(Jasper's POV)
I was watching Bella sleep again. Her sleep-talking didn't start until later than usual, which wasn't alarming. But what she said was.
First, her emotions went haywire. I didn't think anything about it, figuring it was just her dream, which it was. But I didn't think it was that bad.
"No! Don't leave me! Not again!" Bella was now tossing and turning, obviously having a nightmare.
I shook her, trying to wake her up. But Bella's a deep sleeper, and her nightmare continued for a few more minutes before her eyes shot open.
She sat up, breathing hard. I sat up too and put a hand on her back, trying to calm her down. The rate of which her heart was beating was scaring me a little. She looked at me and started crying. "You're here," she choked out.
I pulled her into my arms, while she cried on my shoulder. "Shhh. Bella. It was just a dream."
She just continued to sob and grabbed a fistful of my shirt tightly. I practically drowned her in serenity, but it did little good.
Eventually, Bella was able to look up at me, eyes bloodshot and tears still streaming down her face.
I brushed her tears away gently with my thumb. "Bella. What happened?"
She didn't answer my question. Instead she asked, "This isn't just a bad dream, is it?"
"What?" I asked confused. Didn't she just have a bad dream?
"You being here? I'm not gonna wake up and find out this was all a dream and you're not really here."
My arms tightened around her. "No, I'm really here, Bella."
"How can I be sure?"
I pinched her.
"Ow!" She exclaimed.
I laughed softly. "If you were dreaming would you have felt that?"
"No."
"See. I'm really here." I kissed her forehead and looked her straight in the eye. "And I'm not going anywhere."
She relaxed and rested her head on my shoulder, eyes closed. "I love you, Jasper."
I ran my fingers gently through her hair while holding her securely with my other arm. "I love you too, Bella. You think you can sleep now?"
She shook her head. She was still scared, but at least her heart rate had slowed down.
I sent out another wave of calm as I tucked Bella in again, lying down next to her. I wrapped my arms around her and she snuggled close to me, more content now.
"Feeling better?" I asked quietly.
"Yeah." She let out a shaky breath. "It was just a stupid dream. It didn't mean anything."
Her emotions gave her away. She was really afraid of the dream coming true.
I brought my hand to her face and forced her to look at me. I sang quietly, "Wherever you go, you know I'll be there." I kissed her forehead before singing the next line. "If you go far, you know I'll be there. I'll go anywhere. So I'll see you there."
Bella managed a small smile.
"I'm not Edward. I'll never leave you," I said.
Her smile widened. "And that's why I love you. You're always there when I need you." She shook her head. "Stupid dream. I need to stop eating cheese before I go to bed. Angela told me it gives you weird dreams."
I laughed. "Go to sleep."
Bella nodded. "Okay." She rested her head on my chest and closed her eyes. I ran my fingers gently through her hair as I watched her sleep. The nightmare didn't come back.
(Bella's POV)
I kissed Jasper as he dropped me off at school on Monday. "I love you."
He returned the kiss with a smile. "I love you too. Have a good day. I'll be here after school." He didn't pull back far to speak.
All I could think about the feel of his lips on mine.
He laughed. "Bella, breathe."
I pulled back and breathed. Once I had recovered from being dazzled once again (stupid vampires), I opened the car door and got out, and of course being me, I tripped.
I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the impact with the ground. And of course it never came. Jasper caught me.
He stood me upright. "Be careful."
"I'll try. But I can't guarantee anything," I joked.
He pulled me into a hug. "Don't make me worry about you."
"Don't worry. I'll be careful."
"Ok, good. I love you."
"I love you too." I smiled up at him and wrapped my arms around his neck before pulling him into a kiss.
We were in our own world, nothing else mattered.
The kiss was getting pretty heated when we heard someone (Alice) scream, "Get a room!"
We broke apart and I blushed. And if Jasper could, he would've been blushing too.
Jasper ran his fingers through his hair and said, "You should probably get to class."
"Yeah. I should."
Jasper gave me another quick kiss before getting back in his car.
I watched him speed off and then started walking to my first class.
When I got to class, my day did a one-eighty.
Edward was waiting for me outside the classroom with a bouquet of long stem red roses.
He held them out to me.
"What do you want?" I hissed.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry. I was out of line," he said in a voice that at one time would have made me lose all train of thought at the mere sound of it. But not today. Not today or ever again.
I shoved the flowers back at him. "Yeah. You were. You had no right." My voice was starting to border on tears at the memory of what he put me through those few days without Jasper.
The hand holding the flowers dropped back to his side. He sighed. "Will you just let me explain?"
I crossed my arms. "Fine. Explain."
"I had a... feeling that you were in serious trouble. I ran over there as fast as I could." He paused as a group of students walked past us.
He looked into my eyes. Why was I still listening to him. And why couldn't I look away?
He continued. "When I saw you were okay, I couldn't help it. I was so worried about you. Bella, I know now that I will always love you."
I forced myself to look away. "Bullshit."
The bell rang at that moment. "Thank God," I muttered under my breath.
Edward motioned for me to enter first.
The day continued with Edward's idiotic gentleman behavior- pulling my chair out for me, holding doors open for me, offering to carry my bag.
I was relieved when lunch came around. Alice was there.
I noticed that Edward followed me to the table I sat at with Alice. But Alice stopped him before he got there.
I heard her tell him, "Edward. Back off. You've caused enough damage. I know what you're trying to do. It's not working."
He glared at her. "Stay out of it Alice."
"I will not just let you do that to my best friend! Do you have any idea how upset she was?"
They were now both talking so fast and low that I couldn't hear anything anymore.
I sat down and got my lunch out of my backpack.
Alice sat down next to me. I looked around and realized that Edward had left the cafeteria.
Alice told me, "He won't be bothering you again today."
"Where'd he go?"
"Seattle," she said absently. All of a sudden she perked up. "Hey! We should have a sleepover!"
"But you don't sleep," I pointed out.
She rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. Seriously, we haven't hung out in such a long time!"
"You dragged me and Jasper to the mall for like ten hours like a week ago!"
She sighed. "Fine. If you don't want to have a sleepover..."
Damn Alice. She knows how to put me on a guilt trip. "No! I'll come! I wanna spend time with you. You're my best friend!"
Alice cheered up instantly and hugged me. "Great! I already called Charlie at the station and he says it's a great idea!"
I rolled me eyes. "I should've known."
Alice ignored me. "I already packed your stuff too. Jasper's gonna bring you over after school."
"Okay."
The bell rang and Alice gave me another hug before skipping off to her next class. Geez. She's like the energizer bunny on speed.
I walked to my own class, wondering what torture Alice would put me through. Truth or Dare? Makeover? Pedicure? The possibilities were endless.
I waited anxiously for the end of the day. Once the final bell rang I practically ran to the student parking lot. I hated being away from Jasper, even for a few hours.
I saw him leaning against his car with a warm smile on his face.
I broke into a grin and ran into his open arms.
He pulled me close. "Someone's happy," he commented.
"Of course I'm happy. I'm with you." I closed my eyes and rested my head on his chest.
"So, you ready for the sleepover Alice planned?"
I groaned. "She's gonna give me another makeover, isn't she?"
"You'll see."
I looked up at him suspiciously. "You know what she planned, don't you?"
He gave me a sly grin. "Maybe. Maybe not."
I hit his arm lightly. "You're a big help," I said sarcastically.
He laughed. "I know. We should probably get going."
I sighed over dramatically. "Fine. I guess it's time to face the energizer bunny on speed."
Jasper laughed. "Alice's new title?"
"Yep."
He held the passenger door open for me before he got in the driver's seat and started the car. He didn't speed this time.
He grabbed my hand and asked casually, "So, how was your day?"
Should I tell him about Edward? I decided to tell him later so I just said, "It was okay. Nothing that interesting happened."
"Did Edward bother you?"
I froze. I guess I should tell him. "He uh, got me flowers. He was being really weird.. like he told me that he still loves me and apologized."
"And...?"
"I told him it was bullshit."
Jasper laughed. "Good."
Before I knew it, Jasper was pulling into the Cullen's driveway.
He stopped the car and looked at me. "Ready?"
"I think so."
In a split second, Jasper was holding my door open and waiting for me to get out.
I unbuckled my seat belt and let Jasper help me out of the car so I wouldn't trip again.
We walked hand in hand to the front door.
Once we were inside, Alice came running from the living room with Emmett right behind her. They both pulled me into a bone-crushing group hug.
"Glad to see you too, guys," I choked out. "But I really need to breathe."
They let go of me and Alice started jumping up and down. "This is gonna be so frickin' awesome!"
"What is?" I asked cautiously.
"You'll see."
I rolled my eyes. Alice led everyone to the living room where I saw what she had been talking about.
It was a karaoke machine with a bunch of CDs next to it.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Alice shook her head. "Nope! And I get to pick the songs."
"You're not getting me to sing," I said definitely.
"We'll see about that."
I flopped down on the couch. Might as well get this over with. I thought I had endured every torturous thing Alice could come up with- shopping, makeovers, more shopping, truth or dare... But apparently she'd come up with one more.
Jasper sat down next to me. "This should be interesting."
Emmett said, "I wanna go first! I wanna go first!" He was jumping up and down excitedly.
"I already have your song picked out."
Emmett rolled his eyes. "I can handle it."
"Are you sure?"
"Just play the damn song!"
"Ok, ok! Geez!" A few seconds later, Emmett was standing in front of the TV holding the microphone.
I heard the music start. I started laughing as I recognized the song. It was, "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" by The Offspring.
Jasper was trying not to laugh too as Emmett started singing.
Give it to me baby
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Give it to me baby
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Give it to me baby
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
And all the girlies say I'm pretty fly
For a
white guy.
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, cinco, seis.
You
know it's kind of hard
Just to get along today.
Our subject
isn't cool,
But he fakes it anyway.
He may not have a clue;
And
he may not have style.
But everything he lacks
Well he makes up
in denial.
So don't debate, a player straight
You know he
really doesn't get it anyway.
He's gonna play the field, and keep
it real.
For you no way, for you no way.
So if you don't rate,
just overcompensate.
At least you'll know you can always go on
Ricki Lake.
The world needs wannabe's.
So (Hey! Hey!) do that
brand new thing.
By now Emmett was attempting to dance and Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, ans I were laughing our asses off.
Emmett finished his song and turned to glare at us. "I'd like to see you do better!"
"I could kick your ass at singing any day," Jasper challenged.
Alice jumped up from the couch and rifled through the CDs. She pulled out one.
Now it was Jasper's turn.
The guitars started and Jasper focused on the song. Nothing else.
He started singing.
When I was young I was invincible,
I find myself now thinking
twice,
I never thought about no future,
its just the roll of
the dice.
My jaw dropped in shock. Jasper sounded completely different. His voice was still amazing, just different. It was deeper with just the slightest hint of a southern accent, and it sounded edgier somehow.
But the day may come when you've got something to lose,
and
just when you think you're done paying dues
And you say to
yourself, dear God what Have I done?
And hope its not too late
'cause tomorrow may never come.
Jasper started on the chorus. His back was to me, but I knew for a fact that he was singing with his eyes closed. He almost always did. He concentrated better that way.
Reach For the Sky, 'cause tomorrow may never come
Reach For
the Sky, 'cause tomorrow may never come
Yesterday is history and tomorrow's a mystery
But baby
right now, its just about you and me,
You can run you can hide,
just like Bonnie and Clyde
Reach for the sky ain't never gonna
die,
and I thank the Lord for the love I have found
and hold
you tight cause tomorrow may never come.
Jasper finished the song. He turned around to face us. Emmett was looking shocked. "How did you...?" He couldn't finish his sentence.
Jasper smirked. "Told you I'd kick your ass."
He sat down next to me on the couch. "So, what'd you think?"
"That was amazing!" I'd never noticed until now just how wide of a vocal range Jasper had. He could transition from Boys Like Girls to Social Distortion in a split second.
"Guess who's next!" Alice said excitedly. She was looking right at me.
"Oh crap."
A/N: Yeah... karaoke bit was kinda random. But I really wanted to have Emmett sing "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" 'cause really, who can't see him singing that song. lol. And this was the only way I could incorporate that. Plus I really wanted Jazz to sing Social D. Don't ask why. Anyhoo, so the songs in order were "Poprocks and Coke" by Green Day, "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" by The Offspring, and "Reach For The Sky" by the almighty Social Distortion! Yes I did just call them the almighty. But it's totally true. XD Oh, and Sam wrote most of the beginning of Bella's POV... so thanks again Sam!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
