CHAPTER FIVE

NEW YEAR'S KISS

Winter break was almost over and it was New Years. Alice had called to wish us a Merry Christmas and for some reason she knew something was wrong. I eventually told her everything about my parents and she practically demanded that me, Bianca and my dad come over for New Years, to have a little celebration at their home. I tried to tell her that it wasn't necessary but she wasn't having it. She even got Carlisle – since he knew my dad from work – to call my Dad and invite him himself.

My Dad was alright with it when he saw how excited it made Bianca so I agreed.

And that's how I found myself sitting on the Cullens couch once again, nearing midnight on New Years Eve.

Seeing Dad with a smile on his face as he conversed with Esme and Carlisle was almost too much. I slipped away quietly down the stairs. I found a porch in the back yard and sat down on a swinging bench.

Tears slipped down my face as I thought of what my mother was doing to this family. She was breaking Dad's heart, she was hurting Bianca, and she was being so cold to me. I brought my knees up to my chest and hugged them, starting to sob.

"Heather..."

I whipped over to see Jasper standing in the sliding glass doorway. I furiously wiped at my eyes, "Jasper..." I sniffed, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be inside?"

"Shouldn't you be?" He shot back. And I didn't have anything to say to that.

So I shrugged, "I guess so. It's just... been really difficult.. with my mom..."

Jasper nodded and walked closer to me, "Yeah... most of us overheard the phone call with Alice."

I gave a bitter laugh and said to myself, "Great... just great..."

Jasper took a seat by me, "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Heather."

I looked up at the stars, "This place was supposed to help my parents save their marriage. Not be the last thing that teared it apart."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jasper look up at the sky as well, "Sometimes things don't work out the way we want them too... but they always work out the way that they're supposed too."

"That's bullshit," I said harshly, looking away. But then I felt bad for saying it like that. He didn't deserve the back burner. Then I felt... calm. Kind of, sleepy. But not tired. It was a nice feeling after all the fighting and pain at home.

I sighed guiltily, "Sorry, Jasper, I know you're only trying to help. It's just... my family used to be as perfect as yours. We were happy. Then everything came crashing down. Daniel... my mom having an affair, my parents divorcing, me having to take care of Bianca all the time. It's not my dad's fault but there's only so much that he can do. It's just been really hard."

I felt Jasper put an arm around me as we heard the laughter and chatter inside the house. I laid my head on his shoulder, "You're missing the party."

I heard him whisper, "You're more important."

I looked up at him while inside, they were starting the countdown to the New Year.

10... 9... 8...

Jasper looked down at me. He whispered, "Seven... Six... Five..."

I whispered, "Four... Three... Two..."

Jasper's lips claimed my own as everyone inside yelled, "One! Happy New Year!"

It was a gentle, chaste kiss, but it lasted forever.

School started back up about a week ago. Jasper and I never mentioned the kiss we shared on New Years. But by some of the knowing looks, I could tell that at least Esme and Rosalie knew.

It wasn't that I was ashamed of having kissed Jasper, or that I didn't like him. The kiss we shared was more than anything I could have imagined and I did like him a lot. But this wasn't about us, it was about Alice... and Richard.

I didn't want to hurt Alice. The two of them just broke up and they live together. And Richard still meant a lot to me. I could honestly say that I didn't love him the way I used to anymore... but I did miss him.

Besides... Alice said that Jasper and her broke up because he already liked someone else. There was no hope for me and him anyway.

It was February now. Valentine's Day was right around the corner. I had the whole day planned with Dad and Bianca. We would all collectively sleep in, have a delicious breakfast made by moi, then go to Port Angeles for the day, maybe pick up some lunch there, and then adjourn back to this diner that we started to frequent.

I had a feeling it was because of this cute diner girl that Dad has a crush on. But technically he's still married so he won't do anything about it let alone admit it. And I was surprised that it didn't bother me that Dad liked another woman. Compared to my reaction to mom's affair, I was taking this swimmingly.

Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday that year so Alice came to school with a treat for me on that Friday. It was a cute little gift bag with chocolates and a little pink card inside. I was surprised at the small size and simplicity.

Rose smirked, "We had to hold her back."

I thanked Alice and started nibbling on the chocolates at lunch, saving most for Bianca. I offered some to them but they all claimed that they weren't hungry. This had come up more than once before. I noticed that none of them really ate anything. Once in a while they got food but they just picked at it and mushed it up gradually so it looked like they were eating. And they thought I didn't notice.

There were some rumors that they had eating disorders but I couldn't see such confident, happy people having that kind of problem

There were more weird things about them too. Their skin was... ice cold. I noticed just how cold when I felt Jasper's lips on mine. They all had the same golden eyes even though they weren't all related. I never saw any pictures of them as babies or any younger than they are now. But I did notice the graduation caps. I don't know how they got that many unless they collected them or saved them throughout the years.

They were all unearthly beautiful. Almost inhuman. And their voices matched their beauty. They even smelled great all of the time. They were perfectly composed at every moment and they didn't even put any effort into it. And I noticed their language mistakes. Some of them spoke with old language that my grandmother used to use. And Jasper had a southern twang in his voice that seeped through when he got excited or... with me... but Rosalie never let one slip. And they were brother and sister and she was older. If they were actually from the south, wouldn't she have more of a twang than he did?

They never told me about their childhoods or how they ended up with Carlisle and Esme. I didn't know any of their histories. I shared stories of my own... but they never did. And it bothered me.

All these little things had been nagging at me since I started noticing them shortly after I moved here. I'm not just now noticing these. But I've been so preoccupied digging out my mother's dirty affair that I didn't dig into their secrets. And I also didn't want to push them to open up to me. I could tell that there was something they weren't telling me. But I couldn't force them to tell me if they didn't fully trust me with it yet.

I guess I'll just have to be patient. I couldn't just force myself to make them let me in. And they've already done so much for me and Bianca and my dad. I couldn't ask for more.

So I'll wait.

Jasper brought me a rose in out first class. It was the first romantic gesture he had made since the kiss. But he still didn't bring it up. And I was too scared to. What if it meant nothing?

I couldn't take anymore disappointment right now.

The next day was actually Valentine's Day. Dad woke me up... or at least he tried to. He made a little bed in breakfast for me since I was going to be cooking for them. But I was already up and getting ready when he walked in. I smiled at him and thanked him sincerely, making him grow a little flushed at the sentimental moment.

I made french toast and buttermilk pancakes with slices of strawberries covering them just like Bianca loved them. I also got out the milk, orange juice and Dad's coffee. I made him drink milk or juice first though. We woke Bianca with the smell of pancakes and when Dad suggested we get going she said she needed at least an hour of prep time. This was obviously Alice's influence.

But we laughed and told her to hurry.

I had only drove straight through Port Angeles to take or pick up my dad from the air port. I never actually stopped in the town. But apparently dad had. He took me and Bianca to all the girly stores and bought us anything we wanted. I never asked for anything and if I did see something I liked, I bought it myself while dad was preoccupied with Bianca.

Eventually he caught on and confiscated my wallet. He told me that he wanted to get things for me. That he loved me. And that was enough for me to ask for a few things I had my eye on. Bianca wasn't shy to ask for things though after she heard Dad's talk with me. She gave him this smile... that just melted him right then and there and he was her slave. It was sweet to watch.

It was good to spend time with my dad and see him happy. We didn't feel our hunger until it was starting to get dark around 6:30 at night so we decided to drive back to Forks and get dinner at the diner.

Cora smiled when she saw us walk through the door. Dad gave her a shy smile back as he led me and Bianca to a booth that happened to be right by the Police Chief. We stood in front of him and I said a polite hello to him.

The Chief smiled, "Please call me Charlie. You guys having a good Valentine's Day?"

Dad nodded, "A good day out with my two girls."

Charlie looked around, toward the door, "Where's Darlene?"

Dad got quiet and Bianca dug her face into his shoulder. I smiled a sad smile, "Not here. With a friend."

Charlie seemed to understand that it was a tricky subject so he moved on, "Would you guys like to join me? I'm a bit of a loner..." he gave a small chuckle.

Dad began to refuse politely, saying that we didn't want to bother him. But I saw Charlie's eyes. They were sad. Lonely. He wasn't asking for us. He was asking for him. So I made an impulse move and sat in the seat besides him in the booth.

I gave dad a look and he quiet sat down across from me and coaxed Bianca to get out of his shoulder. When she did he placed her in the seat besides him and smiled as Cora came to take out order. She shyly smiled at my dad, cautious of the fact that me and Bianca were here. But I smiled genuinely at her and that seemed to help her relax.

We got our food soon and dug in, making small talk on the way. Then Charlie brought something up, "My daughter is going to be moving in with me next month..."

I paid attention to him, "I didn't know you had children."

Charlie nodded, "Her mother and I split up when she was really young. She hasn't live here since she was a baby. She used to come stay in the summers but about four years ago she stopped. But she's coming to live with me because her mother's new husband travels a lot for work. He plays baseball."

"Well it's nice you'll get time with her now," Dad commented. I knew he was grateful that mom didn't seem interested in taking us from him.

Charlie let a small smile grow and I could tell he was trying to down play his excitement of his daughter coming to live with him. He cleared his throat and looked at me, "Anyways I was wondering if you would mind showing her around. Helping out at school. It's a small town and you know what it's like to be the new kid."

I nodded, "Of course. She seems... nice."

Charlie nodded, "Thank you Heather. Would you and Bianca like to stop by when Bella arrives? I understand that you and Jacob are friends?"

I nodded, "Yeah, we'll come around. And I'm friends with a few people on the rez so yeah, Jake and I know each other. He's the one who helped me pick out Dad's new truck."

Charlie nodded, pleased, "Well he and his dad, Billy, will be coming over that day to drop off a little present for Bella."

"Oh that's sweet," I smiled.

Charlie looked bashful, "It's just an old truck. She'll have to get around somehow."

After that conversation flowed easily between bites of food and it was soon growing dark. Dad went to pay and talk to Cora for a bit. Charlie walked me and Bianca to the car, thanking me again for agreeing to help Bella out when she got here.

When we got home, Bianca was fast asleep on Dad's shoulder so he went straight upstairs to put her to bed, saying we'd have desert tomorrow. I decided to just go to bed as well. Maybe curl up with a good book.

I opened my door and when I got into the room... the window was open. I guess I must have left it open. I closed it quickly before going into my bathroom to do all the necessary things one had to. Brush teeth, brush and pull back hair, clean face, pee, dress in pajamas. All that jazz.

When I walked back out of the bathroom and into my room... I noticed that the window was open again. Not as wide open as it was, just a sliver. But I closed it all the way. I quickly closed and locked it, pulling the curtains closed. It felt cold in my room. Like someone was here.

But then I felt calm wash over me, hearing my dad's footsteps down the hall as he got ready to go to sleep. I climbed into my bed. When I reached over to turn my lamp off, I saw a yellow rose on the table with a small card underneath it. Pushing back that dreadful feeling of someone watching me, I looked around before picking the rose and card up.

Happy Valentine's Day.

I sniffed the rose and felt... happy. I sniffed the rose again as a smile grew on my face before I set it down on my nightstand and got settled into bed, shutting the light off.

There it is! They kissed! Hope you all like it!

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