Thank you EVERYONE for reading this story and for the lovely reviews! I love every single one of them!
Thank you as well to KGQ, my awesome prereader and my equally amazing beta Harrytwifan! I love you both!
Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it!
A/N: Twilight is not mine, just the plot!
The rest of the week went roughly the same way. I'd dream about Edward, then spend part of the day with him while Rosalie sat with her grandmother. On Friday, though, we all went together. The woman wanted to meet her granddaughter's twin brother.
Sitting beside her bed and talking to her, I felt like a fraud. I wasn't part of her family; I wasn't supposed to be there. These were the last precious moments of her life, and she was wasting them on me, asking me all sorts of questions. She was a wonderful person, though, and I felt honored to meet her.
At the end of the visit, when Edward and Rosalie were quietly talking to the evening nurse, Mrs. Warren grabbed my wrist and pulled me close. "You're a good lad, Jasper; I can see it in your eyes. Take good care of your sister, you both need someone," she whispered.
I cocked my eyebrow in confusion. "Rosalie has someone, Mrs. Warren, she's got Edward," I whispered back.
She let go of me and gave me a sad smile. "I'm not some silly old hat, dear," she croaked. "I can't be fooled. Just promise me, Jasper, promise you'll look after my Rose."
She knew, I don't know how, but she knew I liked Edward. She thought I would ruin their relationship and she still wanted me to be there for Rosalie. This made me feel like even more of a fraud. I swallowed hard and nodded.
"I promise," I whispered.
Her smile widened and she closed her eyes. I looked up to see Rosalie and Edward waiting for me. With one last look at the tiny woman in the hospital bed, I followed them.
.
After a quiet dinner, I excused myself and went to my room. Three more weeks. I could behave myself for that long. After that, I'd go back to LA and stay away from my sister and her fiancé. I know I promised to look after her, but the best way to do that was to make sure she and Edward would be happy together.
Once I made my resolution, it didn't take me long to drift off into yet another Edward-induced dream.
I spent the weekend sightseeing with both of them. Itwas my first time in England after all. I tried to stare down a guard at the Royal Palace and failed. We had our picture taken at Abbey Road, trying to duplicate the Beatles as closely as two guys and a woman could. And I asked Rosalie to snap a corny I-am-a-giant-leaning-against-the-Big-Ben picture of me. I clicked my camera like a lunatic all over the city, making my fellow American tourists proud.
As we rode a shiny red double-decker bus, Rosalie told me weird facts about London. Seriously, a pregnant woman in London was allowed to take a leak anywhere. In fact, if she asked, a cop would have to give her his hat to pee in. Weird people, these Brits.
We had dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant on Sunday evening and went to see a movie afterwards. All through the weekend, I managed to focus on Rosalie. Edward was there and I was polite and everything, but mostly I tried to pretend he wasn't there. Don't get me wrong, I was still fighting hard-ons the entire time and caught myself staring at him more frequently than I'd like to admit. But all in all, I'd been successful in keeping the lust to a minimum.
Monday started out well. Edward had to get some work done, so Rosalie and I spent the morning looking at her family photographs. She had a happy childhood, I could see it radiating off all the pictures. Her parents were in some of them, hugging her, but most were just Rosalie. Taking a bath, blowing out candles on a birthday cake, taking her first steps, riding a bike, smiling in each and every one of them.
I didn't want to feel sorry for myself, but I couldn't help but realize what I missed out on, growing up with Victoria and James as my parents. Of course I had had Carmen, but she couldn't replace a mother's love.
That afternoon I helped her clean the house, even though she repeatedly told me to sit down and let her do it by herself. It felt good, to actually do something useful for a change. I hadn't felt useful since my last day at the free clinic. Besides that, I wasn't going to laze around and watch Rosalie work her ass off.
Edward came home at around 6pm and brought Chinese take-out. Rosalie would be spending another night in the hospital, so he decided he and I should go out and have some fun. At around 8, we went to a local pub, where we were supposed to meet up with a couple of his friends.
Once I had some practice in getting past my hormonal infatuation for the man, Edward was a lot of fun. He used a lot of words I didn't know before. Sitting at the bar, he was going on and on about some 'chap' he knew who was sent out to buy some 'knickers' for his 'bird'. He was apparently taken for a cross-dresser by the woman at Selfridges. I was doubled up in laughter as he used silly voices and gestured widely with his arms.
Of course, I didn't really get over my little crush; it was mostly the large amounts of alcohol that helped me loosen up. I was already on my fifth pint, steadily getting more and more intoxicated.
I didn't care about a possible hangover in the morning. It had been way too long since I had as much fun as this. Edward's friends welcomed me like I was one of them. They even invited me to join them in a game of 'footy' on Saturday. I assumed this was a game of soccer, which I had only played once in my life, years ago. The guys assured me I'd do fine and promised to make me their 'goaly' if I really sucked. I just hoped a 'goaly' was a goalkeeper and not something humiliating or terrifying.
When the pool table cleared, Emmett challenged me to a game. I played the game regularly in America and was usually quite good, so I accepted. All was going well and without any real effort, I was ahead 3 games to 1. Only then, Edward started showing interest. Whenever I was trying to make a shot, he was there, at the opposite site of the table. His intense stare made me nervous and I started missing easy shots. Already being slightly drunk and getting distracted by my hot future brother-in-law, I didn't win any more games. Emmett won 5 to 3 and teased me endlessly. After a while, Edward winked at me and asked him to cut it out.
As time passed, pints of beer turned into glasses of scotch and by the time the pub owner kicked us to the curb, I had trouble walking. We said goodbye to his friends and Edward pulled my arm over his shoulder and slid his around my waist. With him pressed firmly to my side, supporting my full weight, we stumbled through the streets. Feeling his warmth through both our shirts had my mind going to all sorts of dirty places.
Some guy bumped into Edward and he fell, pulling me with him. I landed half on top of him, my face only inches from his. Before I could stop myself, I leaned in to kiss him. With wide eyes, he pushed me off him.
"Jasper! Did you just try and snog me?" he asked with a frown on his face.
"No, NO! Of course not!" I almost yelled in a panicked tone.
Edward quickly got to his feet and offered me his hand to help me get up. As I grabbed it, he pulled me to my feet.
"Bloody poofters!" someone shouted from nearby.
Seriously, I thought these Brits would speak the same language, but half the time I didn't have a clue what they were saying.
Edward tensed and turned around. "Toss off!" he shouted back at the stranger who gave him the finger. "Wanker!" Edward muttered under his breath.
I needed some distance from him, so that I wouldn't do something stupid, like try and kiss him. Arch! Jasper, you idiot! What were you thinking? I tried to take a few steps without his support, but dangerously swayed left and right, barely staying on my feet.
"Oh, come on," Edward said as he steadied me again. "If you get run over in the streets, your sister will never forgive me."
We slowly stumbled our way back to their place. Every once in a while I could hear him softly talking to himself, but I couldn't make out a single word. After he lead me to the guest room and pulled the sheets back, he told me to go to bed. He promised to put a glass of water and some paracetamol by my bed for the morning after.
"Could you also leave me some Tylenol? I feel a hangover coming on," I asked him with a drunken slur. He chuckled and threw me a smile before closing the door behind him.
I was right about that hangover. When I woke up the next morning, my throat was dry and tasted foul. The light coming through the window hurt my eyes, even though they were still closed. Worst of all, my head felt like my brain was trying to push its way through my skull.
I opened my eyes just enough to see a huge glass of water and two small white tablets on the night stand. I quickly swallowed the pills with water and emptied the glass. Why didn't I close the curtains last night? I cursed the sun and pulled the sheets over my head.
I tried to fall back to sleep, but my head was hurting too much. Still, it was nice and comfortable in bed and I didn't really have any plans on leaving it any time soon. The knock on the door sounded like a jack hammer hitting the back of my head, and I groaned.
"Jasper?" Edward asked as he opened the door. Another groan left my throat.
"Jasper, are you awake?" he continued. "I thought you wouldn't be feeling all that well after last night, so I brought you some breakfast to eat in bed. Would you like it now, or should I leave it on your bedside table?"
"No," I grunted, "I'll have it now, thank you. Could you please close the curtains?"
I sat up in bed once the room was dark. Edward sat down next to me on the bed, put the tray in my lap, and turned on the bedside light. On the tray was a plate with croissants, bread rolls and a blueberry muffin. Next to the plate were two glasses; one filled with water, one with orange juice. But the item that really made me smile was the large white paper cup with my now favorite green logo. I looked up at Edward in gratitude.
The room was still only dimly lit, but I could see an amused sparkle in the green eyes.
"I took pity on you," he said, shrugging his shoulders. I grabbed his hand and smiled.
"It's perfect, Edward, thank you," I whispered. Edward looked down at our hands and I quickly pulled mine away, hoping my blush couldn't be noticed in this lighting.
Edward coughed at the same time I cleared my throat and he quickly stood up.
"I'll leave you to it then," he muttered and hurried out of the room.
Jasper, can't you fucking act like a normal person? I'd done it again; I let my heart take over and acted impulsively. And frankly, that touch was highly inappropriate.Wait, what? Oh no! I let my dick take over; my heart had nothing to do with it!
Well, what happened, happened. There was nothing I could change about it now. And even if I could, I would first drink that amazing cup of Starbucks coffee. Nothing was worth letting a good cup of coffee go cold!
.
My breakfast and the long shower I had afterwards successfully brought me back from a state of living death. I felt fresh and my headache was almost gone. I opened a window to let some clean air into the room and took the now empty tray down to the kitchen.
Edward stood in the hallway wearing his coat. He was writing something down on a piece of paper, but looked up when he heard me coming down the stairs.
"Oh, hey, Jasper," he said, throwing his pen in a bowl and crunching the paper in a ball. "I was writing you a note. I had the week off, but they called me, I have to come in for an emergency."
I cocked an eyebrow. "A chiropractic emergency?"
"I er, yeah, couple of Rugby players, I got to er, got to go," he said, opening the door. "Rosalie will be home around half two!" The door closed behind him with a bang.
Fuck, you're a fucking idiot, Jasper! I thought. Jesus Christ, did I just run a man out of his own house? He took three weeks off; surely there was another chiropractor that was taking over for him in case of an emergency. If there even was an emergency.
.
After a sulky morning of wishing Edward was there and being glad he wasn't, Rosalie finally got back. We went out for some groceries and I offered to make dinner. She tried to talk me out of it and said she'd quickly wrap something up, but I insisted.
I decided on home baked bread, moussaka and baklava with vanilla ice-cream as dessert. I was in no way a kitchen wonder, but Carmen had Greek roots and taught me how to make her favorite dishes. Somehow it felt right, to share Carmen with Rosalie and Edward this way. She was more family than my adoptive parents ever were. Even if it ended up tasting like shit, I knew that Carmen would be proud.
Rosalie was hovering over me as I kneaded the bread and finished the preparations for the moussaka and the baklava, sniffing over my pans, tasting the sauce and stealing nuts. She was driving me crazy, but it felt good - homey.
"Hey, stop that!" I yelled at her, slapping her wrist as she tried to take another nut. "Hands off my nuts!"
Laughing and fighting over the nuts, we both got startled as a deep voice came from behind us.
"Rose, are you trying to cheat on me with your brother? I got to say, that's kind of gross!"
We both spun around to see one very mind-meltingly sexy Edward standing in the doorway with a fucking breathtaking grin on his face. And when I say breathtaking, I mean the sight literally took my breath away! My heart stuttered a couple of times and my jeans were feeling tighter with every second his green eyes bore into mine. Hoping they wouldn't notice my obvious reaction, I cleared my throat and turned back to my cooking.
"Luckily, she was just after these nuts," I said as I showed Edward the bowl. "Now stop eating my ingredients, or there will be no dessert for you, Rosalie!"
Rosalie pouted at me and laid her hand on my chest. "Please, Jazzy, one more. Just one tiny little nut and I'll be a good girl. Please?" she whined and I caved.
"Okay, one more, but that's it! There'll be nothing left!" I sighed and she kissed my cheek before running off with a hand full of nuts.
"I said ONE, Rosalie! Get back here!" I yelled as I ran into the hallway after her.
"Jesus, no wonder they split you two up," Edward chuckled.
I froze and Rosalie came to a full halt immediately. She walked up to Edward and hit him in the face, hard.
"Fuck you, Edward! FUCK! YOU!" she screamed, her face distorted in fury.
My gaze dropped to the floor and a cold shiver shot through my spine, chilling me to the bone. I could feel tears forming in my eyes, but I blinked them away. I was desperately trying to keep strong and not break down in front of them. He hates me, he really hates me. Why else would he say something like that?
"I-I'm sorry. I really am! God, Jasper, I didn't mean it like that, honestly!" Edward said in a desperate tone. I looked up and saw his horror struck face.
It took me a moment to realize Rosalie's eyes moved from me to Edward and back again. Over and over, like she was trying to figure out if there was something more going on. I quickly averted my eyes and went back into the kitchen. There was no way I could ever let Rosalie know what I felt for her man. There was just no way. I wasn't going to lose her over some stupid infatuation. No way.
I could hear them angrily whispering at each other, but I thought it better to stick to my cooking and stay out of it. I set the timer on the oven and slid the bread in. After that, I started cleaning up after myself.
"Can I help?" Edward asked, making me jump. "Look, Jasper, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I meant it as a joke."
"It wasn't funny," I stated. My voice sounded flat as I kept washing the bowl I used for the dough.
"I realize that now. Can you forgive me?" he asked. Instead of answering him, I took the dish towel from my shoulder and handed it to him. He quietly picked it up and started drying the cleaned bowl. In silence we worked together, cleaning the kitchen, finishing the baklava and setting the table.
.
Rosalie complimented me generously on my cooking. I had to admit, the mince in the moussaka was a bit dry, but it still tasted very good. The bread was exactly right and the baklava with ice-cream was perfect. It was the best I had ever made.
Edward was silent all through dinner, gazing at me, which made me nervous as hell. But Rosalie didn't seem to notice. I just asked her what moving from America to England had been like for her and she effortlessly told her lengthy story.
After dinner, Edward offered to do the dishes and Rosalie and I retreated into the living room, where her story flowed into an easy conversation about the differences between England and America. It only got heated once the argument of tea versus coffee started, but we quickly agreed to disagree. Edward stuck to the background, finishing off some paperwork in the adjoining study.
Edward had to go into work each day for the rest of the week. I even saw Rosalie cock an eyebrow or two at the mention of his emergencies. I could only assume that he was avoiding me. It hurt to be honest. He really didn't like me. I figured the only reason that he apologized to me about the 'joke' was because Rosalie forced him to. He didn't talk to me, spend the evenings in his study, and even at dinner he just sat there staring at me while my sister and I engaged in conversation.
I felt less and less comfortable in their house. The only thing that kept me from packing my bags and running back home was Rosalie. Her grandmother was getting worse by the hour. She slept most of her days, only having brief moments of consciousness, moments Rosalie treasured dearly. Mrs. Warren couldn't eat or drink any more. Her voice was raspy as she called out to her mother in her sleep. It was heartbreaking to witness and I didn't even really know her. I could only try to imagine what it must be like for my sister, watching her grandmother slowly dying.
From Thursday on, Rosalie stayed at the hospital as much as she could. She didn't want her grandmother to die alone, so she kept watch over her, holding her hand. I sat with her all through the day, trying to support her in every way I could. Edward would come to the hospital in the evenings, where the three of us would have dinner in the cafeteria. After dinner, I would ride back with him. The rest of the evening I would spend watching television as he would sit at his desk, doing whatever it was he was doing. It couldn't be paperwork; there was no doctor on the planet that had to do that much paperwork. I should know. Only late at night would Rosalie come home to sleep, before rushing back to the hospital in the morning.
I'd have thought Edward would come up with some sort of excuse to not play soccer that Saturday. I was actually counting on it, as I wasn't sure my hormones could handle seeing him in shorts. Just my luck that this was something he didn't want to cancel.
I was woken harshly at 8 am. Someone pulled the sheets off the bed and yanked the curtains open. I tried to grab back my sheets to cover my head, but they were out of reach.
"Wake up, sleepyhead!" Edward called. "We have to be at the club in an hour! So get your arse out of bed and get dressed, we leave in thirty minutes! There's toast in the kitchen if you hurry!"
I moaned and pulled my pillow over my head, curling up in a ball. The room was fucking cold and I was only wearing my pajama pants. I felt the mattress cave as Edward kneeled next to me and tried to take my pillow. I held on to it tightly, but he managed to wrestle it away from me. He threw it to the floor and leaned in. I could feel his breath on my face and smell his delicious musky scent as his mouth got close to my cheek. My breath hitched and my heart stuttered.
"Jaaaaaaaaaaasper!" he whined, making me try to cover my sensitive ear as the high-pitched sound invaded it.
"Go away and let me sleep!" I groaned, making him chuckle.
Then the bastard tickled me, he fucking tickled me. Within seconds I was squirming underneath him. I tried desperately to get away from his hands, pushing him away, slapping them off me and pleading for him to stop. When I tried to throw him over me, he reached out to keep from falling. His hand grazed my raging morning wood, which forced a moan from my throat.
He jerked away from me, like he'd burned himself, and I mentally slapped myself. For Christ's sake, Jasper, do you ever stop?
I sat up and stretched my sleeping muscles like nothing happened.
"All right, all right, I'm awake," I said, trying to avoid his piercing stare.
"Good, now hurry up," Edward replied. He sounded off and hurried to the door.
"Wait!" I called after him, making him stop dead in his tracks. He just turned his face toward me with a questioning look. "I didn't bring any sports clothes."
He grinned evilly and shook his head. "You're not getting out of this, Jasper. I already packed you some of mine. You're coming with me and that's that," he said and walked out, closing the door behind him.
I hope you'll let me know what you think!