COLD WATER

nineteen.          very reluctant yes

▬ "HEY." Cori looked up on her way back to her room, her wet hair pulled over her shoulder.

"Hey, Daddy." She gave him a small smile, but he didn't return it.

"Three days." He shook his head.

"I know. I'm sorry. But I couldn't let her go alone. She wasn't in the right headspace, still not convinced she is. I just had to make sure she was okay."

He nodded, a sigh leaving his lips. "You can't do that to me again, either of you." She nodded her head. "And you're grounded."

"Yeah, figured as much." She hummed.

"Well, um, get some sleep." He waved his hand towards her bedroom door.

"Goodnight, Daddy." She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around him, he smiled as he patted her back before he lightly kissed the top of her head.

"You're still grounded." He mumbled and she laughed lightly as she pulled back. "G'night, Cori." She gave him another smile before making her way to her room. She closed the door behind her and made her way up the small flight of stairs, ready to sleep for days but that plan was dashed the second she reached the top and there he stood.

"Damn, Shortcake, it's been too long." He mumbled, then suddenly he was right in front of her and she jumped back a little as a gasp pushed past her lips, but he secured his arm around her waist before she could tumble down the stairs as she latched onto his shirt. "Sorry."

"Wha-What are you doing here?" She asked as he steadied her, her fingers still tight around the fabric.

"Travis told me what happened." He told her, his voice quiet. "Why would you jump off a cliff? And you tried to offer yourself up to the Volturi?" He shook his head. "The Cori I knew would never."

"I've changed... at least a little." She shrugged and he chuckled, pulling her closer to him. "Emmett-" She shook her head, her palms against his chest.

"I know." He bent down, his forehead against hers. "I'm just so happy that you're okay."

She chuckled lightly. "Okay is a relative term."

"Damn, I missed you." He lightly kissed her forehead before pulling her to him and she wrapped her arms around him because even though she didn't want to admit it, she had missed him too.

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▬ CORI SAT ON THE STAIRS at the Cullen house, she was a little irritated but after Emmett had given her a bag of powdered donuts her complaining subsided... a little. She had her legs stretched across the bottom step with her back against the wall and the bag of donuts in her lap, she even hummed a little as she bit into another donut.

"You all know what I want." Bella started from her place a few steps above Cori, looking at the room full of vampires. "And I know..." She took a breath. "... how much I'm asking for. The only thing that I can think of for it to be fair is to just vote."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Edward shook his head and she turned a little back at him.

"Shut up." She muttered before looking at the rest of the Cullens again.

"I'll go first." Cori raised her hand, her fingers covered in powdered sugar. "I love you, Bells, and I hate that you're making me side with the psycho, but I gotta go with no."

"Cori." Bella huffed and the younger girl shrugged, putting half a donut into her mouth. "Moving on, Alice?"

"I already consider you my sister." Alice smiled as she crossed the room, stepping over Cori's legs to hug the human. "Yes." She pulled back and they both stepped down, making sure not to step on Cori.

"Thank you."

"I vote yes." Jasper stated and they all turned to look at him.

"Aw, come on, Jasper." Cori huffed, getting a few chuckles from the others and a smile pulled at Emmett's lips as he watched her.

"It would be nice not to want to kill you all the time." He continued.

"Ooh, good point." The younger girl mumbled, mostly to herself.

"We don't need your commentary." Bella muttered, turning back towards her sister and Cori simply raised her hands as if to surrender.

"I'm sorry." Rosalie spoke, her arm around Travis' waist. "I'm really sorry to both of you for how I've acted, and I'm really grateful that you were brave enough to go and save my brother..."

"Stupid, you mean stupid."

"Shut up. You went too."

"Yeah, because I had to save my sister." Cori huffed. "Now, hush, let Rosie speak."

"This isn't a life I would've chosen for myself." She continued. "And I wish there had been someone to vote no for me. So, no."

"I'm a very reluctant yes." Travis added.

"Aww, Travi." Cori groaned.

"Hush you." He pointed at her and she narrowed her eyes at him. "You love my brother, but if Cori jumps off any more cliffs-" He stopped when Rosalie placed her hand on his stomach, pushing him back a little.

"Emmett?" Bella questioned, but he was too busy watching Cori as she tried and failed to get all the powdered sugar off of her face.

"Dude." Travis hit his shoulder and he jumped a little, looking up at his brother before looking over towards Bella.

"Oh, um..." He looked from Bella's hopefully face to Edward, who shook his head. Then his eyes settled on Cori again. She meant everything to him and at one point, Bella was the reason he lost Cori. "I, uh, I vote no." He knew it was petty, but he didn't care.

"Why is no one on my side?" Cori muttered, still wiping at her face. "At least I have Rosie. And Emmett."

"We can pick a fight with the Voturi some other way." Travis stated, pulling Rosalie closer to him.

"I will be that some other way." Cori raised her hand, a wide smile on her face almost like she was proud of that fact but they all knew it was the sugar. "I love you guys, I really do... not you." She pointed at Edward. "But I want to be human. I like my life. I like my friends. I like food."

"She makes good points." Emmett mused, though it did hurt that she didn't want to turn. He understood why, but selfishly he wanted her to, he wanted her to live forever and he wanted her to be with him.

"Sorry, I have disrupted the voting, please continue before Bella kills me." She mumbled upon seeing the glare her sister was giving her.

"I already consider you a part of the family. Yes." Esme told her.

"Softie." Cori muttered.

"You too, Cori. I hope you know that." The woman added, getting a small smile from the girl.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Edward asked, looking down at his family from his place on the stairs. "You know what this means."

"You've chosen not to live without her, which leaves me no choice." Carlisle told him. "I won't lose my son."

"This is depressing." Cori mumbled. "My sister wants to be a vampire and she made me agree with Edward, bleh." She shook her head before her phone chimed and she pulled it out of her hoodie pocket to see a text from Carter, it was nothing more than a simple come over but it made a wide smile break out on her face.

Emmett watched as she typed, her smile never once fading. He knew that it was the guy Alice had seen a few times and it hurt, but that pain was outweighed by his want for her to be happy, with or without him.

"Hey, Psycho, can I borrow your car?" She asked, a smile on her face as she looked up at him. "And remember, I'm on your side." She added as if to sway him.

"Yeah." He muttered, tossing her the keys.

"Thanks." She hummed as she stood up, the keys in hand. "See you guys later." She waved as she left, but her eyes lingered on Emmett for just a moment longer than anyone else. She offered a small smile and he returned it, simply nodding his head a little then she made her way out to the garage and towards Edward's Volvo.

Five minutes later, she was driving down the road and humming along to the radio. Her fingers drummed lightly against the steering wheel, not entirely on beat but she didn't really care. She was kind of hyped up on sugar. She turned on to the road that led back into town, her blinker on despite there being no other cars on the road. It was late and most people were at home asleep.

She sat up in her seat a little when she saw something in the trees, her eyes squinted as she slowed the car down. But when she didn't see anything, she pressed a little harder on the gas. She really just wanted to get to Carter's house. She wanted to cuddle and watch movies and tell him all about her trip to Italy - leaving out a few choice details.

She looked down for a moment when her phone buzzed. She pulled it from her pocket, glancing from the screen to the road a dozen times as she read his text.

Carter
I made hot chocolate and The Little Mermaid is in the dvd player

She smiled, glancing at the road as she started typing and just as she added the smiley face to the end of the text she looked up to see someone in the middle of the road then a blur of red.

A gasp left her lips. She tossed her phone into the seat. Her foot hit the break and she jerked the wheel to the left. The car veered to the side then toppled over before it rolled a few times, slinging her around like a ragdoll. Her head hit the steering wheel, then the window and just as she lost consciousness the car came to a stop on its roof.

Leaving the young Swan to hang from the seat as her breaths became slow and barely there.

⚘‎ nova speaks┆and we've reached the end of book two!!

i want to say thank you so much for reading and interacting with my book! i really appreciate all of you and your comments always make me smile!!

book three in the adore you series...
LEGO HOUSE ... will be out soon!!

drop some predictions!!!