Jasper

Shit, shit, shit!

Tears.

I was never good with them. I could remember dull memories when I was human, my little sisters would always cry and I never knew what to do. I hated to admit I was scared of tears and hated when girls made them.

Bella was currently on the ground, her back on the broken door and tears running down her red face. She wiped them away constantly, but they kept coming back with a vengeance. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. I knew I had created this by kissing her. Well, it had gone far past kissing and my hands yearned to touch her again. I wanted to taste her strawberry lip chap and feel her baby lotion smoothed thighs.

I cautiously stepped forward and she flashed her eyes up to me. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, but I knew they weren't good. Her lips parted and panted in breaths as she glared at me, "God! I'm such an idiot!" She stood and turned to open the cracked door, stomping out of it. Lucy peered around curiously and, when she realized the tense air, ran up the stairs without a sound.

Traitor.

I swiftly followed Bella out and cut her off before she could step any farther, "Bella," I paused. What do I say? She stared at me, waiting for an answer.

"I'm such a slut." She suddenly cried, more salty water falling from her eyes.

My expression softened, "You are not a slut, Bella."

She rolled her eyes and laughed bitterly, "Right. What do you call a girl who dry humps her best friend's husband?" She walked around me with a glare. I stepped back in front of her.

"Alice and I are technically not together…" I trailed off.

"Does that make it any better?"

"Why are you acting like this?" I asked, exasperated.

She held my eyes and her lips pulled back over her teeth in anger. Hot, "You just don't get it, Jasper." I started to grab her elbow, but her shield wouldn't let me. It felt like I was sliding off her skin.

"Dammit, Bella! Why do you have to be so difficult?" I growled, trying to grab her around the waist. It didn't work.

"Why don't you just go home, Jasper? You should've just left the first day, saved yourself all this regret." She spat sarcastically.

Ah, so that's it.

"Bella, I don't regret it. I…liked it." She stared at me again, her hair in her face and her full lips vaguely parted.

"You…don't regret it?" She solicited delicately.

I shook my head, "I feel like I should, but…I don't."

"But…I'm food remember. Nothing but a life source." She threw my words back at me.

I stepped closer to her, combing the curls from her face, "You're much more than that." My words were passionate and it frightened me a little to say that to her. I did lie when I told her she was only food to me. She was family, and maybe…something more. I didn't want to let her go.

Her eyes locked with mine, "Maybe," She paused, licking her lips, "Maybe we could start over?"

"Sure," I put on my accent to lay the words in sweet, "I'm Jasper Whitlock. Nice to meet you ma'am." I held out my hand.

I could see the curiosity dance across her face at my name, but she reached out her own tiny limb and smiled nervously, "Bella Swan."

…

Seeing Bella the next day was…awkward. I felt like I barely knew her, which was part true, but it seemed like she was even more careful around me. I had come over to have dinner and watch the game with Charlie. It was normal enough, but Bella stayed off to the side, only speaking when spoken to and kept her eyes away from my face.

Sure we were starting over, but not that over. I pretended to eat pizza and leave then broke back into the house when I heard Charlie's snores. Bella was still downstairs, cleaning the little dishes.

"Hey." I greeted as I appeared next to her, drying the dishes. She peeked up at me and nodded, humming a welcome. After six minutes, five seconds, and twelve milliseconds, I couldn't take it anymore. I turned off the running water and turned to her. She stared at me, her shoulders squared and her jaw locked, "What is your problem?"

She was quiet for awhile, letting the plate drop into the soapy water she had made and sighed, "I…I don't know how to be just friends with you, Jasper. We've never been just friends."

I had to agree with her there. I had never thought on how Bella and I relationship was. She would throw a comment; I would throw one right back. She would snap and I would let harsh words fall from my mouth. She would become sad, I would comfort her. She would ignore me, I would pretend not to care. We could scream words at each other, but could never deny the underlying attraction. It was impossible.

"Me either." I sighed heavily. She turned back to the dishes, looking ahead vacantly.

"We could try. We just need help…" She trailed off. She let out the dirty water and dried her hands. I tipped her chin to look at me.

"We need to help each other, Bella. And I can't help you if you don't help me." I explained to her. Her chocolate eyes melted and an easy smile lit up her face.

"I can do that."

…

I left Bella alone for about two days. I lazed around the house, didn't pick up my phone, and threw out Edward's broken piano. I was bored out of my mind, and it took me awhile to realize, it was because I wasn't with Bella. Today was Saturday and she had said something about shopping.

After stopping by Charlie's to ask where she was, I headed towards Port Angeles. Of course she was there, looking through the racks of clothes in a store. I snuck up behind her and wrapped my arms around her slim waist. She jumped a foot in the air and turned to whack me in the head with a rack.

"What the hell, woman?" I growled after she broke the plastic in half.

"You scared me." She breathed, throwing down the broken bracket, "What are you doing here?" She reeled back around to the clothes.

"I was bored so I came to find you." I replied, leaning against the glassed wall. She didn't look at me, but a small smile lit up her lips.

"Bored are you, Mr. Whitlock? I could fix that." She teased a little suggestively.

"Yeah, right. You're too much of a prude." I taunted right back. She smiled again and tucked her hair behind her ear. She had gotten new highlights. Her hair was freshly done and dark honey strands of hair merged with her tresses adequately. She had up in a ponytail.

We left after she couldn't find anything to wear and I peered down at her attire, "Bella, we need to fix your outfit." I said dryly.

She rolled her eyes, "You've been hanging around Alice too much."

I scoffed and grabbed her warm arm, "C'mon." I dragged her to my car. We drove for about two hours, talking now and then about random things and parts of our lives. Finally, I stopped us outside Oregon, I get out of the car and she follows me, "Do something spontaneous with your outfit."

"Like what?" She asked with a jaded tone. I sighed heavily and glanced at her jeans. They were light denim, had little rips, and tight. Perfect.

"How much were these jeans?" I asked, mirth dancing in my voice. She eyed me, frowning slightly.

"I don't know. Sixty bucks." She shrugged, looking down at them, "Why?"

"No reason." I grabbed one leg firmly and ripped it off. Alarm flickered across her face as I hurried to do the next one. Much better. They were now shorts, ripped fabric stopping under her ass and the tops of her thighs. Bella had pretty nice legs; slightly tanned and toned.

"What the fuck?" She cried, staring at me incredulously.

I only shrugged in response and looked at her shirt; it was some kind of band. Nothing really to be done there. I grabbed the hair band out of her curls and grasped the baggy shirt to tie it tightly around her waist. Her flat stomach showed. She shook out her light brown hair and smiled.

"There. Much better." I commented. I loved her legs.

She stared at me, "God, you're a perve. But, yeah. These shorts are cute."

I rolled my eyes and we both got back into the car. We started to drive again and I even allowed Bella to get behind the wheel. It soon got dark and I leaned back in my seat as she zoomed the truck back towards Washington.

"I've always wondered what would've happened to me if Edward ever came back." She stated out of the blue. I whipped my head to stare at her, a little shocked.

"And?"

She shrugged, her face turning thoughtful, "I think if he came back like five months after the whole thing, I would've forgiven him and immediately fallen back in love. But…if he came back now, I couldn't take him back."

I smirked, "Because you've tasted an actual man." She rolled her eyes and reached a hand over to whack me on the head.

"No, because I couldn't forgive him. He put me through a lot, Jasper. He's not ready for me and I'm over him. We were never met to be together." She shrugged, but I could feel her pain. She had finally admitted this to herself.

"Well, it's a good thing you two broke up because you would've been named as a pedophile." She raised a brow at me, "You're nineteen, he's seventeen, do the math."

I laughed and she hit me again.

The start of a beautiful friendship.