Chapter Seven
Nessie POV
Stop crying. Stop crying. Stop crying.
Although the mantra continues in my head, my eyes don't seem to be paying attention and the tears continue to pool on my bottom lids.
Emmett and Rosalie get in the front of the car without looking back or saying a word. I know that Rose must strongly disapprove of what I'd said to Alice, and I half expect to have her say something about it, but she says nothing as she clicks in the seat belt and the two of them stare straight ahead while we wait for Jasper and Alice to finally join us.
Two or three minutes passes and I see them approaching out of the corner or my eye. I tense automatically, not wanting Alice to sit next to me for the full day it will take us to get back to New Hampshire.
The tears stop when dread takes over as my primary emotion and I stop breathing while I wait to see which one of them it is that slides in first.
Jasper opens the door and pauses for a moment, giving Alice the opportunity to get in. She doesn't take it though.
Another few seconds pass and after a silent exchange I couldn't see, Jasper slips in and across to the middle seat beside me.
I recoil further into the door and try to shut everything off. Sitting next to Jasper isn't the most uncomfortable thing I could be experiencing, but I also don't want him studying and adjusting my every feeling either.
Once Alice is inside the car as well, Emmett wastes no time flicking the engine to life and we pull out of the parking lot and turn left to head north.
"Call Bella. Let her know we're coming home," Alice says to Rose.
My stomach twists with nerves at her instruction and it hits me once again that I will have to face my parents again in roughly twenty-four hours. Instantly, tears return to my eyes and I quickly wipe them on my sleeve.
Why couldn't they say they didn't want to look for me? I wonder to myself and glance around the car discreetly.
"Hey, we've got her. We're coming home," Rose says quietly down the phone line.
"Thank God." I hear Mom say from the other end. "Make sure she doesn't run again."
"We will," Rose promises unconvincingly and looks at me in the rear-vision mirror as if she thought I was possible gone already.
I turn my head further to the left and look out the window in an attempt to shield my face from her intrusive watch.
Mom says something else, but I don't pay close enough attention to catch the hurried words and Rose hangs up without saying anything in response.
Emmett navigates his way out of the short and bending suburban streets quickly and before long we're on a highway going well over the limit as usual. It seems that, for whatever reason, he's very eager to get back to the house and the chaos that awaits us.
Or maybe he just doesn't want to spend more time than necessary cramped in this car.
Either way, his lead foot isn't doing me any favors.
"It's not going to be as bad as you think," Jasper says so quietly I can barely hear him from six inches away.
I turn my head halfway to face him and give a look of skepticism.
A fleeting sense of trust and calm penetrates my mind and I know it's him, but it doesn't linger and in a moment it's gone again. He's just using his gift to communicate non-verbally with me.
I reach my left hand out a little from where it was wrapped around the right side of my body and easily touch his side without anyone else noticing the movement.
Jasper moves ever-so-slightly at the contact, but still hides it well. He doesn't jump again when I push my fingertips under the edge of his shirt and press them into his skin.
Thanks for dragging it out this long, I say through my touch on his hip.
I curl my fingers back into a ball and retract my arm again.
A few seconds later I feel an unnatural bout of lethargy overtaking me and I know it's him again. He's giving me the chance to sleep through this rather than suffer.
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