How To Get The Girl: A Guide For Goddesses
AN: Meet the family, officially.
Emmett was already inside next to Edythe when Bella entered the house behind Rosalie, she was glad he seemed as tough as he looked and didn't appear to be harmed by Rosalie's show of strength. She sent a small smile in his and Edythe's direction, and they smiled back, though Edythe's smile looked a bit exasperated by the antics. Bella couldn't blame her, and guiltily she thought that if she did stick around, Edythe would be dealing with even more shenanigans. She liked Emmett, he was this big bear of a guy who was a child at heart. Plus, Rosalie and Bella had a way of winding each other up.
"Rosalie, did you throw your brother into the backyard?" Carlisle's voice invaded the space as he entered from a room on the right. The house was unlike anything she'd seen before and it was just now dawning on Bella just how rich the Cullens actually were. How long had they lived to accumulate such wealth? He turned to Bella as he stepped up next to her, completely ignoring Rosalie and her indignant huff. "Hello Bella, how have you've been? How's the arm, is it healing okay?"
Bella dutifully stretched out her left arm so that the doctor could inspect the cast. "Doing well, Dr. Cullen, thanks for asking. And the arm is fine, it really doesn't even hurt anymore, the itching drives me a bit crazy though."
Dr. Cullen chuckled and patted what would have been the back of her hand had it not been partly casted. "I actually have a theory about that, but we'll have to wait a bit longer to see if it holds true. And please, call me, Carlisle."
"No…he was not thrown into the backyard." Rosalie finally corrected without putting forth her part of the story. Bella might have called her out if it wasn't for the intense curiosity burning within her at his words, but before she can ask, Carlisle winked at her and Rosalie both before stepping to the side. Bella didn't quite understand until Mrs. Cullen came into view. Bella's nerves suddenly tripled as she recognized the look on Esme's face. She was mad, disappointed and God help if she's feeling that way toward Bella. Bella doesn't think she can be a disappointment to this family too.
"So you didn't throw him, but you did do something otherwise there wouldn't be an Emmett sized hole in my peonies, right Rosalie Dear?"
Though Esme's words weren't directed at Bella, her tone had a tremendous effect on Bella's nervous system.
"ItwasmyfaultMrs.Cullen!I'msosorry!Myarm'sstillbrokenandEmmettpickedmeupandRosaliegotpossessivebutiit'sokaybecausethey'revampiresandreallystrongbutI'msosorryaboutyourflowers!" Bella's eyes went wide as saucers as she realized the horrible word vomit had tumbled from her own mouth. She searched for something else to say, anything else, as her face blushed redder than it had ever been before but nothing was coming to her. Bella looked at the floor in shame and self loathing at her incredible stupidity. It was then her saving grace, an angel from above, came to her rescue.
"Oh my god! Bella! You're just too cute!" Bella barely had a chance to look up and see Alice before the tiny girl once again wrapped herself around Bella's torso, trusting Bella to hold her up which Bella certainly did. "And you are of course right, we are very durable, and yes, this more than makes up for our shopping trip!"
"Oh thank God, Alice! Hi!" Bella then spoke just a bit softer, still completely aware the others could hear, but at this point she didn't care. "Save me from myself."
Alice pulled back and gave Bella a Cheshire grin, adding a wink for good measure as Bella placed her back to her feet. "But since we didn't get the pleasure of shopping together, I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I borrowed you for a tick. I wanted to get your opinion on something up in my room?"
If Bella wasn't so infatuated with Rosalie, Bella would have kissed Alice, instead Bella eagerly agreed. "Oh absolutely!" Then Bella turned to Rosalie with her eyes pleading. "That's okay, right? I mean, she is supposed to be my best friend."
Rose sighed dramatically and waved Bella off with her hand. "By all means, abandon me the second you find a better Cullen."
Bella's nerves calmed, and so did her self awareness, as she caught Rosalie's eyes. Bella rolled her eyes, and smiled sweetly at Rose. "You're still my favorite Hale, though."
Rosalie started to smile back, but then Alice chimed in. "Though to be fair, you haven't spent a lot of time with Jasper and he's my favorite Hale, so you could still change your mind."
Bella gave Alice a look, "Not helping, Alice."
Alice grinned an impish sort of grin. "Right, let's go Bella!"
As Alice pulled Bella from Rosalie's side and up the grand staircase from which she came, Bella shot one last glance toward Rosalie, worried she had made the wrong choice. Rosalie merely smirked at her before she was out of sight.
Bella isn't a girls girl in the way that Alice and Rosalie are, in fact, Rosalie had noticed that Bella has an aversion toward anything overtly silly, frilly or girlie in nature. Bella was also not as excitable as her dear sister, and even though Bella could be stubborn and a little bit wicked, she seemed to be a mix of Jasper's calm, enlightened air and Rosalie's level headed pragmatism. Alice personified silly, frilly and girly, and instead of being put off by the exuberant sprite, Bella had instantly fallen in step with Rosalie's 'little' sister. Rosalie listened in shock as it happened, not with jealousy, at least not much. A spark had lit up in Bella's eyes the moment Alice pulled away from the hug and pulled Bella off into the house, and before Rosalie could do anything about it they were just a disembodied giggle that echoed out from Alice's open door upstairs.
They've been that way for the past hour and now the very distinct sound of the 'Mama Mia!' movie soundtrack was added to the noise. It was already eight pm, at this rate Rosalie's going to have to pry them apart if she were to get any alone time with Bella before driving her home. Rosalie spun around to face the rest of her family, eyes wide and mouth agape ready to protest, Rosalie Hale was anything but dignified as she pointed an incriminating finger toward Alice's general location.
No words left her mouth though, and all Rosalie could think was that Bella was her mate and should have been fawning and falling over her like that and not Alice. How in the hell did Alice do that?
Carlisle and Esme said nothing, didn't even acknowledge Rosalie as they cuddled on the loveseat, Esme flipping through a cooking magazine and Carlisle thumbing through Grey's Anatomy for the millionth time. Jasper just chuckled at her from his place at the coffee table, deep in a game of chess with Edythe.
Edythe, of course, shrugged in that annoying way of hers as she moved her knight. "Never bet against, Alice." Rosalie didn't like her matter of fact tone.
A heavy arm settled over Rosalie's shoulders and she leaned into Emmett instinctively as she looked up at his grinning face. She frowned, he looked like the cat who caught the canary as he started to speak, "Not gonna lie, Alice definitely stole your girl and now I owe Alice big time on that best friend bet, but damn Hale, I think Bella officially has a new best friend. Tough luck, dude."
Feeling betrayed, Rosalie shrugged beneath his hold and slapped the back of his head in quick fashion. He groaned and ran to Edythe's side as he rubbed the back of his head. "You deserved that, Love."
Edythe looked up at him as he pouted down at her until finally Edythe sighed and puckered her lips. Emmett quickly and happily accepted the intimate gesture, and though it was quick, the look they shared as they pulled back was enough to make Rosalie look away. That string around her heart was tugging her toward Bella almost violently. Rosalie disappeared from the first floor and came to a silent stop outside of Alice's door, intent to watch the scene before she broke it up.
The door was half ajar, and when Rosalie stepped closer to take a look all thought ceased as she was enraptured by the scene.
Alice had somehow convinced Bella to put on a frilly purple tutu dress on top of her regular clothes, though she didn't know where Alice got one big enough seeing as Alice was smaller than Bella. Alice too wore a tutu sort of dress in pink, though hers fit perfectly. They danced around Alice's room waving around silk scarves as they sang along to 'Dancing Queen', it was ridiculous, over the top air guitar dancing and Rosalie had never seen Bella so carefree with another person before.
Bella's heart beat wildly in her chest as Alice took a turn spinning Bella around before breaking off to do her own air guitar and Bella laughed gleefully joining in with her own flailing limbs.
The moment was very human even in the presence of vampires. Their home, no matter where it was, had always had love and brightness in them, but this feeling was something different, it was warm. Bella was breathing pure life into the air that surrounded Rosalie, it was almost like she could feel Bella's heart beat within her own chest.
Rosalie smiled softly to herself and rolled her eyes. 'How deep is the well in which I've fallen?'
Bella sat contently in the black leather passenger seat as Rosalie drove the long way home. Her belly was full, and so was her heart; a small smile had taken residence on her lips and showed no sign of disappearing ever since leaving Rosalie's home. After Rose managed to steal Bella away from Alice they had gone down to the family room where the rest of the Cullens had gathered and spent the next hour explaining the ins and outs of the vampire world and answering Bella's questions about the family. Then Esme had fed Bella a bowl of fettuccine that was to die for before finally leaving the house around ten pm.
On the way home Rosalie had "missed" Bella's turn off and chose to cut through a few side streets before finally turning back around onto Main street and heading back to Bella's house. Bella had scoffed at Rosalie's unapologetic smirk but she didn't protest as she was too caught up in the way the street lights flashed across Rose's perfect face and the way those golden eyes shined in the night.
Bella has digested quite a lot of information on this night, but one thing still hung in the air: mates. Carlisle had explained this subject in detail, describing his mate bond with Esme, Alice and Jasper, as well as Edythe and Emmett's bond.
"The bond of mates is the most coveted thing among the whole vampire kind, Bella. Nothing is more sacred to us, not blood, not family, not even our own life." He had explained. "We feel our mate like a phantom limb until that fateful day you find them. Our family has been too lucky in finding our other halves, some go thousands of years."
"What does it feel like? Like how do you know you've found them? Are you sure everyone has one?" Bella had asked Carlisle anxiously.
Carlisle had chuckled at her curiosity, before Rosalie herself joined the conversation. Bella had watched as Rosalie's face twisted into a crazy smile, one of adoration and abhorrence but her voice was steely calm as she spoke, the strange mixture made Bella's blood run quicker.
"Carlisle has come to know a lot of our kind due to his time spent with the Volturi, and the Volturi makes it a point to keep an eye on all of us. Yes, Bella, every vampire has a mate, eventually. You can recognize your mate by their scent, by their voice but really it takes eye contact and you know it's them because you've been feeling this incredible tug for the whole of your existence and when your eyes finally meet you feel it tighten around your heart like a noose and cementing into place. It feels like you've been an unchanging, unstoppable object hurling through time and suddenly you've been stopped and changed by this impenetrable force. Now your whole existence is about them; you're orbiting around your very own sun. The very meaning to your existence lives within them."
Rosalie chuckled, then smiled more sweetly as she stared down at Bella's hand which had come to rest on her own. "It's quite something, to find the one who's meant to love the very darkest parts of you; the one to finally bring you peace."
Peace, Bella felt it often in Rosalie's presence and oh how Rosalie smiled at her so sweetly when she spoke of it. To Bella, it seemed as though Rosalie's ego hated the idea of being fated to be so dependent upon another soul as much as Rosalie's soul yearned for it; Bella understood that emphatically.
They crept down Bella's street, Rosalie sighing and turned her headlights off as she pulled into the driveway next to Charlie's police cruiser. Bella watched her face as Rose tapped the steering wheel with her perfectly manicured red nails once, twice and then a third time before unbuckling her seat belt and turning her body toward Bella, it looked as though she had made a decision but about what Bella couldn't know.
"I know that there's one more question hanging in the air," she was right Bella did have one more question seared into her mind, Rosalie continued, "and as much as I've said, there's something very important that I haven't said, but-"
Rosalie paused then, smirking cockily as she reached out to tap an unknown rhythm onto Bella's covered knee. Bella swallows so hard she swears it's audible in the small compartment of Rosalie's car.
"Before I let you in on my little secret, there's one thing I want you to do for me. Can you do that, Bella?"
Bella let out a deep breath as she was overwhelmed by the sexy undertones currently dripping off Rosalie's every word, but she agreed without thought. "Of course."
Rosalie chuckled deeply in satisfaction. "Good girl." The blonde drew back till her back rested against the driver's door, leaving Bella hanging over the console. Bella blinked back her confusion. "I want your permission to openly court you."
Bella's mind sputtered and spun at the idea. Rosalie Hale wanted to court her? That blind hope she'd carefully locked away burst free of its cage and thundered loudly in her chest. Then, Bella blushed and smiled hard as Rosalie batted her eyes from across the space.
"Oh my god, Rosalie Hale…courting?" Bella grinned around her words, unable to stop herself from trying to get just a bit of a rise from the blonde.
Rosalie smirked again, "That is in fact what I just said, yes." The blonde rolled her eyes and shook her head, Bella bit her bottom lip to hold back her giggle.
"That's um-" Bella cleared her throat because even she could hear the laughter in her voice, "That's very polite of you." Then Bella thought out loud, "I guess if a Goddess deems you worthy of being courted, you say yes?"
Rosalie smiled a devilish smile as she leaned in close again. Her breath was a whisper across Bella's face as she cupped the side of Bella's neck, stroking Bella's jaw ever so softly as she spoke. "Do you want to deny me, Bella? You can say no now, you can back out if this isn't what you want, but tell me now, Bella, are you going to deny me?"
Denying her attraction to Rosalie felt like a crime now that the blonde was actually letting her intentions be known. As she looked in golden eyes and felt the coldness of Rosalie's skin on hers, Bella sighed.
"Yes, you have my permission, Rosalie." Then Bella paused, thinking things over. "I've Never been courted by an older woman before."
Bella just laughed in Rosalie's truly appalled face.