Unexpected || Jasper Hale

14

happy holidays everyone :)

Amelia

"Dad, I promise, I can cook." I try to reassure him as I pull out a pot from under the counter.

"I could cook tonight," he offers, rubbing his neck as he watches me carefully, "or we could order in. Or wait for your sister, I'm sure she wouldn't mind. She should be here soon anyways." he tries to convince me but it doesn't work.

A knock on the door interrupts before I can say anything else.

"I'll get it." he sighs as he makes his way over. I hear him say something but I couldn't make out what, so I just begin gathering what I need for dinner.

"Looks like neither of us are cooking after all." he calls out. I hear him speaking faintly by the door before I hear his shoes lightly thud back over.

"What do you mean?" I wonder, stopping what I'm doing. He steps into the kitchen, followed by Alice and then Jasper. Each held a covered pan.

"Esme thought it would be a good idea if we cooked for you tonight. Bella and Edward have dessert." Alice chirps, setting the pan down.

"Well thank you Alice...Jasper." Charlie adds after a short moment.

"Well I guess I should put this away then." I shrug, turning back to what I was doing as I put some spices back in the cabinet.

"Here." Jasper makes his way over, taking a box of noodles from my hand as I struggle to reach the shelf, he puts it back with ease.

"Thank you." my cheeks grew warm once more.

Charlie clears his throat loudly, clapping his hands together as he speaks. "Well then," his eyes watch Jasper and I warily, "let's get ready to eat."

"Oh, our family is vegetarian, actually." Alice starts, uncovering one of the pans, it was a pasta with meat and cheese mixed in.

"Oh...well...uh..." Charlie pauses, looking at the pans and then back to Alice and Jasper.

"It's no worries Sir. We made sure to eat before coming over. We didn't want to...inconvenience anyone." Jasper explains, still helping me put the last of everything away.

"Right. Thoughtful." Charlie looks towards the door, clearly anxious for Bella and Edward to arrive. Well...probably just Bella. Lucky for him, I could hear their car doors open and close.

We ate quickly, Charlie seemed to relax a bit but didn't seem to want to stick around.

"I'll uh, I'll have desert tomorrow. Thank you for dinner, tell your parents it was delicious for me." Charlie excuses himself.

I watch as Charlie leaves, waiting until he was far enough away before speaking.

"So..." I start, sliding my food around my plate with my fork "anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" I look between the siblings, each of them looking between one another.

"I think we should maybe take a walk, it's still plenty light out." Bella suggests.

"Are you feeling up to it?" Alice checks with me as Bella begins to clean up a little.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I reassure her.

With the five of us cleaning, we finish in just a few short minutes.

"Let's go." Edward leads us outside, cutting across the road to the wooded area. We walk in silence for several minutes, though I was practically bursting at the seams with questions, anxious for some answers. We finally stop after about ten minutes of walking.