"If I didn't despise you so much, I may find you attractive, Hale."
II twilight i II
II j.h II
*I do not own anything related to Twilight. I only have rights to my OC's*
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It proved to be very easy to let Jasper Hale stand in the rain after I stepped on the bus. What wasn't easy was the immense guilt I felt in the following days.
Whenever I saw him, I felt like I'd wronged him so profoundly. He didn't make it any better, though. He'd adopted a frown. No, a grimace, whenever I had the misfortune of meeting his gaze. I was finding it incredibly hard to deal with.
Sitting at the dinner table with Liz, I decided some motherly advice wouldn't hinder my situation, and could maybe help.
"What do I do if someone's guilt tripping me?"
My strange question had interrupted the peaceful silence that hovered as we ate, and Liz blinked at me a few times, flustered. She set down the pepper she was dusting over her food, and gave me her full attention.
"And who might be guilt tripping you, sweetie?"
I held my tongue for a moment. Liz worked at the hospital, with Dr Cullen. I didn't want to dob his son in too deep, so I opted for anonymity.
"Just some guy in my class at school." I mumbled, twirling the pasta around on my fork. "We were talking and he said something that pissed me off so I left, but now he's all broody and annoying and he's making me feel all guilty."
Liz just laughed lightly, clearly not missing the days of teen drama. She clicked her tongue, took a bite of her food, and smiled at me kindly. It made the small wrinkles near her eyes more visible, making her look her age.
"I don't see any issue, Steve." she said , using my nickname. "If you feel like he's guilt tripping you, do it back. I don't see his issue."
Having Liz agree with me felt nice. When I couldn't turn to girlfriends for advice with boys, Liz was a great second opinion. She was like a best friend in that way, and small moments like those made me feel bad for not visiting for so long.
Smiling at one another , we went back to dinner. After helping with the dishes, I went to my room to work on homework for the rest of the evening.
But as I closed my bedroom door, clicking shut gently, I felt something was off. A small draft creeping through the crack between my window and its frame. My slightly open window. I felt the hairs on the nape of my neck stand on end as I closed it gently again. I hadn't even opened my window in the time I'd been here, let alone left it that way.
My fight or flight sense uprooted itself in the back of my head, alerting me to leave immediately and go back downstairs to Liz, and maybe even next door, to Charlie Swan's police badge and safety. The other half of my brain wasn't telling me to run, but rather that nothing was wrong. Besides the window, nothing in my room was out of place.
No book misplaced, not even the covers of my bed had been moved. Everything was as I had left it, and yet the hairs on my neck stayed up, standing tall in subconscious fear. I looked around my room again from my place at the door, my feet frozen .
