JPOV

I now had three hours until I needed to go get Bella. I was looking for something to do, when I decided to go find one of my old sketch pads, and draw. As I was going to sit on my bed, I tripped on the rug, the pad flying out of my hands, and my foot sliding into the edge of my dresser.

As I hopped around on one foot, a flash of red caught my eye. Glancing down at my notepad, I saw a drawing I had done of Bella one of my first days at Forks Senior High. It showed her in her black horn rimmed glasses, with her brunette hair pulled back into a sloppy bun, secured with two pencils. Her baggy sweatshirt (complete with 'Forks High School Class of '76' inscription that Charlie bought back in his hay-day) and loose jeans, as she bent over her desk, her pencil resting against her temple, her mouth pushed out to one side as she thought, her eyes looking up towards something to her left. I had only colored in the faint blush on her cheeks, leaving the rest of it done only in a pencil.

I flipped the page, and saw one of Bella in the cafeteria, sitting at a table, alone. Her back was pressed against the wall, and her legs were propped up on the bench in front of her. She had a book, Wuthering Heights, and was reading it, the worn pages having seen many a day spent the same way. Her face was peaceful, but her body was slightly tensed.

Flipping through the pages, I was overcome by the memories, the stories, that went with each sketch.

Bella eating.

Bella reading.

Bella laughing.

Bella doing homework.

The list went on and on.

But I began to notice a similarity in all of the pictures that had never struck me before. In each drawing, there was something in her left pocket. There were a few drawings that had the top of it poking out, but it only looked like a smooth plastic something. I needed to find out what it was; I had a strange urge to know.

I decided that I needed to add in a couple pictures of the new Bella. The one who wore miniskirts, Jimmy Choo's, and had shorter (but still rather long) burgundy hair, with her face slightly swabbed with a bit of makeup.

The next Bella to be add would be the one I remembered from the walk to school on Tuesday, when I told her my life story. I have no clue if she remembered that my middle name is Hale, and if she didn't, I wondered when she'd make the connection.

But that day, Bella had let loose. She was running, skipping, doing cartwheels as the sun shone down on us. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. But then again, I don't think that there is a sight as funny as Bella cart wheeling down a hill, unable to stop. That was the Bella I would always want to remember.

My alarm on my phone went off, and I saw that I had spent two hours looking back at the sketches. I sat up off the floor, and popped my back, stretching.

I grabbed a pair of slacks, and a white button down shirt with blue pinstripes.

I grabbed a brush and ran it through my blond hair, catching in various knots.

What if Bella doesn't like the restaurant I picked out? Oh, Christ! I forgot to ask her if she had any allergies! What if she died? How were we going to get there? She would be wearing a dress; we couldn't be on my motorcycle! But, what would she be wearing? What if my clothing clashed with hers? Oh, God! I am falling apart!

I reached to the beside table, and grabbed my phone. Hitting speed dial two, I waited impatiently for him to pick up.

"Y'ello?"

"Edward!"

"God, Jaz, what is your problem? Freak out much?"

"There are so many things I didn't figure out earlier! What if she can't eat the food at La Bella Italia? How the hell are we going to get there? I can't take her to a restaurant in Port Angeles on my motorcycle if she's wearing a dress!"

"Anything else, Jasmine?"

"What if our clothes clash?"

"God, Jasper, you're starting to sound like a girl. Did you ask Peter if you could borrow his sedan?"

Oh, yeah…

"No! Should I have?"

"Jasper, I think you just need to calm down. Breathe in and out, and I think that you'll be fine. Bella doesn't have any food allergies; I asked Alice and Rose a few days ago. And now I'll ask Alice what colors are on her dress, and you two can match, but not clash, mkay?"

"I love you, Edward."

"That's nice, but save the sentiments for Bella, I don't want to hear them. Is that all you need before you officially turn into a girl?"

"No, that's it. Ask Alice, and then call me back."

"Whatever, man…"

Edward hung up the phone, leaving my room eerily silent. A few minutes later, my phone began to ring.

"Hey…"

"Jasper, Alice told me to tell you that Bella told her that you should just wear a solid red or blue shirt. Or white, I guess."

I released a breath that I hadn't been aware I was holding. Thank God. I reached into my closet and pulled out a dark blue button down, and changed into a pair of black slacks, hanging the khaki ones back up.

I walked downstairs and into the garage to find Peter, where he'd probably be tinkering on a car that one of his friends had asked him to fix.

"Peter…?"

"Yeah, Jaz?" he called to me from underneath a Nissan RX-7 that belonged to one of the county sheriffs.

"Can I borrow your car? I have a date and can't take her out on my motorcycle."

I heard him sigh, and he rolled out from under the car, wiping his grease coated hands on a rag sticking out of his jeans pocket, and tossing a wrench into his toolbox.

"Who is she?"

"A girl in most of my classes, her name is Bella Swan."

I saw him stiffen, and then relax, muttering something about, 'pure coincidence, it's not possible,' and whatnot.

"Sure, Jasper. Wreck my car, and I will wreck you." He reached into the pocket of his worn jeans, and tossed me the car's keys.

"Thanks man, I owe you."

"You do."

I got into the car, and carefully backed out of the garage. I drove the car to the local flower shop, to get Bella a bouquet of flowers. Girls like flowers, right? I opened the door, the chime alerting the half asleep woman at the register to my presence.

"Hi, I'm Katherine, welcome to Forks Flowers, is there anything in particular that you're looking for?"

"Well, I have a date tonight, and I want to get her flowers. I was thinking freesias, babies breath, and a few white daisies."

"Sounds beautiful."

Katherine walked over to the trays of flowers, and selected some of the loveliest ones in there. She then put a bit of red and pink tulle around the stems, and slid that into a cellophane sleeve.

"Here you go, son." I gladly took the flowers from her, glad that they looked as pretty as they had in my head. I reached for my wallet to pay Katherine, but she shook her head.

"No, don't worry about it. Keep your money."

That hardly seemed fair!

"No, no, I insist that I will pay for these flowers. How much are they?"

"No, keep the money."

"How much are they?"

"Fine. A dollar-fifty."

I rolled my eyes. Of course she'll charge me for the price of a single flower when I have a whole bouquet. I gave her the money, thanked her again, and got back into Peter's car. Speaking of Peter, I wonder why he reacted that way when I mentioned Bella's name. Oh, well, I'll ask him about it later. If I remember…

I made a left turn, and pulled into Bella's driveway. Pulling down the sun visor to look in the mirror, I smoothed my blond hair that was slightly above my ears in the front, and to the very base of my neck at the back. Time for a haircut…

I tugged at my collar, making sure that it wasn't sticking up at odd angles. People like Mike might think that a popped colla' is attractive, but it really isn't. After taking a few deep breaths, I got out of the car, and walked to the front door. I rang the bell, and waited for someone to open the door. I heard Bella yell.

"I got it dad!"

"No, Bella, I'll get it."

Damn.

Chief Swan opened the door, and sized me up.

"Who're you?"

"Jasper Whitlock, sir."

"Huh. Why are you here?"

"I'm taking Bella out to dinner in Port Angeles."

"Can I see your driver's license?"

I nodded, and reached into my back pocket pulling out my leather wallet, and handed the whole thing to him, seeing as my license, I.D. card, student I.D. card, and social security card. Charlie grinned, and walked back into the house. I stood outside, unsure of weather to follow him.

"Well, come on! I want you to be with me when I do this."

Charlie walked over to a computer sitting on the dining room table. He logged in, and opened an application. When it finished loading, I saw the City of Forks' Criminal Database.

Charlie clicked on the search bar, and typed in my name.

"Jasper…Hale…Whitlock…"

When my name popped up, Charlie double clicked, and we waited again for my record to come up. I wasn't worried, because I had never had a run in with the law. Charlie must've sensed me relax, because he turned to me.

"Is there anything you want to tell me before this loads so that I won't be surprised?"

"No, sir."

"Just so you know, this database also has access to your grades through the public schools' server. If you are one of those kids who are failing out of almost everything, my daughter will not be leaving this house with you. If you have a driving or parking violation of any sort, my daughter will not be leaving this house with you. If you have ever done anything illegal that shows up on here, my daughter and I will have a nice night in, watching movies. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

The page loaded, and Charlie began reading out loud.

"Jasper Hale Whitlock. Born September 25, 1992. You're about to turn 17?"

"Yes, sir."

Charlie 'harrumphed', and went back to reading.

"Vehicles: Ducati motorcycle. You're taking her to Port Angeles on a motorcycle?"

" No, sir. I have a car for the night."

"Is it your car?"

"No, sir, I-"

"Go get the registration for the car, Jasper."

I walked out to Peter's car, and pulled the registration out of the glove box.

I handed the paper to Charlie, who looked up the registration number.

"Peter Ross. How do you know Peter Ross?"

"He's my stepfather."

"Right..."

Charlie reached into his pocket, and pulled out his phone.

Charlie was silent for a moment, and then put the phone on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Ross?"

"This is he…"

"This is Chief Swan, from the FPD."

"What did Jasper do?"

"Did you give him permission to take your car?"

"Yes, I did. Did he wreck it?"

"No, I just wanted to make sure that he didn't take it without permission. Thank you, Mr. Ross."

"Thank you, Have a nice night, Chief."

Charlie hung up the phone, and turned back to me,

"Okay, Jasper. Let's take a look at those grades.

English: 91.70

Government: 89.48

Trigonometry: 92.45

Biology: 88.68

Physical Education: 98.57

French: 86.79

Band: 99.99

Well, Jasper, impressive. What's your grade point average? Let's see… add them all together… divide by 7… 92.52? Impressive, Jasper, impressive."

"Thank you, sir."

"Fine, you can go, but have her back by 10."

"Dad…" Bella walked into the room, and began scolding her father.

"Why must you grill him? If you grill him anymore, he'll turn into a frankfurter!"

"Bella, I just want to make sure that he is good enough for you!"

"Dad, if he wasn't good enough for me, I wouldn't have agreed to go to Port Angeles with him!"

"It's okay, Bella. I don't mind." I really didn't, though. I understood where Charlie was coming from, I really did.

"Jasper! He checked your grades, your legal transcript… that doesn't worry you at all?"

"No, Bella. But I think we need to go. Our reservations are at seven."

"Okay, Jazz. Bye, Dad, I love you!"

"I love you too, Bella. Remember, Jasper, ten."

"Dad, it's the weekend!"

Charlie growled, at rolled his eyes. "Fine, Jasper, ten-thirty."

"DAD!"

"Fine…Jasper, eleven. Not a minute more."

Bella hugged me, and skipped over. She was wearing a white knee-length dress with paint splatters on her right side. She had on a pair of black heels, and was holding a black purse that looked like an envelope.

"Bella, these are for you." I handed her the flowers that I had gotten from Katherine.

"Wow, thanks, Jasper! These are beautiful. How did you know that freesias are my favorite flowers?"

"Because, Bella, you smell like them."

Charlie growled, "Jasper…How do you know what Bella smells like…?"

"Because, she has multiple bottles of freesia lotions in her locker, and she takes a bottle to each of her classes."

Charlie raised his eyebrows at me. "Right…"

"Dad, we're going to go, now."

"Okay, Bella, just make sure that you get home on time, and if anything happens that you don't feel alright with, then kick him where it counts, and run."

"Dad!"

"Good bye, Bella."

We walked out to Peter's car, and pulled out.

"Jasper, whose car is this? You don't have a car and a bike, do you?"

"No, this is my stepfather's."

She smiled at me. "And he trusts you enough to let you just take his car?"

"Yeah, Peter is a really cool guy."

After I said Peter's name, Bella stiffened, and the atmosphere tensed.

"Bella, are you okay?"

"Well…I have a brother that I haven't seen in years. You know, the funny thing about our family is that when my parents got married, my mother made my dad take her name, not the other way. When my parents got divorced, my brother just kept my mother's last name, while I went back to my dad's. He ended up moving somewhere into the south, and except for the phone calls and cards at Christmas, and at birthdays, we almost never hear from him. Last I knew, he was married, and was moving. He didn't tell me where to, though…"

"It sounds as if you love him very much."

"I do. I miss him more than I can put into words. He's fifteen years older than me. There was a very high chance that when I was born, either my mom, or I wouldn't end up surviving, but we did. Peter was the best person to be around growing up. Because my father was training to be a police officer, and he was so much older, I tended to think of Peter as a father figure in my life. Like there was one time where some boys were harassing me at school, almost all the girls thought he was just dreamy, and he started picking me up at school. He wasn't ashamed of me; in fact, he often told me that he wouldn't trade me for the world. He really was a great guy. He really got hit with the attractive stick. He makes me look rather unattractive."

"Bella, that is not possible, you are one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen."

"Jasper, you are so dramatic. I'm not that pretty."

I just rolled my eyes at her, and turned into the parking lot of La Bella Italia.

"I hope you're hungry; this restaurant has the best food in this part of Washington."

"Jasper…I hate it when people spend money on me!"

"Bella, I want to. Honestly, just 'go with the flow'…."

"Go with the flow? What? Are you straight out of the sixties?"

"Sorry, my step dad has all of these crazy mannerisms that he's trying to bring back."

"Sounds exactly like my brother."

"I want to meet your brother someday."

"If he ever decides to get his rear in gear, you will."

I got out of the car and opened her door.

"Would you give me the pleasure of accompanying me to dinner, this evening?" I asked, my accent showing through.

"Of course. I'll need someone to protect me," she said with her own little accent.

"What was that? That sounded like a mix between Oklahoman and Louisianan."

She laughed, and we went in the restaurant.

"Hello, I'm Marissa, what is the name on your reservation?"

"Whitlock, 2."

"Okay. Right this way."

The hostess, who was built slightly like Rosalie, was exaggeratedly shaking her hips as she walked.

"Please, take a seat. Can I get you anything to drink while you look over your menus?"

I noticed that she was only looking at me, although it is common courtesy to address any females present first.

"Bella?"

She smiled at me, and looked at the seething hostess.

"Can I have a coke?"

The woman rolled her eyes at me, almost to say 'you bring her here and she orders a coke?'

"Two cokes, please." The hostess' eyes bugged out of her head, and she nodded, before scurrying away.

"Well," Bella began. "She was…pleasant…."

I burst out laughing and Bella smiled angelically at me.

"What do you think you are going to get?"

"I really want spinach and Parmesan ravioli. It looks good."

"It does. How about we order a double order and share it? That is, if that's alright with you."

"It's a good idea. But until then, let's play twenty questions, each of us has to answer ten."

"Alright. Since it was your idea, you can go first."

"Okay. What is your favorite movie?"

Easy! "Harold and Maude. That is a cult classic, and it will be one of the last things on Earth. A Volkswagen, some Styrofoam, a few trillion cockroaches, and all the DVD's of that movie."

"Smooth. Your turn."

"What is your oddest habit?"

"When I listen to the song 'Northern Downpour' by Panic at the Disco, I take out my right ear bud, and for the first thirty seconds or so of the song, because the music is coming from the right, for the most part, I listen to Brendon Urie sing a cappella. Even at :33 when the piano comes in, it still sounds really cool. That is, until 1:19 when the rest of the music comes in."

I have to admit, that is an odd habit.

"Okay, Jasper, what's your oldest memory?"

"Oh, wow. I'd have to say, that it was when I was two or three. I had decided to hide, and I hid under my parents' bed. A few hours later, when they finally noticed that I was gone, they didn't even bother looking. I came out after sitting under that bed for seven hours. Do you know what they said to me?"

"What?"

"You missed dinner. That was it."

Bella stood, and walked over to me. She sat down in my lap, and wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm so sorry, Jasper."

At that moment, our food came. We ate quickly; the ravioli was very good.

After she finished, Bella began to rub her stomach, and complain about eating too much. The waitress came back, and looked and Bella.

"Oh! When's the baby due?"

Bella just smiled, unfazed and said, "When is yours?"

I think I'm in love.