The Subtle Art Of Perception
A/N: Thanks ever so for the feedback, guys. Tis much appreciated. :) Well, here's the next chapter in this little, weird story o'mine. Enjoy, and let me know what you thought. Also, I'd loe to know if you guys have any fairly creative swears that you could let me know of. Who knows? The really good ones, well, Leah might just spout them out sometime in the future. And of course I shall give you the credit. Creative, people. Let's get the muse juice flowing. ;)
Anyway, happy reading.
Note; edited 28/04/2013 for corrections/general improvements.
3. Mojitos? Don't Make Me Laugh... Bitterly. With Interspersing Snorts Of Disbelief.
Leah woke up for the first time two hours later.
The first thing she saw made her smile with relief. The second thing she saw made her scowl with distaste.
Seth was standing over her, worry etched into his eyes, touching her hand but not holding it, for which Leah was grateful, as she still felt like she had been thrust into a hot oven and made to stay there. Seth's constant one-oh-one temperature would only exacerbate things.
The next thing she saw was the Cullen's doctor, tall and blond, retrieving something from a small, white bag. Great, just great. I'm lying on a table, totally out of it, completely at the mercy of Dr. Fang here. Isn't life just fucking dandy?
She jolted in surprise when she looked over to her other side and saw Jasper Hale sitting in a chair, his amber eyes flickering to hers, and she could see he was physically holding himself back from altering her panicked emotions, for which she was grateful.
However, her vision did seem to be slightly tinted with red, which both annoyed and worried her, and so she just mumbled, "Captain Peroxide? What are you doing at my deathbed?"
The vampire chuckled lowly. "You're not dying, Leah. And must you insist on calling me that?"
Leah opened one eye and then closed it, mumbling sleepily, "You don't know that. And it's not me, it's the leprechauns... they want me to call you that."
Dr. Fang looked over at her worriedly, but Leah glanced up at him and smirked. "Kidding."
To her surprise, he heaved a little sigh of relief, and his words were both even and kind. "Leah, you are running an unusually high temperature for a werewolf. Can you think of anything that may have caused it? Anything at all?"
Leah thought about what she had been doing. Brooding, mostly. Stressed out like fucking crazy, of course. Crying at regular intervals. But she wasn't going to tell him about any ofthat.
The Cap'n spoke at vampire speed to Dr. Fang, speech that to an ordinary human would be silence, but with her enhanced hearing, Leah managed to pick up a single word among the low buzz. Stress.
Leah fixed Jasper with a mutinous glower, while he half-smiled in response. It looked slightly apologetic, but Leah could tell he didn't really mean it, which only served to piss her off even more.
Ah, fuck this. Leah pressed her palms against the table, pushing herself up. She swung her legs around in order to stand on her own two feet — fully preparing to phase and get the hell out of the bloodsuckers' Mansion of Sickening Cleanliness. But before she could lift herself up off the table, her shoulders were being held in place by two large, cold, pale hands.
Captain Peroxide was fixing her with a disapproving stare. "Leah, where do you think you're going?"
"Dude, get your bloodsucker, emotion-raping hands off me." Leah said evenly, but underneath she was becoming annoyed. Rapidly.
Immediately, Jasper's cool touch disappeared from her feverish skin, but he was still blocking her way. "You have to stay here, so that Carlisle can figure out what's wrong with you," Jasper attempted to reason with her.
Leah scowled. "The only thing that's wrong with me is that I'm trapped in a house full of leeches. Get out of my way."
Then Seth spoke quietly from the doorway. "Leah, they're just trying to help you. God, why do you have to be so horrid all the time?"
Seth's words stabbed her like a knife through the heart, though not a single wavering of emotion showed any signs of betraying her true feelings on her face. But Jasper felt it, and Leah could see the pity in his ancient eyes. She felt tears sting the corner of her eyes, but she pushed them back, pleading with them not to fall. She won the battle — though she suspected not without some help from their friendly neighbourhood empath. Leah hated it, but she couldn't help feeling grudgingly grateful.
Even though he wasn't looking at her face, Seth seemed to tell by her frozen posture that she had been affected by his words. "I'm sorry, Lee, I'm just worried about you. I want you to get better."
The sentence trailed off. Leah finished it for him in her head. I don't want you to leave me like Dad left us.
She turned and faced him, plastering her fake smile on. "Okay, squirt. Fine. I'll stay."
Seth smiled. "Thanks, Lee."
Leah grunted softly in clear annoyance, but Seth heard the playful sound within it. She ruffled his hair. "Do me a favour and pick me up some clothes from the house, will you?"
Seth nodded immediately, and Leah added sourly, "Make sure they aren't any good ones. 'Cause after I get out of here I'm going to have to burn them. I'll never get the smell of bloodsucker out."
Seth shook his head disparagingly, but shot her a wry grin. "I'll be back in twenty."
Carlisle's lips pursed, but he surveyed his patient with a clinical eye. "We'll see how long the morphine holds out for, but right now you should get some rest."
Leah was about to reply with a snappy insult, but something made her hold her tongue. Maybe it was the fact that Dr. Fang was the patriarch of the Cullen family, and as such conveyed an air of... something that had her warning signs flashing, anyway. He seemed to command respect, and Leah could see precisely how he had garnered such a large family that held him in such high stead. She saw precisely how he had managed to send the Volturi packing with their tails firmly between their legs.
So instead, she just nodded.
Carlisle looked satisfied, while Jasper was piercing her with an emotion Leah could not identify. Which pissed her off.
"What are you looking at?"
Jasper just shook his head, meeting Carlisle's eyes. Something unspoken passed between the two of them, and Carlisle left some aspirin and water on a nearby table, instructing, "Take these if you feel any unusual headaches coming on," before leaving the room.
Jasper grimaced. Leah sighed heavily. "So... where's Doctor Vampy McVamp off to?"
"He has to hunt," Jasper answered shortly.
Leah looked disgusted. She hated eating raw meat, and animals of any kind, really. She wasn't a vegetarian, it was just that when you were a wolf, ripping a pretty little bunny rabbit to bits with your teeth was okay. But when you were human, and you remembered doing it - well, it wasn't so nice.
Leah shivered involuntarily at the memory. Jasper looked concerned. "Are you cold?"
Leah was about to say, Wouldn't you notice that too?, before she realised that being a vampire, he wouldn't. And he did looked genuinely worried, so she granted him a small smile and shook her head.
"Nope," she said lightly, and slid off the table. Jasper looked like he was about to grab her, but she got steadily to her feet and kept her balance, so he didn't.
"So, I'm on house arrest, then?" Leah questioned, trying to keep the tone light, since it did look like she was stuck here. At least until Seth got back, anyway. So she had better try and make nice with the bloodsuckers. Inwardly, she rolled her eyes and frowned at that notion.
"Looks like it," Jasper said. Leah eyed him suspiciously. "So... what did you do?"
Jasper looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Leah smirked, "Well, you must have done something. Draw the short straw, did you? I mean, looking after the sick werewolf is hardly a vampire's ideal job, is it?"
Jasper chuckled, before his expression became its usual stoic self. "Alice thought I should. She didn't really mention why though."
Leah rose an eyebrow, but chose not to comment. Play nice with the vampires, play nice with the vampires... ah, screw it.
She scowled. "Well, what exactly was she thinking? We should go and paint the town? I mean, we can hardly go out for mojitos, can we? Well, you couldn't... I could, I suppose."
Jasper looked amused, but quickly hid it.
"No, I really don't know what she meant. But I trust her," Jasper said, simply smiling. Leah's heart broke a little. She saw the unbridled adoration that filled Jasper's face when he mentioned the little stick-elf, and thought of the same expression on Sam's face. While thinking of Emily, of course. Not her. Never her.
It would never be her.
Jasper seemed to notice Leah's emotional downturn and panicked a little, because he said something Leah would have never imagined in her wildest dreams.
"I suppose we could play on the XBox."
Leah's eyebrows disappeared into her hair. Jasper then realised exactly what he had just said, and immediately rushed to mumble, "Never mind." His tone revealed extreme embarrassment.
"No, no, no," Leah said, wagging her finger, incredulity still etched on her face. "You said it. Wait, vampires have ... XBoxs?"
"Well, it's Emmett's," Jasper said. "But essentially, yes."
Leah just chuckled sceptically.
"Right then, let's check out this so-called XBox." Leah narrowed her eyes. Vampires? With XBoxs? Fucking unreal. She had to see this for herself.
Ten minutes later, Jasper was busy asking Leah what she wanted to play as he knelt down in front of their — rather extensive — games rack. Leah got down on her knees beside Jasper and after a few seconds of searching, she pulled out a game. Leah thrust it into Jasper's hands and slumped back onto the couch, guitar in hand, with a half-excited, half-smug look on her face. Jasper glanced at her game choice, and raised an eyebrow.
Leah sighed, and grinned as Jasper grabbed his guitar. "Dude, you'll never beat me at Guitar Hero. I am like, the undisputed champion... in fact, the queen of Guitar Hero."
Famous last words.
Fifteen minutes later, Leah was frowning, wondering what the hell had just happened, and Jasper had a smug grin on his face. He started to chuckle gleefully. Leah grimaced, "Asshole."
That was the first time she had been beaten, and she didn't like it one bit. Stupid bloodsucker reflexes.
Jasper frowned as Leah flopped backwards onto the couch. "Are you feeling alright?" Leah could clearly see he felt a little guilty for indulging in her whim for video games.
"Yeah."
She didn't mention that her head felt like it was being simultaneously pickled and burned. She didn't mention that she felt so tired her eyes were about to shrivel up. She didn't mention her heart broke a little more with every second that passed, closer to the wedding from hell. She didn't mention that she felt like everything in her life was just spiralling out of control.
Leah didn't mention any of these things.
But somehow, Jasper seemed to know anyway.
"Time for that aspirin?"
Leah let out a long and heavy sigh, "Oh, yes please."
Jasper chuckled, and disappeared for barely a second before he reappeared, holding a glass of water and two white, oval pills. He passed them over to Leah, being careful not to brush his unearthly cold hands against hers, seemingly because he thought it would cause her discomfort and serve to remind her precisely whose house she was in.
Leah appreciated the gesture. "Thanks," she mumbled, and Jasper inclined his head once, before sitting down beside her, the couch barely recognising his presence as he was so still and statue-like. It was a little unnerving, but Leah supposed that was just the way of things. He wasn't human, after all. Inwardly, Leah let out a bitter laugh. Neither was she. The humanity she had still retained during her transformation from a regular girl to a very non-regular werewolf was now hanging over a knife edge. She just needed that one push, before she would phase, run out into the wilderness and never return.
The silence was broken as the door opened, and Seth entered, carrying a small hold-all.
"Hey, squirt," she said, ruffling his hair by way of greeting, taking the bag from his outstretched hands. "Thanks for the gear."
"No problem, sis. So..." Seth looked between Leah and Jasper nervously. "Is everything... alright?"
Jasper nodded, out of Leah's sight, but she looked up at Seth, an eyebrow raised. "Uh... yeah?"
Seth quickly nodded, "Good, good."
Leah looked at him strangely. "O... kay," she muttered to herself.
Leah could feel the sweat making her clothes stick uncomfortably to her body. She really needed to change. Perish the thought that these people actually had air-conditioning. Leah rolled her eyes, hoisting the hold-all over her shoulder. It was light enough. Seth had only packed the bare essentials.
She looked pointedly at Jasper, gesturing to her makeshift Bag-O-Tricks. "Got somewhere a girl can change?"
"Follow me," said Jasper, turning to go up the stairs. Leah noticed the fluidity with which he moved, and gave an involuntary shiver. Totally not natural.
Once they had reached the top of the stairs, Jasper gestured to one of the rooms. "You can change in our room."
By 'our', Leah guessed he meant his and Alice's bedroom. She gave him a look, but Jasper shook his head. "Alice won't mind in the slightest."
Leah didn't bother to snap that what she had meant was that she wasn't really all that comfortable with the idea of changing in a vampire's bedroom. Instead, she just inwardly sighed, and opened the door. Jasper disappeared, giving Leah some privacy. She threw the bag onto the four poster bed in the middle of the room. Leah didn't let her gaze linger on the bed for too long. She knew vampires didn't sleep, so she was reluctant to let herself stay on that train of thought for a second longer. She could barely deal with vampires in everyday situations, the thought of them banging was just pure nightmare fuel.
Instead, she looked around. The room was surprisingly simple. Although, Leah didn't really know what she had been expecting. They didn't exactly seem like a flamboyant couple, but from what she knew, Alice was pretty bubbly and fashionable. Leah had expected that to be taken to the maximum in this room — but it hadn't been. The furniture was simplistic, yet stylish, though Leah could tell that what scant furnishings there were had cost a bomb.
Leah decided to dodge this horrible, saccharine display of wealth and tried to ignore the wonderful pressure of the power shower as she scrubbed the feverish sweat from her skin. She turned the water down until it was at a soothingly cool temperature. She let the water soak through her hair, scraping through it with her fingers. Leah grimaced as she realised shampoo had not been one of the things included in the hold-all Seth had brought.
Leah's gaze fell over a bottle of expensive-looking cherry scented shampoo sitting on the shelf beside the shower. She briefly contemplated just leaving her hair without any shampoo at all, but soon disregarded that notion. It really did need washing. Sighing in resignation, her hand darted out for it.
A few minutes later, Leah stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel that was just unnaturally fluffy from the side. She wrapped it around herself, standing there as it soaked up the beads of water on her copper skin. She quickly dried her hair, and it fell back into semi-damp ringlets.
Leah changed quickly, eager to be out of there as soon as possible. She glanced into a mirror that adorned the closet door. Leah felt a cold crawl over her skin. She felt terribly exposed — and found that she absolutely fucking hated it. Seth had clearly packed the first thing that his hand touched in her drawer, which happened to be a green tank top, exposing her arms, shoulders and stomach. She grabbed a red hoodie from the bag, and pulled it over her head. That made her feel marginally better.
The rational part of Leah's brain told her that were she to be attacked, a single, flimsy layer of cloth wasn't likely to offer any protection, but Leah hated feeling exposed and vulnerable. She slipped on a pair of black Converse over her bare feet — Seth had neglected to pack socks — grabbed her bag and opened the bedroom door. Captain Peroxide wasn't hovering outside, Leah noted with relief.
She made her way downstairs and flung the hold-all from her shoulders onto the couch. Leah heard a noise from behind her and swivelled on the balls of her feet. She relaxed; it was just Empath Boy. Jasper looked a little confused, but held out his hand. Leah spotted the top-up of aspirin, and gratefully took it. She had felt the beginnings of a throbbing headache at the back of her mind.
Jasper seemed to note the time with a quick glance. "That's less than forty-five minutes to burn off two aspirin." He looked back at Leah. "Quick metabolism."
"Yeah," said Leah, gulping down water. "Comes in handy, too."
That was one of the only perks of being a werewolf that Leah thought that others, girls in particular, might possibly envy. She could eat as much rubbish as she liked and not gain an ounce. But she would happily trade that for some semblance of normality.
"Where'd Seth go?" Leah asked, looking around.
"Jacob called. He needed him for something." Jasper said, shrugging. "I didn't ask."
"Hellfire and fucking brimstone," Leah spat at nobody in particular, "Jacob treats that boy like his own personal lapdog." Leah shook her head disparagingly.
She looked at Jasper, and sighed. "So, when's the Head Honcho getting back from the hunt?"
Jasper pursed his lips, "I'm not sure. That's more Alice's forte. But it shouldn't be too long."
"Good," Leah said, flopping down onto the couch. Her stomach growled horribly. That metabolism perk she had been going on about? Forget that. She was hungry far too much of the time. Thankfully, Jasper seemed to take this in stride. His family had some practise with Bella, after all.
"Hungry?" he asked. Leah thought about denying it, but even she had heard the thunderous growl coming from her stomach.
"I'm sure Esme won't mind if we use the kitchen," Jasper said, giving her the choice, which she was grateful for. It seemed to Leah that Jasper seemed to know exactly what to say and how to say it. It half-pleased, half-irked her. He was saying that if she wanted to, she could prepare her own food, or if she wasn't feeling up to it, he would do it for her. Leah just knew it. But, I digress. There's no fucking way some bloodsucker is touching food I'm gonna have to eat, no matter how sickeningly accommodating the aforementioned bloodsucker is being.
After coming to this decision, Leah hoisted herself up and followed Jasper through to the kitchen. Every surface positively sparkled. It looked like it had just been fitted. There were no outwards signs of disarray or stray utensils. It all seemed horribly clinical - more like a room for performing surgery than for preparing meals. Leah suddenly had a pang of nostalgia for the ordered chaos of Emily's warm, homely kitchen. There was always something cooking, and always someone eating.
Stop being so fucking pathetic, Leah thought harshly. You hated that kitchen, and everything and everyone in it. Just get over yourself already and stop pining over the stupid, ungrateful bastards. One bastard in particular.
With that, Leah charged over to the gleaming cupboards. "So... what do you guys have?"
Jasper looked a little puzzled. "I'm not sure. But there's nothing off-limits. Only Seth, Jacob and sometimes Renesmee eat anything around here."
"I just need something quick," Leah muttered. Jasper looked a little disapproving, and the image sparked a sharp memory of her father. It made Leah irritable, and she snapped, "Look, I'm not exactly fishing to make a fucking crème brûlée, okay?"
She instantly felt guilty, which Jasper seemed to take in stride. "I apologise. I'm not exactly an expert on human nutrition, after all."
He gave a wry smile, which relaxed Leah quite a bit. She pulled out a stray packet of chocolate Pop Tarts from the cupboard. That would do for the moment. She didn't have the patience — nor skill, if she was honest — to cook anything substantial.
Jasper eyed the snack food in her hands doubtfully, but chose — fucking wisely, thought Leah — not to comment.
As she nibbled on her third Pop Tart, Leah's thoughts once again drifted to the impending wedding. She frowned at herself. Couldn't she go one day without thinking about that damn wedding? It would appear not. Leah thought of the empty hanger in her closet; the one reserved for the dress she hadn't bought yet. She thought spitefully about turning up in sweatpants and a hoodie.
Jasper looked over at her from the other side of the room. While she had turned on the television and switched it to the news purely for the background noise, he had drifted over to the piano, and was lazily dragging his fingers along the keys.
Her eyes met his, and she quickly looked away, remembering that he could see, or sense, or whatever the hell it was he did, exactly what she was feeling. He could feel the sadness that coursed through her, permeating her very being and drowning her heart. He knew... and Leah didn't know if she could handle that.
Slowly, Jasper rose from the piano bench, and slid onto the sofa, deliberately looking at the television instead of her. Leah could feel the conflicted emotions crossing her face, even as she tried so hard to hide them from everyone around her. She couldn't handle it. She didn't know how to deal with the clusterfuck of confusing emotions inside her. She didn't know how she'd managed to fit them all in there in the first place.
Jasper looked at her, and Leah was surprised to see kindness in his ethereal topaz eyes.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, softly.
Leah realised that she didn't want to snap at him. She didn't want to scream, shout and run away in frustration. Leah's eyes widened incredulously.
I can't believe it. They're getting to me.
A few seconds passed before she fully comprehended that thought, and when she did, her reaction was instinctual. Fuck!
As if he had suddenly absorbed Edward's power, Jasper smiled to himself.
A/N: Hope you liked. Review? :)
- Raven. x