The Unwanted Imprint

Chapter 39

Nichole spent most of the flight back sleeping, her head laying on Jacob's shoulder. Jacob had insisted that he be the one to sit next to her on the plane, something that none of the others had decided to object about.

Jared was seated beside Jasper. "Are you okay?" He asked him. "I couldn't help but notice that you and Alice didn't really talk a whole lot during the trip. Is everything okay between the two of you?"

Jasper sighed softly. "I really can't answer that." He responded. "When Alice and I first got together, it was like heaven, and we didn't think that anything was going to change between us. But over the past few years, it's like we've been drifting apart from each other, and there's nothing that I can do to stop it."

"I'm sorry man," Jared said, not really expecting an answer quite like that. "But I'm sure that you guys are going to figure it out. I mean, you've been together for years, surely something like that doesn't just go away like that, right?"

"That's the thing, Jared, I don't know. You haven't seen it, but I have."

"Seen what?"

"The way that she looks at you. It's the same way that she used to look at me."

Jared opened his mouth to speak, but Jasper shook his head. "I'm not mad at you Jared, I know that it isn't your fault. If it's anyone's fault, it's probably mine. Perhaps I didn't try hard enough with her. There had to be something that I did wrong."

"Jasper, you don't necessarily have to do anything or not do anything for a relationship to not work out, sometimes the fire just kind of peters out, you know? That's the way that it was with my parents. They were head over heels with each other for years, and then all of a sudden, they weren't. Neither of them knew why it had happened, and they tried to make things work, but they got divorced a year later. They still have a certain love for each other, and I think that they always will, but it's not a love that was strong enough to make their marriage last."

Jared glanced over at Alice, who had been watching the two, and she quickly looked away when their gazes met. "You need to talk to her, Jasper. See if this is what the two of you both think. I don't think that you should give up on your relationship just like that, but if both of you don't think that it's going to continue to work out, then maybe you need to take a break from each other, you know? I'm not saying to break up completely, but spend some time away from each other and just think."

Jasper nodded his head. "Yes, I think that is quite a smart idea, actually, thank you, Jared."

"Hey, I'm no love expert, but I try to help when I can."

Jasper smiled softly. "Well, I thank you for your efforts. Alice...what do you think of her?"

"Um...I think that she's a very sweet and caring woman."

"Do you have feelings for her?"

"I-I don't know." Jared sighed, running a hand through his hair. "She's a very attractive woman, I'll admit that. But I don't know how I feel, I haven't even known her long enough to feel anything. I mean, I haven't imprinted on her, not yet at least. I don't know if I'm going to imprint on her in the future or not, sometimes it's not something that happens right away, you know?"

Jasper nodded his head. "I don't want Alice and I to separate, but if we were to, I would want her to be with someone like you."

"Thanks Jasper."

Nichole, in the meanwhile, had started to stir a little bit. Jacob smiled softly, pressing a kiss to Nichole's head. "Morning, sunshine."

"Hey." Nichole's voice was groggy, and she cleared her throat. "We almost there?"

"I think that we have an hour or two left. How are you feeling?"

"Now? Relieved that it's all over."

"It was stupid of you to do that, you know. Just leaving with him like that."

"Well, what was I supposed to do? I wasn't going to let Aro hurt any of you guys."

"You're extremely stubborn, you know that?"

Nichole smiled at him. "It's one of the reasons why you love me."

Jacob chuckled softly, rubbing her shoulder. "How do you do it? Move around so much?"

"Well, I actually only had to move once, when everyone moved to Forks. I don't know how I'm going to do in Colorado, to be perfectly honest, especially up in the mountains, where we're going to be isolated from everyone."

"That would be for the better though, wouldn't it? I mean, that means that there would be less danger, and Aro would probably think that you would try to camouflage yourselves in a large group of people."

"I guess so. I'm just glad that you're coming with us."

"Are you kidding me, I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Nichole moved closer to Jacob, as much as she could in the plane seat. "This is such a big change, isn't it? I mean, you used to hate me."

"Yeah..." Jacob sighed softly. "I was a jackass and an idiot, I'm sorry."

"It's alright Jacob, I understand why you were trying to push me away. I can't say that I'm very happy about it, but I understand why you did it."

"Does this mean that you forgive me?"

"Jacob, I forgave you for that a long time ago."

Jacob pressed another kiss to her head. "I got lucky to get you as an imprint, you know that?"

"Oh I know, and don't you forget it."

Jacob laughed at that. "Try and get some more rest, okay? You'll need it."

Nichole nodded her head and she snuggled into Jacob's embrace. Right here in this moment, everything seemed right for her, and she wondered how long it was going to stay this way.