Chapter 21
I waited at the house with Esme. I sat on the floor in front of the couch, watching TV, while she brushed and braided my hair. I loved having my hair played with.
"Jasper and everyone will be fine, right?" I asked, breaking the silence when a commercial came on.
"Of course." Esme said sweetly. "Jasper wouldn't let anyone get hurt." She leaned down and hugged me from behind. "He's doing this mainly for you, Lori. I've never seen him so involved with anything before. You've changed him. Not in a bad way, but you've let him relax and not taking everything so seriously. You've helped him overcome demons of his. You even helped him accept a certain part of him that was lost a long time ago."
"What do you mean?" I asked and turned my head to look at her.
"When Jasper was made, he was brought into a vampire army. He'll explain all that to you." Her smooth face frowned a bit. "Long story short, he has another side to him. A side that is more aggressive, serious, and possessive. If he loves something and that something is in danger, that side takes over and destroys anything in the way."
"Why did that side to come when he left me?" I asked, remembering when he had to leave because of Edward and Bella.
"He knew he was coming back. Actually, I'm surprised he didn't tell you this." Esme turned my head so she could do my hair more. "He didn't leave for a long time. He kept coming back for you three times a week or so. Once he saw you were doing better, the number of times he would see you decreased. He wanted you safe. He knew you wanted to wait on being a vampire, so he also thought that keeping you out of this life style would help." She paused for a moment. "However, when he heard you were attacked by Laurent…he went mad. He called the other side of him The Major. It took all of our strength to hold him back from coming to get you. We kept telling him Alice is almost there. She was already coming here because of Bella."
I shivered at the thought of Jasper being angry. "I've seen that hunger side of him. Was that him?"
"No, that was just his vampire hunger. Trust me, you'll know when you've met him." Esme tapped my head. "Okay, all done." Her voice chimed out.
"May I go see?" I asked and got up to go to the bathroom.
My eyes widened when I looked at my hair. I looked like a princess.
My hair was in a French side braid. It was half up and half down. She let my hair frame my face so it wasn't all pulled back. I loved it.
"Esme, it's beautiful!" I said excitedly.
I ran out of the bathroom and walked swiftly towards her. Wrapping my arms around her, I gave her a huge hug.
"Thank you. I've had years of practice." She said as she held me back with the same enthusiasm. Esme pulled away and looked towards the door. "They are back." She said.
I walked with her to the door and saw the family come in. Emmett was damp and muddy. Jasper had dirt on his clothes. The others were fine.
"What happened?" I asked, trying to not laugh at Emmet's clothes clinging to him. It was amusing to me.
"We found her." Rose said as she took her shoes off at the door.
"Unfortunately, she went on the other side of the line. Emmet jumped after her, but was knocked back by a wolf." Carlisle said with slight annoyance.
"I don't understand. If they are trying to get her too, why can't you all work together to get her?" I frowned. "And then once she was caught then just come back over here."
"They don't see it that way." Jasper said as he took off his jacket.
Esme held out her arms for their jackets. I could tell she wanted to clean their clothes before it gets over the house. It was adorable how motherly she was.
"Well, that's dumb." I replied back, putting my hands on my hips. "If they are so into protecting humans, why can't they just see that you all are trying to get her as well?"
"I almost had he too." Emmet growled out.
I looked over at Jasper who was already looking at me. His eyes were on my hair.
I fluffed my hair a bit. "Like it? Esme did it for me."
Alice spoke before Jasper could get a word out. "See, why can't you let me do your hair and makeup before school? You'd look amazing every day. Oh, and your clothes!"
"How about this…" I said as I held out my hand. "You can pick out my wedding dress, do my makeup, and do my hair."
She took my hand and shook it. "Deal."
I went over to Jasper when Alice let go of my hand. He put his arm around me as a habit while he spoke with Carlisle about how things went down tonight.
Would everything be alright? They didn't really go over the line. It was more they were on the line.
I woke up the next day feeling fine. Jasper was in the bathroom starting up a bath for me. I sat up and then felt a rush of fluids down there.
What? Oh, no!
I moved the blanket and saw I bled on the bed. Alice was in my room in no time.
"Here, I bought some for you a few days ago." She said as she held up a box of tampons and pads.
I smacked myself in the forehead. "What do I do?" I asked, embarrassed. "Wait, this isn't bad right? I mean…the blood isn't really blood blood right?"
"If you're wondering if any of us are going to drink from you now, no. That stuff doesn't affect us." Alice answered truthfully.
I sighed out and got up from the bed.
"IS everything okay? I smell so-…" Jasper came in the bedroom and his eyebrows rose. Could this be any more embarrassing?
"You, out." Alice said as she waved him off. "You're embarrassing her."
I took the box of tampons and walked swiftly to the bathroom, not wanting to look at Jasper anymore. Why was I so embarrassed? He's been around me when I've been on my period. Maybe it was the fact that it looked like I murdered someone on our bed.
Once I cleaned up I noticed I forgot panties and clothes. I already had my tampon in me, so I knew I wasn't going to leave a trail behind me.
I walked out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around my body. Jasper's bedroom was right next to the bathroom, thank god.
I went into the room and saw our bed sheets were changed. I saw Jasper putting my clothes, from my bag, into the dresser and closet we shared.
"Hey, Jazz?" I spoke quietly.
He turned and bit back a smile. "You know, you could have called for me." He said when he took in my appearance.
"Shut up." I stuck my tongue out and closed the door. "I'm sorry that this happened…"
"Don't be. It's not like you can control that kind of thing anyway." He shrugged and got out some clothes for me.
I put my hand on my belly. "I don't think school is an option today."
"You've never told me why your cycle is so…" He waved his hand like he was searching for a word.
"Weird? Yeah, the doctor told me it's because I started puberty very early. So now I get it every three months. So in total, I have my period four times a year at least."
"That's so strange." He said as he thought for a moment.
"Are we really talking about this?" I asked and sat the towel on the floor, walking over to my clothes. "I'm not a jeans person right now. I need sweats and a big shirt…and chocolate."
Jasper wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek. "You really need to get it through your head that this doesn't bother me. Body hair, periods, human stuff…none of that bothers me. It's your body doing what human bodies do."
"Wait until I smell flowers. You'll get to see me with a stuffy nose and leaky eyeballs."
"Leaky eyeballs?" Jasper chuckled out.
"My eyes like to tear up when I have allergies. I'm not crying, so I say they leak."
His hand trailed over where my cramps were. "If you want…I can run to town and get you medicine for your cramps. Plus, we don't have chocolate here."
I turned my head. "Ice cream? Chocolate milk? Chocolate bars? No, wait! I want milk chocolate kisses."
Jasper's smile widened every time I said another item. "I take that as a yes." He eyed the box of pads that was on the nightstand. The tampons were in the bathroom in a cupboard. "Do you need more supplies?"
"Nah, this all should last me this round. Next round I'll need more." I laughed out and turned so I was facing him. "You're really going to go into town for me?"
"Yeah?" He said with a questioning look. "You're hurting and craving chocolate. I don't mind doing this for you."
I bounced on my feet, excited that I have a wonderful man who would do this for me. "Okay."
When Jasper left, I went to our closet. I saw a dark gray t-shirt of his. If I put it on, it would be the length of a short dress. I turned and saw my boy shorts. I loved to wear boy shorts for underwear. They were way more comfortable.
As soon as I put my underwear on, my belly started to hurt again. I crawled onto our bed, curling up in a ball. That lost feeling slowly started to come back. I clung to the pillow he used and held it to my body.
This is stupid. Why can't I be normal and miss him like a normal person? This lost and uneasy feeling I get when he's gone drives me insane.
I closed my eyes and started to day dream about him. Then I started to remember memories of us. That always soothed me in times like this.
"I give up." Alice said irritated as she knocked over her king.
She and Edward were playing chess. They had been sitting like statues for close to twenty minutes until Alice was fed up with it.
Jasper chuckled and ran his hand over my arm. I was sitting on the couch, leaning into his body.
"You and I should play." I said to Jasper. "I don't wanna brag but…I'm pretty good at losing." I said as I flipped my bangs nonchalantly. "Don't hold back."
Jasper licked his lips before smiling. "Okay, I'll play."
We sat opposite from one another. I knew how to play, but that didn't mean I was good. I think I was below average when it came to playing.
As we played, I think he was going easy on me. I took a few of his pawns before he took any of mine. Before I knew it I was caught up in his web. I looked at the pieces over and over again. I put my finger on a piece, almost moving it but then I remembered it was helping me from losing my queen.
I gave him a pout. "You know, you could not do the whole battle tactic thing."
Jasper gave me a toothy grin. "Sorry, Ma'am. You did tell me to not hold back."
I waved him off. "You're ruining my concentration."
I noticed that the whole family was watching me now. I picked up a piece and moved it over.
"Bad move." He said and knocked over a piece. "Checkmate."
I let out a huff. "Checkers is more of my game than chess anyway."
I felt cool hands on my cheek. My eyes slowly opened and I found Jasper on his knees, eye level with me on the bed.
"Hi." I whispered out.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." He apologized and then held up a bag of chocolate kisses. "The ice cream and milk are in the fridge and freezer."
I shot up quickly and held out my hand for the bag. He opened it for me and I dug in the moment I could.
"So, you can't eat human food?" I asked when I took in a kiss.
"I can eat it, but I can't digest it. I would have to cough it up eventually. Until then, I'll have a slight uneasy feeling in my stomach. Kind of like a stomach ache." He explained.
I thought for a moment. "You have long hair."
He nodded. "I do. Did you just now notice?"
"No, but…can I braid it?"
Jasper let out a laugh and held up a hand. "Why do you want to do that?"
"I don't know. I'm just in the mood to play with hair and you're my closest victim."
Jasper shook his head and playfully rolled his eyes. "Yes, you can braid my hair."
After I was done, he walked to the mirror and couldn't believe he did this.
"Now it's your turn to look like a pretty princess." I said.
"I'm so glad my brother's aren't here. They would have such a laugh at this."
"I could think about this moment and Edward would see it."
"Well, I'd rather have him see it than Emmet. He wouldn't let it go, ever."
I leaned up and kissed his chin. "Thank you for the fun day, Jasper." I said softly.
"You're welcome, Ma'am." He grinned and captured my lips to his.
Melting in the kiss, I fought the urge to have him take me. I didn't want to make another mess like this morning.
A/N: Yay for long chapters! I hope you don't mind me going away from the story a bit. :P I just thought I'd add a cute day with Jasper and Lori. XD
