A/N: THIS OUTTAKE CONTAINS DRUG USE, reading it may result in a virtual contact high and/or a craving for rice krispie treats and/or cheetos.

(Well, pot smoking, it's not like I have them doing lines or something, but just in case someone's offended by pot smoking, here's your warning.)

Fabulous reader MasenCullen asked for an outtake of 'carefree Alice.' This is immediately what came to mind. Time-line wise, this is probably around their Junior year.

As always thank you to Kas90 and Nitareality for beta'ing, and Sammielynnsmom and KrisScott for pre-reading.

Ch. 13 is with my beta now and will post either tonight or tomorrow morning. I just got it to her last night, so it's all my fault! Sorry for the delay!

Riding the Fence

Outtake #1

Alice POV

My head was quiet, and I felt like I could breathe. The tension that usually resided in my back, tight muscles forcing my shoulders into hard, rigid lines, was easing. The thoughts only came in singularity. They floated in, allowing me just enough time to look at them before drifting away again. Unhurried and easy. That alone was worth the mild moral dilemma I faced every time I sat across the table from Jasper, Bella, Kate, and whoever else happened to be around. I watched as the joint was passed around the group, today there were the four of us and some guy named...Garrett, Gary, Gandolf? Gandolf, that's a crazy name, who would name their kid that?

A nudge to my left grabbed my attention. "Here, silly girl, it's yours," Jasper said. I looked up at him, dazed by the sparkle in his heavy-lidded blue eyes. He always did that. Confused me. Muddled me. Nothing made sense when I was around him, and I was uncharacteristically okay with that. I felt a goofy, relaxed smile pull up the corners of my mouth; I never tired of looking at him.

"Alice," he called, once again bringing me to attention. Laughing at me, he handed me the remaining stub. I lightly wet my lips, pinching the end of the paper between them and pulled deeply. The pungent smoke filled my lungs, and I forced them to ignore my body's instinct to expel the tainted air. Passing over to Kate, I slowly let the smoke out of my lungs, lightly breathing out lazy clouds.

The tingly-numb feeling had settled in, and I moved, limbs heavy and sluggish, to the couch. My ass hit the rough fabric of the cushion, and I leaned back, feeling loose and relaxed. As soon as I realized how nice my body felt, I realized my mouth was sticky-dry. That seemed pretty ironic. Ironic. Irony. I ron eeee. Iron e. Roni. Mmmm, Rice-a-Roni.

The ticklish brush of silky strands against my legs caught my attention. With much effort, I raised my weighted eyelids to squint down, recognizing Jasper's blond curls resting against my knee. He was looking up at me, laughing again.

"What?" I questioned, confused by the difficulty in moving my tongue, until I remembered that I was really thirsty.

"Rice-a-roni, Ally?" he snorted out. Hmm, I said that outloud. I'm still thirsty.

"Jas?" I whispered, my mouth parched and gross-tasting. "I'm thirsty."

"I thought you were hungry," he replied, sounding amused.

"Mmm, I am hungry. But I'm thirsty." Now I was pouting, which was not exactly easy since my lips were stiff and uncomfortable from the lack of moisture in my mouth. I futilely pushed my tongue out to wet them. I'm going to have to get up.

The first attempt at movement was a complete failure, my limbs barely twitched. The second time, I made it halfway up before sitting back down suddenly. Finally, Jasper stood up, holding his hand out to help me.

"Come on, silly girl. Let's see about something to drink."

I grinned widely, happy that he knew what I needed. My hero.

"I'm a hero, huh? Who knew the way to a girl's heart was a beverage to cure her cotton-mouth?" He didn't let go of my hand. My smile at that was small and secretive.

Making our way through the living room, I looked over to see Bella sitting on Kate's lap, the two of them giggling over something. B noticed me and Jas, gazing at our entwined hands pointedly, before winking at me. At my light laughter, Jasper squeezed my hand gently before pulling me into the kitchen.

"Come, my lady, your beverage awaits," he joked.

I batted my eyelashes and gazed at him in effected adoration. "My hero!"

The Beatles had it right, I get by with a little help from my friends.