Knock Me Down - [COMPLETE]

End - Dance With Me?

Thank you for reading, this was fun. Unorganized but fun. I appreciate all of you, tho. :) NSFW chapter tomorrow

Anyway, check out my new short story, 'Race Me, Cupid'. It's only 18 chptrs long, each is really short. It's about an introverted jock getting love letters from a secret admirer. Cover drawn by me.
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I've been sticking to my grandma's side since the start of the wedding. I haven't seen Jasper since the reception. I'm a little hurt that he might've left without saying anything to me. But I understand. He watched his dad get married to another woman, his overseas family is here. My family is here. I don't take it personally. I want to leave too, but It'd look rude.

My grandma gives my arm a loving squeeze reading my mind, "Baby, you wanna go home?"

I give her a forced smile, "Truthfully, yeah. But it's okay I'm just a little tired"

She nods and holds my hand on the table.

Microphone feedback screeches at the front where I see Hudson and Jasper behind the small stage as the velvet curtains slide apart. Everyone looks to the front where he sits at the piano with the mic by his mouth.

Jasper doesn't look at everyone at the party. He keeps his eyes down on the keys and his introduction short and simple. He's still a man of few words.

"This was an important song to my dad. He taught me to play it on the piano with my mom. Für dich, papa" Cullen looks surprised and Manette looks happy. This might be his way of moving past this.

He starts playing. I wouldn't have needed to listen to his mixtape to know this song. It's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel, a classic 70's song.

It's soft and gentle, yet the way he sings it carries undertones of sorrow. I'm proud of him. If he's not doing this for himself, I know he's at least doing it to keep the peace.

"When you're weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I'll dry them all
I'm on your side"

"He's lovely" My grandma murmurs to me. I put my arm around her and give her my other hand to hold instead.

"He is"

Watching him reinforces how little I care about what my mom thinks of him. I like him. That's all there is to it.

"Oh, if you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind"

At the end of the song, after the keys pan out, he sits for a minute at the piano while everyone claps. There's a tint of red in his eyes but he doesn't cry. His father does and Manette is too.

I hear my brother say 'that was really good' to my mom somewhere in midst of their quiet conversation, while my mom weakly agrees.

My grandma rubs the top of my hand with her thumb, "Ya' uncle is comin' to get me. Go home, sweetheart"

She holds my cheek and kisses my head, "Or go find ya' man"

I hug her, regretting all those times I was too anxious to spend time with family that I didn't talk to her enough, "Love you, grandma"

I get up, dodging groups and strangers. I look around the long table where his mother's side was sitting. They looked out of place, a lot like us, compared to everyone else here. I didn't know anything about Belgium's demographic, but they were not white. It could explain why Jasper was deeper in tone than his father.

He's not in the front or by his family either, and I'm starting to think he left. That the wedding, the song, had gotten to him.

"Do you want to dance with me?" A voice whispers in my ear from behind, an arm slipping around my lower back to hold my side. Jasper stands next to me while I'm watching everyone talk or dance at the center of the party.