"So...why are we doing this again?" Jasper asked Alice curiously as he ran a hand through his hair. Glancing down at his hand absentmindedly, he noticed some white powder on his hands. "Huh," he observed.
Alice glanced over at Jasper from where she was mixing something in a large bowl that she clutched to her chest. She glanced at his hand with the residue on it and then back up at his face before finally going back to whatever it was she was stirring. "Still have some flour in your hair?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah," Jasper answered, running his hand through his hair again to find more flour. "I thought I already got it all out."
Alice grinned. "That's what you get for throwing flour at me," she told him in a sing-song voice.
Jasper rolled his eyes and shook his hair out, his body angled towards her. Alice leaned away, laughing. "Hey, no fair!"
"All's fair in love and war," Jasper reminded her.
Alice grinned again before she glanced down at the batter, the smile fading. Looking at Jasper, she laughed a bit nervously. "Uh...you know what, maybe we should just buy something for the party instead of trying to make it."
"Why what did you do?" he accused playfully.
"Nothing!" Alice gasped, appalled. "I am shocked that you would ever think that!" Jasper gave her a look, and Alice sighed. "Oh alright, I kind of...well, look," She held the bowl upside down over the sink, and the batter ran out as if it was water. "I kind of stirred it a little too much."
Jasper looked at Alice in amazement before he shook his head. "Why are we even making food for this party, it's not like we're going to be eating anything."
"Because Clara invited us to a party, and we should be nice and bring something for the humans to eat. But uh...we should probably just buy something for the party." Jasper laughed and Alice grinned back at him before setting the bowl in the sink. "Yeah, we should definitely buy something. How about brownies?"
Jasper wrinkled his nose, and Alice laughed again. "Yeah, they don't sound very appetizing to me, either."
"Alice," Jasper began, suddenly nervous. Alice fidgeted slightly from his nerves before she felt a wave of calm. "Sorry. Do you think I'll be able to handle going to a party like this? All the humans? I mean, I know I made it through Marilyn's birthday, but I don't know if I can do it again."
That was all he was worried about? "Don't worry," Alice murmured as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You'll do wonderfully. And if it gets too bad, then I'll be there to help you. Promise." She smiled dazzlingly, and Jasper sighed but nodded. Alice stopped moving suddenly and her eyes glazed over, and Jasper watched her carefully before the vision ended and her smiled widened.
"It's going to snow again!" she chirped happily, skipping out into the living room to peek out the blinds. She kept them carefully in front of her body until she saw that no one was there.
Alice grinned and threw back the curtains, and the sun glinted off her skin. Jasper watched Alice as she smiled and giggled as the snow began to fall. The sun hit both of them, and Alice turned around to look at Jasper as his skin glittered brightly.
"Are you ready for the new year yet?" she asked him.
Jasper shrugged. "I guess. Can you believe that we've been together for almost two years?"
Alice smiled and closed the curtains before turning and going back over to Jasper to wrap her arms around him. "No," she whispered, "can you?"
Jasper kissed the top of her head. "It seems like it went by fast." Alice nodded in agreement. "Oh, have you seen the Cullens lately?" he suddenly asked her.
Alice sighed and shook her head, pulling away from Jasper to look up at his face. "No. Not for a few months now. I'm really worried."
"Well, there's not much that we can do about it now, so don't you worry your pretty little head about it. I'm sure you'll get a vision of them soon enough, okay darling?" He calmed her down slightly before smiling.
Alice suddenly grinned widely at him. "So about those brownies..."
****
"I'm so glad you guys could make it!" Clara cried as she opened the door for Alice and Jasper. "And you brought brownies! Yum! Come on in you guys," she opened the door wider and stepped to the side to let them in.
Jasper nodded at her tensely, while Alice smiled brightly at her and danced inside. "We bought them," she told Clara sheepishly, "I guess we just aren't that good at baking anything."
Clara smiled. "That's fine, just go ahead and put them in the kitchen, that's where everybody else has left the food. Most everyone is in the living room now, if you want to go see them."
Alice nodded and tugged on Jasper's hand, leading him into the kitchen. The smell of all the different foods assaulted her senses, and she let go of Jasper's hand carefully. All the different smells would distract him from the humans somewhat, and she trusted him.
Jasper looked at Alice warily, but nodded slightly. If Marilyn's party had been hard, this would be excruciating, but he would do it. For Alice. It didn't matter that there was more humans here than he had ever been in company with before, or the fact that they would be staying for a few hours.
He would do it for Alice.
His resolve strengthened, and Alice smiled as she watched the future firm up with his resolve. No blood would be spilt here tonight. She was sure of that.
Alice set the plate of brownies down on the table and then took Jasper's hand again. "You can do this," she told him.
Jasper nodded, and Alice led him into the living room, where people were jammed up next to each other. People were talking and laughing, and the radio was on in the background. Alice glanced at Jasper and watched nervously as a human bumped into him. Jasper stiffened, his eyes widening fractionally.
Scenarios flew through her head faster than she could watch, only catching glimpses, and Alice wondered too late if she had made a mistake bringing Jasper here.
After tense milliseconds though, the human laughed nervously and backed away from Jasper, and they moved on without incident. Jasper wasn't breathing any more, just as he normally did around so many humans, but he turned to Alice and said with the last of his breath. "Don't worry. I can do this."
This time, it was Alice's turn to nod, and they continued through the room. With all the humans here, it was suffocating, and her throat burned, but Alice knew that she would be able to make it. She had to.
All these humans were unaware of the danger surrounding them, the chance that they would never get to see the new year.
"Alice! Jasper! Over here!" Alice turned to see John motioning for them to come over and join him.
Alice hurried over to their friend, Jasper's hand clasped in her own. "Hi John," she called when she was closer. "Where's Tommy?"
John smiled. "He's with my mother. Staying the night with grandma again. You guys staying for the entire party?"
"I don't know," Alice told him truthfully, shrugging. "Maybe. I guess it just kind of depends."
John nodded before glancing over his shoulder when his name was called. turning back to Alice and Jasper he gave a half-wave and started to make his way over to the person who had called him. "I'll talk to you guys later," he called back to them.
"Alright," Alice agreed before turning to face Jasper. She noticed how his eyes had already started to darken considerably, despite the fact that they had hunted just hours earlier. Alice looked around the room when she spotted another friend of hers. Alice took Jasper's hand again and made her way over to the woman, smiling warmly.
"Hey, how have you been?" Alice asked as soon as she was within hearing distance.
The woman smiled, and Jasper watched her disinterestedly as she waved around a cup of alcohol and continued talking to Alice.
The humans surrounding him were mingling with everybody, laughing and talking loudly before joining another conversation, and then moving back. Somebody was fiddling with the radio, and somebody else was starting some sort of game over on the other side of the room.
A few people were getting together a group to play poker in the kitchen, and others were moving in and out of the kitchen with plates of food. Jasper made a face—it smelled disgusting—and continued watching everyone silently.
If he didn't think about the blood, then it was easier for him to resist them all, but the room was getting stuffy, and the air was circulating. "I'm going to open a window," he whispered in Alice's ear, taking in a deep breath filled with her scent before stepping away from her to go open the window like he had said.
So focused on ignoring the people, Jasper didn't realize that Clara had come up next to him until she spoke. "How do you like the party so far?" she asked curiously. "Is it any good? I hope so, I was agonizing over it for hours."
Jasper smiled slightly. He obviously wasn't going to tell her that he couldn't enjoy it very well because he was thirsting for people's blood, so he just settled for what Alice would say. "It's really nice, Clara."
Clara beamed. "So uh, what are you doing?"
Jasper hesitated. Rude to a friend, or loosing all oxygen? Sighing internally, Jasper answered her. "Opening the window. It's getting stuffy in here."
"Oh! Why didn't I think of that?" she berated herself.
Jasper smiled slightly, but didn't say anything until he had opened it and subtly took in a deep gulp of fresh air. "Don't worry about it, Clara," Jasper reassured her once he was sure he had enough air. "So where's Marilyn?"
"Oh, she's at a friend's house, they're going to stop by later to drop her off." Jasper nodded and took in another deep breath. "So some people are starting a game over poker in the kitchen—" which he already knew, "—if you'd like to join them. Alice tells me how good you are at poker."
Jasper laughed loudly, and noticed out of the corner of his eye how Alice glanced over at him and smiled before turning back to her friend. "That's if I had anything to bet on. I'm pretty much broke right now."
Clara smiled and laughed. "I suppose that would help," she murmured. "Well, I guess I've got to go be a better host, so I'll see you later, okay Jasper?" Clara laughed one more time and then moved back into the crowd of people, mingling with everybody she had invited.
Jasper sighed and leaned against the wall next to the window, closing his eyes. It was easier to talk with Clara, but with the other humans? Maybe it would just be better if he stuck near the window. Worse came to worst, he could always jump out the window. Jasper cast a sidelong glance out the window.
"Don't go thinking about jumping," Alice suddenly warned him, and Jasper turned to see Alice standing there, smiling mischievously.
"How do you always know what I'm thinking?" Jasper joked.
"I'm psychic."
"Haha, that's hilarious."
Alice's smile widened. "I know, I just crack myself up," Jasper rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless. "So how are you holding up?"
Jasper hesitated but finally shrugged, looking back at the window again. "I'll survive," he told her.
Alice smiled and stood on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. "Thanks. This means a lot to me."
"You just go and enjoy yourself, if you need me, I'll probably be somewhere near the window."
Laughing, Alice gave him one more quick kiss and a "thank you," before she wandered off into the crowd like Clara had.
Jasper finally just closed his eyes and listened to the humans as they moved from group to group.
"Hey." Jasper opened his eyes to see John standing in front of him, holding a beer in hand. "Alice run off?"
Laughing, Jasper scooted closer to the window to give John some room. Smiling, John came to stand next to him. "Hardly," Jasper explained, "she wants to stay, and I'm not big on parties."
John gave him a look and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I noticed." Jasper smiled slightly and turned to look out the window absently. "So what did you two do today?" John asked him eventually.
"I took Alice ice skating," Jasper told him.
"Really? How good are you?"
Jasper shrugged. "Better than last year," he admitted. John laughed, and Jasper chuckled quietly. "I took her last year on New Year's, and I was falling everywhere in the beginning."
"Nice," John commented. "So are you going to play poker?"
Jasper scoffed. "Thanks, but no."
John nodded in agreement. "Oh yeah. So, I'm gonna go, I'll talk to you later Jasper."
Jasper gave a wave. "See you."
****
"Jasper!" Alice suddenly gasped in surprise as he caught her hands and pulled her into a dance. Everyone around them was either laughing and joking around or dancing around as music played on the radio.
"Come dance with me!" he declared, smiling widely.
He pulled her into a spin and Alice threw her head back, grinning. Jasper pulled Alice close, and then sent her back out again before they started dancing around in a circle.
They continued on, dancing with no real set moves in mind.
There was actually more jumping around than real dancing, but Alice grinned as they did a combination of the waltz, some sort of jig, and jumping like the rest of the group. Eventually the song ended, and Alice laughed happily as she wandered over to the couch and fell back onto it, while Jasper just leaned against the side.
"That was fun," Alice commented as Jasper leaned next to her, nodding his head in agreement. Other people were joining in the dancing for the new song that was playing, so the couch was empty. "Why the sudden change in...emotion, oh."
Jasper nodded. "The alcohol does it's purpose well. Their blood isn't as much of a...temptation, and it also sends their emotions sky high. As long as everybody else in the room is this happy, I will be too."
Alice grinned at him. "We should do this more often." Jasper just laughed and looked around the room at everybody else.
The song ended abruptly, and the radio announcer came back on. "Hey everybody! It's almost the new year, we've got one minute till! Grab your drinks, grab your lover, we've got the countdown to do!"
Somebody screamed in delight, and there was a scramble as everybody moved to the kitchen to grab a glass of champagne.
A few seconds passed, and they saw Clara pushed her way through the crowds, carrying three glasses, as she made her way over to where Alice and Jasper were watching everybody quietly.
Getting over to them, she held out two of the glasses, offering them to Alice and Jasper.
Alice laughed nervously. "No thank you, Clara,"
"Oh come on!" Clara cried in exasperation, "You can't say no to champagne on New Year's, now take it before the countdown starts."
Alice sighed in good natured way, but took one glass while Jasper took the other.
"Now come on, stand up," Clara insisted.
Alice rolled her eyes at Jasper but stood up and moved to stand next to Jasper.
By then, most people had come back out into the living room, and the man on the radio announced that it would be midnight in 15 seconds.
"Everybody ready for the new decade?" Somebody called out into the group. Alice glanced at Jasper nervously, but there was a gleam of anticipation in her eyes.
Ten...
Alice grabbed Jasper hand, and smiled at him.
Nine...
She glanced over at Clara, who was beckoning John over.
Eight...
John came over to their small group, grinning at them. "You guys ready?"
Seven...
Alice let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding. "Too us," Jasper whispered in her ear, "and to the Cullens."
Six...Five...
"Four! Three! Two! One!"
Jasper leaned forward suddenly and kissed Alice full on the lips as the clock struck midnight, raising his glass with everyone else as the group erupted into cheers. Somebody blew a noisemaker, but Alice wasn't paying attention to them anymore.
Her eyes widened before Alice slowly let them slip shut, raising her glass slowly as she kept her lips firmly pressed against Jasper's own.
"Happy New Year!" Everybody cheered loudly.
Alice slowly pulled away and looked up at Jasper before taking his hand and bringing the glass down to her lips as Jasper did the same.
"To the new year, and the new decade" Alice whispered, knowing Jasper would hear her.
They glanced at each other out of the corner of their eye's once more before tipping their heads back and drinking the champagne.
It didn't matter that they drank it all. Or the fact that it tasted disgusting. It was a new year, and they were going to bring it in, in style.
****
More than seven pages, not even counting this author's note. It's so bittersweet. One more chapter and an epilogue after this, and I'm happy, but sad at the same time. It's my first multi-chaptered fic that I've really put my effort into, and I'll be sad to see it go.
So poll, I can't decide on where the Cullens should be. It can't be Hoquiam (a.k.a. Forks, and sorry if I spelled that wrong) or Denali, so if you have any suggestions, just leave it in a review, I'd really appreciate it.
LiL AliCe 21: Hm, well, I don't really know, I guess. Probably because there's something sweet behind Jasper's backstory (how Alice made all the difference), and the fact that we don't hear about them as much as, say, Bella and Edward. I seem to like the side pairings more than the main one normally. But I also just love Alice and Jasper as my favorite characters, so it's automatically my favorite pairing I guess : )
Reviews are much appreciated.