Romeo and... Cullen?

5. Baseball is the Root of All Problems

"Why are we doing this?" Rosalie unenthusiastically threw the bag of lettuce for the side salad onto the kitchen island.

        "Because it's the first time Edward has brought over a girl, Rose," Esme said, stirring the pasta sauce.

        "Is she even Italian?"

        "Her name's Bella isn't it... come on babe, it's a single dinner." Emmett kissed Rosalie on the cheek to try and calm her down.

        Verne pulled the fresh bread from out of the oven and just rolled her eyes at Rosalie's complaints. Esme slapped her hand away as she tried to tear off a piece of the bread and eat it. Verne let the bread be and grabbed a blood bag from the back of the fridge.  Frankly, she was happy that Bella confronted Edward. Verne considered the Swan girl a real friend of hers. Everything was so much easier once she found out and when Edward and Bella went "public" last week. Verne heard Edward's car pull up and a few moments later Bella and Edward entered the house.

        "Bella!" Esme called out. "How are you? We're making Italian."

        "Ah, Bon giorno," Bella said awkwardly before giving Verne a comfortable smile when her eyes landed on her.

        "Molto Bene," Esme said contently and went to combine the sauce and pasta in a single pot.

        "Don't mind mom, Bells. She's just excited," Verne said to her friend.

        "Cooking for you gives us an excuse to use the kitchen." Carlisle came out of his at-home office.

        "But I thought Verne..."

        "I mainly cook for myself," she explained.

        "She only lets me make breakfast...sometimes," Esme chimed in from behind the girl. "Did I go overboard with dinner? Hope you're hungry, Bella."

        "Absolutely."

        "She already ate," Edward said bluntly.

        Everyone heard glass crumble to the floor. Verne looked over her shoulder to see the glass bowl holding the salad in shatters at Rosalie's feet. Her sister sighed heavily, clenching and unclenching her fists.

        "Perfect," Rosalie said through tight lips.

        "It's just I know you guys don't eat."

        "She was trying to look out for us, Rose," Verne said to her sister.

        "That's very considerate of you."

        Carlisle smiled at Bella. Edward moved his arm from Bella's shoulder and to her waist.

        "Ignore Rosalie. I usually do," he said.

        "Fine!" Rosalie yelled. "Let's all pretend like this is all okay. Like this isn't dangerous for us."

        "I promise I won't tell anyone," Bella said.

        Verne felt a bit bad for her friend. Rosalie knew that she wouldn't tell. The whole family knew that she wouldn't tell. Her sister was just giving her friend a hard time.

        "She knows, the problem's just you two have kinda gone public..."

        "Emmett."

        Esme cut him off. Emmett had a bad habit of just speaking, not realizing that most people would think he was trying to be mean and not just saying simply the first thing that came to his mind.