Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

54 - ᴀ ᴡᴇᴅᴅɪɴɢ

THE DAY following, Jasper stood downstairs of Athena's house watering all of the plants while she created a clatter of things upstairs as she got herself ready. Athena heard his phone ring then tuned the sound from downstairs out, instead going to her jewellery box to pick out the ones that matched her dress. She had gone shopping with Alice, where she tried to rope her into getting a light blue dress that she didn't like as much as the black one she had at home. A jolt of panic ran down her spine as she looked to the place where she thought she had left her Cullen crest ring, only the area was completely void of any rings whatsoever. You would think, given the vampire thing and all, losing things would not come easily to her. When that wasn't the case whatsoever, she lost things all the time and normally just waited for them to turn up again like they usually did. Only this time she couldn't wait for that, the ring was far too special.

"Darling! We have to leave, Alice's getting to the point of murder," Jasper called up the stairs as he walked up to them, pocketing his phone after being half yelled at by a panicked Alice. He had to fight the urge to laugh some of the time, she was just acting so different to her usual calm and floaty self.

"Hang on a second, I can't-" she called after a few seconds, a ruckus of clattering following as she started picking things up to check if the ring was behind them. He knocked softly on the door then opened it, noticing that she was still in pyjamas and searching behind a stack of books.

"What's wrong?" he asked, almost taken aback by the tense atmosphere of the room.

"I can't find my ring, I took it off when I went in the bath and now I can't find it," she replied frantically searching the surrounding area of her jewellery hangers and all the things that sat beneath it. She didn't find anything then began pacing the room, looking around in every crevice that it could have fallen.

"Hey," he paused, quickly moving across the room as he placed his hands on her shoulders to stop the pacing. "Relax, we'll find it." They spent at least five minutes searching for the ring, double-checking all the places it could have fallen. Athena was getting increasingly more worried as time went on, feeling awful for losing something that held so much value. That was until Jasper's hand shot up from the side of the bed, ring clutched victoriously between his fingers. She grinned and ran over to where he was, taking the ring from him and slipping it onto her finger. It had fallen off her desk and tumbled behind a stack of papers written all over with a typewriter that also lay under her bed. She couldn't bear to part with it, even if it was broken.

She hugged him gratefully once he stood again. "Knight in a hot suit," she laughed, fixing the slight wonkiness of his tie.

He chuckled, raising a brow, "I'm guessing that makes you a princess in pyjamas?"

"Queen actually," she smirked softly then turned to the wardrobe, walking there quickly and pulling out her dress. Jasper turned around as she changed, fixing the untidiness of her desk that the search had caused as she zipped the back of it up. She asked, "Can you grab me the silver necklace with the imprinted flower charm?"

He found the necklace instantly and walked over to her as he undid the clasp, draping it over her neck after she moved the ends of her now curled hair out of the way. Once it was fastened, she dropped her hair and looked at herself in the mirror. "Mesmerising as always," he smiled, kissing the nape of her neck softly. She smiled, eyes fluttering closed for just a moment.

"Not so bad yourself," she laughed and kissed his cheek, wiping away the slight lipstick smudge that was left there with her finger. "How late are we?"

"Five minutes if you drive," he replied after glancing at the clock on the wall. Then he grew a smirk, "About two if I do."

"I'm not that slow!" she exclaimed as they quickly walked down the stairs. She ran over to Benji's enclosure, opening the little hatch on the side so he could walk around the living room while they were gone. Jasper just looked at her in amusement as she moved to the door. She sighed, "Okay but it's only because I don't have a license."

"Still? I thought you were getting one?" he asked as she tossed him the cars to her yellow car, slipping on her slight heels so she wasn't too much taller than he was.

"I was, then the dude turned out to be skeevy so I had to abort mission," she laughed as she opened the door. After checking that no one was around, they both speed to the car, driving off quickly. Running had been an option they thought about but that had a messy clothes risk that Alice would certainly not appreciate. Athena didn't want to run the risk of having to borrow a rather extravagant dress from her. She was happy with her black embroidered flower dress that hung just above her knees, held up by spaghetti straps and fit her body like a glove.

They weren't too late for the wedding. Not late enough to miss anything important but late enough that Athena was pretty much thrown into meeting a good twenty vampires that the Cullens considered daily without any warning whatsoever. Something which made her slightly uncomfortable and made Jasper inclined to try and help her weave her way through the many conversations. She was extremely grateful for that.

The ceremony began fifteen minutes after their arrival and Lucifer was it absolutely stunning. Bella looked gorgeous and just the entire wedding had the most perfect atmosphere. She loved listening to people profession such a fond adoration for another, the one that they view to be their soulmate. She and Jasper held hands through the entire thing. He rubbed his thumb against the top of her hand, watching out of the corner of his eye as she hung on to every single word said by the three at the top of the alter. He fought the urge to smile at how happy she was during the whole thing and wondered what she was thinking. Athena decided at that moment that she loved everything about weddings, even the modern ones. But maybe not the copious family members.

-

The party after the wedding was in full swing. Jasper had gone off to dance with Alice so Athena floated around the wolf pack's non-official side of outside and went to Billy. She sat with him, talking and laughing mostly at some of the more peculiar comments some people had made during the evening. He reviewed a lot of glares, so many that she couldn't keep count of them. "Please, Billy? I don't ever ask you for much," she pleaded, hoping that he would change his mind with minimal convincing,

He sighed, "But he-"

"He means a lot to me and I would really appreciate it if you would at least try to talk to him," she interrupted, placing her decoy glass of champagne on the table next to her.

He raised a brow, giving her a look that she couldn't quite figure out, "I thought you only became official a few weeks ago?"

She rolled her eyes without thinking about it first. "We've been practically dating for like five months, I've explained that before," she paused, sighing ever so slightly. "If you don't want to then you don't have to," she continued in complete earnest. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable in any way but it would mean a lot to her - just a single conversation between the two of them or just a simple hello would scratch the itch.

He sighed deeply, knowing the look in her eyes all too well. "Alright fine."

"Yes!" she exclaimed and gave him a one-armed hug. "I'll be back in a second," she grinned and stood to walk off, Billy nodded but there was some apprehension showing on his face.

Athena walked over to where Jasper and Alice were. The two were doing a rather energetic dance that involved Alice flipping over his shoulder. She watched stunned and overly grateful that he hadn't asked her to do that to her. Then, after that song finished and a quick look around, Jasper took her and walked the two of them onto the dancefloor. One of his hands went around her back as she rested her chin on his shoulder, dancing to the slow music that surrounded them. They had muttered conversations through the whole thing, soft laughter coming from the both of them on more than one occasion.

"Would you come and officially meet Billy and talk to him?" she asked, quickly continuing when she saw the look on his face, "It's totally okay if you don't want to. I understand completely."

"I'd be happy to," he replied softly and smiled at the pure joy that she felt. She kissed him quickly and had to try and hide her excitement.

They got on better than she thought they would. Sure it wasn't sunshine and rainbows but it was better than nothing. They even laughed together, albeit it was over a joke about her not ever having been to a Zoo but it was still a bonding joke.

The night finished on a high, with Bella and Edward heading to their honeymoon. The mortals left as it got too late and so did the wolves, leaving only the Vampires to a rather fun party. She got to know everyone in a more relaxed sort of way and loved it all.