Jared Whitlock; Daughter of Jasper Hale

Chapter 8: Father Guidance

Jasper opens a door and walks in. "Come on, it's okay." He reassures. I follow him slowly over to the sofa. I look around. "I've never been in this room before." I tell him. He nods. "This is what I like to call 'The Room of Bad Memories'." He states. "Why?" I ask, sitting down on the arm of the sofa, the one closest to him. "Because one, you're about to tell about how bad you're first day at school has been, and two, Bella had her eighteenth birthday in here and I kind of went a bit crazy when she got a paper cut. " He explains. 

"Nice." I smile. He turns to me. "Now, there's a red bottle in that cupboard, could you pass it here please?" He asks, polietely. "Yep." I get up and jump over to the cupboard. I swing open the doors and peer inside. There a number of different coloured botles, all different shapes, sizes and colours. I pick out the only red botle I can find and hand it to Jasper. "Thank you." He smiles. He bites off the lid and pours a glass. "What's that?" I ask, afraid it might be blood. "It's my secret potion. When I drink it, I turn friendly, so then it helps me tolerate you." He says. I hear the hint of sacarsm in his voice. 

"It's wine isn't it, Dad?" I ask. He nods and looks at me. "Clever girl." He claps his hands mockingly. "Alright, no need to be like that." I protest. He nods again. "Tell me about school, Jared." He orders, but kindly. "But I've told everybody everything there is too know." I'm confused now. "What did this boy look like?" He asks. "Oh. He was tall-ish, with black hair and-" He turns to me before I can finish. "Green eyes?" He asks. "Yes, why? Do you know him?" I question. He nods, again. "Kingsley Harrison. Worst boy in the world, steer clear of him alright?" Jasper orders. My turn to nod. 

"One, he has a different girlfriend almost every week. A complete player. Two, if you can't play basketball, he'll make fun of you. And three, he acts like a five year old and I'm very proud of you for punching him." Jasper smiles. "Now, I want our father-daughter relationship to work, so for us to be friends, we're going to have to make a list of what we don't/do like about each other's personalities. Until we can do that, you can just sit here and cry with me about the past." He continues. "Sounds like a plan," I say with sarcasm.

I sit beside on the sofa. He puts down his wine glass and instead of shifting away, his arm goes around me. I snuggle up for a few minutes, hesitate slightly, but then go ahead of myself and rest my head on his shoulder. He rests his head aganst mine and strokes the few strands of hair that always fall in front of my eyes. We say like this for about five minutes until I start to sing the 'Barney' song. 

"I love you, you love me, we're a happy family. With a great big hug, and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too?"

Suddenly, he laughs. I stare at him, almost sure that I'm hallucinating. I mean come on, Jasper, never laughs! "You haven't watched Barney since you were about five."He states. "Yeah let's not talk about that." I smile and suddenly I feel him shift as if he was going to pull away. No, not yet. I think. But he doesn't. Instead I find myself on his lap, and he's still stroking my hair and he's starting to make me feel really comfortable now, and I don't want to but I'm starting to fall asleep. Everything will be okay in the morning, he loves me now. And I don't want to but, oh no, I'm going to sleep, going to sleep.....