Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I only own what I can come up with.
"You want to what?" I asked the war god standing in front of me cautiously. After the little scene in the kitchen, everyone had made their way to the throne room. It was awkward for the first few minutes, no one really knowing what to say or do, but Emmett Cullen - bless him - had broken the tension quickly. With his question 'What is there to do in this joint', I had sent everyone to different areas of the castle to do activities they all loved. Everyone had left the room chatting happily, making new friends or chatting with old friends. It was kind of a brilliant idea. After all, what better way to connect people than have everyone with the same interests hang out?
When the groups had dwindled down, I had sent them away with various members of the guard. When my father and uncles were sure that I had control over the situation and that I was safe, they had left me. Once the large crowd had narrowed down to fifteen or so people, I sent Felix with them to the game room. I had watched the doors close and sighed, closing my eyes. That's when Whitlock had made his presence known and made his request. Which brought us to where we were now. Standing in the middle of the empty throne room while I regarded him with caution.
"I want to spend the day with you."
Eight simple words, yet I couldn't tell how I should react to that. Jasper was all new territory to me. He was dangerous, even more so than my mafia-like family. He should come with a warning label if you ask me. I stared at him, searching his face for some hidden motivation. All I could see was the usual smirk that was on his face, if not a hint of curiosity in his amber colored eyes. There was no hostility or any of his usual 'I'm better than you' look.
"Why?"
"How am I supposed to get you too fall in love with me if we don't spend time together?" He cocked an eyebrow at me, but not to make me feel stupid. Just to remind me of our little bet. Which did help to clear up some of my confusion. He stared at me, hands in his pockets, waiting for my answer. I hesitated. Demetri didn't seem to have a problem with me and Jasper making this bet, neither did his family. Peter was likely to blow a gasket on me, but that had a fifty-fifty shot of ending up being entertaining.
Oh, to hell with it, I thought finally. If he wanted to spend his time with me, then fine. It was in the unspoken rights of the bet anyways. "That's fine, Whitlock. Now lets go. I have a feeling that the best entertainment is in the game room right now." I didn't wait for him, just strode past him on my way out. It's not like he couldn't catch up to me anyway.
It was a quiet walk to the game room. Not awkward or unpleasant. It was just quiet. Jasper and I never touched, just walked side by side comfortably. Never once did he try and show off or be rude. It was strange. As we got closer, he started to laugh randomly. At first I thought he was laughing at something I did, which made me annoyed and self-conscious. Then I realized it was probably something that I couldn't hear, so I shrugged it off.
"Whitlock," I said casually. From the corner of my eye I saw him look at me with a metaphorical question mark over his head. I smiled, amused. "What are you laughing about?"
His amber colored eyes smiled. "Oh. Well you see, my brother, Emmett, is currently getting his ass handed to him by Peter at Guitar Hero. He's very annoyed with that." I laughed out loud at this. Peter was probably in the top three Guitar Hero players here in the castle. Maybe on Earth. The number one player was Felix though. He played the real guitar better than anyone else I knew, so it didn't surprise me that he was amazing at the video game. I normally ended up coming in close second to him. Unless it was Rockband. In that case it was anyone's game. We both chuckled as I came into hearing range of Emmett's loud groans. Both of were laughing as we walked inside the room. It was strangely nice.
Some of the guests in the room froze when we walked in. Others bowed, but I just smiled at them and asked them to continue on as if I wasn't present. I was grateful when the ones who didn't freeze or act all mannerly simply grabbed their friends and continued playing whatever game it was.
"Isa! Come play Bioshock with me!" Felix waved at me from one of the couches and I bounced over to him happily grabbing the red controller.
"One or Two?"
"Two, of course."
I grinned as he set it up for two players. "Good." I looked around for Whitlock and saw him standing awkwardly next to the couch, not really sure what to do. "Whitlock! Sit your ass down on the couch. Now." He did as I commanded, looking at me curiously. As soon as he was sitting down, I plopped myself down in his lap. I felt him stiffen as I nestled backwards.
"What?"
I looked up at him with a mischievous grin. "How are you supposed to make me fall in love with you if you don't act like my boyfriend?" With that said, me and Felix started our game. I could sense his smile as he rested his chin on top of my head and wrapped his arms around my stomach loosely. Felix looked at us out of the corner of his eye, but just smiled like he knew something I didn't. Much to my satisfaction, I saw Peter clench his fists in anger.
2 - 0, Bella in the lead! I thought happily, as I played one of my favorite games. For hours we all took turns. Sometimes it was even me and Jasper playing at the same time. Eventually though, my fun had to come to an end. And that end came as soon as Jane's voice echoed through the hallway.
"Band practice now!"
I groaned in frustration. "Come on, Isa. Let's get this over with. We need to get the songs for tonight out of the way." When I didn't move he reached for me. Jasper knocked his hands away and I grinned triumphantly, albeit a bit surprised by him. When Peter tried, Jasper sent him a smile and kicked his stomach. A laugh threatened to escape me as I saw his surprised look. After a few more failed attempts, Felix shrugged and gave Jasper a look before nodding his head and walking away. I grinned up at Jasper, when he smirked at me and hoisted me up over his shoulder.
"You jerk! You aren't winning in points with this, you know!" I said, pounding my fists uselessly against his back. I could hear Peter, Felix and Jasper laugh at this.
"Sorry, Princess. I have to listen to your body guards though. They scare me just a little more than you do."
I growled at that. "Oh trust me, Whitlock. They should be the least of your worries if you end up pissing me off. You're just lucky that we have this bet in place. Now hurry up. I want to get this over with so I can prepare for tonight."
Nobody bothered to reply to me as we made our way toward the sound proof music room/dance studio. It really was great. There was a section of the room meant for the band, while the other half had walls of mirrors. Everyone was tuning up the various instruments that needed to be tuned. They all stared at me and Jasper as he set me down gently on my feet and I gave him a mock curtsy.
"Um, Bella? What the hell is he doing here?"
"He's with me. If you want the story you can ask Felix. I'm gonna go change into something looser. Whitlock better still be in here when I get back."
I walked away quickly towards the little changing room. I changed into a pair of workout shorts and a tank top. I had spied Alec in the practice room stretching, meaning that I was most likely going to be getting a good workout today as well. Not that I minded. It kept me fit and it was fun. Mostly. When I walked out, all eyes turned to me. "So what are we doing today?"
"Let's put the song list for tonight up. Did you hear what the theme was from Esme?"
"Yeah. It's 'Trip Down Memory Lane', which basically means everyone is supposed to wear clothes from their original time period. We'll also be telling stories."
Someone took in a sharp breath. "Does that include your story?"
I nodded. "The kings wish it, so I will fulfill that wish. Our guests won't know everything you know, just what I deem necessary. Anyway, I have a few songs already planned out for tonight."
"Which songs are that, Isa?" Felix asked me, strumming random chords on his guitar. Jane was standing next to him, holding his hand tightly. I had to stop from rolling my eyes at them. Mates.
"Considering tonight's theme, I want to do songs that are important to me. So let's start with Unforgivable, go to Runaway, Courage, and then... I want to do Wind Beneath My Wings." There was a pause as everyone stared at me in slight awe. It was a song that I had only sung once in my life to one person, and that was only when I thought he was leaving me for good. "Now let's run through some songs I can dance to."
"How about Top of the World, Bella? Then we can do Backseat, and finish with Kiss My Lips." Alec's suggestions told me that he was gonna make me work.
"That's fine, but let's get started. I've got to head up to my room in two hours."
. . . .
It took us an hour alone to finish the choreography to Top of the World. We had to stop and restart multiple times because someone would mess up or I couldn't get the move down fast enough. It was frustrating, but when I finally did master it, I felt super proud of myself. Jasper stayed silent through the whole thing, thankfully, and I took a long sip of my water, almost draining the whole bottle.
Backseat only took a half an hour at most. We knew that song pretty well, but Alec wanted to add a few new moves to the dance we already had. My muscles were sore, but it was a pleasant soreness.
Finally we got to the last song, which was one of our favorites. It only took twenty minutes for us to finish it, but it was flawless. We ended the song with Alec dipping me backwards, one arm around my back and one hand on my head. His lips were on my neck, placing a soft kiss there, and one of my legs were wrapped loosely around one of his legs.
"Good job, you guys! Let me go change and then we can wrap this up. Jane I need you to be ready to go up to my room when I get out." I didn't bother to wait for her reply as I changed back into my outfit quickly. My lips turned down as I looked at myself. God, I couldn't wait for a shower. When I got back out, the room was slightly tense. Strange. "Okay. Remember the songs tonight and what you guys play. Don't tell anyone about the song choices, and I'll see you guys tonight."
They all nodded and I made my way with Jane. Jasper stopped me before I could leave though, placing a hand on my arm. "What time should I pick you up?"
I smiled. "Seven. Not a minute before, and not a minute after."
"I'll see you then, Princess."
"See you then, Whitlock."
A/N: Hey! Sorry this chapter is short and not up as fast as I thought it would be. My cousin had surgery on her leg so I'm spending my days with her in the hospital! I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Please, please, please, leave a review! :)