A/N: Just a quick explanation- not your typical Elle/Emmett fluff, there’s some AU angst to get through first…Let me know what you think, it’s pretty different from my other LB stories. But have no fear, there’s another fluffy one shot coming your way soon. This is set in the middle of Elle’s first year, before the trial.

“You’ll never guess what just happened!”

Elle burst into her dorm room, where Emmett had been watching Bruiser while Elle was at class. Emmett looked at her over the top of his computer screen, smiling.

“What?”

“Warner stopped me after class and said that he was wrong about me. He realized that I’m more than just a blonde, and he was wrong to judge me like that.”

“That’s great!” Maybe, Emmett thought, maybe Warner wasn’t the complete jerk he’d looked to be.

Elle started digging through her closet, various shoes, dresses and purses being thrown behind her.

“What exactly are you doing?” Emmett asked, amused.

“Looking for an outfit of course!”

“An outfit for what?”

“My date with Warner!”

Emmett froze. Of course she was back with him. How could he not have assumed?

“Oh, right. Of course. Well, I’ll leave you to it, then. Emmett shut his laptop and hurried out before Elle had a chance to say goodbye, walking as fast as he could to his car. He’d missed his chance.

XXX

Emmett didn’t know how it had happened, but somehow, he had been convinced to go to a party hosted by one of Warner’s friends. He planned on staying as far away from Warner as possible, but when Elle gave him her signature look, there was no refusing. He’d planned to just sit and hang out, maybe talk to people if he knew them, but when he saw Elle and Warner together, the keg someone had brought in became his new best friend.

“Seriously, how many of those have you had?” A boy Emmett didn’t know was suddenly next to him, motioning to the empty red plastic cups strewn around him.

“A lot. Enough to forget.”

The boy looked confused, but sat down next to Emmett on the dingy brown couch anyway. “Enough to forget what?”

When Emmett didn’t answer, the boy nodded. “Oh, I get it. What did she do to you?”

Emmett laughed dryly. “Nothing. Nothing at all.” He glanced over at the counter, where Elle and Warner were sitting. She laughed at something he said, her hair falling over her shoulders in waves, and Emmett quickly looked away as their lips touched.

“Well, I can’t help you there, man, but…good luck. Or something.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

The boy walked over to a group of friends in the corner and Emmett stood, almost knocking over a cup in the process. He stormed out, trying to go unnoticed, but a familiar blonde voice rang out from behind him.

“Emmett, you’re leaving?” he turned around and nodded.

“I’ll be right back.” She said to Warner, kissing him again, and walked over to Emmett. “I’ll walk you out.”

Outside the house, the cold air hit them as they stood on the porch.

“So, did you have a good time?”

“No, not really.” Emmett said honestly, pulling his coat around him and going to walk away.

“Emmett, wait! What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”

“Come on. You’re my best friend. I know when something’s bothering you.”

“But that’s just it, isn’t it?” he yelled, anger finally reaching the breaking point somewhere in his head, “I’m your best friend. Nothing else.”

“Emmett, what are you talking about?”

“Forget it. Go back inside with Warner.” He seethed, pure hatred coming through as he said Warner’s name.

“Is that what this is about? Warner? Emmett, you can’t possibly be mad about him.”

“You’re right, I can’t. I can’t possibly be mad that some complete ass that loves his reflection in a mirror more than he’ll ever love anyone else can win you over, but I can’t. I’m not enough, right? You need more than me.”

Elle closed her eyes momentarily, “Emmett, you’re drunk. This isn’t like you-”

“That’s the explanation for it, right? I would only say those things in a drunken haze? It could never be that I’m completely, madly in love with you, could it? No, that doesn’t make sense at all.” He turned around and walked down the stairs, starting down the sidewalk.

“Emmett! Wait!”

“It’s fine.” He said, over his shoulder, “Just go back inside with Warner. It’s what you came all the way here for, right?”

Emmett jumped into a cab that drove up on the corner, and Elle stood alone on the front steps, cold, broken and alone.

XXX

The weeks that followed were quiet ones. To Emmett, they seemed to move in slow motion, filled with Chinese take-out, work, and sitting alone in his cluttered, dark apartment. He replayed his exchange with Elle on the porch over and over in his head, feeling guilty each time he heard himself lashing out at her. They hadn’t spoken since that night, but he’d heard around campus that she’d come in crying and forced Warner to take her home. He felt terrible, but what could he do now? Elle hadn’t answered her phone, and when she saw him in Callahan’s class she made it a point to go and talk to someone else to avoid him.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a knock at the door, a signal that his dinner must be arriving. He opened the door and instead of being greeted by Larry, his usual delivery man, a certain blonde he’d been missing was standing in his hallway.

“Elle…”

They stood in silence until Elle looked up at him, revealing her eyes, empty and bloodshot, and the fact that she was wearing no makeup. Her hair was disheveled, and when she went to speak, her voice was hoarse.

“Aren’t you going to let me in?”

Emmett moved out of the doorway and shut it behind her, following her into his living room.

“Elle, I-“

“No. I get to talk first.” She snapped, shoving him onto the couch as she paced around the coffee table in front of him.

“You yelled at me. You yelled at me for no reason, drunk, told me you loved me and ran off.”

“I know, I’m sorry-“

“No. You don’t get to talk yet.”

“I haven’t slept for more than an hour or two a night in weeks. I tried so hard to figure out what could possibly have made you so angry with me, I analyzed it and analyzed it and kept replaying it over and over in my head. And do you know the absolute worst part of it all?” She looked him in the eye for the first time since she’d arrived and he saw tears forming, “You were right. You were so right about him.”

She broke down then, falling into a seated position on his coffee table, and the only thing he could think to do was sit next to her and wrap his arms around her, trying to take away whatever hurt Warner had caused.

“What happened?”

“He cheated on me. He cheated on me with some…some blonde tramp he met in a bar, and I realized that he’s exactly who you thought he was. He never saw me any differently; he just wanted to have someone to show off to his friends at parties. How did I not see it? How could I have been so stupid?”

“You’re not stupid. You are so much better than him, Elle. You can do so much better.”

“I know, and I broke up with him, and I thought that everything would be okay.” She wiped her eyes, breaking out of his grasp. “But then I didn’t know how to talk to you again, because I realized that I couldn’t stop thinking about you. For weeks, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. God, Emmett, I’m falling in love with you and I was a month too late!”

He froze. Had she just…”What did you just say?” he looked down at her, eyes wide, and saw a smile working it’s way across her face.

“I said, I’m falling in love with you.” She whispered, leaning closer to him, “And for the record, you have always been good enough. I don’t need anyone but you.”

Emmett found himself smiling for the first time in weeks, and when she kissed him it was more magical than he’d ever imagined.

They broke apart and Emmett took her hands in his. “I love you, too.” He said, smiling, “And it was well worth the wait.”

A/N: So. Any thoughts?