Chapter 2: The Dinner

As they walked out of the library, the cold New Hampshire air blasted in Bella's face till her cheeks stung. She readjusted her scarf so that it covered her nose and mouth and pulled her cap down over her ears. Bella walked behind Jasper, trying to match his pace and attempt to remain quiet but the constant crunch of the snow beneath her boots reminded her of how human she was.

She observed him from behind. Though he looked more like a human, he clearly had many vampiric abilities left. It definitely explained why he was in front of her in a Hawaiian button-up, jeans, and leather sandals like he wasn't just calmly walking through forty-degree weather. That and he still had his pathokinesis. Bella couldn't imagine how he could explain what was going on. She couldn't even wrap her head around the fact that it was Jasper in front of her rather than any other Cullen. They had the least interaction if she didn't count the time he tried to murder her over a paper cut. If anyone was going to show up unannounced, she would have assumed Alice. Or Edward -but she would have considered that a stretch. Which was why Jasper's presence confounded her more than anything.

They strolled quietly for almost half a mile before he stopped in front of a brightly lit, neon diner named cleverly The Diner. Bella had dined here the day before her first day of class after she and Jacob split up over the phone. The campiness of the place didn't feel distracting enough for the mood she was in.

He held the door open for her like a gentleman but walked in front of her as soon as they were both inside, making a beeline for the booth at the very back of the diner. The inside of the diner looked like a neon sign shop. Phrases and pictures hung along every wall in various halogen hues, making her eyes hurt a little.

He looked ridiculous, she thought as she followed him. A bright cartoon character in a cartoon diner -so colorful and carefully defined and contrasted against the real world.

Bella plopped down into the booth clumsily, her heavy backpack immediately sliding off the laminated upholstery, nearly pulling her down with it when she tried to grab it. The table was a bright yolk-like yellow, almost pristine except for the small chip on the edge, revealing the wood beneath. She grabbed the menu and licked her lips before glancing up at Jasper who still wore the ridiculous pink-lensed sunglasses. "Your treat," she stated. It wasn't a question.

The corner of Jasper's lip curled up in amusement. "My treat," he affirmed. He flipped up the menu to cover the lower half of his face as he asked, "How's school?"

Bella leaned back, eyebrows raised to gauge how serious his question was. Did he care? "It's fine, I guess. Not exactly what I want to talk about."

Jasper was quiet for a moment and Bella thought that he hadn't heard her comment. But that was impossible because vampires heard everything. Including the ugly, rolling sound her stomach was making that second.

"You're different," he said finally.

Bella scoffed. "You can't be serious. I'm different? Jasper, you have a tan. And your skin is kind of warm. Your eyes are…red. For all we can both say, I'm the only one between us that has stayed the same."

"I mean that you're not that mousy little gal we picked so long ago."

She bristled at the sight of the small, amused smirk on his lips. "You didn't pick me. I chose to be with you all. You all chose to abandon me."

"We didn't choose to do anything. Edward did."

Bella opened her mouth to argue back when a waitress finally came by their table to take their order. She pursed her lips and ordered the most expensive combo burger on the menu with a large shake. She knew she wouldn't be able to finish it, but it had been a while since she got to splurge a little on herself.

"So, what are you doing in New Hampshire? Where's Alice?" Bella asked when the waitress finally walked away.

"Alice is dead."

The fluorescent light over the booth next to theirs flickered and made a low humming sound. It blended with itchy, mosquito-like drone the fluorescent signs around the diner but all Bella could hear was her own heart pounding in her ears. She put her head between her hands and tried to breathe.

The familiar tug of calmness began to envelop her. Her heart rate began to slow. She snapped up to look at him, her anger flaring and ebbing away altogether. "Stop doing that. I have the right to my own feelings." As soon as the curtain of calmness came, it was ripped away and the tsunami of anguish slammed into her and fresh tears sprung to her eyes.

There were so many things that she wanted to ask but every time she opened her mouth to ask, something got stuck in her throat –a large burning ball that she couldn't quite swallow down. Instead, Jasper continued to speak, and she could see the pity in his amber eyes.

"Edward is dead. Emmett is dead. Rosalie is hiding; I think she might be somewhere in Africa. Carlisle and Esme are in Volterra, Italy."

Edward is dead.

Bella couldn't even see clearly anymore. The hum of the fluorescent bulb got louder. The clanking of silverware against dishes sounded like nails against chalkboard. A film of tears covered her eyes and the ball in her throat only got bigger.

"What happened to them? Oh god…Edward. What happened?" A sob broke out from her and she quickly put a hand over her mouth to quiet herself. With a shaky hand, she wiped at her eyes.

For a while, Bella looked at Jasper's eyes through the pink, heart-shaped lenses. They must have belonged to Alice. A new wave of churning anxiety and sadness swam in her chest at the thought that she would never again see that happy, positive girl who always went above and beyond for her. Alice was gone.

"Would it make that much of a difference if I told you?"

Bella stood up quickly and flung her backpack over one shoulder. She gave Jasper one last look of disappointment before turning to walk out of the diner. She nearly tripped and fell onto her back when she felt a hard palm clamp around her wrist.

"Let me go," she muttered.

Jasper tightened his hand around her wrist. She wriggled her arm when a sharp pain shot up to her shoulder.

Panicked, she said, "Let me go or I'll scream."

"Go ahead," Jasper said coolly. "No one here will care."

Bella looked around the diner wildly, hoping to catch someone's eye but even when she yelled out to the few other customers and the waitress, they only spared her a lazy glance before going back to their own business.

For the first time ever, Bella suddenly understood just how frightening Jasper really was. He could kill her here right now in the most gruesome manner and no one in the building would even bat an eyelash.

"Sit," Jasper commanded.

With a shaky breath, "No." She swallowed thickly. "I don't care what you do. You can kill me if you want but if I want to leave, I'm leaving."

Jasper stared at her for a few seconds before letting go of her wrist. Bella glanced back once more before hurrying past the waitress bringing them their food and out of the brightly lit diner. Once outside again in the harsh cold, Bella finally let herself cry.

Her sobs were loud and ugly with fat tear drops rolling down her cheeks. She had to stop walking for a few minutes when it felt like her entire body was crying. Her heart ached so much that her sobs became silent and she couldn't even take another breath. She couldn't make another move. She thought she understood pain when he left her. That was not a fair comparison to what she felt that moment.

Bella managed to walk another half-mile towards her apartment when she her phone rang after a series of new text messages. She quickly scrolled through them to see that her roommate and classmate Jenny was at the party she had invited her to earlier and needed someone to make sure she got home safely by the end of the night. Bella almost wanted to ignore the messages and go straight home and into bed where she could sleep and stop thinking but she knew she could never forgive herself if something happened to Jen.

She continued to walk back towards the apartments near campus. It was eerily quiet, with very few cars and buses passing by. The city was getting darker and the spaces between the apartments were dark. She occasionally saw some people walking on the sidewalk, but they would quickly get into a nearby building. She felt alone.

Suddenly, something yanked her into the space between two buildings and warm hand clamped over her mouth. Bella kicked out the best she could despite the legs in front of her remaining there like a wall. She heard an insistent shush before she really looked at her assailant and realized it was Jasper.

Bella looked at him angrily and felt him loosen her his hand on her when he saw that she wasn't going to continue screaming. As soon as he pulled his hand away, she struck his chest. "God, you are such an asshole. Don't do that if you're trying to get my attention."

Jasper didn't respond to that. Instead, he gently took the hand that hit his chest and pinned it onto the wall behind her. He stepped forward, pushing her so that her back was flush against the wall. Bella's other hand immediately came up to stop him from getting closer by placing it on his chest. He didn't stop her. He just cupped her cheek with his free hand, his thumb softly scooping up the tear readying to stain on her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Isabella. I didn't properly consider your feelings when telling you what I've said. Though I'm an empath, I struggle with human emotions."

Bella looked up at him, speechless. The sunglasses were perched on the top of his head and she could finally see his eyes clearly. Though they were bright, red like she had seen murderous vampires she had seen before, she saw through them and for some reason, she thought that when he was human, his eyes might have been brown.

"I won't use my abilities against you. I won't harm you. So please let me stay around you a little longer." Bella was about to protest and tell him that she wasn't sure about this when he said, "I promised her."

His eyes shifted before hers. They were red, then gold, then brown and back to red again. Bella breathed deeply. Then, she nodded.


A/N: I apologize for the gap in updates. This chapter was meant to be longer but I figured I might as well post this half. Thank you for all your patience and encouragement.