Our lips moved in synchronization, his mouth urgent on mine. I shifted my weight underneath him, grabbing his face and pulling him as close as I could. My heart was about to explode, swelling up with a sudden intense passion that was impossible to contain. I loved it when he did that. A smile started to grow behind his kiss, and he squeezed me tight in satisfaction at what he was doing to my emotions. His lips found my jaw, brushing down my neck and to my collar bone.
"Jazz," I moaned. I felt his mouth move back up my neck and stop. His teeth ran across my flesh, his tongue leaving a thin trail of fresh venom where it ran across my skin. He nibbled at my throat playfully, and I giggled at the tickly feeling, squirming in his hold. I lifted my head to look at him. He smiled back at me, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The moonlight made the pattern of scars on his chest and throat cast little individual, crescent-shaped shadows on his skin, glistening dimly in the night. I sat up and Jasper pulled me to his chest, hugging me to him. He rocked me back and forth in his arms and I sighed, closing my eyes. If I could have my way, I would never leave his embrace.
The midnight breeze blew my hair as we were perched high up on a thick tree branch, away from everyone and everything. This was the only way we could be totally alone anymore. We were miles away from the house, far enough that Edward could not hear our thoughts. Complete privacy.
We stayed there watching the clouds roll in and block the rising sun. I knew we would have to leave soon to go to school, and I could not help the little pang of disappointment that washed through me. Jasper felt it too, kissing my hair and resting his chin on the top of my head. Enjoying the last few minutes of peace.
"Come on," he half-whispered in his soft voice. He jumped from the branch, landing on his feet in a quiet thud. I followed after, Jasper catching me in his granite arms. I reflected his radiant smile as he set me down on the ground. We took our time running back into the house, weaving through the trees hand in hand.
School drug on as usual, and I spent most of class time staring out the window, daydreaming about Jasper. I wonder if he thought about my as much as I thought about him. The trees blowing in the breeze outside reminded me of last night, and I was lost in the memory. Then, before I had time to blink, my sight went out.
It was like a movie playing in the back of my mind, a scene flashing on in my brain. The vision was of Jasper and I in the living room at home. Carlisle, Esme, and Edward were also in the room, watching some show on the Food Network. I watched as Jasper went down on one knee, pulling a small box out of his pocket with a look of nervousness clearly etched on his face. He was just about to open the box when my vision flashed off and I was back to real time.
"Alice!" the teacher practically screamed. I blinked myself back to the present and looked at him.
"What?" I asked. The whole room roared with laughter. He must have been trying to get my attention during the vision. The teacher motioned to the black board, where he had written a complicated math problem.
"Twenty-six-point-three miles," I answered without hesitation. That was probably a little too quick to be human, but I did not care. I just wanted to be left alone to think over my vision. The teacher nodded approvingly, and then went back to his lesson.
I was not as surprised about the vision as I should have been, though the thought of Jasper's proposal still stirred the butterflies in my stomach. See, I had been getting a variety of visions of the proposal for weeks now. They were all different locations, different days, and different wording. It was like Jasper could not make up his mind. That, or (this is my theory) he was doing it on purpose. That smarty pants was probably changing his plans to keep me guessing! That boy knew me all too well. It was a good plan. I did not like it.
It was difficult to maintain a human pace as I hurried to the cafeteria for lunch. Jasper was already at our usual table when I arrived, a weird, uncomfortable look plastered on his face. I could not help but feel sympathetic toward him- I knew it was hard for Jasper to be around humans, especially with his background of killing and feeding whenever he was thirsty. He only saw humans as food. Of course, it also did not help that we had not gone hunting in a week, which was a long time for him. These humans did not know how much danger they were in.
I scurried over and took a chair next to Jasper. His gentle hand found my knee under the table, and I placed my hand over his, looking up at him. His eyes still had that strained look, but the corners of his lips curved up to smile at me. God, he was trying so hard. I wanted to run him out of there; to get him away from all the deliciously beating hearts, from the pain of his burning throat. Sure, mine burned, too, but I was strong. I knew to not let my thirst consume me.
All of a sudden, a wave of comfort washed through me. I looked up at Jasper, who was staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. His lips twitched.
"I don't need your pity," his voice was cold, but it did not phase me. He was just being stubborn. He always felt like he needed to prove himself to us; he did not like to be seen as the weakest link in the Cullen chain.
Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and I all talked until the bell rang, ending lunch. As usual, Jazz walked me to my classroom holding my hand. He stopped me at the door.
"Do you want to go see a movie tonight? I mean, after…" he paused as a human walked past, "dinner?"
"Jasper Hale, are you asking me on a date?" I teased, placing on hand on my hip. He smiled bashfully.
"Maybe," he said. I giggled. He was so cute.
"Yes," I answered just as the bell rang.
"I'm late for English," he said. He did not kiss or hug me before departing, like every other hormone-crazed teenager in the hallway. Instead, he sent me a little wave of love before disappearing around the corner. It always made me feel safe, like I belonged. In a daze, I happily wandered into my Spanish class.
"Two for Ghosts in the Graveyard," Jasper handed the ticket guy money in exchanged for our admission into the "scariest horror flick of the year." I could not guess why we were going to see that, though. Jasper knew I never got scared, so where is the fun in that?
We picked our seats and waited through all the previews until the movie finally started. The creepy music started to get creepier as the main character wandered her stupid butt through the cemetery. The whole theatre, besides Jasper and I, was definitely freaking out by now. It was so predictable. Then, a shaky fear started to grow in the pit of my stomach. My eyes flashed to Jasper, who was silently grinning to himself.
"Stop it, Jazz," I whispered to him. I expected the fear to dissolve, but instead it turned up a notch. My breathing quickened, and I squeezed Jasper's knee.
"Jasper, stop it," I was a little louder this time, panic shaking my voice. My eyes were glued to the screen and the girl that was in obvious danger. He timed it perfectly- Jasper boosted my fear all the way up just as the scary ghost thing popped out.
"AHH!" I screamed bloody murder, jumping into Jasper's lap. Every pair of eyes in the theatre moved to me, and I felt like curling up in a ball out of pure embarrassment. He was so going to get it later.
The movie ended, and we got in the car to go home. I had not said on word to him since the little prank he pulled, the punk.
"Alice, I said I was sorry. Quit being such a sour puss," he said, taking one hand off the steering wheel and putting it on my shoulder. I shrugged it off.
"Ugh," he grunted, giving up. We drove for a couple of minutes in silence until Jasper spoke up again.
"Well, if we're not talking, we can at least listen to some music. Would be so kind as to get the Debussy cd from the glove box?" he asked. At first I was not going to do anything, but I slowly uncrossed my stubborn arms, clicking the glove compartment open. I grabbed the cd case and shoved it into Jasper's waiting hand. With one hand on the wheel, he unhinged the case. Something small fell out, landing somewhere on the floor.
"Ahh, sh…" Jasper cut off, remembering to keep his language clean around me. I loved that. It was so gentlemanly.
He took a breath, "Could you pick that up? It's right at your feet."
I looked down and saw it sparkle. Was it what I thought it was? Careful not to hit my head on the dash, I bent over and scooped it off of the floor… and gasped.
"I…you…how?" I could not manage to form complete sentences as I stared at the ring I held between my fingers. It was gaudy and cool and vintage-looking. I absolutely loved it.
Jasper pulled the car over on the side of the road.
"I was going to have this be a little more romantic…" he started, getting out of the car. He came to my side, pulling my gently out of my seat and onto the grass.
"Mary Alice Brandon," he called me by my original name in an alluring voice, making me shiver with nervous excitement. He took the ring from my grip and sunk down to one knee, never breaking eye contact.
"I wanted to have a great speech, but," he grinned, destroying the formality of the moment, "having a psychic girlfriend, I knew it wouldn't work. So, to make it short, will you marry me?"
All the previous anger that I had melted away and was replaced by an explosion of happiness that swelled in my chest.
"Yes!" I squeaked, trying so very hard to contain myself. I forced myself to wait until after he slipped the ring on my finger to leap into his arms. It was easy to reach his lips, since he was still kneeling. He kissed me with a force of hot, rough passion, grabbing my waist and pulling my hard against his groin. My hands searched his chest, trying to find buttons to undo. He stopped me.
"Now may not be the best time," he told me, panting. I looked around to see cars passing us on the road. Crap, I had forgotten where we were. PDA, not good.
"Do you think the others will mind if we just don't come back until tomorrow?" I whispered, entwining my fingers in his hair and bringing our faces close so that my lips moved on his when I talked. He groaned.
"To tell you the truth, I really don't care," he bit my lip playfully.
"Me neither."
And with that, my new fiancé scooped me up and carried me to the car.