waiting ii.

une

September 18th

It was Bella's birthday. Whoop di do...Tatum didn't care. Bella had caused her enough trouble. She didn't care when she was invited, but she felt that Alice wasn't asking her to go, she was telling her. So, Tatum put on a nice dress and decided to look nice for the girl's 18th birthday. 

At the party, she just stood next to Jasper the whole time. They talked in hushed whispers and were just enjoying time together since they didn't see each other at school. Jasper was taking all the time in his world to spend with her. 

The night had gone smoothly until it was time to open presents. Bella was so stupid sometimes.

She had gotten a paper cut and didn't care to acknowledge it until the blood hit the floor. Tatum looks at the drop and quickly at her significant other. His eyes were hazy and they had gone dark. She was quickly pulled away from Jasper and hid behind Rosalie. Jasper only snapped when he could no longer feel Tatum's warm skin on his. 

Carlisle and Emmett had quickly grabbed Jasper and tried to get him to calm down. Rosalie had escorted herself and Tatum outside. Rosalie knew that Tatum would be timid after that night, the way Jasper turned into a sort of animalistic threat. 

"Get in the car, please. They'll probably be bringing him out," Rosalie says, opening the girl's car door for her. "Do you want me to keep you company?"

Tatum merely nods and sits in the driver's seat. Rosalie hops into the passenger seat and they wait together. They watch as the door opens and Jasper is being dragged out of the house by Emmett and Carlisle, the three remaining vampires hot on their heels. That meant that Bella was in there by herself. 

Tatum's thought of Bella left as soon as it came because all she could hear was the sound of Jasper struggling to gain control again. His body was thrashing and his head kept swinging in a way that made Tatum think it would screw right off.

"Hey, don't focus on that. How's school?" Rosalie asks, making Tatum look towards her. Tatum moves her body so she isn't tempted to look. 

"I have like two high school classes and the rest are online college ones," Tatum says, making common conversation with Rosalie until they no longer hear the sound of struggles. Tatum turns to look for him when she sees his tall, slender body sitting on a rock. He had his head in his hands, making his hair cover his face, and he was panting as if he'd run a thousand miles. 

"He'll go hunt after this, so why don't you go home and get some rest," Rosalie says, rubbing Tatum's shoulder. The human winces and Rosalie retracts her hand back very quickly. "Sorry, I forgot about your shoulder."

"It's okay, uhm, but you're right. I should get some sleep."

"Be safe, Tay. We love you," Rosalie says, opening the door and getting out. She pauses in the door and looks at Tatum. "Take a few days. He'll understand 100%."

Tatum doesn't look at Rosalie. The latter closes the door and goes to stand next to her 'brother'. Rosalie looks at the open spot next to him and sits down. The two stay quiet as Rosalie watches Tatum pull out of the driveway and drive away.

"How badly did I scare her?"

Rosalie looks down at Jasper and sighs, rubbing his back gently. She looks back to where Tatum had just driven away. She knew that her family was going to suffer if someone didn't fix something soon. But, she also knew that she couldn't be the one to do it. It just wouldn't work if she did it.

"You didn't scare her," Rosalie sighs, folding her hands together. "You worried her. She didn't want you to get hurt."

"Me getting hurt? The only thing she should be worried about is if I'm going to hurt her!" Jasper snarls to himself Rosalie could tell he was trying to ball-up again. But now she was pissed.

"Jasper Frank Whitlock Hale, you will never ever paint her image to be cowardly and fearful! Do you fucking understand?" Rosalie snarls back, standing up and crossing her arms angrily. "She deserves so much more than that!"

"I know she does! I'm not good for her! All I will ever do is fuck up her life! Do you know how many times I have tried to create distance but I just find myself getting pulled closer and closer to her! Fuck, Rosalie! This is so hard for me to figure out! I don't want to worry or be alert all the damn time!" 

Rosalie watches Jasper angrily stand up and throw his hands in the air. He was expressing one of his main emotions. It was rare so all she could do was sit and watch.

"Do you know how badly I just want to care for her? Love her? Kiss her? Just be there for her but I can't? I can't! Because I love her too much to let her get hurt! I love her too much that the thought of me hurting her makes me want to die! It's not like any other relationship, Rosalie! It's unhealthy and it needs to stop! It needs to stop before she gets hurt."

Jasper walked over to a tree and rested his forehead on it. He took deep breathes to calm himself down. 

"It's unhealthy how much I love her."

And with that final sentence, the tree cracks and falls.

Just like his unbeating heart.

Cracked from the confusion

but still falling for his girl.