petrichor [rosalie hale]

xxvi. party

"You've made it!" Angela said as she pulled Bella into a hug. They were all amazed to have been invited to the Cullen's house, and it seemed like the whole graduating class had turned up in full force to explore the previous unimaginable home.

Jessica had muttered to Angela that it seemed like the perfect location for the Cullens to murder them all without anyone being able to hear them scream, but the rest told her she was being ridiculous. Still, there was something about that Jasper that had always made her ridiculously uncomfortable. He was standing at the side of the room, the tightest smile Jessica had ever seen on his face, as he watched his siblings and Kiara Black engage in a game of beer pong against some of the football jocks.

She turned her attention back to Bella, reminding herself to ask the brunette girl about Rosalie and Kiara's on and off again relationship. "Hey. What'd you think of my speech? Too easy-breezy, too self-helpful? You may admit it..."

Bella smiled at the self-indulgent girl, glad to have her around even if they'd not always seen eye to eye. It was the last time she expected to really see them, the last time she really thought she'd seen the majority of the people in the room. It's not like she would be able to see them again once she became a vampire and "died".

"No, you pretty much nailed it," Bella said, no lie in her voice. She wasn't sure on Jessica's practice speeches but the final one was exactly the words she felt that she needed to hear. She'd miss her and the rest of the group she had become friendly with.

"Yeah? It's like I was born to lead, right?"

And just like that, Bella was reminded that Jessica probably wouldn't even notice if she was turned into a vampire, let alone die. She knew they'd be fine without her in their lives, and a piece of her was glad that the Cullen's had been her main friendships during high school. It just made things easier.

"Oh, great. I love this song, let's go!" Angela said, grabbing Jessica and heading off to join the rest of the dancing teens as Bella watched them go. She wasn't sure how to feel about it all, but she was certain of one thing: Edward was her forever.

She watched them walk away, a slight longing in her eyes at the thought of a friendship they could have had if she hadn't been almost comatose for months while Edward had left. She paused, shaking the thought before turning around and beginning to walk towards where Kiara and Emmett were hugging after having won their latest round of beer pong.

Kiara grinned from ear to ear as Bella approached them, pulling away from Emmett and wrapping her arms around the Swan. Bella awkwardly patted her back, never having really seen Kiara this comfortable with others. She didn't tend to hug the girl often, but the slight smell of beer on her breath informed Bella that the girl was certainly a little tipsy.

"Bella!" Kiara cheered, pulling back and placing her hands on the girl's shoulders as she looked at her from arms length. The shapeshifter furrowed her brows a little, almost scoffing as she realised that Bella had gotten away with just wearing a blouse and jeans but Alice had forced Kiara into a short navy dress. "Hey, why do you get to just wear jeans?"

Across the room, Rosalie and Beverly watched as Kiara lost interest in Bella and her outfit choices, instead going back to playing beer pong with Emmett. This time, it was one against one and they both knew that there was no way that Kiara was going to win against the vampire.

"I didn't even think their kind could get drunk," Beverly admitted as she pretended to sip from the cup in her hand. She wouldn't have been surprised at Kiara being drunk if she was a normal human, since she had been drinking all the beer so that Emmett didn't have to throw it back up later since it wasn't like they could digest it. "At what point is it sensible to cut off a werewolf from alcohol?"