Bella's Babe

96)

Bella/Rosalie
Rated T.

Bella POV

"No."

I straightened and tried to pop my back out of a habit I probably wouldn't lose any time soon, if ever. The small sigh left me slowly and even though it wasn't necessary, I dusted off my hands. Maybe I was buying time.

Most likely.

My still-red eyes lingered on the mass of rounded snow at my feet before they travelled.

The other vampires had been on task for perhaps thirty minutes, an hour if you counted the bickering as they divided onto teams. Though, it remained a total mystery why that even happened. Sure, I'd still been inside at that point trying to convince Rosalie this was, in fact, a good idea, a fun one even, but I mean. Snowmen. How do you need teams for that? And howdid Alice summon a competitive Esme like a bitter, lifelong rival so quickly?

So all in all, I got to see Alice pack snow on Emmett in the flexing pose he'd chosen and climb him like a tree as she studied her progress. I didn't think he could stay still enough for it, but whenever he got the itch to move or forgot his purpose, she shoved snow into his mouth or ears. Carlisle's pose was, well, Carlisle. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back and stared off in the way a thoughtful leader did. He'd make for a plain, ugly snowman, but would probably be completed first, which was the point of this fun, family exercise that'd gone off the rails and straight into a cold, white hell.

Just as Esme placed a soft kiss on her husband's cheek, a ball of snow slammed into my eye. I caught the rock that'd been at its center before it could fall.

Honestly, Esme's long-suffering sighs made more and more sense with each passing day I was a vampire. She was surrounded by eternal, destructive children.

Dropping the rock, I looked up and saw Jasper and Edward frozen, staring at me. My eyes rolled. I'd seen how quickly making a snowman out of Edward turned into a fight and wanted absolutely no part in it.

Snowballs of death started flying around again.

Meanwhile, I could feel a familiar glare trying to shatter my skull or something.

Acutely aware I'd be eating snow if I didn't turn around now as opposed to soon, I steeled myself. I could just look at her perfect eyebrows—No, that was a trap that lead to her eyes. Maybe her shoulder? And then…Nope.

As usual, my eyes wandered everywhere, lingered everywhere. I'd spent entire days staring at her since changing and even now I still did this, like I could make up for all the time my stupid, human eyes couldn't take in the full beauty of Rosalie Lillian Hale. And of course, she'd changed clothes before coming outside to throw me off. Of course.

The bitch.

To think, I used to scoff at knee-high boots. Now I couldn't live without seeing them on this blonde goddess, especially paired with dark wash jeans, like now. Blue shirt, black jacket. Arms crossed over her chest and hip canted out. Okay. I was ready to focus on her scowl again. Then I got stuck.

I could practically hear her laughing at my distracted state, but it just wasn't fair for someone to look so goddamned cute in a beanie.

By the time I looked her in the face again her scowl had vanished. In its place, her bottom lip pushed out in the smallest pout. If I wasn't weak before that, then I fucking died.

Rosalie's face erupted into a grin. She surged forward and grabbed my hand, dragging me off.

We ran in casual silence. I thought about asking if she was going to sacrifice me or something like I did the first time she took me somewhere new, but then I found myself thinking about how far we'd come. About how I stumbled onto the right path to making it so that the stoic, eternally seething vampire relaxed enough to smile widely and often at even Edward. A thought that'd been biting at my mind for months popped up yet again. What if I never left Phoenix?