Musical Suggestion: Souls On Ten - The Almost

AN: TOTALLY my bad for taking so long to post this. As I've already mentioned I am amidst exams right now and I thought I would have a little more free time than I actually do. Thankfully I only have one more left (Greek Philosophy - exhilarating I know) which means I will have infinitely more free time very soon. This chapter is longer and filled with more Alice/Jasper interaction so I hope you'll all enjoy. The music I've assigned to this chapter is from one of my favourite bands of all time so I highly recommend checking them out as there will be a lot of their stuff assigned to this story. Also, I'm making a few new graphics for this story so I'll probably post the link to them with the next chapter. If you want to see some of the previous stuff I have made for it check out p3rfume[dot]deviantart[dot]com. Let me know what you think! And remember REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW !!!

Oh, and I totally apologize if there are any mistakes in this as I have not done a great job editing it, I wanted to get it posted as soon as I could. I'm a terrible person, sorry :(

Jasper

I could not believe the effect that Alice had on me; it was uncanny. Even just standing in her room, a foot away from her, talking, left me completely breathless. It was disgusting how much I was attracted to her, even in her sweatpants.

I left her room after an hour of conversation; I was sure that Emmett would have noticed my absence and wondered where I had gone off too. The last thing I needed was him to find me in Alice's room. Something told me he would rip my head off if he found out I was interested in his 'baby sister' (as he described her) even though he was completely infatuated with mine. Emmett had never been a fan of my actions and he seemingly knew the majority of my dirty deeds with other girls. I'm not sure he would appreciate my interest in Alice, but with her it was entirely different. For once I wanted someone for who they were and not what they could do to me in bed. Having Alice around seemed to hold me back from sleeping around, which was something I just naturally did. For the first time ever I wanted a real relationship. And that alone scared the shit out of me.

That night, after Rosalie had picked me up from the Cullens' place and after I was good and wasted, all I could do is think of her, which only resulted in my body rebelling against me. Whenever this happened I normally would just give one of my regulars a call and it would be over with within the hour, but this time, that was never an option that crossed my mind. I knew it wouldn't help; the only thing that would help would be her. Needless to say I spent a good majority of the night in pain as I willed for sleep to come. The rest of the weekend was brutal, not being able to see her and not thinking of a legitimate excuse to 'stop by' their house. Edward was spending the entire weekend with Bella and I silently cursed her for it. He was my only way in.

When Monday morning arrived, however, I was more than anticipating second period. I arrived at the room before anyone else, awaiting the moment in which Alice would arrive. Lauren arrived second, immediately taking a spot a few inches closer to me than was really necessary.

"You didn't call me this weekend." She brushed her fingers through my hair and I pulled back, not having any of it. There wasn't any part of my body that wanted her to touch me. She was probably the biggest mistake I ever made.

"I was busy." I said in attempts to make it blatantly obvious that I was done screwing around with her. I was thankful that more people arrived before she could say anything else. I started taking to a few other people, Lauren still beside me, and to be honest, she was wearing far too much perfume. That was another thing about Alice that I found; she smelt fantastic, even from a few feet away. It was not a significantly strong scent, but it was just enough to make it incredibly sexy. I was convinced that everything about her was sexy in a way. I kept peering over to the door, waiting for Alice to walk through. When she finally did, I did not take my eyes from her. Much to my satisfaction, she starred right back. I was not about to look away; I wanted her to know that I was completely and utterly infatuated with her.

With a sudden edge of confidence I motioned for her to leave so I could follow and she received the nod exactly the way in which it was intended. I followed her out, leaving a few steps between us to make sure no one suspected anything. When I rounded the corner I found her standing at her locker, weight shifted on her one foot, heels significantly higher than they had been before. I figured that was due to the nice weather. I had only seen her wear one pair of boots that weren't high heels. They were thigh-high, suede, and I remembered that she had worn them with an over-sized men's dress shirt. The girl had so much style it was hard to fathom most of the time. Once I let myself wonder if what was underneath was just as fashionable as what was on top; that thought alone did terrible things to me. I had never wanted someone so bad in my life.

"Morning." She said as I approached. I had to take a minute to make sure my words came out right.

"Morning," was all I could muster.

"So," Alice began as she threw her stuff in her locker. "Do we just walk around and do nothing in this class, because that is the sense I've gotten so far?"

"Pretty much." I chuckled. That was the main reason anyone took photography. "I think I am the only one that actually does anything."

"So you're an avid photographer I take it?" She asked, leaning up against the locker, and folded her arms over her chest.

"It's what I want to go to school for." I admitted. I had always wanted to be a professional photographer. I'm not sure why, but I think it had something to do with the fact that it was guaranteed to get me out of this place. I could never be an established photographer in Forks; that just was not happening.

"Interesting." She was quiet for a moment and then, with a burst of energy, blurted out, "We're going outside!" And then she turned quick on her heels and moved fast towards the door. I was entirely confused until we emerged from the school and were met with bursting rays of sunlight. It was the first time I had felt the warmth of sunlight in a very long time. I basked in it for a moment and turned to Alice, who was also basking in the sunlight, spinning, around and around in circles. Without even thinking, I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture. I'm not even sure she had noticed, and I'm not sure I had ever been so excited about developing a picture before. That was the one downside to SLR cameras. It was in that moment I felt as if I could take a million pictures of her just living in the moment she was. Now, don't get me wrong, whenever the sun shone here there were very few people that actually went to class, but I had never seen someone so happy to see it's light. There were dozens of people around us, lounging on the grass, sitting on cars and at picnic tables, walking around, laughing, but in that very moment all I could see was her.

"Do you want to get out of here?" I asked out of nowhere. I was not even sure where I wanted to go. I just wanted to be with her… away from here.

She stopped spinning on a dime and starred at me for a moment. Then she smiled, "Definitely."

When I had arrived that morning I had immediately noticed the bright, canary-yellow Porsche that was sitting in the parking lot. I found myself chuckling out loud, assuming that it was Alice's. There was no other option. I was not surprised when I then noticed her getting out of the driver's seat. She was already walking towards the school before Emmett had even squeezed himself out of the front seat. I'm not sure I've ever laughed so hard. Rosalie had even noticed. She said, "No wonder he drives that giant jeep." I think it might have been the first time I had ever heard her pay any mind to Emmett. Little did she know he had been crazy over her since we had moved here a few years back.

Alice walked – wait, no, pranced – to the car and climbed into the front seat. I had never seen her so happy and, quite frankly, never wanted to see her in a bad mood again. There was just something about the way she hopped around, not bothered by anything, that made her shine even more than usual. I climbed into the seat next to her and she sped off out of the parking lot. Talk about a stealthy exit. Emmett was going to murder me.

I was pretty sure she was just turning aimlessly, without any clue of where she was or where we were going. So I began directing her towards the only place I knew had anything decent to do; Port Angeles. I knew that with the way she was driving we would get there in no time. After about a half an hour she finally asked, "Where exactly are we going?"

"Port Angeles." I answered, nodding my head. She looked at me, confused, but with no intention of turning back around. We arrived at the edge of the town a few minutes later. Alice parked in the first available spot along the strip and hopped out of the car. I followed and put a few quarters in the parking meter. The town was pretty busy for a Monday afternoon due to the beautiful sunshine. Shops had their doors and windows propped open, there were some table's set outside a few of the cafes and you could see a bunch of people scattered along the beach at the end of the strip.

"So what are we doing?" Alice asked, the hop in her step was still extremely prevalent. "You're the expert here."

"How about Starbucks?" I asked. It was always my first stop whenever I came to Port Angeles. I kept walking until I realized that Alice was no longer beside me. I turned around, only to find her paused dead in her tracks, staring at me with a look of shock plastered over her face.

"Starbucks?" Her voice sounded strained. "Like a real Starbucks?"

"Yeah?" I said, partially forming a question with my tone. I was a little confused until she let out a high-pitched squealed and did this little dance. "Excited?"

"You think?" She stopped and bounced back to my side, looping her arm through mine without hesitation. "I have not had a Starbucks in what feels like forever!"

I was back in my element. I silently praised the developers of Port Angeles for deciding to build a Starbucks.

Alice chatted away, keeping her arm latched onto mine. Talking to her seemed to be effortless. The conversation went from what television shows were the best to watch in a marathon to what our favorite music was. We did not have a lot in common but I was starting to realize that it was better that way. She had been the only girl ever that had not tried to prove anything. Alice was Alice, and that was exactly the way I liked her.

When we arrived at Starbucks we went right to the front. I paid for her extremely complicated, grande-latte thing, much to her dismay, and ordered just a regular coffee for myself. When we received our order we walked to the patio and sat down at an open table. Out of her bag she pulled a pair of giant, bug-eyed sunglasses and put them on her face. I had never understood the appeal of those things, but they seemed to suit her.

"Why can't it be like this all the time?" Alice asked, crossing her legs and basking in the sunlight.

"That would be nice. Even after years of being here I still have not gotten used to it." I said.

"Where are you from, originally?" She inquired. "Somewhere south I presume."

I laughed, she had obviously picked up on the hint of the accent I once had. "Texas. My Ma still lives there."

"You live here with your Dad then?"

"Yep, and Rosalie." I looked at my feet.

"Don't get along with him?" It was as if she could read my mind. It was getting strange.

"Not really, no." I admitted. It wasn't as if I had too, she seemed to know it herself. "How could you tell?"

"You looked at your feet when I brought him up." Alice informed me.

"And you're a psychiatrist?"

"Well, I've seen enough of them to remember what they point out." She admitted and paused for a moment. "Looking down or away means that you are avoiding something. Tell me about it."

I looked at her for a moment. She had removed her sunglasses so I could see her eyes. They were filled with genuine concern and affection. Then, as if there was no hesitation, the words came flowing out. "My mother and father started having troubles when I was around ten years old, Rosalie was eleven. They had never been particularly affectionate towards each other from what I can remember; they are two completely different people, but it seemed to go downhill very fast. My Dad was a high school teacher and had been having an affair with student of his for at least a year when my mother had caught him. She gave him the chance to end it, to try and fix things, but he just wound up getting his mistress pregnant. When my mother caught wind of this she went to the school and had him fired. The school then informed the parents of the girl and they left the state." I paused for a moment. Alice was still looking my way. She nodded her head to urge me to keep going. "In the middle of the divorce my mother started drinking heavily. My father was trying everything he could to get sole custody of us. The judge wasn't having it until one night my mother, who was far too drunk at the time, decided she was leaving the house and taking us with her. Rosalie and I never said anything even though we knew she was drunk; we just got into the car and off she drove. She made it onto the onramp of the freeway, that's when she lost control of the vehicle and totaled it."

Alice's eyes widened for a moment and looked away. "We're you okay?"

"Rosalie broke her arm." I answered. "And apart from some nasty bruises, I was fine."

"What about your Ma?" Alice asked.

I looked away for a moment. "Physically, she was fine. Mentally, however, shattered." I looked back to Alice and she nodded her head as if she knew exactly what I meant, and for the first time ever, I felt as if somebody genuinely understood.

Alice was quiet for a moment before continuing, "What happened after that?"

"Well, my father felt it was necessary to use that incident in court. He was granted immediate custody of us." I tried not to spit at the words. My father's actions so many years ago had destroyed both Rosalie and I. We needed a mother, and the woman our father married after moving to Forks was anything but. It's surprising Rosalie turned out as well as she did. "Then we moved here. He married my evil, twenty-six year old stepmother and lived happily ever after."

"Twenty-six?" Alice chuckled. "That's a little scandalous."

"You think?" I had to laugh. It just defined the sleaze my father was. "It doesn't matter though. I am getting out of here as soon as I turn eighteen."

"And where is it you are going to go?" Alice asked. A slight glimmer in her eye appeared.

"Back to Texas. I'd give anything to live with my Ma again." I admitted honestly.

"Well, at least you can go back to her." Alice looked at her feet, taking in a few deep breaths with her eyes closed.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" She had offered her ears to me, it was only right I do the same.

"I can't… just yet." Alice looked back towards me. I knew that it would take her a while to talk about it, I mean, Edward and Emmett did not even know the full story, but I was okay with that. It was not as if I was going anywhere anytime soon.

Unless it was with her, that is.