Chapter 5: It's Complicated
I woke up around 9am the next morning on Jasper's couch completely alone. I didn't remember falling asleep, but I must have been exhausted. I thought for a moment that maybe everything that had happened last night was a dream, and that our conversation was just a figment, but that was hard to validate since I was sitting in the Cullen's house. Charlie, I knew he had to be worried sick when I didn't come home last night. I searched for my cell phone.
"Dad, hey it's me," I said apologetically into the phone.
"Oh hey Bells, where've you been?" he seemed in good enough spirits.
"I, uh, spent the night with Jessica. I'm sorry I didn't call, I completely forgot."
"That's okay, you can stay another night if you want, I'm heading to the lake again with Harry," he explained. So that's why he was in a good mood.
"Oh, well, okay. I might stay another night…" I looked around knowing I could stay in this house forever.
"Whatever you want to do, I'll call you later okay?" Charlie hung up the phone. That was easy enough, I laid back down on the couch and drifted back to sleep.
When I woke up again Jasper was sitting in a chair reading.
"Good afternoon," he smiled.
"Hey," I mumbled, "Sorry I slept so long."
"It's fine, you seemed very tired." Jasper actually made me breakfast. He'd been at the grocery store when I had woken up earlier.
"So, I'm guessing all the stories you told people are false?" I wondered.
"Most of them."
"Can I get an example?" I asked.
"Well, for one thing Rosalie and I aren't related…at all, trust me," he laughed.
"You said you were from Texas…how did you find Dr. Cullen?"
"I was at a diner, and Alice walked in, came right up to my booth and pretty much told me to come with her, so we traveled to Alaska, where Carlisle was living, and just moved in."
"How did Alice know you?"
"She didn't…Alice can see things, she can see the future more or less, she'd seen visions of her living with Carlisle, but she had also seen me coming with her. She's very convincing. If I was going to have a sister, Alice would come closest," he smiled.
"If Alice can see the future did she see that we were going to become friends?"
"Sort of, when you first moved to Forks Alice kept seeing blurred visions of you, we weren't sure of the meaning. Then, when Edward couldn't read your mind we all got a little nervous-"
"Read my mind?" I really needed to start considering that every single fairytale was true.
"Yes, my brother Edward can hear thoughts, I'm scaring you aren't I?" he winced a little.
"No, does everyone in your family have special abilities?" I wondered what his would be.
"Well, I can sense the emotions of people around me, sometimes, with enough concentration I can manipulate people to feel whatever I want," he explained cheerfully.
"Can you sense my emotions?" maybe if his brother couldn't read my mind then he could read my emotions. I thought back to every time I'd seen him and gotten giddy or excited. How humiliating.
"Yes," damn, "I really can't help it." He seemed apologetic like he knew what I had been feeling all those times. Then it occurred to me that he could probably feel my embarrassment now. Great.
"You said you were nervous about me…why?" I tried to change the subject, the last thing I needed was a vampire knowing that my heart flip flopped anytime he was near.
"Mainly because that had never happened to Edward before, we were worried that you were different somehow, that maybe you could be a threat but eventually we realized that you weren't so it was fine, though he was still very put out," he chuckled a little.
"A threat? What kind of threat could I be to you?" I laughed out loud at the idea.
"Well every now and then someone realizes what we are, and we have to move but you didn't pay attention to us at all, it was quite shocking. Most people stare and talk about us constantly, but not you."
"I know what it's like for everyone to think you're a freak, and I don't talk about people behind their backs anyway."
"That's why I like you Bella, you're so different." Like I hadn't heard that before, but it sounded nice coming from him just the same. "Would you like to go hiking today?" he asked politely. I glanced at the time, it was nearly one o'clock.
"It's awfully late don't you think?" I assumed he wanted to hike to the pond, a journey that at best takes like three hours. I felt a little guilty for sleeping so long.
"If you trust me, I'm certain we can make it a very short trip." Oh, I trusted him.
I quickly got dresses and we headed out, I noticed that I had several missed calls from Jake, but I didn't care enough to respond. Jake was keeping things from me, we don't keep secrets.
"What are you thinking about?" Jasper asked as we drove out to the trail.
"My friend Jacob, I'm angry with him."
"Why?"
"He's obviously keeping things from me, I don't like secrets. Secrets complicate everything," I explained.
"Well, it's a complicated situation," he defended Jake, "It's not like he's keeping something simple from you, this is pretty serious stuff."
"I suppose, I guess it's just the realization that…" I trailed off not wanting to say it.
"What?" he urged.
"The realization that no matter how close I get to someone, they still keep things from me."
"For your own good…" he added.
"No," I disagreed, "I don't care what Jake tells me, he can tell me he killed someone for all I care, I'd still love him like family."
The rest of the car ride was silent until we pulled up to the trail. Jasper got out of the truck and I hopped out as well following close behind me.
"I don't keep things from you," he said, though I wasn't sure what he meant by it.
"I know…and I appreciate that about you," I replied.
"Good. So, do you trust me or not?" he smirked.
"I trust you as of right now," I answered fairly. Jasper handed me my backpack and I slipped it on while watching him curiously, what was he up to?
"Get on my back," he told me as he turned around and squatted down a little so I could climb up.
"What?"
"I told you I could make our trip significantly shorter, but you have to trust me," now he was full blown amused.
"Okay…" I hopped on his back and then everything was a blur. Like, literally a blur. I knew he was running but all I could see was the greens and browns of the forest whizzing by as if we were driving 150 miles an hour down the highway. Needless to say, we got to the pond in record time, it felt like minutes.
"That was insane," I breathed as I tried to steady my nausea.
"Yeah, one of the benefits of immortality," Jasper laughed. When he was happy I noticed his Texan accent more. "Bella I'm so glad there are no secrets between us anymore. I honestly can't remember the last time I've had an actual friend that wasn't in my family."
"Glad I could help," I was still clutching my stomach. I walked over to the rock and positioned myself comfortably on top of it. A gust of wind sprayed some of the mist from the waterfall over my face. I shivered in response.
"Are you cold?" Jasper asked taking his jacket off and wrapping it around me.
"I'm- I'm okay," I blushed furiously. It was silent for a long time as we listened to the sound of the water filling the clearing. "I want to live here," I said softly.
"Hmm, well you don't strike me as the type to live off the land," he joked. I playfully punched him in the arm, knowing he probably didn't feel it.
"I want to build a cabin…right over there," I pointed to the spot as I hopped down off the rock to run over there. "Come here," I motioned to him. Within a second he was by my side.
"This would be the front door, made completely out of mahogany wood," I outlined a door with my arms then stepped forward. "You'll walk into a cozy yet spacious living room, all hardwood floors. There'll be a hand built stone fireplace right here," I pointed, "And over here a tiny kitchen with oak cabinets to match the floor."
"It sounds beautiful but…" he trailed off.
"But what?" I raised an eyebrow.
"But…surely you don't plan to live out here alone?" he asked. I blushed again.
"Well no, someone will be here with me, I just…" I awkwardly turned my body away from him and my ankle got caught on a root sticking out of the ground, yeah, I fell flat on my ass.
"Are you okay?" he laughed hysterically. Oh I'm fine, just let me pick up the shards of my ego.
"Yeah, great," I muttered as he helped me up on my feet.
"Maybe we should step outside the cabin for a moment?" he giggled, "Lots of obstacles in here."
We walked back over to the edge of the pond and sat down. Jasper looked out over the water and I watched him. I wondered if he could feel how close to him I felt, how completely flawless I thought he was.
"What were you like before you were a vampire?" I asked without thinking.
"Um, it's a long story Bella," he shifted nervously.
"You can tell me anything, I really want to know," I pushed.
"Why do you want to know?"
"I guess it's just because I wish…I wish I'd known you, back then, when you were human. I bet you were so different," I guessed.
"Well what do you want to know specifically?"
"Everything, everything you can remember up until right now," I requested.
"It's a long story…" he cautioned.
"I've got plenty of time Jasper."
Author's Note: I'm going to end this chapter here because I want to use Jasper's POV for his background sequence. I feel like it's been a while since I updated so thanks for keeping up with me and I'm sorry it's been a hot minute.