Chapter 2: The Dinner

As they walked out of the library, the cold New Hampshire air blasted Bella's face until her cheeks stung. She readjusted her scarf so that it covered her nose and mouth and pulled her cap down over the tips of her ears. Bella walked behind Jasper, trying to match his pace and remain quiet, but the constant crunch of the snow beneath her boots reminded her of how human she was.

She observed him from behind. Though he looked more like a human, he clearly had many vampiric abilities left. It definitely explained why he was in front of her in a light blue Hawaiian button-up, jeans, and leather sandals, like he wasn't just walking through forty-degree weather. That, and he still had his pathokinesis. She couldn't imagine how he could explain what was going on. She couldn't even wrap her head around the fact that it was Jasper in front of her rather than any other Cullen. They had the least interaction, if she didn't count the time he tried to murder her over a paper cut. If anyone was going to show up unannounced, she would have assumed Alice. Or Edward—but she would have considered that a stretch. Which was why Jasper's presence confounded her more than anything.

They strolled quietly for almost a quarter mile before he stopped in front of a brightly lit, neon diner named cleverly The Diner . Bella had dined here the day before her first day of class after she and Jacob split up over the phone. The campiness of the place didn't feel distracting enough for the mood she was in.

He held the door open for her like a gentleman but walked in front of her as soon as they were both inside, making a beeline for the booth at the very back of the diner. The inside of the diner looked like a neon sign shop. Phrases and pictures hung along every wall in various halogen hues, making her eyes hurt a little.

She thought he looked ridiculous as she followed him. A bright cartoon character in a cartoon diner—so colorful and carefully defined and contrasted against the real world

Bella plopped down into the booth clumsily, her heavy backpack immediately sliding off the laminated upholstery, nearly pulling her down with it when she tried to grab it. The table was a bright yolk-yellow, almost pristine except for the small chip on the edge, revealing the splintering wood beneath.

She grabbed the menu and licked her lips before glancing up at Jasper, who still wore the ridiculous pink-lense sunglasses, still resting on the bridge of his long, aquiline nose. Immediately, she felt a spike of panic, her thoughts already finding ways to explain to other patrons or the waitress why he had red eyes, but his irises were dark enough that if others didn't look too hard, they could assume they were brown.

"Your treat," she stated curtly. It wasn't a question.

The corner of Jasper's lip curled up in amusement. "My treat," he affirmed. He flipped up the menu to cover the lower half of his face as he asked, "How's school?"

Bella leaned back, eyebrows raised, to gauge how serious his question was. Did he know about last year? Did he care? "It's fine, I guess. Not exactly what I want to talk about."

Jasper was quiet for a moment, and Bella thought that he hadn't heard her comment. But that was impossible because vampires heard everything. Including the ugly, rolling sound her stomach was making.

Finally, a waitress approached their table to take their order. She pursed her lips and ordered the most expensive combo burger on the menu, along with a large shake. She knew she wouldn't be able to finish it, but it had been a while since she got to splurge a little on herself. Jasper also ordered an identical shake, probably to look busy while she ate. Edward had to do that anytime they went out.

When the waitress finally walked away, he said, "I thought you were a vegetarian."

"I thought you were too," she challenged, raising an eyebrow.

She caught a glint of amusement in his eyes, but he didn't address her underlying question. "Back in Forks, it seemed like that's all Esme could get you to eat. Lettuce and tomatoes – rabbit food."

"Esme imported Wagyu beef from Japan the last time I agreed to let her cook for me. There's no guilt in rabbit food." Bella thought back on that dinner, remembering the meat and spices melting on her tongue, and when she went home that night to tell her dad about ordering some for dinner tomorrow, she was shell-shocked to find the hefty price tag on a single cut.

She looked at him expectantly.

He held her gaze for a moment before turning away. He drew his sunglasses up to the top of his head. "I haven't fed in a long time." And Bella immediately believed him. The shadows under his eyes were dark, as if he hadn't slept in days. With that additional context, Bella realized that, despite being tanner than the typical vampire she was accustomed to, his skin was sallow.

A rowdy crowd of students barged in through the front doors—four boys and one girl—and plopped down in a booth near them. Bella recognized the girl from her Calc lectures, who looked slightly woozy, but nonetheless grinning from ear to ear.

Turning back to Jasper, she asked, "So what are you doing in New Hampshire? Where's everyone else?"

"I'm on my own now," he said quietly, refusing to meet her eyes.

She waited patiently for a few seconds, expecting him to continue explaining that statement, only to have him glance over the menu to give her a brief smile. "Okay, you're making this like pulling teeth. Where are they?" She heard her nerves in her voice.

I'm on my own now . Did it explain his eyes?

The waitress suddenly appeared on her right and set down a massive burger with fries and a tall milkshake longer than her head. Jasper immediately tried to steal a fry from her plate, and to her surprise, she was fast enough to slap his hand away.

Their eyes met, and there was an instant crackle between them.

"Get your own," she grumbled, pulling the plate closer to herself, not quite sure she was ready to address what just happened.

"Rosalie is in Manchester, Virginia," Jasper finally answered.

"What's she doing in Virginia?"

"She's a nanny." Jasper grimaced.

Bella blinked. "Um. Wow."

"Carlisle and Esme went to Italy early in May, but I haven't heard back from them in some time."

"Let's circle back to Rosalie for a second," Bella said quickly. "Does she feel comfortable around children? What about Emmett?" She pictured Rosalie, who was viciously beautiful, devouring a baby like a bone-in chicken wing.

Jasper simply nodded. "Emmett's…not with her."

Oof , Bella thought. Trouble in paradise? "Okay… what's he doing? What about Alice and Edward?" she asked.

He sighed, pushed away his shake, and just stared at her for a moment with glassy, emotionless eyes.

Bella waited for his influence, but nothing changed her emotions. Instead, she began to feel a creeping sense of dread.

"They're dead."

The fluorescent light over the booth next to theirs flickered and made a low humming sound. It blended with the itchy, mosquito-like drone of the fluorescent signs around the diner, but all Bella could hear was the roaring in her ears.

"What did you say?" she said stunned.

"Alice, Edward, and Emmett are dead."

She stared at him. I can't breathe. She put her head between her hands and tried to breathe, but all she could smell was the hot grease from her plate and the sickeningly sweet scents of the diner.

There were so many things that she wanted to ask, but every time she opened her mouth to ask, something got stuck in her throat—a large, burning lump that she couldn't quite swallow down.

Jasper continued to speak, and she could see the pity in his eyes.

"They died earlier this year. Rosalie and I managed to escape…but not wholly, as you can see." His hands twitched slightly as if to gesture to his entire self. "We try not to stay too far from one another, just in case we experience further change."

Edward is dead .

And it had been months since he died. And she hadn't known. She had always thought that her love for him was so profound that she could still feel him even if he wasn't there. But he had been gone for a long time, and it hadn't registered even as a blip in her life.

Alice is dead.

Bella couldn't see clearly anymore. The hum of the fluorescent bulb got louder. The clanking of silverware against dishes sounded like nails against a chalkboard. A film of tears covered her eyes, and the lump in her throat only got bigger.

"What happened to them? Oh god… Edward . What happened?" She let out a sob, quickly covering her mouth with her hand to stop it. The group in the booth next to them was starting to glance over at them. With a shaky hand, she wiped her eyes.

The familiar tug of calmness began to envelop her. Her heart rate began to slow.

She snapped up to look at him, her anger flaring and ebbing away altogether. "Stop doing that! I have the right to my own feelings."

Just as soon as the curtain of calmness came, it was ripped away, and the tsunami of anguish slammed into her, and fresh tears sprang to her eyes.

For a while, Bella looked into Jasper's eyes through the pink, heart-shaped lenses. They must have belonged to Alice. A new wave of churning anxiety and sadness swam in her chest at the thought that she would never again see that happy, positive girl who she loved so much.

"Would it make that much of a difference if I told you what happened?" he murmured.

"Yes, it would. I want to know. How could something like this happen? What even kills a vampire? What happened to you?"

"Bella, I don't think we should talk about this."

Bella stared at him incredulously. She stood up quickly and flung her backpack over one shoulder. She gave him one last look of disappointment before turning to walk out of the diner. She nearly tripped and fell onto her back when she felt a hard palm clamp around her wrist.

"Let me go," she muttered.

Jasper tightened his hand around her wrist. She wriggled her arm when a sharp pain shot up to her shoulder.

Panicked, she said, "Let me go, or I'll scream."

"Go ahead," Jasper said coolly. "No one here will care."

Bella looked around the diner wildly, hoping to catch someone's eye, but even when she yelled out to the group of students in the booth next to them and their waitress, they only spared her a lazy glance before going back to their own business. There seemed to be a thick fog of aloofness, something reckless and sleepy, hovering in the diner.

For the first time ever, Bella suddenly understood just how frightening Jasper really was. He could kill her here right now in the most gruesome, horrific manner, and no one in the building would even bat an eyelash. Nobody would care. Because he could make them not care.

"Sit," Jasper commanded sternly. Bella was terrified of him for the first time since the night he nearly killed her over a papercut.

Shaking, she slowly lowered herself back into her seat.

Jasper stared at her for a few seconds before letting go of her wrist. Pain seized up her arm for a few seconds as the blood rushed through her hands quickly. She cradled her arm close to her chest, massaging the skin over her forearm.

"I'm sorry," he said. He gestured for her to give him her arm.

She hesitated for a moment, but let him gently slide his thumb up and down her forearm. A shadow of an impending bruise began to appear under his ministrations. His hand was cool against her skin, barely numbing the ache in her arm. Although there was a sense of predation in the way he watched and held her, the firm grip grounded her as she continued to process what he had told her.

"Sorry," he repeated.

Though Bella seethed, she truly felt that he was, but her own paranoia made her question whether he made her believe that.

"Eat," he commanded, though not unkindly, gesturing to the stacked plate in front of her.

Too afraid and tired to refuse, she shakily picked up a fry and nibbled, finally allowing the tears to drop.


A/N: Review and let me know what you think.