Augenblicke - The Twilight Twenty-Five - Round 8
Thetwilight25 dot com
.
Prompt: #13
Pen name: TiramiSue84
Pairing/ Characters: Alice/Jasper
Rating: T
Word count:467
.
Photo prompts can be found here
Thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts
.
It's been a while since I last stood in front of this door with my hand raised, knocking three times, just like I used to. Back then when things were real and great, that was our thing: three knocks followed by one tap with the tip of your shoe. I forego the last part this time.
I don't want to be here, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want me to be, either. Still, I wait a good two minutes before I knock again and then two more. I know she's home. She's just being an asshole. Well, two can play that game.
A finger moves to the doorbell and presses... presses... presses, forcing her to drop her act in the most obnoxious way.
The tirade of annoyance dies on my lips as the door finally opens and she stands, half hiding behind the white, wooden door. Dark hair is worn down and messy; her lips are a pale pink, not a bright red. There's no jewelry dangling from her ears and arms, or makeup sheeting her eyes and face. Thin fabric doesn't cling to her every curve; they're hidden by a mass of thick wool.
She's not standing in heels; her feet are as bare as her legs, as herself.
Her smile isn't wide and fake as it usually is these days. She's not smiling at all.
"Alice?"
Blue eyes flicker up to meet my face once, and then she's gone, shuffling up the stairs, leaving me behind on the cusp of being either here or there. There being the part where I place her homework assignments on the coffee table and walk out and home as if nothing happened and everything stays as it is. Here being the part where I follow her up and re-tie binds that had been split years ago.
The door falls closed behind me, and I take the steps two at a time.
She looks so young and small sitting on her bed; so pure without the cover of her mask.
Just like she did back then, the only difference being that she was a kid back then and is a beautiful, young woman now.
If only I could have her like this all the time. Not sad and frail, but with her walls down and that ridiculous veil of plastic she likes to dress herself with gone. If only she would stop trying to be someone she is not.
"Alice." Toeing off my shoes, I settle down next to her.
"They are getting divorced. He found someone else… They're having a baby." Her words are as chopped as her breathing.
Two years of nothing disappear as I wrap my arms around her and lay us down, her face in my neck, her sobs on my skin.
Again, I have to thank Bigblueboat for reading this over for me and fixing my nonsense. :)
Thanks so much for reading!