K: Thank you for the congrats regarding my class. Glad to know y’all are cheering for me lol. Not much to say, so I hope you like Jasper’s Chapter!
Robs: Well, y'all were certainly surprised and upset that Alice said yes, but don't worry all things get explained in due time and I would just like to point out that public proposals kinds back you into a corner... of course you're gonna say yes! LOL. Thanks to the usual suspects of readers, reviewers and rav girls!
Happy Birthday Bev! You can thank her for getting this chapter early. ;)
Special thanks to Amber for betaing and loving this mess. ;)
JPOV:
Edward dropped me off at the familiar beige, two story house in Forks. He offered to help with my things, but I just waved him off, telling him to give Bella and his folks my love. Which left me standing here, staring at the house.
Truth be told, it wasn’t the house that made me leave, hell it wasn’t even Alice or the town and it definitely wasn’t my friends fault either. It was the lies, secrets and deception that lurked within the walls of the dwelling in front of me now.
Taking a deep breath, I started making my way to the porch. It was time to face my past, whether I was ready to or not. The department shrink said it would be good for me, but to not expect immediate results.
But isn’t it human nature to expect instant gratification? After all, the human race tends to act quite selfishly. We choose to surround ourselves with people who makes us happy; while we ridicule other’s to make ourselves feel better, yet we don't see the wrong in doing so.
I shook my head at my thoughts, sometimes I surprise myself with the way my mind wanders.
“Well it’s about time Jasper Alexander made his way back home.” I heard a female voice say tartly from ahead of me. I looked up to see my very pregnant sister smiling at me.
“You cut your hair!” I laughed, ignoring her statement. She ran her hand through her shoulder length hair.
“Yeah I did," she said with a grimace. "Do me a favor, would you? If you ever get married, don’t let your pregnant wife cut her hair. No matter how much she threatens to castrate you.” I laughed as she waddled, yes waddled, closer to me. I set my bags down and carefully put the Tuxes over the banister.
“Now give your fat sister a hug!” Rose cried, flinging herself at me. I laughed and hugged her back.
“Seriously Rose, it’s not like I haven’t seen you in five years. And by the looks of things, since I last saw you, all the work you've been doing in the past two years has at least been productive.” I teased. She just rolled her eyes and picked up the Tuxes.
“How’d it go?” She asked as she looked me over. “Jesus, did you have to look like a starving artist to see your true love for the first time in five years?”
It was my turn to roll my eyes as I picked up my bags. “Where are Greg and Brianna?” I asked as we stepped inside.
“Dad’s at work and Mom said she forgot something at the store but she should be back shortly. And Em called, said he was coming straight from his shift.” She explained as we headed up the stairs to my old room.
“Is he planning on intimidating me with his uniform?” I joked, tossing my bags on the bed. I looked around the room, it didn’t seem like it had changed much.
“Probably not Jasper, he’s just excited that you’re here.” She said as she laid the Tuxes flat on the bed. “We all missed you, you know.” She gave me a sad smile.
“And you all moved on,” I gave her a pointed look.
“Don’t fault her for that. You had Kayla, Conty and Ms. Trailer Trash to keep you company at night. At least she’s happy. Leave it at that.”
I snorted, “Yeah happy with Gene.”
“Garrett,” Rose corrected.
“Can’t I just call him Fuck Head?” I teased as I hung the Tuxes in the closet, not wanting to risk the wrath of Alice.
“No. As long as you’re still with your skank, I don’t want you making any moves on my girl. You got me?”
“I’m only here a week. I’m sure by the time I leave; I’ll once again be a fading memory to Alice.” Rose just shook her head and headed for the door.
“Keep telling yourself that Jazz. Maybe someday you’ll believe it.”
After a much needed shower and shave, I collapsed onto my old bed intending to take a nap. I knew my efforts would be futile seeing as I didn’t take my Trazodone beforehand. I just laid there listening to the voices downstairs. They all sounded happy and seemed to be enjoying each other’s company. At least until Brianna asked if I had made it back yet.
Deciding now would be a great time to make my appearance; I grabbed my glasses off the nightstand and headed towards the rest of the family.
I’m not sure what kind of reception I was expecting, but what I got was a bit unsettling. Greg was calling me ‘son’ and being joyful; while Brianna was… cordial, polite at least.
While I wasn’t surprised to see Brianna with her best friend, a glass of Southern Comfort in her hand, I was surprised that she seemed interested in the life I had created for myself in Tennessee. It may be a little odd, but for the first time I can remember, I didn’t feel like I was a burden in her eyes. Then again, it could just be my second beer making me feel like that.
Rose’s random giggles at her phone was distracting and Emmett’s side comments to her piqued my interest.
“What’s got you giggling Rose?” I asked.
“Oh apparently there’s a new hippie in town.” She said with a smirk and a mischievous glimmer in her blue eyes.
“I thought I was supposed to be taking care of getting the Riff-Raff off the streets, how do I not know him?” Emmett interjected.
Rose snorted in laughter just as Brianna left to get dessert. “Oh but Honey, you know him well. I would say he's like a brother to you.” She teased. Emmett just looked at her puzzled waiting for an explanation. I was right there with him.
She turned her attention to me. “So tell me Jazz, you still smoking the skunk weed?” She asked sweetly, causing me to choke on my beer. Greg laughed, claiming he knew I had some rebellion left in me.
Emmett, on the other hand, didn’t look amused. He raised an eyebrow at his wife. “He's the hippie?” he asked. Rose smirked as she handed her phone over to him. I watched as he looked from her to the phone, then proceeded to laugh. Not just a giggle or a chuckle, but a snort followed by his booming laughter.
“Fuck you guys,” I muttered as I finished off my drink. The one and only time I get stoned with that Jackass and it still haunts me to this day.
~*~*~*~December 29th 2001~*~*~*~
“Alright, this moping over my sister shit has got to stop.” Edward said, throwing the controller to his new Play Station 2 down. Emmett groaned as he turned off the game.
“Well, unless you have some magic potion I can use to stop being upset then you’ll just have to deal with it.” I rolled my eyes at him as I looked up at the ceiling.
“I don’t have a potion, but I do have smoke,” Emmett informed us. He and Ed were up and out the back door before I had a chance to say anything. I followed them and watched as Emmett sparked it up. He took two hits before passing it to Ed.
“So,” Emmett stated as he held the smoke in his lungs. “You gonna try my magic bro?” He asked as he exhaled.
I normally didn’t indulge in this type of activity like my two best friends seemed to enjoy. My type of drug was the kind you can buy out of the vending machines at school. Caffeine, simply the best there was, and legal at that.
“You don’t have to worry about Mom and Dad. They’re at a party, we’ll be fine.” Edward said, handing me the joint.
My eyes danced between Ed’s face and his hand. I don’t do this, this is kind of thing isn’t the smartest choice available. Sure I was upset that Alice was still doing everything in her power to not talk to me, but did I really want to get stoned? Emmett smiled widely at me as my hand reached out for the joint. What’s the worst that will happen?
Alice will be pissed! I heard my subconscious yell at me. Well if it makes her talk to me, even if it’s to call me an idiot, it’s worth it.
Two hours and two joints later, it was safe to say I was completely stoned. The three of us managed to finish off a container of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream in less than ten minutes and spent thirty minutes after the fact, laughing at Emmett as he rolled in the snow complaining of brain freeze.
“That would imply that you have one Em,” Ed managed to say through his laughter. This of course set off another round of giggles.
“Wait! Dudes! I smell a dare!” Emmett shouted suddenly, as he sprang to his feet.
“Yes!” Edward cheered.
I sat on the edge of the trampoline and watched as Emmett’s hazel eyes danced with excitement.
“Ed, we need three vases,” he gave Edward a slap on the back and Ed nodded and hurried inside. “But not Esme’s good shit because she’ll kill Jazz if he breaks them!” He called after him.
“Wait, what?” I took my glasses off to clean them on my shirt.
“I’ll explain when Eddie-boy returns.”
“Why would Esme kill me?” I asked, trying to get more information out of him. He sighed dramatically.
“Fine, Pussy.” I rolled my eyes at him, placing my glasses back on. “The dare, which you’re gonna take, is for you to juggle three vases while using the trampoline.”
“You do realize that I know how to juggle right?” I gave him a skeptical look.
“Duhhhh,” he drawled out, “The challenge is whether or not you can do it on the trampoline.”
“Alice, just go in and play with your dolls or something.” Edward said as he was coming out with three vases. My head snapped in his direction, waiting eagerly to catch a glimpse of Alice.
Quickly Emmett filled Edward in on the objective. And, just like me, Edward questioned the odds since I was a juggler. I smirked at Emmett as he rolled his eyes. And to think they gave me crap for being the court jester at the Renaissance Fairs.
I saw Alice give me a look I wasn’t familiar with from where she was standing by the sliding glass door. I smiled and looked back at the trampoline, from this angle I could see the spots that where iced over and figured it was best to stay in the middle where there was less chance of losing my footing.
“I’ll do it.” I told them as I rolled myself to the middle of the trampoline. Emmett clapped happily.
“This is gonna be sweet! Okay five dollars each for every minute you can do it – from the minute you get all three vases flying though.” Emmett clarified as I started to get momentum in my jumps.
“Wanna toss them to me Ali Cat?” I asked Alice. Her eyes snapped to mine and I could see she wanted to say something but she merely rolled her eyes.
“No, Alice is going back inside.” Edward said in his best protective voice.
She rolled her eyes again and sat on the patio chair. “I am staying Edward. It's best to have someone responsible to supervise.”
Emmett snorted a laugh, “You got told off by a Freshman.” He teased, earning Ed’s true feeling about him with the flick of his finger.
“Fine, but you don't say shit to mom.” Ed pointed at Alice to emphasize his point.
Again this was greeted by the roll of Alice’s eyes. “As if,” she said in a bored tone.
“Emmett, let’s go!” I called out to get the attention off Alice.
Slowly Emmett started tossing the vases one by one. As soon as I got in a good enough rhythm with the two, the final one was tossed and flawlessly added to my show. I heard Emmett call out to Ed to keep track of the time as I tried to focus on what I was doing. Alice stood up, stretching her arms over her and I got a look at her shirt.
Written in bright yellow letters were the words ‘I like to flash people’ against her purple shirt. I started to laugh at the implications of her shirt and in turn, lost my focus.
I heard Alice scream and Emmett cuss before I realized what had happened. I looked down at my hands laughing. Somehow two of the vases had broken against each other and sliced the hell out of my hand.
“Dude, are you okay?” Edward asked as he and Emmett came closer to the trampoline. I kicked my legs out from under me to land on my ass. Luckily all the bouncing I was doing kicked off the extra broken glass that wasn’t in my right hand.
“Yeah, it’s only a flesh wound,” I grinned at them.
“Fucker slices his hand and he quotes Monty Python,” Emmett grumbled. I felt the trampoline shift on the left side. I looked to see Alice walking her way to me.
“Ali Cat don’t… I don’t want you to get cut.” She reached across me and wrapped my hand in the bottom of her shirt. “Ali blood stains,” I whined at her.
She looked at me but glanced away quickly. “Em, get me a towel,” She called over her shoulder. I watched as he ran over to the storage cabinet where the Cullen’s kept the towels for the hot tub.
“It's my shirt... why do you care?” Alice asked me softly. Like she had room to talk, she was the one that said she didn’t want to be friends.
“Because, I know how you like your clothes,” I said lamely. Her and Rose where the same when it came to fashion. They lived and breathed it, and honestly I didn’t want her to blame me for ruining something else in her life.
Alice shrugged, “Whatever.” I was going to say something to her but Emmett was taking her attention from me.
“Here Ali,” Emmett said while handing her the towel. It was obvious that his high was gone as well.
“Thanks Em,” she said while taking the towel from him. I watched her remove my hand from her shirt and wrap it in the towel, applying pressure to the gash. I bit my lip and hoped that no one heard the pathetic whimper I made.
“Shit! Edward we gotta call Dad.” Alice called out to her brother.
“Is it that bad? I mean can't we just take him into the ER and not get Dad?” That my friends, is my normally cool and collected best friend in a panic over his dad finding out that we were smoking pot.
Alice rolled her eyes, “I guess we could. He's bleeding really badly. You guys are total idiots you know that?” Emmett shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down while Ed rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.
I laughed, yes I laughed. After all, I wasn’t big on doing the irresponsible thing and I did it, and now not only was Alice talking to me but she was caring about me too.
“Yes, but I'm forty dollars richer,” I admitted, smirking at my friends who groaned.
Alice turned her attention to glare at me. “You are so stupid. Why the fuck – you know what, never mind.”
I raised an eyebrow at her, “What Ali? Say it”
“Why did you do this? You are smart enough to know how stupid this is. Why?”
Well let’s see, there’s the fact that it got you to talk to me. Uh, yeah, and I have enough money now to get you the tickets you wanted for your birthday. Oh and I’m fucked in the head because even though I see you as a friend, I really want to kiss you again like before.
Wait where the hell did that come from?
“Even smart people take risks Alice, it's quite enjoyable. You should try it you know.”
She snarled at me some. “I took a risk. It got me nowhere.”
“Well take another risk and talk to me, and not because you feel obligated too.” I challenged while giving her a pointed look.
“It's pointless,” she said while wrapping the towel around my hand tighter.
“Ow Damnit! Why is it pointless? I don't see why we can't be friends. It's not like I'm seeing anyone anyhow, I think you're just afraid to be seen hanging out with the psychotic nerd of Forks High, so you decide to use the ‘I'm in love with you’ card to scare me off.” The moment the words came out of my mouth, I wanted to slap myself.
Her eyes began to fill with tears as she said in a deathly whisper, “Jasper Alexander Whitlock. I hate you”. She dropped my hand and pulled herself off the trampoline. “Emmett he's yours, I need to get away from all the idiots before my IQ drops.” She spat out as she headed back into the house.
“Just wait Ali Cat, one day we'll look back at this and laugh,” I called out to her.
She stopped to turn back and look at me, “You keep thinking that.” She spun around and headed back into the house.
I will.
“Wait, you dared him and he did it?” Rose asked incredulously. I blinked back into the present. I looked up from the scar on my right hand to see Rose staring at me in shock. Emmett nodded in response to her question. “Why would you do that Jazz? You were the one that always gave us lectures on the dangers of drugs, unprotected sex, and hell, even kissing!”
“You do desperate things when the one you love isn’t speaking to you.” I stated. Even if I was too scared to admit it then, I was in love with Alice.
Emmett snickered and jabbed his thumb at me. “He gave you a talk about the dangers of unprotected sex?”
“Yes!” Rose laughed then looked at him. “Why?”
Yeah, why was that so funny?
He took a drink of his tea. “I just find that fairly ironic,” he said, shrugging. I watched as he and Rose had a silent conversation with each other before her face showed recognition.
“Oh yeah…” she said softly then looked at me. “You're a walking contradiction you know that?”
I rolled my eyes. “Give it a rest Rosalie. I was a kid living on statistics at the time okay?”
“Says the boy who didn't put the love glove on,” Emmett said into his drink. I just looked at him unsure of why he would say that to me.
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