Author's Note:

Hey All! MERRY CHRISTMAS! Or whatever holiday you celebrate! I really enjoyed writing this chapter although it was kind of hard cause its all Jasper POV and I've never actively written from his point of view. It's a little harder for me apparently! But I hope you enjoy it!!

JPOV:

I crawled under the bed to reach for the box in the very back corner. I smiled slyly. Rose wouldn't dare ruin her designer jeans to crawl back there. I pulled it up with me and placed the large shoebox on the bed next to me. Lifting the lid, I grinned. The scrapbook Alice had made me for Christmas was already on top, ready to be opened.

The cover had a small picture frame built into it and she had put in a simple block of yellow paper with Jasper and Alice written in her perfect handwriting. I flipped open the black cover to look at the first couple of pages. They were all at least ten years old. The first photo showed a thirteen year old Alice beaming as she tagged along with Emmett, Edward, and myself. Even then she was with me. We all had become best friends as soon as Edward and her family moved into the neighborhood when she was twelve. Soon Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, Edward, and myself were inseparable, adding Bella when she moved to Forks when she was a freshman.

I flipped past the next couple of pages that showed a few different important events. Dances, birthdays, proms, graduation, college. All important life events. All events we had shared together. I already missed her. I sighed and grabbed my cell phone, racking my brain for the right thing to say. I simply sent a text that stated how I felt. I don't know what to say. No response. I deserved that.

I paused at the next page. It was a picture of us dancing together at Chief Swan's wedding. Alice was wearing a short yellow strapless dress that started tight on top before flowing loosely. Her hair was curled into ringlets instead of its usual pixie cut. She was breathtaking. It was a great night. It was the night that everything had changed.

I winced as Bella stepped on my foot for the fifth time. The cowboy boots I wore really didn't give my toes the protection dancing with Bella required. Hell, steel toed boots probably wouldn't help. I looked over to see Rosalie and Emmett doing what could only be loosely be interpreted as dancing. God they probably couldn't even breathe. I turned the other way looking desperately for Edward. Only someone so truly in love could dance with someone so truly uncoordinated. I caught sight of Edward dancing with Alice across the crowded room. They were showing off, and were quickly becoming the center of attention, which Alice was loving. I bet Edward wouldn't look so smug if I told the guest he was a great dancer because of all the ballroom dancing classes Esme made him take.

I set Bella firmly on my toes like I would with a fire year old and half spun half ran her over to where Alice and Edward were dancing. The look of happiness that covered Bella's face when she saw Edward made me feel a little better for what I was about to do. I slid us up next to the siblings easily. "Hey, I think you're girlfriend is feeling neglected." I told Edward.

"Well, I guess I can take her then. You are in charge of short stuff." He laughed as he spun Alice towards me while Bella just rolled her eyes and simply walked towards Edward.

"I think I can handle that." I laughed easily. Alice and I had gotten close since we ended up in a bunch of the same classes for our lasts years of college.

"Do you really think you can?" Alice giggled. "Because one of the many things I am amazing at is dancing."

"And you don't think I can keep up?" I fired back with a grin.

"Let's see, Major." Alice winked when she said the title. Ever since I had enlisted Alice insisted on calling me some sort of title. She had been through lieutenant, general, and a few others before settling on major.

With a roll of my eyes I spun us away from where Edward was helplessly trying to lead Bella. I moved Alice effortlessly and she followed my experienced lead without batting an eyelash. After two dances she was grinning from ear to ear as she became the center of attention once again.

"And how did I not know you could dance?" Alice asked slightly out of breath.

"Well, I don't believe you ever asked." I watched as she rolled her eyes. "I believe dancing is a part of every true southern boy's upbringing," I drawled using my southern accent, one I normally covered up, but I knew it always made Alice laugh.

"Don't even try that on me Jasper Whitlock." She pouted with her lips stuck out. "I'm not one of the brain dead floozies that fall for a simple accent."

We danced a few more songs and I was amazed out how much I truly enjoyed having Alice in my arms. Something that started out as innocent dancing with Edward's sister had turned into something entirely different. I looked down at her as she looked up at me and our gazes collided. The jolt I felt stopped me in my spot. It was like out of a pathetic romantic movie. It was like everything shifted and every preconceived notion I had about Alice was stripped and reordered into something very different. I looked down expecting her to be annoyed with my sudden halt but she looked up at me with shock coloring her face, her perfect mouth hanging open slightly.

I quickly moved us off the floor and out of the other dancer's way. I watched as she collected her thoughts and moved towards the table that we had been sitting at. She grabbed her purse quickly. "Um…I'm going to run to the ladies room. I'll be back in a few minutes."

I watched as she practically ran towards the restroom before I dropped into the chair my suit jacket was hanging on. What the hell? I had been friends with Edward for years, and Alice by proxy. She was like a little sister. I had watched her grow up for God's sake. And how I felt when I was looking at her on the dance floor, well it wasn't in a brotherly way at all. I shrugged and took another sip of my Jack Daniels. Maybe that's the problem. I'm drunk. But I was only on my second drink. I didn't even feel buzzed. Well, it has been a while since I've dated anyone. Must be a mix of loneliness and alcohol.

I nodded to myself, happy with my reasonable assessment. Then I saw Alice walk back into the ballroom and the feeling hit me again and all I could think was, damn I'm in trouble.

"Okay, I'm taking Bella home. Anyone else ready to leave?" Edward whispered trying not to wake the girl sleeping on his shoulder.

"I am." Rose slurred as she pulled Emmett up from his chair, stumbling slightly. "I think it's bedtime." She joked winking at him.

"I have to stay and take care of the last payments and lock up the ballroom." Alice stated with a smile. She had managed to convince Charlie and Sue that they had to have a wedding planner. She had been working on the wedding for months and had managed to give Charlie and Sue a wedding that was perfect for them, with a few Alice Cullen flairs.

"Can you stay with her?" Edward asked me, ever the over protective brother.

"Sure thing." I obliged. I had nowhere to be and I didn't care for leaving Alice alone in Port Angeles either.

"I'm going to take Bella to my apartment so just make sure she gets to into her place okay."

"You know I am twenty one years old. I can legally smoke, drink, and go to a strip club. I think I can walk myself to my car and to my well lit apartment." Alice said with a dark look which Edward ignored.

"I don't mind, Alice, really. Emmett can take drunky home in my car and we can take your car home. It's an easy fix."

"Well I mind. I'm old enough to take care of myself." Alice argued.

"I don't doubt that Alice, but it's late. By the time you get out of here it will be two am. It would make me worry less if you had someone with you." Jasper tried to reason his tone similar to what he would use on a petulant five year old.

"Fine, "Alice grumbled unhappily biting her lip.

She only does that when she's nervous. I mentally noted. After three classes together, I had seen her do it every time she was called on when she was unsure of the answer.

Everyone said their goodbyes and the room quickly emptied of people. "I have to go give the last check to the caterer. Can I do that by myself or do you need to follow me?" Alice questioned.

"I think you can handle that yourself, darlin'." I tried to make her smile with my accent but didn't succeed. I watched her walk towards the caterer and hand him one of the many envelopes she had started the night with. She smiled and blushed when he said something to her. What the hell? I looked at the older man critically. Didn't he see I was right here? Alice thanked him again before coming back to her seat.

"What did that guy say?"

"He just complimented the work I did on the party." Alice shrugged her eyes looking everywhere but at me, telling me more than she knew. I let the lie slide.

"So what do we have to do now?"

"I just have to wait for the caterers to clear everything out so I can lock the place up. There is a box out front I can put the key into. That's it."

Within twenty minutes we were in her car, she didn't put up a fight when I offered to drive. She was exhausted and it was apparent.

"So…" I drawled out slowly. "are we going to talk about earlier?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Alice said in a clipped voice, all the while biting her lip.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about?"

"Nope." She said popping the 'p'.

"Okay." I felt the comment sting but tried to shrug it off. Maybe I had miscounted the number of J.D.'s I had drank. But even looking at her now I knew that was a lie. It wasn't the first time I had noticed that she was beautiful. I mean I wasn't blind. She was tiny, but she still had a great figure, a figure that was constantly the subject of plastic surgery rumors on campus. I knew better. Her skin was perfect and I could see the faint tan that remained from the girl's recent beach trip. Her lips were perfect, not large, but full. And her eyes were the clearest green. I had always known that she was beautiful, but now I felt it. For the first time in my life I wanted Alice. And badly.

I heard her heave an annoyed sigh. "The caterer didn't complement me on the party."

"I figured that."

"He said we made a beautiful couple." Alice commented turning her tiny body in the seat so she was facing towards me.

I nodded my head slightly. "Well, I know you're beautiful, especially tonight."

"You don't look too bad yourself." She mumbled slightly. "Jasper, this is weird. I mean we've known each other for years. We've been friends for years. Why now?"

"I don't know, but in the sake of friendship and honesty, I have to say I have never felt as attracted to someone as I do now."

Her soft gasp echoed in the silent car. I waited for a response. Any response.

A full minute later I heard the whisper. "I feel the same way. What do we do?"

My brain ran at her question. This wasn't just some girl I could date and discard if I didn't feel like it was worth the hassle. This was my best friend's sister. Hell, for the last year she had become my best friend. If things didn't work out they would never be the same. But if they did…

"We take it one day at a time and see what happens."

We had taken it one day at a time. We worked on our homework together more than normal, then it turned into talking on the phone into the early morning hours. We soon started date nights, calling them our movie nights. I still couldn't believe that it had been six months ago. Even with keeping it a secret, we managed to be together more than anyone I had ever dated, especially with all of our normal group get-togethers.

The memory of the wedding was running through my brain, mocking me. I picked up my cell phone again. Please talk to me. I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. I knew I was crazy. I had pushed her away on purpose but I still couldn't let her go like I should.

I went back to the album as I waited for her to hopefully text me back. The rest of the album was made up of all of the private pictures from our six months together. The few times we could really get away Alice had always went crazy with the camera trying to get as much in as she could in the short time we had together. I groaned slightly when I saw the pictures she had taken of us together in bed. The girl might have been a virgin before I was with her but she quickly morphed into something very different. The little pixie girl had a dirtier mind than most guys I hung out with, Emmett included. She could smile sweetly during group dinners, all the while stroking me with her foot under the table. The various pictures she took made my pulse hammer. I could still remember the first time.

"Alice if you aren't sure then we don't have to do anything." I tried to reason with her as she sat in front of me in one of the most alluringly small pieces of white lace I had ever seen. She couldn't have been paler if she tried.

"Jasper I have thought this decision over for a long time. I've talked to my doctor. I've gotten the pill and you got us this hotel. This is going to happen." Her irritation at my hesitancy made me smile slightly.

"Did you talk to Bella about this?"

"What!? Of course not!" Alice said in exasperation.

"I just. I know how important it is to you to talk about this kind of stuff with her. Isn't that what girls talk about? Get advice or whatever?" My limited knowledge of girls was not helping me at all right now and Alice's frustrated face was proving it.

"What was I suppose to say? Hey Bella, I'm thinking of losing my virginity. And guess what? I want to lose it to Jasper, our mutual friend that I have been secretly dating for the past four months."

"Well, maybe not that." I drew out slowly.

"Look, Jazz, I know normally I would run to Bella and talk this over in grave detail, but I can't okay? I understand that and I accept it. But even if I could, this would be my decision. And I have made my decision." Alice moved so that she was crouched on the bed her knees folded under her. She stood up on her knees right in front of me. With her raised up on the bed she almost met my face. I stood in front of bed and watched as she came towards me slowly. She kissed my neck first, the one place she could really reach. She moved her tiny hands to the buttons of my shirt, undoing each one and placing a kiss on any area of skin she exposed.

"Alice. You need to be sure because much more of this and I won't be able to stop."

"Please. You've stopped each time I've asked you to before. But that doesn't matter I'm sure. And it's not like I'm totally inexperienced."

She was right. Over the last month we had been testing out physical limits, experiencing with what made her comfortable. But this was the final step and I knew I had to stop her before I went crazy from need.

"Alice…"

"Jasper, I swear to God if you try to talk me out of this one more time I will go down to the lobby dressed like this and I will find someone who is willing to sleep with me!"

I gave up. I shrugged off my shirt throwing it across the room before pulling her face up towards me. "Finally!" Alice yelled as I attacked her neck before she pulled us both down to the bed.

I could feel the familiar hum of my pulse just thinking about her. I heard my cellphone chirp. And say what? I sighed. I couldn't blame her. I didn't know what to say, I was hoping her normal verbosity would come up with something. I texted back quickly, I don't know. I just don't want it to end like this. I love… I stopped typing. I couldn't tell her I loved her, she would never make it if I did. I deleted the last sentence. I care about you.

The familiar beep sounded again as I flipped to the last page of the album. You know where I stand. I'm tired of secrets.

She still thought it was just about going public. I couldn't blame her, it was what I made her think, what I wanted her to think. I closed the phone. It would be better for both of us this way. I pushed the box back under my bed and closed my eyes. I tried to sleep but the sound of Alice crying was all I could hear.