Knock knock
"Yes?"
The bedroom door opened, and Alenia glanced at her mother as she entered. She looked her over speculatively. "Didnt expect you to be up," she said, and Alenia looked back at her clock from the bottom of the bed. "Couldn't sleep," she replied, fixing her eyes back to the Egyptian Myths book at her tucked up legs. "Gave up trying at 4 30."
Carla shook her head at her daughter, the occasion insomniac, and wondered whether something was on her mind.
"How was school?" She hadn't had chance to talk to her since finishing her last shift, by which time Alenia was in bed. She shrugged, but her fingers were tapping on the page.
"Better than home," she finally breathed, tearing her eyes from the page and looking at her mother with a smile. A genuine one that told her that this move was a good idea.
"Scott mentioned you made some friends?"
She nodded, and her eyes were thoughtful. Alenia once again glanced back at the clock, before snapping her head back round to stare.
"Really wish I got some sleep," she laughed sleepily, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands, and brushing her long curls from her face.
"Well, I'm off to work Sweet, is Scott taking you today?"
Her daughter's amber eyes were wide and pensive, and looked up to Carla with slight excitment. "..no..."
She smiled and laughed at her expression. "Flying then?"
Alenia shook her head. "A friend is picking me up." At that she averted her gaze with a shy smile. "Boy?"
She nodded sheepishly, and suddenly it made sense. She was a self confessed neurotic, one that basically only showed nerves, and this was one of these moments. So much like her father, she thought with a laugh. "You'd better tell me about him later," she said, and kissed her daughter on the forehead before leaving her to wave goodbye hastily...
So nosy, she thought herself, just like her brother.
Alenia looked back down to the book at her feet, she same one she had been trying to focus on since her half hour nap a few hours before. Every so often, she would think she heard a tapping at her window, but told herself it was a branch. A branch in the very still breeze, however. She would take her mind of it by thinking about something else, and her mind trailed back to the other potent subject, and she would become nervous instead of uneasy. It was a constant battle over which she preferred, or hated most, and it was giving her a head ache as well as lack of sleep. And now, she dared not go to sleep, she thought to herself as she yawned for the thousandth time...
Jasper moved unusually fast that morning, fast, and...jittery. Jittery was not a word in Jasper's vocabulary, much less in his movements. And yet today, so far, he had knocked over and saved Esme's favourite glass vase, lost one out of 4 games to Emmett, of all opponents to lose to, and allowed twice for Edward to break into his mental defenses. Only for a second, of course, but it was enough to receive knowing glances from his overly perceptive younger brother. Passing in the hall on his way out, he was stopped by his taller sibling, and his eyes had softened considerably since he threw that image which had angered him so.
"Nervous?" He asked him, a small smile playing in his eyes. Jasper merely frowned at the notion, as a soldier, he turned a blind eye to such trivial emotions. He pushed passed his brother to get to the door, but he was already there to stop him.
"You're as bad as I was when I first met Bella," he remarked, not shifting from his guarding stance one bit. "You never picked me up on it; of course you gathered I was nervous, but you never related to it," he added, thought in his eyes, and Jasper caught the quick glance toward the door at the top of the stair case.
With a curt nod to show agreement, Edward moved aside, allowing Jasper outside, not registering the tapping fingers tucked into the pockets of his leather jacket...
The door opened to reveal a tall, dark haired young man, who reminded him of someone familiar. Off him radiated levels of..protectiveness? Jasper's eyebrow arched in recognition.
"You're here for Ni?"
Jasper nodded, and Scott mistook his stoic expression for arrogance, judging by the contemptuous judgement in his eyes. Many had the same impression upon first meeting.
"Jasper," he offered, and held his out his hand from his pocket. Scott eyed it suspiciously, before slowly accepting it. "Scott, Ni's brother." His brown goes glanced over Jasper's shoulder for a moment, before retreating back into the house. Inside he heard footsteps descending down the steps. "He's here," Scott's voice whispered, and nervousness flowed though him, and he didnt know who's was who's. She appeared in the door way, and it increased, and suddenly Edward's words made sense. He never felt this for Alice. He didnt feel it this strongly when he recognised the fellow vampire across the diner. Yes, he felt accepted, in a way, and a sense of belonging. But only with his kind, not with her so much.
"Hello," she breathed with smile, her voice low, and he grinned in return. "Morning," he said, and caught the brother glancing between them protectively. Jasper finally realised who he reminded him of, more in features, he never knew the man personally, but recognised the missing person picture on the news a couple of years ago. Riley. Thankfully, this guy was sane, unlike the picture painted of Riley by Edward. Just displaying the elder brother routine.
"Ok?" Alenia said, bouncing slightly on her feet. Scott nodded, and the two students made their way to the car...
"Bored?" Jasper chuckled as Alenia yawned for the second time since the journey began. She shook her head hastily. "Didnt get much sleep," she reasoned, laughing at his paranoid assumption.
"How come?" He asked, and she blushed lightly. "No reason," she said, and the incident at the window nudged back into her mind.
"Worried," he whispered, and Alenia looked back to him. "Sorry?"
He cleared his throat, and his hands shifted slightly on the wheel. "Worried about something?"
Alenia shook her head in a lie, focusing on how the word seemed more stated than questioned. It was silent for a second as he paused to think. "You're worried, perhaps uneasy, about something," he observed, his eyes staring ahead as he drove but not particularly focused. Alenia thought it was strange, but maybe he just heard it in her voice. Maybe he was just very intuitive.
"Just my imagination playing tricks on me, I guess," she began, also looking ahead. She felt eyes on her, though.
"What happened?"
"Thought I heard something at my window, like a tap, but I looked outside and no one was there...then there was something in the bushes," she recalled, remembering the goosebumps on her forearms.
"...and?" he pursued, more than questioned. Like he knew there was more.
"I felt like I was being watched, and I'm usually right about those feelings," she admitted...
Jasper couldn't think straight. Despite trying, and failing to convince himself it was paranoia though the majority of last night, the feeling he got then tugged at his memory as she spoke, indicating a connection.
Bastard, he growled mentally, at no one in particular, but already knowing in his mind who it was.
