Author's Note: Okay like always I still dont own Twilight or its characters, as much as i have wished for it. Ana and Jade are all mine though. ANyways I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has been reading and to a HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you to missblackvelvot who has left two reviews thus far! thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!I promise you that you will get more of Jade, but not so much in this story. She will still have her POV's and stuff, but I am saving the details of Jade and Edward's relationship for the sequal of this story!!!! Where Jade is in the limelight :D Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you enjoy this chapter! PLEASE leave reviews kisses all around :D On to CHapter 13......
Chapter 13: Jack Daniels and Water Lilies
Jade's POV
Laying in the warmth of Edward's arms I cant think of life getting better at this very moment. Okay so maybe one thing could make life better, and that is if the sky was to open up and start pouring down Jolly Ranchers. Ahh, that would be great, but for now I will take what I can get. Edwards breathing has been steady for some time, telling me that he fell asleep shortly after our make out session. I sigh happily at the thought. I close my eyes, feeling my mind starting to drift off towards sleep when the screaming from down stairs jolts me out of my current state. I sit up straining to hear when I recognize Ana's voice. Shit. I reach down and grab the closest shirt to me, pulling it over my head catching the faint scent of Edward's cologne.
" What is it? Where are you going?" Edward asks, sitting up, his face dazed with sleep. I look over my shoulder as I reach for the bedroom door.
" It's Ana," I say, and I wait as he slides quickly out of my bed. We walk down the stairs catching ourselves on the stairs before we walked into the middle of the heated fight between Ana and Jasper. It's been a long time since I have seen her like this. Her eyes lit with anger, her hands clutching the counter.
" You heard me. What right do you have to tell me how to do anything in my life? Are you my father? Are you even my friend? You have no right to tell me how to do anything, just like I don't have the right to tell you how to run anything in yours," she yells, skirting around the counter to stand in front of him. One thing about Ana, she hates confrontation, but she doesn't back down when confrontation finds her. I stay back, knowing that I need to let her fight her battles on her own. In the darkness of the stairs I listen, holding my breath to see what he will say, and where this fight will lead them.
" Oh so you think you can just walk around and do what ever you please without letting anyone know what is going on with you? That you can just go around like some common, freshman slut and pretend that you feel nothing for me?" Jasper yells back at her. My eyes haze over and my body works off of pure instinct. I fly into the kitchen fully ready to launch myself at Jasper, and rip his head from his shoulders. Edwards strong hands catch me around the waist and I kick uselessly against the air.
" I swear to God Jasper, you just made the biggest mistake of your life, I am going to kill you," I yell at him, pushing against Edward's hands trying so hard to get free. I stop struggling when I see Ana lift her head and look Jasper straight in the eyes.
" I would rather be thought of as a slut in this house, then to be pitied as the stupid girl who is in love with someone who wants a girl that he had and lost, and can never have back," she says. I can feel the hatred in her words, but more, I can feel the unadulterated pain. She walks past me, not even looking up to make eye contact. The kitchen is frozen in silence. Everyone staring at Jasper, unsure of what to say, or if we should even breathe. Edward sets me down and I walk to the counter.
" How could you say something like that?" I ask, being sure to stand behind the counter so that I don't attack him.
" It just came out, I didn't even think," he says, running his hands through his hair.
" I am going to go stand guard at the stairs, make sure that Ana doesn't leave," Emmett half mumbles. I watch as he walks from the kitchen.
" You have no idea how big of a mistake you just made. You could have said anything to her, you could have hit her, and it would not have had the same impact on her," I say, my throat thickening with tears of anger and sympathy for my best friend.
" I am not saying that what my stupid brother said is acceptable, but surely as women we all know what it is like to have someone call her that," Rosalie's small voice comes from the corner. I turn my head to look at her, before looking back at Jasper.
" Yeah, as women we get used to be calling sluts, or bitches, or hoes. But tell me something Jasper, would your father ever call your sister a slut?" I ask, watching his face.
" Of course not, but I really don't see what this has to do with what is going on," he says, his voice tired and sad.
" You see. Here is something you don't know about Ana. Something that you probably would have never found out because Ana doesn't like to talk about it. Ana's father was a mean drunk. He would never hit, no not physically. He never wanted to leave marks. But emotional scars last so much longer than physical ones. The day her father left the last thing he said to her, was that he was leaving because he didn't want to watch her grow up to be a slut like her mother," I say, and the look of realization spreads over everyone's face. " She is my best friend, no that's all wrong. She is my sister. We have been connected from the moment that we met, and I will make sure that she stays away from you, even if it means that we leave." I turn to walk out of the kitchen when Jasper finally speaks up.
" You cant do that," he says dully. I turn around and glare at him through angry eyes.
" Why is that?" I ask, leaning against the counter thoroughly curious as to what reason he could give. He opens his mouth to speak when Emmett comes back into the kitchen.
" Ana's gone," his deep voice comes from behind me. I whirl around to look at him.
" What do you mean Ana is gone?" I ask, panic coursing through my veins.
" She left. I'm sorry. I should have made her stay, but she looked so, broken," he says, his own eyes shining. I sit back in awe for a second, looking at the emotion coursing through his eyes. I push past him and Edward and run out through the front door, just in time to catch the last gimps of the tail lights of the Explorer turning the corner. I stand staring for the longest time. Willing her to turn around and come back. He is dead. Oh yes. Jasper will pay. I wrap my arms around myself thinking of just how many way I can kill one Jasper Hale, and get away with it.
Ana's POV
I pull the car over into an empty parking lot, finally deciding that it would probably be safe if I didn't drive with tears coming faster than I can blink them away. I turn the car off letting the sobs wrack my body, shaking me violently. Jasper's voice ringing in my head, my father's voice screaming at me even louder. 'I told you, you'd become a slut just like your mother.' His voice mocks me as I continue crying. I slap my hands over my ears trying to silence the voices. I don't know how much time has passed, the tears stopped a while ago. I look at my phone and its glowing numbers tell me that it is three in the morning. I scroll through my phone, twenty five missed texts, ten missed calls. Ana, come home. Ana, please tell me where you are, we will come get you. Ana, please. Please, please. I ignore them all as I look through my numbers and decide to call the only other friend I have made here. I press the call button and it rings. One ring. Two rings. Three rings.
" Hello," the muffled sleepy voice of Brody rings through to me.
" Hey did I wake you up?" I ask, trying to sound upbeat.
" Yeah most people are asleep at three in the morning. What's up?" he asks, his voice lightening. He sounds genuinely happy to be hearing from me.
" So uhm, listen this is going to sound crazy. Especially since we just met. But I need somewhere to crash for the night," I say, hoping that he doesn't hang up on me.
" Sure, no problem where are you?" he asks, and I look around trying to find road signs. I quickly find them and let him know. He gives me the directions to his studio apartment and I hang up the phone. I start the car and listen to it run for a minute, contemplating. What are you doing Ana, you need to pick up the phone and call Jade right now. No. No. No. I cant expect her to rescue me every time I fall. I put the car in drive and take a deep breathe hoping that I am making the right decision.
I press the buzzer again.
" Hello," the deep voice comes through the speaker.
" Hey, its Ana," I say. It was relatively easy to find Brody's apartment. Considering it was all of two blocks away from where we work.
" All right I will buzz you in," he says, I can hear the door unlock from the inside. I pull open the door and step into the warmth of the apartment building. I look around and find an elevator. Looks sturdy enough. I hope. I get in and press the glowing seven. The elevator lifts with a deep hum as it starts the ascent. My heart hammers against my rib cage as the doors slide open. I walk as quickly as I can to his apartment. Number seven forty eight. I stand looking at the door straightening out my hair and clothes, hoping that my eyes aren't to swollen from crying. I lift my hand slowly, knocking on the door. The door swings open revealing Brody with sleep tousled hair, wearing nothing but a pair of basketball shorts and a whit tank top.
" Hey, I'm sorry about all of this, I feel so bad," I say, walking in. His apartment is cute. Typical for a guy. Dirty dishes, clutter. Discarded clothes. Posters of half naked women adorn the walls. A huge plasma TV is in the corner along with a complicated looking stereo system. Its nice though, comfortable.
" Don't worry about it. Its not every day I get a phone call at three a.m. from a pretty girl in need," he says, shutting the door behind me.
" Somehow I doubt that," I say, setting my bag down on the counter. He smiles a boyish grin and I laugh.
" So you going to tell me what happened that has you in my apartment this late, or are you going to keep it a surprise?" he asks, sitting at his kitchen table, pulling a cigarette from a pack. I watch as he lights it and inhales deeply. I can feel the tears thickening my throat at the thought. I scan the room and catch the collection of empty liquor bottles on top of his fridge.
" Can I get a drink?" I ask, and he smiles standing to fill a glass with water. I look at him seriously as he turns to hand me the glass.
" I was thinking something a little stronger," I say, and he smirks slightly reaching into his freezer pulling out a bottle.
" This should be strong enough," he says, pouring some of it into a shot glass.
An hour has passed and I am drunk. No I am far past drunk. I am plastered, wasted, blown, every other word you could use to describe what I am would work.
" Seriously Brody, he called me a slut. When he is the one who is in love with someone else and refuses to admit it, boys are so dumb," I say, my voice slurred and high pitched. Brody laughs thoroughly at that.
" Yes, we are dumb, very dumb at times. Let me tell you something sugar, if the guy is dumb enough to not realize what a great girl you are then screw him," he says waving his hand in the air as if he is making a valid point. I giggle at this, hysterically. "What's so funny?" he asks his voice slurred thickly.
" You, you, you just said screw," I choke out laughing. I fall off the chair I am sitting in with a soft thud, laughing even harder. He joins in on the laughter and soon we are both breathless. The laughter dies slowly and I lay back on the floor of his living room. The room spins blissfully. Brody joins me, pulling me so that my head is cushioned on his shoulder. I turn to look at him and I swear the eyes staring back at me are Jasper's. He leans in kissing me. The faint taste of cigarette smoke and Jack Daniels on his breathe. I let him take the kiss where its going to go, all the while wishing that it was Jasper, and not him that I was kissing.
Throbbing. Pulsing. Oh I think I am going to throw up. I open my eyes slowly and shut them again quickly. The room is too bright and my head and stomach scream in defense. I sit up slowly, and the room spins. Only this spinning is not the same happy spinning that I remember from the night before. I look around at my surroundings and realize that I am not on the floor like I remember instead I am wrapped in the sheets of Brody's bed. Cold air hits my skin and I realize that my shirt is missing. Panic sets in. What did I do? I wonder to myself. I lean down searching for my discarded shirt. I find it at the end of the bed and I put it on quickly. I slide out of the bed happy to know that at least my pants are still in place. I reach the door way and brace myself against the door, as the sickening nausea rolls through me.
" Morning sunshine," Brody's bright voice calls from the kitchen counter.
" What time is it," I ask, looking through my bag for my cell phone.
" A quarter to one," he answers and my eyes widen.
" Oh no, I'm going to be late. My class starts in fifteen minutes," I say, shoving things back into my bag. Its quiet as I rush around picking up my stuff. I slide into my shoes and grab my bag.
" Hey, are you going to come back here tonight?" he asks, looking at me questioningly.
" Oh, erm I don't know. I'll call you," I say, pressing a small kiss to his cheek as I rush through the door. I make it all the way down stairs and half way to my car before the vile taste at the back of my throat gets the best of me and I throw up. I clutch my stomach as I get into my car and I fumble around the back seat for the bottle of water that I always keep handy. I feel like I could cry with joy when I find it and I drink deeply from the bottle, trying to wash away the taste in my mouth. I have never been a big drinker. Sure I partied in high school, but not excessively. I drank only one other time to the point of complete oblivion and that was the first time I drank at all. I curse the sun that peaks through the clouds and slap on my sunglasses praying that I just make it through classes.
By the time I walk into work I am feeling somewhat human again. Snacking on saltine crackers has helped settle my stomach and I walk straight for my office. I open the door to see the most beautiful bouquet of pink water lilies sitting on my desk. I smile slightly as I cross my office to read the card attached. 'There are not enough words that I could say to tell you how sorry I am. Please just give me the chance.-Jasper.' I read the note two or three times, bitterness and anger filling me completely. I crumble the note in my hand and grab the vase of flowers. I contemplate chucking them out of the window but no one, except Jasper, deserves to die by being struck in the head with a vase filled with generic 'I'm Sorry' water lilies. I walk to the front desk and place them on the desk. I turn and almost run into Veronica.
" Oh Ana, what beautiful flowers. I saw them being delivered, why in the world are you putting them out here?" she asks, and I can feel my face become flushed. " They have to be from someone very special."
" I just thought I would share them with everyone," I answer quickly walking towards my office.
" Well who are they from, someone special I am hoping," she pushes the issue and I almost wonder if she knew that they were sent by her son.
" No, no one special," I say over my shoulder, walking back to my office with a chip on my shoulder the size of the world.
I have been dreading this moment since I left last night. I look at the front door wishing I could fly, that way I could avoid this whole mess of seeing people and just lock myself in the sanctuary of my room. I open the door and poke my head in quickly sighing in relief when I see that no one is in sight.
" Hello," I call out kind of quietly. " Its just me, Ana, home from work. If anyone needs me I will be upstairs." I start creeping up the stairs when a noise comes from behind. I turn and see a slightly bemused, but overly worried Jade staring at me from the bottom of the stairs. She looks at me for a second before climbing the stairs catching up to me. She catches the back of my shirt and drags me up the stairs.
" You, Me, we have to talk NOW," she says, dragging me away. I see Edward and Emmett's heads peak up the stairs and they shake their heads slowly before going back to do whatever it is that they are doing. I knew I was in for it. I did. The moment I left last night I knew that if I stayed gone and didn't at least text that Jade would be on the prowl until I got home, and then she would pounce. She would rip me a new one, then express how scared she was, then she would soothe and finally she would make some huge joke to make it all okay again. I walk into the room easily as she slams the door behind me.
" What the hell were you thinking? Just taking off like that? We didn't know where you were, or if you were hurt. That was the single most immature thing I have ever known you to do Ana, and you have done some pretty immature things. If you ever do something like this again, I swear I will call your mother," she yells, her voice slightly becoming light towards the end of her tirade.
" Jade, I am so sorry that you worried about me," I say, sitting down on the bed.
" Ana, seriously, come on. Can you even imagine what was going through my head. You weren't answering your phone or anything," she says, sitting next to me. She wraps her arms around me kindly and I lay my head on her shoulder, emotion filling me. I always hate worrying her. I hate knowing that she is unhappy for any amount of time.
" I know, I just. I had to get away," I say, pulling my knees to my chest. I cry. She lets me. I ask why, and she doesn't try and answer, she just listens.
" I don't know why he said what he did Ana, I wish that I could give you the answer. All I can tell you is that I wont let him hurt you again," she says, her voice filled with promise. " Where did you go anyways?" I smile at her guiltily.
" You did not," she says, pushing away from me to get a better look at my face. I just nod.
" Oh my god Ana, what happened. Tell me all about it," she gushes. I replay everything to her. How I called him and got drunk with him. Kissed him. Wished that it was Jasper. Woke up in his bed shirtless. Everything. I didn't hide anything from her, in our friendship I quickly learned it was futile to hide things from her.
" Wait, wait, wait," she says, looking at me the joking light in her eyes turning serious. " How do you know that you didn't, you know?"
" I think I would know, besides, my pants were on. I'm not sore or anything, and just so you don't have to ask, I made an appointment already to go to the student clinic," I say, pulling clean clothes from my dresser.
" Good. So tell me about these flowers that you know who sent," she says, and I cringe at remembering just how perfectly beautiful that they were.
" What's to tell? They were perfect, beautiful. I thought about chucking them from my office window," I say, looking at her. She laughs at that, a quick happy sound that makes me feel light again. Like all of the heaviness that I was feeling just disappeared.
" That would have been great. All over the news you would hear about someone being killed by a falling vase of water lilies," she says, laughing hysterically. I laugh with her at the absurdity of the thought.