~ Indention of the Heart ~
Chapter 2
ThatPanicGirlE

A/N: I have never in my life expected such overwhelming anticipation for writing a story. Abandon was my first love and this is slowly becoming my second. I actually sit around the house during my free time and think up the dialogue for this story. Yesterday on my ride to the country to visit a friend, I rode shotgun and wrote then entire forty minute drive long hand in a notebook. It was a rough draft of this chapter.

Below is the playlist that I've started for this story. The first song, The Band's "The Shape I'm In" and Dashboard Confessional's "Screaming Infidelities" are Jasper's songs to this story while Widespread Panic's "Her Dance Needs No Body" and Austin Crane's "Find Our Places" are Bella's songs.

http://www(.)mixpod(.)com/playlist/40937996 (remove the() )

BellaPOV

"Ow, mother fu…dger," I yelled as I lifted my pounding head out of bed the next morning. I had to catch myself before I screamed a string of obscenities. The yellow curtains in my room reminded me that I wasn't in Seattle anymore but in my small bed at my dad's house. Charlie wasn't exactly keen on the F-bomb being dropped at the house. I knew the feeling of a jackhammer in my brain came from the copious amount of alcohol I had drowned my tears in the night before.

I don't remember getting into bed or how on earth I ended up in a pair of clean pajamas. I don't even remember the car ride back from Port Angeles or how I managed to walk down the steps of the VIP in those ridiculously tall high heels as drunk as I was.

I do however remember his face.

I had to get away from the girls for a bit. Their over indulgence of happy chatter about their perfect lives and perfect husbands was becoming too much for me to even digest. It's a tough pill to swallow when you realize that out of your friends, you are now the only single one. By the sixth round of vodka and Redbull , I was ready to fly off a roof if it meant they would finally shut the hell up.

I excused myself from the table as I stumbled towards the restroom. I don't think they realized I was gone. All I could hear was Rose going on and on about the new addition to the huge house they just bought outside of Port Angeles.

I did my business, and as I stood in front of the sink, I used the countertop to brace myself. I saw the many of lines developing over my eyebrows and the bloodshot look of my eyes that came from entirely too many sleepless nights crying over my decisions. The mirror was not forgiving. I had started to develop dark circles under my eyes, and I looked absolutely horrible. My eyeliner had even begun to fade away from my eyes revealing even more things to find wrong about myself.

My conscience began to take over and started to play dirty tricks with my already bruised psyche.

How on earth could anyone begin to find me attractive with the way I look right now? I am in such horrible shape. Look at my eyes.

I stared more into the face of a girl I hardly recognized anymore.

I glanced down before I found entirely too many things wrong with my looks. I noticed my left hand where the indention of a long worn wedding band had left its mark. It was staring back at me as I felt the sadness welling up in my heart once again. The pain ripped through my chest like a poison arrow as the tears dripped down my cheeks. A single tear hit my ring finger and shimmered in the light just like the four carat diamond ring that I had once worn there.

I still remember Edward getting down on one knee in our special meadow asking me to marry him. Back then, he was so sweet, caring and never once did I ever imagine our life together would be completely over. That ring was supposed to symbolize forever. My forever was broken now, just like my heart as it shattered into a million pieces as I realized for the first time that it was really over between us.

What have I done?

"What have I done…?" I whispered out loud.

I'd had enough of the night's festivities. I couldn't handle one more moment in that bar, so I stumbled out of the restroom determined to go home with what was left of my broken heart. Leave it to Steve Madden to design heels that weren't designed for the uncoordinated or women in self-medicated drunken stupors. My balance was lost once I hit the carpet in the hallway in front of the restrooms, and I fell to the ground.

I looked around quickly to see if anyone had noticed my embarrassing tumble, and thank God no one was around. I crawled over to the wall and drew my legs up to my chest, folded my arms over my knees and shoved my head into my arms, sobbing as hard as I could.

My long brown hair fell around my shoulders and created a curtain hiding me away from the rest of the outside world. I prayed that I wouldn't be noticed for a while. I needed a moment to myself, but then I felt a presence next to me. All of a sudden the most beautiful voice said, "Ma'am, are you okay?"

His voice had a Southern feel to it, and I found it instantly soothing.

"I will be eventually," I said.

I knew this to be true. My mother and father both eventually got over the actual divorce itself. The loneliness was a completely different story. Mom got remarried to a man extremely younger than herself, but my dad never remarried. I watched him grow more and more lonely each day, and the thought of ending up like that wasn't helping my situation any.

The overwhelming grief hit me again as he asked if he could get my friends. I told him no and began to cry harder. He put his arm around me as though he understood that all I needed was to be told that I was okay, everything was going to be fine and that eventually the pain would pass.

This stranger who held me in his arms never spoke another word but held me tight against him as the tears fell into his chest. I began to calm down as I took a deep breath.

I nestled my head deeper into his chest, and I soon realized that I could have fallen asleep right where I sat never complaining one bit about it.

My thoughts of slumber with this stranger were annoyingly interrupted by Rosalie's loud mouth.

The moment I heard her voice, I was so embarrassed that I was nestled up next to someone I didn't even know and tried my damndest to stand. I couldn't quite make it up fast enough and almost stumbled back to the ground, but my partner in grief helped me up.

Rosalie began to yell at him and even mentioned his name.

All I could remember from that point on was his name.

Jasper.

The last name didn't register with me. I suppose I could look up our yearbook or even check the school records when I started the job at school on Monday. Rosalie seemed to know him well enough to call him by his first and last name. I could have asked her, but then I would have died from sheer embarrassment.

My alarm clock buzzed loudly scaring the living bejeezus out of me. My heart fell to my feet as I realized it was eight in the morning.

As of that moment, I was a free and single woman.

The mere thought of the word "single" made me choke up a bit. I was so wrapped up in my Jasper induced delusion that I almost completely forgot that today was the day.

My attorney was meeting with Edward's today to discuss the finalities of our divorce. We had signed the papers a week ago, but everything had to be cleared with the judge this morning. We didn't have to be there thanks to Edward not fighting me over anything. I didn't ask for anything, so he had nothing to fight me for.

Sitting across from Edward for that last formal meeting was the worst thing ever. He still showed no emotion. I had begun to question if he even cared about me at all, or if I had been an object he hadn't wanted to share like some kind of mean kindergartener.

I'd barely slept a wink since that day, and last night was the best sleep I'd had, even if it was from drinking entirely too much.

I tried to climb out of bed to get some Tylenol for my massive headache, but I couldn't even make it that far. Instead, I put my aching head back on the pillow and thought about the locks of blonde curls that I had seen between the gaps in my curtain of brown hair. I thought of his voice, and the way he soothed me just by sitting next to my broken self.

I glanced back up at the clock again, and it was two minutes past eight in the morning. I had only been a free woman for two minutes and already was thinking of another guy.

This could not be good for me… or for him.

Jasper POV

I could barely lift my eyelids as I tried to comprehend exactly why I was lying on my stomach in an awkward position. My couch, though great to sit on, wasn't exactly comfortable to use as a bed, but somehow or another I ended up here last night.

My right arm was buried deep in the coushins, while my left arm was asleep from hanging off the edge of the couch all night long. I finagled my way out, using only my right arm to lift me. As the feeling returned to my other arm, I sat on the couch trying to remember everything that happened the night before.

I brushed my sweat soaked curls behind my ears as I stared at the walls of my small apartment. I did not have a hangover which was a complete shock to me considering how much I had to drink the night before.

Emmett and the boys dropped me off at my apartment after Bella was rushed out of the club by her friends.

Bella.

I don't know what had come over me, but I couldn't help but get close to her. I was drawn to her like bugs to a light, and when she put her head on my chest, I could have let her stay there forever.

Rosalie just had to ruin the moment. Watching her walk away was one of the hardest things I'd ever had to endure.

Wait, second most. The most was losing my wife to another man.

I sniffed my shirt and realized I smelled of alcohol and smoke from the club. I desperately needed a shower. I rose, removing my shirt on the way to the shower. I stripped down to my boxers and stood at the mirror in my bathroom.

I am much too young to go through something like this.

I grabbed my shaving cream and soaked my face in it as I ran the hot water for my shower. I'd always worn my face clean shaven, but recently it had been hard for me to maintain. I couldn't quite make myself get up for a while to shave. The depression over all the events recently kept me from even performing simple upkeep for myself.

I quickly shaved and showered. I slipped on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, my comfortable loafers, and headed out for the day.

I had promised Emmett I would come over for the day and help him with some of the renovations that he and Rosalie had started on. I had a sincere feeling that a contractor would eventually get called out, but I'd worked as a carpenter for many years in Atlanta, Georgia so I could help with some of the detailed work.

I made a modest living working in the South. I mostly redesigned historical houses, and once I'd saved enough money, Charlotte finally agreed to marry me. It took forever for her to even accept the engagement. That should have been the first red flag.

I was asked to move out West and help repair some of the houses that were destroyed by wildfires in California. Charlotte agreed to pack up and move with me to the West coast, and that was the eventual downfall of our relationship.

We'd lived in California for only a month before she began to get homesick. I told her she should go visit family back in Georgia.

She took a flight out of LAX and never returned.

From that poin on, everything led me down a path of self destruction. I drank entirely too much and found myself passing out in my chair each night from the over-indulgence and self-loathing.

Emmett and Rosalie came out for a visit one weekend and saw what horrible shape I was in. They said that I needed to be around friends. I packed up and moved right away to Port Angeles and took a job as a general contractor.

I got into my Jeep and headed straight for Emmett's house. I tried listening to the radio to drown out my thoughts of Bella, but each time they kept flooding back. Everything, from the way she smelled to even the way she looked as she cried, was so attractive to me. Her face buried into my chest was the best feeling ever. I had not been with another woman since Charlotte, and even though I'm sure I could have, I hadn't wanted to be with another woman.

That was until now.

My thoughts were quickly dismantled as I approached the house.

I loved the house Rose and Emmett were rebuilding. It was an old Victorian style house with six bedrooms. Rosalie wanted a huge family, and they had been trying for over a year now. Emmett confessed that he was scared she wouldn't be able to have kids, and I'd told him there was always adoption.

Emmett knew all too well what it was like. He, Edward and Alice had all been adopted.

I pulled into the cobblestone drive of their house and noticed a silver Volvo parked at the front of the house. I knew it had to be one of the Cullens. Not many people around here drove those kinds of vehicles.

I walked up the steps of the huge house and almost fell through the first step. I quickly recovered and pulled out a small notebook. I jotted down the first thing I'd noticed that needed to be fixed right away before someone broke their neck.

I walked across the porch carefully to the front door. I rang the doorbell, and it made an awful shrieking noise. The front door slung open, and there was Alice.

"Jasper," she said as she hugged me. "I haven't seen you since, well last night, but I haven't talked to you in forever. How are you?"

"I'm as good as I could be I guess. You haven't changed since the last time I saw you."

She grabbed me by the hand and pulled me into the house. I still loved the way the foyer looked. Every single wall was completely redone in old cherry wood and the floors matched. I looked up towards the ceiling and noticed they finally replaced the almost falling down chandelier.

Alice's husband, Aro was a well-to-do Italian interior designer who worshiped the ground she walked on. Even though I thought he was much too old for her, he took really good care of her, and she seemed to be madly in love with him. They had so much in common, and even though at first I thought he didn't like women, I soon realized he was just eccentric.

I found him sitting in the kitchen at the table with Rosalie as they poured over some plans for the kitchen. They both looked up at me as I entered the room. Aro adorned a huge smile as Rose scoured at me. I could not figure out why she looked at me like I'd just ran over her cat, but then I remembered.

Bella.

She was still angry with me for what she probably thought was me groping her friend. I sat down at the table and said, "Rose, please don't be angry with me. I wasn't doing anything, I swear."

Aro looked confused as I spoke to her. "What did you do Jasper?"

Rosalie looked at him with pleading eyes to keep his mouth shut and then glanced behind me. When I looked behind me to see what she was staring at, I soon figured it out.

Edward Cullen crept up with a mug of coffee in his hand. He hadn't changed much since high school. He still had his unusually great looks with longer than normal auburn hair. He had dark circles under his eyes.

I noticed on his left hand, the place where the indention should have been for his wedding band, considering he was officially divorced as of this morning, was non-existent. I scoffed at the idea of letting that beautiful angel get away so easily.

"I don't believe it. Jasper Whitlock, what's it been, six years since I saw you last?" Edward said as he stuck out his hand for mine. I shook it despite wanting to slap him upside the back of his head for being such an idiot.

"I do believe it has," I said back. The tension and the uncomfortable feelings that reeled around me could have been cut with a knife, and I didn't realize I hadn't let go of his hand until Rose spoke up.

"Jazz, why don't you go find Emmett upstairs in the green room? He needs help measuring the windowsills."

I dropped my gaze from Edward's and nodded. I darted up the steps of the foyer to the second floor. I heard Emmett cussing up a storm. Apparently, things weren't going so well for him.

I peered into the doorway of the green room, which was named because the walls were painted a horrible pea soup green and saw Emmett trying to steady a tape measure. I laughed, and he looked towards the door.

"Yeah you laugh it up, and I'll throw you out the window." I knew he wouldn't do it, but threats of physical violence were Emmett's only way of releasing his frustration.

I walked to the other side of the windows and helped him measure them. Once we got that done, I wanted so badly to ask him questions about Bella, but I had no way of figuring out how.

Luckily, I didn't even need to bring the subject up.

"Jazz, man, what the hell was up with you cuddling up to Bella Swan last night? Rosalie got home last night and was pretty upset with you. She thought you were trying to take advantage of a drunken and lonely female. I tried to calm her down, but she's ready to pounce on you."

I shook my head. "Emmett, man, listen. I had nothing but respect for her last night. I saw her crying, went down to see if she needed anything, and she cuddled up to me. She was so sad, and it was breaking my heart."

I looked out the window over the huge expanse of their massive estate.

"I tried to tell Rosalie that, but I'm afraid you'll have to say something yourself. She's ready to string you up by your toes."

I laughed. "I tried, but your brother made an appearance in the kitchen so I couldn't say anything."

Emmett sighed. "Edward hasn't been much help today. All he has done is talk crap about Bella leaving him, and Rosalie is just as frustrated with him, more so maybe. He wasn't supposed to even be here this weekend. He just showed up."

I felt a surge of anger rip through me. How dare he be angry with her when he's the one that treated her like shit?

I looked at Emmett as my face began to change a hundred shades of red.

"He's complaining, and yet she's the one hurting. Doesn't he realize what this is doing to her too?"

Emmett rolled his eyes, "Jasper, calm down. You barely know her, and yet it seems as though…" Then, he threw his had back and laughed, "You have a crush on her don't you?"

I turned to him. I had no clue how to answer this question.

I shrugged, "I don't know to be honest. She's adorable, and I feel like I completely understand how she feels. I just think we have a common bond is all."

He smiled. "Well either way, you two might help each other out."

"Do you have anything else that needs to be measured?" I asked changing the subject.

He nodded and led me to the next room.

Bella POV

Alice called me soon after I woke with a pounding headache asking if I would like to join her and Rosalie at the estate for lunch. Despite not wanting to budge from my bed, I agreed and got ready for the day.

Charlie had already left. He and his fishing buddies were headed for the lake to do their normal Saturday fishing, and I took my sweet time getting to the estate. I had no desire to be around happy people today, but I figured I would have to get used to it.

I finally got into my dad's old Chevy truck and drove up the long winding road just outside of Forks to the estate that Emmett and Rosalie had purchased. I couldn't believe they'd gotten such a large house, but Rosalie's desire for a huge family was what drove the purchase. I couldn't wait for her to have children.

She was going to make a great mother.

Rosalie's ability to take care of her friends only showed her motherly instincts even more. After her showing last night at the club, I couldn't find it in myself to be angry with her. She was being a mother hen protecting one of her own.

I turned down the cobblestone drive of the estate and nearly put the car in reverse to got the hell out of there at the sight of Edward's car in the drive. Though, I knew that eventually I would have to see him and put on my brave persona. It's not like I couldn't act civilized.

I just wondered if he could.

I walked up the wobbly steps of the front porch and noticed there was a gaping hole in one of the steps. I hoped no one had fallen through.

I rang the doorbell, and it made an awful sound. I hope someone made a note of that for it to be fixed along with the horrible hole that someone could have killed themselves on.

The door swung open and standing in front of me was my once upon a time "reason to exist" and now "wanted to flee at the sight of."

"I didn't know you were coming over today," Edward said as he stood with a vacant expression on his face. The stone cold statue still could show no emotion.

"I didn't know you were going to be here either. Alice didn't say a word about you joining our little party today," I replied with questioning eyes.

He stepped out of the way as I entered the foyer of the beautiful house.

"Everyone is in the kitchen," he said as he led me through the long hallway to the soon to be remodeled kitchen.

I saw Rosalie and Alice sitting with Alice's husband and amazing designer, Aro.

Alice stood up and ran straight to me. She wrapped her tiny arms around me embracing me in a loving hug.

"How are you feeling?" she whispered.

"As good as I can be," I whispered back.

Rosalie motioned for me to sit. She had an uncomfortable look on her face.

"So what are we planning for lunch today ladies," I asked, ignoring the fact that my now ex-husband was in the same room as us.

Alice smiled back as she realized the game I was playing. If I acted like it wasn't bothering me either, then maybe Edward would get the hint and leave.

"I was thinking I could make my mom's excellent chicken salad, and we could eat out on the veranda," Alice said.

Rosalie nodded.

"I think that's a great idea. Will Aro, Edward and Emmett be joining us?"

"Joining what?" I heard a voice say.

I looked at the doorway where Edward stood leaning and watched as Emmett entered the kitchen.

"We were discussing lunch," I said.

"Actually, you girls go ahead. I think after a frustrating morning of measuring windows I'll get out for a while, if that's cool with you, hon?" he said as he looked towards Rosalie.

"Thanks fine babe, be back before too long. We've got to pick out window treatments with Aro."

Emmett looked thrilled to death. Maybe that's not completely true. He looked horrified.

I heard a laugh come out of the hallway, and whoever it was approached the kitchen area. I saw loafers first and then a wave of long blonde curls as they passed by Edward's shoulder.

"Emmett picking out window treatments is the funniest vision I've had in a while," a Southern inspired voice said.

A flush of red fell across my face as soon as I realized who it was, and the tension in the room got increasingly thicker.

His eyes got wide and his cheeks turned a bright shade of red too.

Alice cleared her throat and said, "Bella, how about you help me gather up the items from the fridge for the chicken salad? I want to teach you how to make it just in case you ever need to entertain."

I nodded, not breaking my gaze with Jasper.

If she wouldn't have spoken, I never even would have realized there were other people in the room with Jasper and me.

I had even forgotten about Edward standing right in front of me.

The boys excused themselves and Jasper gracefully bowed out of the room like the true gentleman he was.

He winked at me as he exited, and with that one simple gesture, Jasper began mending my shattered heart, and he hadn't even realized it.

A/N: I had more than my fair share of fun writing this chapter. As sad as it was to write, I felt a huge weight lifting off my shoulders.

Big thanks to Jenni P (author of Pas De Deux) as always for giving me the push to write.

I think a really big thanks needs to be given to Austin Crane. He's a singer/songwriter out of my lovely state, South Carolina. His album, "I know my hands" is available on iTunes for download and it was the catalyst to help get my mind focused on writing again. I've had the hardest time forming complete sentences on paper for the past couple of months and this album broke me free of my writer's block. So this chapter is totally dedicated to him.

Comments make me feel like a giddy little school girl who gets to see her crush again. I promise to make Jasper say hello to Bella next time instead of winking at her.

Quit being such a pansy Jazz and say hi next time.