OMG, the finale! (Yes, that is what I just said) Hope you enjoy!
There was jazz music playing in the dressing room of the store. I toyed with the credit card that Carlisle had given me as I waited for Alice to model her next piece. He had insisted to spend as much as we needed, that there was no budget. Alice decided to take him up on that offer.
"Ready?" she asked, her eyes poking out of the cracked door.
I nodded. "Yeah."
She pranced out in a frilly pink summer dress and heels, spinning around once to let me see the back.
"Do you like it?" she asked, walking over to where I stood in the corner.
"Yes. It's very pretty." I answered. Of course, Alice looked good in everything.
"I really like this material. It smells nice." She added, grabbing the collar and pulling it to her nose. Then she offered it to me to sniff. I looked around, making sure no one was in sight, and then smelled the dress. All I could smell, though, was the scent of the last human to try it on. I swallowed the venom that had welled up in my mouth.
"Yup."
Alice giggled, and then skipped back into the dressing room. I sighed, resting my head against the wall and closing my eyes. I concentrated on the music that came from the speaker on the ceiling above my head, trying to drown out the humans' chattering around me. Then my nose crinkled at a smell that I had picked up, and I opened my eyes.
"Do you need help finding anything, sir?" an older woman with a name tag asked, smiling. Her scent was mixed with a lot of perfume, acting like a musky cloud that surrounded her. She looked me up and down, trying awkwardly to mask the obvious lust that she felt.
I grunted. "No thank you, ma'am. Just waiting for someone."
The woman's heart stuttered at my voice. She nodded, blushing. The delicious swirl of blood in those cheeks caught my attention, and my eyes became wide with sudden interest. I took a step toward her.
Alice's dressing room door suddenly burst open, and she was at my side. Her hand grabbed my elbow, pulling me away.
"Come on, Jasper. I'm done." Her voice was hard, worried. I stripped my attention from the old woman, following Alice's lead to the cashier. She piled the clothes up to pay for them on the counter, and the cashier's mouth almost fell open at the mountain that had been laid in front of her.
Everything was eventually scanned and bagged, and we were out the door. We had parked Carlisle's car along the sidewalk in front of the boutique. Alice and I threw everything in the back, and then took off down the road. We drove for a while until Alice's hand shot up shot up in front of her, pointing.
"Turn there." She ordered. I did what she said, and soon we were on a narrow road in the middle of a sea of trees.
"Now pull over." She said. I parked the car over in the grass, completely confused. I turned to her.
"What is going on?"
"Hunting." She answered, then hopped out of the car. I got out, too, then walked over to where she was.
"Come on." She looked up at me. Her eyes did seem darker. I had not noticed the change until now. We took off into the trees then, running for a couple miles before stopping.
"Ooh, do you smell that?" Alice asked, smiling. I sniffed at the breeze, but could not find anything particularly appetizing in the air. Then she was off, racing full speed into the wind. I followed, wondering what she could possibly have meant before hearing the heart of an animal beating quickly in the distance. We came upon a bear, wandering around absently. I stopped then, almost having a panic attack as Alice pounced on the thing.
The bear thrashed as she clung to its back, her mouth at its neck. She looked so small, so fragile. My stomach twisted in anxiety for her safety. It took a while, but the battle finally calmed down until the animal fell down to the ground, dead. Alice finished it, then got off of the body, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
"What's with the face?" she asked, smiling. I did not know what she was talking about.
"Huh?"
She made a mocking grimace and I realized that I was making the same expression. She laughed, motioning toward the lifeless body.
"You get used to it."
I grumbled. "Yeah."
"Try it." Alice ordered, walking toward me. "It's not that bad."
"Fine." I said, sniffing the air. The wind picked up and rustled the leaves that hung above our head. I could hear a herd of deer running just a ways away, so I went for that. I zipped through the trees to where they were and spotted a large buck in the group. He didn't smell too yummy, but I tried to push that aside. The fur felt weird on my lips and I bit its throat. The blood hit my tongue and I immediately pulled away, disgusted.
"Ugh!" I complained to Alice who was a couple yards off, leaning against a tree with her arms crossed. She nodded encouragingly. I sighed and went back to the deer. The taste was hideous, but it seemed to help weaken the burning in my throat none the less. So I drained the body anyway.
"See?" Alice said as I made my way back to her. I shrugged.
"That was the single most disgusting thing I have ever drank in my life."
"Whatever!"
"Yeah."
"Carnivores taste better than the herbivores." She stated. I gasped playfully, but was a little annoyed at the same time.
"You couldn't have told me that sooner?" I asked.
Alice shrugged. "Sorry!"
I picked her up and slung her up over her shoulder. She squealed.
"Come on, I'm done for today." I said, then bolted through the trees and back to the car. I felt her small little fists pounding my back in protest as I held her, and I smiled.
My mind looked back at the last couple of days as I ran. All of a sudden, I was overcome with a wave of passion as I remembered our kiss under the waterfall. The split-second decision almost felt like a reflex as I brought Alice around to cradle her in my arms like a child. I saw in her eyes a look I thought I would never see from a fortune teller: surprise. My mouth met hers in an instant, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I kept the kiss tender, moving my lips softly on hers. I recognized the emotion that was radiating from her, as it was the same warm, fuzziness as the first night together, when we cuddled on the hotel bed. But it was mixed with a certain spice. There was a fiery passion that burned just underneath that grew with each passing second. My head became dizzy, and I pulled away before I had the chance to embarrass myself.
She gasped as I set her back down on the ground. My insides trembled in worry of what she was going to do or say next. I did not have the courage to mess with her emotions, either. I wanted to know the truth.
Very slowly (or at least that is what it felt like to me), Alice rose up on her tiptoes, lifting her hand up to grab my face and bringing me down to her level. She pressed her soft lips carefully to mine, then pulled away to look me in the eyes.
"About time, Mr. Whitlock." she grinned. I smiled back, then squeezed her to my chest in a tight hug. Her face was buried in my shirt, muffling her laughter. We ran back to the car hand in hand. When we got there, I opened the car door for her like the good southern gentleman that I had been raised to be.
"You have very long fingers." Alice commented as we drove. She sat in the passenger seat, playing with my right hand while I steered with my left. I took my eyes off the road to glance at her.
"No I don't! Your fingers are just short." I teased.
She grunted. "Pfft, whatever. Giant."
"Midget!" I recoiled, chuckling.
"Hey! Now I take offense to that." She nudged my shoulder, then crossed her arms over her chest, facing straight ahead. I smiled.
"I'm sorry, Alice. Will you ever forgive me?"
"Mmm."
I sighed. "Pleeease?"
"Maybe, if…" she stopped. I glanced at her, curious.
"If what?"
"Nothing. Never mind."
"Alice."
She turned toward me, a devilish smile creeping onto her face.
"I'll forgive you if you let me style your hair."
I didn't say anything. I just drove in silence for a while until Alice spoke up again.
"You're going to end up doing it." She concluded, "No need to put up a fight."
I groaned. "And this is all because I called you a name?"
She giggled. "Yup!"
I sighed. "Fine."
Little did I know that Alice had it all planned out. When we got back to the house, the place was empty. We found a little note on the kitchen table written on a piece of fancy paper that looked pretty expensive.
Jasper and Alice,
Esme, Rosalie, and I have gone out to hunt. If you have come back to an empty house, then that means Edward and Emmett have not come back yet, either. They have gone out to run and enjoy the beautiful day. Help yourself to anything. We will be back soon.
Carlisle
Alice ripped the note from my hand.
"Amazing timing isn't it?" she asked, and giggled.
"Come on!" She rushed up the stairs in a flash. I stood there for a second, putting it all together. She must have known they would be out. I silently thanked her in my mind, grateful that she planned it so everyone would be gone. I could only imagine what kind of teasing I would have gone through if Emmett or Edward had been here to witness Alice styling my hair. We had only joined the coven yesterday; I didn't need them to think that I was a freak.
"Jasper!" Alice hollered from the bathroom that was attached to our bedroom. I ran up the stairs, not wanting to keep her waiting.
She drenched my head in the tub, scrubbed it, blow dried it, and sprayed it with stuff that smelled a little girly. All while humming to herself in that high-pitched, sing-songy voice.
"Okay, look." Alice brought me to the mirror that sat above the sink to show me the final product.
"Like it?"
"Of course." I smiled. I heard the door swing open downstairs, followed with Emmett's loud call.
"Hey, guys. Hope we're not interrupting anything!" he chuckled.
I could feel Alice's mental blush of embarrassment as she looked down at her feet.
"Let's go." She said, turning to walk out the door and greet Emmett and Edward. My gut twinged, and I grabbed her arm to spin her back to face me. Her eyes were big, looking into mine. I meshed my lips to hers, and she kissed me back.
"Thank you." I said.
She giggled. "It's just a hairdo, Jasper. Nothing special."
I shook my head, and then kissed her passionately once more. I nuzzled my face into her hair, and then placed my lips at her ear.
"Not for the hair, Alice. For everything."
At that, she wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me close to her in a tight hug. I was overwhelmed with a surge of great happiness, and I could feel as though the last missing piece of my life had been put into place. I was finally home.
Ahh, finally done! I do realize that this isn't the longest fanfic in the world, but that's ok. Good things come in small packages (like me!) At least that's what they say. Haha
I came up with like the best idea for another story yesterday. You have no idea! It's going to be intense! So look out for updates with my other stuff. I promise not to let you down, my lovely readers!!
Oh oh oh, one more thing before I forget- If you haven't figured it out, the title of this story (The Day Before You) is actually the name of a song by Rascal Flatts. I would highly suggest you listen to it, even if country makes you want to tear your hair out. It's practically Jasper's life story, which I think is cool beans!! :D
