Impudent [Jasper Hale]

eleven ; take a bow

"Look at you bro and my sis going at it," I giggled as I stared at Bella and Edward totally flirting on the other side of the hallway. Jasper turns to look away from me, shaking his head silently at Edward before turning back to me with a smile.

"They aren't really going at it that much," he stated simply, leaning on my locker, looking like a model, or a statue carved in stone, or something in the middle.

"Nah, I can see the need in Bella's eyes to tear down his clothes and cover his chest with cream, and chocolate, and vanilla ice cream,  chocolate chips decorating it all and syrup chocolate and..." I fell silent. "I'm feeling hungry."

Jasper laughed, his laugh making me smile. Not because it was a nice change to see his face for once not twisted in pain, but because his laugh sounded like an angelic music. 

"Is it really a good idea for you to eat ice-cream in a place as cold as Forks?"

"I guess not," I sighed, "but it's Breakup 101, can't pass that up." His eyebrow rose and he changed his posture.

"Breakup?" he questioned, sounding casual. "Who'd you break up with?"

"My six years long girlfriend who recently turned my fiance and got married to Adam Levine because he got her pregnant." I stated with a roll of my eyes. Jasper looked at me strangely, tilting his head to the side. "Who can I break up with, Jas?" I questioned, my tone sarcastic, the nickname rolling of my tongue without realizing. "My ex-boyfriend."

"I asked it more as a question to strike a conversation about him and how you're holding up."

"Well, my best friend called me crazy, I poured my heart out to a random taxi driver, and..." I smiled, "I am craving sweets. So I think I'm through the crucial stages, though I think I'll pass on the rebound and the trash his car stage, mostly because that ultimately means I need to fly back to Phoenix- no thanks. I'm good."

"Don't you like Phoenix?" Jasper questioned, and I started feeling lost again. I looked to my feet, trying to count how many pairs of shoes walk past us. "Uh, it's  okay if you don't want to talk about it," Jasper assured, and I felt much calmer.

"I do, it's just... it's complicated."

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently, and I shake my head, still feeling strangely calm. "That's okay, I'm here if you change your mind though." I nodded, smiling.

"Thanks Jas," I sincerely said, reaching to squeeze his hand. I stopped myself from flinching at how cold he felt against my hand, and allowed my touch to linger just a moment before retrieving my hand, burying it in my pocket, trying to make it seem casual. Jasper was taken back by my actions, and looked at me awkwardly for a moment.

"I think we should get to class now."

"Yeah," I awkwardly agreed, and without another word I stalked off to Gym.

Here you go Forks, making the Ashley Swan as awkward and socially inapt as everyone around here.

Great.

☼

There was something about the melancholy of a gloomy weather that could get a recently broken-up-with teenage girl really depressed. I sighed as I watched the raindrops trailing down the window of class. Two minutes left until the bell would ring, I was already starting to lose my will to live.

History teachers had a tendency to kill one's happiness.

I tried to think about how good the ice-cream would taste,  but my thoughts kept trailing back to Jasper Hale. There was something intoxicating in that smile of his, causing you to get to a state of euphoria, then making you crave it each time you were away from him. It seemed that this particular drug only had to be taken once for it to become addictive.