Perspicuous (J.HALE)

14

I leaned my head against the car window and let my eyes closed as the vibrations rattled through my skull, jostling me into a stupor. The road was wet and shiny, and the trees were visibly drooping under the weight of the rain, but the car was warm and the engine purred.

"What are you thinking about?"

I sighed. "Food."

"Oh, yeah," Jasper chuckled. "Sometimes I forget that you, like, need that."

I snorted. "Yeah, it's an essential, unfortunately."

"Did we get everything on the list?"

"Diapers, body wash, cooking oil, onions, tampons, mustard and bananas..." I muttered to myself, checking off the list laying in my lap. "Yeah, think so."

He scrunched up his nose. "Onions and tampons in direct succession makes me uncomfortable."

I looked at him in amused questioning. "Why is that?"

He squirmed slightly in his seat. "I don't know."

The Jaguar glided down the freeway, easily overtaking other cars. I'd never been inside such an expensive car before, but that was all the Cullens had: Jaguars, Ferraris, Jeeps and...Volvos, for some reason. Jasper drove so skilfully that it was hard to believe that the car was even moving, and I had to stop myself from ogling at him in the reclined position, one hand on the wheel and the other resting on my thigh.

Our plan to avoid any further embarrassment was to excuse ourselves for a grocery run, since I needed to stock up Meg's fridge so that I wouldn't starve when she went to Idaho. Her boss had agreed to her taking some time off work and she and Elliot were leaving the next morning.

"Do you think they'll have forgotten about it by the time we get back?" I asked.

He chuckled. "No."

I groaned. "Next time, you come to my house. No Emmett there."

"I can't."

I glanced sideways at him.

"It would break the treaty," he said. "You live on their land."

"Oh," I said. "But you came to Emily's when I had Ethan."

He shot me a side smile. "Those were exceptional circumstances."

"You're right, I guess," I mumbled. "I've just never lived alone before. I know Meg's only gone a couple of days, but it'll be weird." I paused. "What if I get robbed?"

He let out a sigh.

"No, seriously..." I sat up straighter. "If the house gets broken into, I'm screwed. I don't know how to fight anybody, and if I just start pointedly screaming at a burglar, they'll just, like, stab me or something."

"You're not going to get robbed, Im."

"You don't know that!"

"Alice does," he countered.

I opened my mouth to argue, but then realised he was right, and frowned. "Oh."

He squeezed my thigh in comfort.

"Are you sure you can't just, like, sneak in?"

"You're not going to get robbed!"