School was alittle boring. I hated days like this. I sat down in Spanish and Jasper gave me a raised eyebrow look. "You okay?" He asked. "You already know. Why ask?" I answered. "What's wrong?" He asked. "This day is so slow! I can't take another minute of this, Jasper. It's driving me crazy." I said. "It's almost over." He said. I rolled my eyes and replied, "It can't pass fast enough." Jasper laughed. "You'll be fine, Chai. Trust me." He said.
Finally, when the end of the day came, I rushed to Jasper's class, took his hand and ran at a human pace to my car and drove home. "I thought you liked school?" He asked. "I love school. But, today was slow." I replied. Jasper smiled. "It'll be over soon. It'll be summer and we'll have to go to college." He said. "College?" I asked. "Darlin', we're seniors, remember?" He reminded. "Right. Seniors. Jazz, where are we going to college?" I asked. "Well, I thought we might apply to the University of Houston." He said. "University of Houston? Do they even have majors we would be interested in?" I asked. "There is a music major for me and a creative writing major for you." He said. "Creative writing? I don't know. I'm not sure about that." I said. "If you don't like it, you can always pick a different major. I just thought you would pursue your writing. You've always had a talent for it and you've got a passion for it." Jasper said. "Just because I have a passion for something doesn't mean I want to do it for the rest of my life." I said. "You're a horribly frustrating girl sometimes." Jasper said.
Home again, life became hectic. Wedding details and flyers and announcements and details littered the table and the floor. I was starting to get frazzled. "Jasper, HELP!" I shouted in my thoughts. "Need some help?" He thought. "Emotions. Too much."I said. Within moments, I felt the familiar comfort of Jasper's calming control over me. "Thanks, J." I said. Jasper and I fought against our hectic surroundings. But, as things had a tendency to do here, the wedding plans threatened to burst into something larger than Jasper and I had planned. By Thursday, the day before the wedding, things had gone from bad to worse. The florist, cake decorator , band and pastor had cancelled. Frustrated by this turn of events, I locked myself in our room and refused to come out. Jasper took up sentinel outside the bedroom door and occasionally tried to get me to come out or to at least to talk to him.
With a sigh, I spent the rest of the afternoon making phone calls to anyone and everyone listed in the phonebook. Unfortunately, after hundreds of phone calls, the wedding was still doomed to fail. I sighed. I knew what I was going to have to do. I would have to do the flowers, cake, find a band and a pastor before tomorrow. How was I gonna get out of the house without being sucked into new plans? Jasper was still standing sentinel outside the door. I silently opened the window and snuck out.
Next, I had to get a car. I let Alice see my plan and see me shopping in Portland. Minutes later, two cars pulled out of the garage heading to Portland. I went into the garage to get my keys from the key rack, but they were gone. "Sneaking out? Really, how old are you? Seventeen?" He asked. "How did you know?" I asked. "Darlin', I know you better than that." He said. I had under estimated Jasper. "What's your plan?" He asked. "My plan? What makes you think I have a plan?" I asked. Jasper looked at me with one eyebrow raised. I sighed and said, " Jasper, I don't have time for this."
"If you wanna go anywhere, you'll have to make time." He said, holding my keys up. I glanced at the key rack. Carlisle's keys hung from the key rack and with some finesse, I might be able to get his keys and the wedding would go as planned. I decided to try being flirty. I walked over to him and put my hand on his chest. "You know, Jasper, we have the house to ourselves and we've been so busy planning this wedding, we haven't had much time to just be a couple. Why don't we just go back inside…go upstairs and I'll make it the night of your life." I said, seductively. "Up…up…upstairs?" Jasper asked in a stutter. "Yeah." I said. I headed to the door. Once I got to the door, I turned back and asked, "Coming, J?"
I opened the door and let Jasper in first. He went in and I quickly closed the door, grabbed Carlisle's keys and jumped in the Mercedes. I cranked the engine over and it purred like a kitten. "Come on, baby. Let's see how fast you can go." I said.
I was fifteen minutes from Seattle when I caught the light of a single headlight in Carlisle's rearview mirror. I rolled my eyes. Jasper had been following me. I sighed. As I hit Seattle traffic, Jasper passed me with a wink. While I wasn't happy that he had passed me, or been following me to start with, I did have to admit that he looked good riding it. I drove to a bakery supply store and bought the ingrediants I would need for the cake. The next stop was a florist supply.
"What are you up to, Darlin'?" Jasper asked. "Go home, Jasper." I said. I knew he wouldn't go home. I went to get supplies for the floral work. The whole time, I ignored Jasper. Choosing flowers was going to be the hard part. I loved flowers, but limiting my selections to only a few was going to be hard. I chose plum colored mini cymbidium, Cartagena orange roses, white roses and purple freesias. The bridesmaids bouquets would have the Cartagena orange roses removed. "Alright, if you are staying, you might as well come look at this." I said. Jasper came over and looked for a minute and then said, "Beautiful." I frowned. It was missing something. I just wasn't sure what. I played with various fillers and greenery.
The greenery added to the bouquet just enough to finish it. It was beautiful and looked perfect to me. The wedding bouquets would be lovely when I assembled them. I bought the flowers and left. " What's left?" Jasper asked. "Music and a pastor." I replied. "Have you thought about asking Angela's dad?" He asked. "Angela Weber?" I asked. "Yeah. Her dad is a pastor." He replied. "I don't know. It doesn't seem right. There's something wrong about it. The right person will come along, I just have to be patient." I said. "Alright. You said you need music. What did you have in mind?" He asked. "I'm not sure." I said. "Darlin', you've got enough on your plate. Why don't you let me take care of arranging for music?" Jasper suggested. "Don't worry about it. I'll figure something out." I said. "Chai, how are you going to do all the floral work and the catering by yourself while trying to arrange music and find a pastor? Don't you think that is too much to do for one person even if you do have all night?" He asked. I sighed and said, "Fine. You can help. I'll take care of the cake and flowers and you can help me with music and the pastor. Alright? Just you, me and Ann Marie." "Alright, Darlin'." He said.
Jasper, Ann Marie and I began to work on the wedding things. I headed for the kitchen, taking over the island for my floral work and the counter for my baking. Jasper was upstairs and working on music. Ann Marie was sitting at the table, watching me. "You are amazing, Chai." She said. "Am I?" I asked, not looking up from my recipe. "Yeah. Who else could bake their own wedding cake, arrange all the flowers and do it in less than twenty four hours?" She asked. I smiled. "I don't think that is so amazing." I said. "Did you get Jasper's ring for tomorrow?" Ann Marie asked.
I closed the recipe book with a sharp snap. "Jasper's ring! I never bought a ring!" I exclaimed. "Calm down, Chai. We'll go to Seattle and buy a ring. We'll be back in plenty of time to get everything done." Ann Marie said. I went upstairs and knocked on the closed bedroom door. "Jazz, Can I borrow some money?" I asked. "Sure, Darlin'." Jasper said. He handed me about a thousand dollars cash. I headed downstairs and Ann Marie and I left. We drove to Seattle and went to a jeweler. "May I help you, Ladies?" the jeweler asked. "I need to buy a wedding band." I said. "Alright. Do you have anything particular in mind?" he asked. "I want it to be something unique. My fiancé is rather old fashioned. He really likes the civil war era." I said. "I think I have a few rings that you might like." The jeweler said.
For the next twenty minutes, Ann Marie and I looked at the wedding rings. When we had seen all of the rings the jeweler had picked for us, we took a moment and looked at the rings, considering each and every ring. Ann Marie looked at my face and said, "it's not here. I can tell by your face." I looked at her and sighed, "I want it to be here. But none of these rings are right." "Let's look around. Maybe there is a ring that will get your attention." She said. We browsed the ring cases, but none of them caught my attention. They all seemed so mass produced and normal. I was about to give up, when Ann Marie said, "Chai, come here…quickly." I went to her side and she pointed to a ring. "Ann Marie, that ring is absolutely…perfect!" I exclaimed. I turned quickly and asked the jeweler, " How much for this one?" The jeweler came and looked at the ring. "You want that one?" He asked, confusedly. "Very much so." I said. The jeweler set the ring on the counter. "What do you think?" I asked. "I think it's perfect." Ann Marie said. "It seems exactly like Jasper." I said. Ann Marie smiled and I asked, "How much for the ring?" The jeweler said, " That ring is four hundred and sixty dollars." Without a moment of hesitation, I handed the jeweler four hundred and sixty dollars. Ann Marie and I hurried back to the house with Jasper ring in my pocket and smiles spread across our faces.
Jasper met me at the door. I gave him a kiss on the cheek, then Ann Marie and I went back into the kitchen and began working. We worked into the early hours of the morning and with help from Ann Marie, the cake and the flowers were ready for the wedding later that day. "Chai, you should get some rest. Your wedding is this afternoon." Ann Marie said. "I guess so." I said. "Why don't you go lay down?" She asked. "I need to check on Jasper and make sure he found a band and a pastor." I said. Ann Marie shook her head. I went up to our room to check on Jasper and found him hanging up the phone.
"Well?" I asked. "We have music and we have a pastor. How are the flowers and the cake?" He asked. "Ann Marie and I have everything done." I said. "That's good." He said. I was still amazed that we had everything done for our wedding later that day. "J…Jazz, are we actually having a wedding today?" I asked, surprised. Jasper smiled and said, "I think we are, Darlin'. I think we are." I hugged him excitedly and said, "I have one question for you, Darlin'." Jasper said. I looked into his eyes and asked, "And what would that be?" "Marry me?" He asked, holding me tight. "Absolutely." I said. I gave him a kiss.
