Jessica didn't even have time to process that moment dancing with Edward as she had to focus on the play. She was always nervous being on stage and took deep breaths as she waited for the curtains to be lifted. Jasper was working the pulley by himself, stoically standing backstage in a black hoodie. She didn't even want to look at his creepy face.

The rest of the cast was chaotically trying to get ready, putting on the Renaissance costumes and trying not to scream at each other. Lauren glared at anybody that got within her personal space. Angela was helping Bella with her hair. Eric was double checking the sound system.

"Fifteen minutes!" Alice called out, walking leisurely past the teenagers running around like panicked chickens. "Break a leg, everyone!"

Alice paused when she saw Bella who had her cast hidden under her long dress. "I mean, not literally."

Edward shook his head at his sister and Alice took the moment to escape.

The female vampire cleared her throat and skipped away from the awkwardness towards where Jessica was peeking through the curtains at the audience who were taking their seats in the gym.

"Hey," Alice whispered. "You okay?"

"Just nerves." Jessica spotted her mom and Charlie seated in the second row. "I've never really been the lead before."

"Really?"

Jessica nodded. She got through spelling bees and academic competitions with her need to succeed pushing her towards the finishing line. A school play was a different animal. There were so many ways to mess it up and embarrass herself in front of half the town.

"You'll do wonderfully," Alice reassured her.

"How are you so sure?"

Alice smiled impishly. "I can see the future, remember?" The brunette added, "And you know I'm not above nudging things along if I have to."

"You're incorrigible," Jessica chided with no real heat.

She was getting used to Alice Cullen's brand of optimistic insanity. Maybe it was just good old Stockholm syndrome.

Alice checked her expensive designer watch. "It's almost show time. Are you ready?"

"As ready I'll ever be."

It's not like she had a choice.

Jessica nearly tripped going up the staircase for the balcony scene. She stepped on the hem of her long dress and would have landed on her face if Emmett hadn't come out of nowhere and caught her around the shoulders. He wordlessly pulled away and gave her thumbs up. Jessica mouthed a "thank you" and made her way up the stairs. She reached the balcony and looked down towards where Edward was standing on stage, getting ready to climb the trellis.

She had memorized all her lines and said them as clearly as she could, her sweaty palms pressed into the wooden railing. She couldn't see the audience because of the stage lights. Edward climbed up the trellis and they recited the lines together. He really was a good actor. His husky voice delivered the lines with a longing tenderness she didn't think he was capable of.

It felt like time had stopped when the kiss came. And in a way, it did because they were being pulled from the present. It had been some time since they were pulled into a memory. Jessica didn't think she would ever get used to the sensation of finding herself in another reality.

Jessica and Edward were standing at the second floor landing of a house. He looked confused at their surroundings. Jessica paused when she realized where they were. She would recognize her grandparents' house anywhere.

"I don't remember ever being here," Edward said.

"It's not your memory," she told him. "It's mine."

As if on cue, they both turned as a door opened at the end of the hallway and a little girl stepped out. Little Jessica was wearing an oversized t-shirt with unicorns on it. She quietly walked up to the railing and sat down to watch something below. Jessica followed her younger self and looked down to see her parents.

The sight of her dad made Jessica's heart squeeze painfully in her chest. It had been years since he had died and it felt surreal to see him again. He looked so young to her now. This was before he had grown a beard and she could see his dimples as he smiled. Jessica took a seat beside her younger self and resisted the urge to run downstairs and hug him.

Edward took a seat beside her and saw as her dad turned on the stereo but kept the volume low as to not wake everyone in the house. The Breakfast at Tiffany's soundtrack played softly.

"Your parents?" Edward asked quietly, as if he didn't want to intrude on the scene.

Jessica nodded. "This is my grandparents' house in Maine. All of us would stay here for the holidays. This was before we moved to Forks."

After her father died the drive to Maine and back was too much of a hassle for Jessica and her mother. They had made do with a small dinner with the two of them watching Christmas movies on cable every year. After her mom started dating Charlie, he had joined them and helped with decorating the house. He had been on Christmas tree duty with Jessica the past few years where they would go out and select a new tree together. It had been nice but the echoes of Christmas pasts made Jessica feel melancholic and wistful.

"What was your dad like?" Jessica turned to Edward and he nodded towards where her father was spinning her mother around the living room. "I'm guessing he's no longer with us?"

"He died when I was thirteen. Heart attack. It runs in the family."

The Stanleys were a hardworking lot who were prone to handling stress by trying to work through it. Her father hadn't heeded the warnings about managing his health better even after seeing how poor stress management had affected his own father and grandfather. Stanleys were a stubborn lot much to their detriment. Jessica would wonder at times if her dad would still be with her if he just listened to his doctor for once and didn't have to overwork himself to the bone.

"I'm sorry you lost your dad, Jessica," Edward told her with surprising sincerity. "You must miss him."

"Not as much as I used to," she admitted. "But when I have a really bad day, I just want to talk to him again. I feel like he'd make everything better somehow. And then I remember I can't talk to him and…"

She swallowed, trying not to cry. The tears came anyway despite her best efforts. She wiped them away quickly, embarrassed that Edward Cullen had to see her like this. How could she even cry while in a memory? These vampire powers were so weird.

"My father worked a lot. I didn't get to see him that much growing up." Edward looked like he was lost in thought. "And I don't remember much about him but I know that he was ambitious and he expected a lot of me. He wanted me to be successful and go into law like he did."

"Would you have wanted to be s lawyer?"

"Not really, but I think I might have been good at it at the least."

Jessica snorted at his overconfidence. "Of course you would have. Edward Cullen is good at everything."

"Masen."

"What?"

"My last name is Masen. Edward Anthony Masen."

Jessica remembered seeing his human self in another memory and a girl had called him "Mister Masen".

"Cullen suits you better," she teased. "It feels more cult-y."

"That's Carlisle's last name."

"And he makes a charismatic cult leader."

"I'm going to tell him you said that."

"You wouldn't dare." At the mischievous gleam in his golden gaze, she said, "Fine. Tell him but I'll deny everything if he asks." Edward's crooked grin did stupid, fluttery things in her stomach so she tried to ignore that by asking, "Is Carlisle a good dad?"

"He tries his best. We've been at odds at times but he is my family so I can never really stay away for long."

"I suppose spending immortality alone could be really sad even with the lone wolf- sorry, lone bat vibes you give off-"

"I've told you this before that I do not turn into a bat."

"-so I would maybe give Carlisle more slack for the whole turning you without your permission thing since he was just trying to help, and how long has it been anyway?"

"Over eighty years…almost ninety, actually"

"That is way too long to hold a grudge and that's coming from me and I can be super petty at times." She nudged his shoulder with her arm. "Maybe give the guy a father's day mug or something and then bury the hatchet, you know?"

Edward was staring at her like he was seeing her for the first time which made all the fluttery sensations inside of her worse. She poked her belly in the hope of making it stop.

"Someday, Jessica Stanley," he declared. "You'd make someone a good fortune cookie."

"I don't know whether that's a compliment or an insult."

Edward shrugged, unconcerned as usual. He turned towards the staircase where her dad was climbing up. Her dad went straight to her younger self, crouching down to look her in the eye.

"What are you doing up, Jess-bug?" her dad asked. His deep voice sounded like a warm hug. "You should be asleep or Santa won't come to deliver your presents."

"You and mommy are up."

"Mommy and I are going to bed. And you should be doing that too."

"Okay. Could I please sleep with you and mommy tonight?"

"Of course you can, Jess-bug."

Jessica stared at her father only a few inches from her. He looked so real liked she could touch him. His eyes were the same shade of blue as hers. Pictures and home videos couldn't compare to the reality of him. She could see all the little imperfections like his messy hair and his stubble he had been too lazy to shave off that morning. She tried to remember how he smelled and came up blank.

Her hand reached up to touch the wool of the sweater he was wearing and her hand went through him like he was made of air. He may have looked and sounded real but he wasn't tangible in any way. She couldn't interact with the memory, only observe.

She watched as her dad picked up her younger self, heading towards one of the bedrooms. Her mother turned off the record player and followed after them. Jessica hugged her legs to her chest, wishing they were in any other memory. Nostalgia could be both sweet and cruel. It overwhelmed her and she didn't want it.

"Could we go back now?" she asked.

Edward didn't say a word and offered his hand. She took it and felt that pulling sensation. They were back on the balcony on stage. Jessica's eyes were wet and she couldn't remember her next line. Edward's golden gaze held hers and he didn't seem to be judging her entire existence for once. She was able to regain her composure and they were able to finish the scene.

The play after party was at the Cullens' house which none of them aside from Bella (and that one time Jessica was kidnapped by Emmett but we don't talk about that) had been to before. Alice had volunteered to have the after party at their place since their house was huge and apparently Mrs. Cullen was excited at the prospect of getting to cook and feed all of them. The result was endless amounts of hors d'oeuvres and drinks that could probably feed the entire population of Forks. Esme Cullen seemingly did not know or had forgotten completely how much food a single human could consume. Her doctor husband didn't bother correcting her either.

Jessica was both exhausted from the play. She tried to reenergize by drinking a Red Bull and sitting on the pristine white couch in the living room. Her friends were sat around her, discussing every minute thing that had happened during the play like it was a football game.

"And that kiss on the balcony?" Mike said. "I know Mr. Monroe had concerns about the chemistry between you two but that was not a problem during the play."

"That kiss did not lack any chemistry at all," Tyler agreed.

"You actually looked like you were in love, Jess," Eric concluded.

Jessica gave them a bland smile. "I was acting."

"You managed to act like you don't hate Cullen," Lauren pointed out. "Which I thought was beyond your acting skills but I'm impressed."

"Jess doesn't hate Edward," Angela told them. "She doesn't really hate anyone."

"I don't hate him," Jessica conceded. "He's dating my future stepsister whether I like it or not so hating him just complicates things."

It would complicate her life more than it already was and she was exhausted enough with how things were. She didn't hate Edward Cullen. She never hated him to begin with. She just disliked him and wished he would fly away in his bat form (even if he insisted he couldn't turn into a bat).

Jessica didn't not like him, but she would never admit that out loud. She would rather die than admit that to anyone.

"Since it's Jessica's birthday today (your headcanon), it would be interesting to see her have a birthday in an upcoming chapter because it may or may not turn out to be a disaster with the whole Cullen dilemma. Just a thought, lol!" - Guest, February 29th 2024
Actually, my canon birthday for Jessica has changed to July 26th. She's too Leo-coded not to be a Leo. This is going to be her birthday from now on (aside from Impossible cause I can't be bothered changing that timeline of events.)

1. Chapter title is from the song Moon River which is the song Jessica's parents are dancing to in the memory.
2. Jessica's background in the Twilight universe is never really mentioned except she wasn't born in Forks and moved there so I just make up whatever when talking about her childhood and family. I chose Maine because that's where Anna Kendrick is from.
3. For Jessica's dad, I took inspiration from my own childhood. The only dad I've ever known was my stepdad and he died when I was 7 so I don't have a lot of memories of him. Memory dulls over time so I lose more of him each year. I imagine losing your memories over time is worsened when you're immortal like Edward.