Disclaimer: Twilight is not ours. We don't own it. I own a new two-pints of milk I went out to buy tonight, though. I made coffee with it, it was guuuud...
Enjoy!
Chapter 4 APOV
I was completely out of breath when I got back to my dorm, having run nearly two miles in just under fifteen minutes. Still terrified, and with my heart hammering in my chest, I jammed my key into the lock and nearly snapped it in my rush to get inside, falling through the door as it opened faster than I had expected.
I slammed the door behind me and slithered to the floor, pressing my head to my knees and screaming into them in frustration. Why had I reacted like that? I should have stood my ground and acted cool. Pfft. Alice Brandon never acted cool, my brain cruelly reminded me. Not only had I royally pissed Jasper off, I'd also managed to cause him to bugger up was seemed to be a ridiculously popular gig.
I should seriously come with a health warning.
I stood and made my way into the tiny kitchen area and pulled open the freezer. A day like today only had one ending. Me, the sofa and Vienetta. I dumped a huge chunk into a bowl and left it on the side while I went to change into my pyjamas. Gotta love 'Hello Kitty'.
I had just settled down on the sofa and was about to find something mindless and numbing on TV when there was a hurried knock on my door.
"It's open Emm!" I wasn't about to get up just to let his ass in. I was too comfy for that. "What the hell are you - fuck it, Vienetta's in the freezer." I shouted as I shovelled more in my mouth. I flicked through the channels, finally settling on a Doctor Who rerun. David Tennant was seriously cute. I could hear Emmett in the kitchen getting himself some ice cream. He was being far quieter than usual though, and I wondered whether it was because I'd annexed his semi-date with Rosalie so quickly. Was he going to have a go at me?
I snuggled down under the blue fleece that was ever present on my sofa and actually started to get into the show. I'd missed most of it, but it seemed to involve statues that had to be watched all the time. Don't Blink. Oh how ironic. I can't even escape Jasper in my own flat.
"Hurry up Emm!" I yelled. What on earth was taking him so long? He knew my tiny kitchen like the back of his hand. I shovelled the last of my ice cream in my mouth and placed the bowl on the tiny coffee table. Finally I heard him making his way to join me. "You took your sweet ass time."
"Sorry, I couldn't find a bowl." Okay. What? That was not Emmett's voice. I sat up, finding something to throw at the intruder, and slowly turned round to see Jasper stood in the doorway, a bowl of my Vienetta in his hand and a hesitant smile on his face. I opened my mouth to say something, but my brain was refusing to pass messages to my voice box. It was, however, shrieking at me in the style of a policeman talking to a kidnapper.
You're holding up a fluffy slipper. You're holding up a fluffy fucking slipper. Put the slipper down, Miss Brandon. Put. The. Slipper. Down!
"What. The. Fuck?" I managed to stutter. "How did you get in?"
"You said the door was open…" He trailed off, gesturing toward the door with a spoon coated in melted ice-cream. My meltedice-cream.
"I also said Emm. Not you." A pause where his mouth dropped open, and the spoon he was holding came dangerously close to falling to the floor and damaging my carpet, along with my pride, my ice-cream and my night.
I was so close to screaming, it was nearly making my head explode.
"Well," He muttered, "I'm very sorry," and it was the hoity-toity, I'm better than you are, accent that made me see bright green. And that was worse than me seeing red.
"Fuck you." I muttered, glancing at the ice-cream in his hand. "Are you going to eat that?"
"Sorry?" And I think I may have stunned him entirely.
Taking that as my cue to be the sneak thief that I so clearly was, I launched myself over the back of the sofa and diving for the large and wonderful bowl of cold, sugary sweetness that he was holding.
With an epic commando roll, I had the damn thing. And he was standing there, staring at me lying on the floor. Fuck him. And the cute smirk on his beautiful face.
"What the hell are you doing?" He had the audacity to ask me that, still holding the spoon and looking down his nose at me. I did the mature thing and ignored him completely. He followed me to the kitchen and simply watched me as I sat down at the tiny table and stared into the bowl, pulling out another spoon and slowly chewing my way through the ice-cream, then looked up at him, smiled and shrugged at him.
"Eating. How can I help you today, Doctor?" And as I spoke, I watched him glance down and awkwardly tug at his bow tie, his face flaming.
"Jasper." He eventually muttered.
"Doctor?" Another pause, "I'm Alice, actually. I think Jasper's the douchebag that's trying to pull you off in a shitty pub band." Below the belt I know, but what did I have to lose?
"We're not shitty!" He slammed his hands down on the table and I felt the thrill of fear as his green eyes glinted at me furiously and he leaned over the table, a quiet growl leaving his lips. I leaned back in my chair, rocking dangerously on the back legs and grinned back at him, running my finger around the empty bowl of ice-cream and licking it as he watched.
"So, you're protective of the band, Jazz?" He stared at me, and I blinked back at him, silence enveloping the pair of us as we simply looked at each other. I welcomed the tenseness, it took away from my inherent need to shout something inappropriate, and he also seemed to be drinking it in and trying to mould it his own way.
I swiped my finger around the bowl again and licked away the residue slowly. His eyes were trained on my lips, his hands twitching violently as he stared at me and I found myself enjoying this more and more with every second that passed.
"Jazz?" Another pause, and his lips parted slightly, his tongue darting out to wet them.
"You're a harlot." He managed to murmur, finally wrenching his eyes away from my lips.
"I prefer Scarlet Woman," I smirked, "Hence the nails, Doctor." Then, with a wink, I rose and stepped into the living room. "Why're you here, anyway? Shouldn't you be out saving humankind with your assistant? Or playing the Gig still?" I tried to be airy about it, attempted nonchalance, but guilt was gnawing at me and my heart and head were pounding.
Jasper folded himself into the rickety chair opposite me. The table was so small I could feel his knees rubbing against mine, tiny sparks of electricity jolted me with every touch.
"The gig finished half an hour ago, and my assistant had a date, so I got talking to Emmett" I groaned aloud, knowing exactly where this conversation was going to go. "He told me where you'd be and I realised that we needed to talk about what happened this afternoon."
I fiddled with my spoon waiting for the onslaught.
"I'm sorry." His voice was gentle. I looked up and found myself drowning in his mesmerising eyes. "I should never have yelled at you like that."
"You... what?" I didn't expect him to say anything like that. "I should be saying the same." I dropped the spoon back into the bowl and shook my head, knowing I was ridiculous, "I shouldn't have snapped - you were only trying to help."
"It's okay, Alice," He stared for a minute, "I shouldn't have tried to-"
"I didn't get a lot of help when I was a kid," I waved off his explanation and he raised an eyebrow at me, "I guess I just needed to get used to someone... being there, to catch me, you know?"
He caught my hand between his own strong fingers and brought it to his impossibly soft lips. "Shall we both put an end to this nonsensical apology crap?" He looked at me again, turning my knees to jelly
I was simply glad I was sitting down.
"Why not," I grinned, and he smiled back at me, his eyes searching my face as we sat there for a long time in silence. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Alice Brandon."
A/N: Any Thoughts?
