Chapter 16

BPOV

My head throbbed painfully when I woke up the next morning. God, what had happened last night? I tried to think. Suddenly, all of the events of the day before started rushing through my head. Oh my God? What the hell had I been thinking? I had practically molested Jasper, my best friend and neighbor. How would I be able to look him in the eye ever again? He probably thought I was some whore who had just wanted to get in his pants the entire time.

I huffed angrily, mostly with myself. What was I going to do?

"Are you awake mom?" Masen's voice came from outside my bedroom door. I hadn't even noticed that he wasn't with me anymore.

"Yes, I'm coming out now." I jumped off and immediately regretted moving so quickly. My head throbbed even more. I took slow steps out of my bedroom, down the hall and on to the kitchen. Much to my horror (and embarrassment), Jasper was there.

"Good morning star shine." He said, smile plastered on his face.

"The Earth says hello." I shuffled my feet hesitantly, looking at him from under my lashes. "Jazz, I-"

"You don't have to say anything. It's fine." He continued to grin.

"No, it's not fine. I can't believe what I did. I practically assaulted you and I am so sorry. I was just-"

"Bella! It's fine! You were drunk, heck, I even had a few drinks last night. It's no big thing." He handed me a plate, I hadn't even known he was cooking for me.

"You didn't have to do this Jasper, you aren't my mother." I said taking a bite of the pancake. They were delicious of course.

"Never said I was. I just figured you could use a nice healthy breakfast and of course, some of these." He set two aspirin and a glass of water in front of me.

"You are too good to me." I swallowed the pills down greedily, desperate to get rid of the pain.

"So what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?" I reached for the butter and then slathered some onto my stack of pancakes.

"You know what I mean. What are you going to do about the entire Edward thing? I'm worried about you." Jasper looked at me seriously.

"I have no idea. I mean, I want to trust him but I can't. He's just so fickle all of the time, I really don't know what to do with him." I sighed distractedly and ate another bite of the pancake.

"But you love him still, even after all that he's done to you. You still love him." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, I've always loved Edward; I can't just stop loving him. It's nowhere near that simple, Jasper." I told him.

"I'm just not sure that's what's best for you. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not your father, I can't tell you what to do. It's just, you're in a delicate state of mind, this whole situation has messed with your head. Maybe you only think you're in love with Edward when you really aren't at all." He shrugged his shoulders.

"That is absolutely absurd. I know for a fact that I'm in love with Edward. It's really something that I could never hope to avoid. I love him. Whether he loves me or not is what remains to be determined. He just can't seem too make up his mind."

"That's the problem I'm having with whole situation. Edward's either messing with you or he really loves you and he's just too ashamed to admit it. I'm going to be honest Bella, if he really cared, he wouldn't deny you. He would want to be with you with or without the judgment of others. I want you to be happy but that doesn't even seem possible whenever he and the Masen clan come around. I can't help but be worried about you." he said while resting a hand on my shoulder.

"I know that you care but part of me is thinking that maybe I rely to heavy on your judgment. This is something I have to figure out on my own and if I get hurt, well, lesson learned."

"You know it won't be that simple. You're setting yourself up for heartbreak." He was trying so hard to get me to listen to him.

"I can do this Jasper. You'll just have to write me up for a few extra appointments afterwards, I'm sure I'll need it." I kissed his cheek lightly before I knew what I had done. Still, the action was innocent enough. I knew jasper understood. I stood up and took the now empty plate to the sink.

"What does Masen think of this new development? No doubt he's not too happy about it." I could tell he was trying a new tactic, using Masen against me.

"I haven't talked to him about it yet. I already know what he'll say, he'll be on the exact same side as you." I chided.

"Most likely."

"Goodness gracious." I said, a grim smile on my face. He was right about one thing, Masen would fight me tooth and nail on the entire Edward situation.

"So wait….I've been invited to a premier party and you said no?" Masen asked his jaw almost hitting the table.

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't want to go without Jasper and I to go with you."

"Are you kidding? Of course I want to go. Do you realize how much of an opportunity this is?"

"Oh…yeah, there might be some science people there." I said rather glumly.

"What? Oh no, I don't care about that at all. Don't you realize that this is the prime opportunity to screw with Esme's head? The fact that you won't be there ensures that Esme won't be able to place the blame on you because it'll be all me. Oh, I am brilliant."

"Now hold on, this a big deal for Edward's family-"

"Oh stow it mom, you hate them just as much as I do. Now let me have my fun. I'm not hurting anyone who actually matters after all." he smiled crookedly at me and I had to take a step back. He looked so much like Edward.

"It still doesn't seem like a good idea." I said once I came to.

"So you don't approve, I'm aware of the fact." He stood and stretched his arms above his head. "You should probably call Esme and tell her I want the tux. Man, I get to be bad and look good doing it." he looked all too pleased with himself.

"Oh Edward will not pleased with this." I sighed nervously and looked over Masen. He was just a stubborn as I was and he was set on having his fun. Why didn't I have control over my son?

"So…I can go right?" he asked tentatively after a few seconds.

"You actually expect me to say yes don't you."

"It would please me very much mother dearest." He batted his eyelashes sarcastically.

"How could I say no to such a pretty face? Just don't go overboard okay. Chances are Esme will be watching you like a hawk anyways." I picked up my cell phone and dialed Alice's number. Might a swell tell her that she was going to get to dress Masen.

MPOV

"Hold still now. Just one more pin and you'll look simply dashing." I heard Alice's annoyingly high voice come from behind me.

"You've been saying that for the past hour. Do you actually know what you're doing?" I snapped at her.

"You are your mother's child. She always hated being dressed." She said quietly, not answering my question.

"Then seems like you should have expected this. It's all in the genes." I pulled away from her and stepped off the stool. "I look fine."

"Mother expects only the best tailoring." Alice pulled back at the jacket.

"Well mother can back the hell off. I look fine." I crossed my arms at her.

"Fine, but I'm not getting yelled at because of you. I take no blame." She grabbed her sewing kit. "Ungrateful little bastard." I heard her mutter. My cheeks flared in anger.

"Then tell daddy dearest he should have kept his package under wraps. It's not like I ask to put up with you and your family." I glared at her. My views on the striking of a woman were slowly starting to change.

"This is not my brother's fault! None of it is! Your mom was a golddigging whore! She's doing the same thing to that man next door!" she screamed.

"Okay…that makes no sense. You do realize for my mom to be a golddigger she would have actually had to stay him and then have me. secondly, she and Jasper are not sleeping together. Sure, there was the incident but that was a drunken moment of well…what ever it is drunken adults go through. Anyway, you are obviously a pint sized idiot if you think that's what's really going on here." I rested my head on my palm and watched the wheels in her head begin to turn.

"Well…I am not an idiot!" she said defiantly.

"You sure about that? Besides, I'm not as naive as you believe me to be Miss Alice. I've seen the way you look at this so-called man next door. You're only a total bitch towards him when mommy dearest is around." I chuckled. She flamed both in anger and embarrassment.

"That is not true!"

"Genius remember? Very little gets by me, even if I don't say anything about it. I can see practically everything in that tiny brain of yours, no need to get flustered." I looked at myself in the mirror, the sleeves were just long enough to annoy Esme yet not annoy myself.

"I am not flustered. Okay…" She said gloomily.

"You wouldn't always be upset if you were a better person."

"Don't talk to me about being a better person. I have yet to have a conversation with you were you don't insult me repeatedly. If I were bell, I wouldn't put up with you." She put her hands on her hips.

"Doesn't bother me when Edward says it, doesn't bother me when you say it. What goes on between my mother an I is our business and none of yours." I shrugged. I was quickly getting bored with her, having had my fill of the pint-sized menace. "I think I will go get some lunch, this is just too much handsomeness to keep solely to myself."

"No, mother will bite my head off. Do you know how much she paid for this thing?"

"No and frankly, I don't care. I'm hungry and I'm not willing to wear this much longer." I began to take the tux jacket off and she immediately stopped me.

"Let me help you." she began to remove the jacket with care. "Maybe I should accompany you to lunch, I'm feeling quite famished myself." she said quietly. I considered if for a few seconds.

"Just don't annoy me." freed of the constraints, I pulled on mu regular clothes and walked out of the room. She was quick to follow.

"Maybe you could invite your friend next door." She offered.

"You can call him by his name, I already know you like him." I shrugged.

"Fine, can you invite Jasper?"

"Why don't you do it?"

"Cause that would look suspicious."

"Are we going to discuss this until I concede?"

"Yes."

"Then I guess I should retrieve him. Wait here." I sighed in aggravation and then froze. it was the same sound my mother made when she was upset. For some reason, that troubled me. I had always been my mother's opposite, we had very few things in common. It was strange how a tiny sound could make me feel so weird.

"What's wrong, you look upset." Alice asked.

"Nothing's wrong, I as just…thinking." I said.

"You're always thinking." She said sarcastically, a wry smile twisted on her face.