of adjusting his pants in such an uncouth and inappropriate way, a wide grin on his face and his eyes lidded and he nodded at me.

"Bathroom's all yours, man. Have fun," Tyler's smile got ever-wider as he winked devilishly at Edward, walking past us with such a swagger in his step that one would think he'd conquered a kingdom or discovered an element.

Edward was blushing from the encounter, gaping after Tyler with a lovely pink flush down his neck and reaching up to his ears.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. They were not supposed to be up here, obviously," I apologized, the distaste clear in my voice as I poked my head into the guest bath. The smell of sex was thick and obnoxious, and I'd hoped it would come out with a regular cleaning agent and we wouldn't have to use an industrial solvent. Or just tear the house down.

"I-It's…" Edward started, clenching and unclenching his jaw as if he was swallowing words, "I…"

He breathed deeply- in and out, in and out, the way he had been practicing.

"Is th-that s-something you m-m-might l-like to do? One d-day?"

I was stunned. Images of Edward, head cocked back and eyes closed, mouth open and panting as I kissed my way down his body, kneeling before him and slowly, painstakingly drawing down his zipper…

"Oh, well…" I snapped out of my revelry, clearing the venom from my throat and regaining composure. "Do you mean oral sex? Yes, I would like to do that with you one day." I tried to keep my voice clinical and even, not relaying any of the pressure or desire I felt.

But he didn't respond, just nodded, brows furrowed and deep in thought. I couldn't read him at all, couldn't detect the desire or fear or disgust or anything I would have expected from our short discussion.

"Do you still need to use the bathroom?" I asked, trying to break the tension. He nodded again, and I walked back down the hallway and over the dresser, returning to play hostess at the pointless party that the two "graduated" in the family weren't even attending anymore.