A/N: OMG! This is amazing! People actually like my story(:
I've got 3 reviewers, dude, that's AWEsome! I wasn't expecting anyone at all for at least three days!
Thanks a lot to OptimisticBee, Karkoolka and myworld299 for being my first reviewers EVER! I love you (:
Please read A/N for chapter one if you expect regular updates. Thanks.
Talking
The conversation flowed easily at dinner. All the awkwardness I felt around Jasper vanished quickly, allowing me to speak to him, and getting to know him.
After I heard him laugh the first time in the LaGuardia Airport, everything I wanted was to hear it again. And I did, several times, throughout the evening hear his deep laugher. It was just Bella, him and I, eating and bonding, them catching up for the last three years. Of course had they been in touch, calling each other, but I could feel this was different, and I had a good time hearing them telling all the teenage stories from high school again.
"Do you remember that time you got so furious, you tried to beat me up with that stick? I still got the scar, you know," he said, clutching his lower stomach in mock pain.
"It was your own fault! It was you that told half the school, that I was dating the jerk, Alex," she shot blushingly back, making me giggle and Jasper roared with laugher.
I got a little suspicious when I eyed his midnight blue suitcase. There was one, only one.
"Where are your other suitcases?" I asked with narrowed eyes.
"I don't have any other than this one," he said, pointing at the suitcase.
I felt my jaw drop, happy that I wasn't chewing on Bella's lasagne any more. That would have been pretty disgusting. He looked confused at me. Bella laughed.
"I've warned you, Jasper, she's shopaholic. She never goes anywhere without at least three suitcases," she said grinning.
"Bella, we were in Italy for nearly a week! Of course I would bring at least three," I stated, rolling my eyes at her.
Jasper's turn at the jaw-dropping. Nice.
"Don't look at me that way. I came home with six,"
Bonk! His forehead slammed against the table.
"No no no, that's too much! Save my petty head," he groaned mockingly and turned his head to face me, "Six?"
"Do you have a problem with that? By the way, with the party tomorrow, and your one suitcase, I'm going to take you with me shopping," I growled.
A wicked sparkle lit up his beautiful blue eyes when he sat up. Bella obviously knew his gesture, and started to raise her hand to stop him, but he was quicker. He growled right back, reached across the table and poked me in the stomach.
I glared at him with his bright, boyish grin.
"You didn't?!" I wailed.
"Yes I did!" he yelled impishly
"Revenge. You don't know me."
Bella looked worried as I smiled evilly at her.
"No, please don't! Alice, no, please. He's just moved here, for God's sake. Let him settle a little!" she cried, but she knew she was going nowhere. I already knew what I would do.
"You can plead, you can cry. You know it doesn't work," I said as I smiled even wider.
Jasper looked confused.
"What? Should I be afraid?" he asked worried.
"Terrified."
"Oops. Sorry, Bella, but she wont get me, I promise,"he said, grinning his big, boyish grin again. Bella rolled her eyes at him.
"Oh, she will, trust me. She will," she said, raising to take our plates and walked to the kitchen.
"I can handle her," he yelled after her. I just grinned evilly at him as I caught his eyes.
He didn't know how frightened I was of thunderstorms. He didn't know how I used to cling to Bella, even in sleep. And, as if the weather wanted to tease him, I'd heard that there was a building storm in sight. Tee Hee. At least I was going to finally use the cute chemise Rosalie once gave me. It was going to kill him.
I opened my mouth to tell him justhow afraid he should be when a loud knock on the door interrupted me.
"Here comes the lucky boy," I mumbled to Jasper.
"It's Edward? I thought..." he wondered.
"He's picking Bella up, they already live with each other. I'm the only lonely," I babbled out before I could stop, blushing deep red.
He smiled and snaked an arm around my waist.
"Not any longer."
I looked up at him, realizing for the millionth time how tall he was. He had a spark in his eyes again, but not the wicked one. He squeezed me lightly before letting me go, and I missed the warm arm around me in an instant. Oh God. I was so confused by the stinging feeling left across the small of my back.
"Edward!" Bella greeted him, breaking my trance. I tore myself from Jaspers eyes in time to see her hugging my brother like they haven't seen in weeks, but I didn't miss the slight blush on Jaspers cheeks. Interesting.
"Bella," Edward mumbled into her hair with closed eyes. I knew he loved the smell of her hair, he told me once, so I could continue buying her strawberry-scented shampoo. He was so cute.
I could feel Jasper frown, even though I didn't touch him. He caught my eye and raised his left eyebrow in a quizzical way. I smiled. It was probably because we didn't look like each other.
Later, I mouthed and he nodded curiously.
We stood as Bella and Edward untangled themselves, heading in our direction. I smiled broadly and my dear brother grinned back.
"Hey Pixie," he teased.
"Hey Eddie," I teased right back as he ruffled my short, inky hair and rolled his eyes.
"Don't call me that," he said and turned to Jasper.
"Hi, I'm Jasper, I'm like Bella's brother, nice to meet you," Jasper said a little reluctant.
"I'm Edward – Bella's boyfriend. Nice to meet you too, finally. She has told a lot of stories from your high school-time together," Edward said then, but didn't relax when they shook hands.
"What's wrong with you two? Behave. You're not gorillas fighting for territory," I said angrily, "I've seen both of you behave normally, and I'm sure you would be great friends."
Edward whipped his head to look at me, then grinned.
"If Alice says so..." he trailed off and relaxed. Jasper seemed puzzled at first, but Edwards reaction made him relax too, and he started laughing.
"You're right. We're not competing on anything," he grinned, and his shift in moods again seemed to rule the atmosphere in the room, making it light, and we all joined him laughing.
"Well, Alice, you can show Jasper around and tell him what he needs to know. I'll be going now, see ya tomorrow. Alice, I expect you yo be at our place an hour early. We need someone who's got check on it all. Love you," Bella said, kissed us on our cheeks and left with Edward.
"Uhm, yeah," I mumbled, "I guess I should show you the apartment."
I lead the way though the kitchen he already had seen, showing him where the main thing stood, like cups, bowl and plates, coffee, dishwasher and all that. Then I showed him the living room, my sofa, and telling him that his time on earth would be shortened a lot if he took my seat, especially in the morning. He grinned at me, his big, boyish grin lightening up the whole room. I couldn't help but smile back.
"It's quite a big apartment. It has two bathrooms, three bedrooms and separate kitchen and living room," I said. Jasper responded with a widening of his eyes.
"Be happy for the two-bathrooms-thing, I tend to use a lot time in there," I said teasingly.
"Figures," he mumbled, wincing as I slapped his upper arm, "Ouch."
I giggled.
He was making me feel like a giddy teenage girl once again. He was so funny and smart and handsome. As I showed him the door to my room, his room and the last bathroom, 'his' bathroom, yet not the inside, I concentrated more on his body than his face this time. Not that the teenage-girl-feeling disappeared.
He was so tall and lean and anything but weak. He had removed the light grey, long sleeved button-up to reveal a dark reddish-grey t-shirt that clung to the skin of his chest, so I easily take in the defined muscles. His plain dark jeans hung low on his hips, but never too low, showing just a little of his black boxers. Delicious.
"So, this is your new room," I explained, slightly blushing as he stepped inside with his suitcase.
He looked around, seeming pleased with what he found. The room was square, light and big, a huge bed in the corner beneath the window, and an antique desk from the eighteen hundred fifties in the other corner. Jasper let his fingers caress the dark mahogany lightly.
"How old is this?" he asked suddenly, turning to discover me standing in the doorway staring at him.
"Err, eighteen fifties? Ask Bella, it was hers," I answered, blushing again. Hope it didn't became a habit.
"I imagine. You haven't changed her so much,"
"Changed her?" Was he saying we were bad company?
"Yeah, She's changed. She's more grown-up of course, but she's not so shy any longer. And she's happy," he said slowly, sitting on the edge of his new bed, "Wow, it's comfortable."
I grinned shortly at his remark about the bed, but was quickly serious again. This wasn't a light topic.
"I know. Just in the six months we've known her, she's changed. She don't blush and look like she'll die if you say 'bra' in public places any more, like she did once. It was funny though,"
He grinned, lightening the room up again, like in the living room. He was so beautiful, and I felt a weird urge to push him down on the bed and kiss him senseless, and feel his long, lean fingers roam across my back...
Oops. I realized his deep voice was talking to me.
"... but she's been calling me nearly every week instead of once a month the last half year, 'because,' she says, 'there's always something going on here, there's always happening some exiting things'. And she told about you, and Rosalie, and how nice you were at that date with the Mike-guy, rescuing her. And her new boyfriend, your brother, and his friend Emmett -"
" - The big guy -" I mumbled at the same time as he said it, making him grin,
" - Rosalie's boyfriend, and I really think I could live here, with you, Bella and her other new friends. And she's so happy that I'm back in her life in other ways than on the phone. And I'm happy too. And I'm going to meet her new friends and family tomorrow. And, God, I say 'and' a lot. But you can see what I mean, right? She's my sister – we shared blood," he explained, showing the small scar on his wrist, "We wanted to keep contact forever. We vowed that we never would forget each other. And the weirdest thing -" he looked wondering at the scar, "- I can feel how she is. I got a feeling once, that I needed to call her, even though it just had been days since she called, and I called, only to discover she had been fighting with Edward."
"Oh, yeah. The Great Fight of March," I said, "She once got totally in panic, called you, and you were in hospital. She was shopping with me. It's like those freakish twins. Surreal, right?"
We talked for a long time. We rearranged ourselves after a little time, because he, as the gentleman he was, noticed that I was awkwardly standing to the doorway. He waved me over, pulling me up to sit beside him in the bed, leaning to the wall behind us.
I learned a lot of things about him. He was 28, two years older than me, the same age as Edward, he loved blackcurrant and coffee, Bella was his first kiss, but it had been very awkward afterwards, that he preferred grey socks, they didn't look dirty after 10 minutes, that he hated to live in Los Angeles, but still lived there for five years, that he got his hair cut quite often to keep the ruffled look, that he knew a little tae kwon do, that he went to the fitness regularly and that he'd never had a true girlfriend.
I told him a lot too. I was 26, of course, the same age as Rosalie and Bella, I loved shopping, apple pie and coffee like him, I couldn't make a day without, that my first kiss had been a boy in public school I didn't even remember the name of, that I preferred high heels over flats, mostly because my hight -
"Or rather lack of, I should say," I grumbled, earning a deep, throaty laugh.
"No, it's perfect," he whispered, making me blush again.
... that I loved being here, in the Apple, as you can say, or NY, New York, and had been living here my whole life, that I was actually adopted, my mother Esme became unable to have any kids after Edward, but still wanted some, so that explained why we didn't look like each other.
He was far more gorgeous that me. He was tall, but not as tall as Jasper, had naturally coppery brown hair, always looking like he just got out of bed, and he was well muscled. The most beautiful about him was his grass green eyes, always twinkling in a special way when he looked at Bella.
I was tiny, just 4' 10'', no way near Jaspers 6' 3'' tall frame. I was thin, had inky black hair cut in a nearly boyish short haircut, pointing in all directions. My eyes were a silvery grey, my nose straight and my lips full. The only thing that kept people from believing I was twelve years old was my breasts, a little bigger than usual for my statue, and my face.
Jasper was, for me, the most perfect man I've ever seen. His eyes was that special blue colour, seen nowhere but in his eyes, his long straight nose nearly feminine, but matched all to well by his square, very masculine jaw. His lips were perfectly balanced between being too full and too thin, looking overly kissable. He smelled like the blackcurrant he loved and... man. He smelled manly. Thick musk and warmth. Yummy.
"What are you looking at? You've been looking at me for a couple of minutes now," he suddenly said. I jumped and blushed a bright tomato red, looking at my hands at my lap.
"Err, I guess I'm just tired. It's two o'clock, you know," I mumbled a little dazed.
"Right,"he answered sarcastically.
"I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Jasper," I said and yawned.
He helped me up from the far too comfortable bed and kissed my hand tentative.
"Thanks," I whispered, suddenly overwhelmed with tiredness, my knees buckling under me as I tried to stand. Jasper caught me in time.
"I think I'll help you,"
I took a pair of wobbly paces supported by him, but I couldn't walk. My legs wouldn't bear me. Jasper sighed.
"Why didn't you say you were tired long ago?" he asked rhetorically.
"I wasn't," I blurred, trying to make sense of up and down, when the ground disappeared.
"Ouf," I panted, snuggling closer to his broad chest and enjoying being carried bridal style for a while. I felt completely warm and didn't want to ever let go. I could feel the hard muscles through the thin cotton of his t-shirt, his sudden intake of breath when I breathed slowly against his neck. His arms were around me...
I floated off to sleep safely in his strong arms.
A/N: I'll start writing third chapter now.
The story may be longer than I thought, there's just so many things I wanted to be in the story!
I wasn't expecting this chapter to be nearly as long as the first, but the words just kept comin' ;)
Like freaking 2,704 words without authors note. And 14,242 letters. This is getting painful for my fingertips.
Oh, and the rating might go up with the next few chapters... ! I keep imagining Jasper without a shirt. Yummyness.
REVIEW PLEASE. I'M ADDICTED.
...to cookies, but that doesn't matter.