It's a miracle, I'm not late with updating! I even have the next chapter started :) I hope you guys enjoy the new chapter and a huge thank you to all those who have favorited, followed, and reviewed this story! Feel free to give me criticisms and I hope you guys have a good Memorial Day weekend :)
The Cullen's house was remarkably open and bright for being a vampire den. I expected some sort of gothic victorian with a cemetery in the front yard, not a white modern building with more windows than a greenhouse. It was a stalker's wet dream. Just seeing the ridiculous amount of windows made me want to give them black-out curtains as a gift. Clearly, the myth about vampires being burned in the sun was wrong.
"Do you guys even own curtains because I'm not seeing any?" I asked Jasper as we walked up to the door and he chuckled.
"It's good to see that you are in better spirits than earlier." He responded smoothly.
"Of course I'm in better spirits. I now know that I'm not going to be your 'snack that smiles back'."
"The 'snack that smiles back'?" He raised an eyebrow at me as he opened the door to their lair.
"Haven't you ever seen a Goldfish commercial?" I questioned while taking a look around their house. Almost everything, from the walls to the carpet, was some shade of white. Just looking at the floor made me cringe at the thought of keeping the house clean. There was nobody around which made me feel both relieved and nervous. I honestly didn't know what would happen if I was left alone with him considering I had completely forgotten about my number 4 on my to-do list. #4: Get rid of my attraction to Jasper.
"Why would they have a commercial to promote eating goldfish? Aren't they considered pets nowadays?" But, he was so damn adorable. Maybe I should just get rid of #4? I rolled my eyes at him as he led me up a set of stairs.
"No, Goldfish, as in the snack food. They are little orange crackers that are cheddar flavored. They even have little smiles on them, hence the slogan 'the snack that smiles back'." He stared at me incredulously before opening a large oak door to the right of us.
The door opened up into some sort of study. There were at least 7 different bookshelves, all filled to the brim with books. There was along a large wooden desk in the corner where Carlisle was sitting. He had a book in his hands, but I immediately spotted the medical equipment that was laid out in front of him. I sneakily hid my hands in my hoodie pockets before smirking at the doctor.
"Hey, Carlisle, how's it going?" I greeted him casually and he smiled at me before his face fell into a serious expression.
"I'm doing quite well, thank you for asking. However, it's your state I'm more concerned with at the moment." I let out a sigh before walking towards him, still making sure to keep my hands hidden. He moved from his chair and motioned for me to sit in it. I sat in it with a loud thump before smirking at him again, ignoring the pull of the cut on my lip.
"Do your worse, Doc." I said jokingly and he smiled at me.
As he started to examine me, I shifted my gaze to Jasper who was in the corner of the room. Judging by the expression on his face, my injuries looked worse than they did in his car. His face was a mix of anger and guilt, a combination that made my chest hurt.
"Hey, Jasper." I caught his attention while Carlisle was prodding at my left cheekbone. "You know this isn't your fault, right?" Jasper glanced away from me and I sighed. "Honestly, the world doesn't revolve around you." I told him jokingly and his posture relaxed slightly, but the stupid expression was still on his face. Mission: make Jasper stop blaming himself. Mission: accepted. "Wait, oh my god Jasper, did you send those guys after us?" I asked him in fake shock. He immediately looked at me in horror, but Carlisle didn't even pause before moving to examine the cut in my lip.
"What?! Of course not!" Jasper denied and then I smirked which Carlisle lightly reprimanded me for.
"Then why the hell are you blaming yourself? You weren't there. You didn't get us lost. You didn't make those guys be assholes. They did that all on their own. Therefore, it's not your fault, so stop blaming yourself." I ranted at him and it seemed to shock him out of his little bubble of guilt. "Besides, at least one of the guys got what he deserved. It'll serve as a lesson to the other douchebags." My final statement made the corner of his mouth tilt upwards. Mission: accomplished. It was probably the best I was going to get, so I turned my attention back to Carlisle who was staring at me with a raised eyebrow.
"He got what he deserved?" Carlisle questioned and a smile broke out on my face just thinking about it.
"Yeah, I beat the shit out of him. He'll probably be in the hospital for months." I told him happily and he nodded.
"I'm guessing you probably punched him?" Without thinking I nodded and then realized my mistake when his eyes went where I was hiding my hands. "Then you won't mind if I examine your hands? I should treat any scapes you have on them. We wouldn't want them to get infected." Damn. It was way more than a few scapes. My knuckles were screaming and my right wrist was twinging in pain. However, judging by Carlisle's expression, there was no way I was going to get out of showing them to him. Damn, I'm going to get a lot of shit for this.
I slowly pulled my hands out of my pocket and placed them into Carlisle's. His face revealed none of his thoughts and I made a note to myself to never play poker with him. Guy has a great poker face. Luckily, Carlisle was blocking Jasper's view of them. I was sure that Jasper wouldn't be too happy that I had fucked up my hands to the extent that I did. Even if it happened while beating the shit out of my almost rapist.
After a five minutes of Carlisle examining my hands, five minutes that were spent in awkward silence, he finally sighed. "Well, judging by the amount of bruising and flexibility, you have broken several knuckles and sprained your wrist as well." He confirmed and I sighed. "Your knuckle on both your index finger and your ring finger are broken on your right hand while the knuckles on your left hand are just bruised. Your right wrist is sprained, but not severally. The left side of your face is bruised as well, but luckily your cheekbone isn't shattered. Also, the cut in your lip is just superficial and should heal in a few days. It seems like the worst of your injuries are to your knuckles." Carlisle grabbed a few bandages that were laying on his desk and reached into a drawer to pull out some finger splints. "The best I can do in terms of treatment is bandage your wrist and splint the fingers with the broken knuckles." I nodded before smirking at him.
"Let me guess, the rest is just RICE? Rest, ice, compress, and elevate?" I asked sassily and he rolled his eyes at me. "This ain't my first rodeo, Doc. But, thank you for taking a look at me."
"It's not a problem, Willow." Carlisle responded with a smile before he started to splint my fingers and wrap my wrist. The movement was painful, but not unbearable. It helped that I had done far worse to my hands before this, so this was just a walk in the park. After he finished, Jasper led me down to the living room. We were sitting on the couch and Jasper was silent which was becoming very unnerving.
"So, where's Alice? I thought I was having a sleepover with the little Pixie." I asked him.
"She'll be back soon. She said something about wanting to get something to cheer you up." Jasper replied to me in an even monotone voice. Alright, what the hell is wrong with him now?
"Jasper, what's wrong? I thought you were over the whole blaming yourself bullshit." He frowned before letting out a long sigh.
"It's not that." He didn't elaborate and I glared at him.
"Then what the hell is wrong? Because clearly something is wrong. The whole room is full with tension and I can practically feel that you're upset. You haven't spoken to me since Carlisle's office and I'm getting really sick of it. If you're pissed at me, then just say so!" My voice vibrated with frustration and I was internally cursing myself for ever coming here. Sure I got fixed up, but I was not in the right mental state to deal with a pissed Jasper. I had been attacked just an hour ago and I was still shaken up. It didn't help that all I wanted was a cigarette to calm down and that the need for one was making my hands shake even more. Jasper stayed silent for several minutes before he finally turned to me.
"How many fights have you been in?" He asked me in a low voice and I shrugged.
"A lot, why the hell does it matter?" My response made his eyes go black and I could feel his anger vibrating in the anger.
"It matters because you got hurt because of it. You could have gotten away with just a bruise tonight if you had just left that asshole alone! You have broken knuckles and a sprained wrist because of yourself! Not because of some asshole, but because of your own actions!" Jasper growled at me and I felt my anger rise.
"So what?! Was I just supposed to leave the guy there without a scratch? The dude tried to fucking rape my sister and I! I wasn't about to let him get away with that!" My voice rose several octaves as I yelled at him. "What would you have done?! Just let him walk away?!" Jasper glanced away from me and I took that as a good enough answer. "No, you would've done the same damn thing. So, get off your damn high horse." I finished in a restrained voice and Jasper seemed to switch tactics.
"That is very different, Doll. I'm a vampire. You're a human." He tried to convince me, but I was too angry for his honeyed words.
"No, it is not a different thing. It's the same damn thing, but you can't admit that. You just want to be angry that I got hurt and you are refusing to let it go! It wasn't your fault and it for damn sure wasn't my fault that I was injured!" I realized that we were both standing up and were inches apart. We must've moved during the yelling and I hadn't noticed. Jasper was glaring down at me while I was glaring up at him. We both realized how close we had gotten at the same time. One second the room was filled with anger and the next it was filled with an odd tension. I took a half step towards him and reached for his shirt. It was almost in my grasp when the front door opened.
We both jumped away from each other and turned to face the smug Pixie that was standing in the doorway. Her arms were filled with plastic bags and an angry looking Rosalie was behind her. If looks could kill, the Model would have my corpse lying at her feet. Her stare was downright murderous and it caused a shiver to go up my spine.
"Are we interrupting something?" Alice asked in a sing song voice and I rolled my eyes at her antics.
"Of course not." Jasper and I answered at the same time.
"Sureee." The Pixie said with a smirk and I thought it would be best if I changed the topic.
"So, ready for a sleepover?" I questioned and a maniacal grin grew on Alice's face. That does not seem like a good sign. Alice gestured with her bags for me to follow her upstairs and started to skip up towards the staircase. I took a moment and looked at Jasper before I followed her. He was looking away from me and I could still feel the anger radiating from him. I felt almost guilty for a second before it was taken over by anger. Who does he think he is? He doesn't get to judge me, especially not for beating up my attacker. I glared at him before making my way upstairs, hoping that whatever Alice planned wasn't too horrible.