http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5469690/1/For_the_Love_of_Emmett

Official Description: Best friends Bella and Alice come up with a plan to get exactly what they want. Too bad it all goes wrong. AH ExB EmxR AxJ

Don’t miss the outtakes: Oh, For the Love!

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theladyingrey42 says: OK, I’m going to be honest. I don’t read much T-rated fic. I like smut.

Never mind, I’m still lying.

I love smut.

But every now and then, I get overwhelmed by it, and I wonder what happened to plot. And even worse, I wonder what happened to the emotion I actually read fanfic for: love.

When that happens, I find T-rated fics to be a much welcome respite. Instead of sealing the deal with the exchange of bodily fluids, the author is actually forced to make us feel emotions like love, establishing connections between characters in more subtle ways.

But subtle doesn’t have to mean slight, and when done correctly, less graphic stories can encapsulate all the emotion and resonance of far more explicit ones.

And sometimes more.

For the Love of Emmett by Juze is one of those less graphic, T-rated stories, and for all its subtlety it grabbed me immediately.

The story takes place in high school, and captures many of the insecurities and absurdities associated with that setting. The premise lies in the fact that Bella and Alice are both in love with the popular, attractive Emmett Cullen. They have spent years changing their lives and themselves trying to get closer to the object of their affection, engaging in elaborate acts of deception, including spreading rumors about his girlfriend, Rosalie, but with little to no success. Their newest plan, we learn, is to infiltrate Emmett’s circle by attaching themselves to his shy, unpopular brother, Edward. Bella loses a bet between the two and is stuck with the unenviable task of getting to know the lesser Cullen.

Only, of course, he’s not lesser. Not by a mile. Predictably, Bella finds herself enjoying his company, and one of the delights of the early part of the story is getting to see unexpected moments of sweetness between the two, especially when Bella finds herself really and truly happy when she’s with him. He challenges her and talks to her, and constantly surprises her as she experiences something genuine for the first time in her life.

The flirtation between the two is especially sweet because it all happens in spite of Bella and her and Alice’s plan. Attraction and admiration find their way through the web of deception as they get to know each other and unconsciously begin to lower their guards.

Every so often, one of them would glance at the other. He was struck each time with her uncomplicated beauty. When she was at school or in public, she seemed to be putting on a display of sultry appeal with the intent of drawing in all males in her vicinity like bees to a flower. Now, sitting in a room alone with him, she was just herself. She wasn’t trying to be attractive, she simply was. Unconsciously, she’d bite her lower lip or twist a strand of hair around her finger. Although these actions were seen by him many times in the past, always with a target in view, her current actions seemed unconscious, showing him more of who she truly was than most others were privy to.

In between Edward’s observations of her, she would glance up occasionally to look at him. She still marveled at how surprisingly attractive he looked now. She knew that she shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, he was related to Emmett, the epitome of male attractiveness. She found herself caught, however, with watching the way he would focus with intense concentration on what he was reading. His eyebrows would draw together, his lips would purse slightly as he came across a particularly challenging section. She could almost see the gears in his head working, and it was fascinating to witness.

But for all the sweetness, deception still lies as the subtext to everything.

Keeping up such a facade and trying to keep her growing admiration for Edward at bay takes its toll on Bella. To her credit, her guilt descends upon her almost immediately, and for the first time in a long while, apparently, she is forced to really look at herself and her actions. Juze doesn’t pull any punches with how callous and manipulative Bella and Alice have been, and one of my favorite parts of the story is how she develops Bella’s character as she begins to grow up. Remarkably, Bella has even manipulated herself in the past, choosing to live a life she isn’t really interested in, occupying a position of popularity but secretly feeling lonely and hedged in. Edward’s probing questions finally provide some of the catalyst for her to begin to realize that she is unhappy with who she has become, all in pursuit of something she isn’t even really sure she wants anymore.

I won’t say too much more about the plot because it is fascinating to watch it unfold. Suffice it to say that is it textured and complex and even when it follows predictable lines, it manages to be remarkable. When the inevitable fallout comes, it is handled with uncommon grace. Both Edward and Bella are strong, and neither acts like a fool. There are obvious issues of trust left in its wake, and the true joy of the story, for me, has come from watching Edward and Bella find a way back to each other, discovering something real amidst the ruins of everything that was fake.

I would be truly remiss if I didn’t take a moment to comment on the quality of Juze’s writing, which is lovely. Although it is uncommon in fanfic, she chooses to write in third person and uses the omniscient narrator to perfect effect. Rather than resorting to countless and distracting POV changes, she shifts seamlessly from one character’s thoughts to the next, giving us a multifaceted view of every action and every lie and every truth.

“Those times when we were alone, those were real. At least they were to me,” she finished, slightly defensive.

“ What is that supposed to mean?” his anger snapped and he whipped around, unconsciously pinning her up against the wall by doing so. “’At least they were to me.’ What do you mean by that? Did you think they weren’t real for me? Did you think I was pretending? Those were some of the best…no, they were the best moments of my life when I was with you. Do you have any idea how much it hurt to realize that you had been faking all of those moments? To know that they meant nothing to you at all when they meant everything to me?” The anger began to fade, revealing the pain behind his façade.

“They meant something to me too,” she whispered. He was so close she could have tilted her chin up and connected their lips, but she didn’t dare.

Locked in each other’s gaze, he asked the question that had been plaguing him. “Then why? Why, if those moments meant something to you too, did you do that to me?” he whispered back.

“I didn’t know.” She shut her eyes against the penetrating green that seemed to stare right down to her soul. “I didn’t know how much they meant to me until it was too late.”

Edward snapped out from her hypnotic gaze as she closed her eyes and was brought back the reality of where they were and how close they were standing. Drawing in a shaky breath, he stepped back. “I’m sorry Bella, but you’re right. It’s too late.” They looked at each other for another moment before he gave her a sad smile and
continued towards his next period.

Despite the pain that stabbed through her, Bella didn’t dissolve into tears this time. Drawing her last reserves of strength, she squared her shoulders in determination. I’m not giving up that easily.

The story is currently twenty chapters in, and it’s at a good place for a new reader to dive in. So if you, like me, are interested in something more than smut, I hope you’ll consider giving For the Love of Emmett a try. You just might be surprised.

Kassiah says When I saw theladyingrey42′s rec for this story on UU, I jumped on it and was pulled in immediately. It is a sweet story that deals with real emotions and is amazingly well written. I really love it and think you should give it a try!