Of three things she was absolutely positive.

First, Jasper Hale said he was not a mermaid and despite her misgivings, she had to believe him.

Second, the painkillers were making this whole conversation very easy– somehow it, the whole vampire thing, was more believable.

And third, no matter how many times he said he was 'bad' Bella knew he was not.

The number of times she'd bled around him and he had not eaten her was proof enough. But she also held close to her heart the time he had stolen a first aid kit and then proceeded to see to her wounds, as minor as they were. It had completely flabbergasted her and made her fall just a little bit in love with him then and there. Which was beyond cheesy– but there it was.

If she was being honest with herself, she could roll with the vampire thing. That was fine.

What was not fine was that he had neglected to answer the special person question she'd asked— which was annoying and frustrating. Did he have an Edward to his Emmett? Was she an Emmett in this scenario or was she an Alice? Or did that even make sense?

Bella rubbed her head again and refocused on the authentically southern-accented-one-hundred-and-sixty-two-year-old man in front of her.

Okay, that part was mind-boggling. Would she be considered a grave digger if she admitted she was into him? If he was turned at nineteen that meant he was nineteen– forever. Meaning he wasn't some ungodly number she couldn't catch up to. Therefore he was only nineteen which meant she was only two years behind him.

A grave digger she was then.

"You okay?" He kept watching her like she was going to kill over at any second. "I know this is a lot to take."

It was but she was strangely okay with everything. It explained pretty much every question and situation where she'd thought she was losing her mind. Him always running away from her when she was bleeding. Him being able to lift her without breaking a sweat. Him being there and then in the next second not. His shock of golden hair under the water– okay, no it didn't explain that.

Oh shit, the barefoot dude on her doorstep had been James.

"Why were you under the water that one time we went fishing?" She watched him sit and rub the back of his neck again looking chagrined.

"I was… I thought I needed to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" And he was probably going to say how bad he was for being a vampire in the next breath. Bella had to give the biggest of mental pffts to ever pfft.

"I thought Charlie was the one causing all of the emotional chaos and panic. Your feelings are– they feel amplified and– which was why I was so… frazzled the first time I met you. I was trying to figure out which human was radiating such emotional turmoil when you hit me– didn't even see you coming. Which was just insane. Every vampire has heightened senses and I should have been able to hear you coming. But you just blindsided me. And then you were bleeding."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Bella couldn't help but laugh a little at the memory. "You're the one with a brick wall for a chest. I thought I broke my nose."

"I'm so sorry about that." He looked so distraught that Bella had to bite back the laugh bubbling up in her chest. Of the ailments that she'd survived, that was less than even minor.

"I'm the one that walked into you."

His response was drowned out by the sudden buzzing in her head. They were confessing things, right? Him about his non-mermaidness. Adrenaline coursed through her at the sudden thought. She could confess something too. Should she just do it? Since they were confessing things– should she just ask him out?

She was an established grave robber– why not make it official?

He stopped pacing and stood in front of her with his head cocked. Adorable. God, how was her brain even working?

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" She was going to do it– what was the point of not? He could only shoot her down and she could handle rejection. Except it might change their relationship. He was her first and best friend.

That might ruin everything– maybe she shouldn't do it.

"You're suddenly anxious and… almost giddy."

Oh.

A different kind of adrenaline shot through her at the realization that he could feel her feelings. Hot and alarming. What was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to react to that? What was his reaction to her feelings? If it was bad what could she do? If it was bad what would he do?

Panic clawed up her spine at the thought. With Renee in her minds eye Bella shut down instantly. Not-Bella was best for Renee. Not-Bella didn't have feelings. Not-Bella could take a hit.

Not-Bella affixed a pleasantly neutral mask and waited for whatever was going to happen. Bella sat above and to the left of Not-Bella. She was in a different place– a warm place with trees and someone was hugging her. They smelled like Charlie. It was a nice place in her mind where no one could get her. Time didn't pass in the safe spot and she could stay for as long as she needed.

Eventually, Not-Bella faded back into just Bella and Bella found herself sitting ramrod straight in the recliner and Jasper sitting cross-legged in front of her.

Jasper. She liked Jasper. He was so very awkward and adorable. He laughed at her jokes and picked up her library books. He'd put band-aids on her wounds. He confessed his secrets to her because he thought she might be in trouble.

He wasn't Renee.

Why was she getting so panicky with Jasper? He was safe.

"Bella?"

"Jasper." She grinned at the vampire and tried to loosen her muscles. "Sorry, what did you say?" Her voice was raspy and croaky. She sounded like a frog who'd been smoking his whole life.

"Bella, I would never use it against you– never."

"I know– I don't know why I got so… sorry." She was suddenly so tired. Had that been a panic attack?

"Don't apologize." He put his hands up and she spotted another scar on his wrist. "Please, please don't apologize. It's all a lot to take in and I know it's scary. I'm scary."

"What?" She had to laugh this time. He was the furthest thing from scary. "Jasper, you are not scary! Stop joking."

He opened his mouth and then shut it and looked perplexed. Like she was insane for thinking such a thing. Ridiculous vampire. Which decided it for her. Bella was gonna do it and deal with whatever happened.

"Would you like to go out on a date with me? Like a date date?"

He'd looked perplexed before but now he looked as if she'd just sucker-punched him.

He opened and closed his mouth so many times that he looked like a fish out of water– which would have been a funny pun if he'd been a mermaid and not a vampire but Bella ignored the missed opportunity.

"No, I will not."