WAY DOWN WE GO ⇀ ( JASPER HALE ) ✓

TWENTY-EIGHT

The rest of the day was just spent lounging around and hanging out with all his favourite Cullens.

Tony, Rosalie and Alice had come together in the blonde's room to listen to music and hang out. Until Alice decided she had to have a talk with Jasper, and disappeared.

Then, just as Rosalie and Tony had finished chucking at some dumb joke he had come up with, Esme leaned into the room.

"Your sister is coming over tonight and I wanted to make it special. Would she enjoy Italiano?" Esme asked.

"Well I'm a sucker for Italian, I'm not really sure about Bella though. We only just got back on speaking terms so her favourite food, to my recollection, is a citrus muffin from when she was thirteen." Tony informed, a little upset that he couldn't provide more information.

Esme frowned slightly before shaking her head, "It'll have to do. Would you two like to help?"

"I'd love to." Anthony smiled, turning to see Rosalie's reaction and nudging her thigh with his foot as they were sitting at opposite ends of the floor.

Tony was surprised to see the beautiful blonde's look of hatred on her face. Not for him, but for the mention of his sister.

Of course, he reminded himself, she hates Bella. Then again, I can't really blame her can I?

Tony simply stood from the floor and wiped his hands on his pants before extending his arm to help Rosalie up.

Esme, who was still standing at the door, expected her adoptive daughter to push Tony away, but was pleasantly surprised when Rosalie gently locked her wrist around the boy's forearm and pulled herself up.

It surprised Rosalie herself for a moment.

Maybe it was his weird humour, or his fragile self, maybe it was the way he treated her with the amount of respect she deserved.

Most likely that last one.

Especially because he had reached out an arm and not a hand.

It seemed like Anthony knew not to push boundaries with a woman. Outstretching a hand looked like a threat. Hands could grab and pull.

An arm, however, was an offer.

It was Rosalie's choice to take it or leave it.

It made Rosalie wonder why Tony knew these things. Which woman in his life has been hurt to the point where he felt the need to step up as part of the male population?

To the point where him: a small, weak, dying boy, felt the need to pick fights with assholes on the street who didn't know what respect meant.

Maybe she'd never know. But god, she was thankful for someone like Tony.

— BY THE TIME BELLA HAD FINALLY ARRIVED, Anthony was stood at a wooden block with a very sharp knife in hand. This would have worried him had Esme not been there, guiding his hand.

Though when he nearly sliced his thumb, the vampires decided it would be best if Tony sticked to something a little less stabby. For everyone's sake.

So instead he washed his hands and moved his oxygen tank so he could stand next to Rosalie and help Emmett put things into the bowl she was holding.

From farther in the kitchen, Carlisle noticed his family's smiles every time Tony burst out with a random fact or joke or embarrassing story.

He couldn't deny, the boy had him smiling too.

"Did you know that sea otters hold hands when they sleep?" Tony asked. Emmett did know that, but decided not to steal the boy's thunder, and so he just shook his head with a shrug.