FAGEtastic Four
Title: A La Carte
Written for: Nicia VA-ff
Written By: Laurie Whitlock
Rating: M
Prompt use: Kids fall in love, fall out of love and then fall in love again when older.
Summary: Emmett and Bella have known each other since childhood. While in college, they got into a big fight and broke up. Now Bella is looking for work as a chef and is sent to the home of the biggest up and comer in business today. What will happen when Bella sees whose house she is at?
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I was exhausted, I was grimy and I felt like a zombie but I was happy to finally be back in America. I had just graduated top of my class from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and now I had to start looking for a job. Some of my classmates thought I was going to stay in Paris to work but even though I enjoyed living in Paris, I missed home, and my mom and my dad. I also missed my friends that I've had since childhood.

Just as I walked into the seating area of Sea Tac airport, I heard my name being squealed and then something slammed into me; I stumbled a bit but was able to remain standing. I chuckled because I had known that she was going to be here, waiting for me. Alice was one of my oldest best friends; I'd known her since kindergarten. She finally let me go and stepped back to look at me.

"You're pale, are you sick?" Alice asked in one breath

"Well, hello Ali," I replied

"I've missed you, Bella"

"And I you."

"Now really, are you sick?" she asked with a perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised.

"No, Ali, just tired and in need of a hot shower," I replied, stifling a yawn.

"Well, come on then, Jasper's already gone to get your luggage"

I smiled at her and she linked her arm through mine. We walked over to the luggage carousel where Ali's very handsome boyfriend was standing looking at all the luggage waiting for mine.

"Hey, Jazz," I called out to him.

He turned and smirked at me and said, "Hey Bells welcome home. Glad to see that I'm not the only one with an accent now"

I laughed with him and gave him a hug. Once all of my luggage was gathered, we piled it up on a trolley and then walked out to Jazz's truck. When all of the bags were in the bed, I climbed into the truck; I was in the middle of Jazz and Ali, and we drove to their house. I was going to be living with them till I either found a place of my own or got a job as a live-in cook.

As soon as we got to their house, I went up to what was designated as my room and threw some of my stuff on the bed, while Jazz got the rest of my stuff. I walked into the bathroom, turned on the shower as hot as it would go and stripped out of my clothes while the mirrors steamed up. I added some cold water, got in and sighed in relief. The water helped to ease my tense muscles from the long flight and an hour later I got out feeling fresher. I got dressed yawning through the whole process, and then dragged myself downstairs to get something to eat even though I would have rather collapsed on the bed and slept till next week.

I was glad that Ali had some simple food set out for us to eat because I didn't think that I could eat anything big. Ali was a good cook as well but her first love was in fashion so she went to Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise in Los Angeles and graduated, top of her class with a job already lined up for her. I sat down beside Jazz who was like a big brother to me, and ate while we chatted a little. I was starting to get drowsy, and when my head fell onto Jazz's shoulder they told me to get some sleep. I agreed and after saying goodnight to Jazz and Ali, I went up to the guest room, crawled into bed and was out in no time.

The next morning, I groaned when I saw the sun streaming into my room because I was in no way ready to get up but I knew that I had to. I rolled out of bed and after getting my clothes out; I went to get a shower. After dressing I went downstairs and found out that I was alone. There was a note in the kitchen written in Ali's handwriting demanding that I eat the breakfast she left in the fridge for me and that she and Jazz would see me tonight after work. I smiled at her letter because that was typical Alice; always wanting to make sure she took care of the people that she loved. I did as she instructed and went to the fridge to get the food.

Once I was finished with my breakfast, I went to grab my laptop and started surfing the web for jobs. I sent off some emails to my friends to let them know that I was back in town and that I was looking for a job; I asked them to let me know if they knew of anything. There were some ads looking for a chef, which I was glad about; I was able to set up an interview with a few potential employers.

Once that was done, I knew that it was time to call my parents. I decided to call dad first because mom would have droned on and on and probably taken up the whole day. I was pleased to find that, as always in the small town of Forks, Washington- where I grew up- nothing was going on and that I was able to talk to Charlie, my dad. He was pleased to hear that I had arrived home safe. He asked if I was going to come for a visit soon and I told him that I would try. He promised that he would keep an ear open in case someone told him in passing that they were looking for a chef. I thanked him and then promised that I would call him again in a couple of days.

I then called Renee, my mom, and true to my previous thought, she talked and talked; turns out that she didn't have to work today, and all I had to do was make sounds every once in awhile. I could see the sun setting and I told mom that I had to go; she wasn't happy because she had more to talk about but I promised that I would call her again in a couple of days. Once I was off the phone, I decided that I would make dinner for Ali and Jazz; I went to the kitchen to see what they had and began pulling out ingredients to start dinner.

Just as I finished making dinner Jazz walked in first. He came over to me, placed a kiss on my cheek and thanked me for making dinner. I told him to think nothing of it and to go and get cleaned up. He smirked and walked out of the kitchen.

A few minutes later Ali bounded into the kitchen and clapped her hands when she saw what I was making for dinner. I chuckled at her reaction and told her the same thing that I told Jazz; she pouted but did as I said.

I had everything plated and on the table by the time they both got back. We sat down and began to eat. Jazz moaned and said, "Bells, are you sure you just don't want to work for us?"

I laughed and said, "Sorry Jazz, no can do, but y'all know that I'll always cook for you both."

Ali beamed at me and we went back to eating. Once everyone was done, I brought out the desert and we took it into the living room to eat while trying to find something on. I kept seeing Ali glance at me from the corner of my eye and I knew that she was up to something, I sighed and said, "What, Ali?"

"I was wondering if you would like to have a little welcome home party."

"You're asking instead of just planning it?"

"Well... um..."

"Let me guess," I said cutting her off, "You've already talked to our friends and are just trying to get my opinion on it," I finished with a raised eyebrow.

Ali just laughed and I knew that was my answer. I told her that it was fine by me and asked when this was all going to happen. She told me that it was going to be this weekend and that it was just going to be our close friends.

"Do you want me to cook?" I asked them both.

"If you want but nothing too big, just finger foods and whatnot," Ali replied.

"Ok," was my simple response.

I tried to focus on the movie that we settled on but my mind kept running around with all the ideas I had of food that I wanted to make for the party. I got up from my spot on the couch and went in search of a pen and paper to start writing it all down. Ali and Jazz were asking me what was wrong but I had tunnel vision and could only focus on writing out the menu. I had four different sandwiches, couple of salads, desserts and drinks but I had a feeling that the guys wouldn't be happy with this so I decided that what was needed was stuff to throw on the b.b.q., I screwed up the paper that I had been writing on and started the list again on a new piece of paper

Before long, I had a revised list of food that I know both the guys and the girls would enjoy. I looked over the list once again and then walked out to where Ali and Jazz were and showed them the list. After gathering their approval, I sat down to watch the rest of the movie but before I knew it I was drifting off to sleep. I could feel myself being picked up at one point; I knew that I was in Jazz's arms. . I felt the softness of the mattress and a soft kiss being placed on my forehead. I fell back asleep instantly after saying goodnight to him.

The next couple of days were spent making sure that everything was ready for the party as well as still looking for a job. I went to my interviews but I'd yet to hear anything back from them. I made the salads the night before the party as well as putting rubs on some of the meat. The next morning Ali and I cleaned the house while Jasper made sure that we had enough food and enough drinks. He then went to make sure that we had a good selection of music and cleaned the pool. By the afternoon, the house and the pool were clean and the first set of people had started to arrive. I put Jasper in charge of the grill seeing as how everyone wanted to talk with me.

Soon, the party was in full swing and everyone was having a great time and kept complimenting me on the food. As the party wore on, the drunker we all got, and the louder we got. When the sun started to set, Jazz lit a fire in the fire pit and we all sat around it, still drinking, talking about when we were all kids and eating S'mores. I knew that we were going to have a packed house because there was no way anyone was going to drive, what with all the drinking going on. I walked into the house so that I could check to make sure that we had enough food for breakfast in the morning.

As I was in the kitchen I heard the voices of Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory, two women who I didn't like and they didn't like me. They must not have known that I was nearby because they were talking about a subject that no one talked about anymore around me; Emmett McCarthy. While Alice had been my best friend, Emmett understood my reserved persona.

I loved his fun loving, joking attitude and he loved my quiet nature and love of reading. We always hung out together and when we were old enough, we started to date. I was so in love with him and I thought that we would be together for the rest of our lives but while in collage we got into a huge fight and I stormed out of his house. Not long after, I took off for France and we hadn't seen or talked to each other since. Soon Jessica and Lauren left and I let out a sigh. It still hurt to hear about Em after all these years. From what I could gather from their slurred speech, he was doing well in his business, and I was glad that things seemed to be going well for him. I shook my head and went back to what I was doing, though my brain wanted to think about the happy times that I had with Em.

When I went back outside, Jazz turned to me and asked me to tell them a story from my time in Paris; I smiled and tried to think of a good one. I then launched into what I did in the mornings before I went off to the school.

~Flashback~

It was my third week in Paris and I was in love with everything. The city was amazing; I loved getting up early and seeing all of the venders setting up their stalls for the day. Some of the men and woman greeted me and sometimes I would get a free muffin fresh from the oven or a beautiful flower. I stopped to talk with others, glad that I was good in French when I was in high school. One of my favorite vendors to talk to was a little old lady that had been selling cheese for almost fifty years. It was a family business and when her husband was alive, he would work with her at the stall. She would tell me all kinds of stories about how handsome he was and how brave that he was when he went off to fight in the war. She told me that he came back a changed man from the war, but his love for her never faded and everyday he would kiss her good morning and told her how beautiful she looked, even if she had just gotten out of bed. I would always smile and ask her questions, which she answered greatly and with so many details.

~end flashback~

Everyone wanted to know more about the lady but I told them that they would have to wait till I was sober to hear her stories because I wouldn't want to screw them up. They agreed and then we went back to talking about other things, slowly one by one everyone started to stumble into the house and collapse anywhere that they could to sleep off their drunken state.

A couple of weeks after the party, I was still jobless. Jazz and Ali were great, they didn't mind that I wasn't able to help out with the rent or grocery buying. I had promised them that as soon as I got a job I would start to help them out, and they had told me not to worry about it. I was in the kitchen getting a head start on dinner and wondering if it was time to start looking for a job outside of being a chef when the phone rang. It was one of my old classmates, Jay from Paris who came back to the States after he had graduated. He told me that he heard of a job opening for a live- in chef at some big shot business man's house and he thought of me, because he already had a job lined up for himself at a top restaurant in town. Jay gave me all the information that I needed, and I thanked him for thinking for me. After hanging up with him, I called the number and set up an interview.

A/N: So this is my first Emmett and Bella story. What do you all think? *waves* until next time