empathy

THIRTY-FOUR

Leaning against the Ducati a few hours later, fingers drumming against its seat, she waits impatiently for Jasper, who exits the building alongside Emmett and Roslie a few minutes later. The three of them are talking about god knows what until Jasper hands his bag to Emmett and makes his way over to her. 

"Hello, there, ma'am," Jasper takes his keys from her. "Ready to go?" he asks and she takes a step away to let him get on the bike. "I didn't even want to come here. What do you think?" Anastasia retorts and gets on behind him. Her arms hold onto him and he leans into her touch just slightly. Barely enough for her to even notice. 

"Somewhere I shall take you?" he questions, turning his head a bit towards her. "Nope," she shakes her head. "I want to show you something, is that alright?"

Jasper drives them someplace she doesn't know, it's outside of Forks and he has to drive through the woods for quite some time before he eventually parks his bike in the middle of nowhere.

"Are you sure you guys don't feed on humans?" she raises a brow and gets off the motorcycle, watching him get off with an amused grin himself. "May I?" he doesn't answer and holds his hand out. 

Anastasia raises a brow but takes it nonetheless, her body tensing up when he pulls her closer just to pick her u bridal style. "Close your eyes," Jasper instructs softly and after a moment of consideration, she does so. 

Her arms are wrapped tightly around his neck and her head turns to hide her face against his shoulder the moment she feels air hitting her face harshly. Like a rollercoaster.  Her head still manages to get dizzy, though just a bit and when he puts her down, her hand holds onto his arm to steady herself. 

"Don't ever do that again."

His hand takes hers again and Anastasia follows him as he leads her through the woods. There is no trail insight and it seems like a thicket. He leads her above the layer of fog and hands her his jacket when he notices her getting cold. Hers isn't all that thick. 

The two of them stop at some sort of mountain cliff, the edge rid of trees but covered in stones and moss. 

Jasper lets go of her hand and Anastasia watches somehow fascinated as he pushes up his sleeves. 

"You're... sparkling," she deadpans, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "Vampires sparkle?" she settles for the first, her hand coming up to hide her chuckle and her teeth biting down on her lip. "Doesn't seem very frightening. More like fairies."

Jasper shakes his head and speeds in front of her, his hand holding her close to him when is about to stumble back in shock and surprise. Her eyes drop to his jaw and travel down to his neck, her hand coming up and a finger travelling along the trace of one of the scars. 

He tenses up at that and Anastasia stops her finger before continuing when he relaxes and nods at her. It's hard to distinguish the bite from the rest of his skin but when she really focuses, she can make it out, the skin is colder and slight bumps can be felt. 

The two of them stand like that for quite a moment before she eventually pulls away, his hands still on her waist and her eyes fly down to them as well and trace the marks before she looks back up at him. Her hands pull down her sleeves, coldness slowly but surely creeping up on her. 

"Shall we head back?" Jasper offers, making her nod in confirmation. "Want me to carry you down?" he adds, picking her up again when she nods reluctantly. Anastasia buries her face in his shoulder once again and squeezes her eyes shut.

Jasper speeds them to his bike and sets her down on it, her hands on his shoulders to gain back balance. 

"Those bite marks..." she eventually speaks up, her arms crossing so she can warm her hands. Her eyes watch his reaction and Jasper once again tenses up.

If there is one thing he is majorly insecure about next to the Major, it'd be them, these scars. They take over his whole body, from his ankles up to his jaw and there are times he's like nothing more than to rip them out of his skin. They're his biggest flaw, a reminder of his worst times. 

"Do they hurt?" Anastasia asks him. She has never seen scars quite like this and frankly, she has no ideas how they work on vampires. But her question was more motivated in the fact that the scar on her leg seems to give off some phantom pain or itching from time to time. 

"Not anymore," he shakes his head. "I like them," her eyes drop down to his neck. She can't see them anymore but her hand still manages to graze the right spot when she goes to trace them again. 

Jasper smiles slightly at that and takes her hand off his neck to kiss her knuckles. 

"You are amazing, darlin', you know that?" "I know."