Sign Of The Times || Jasper Hale

chapter 029

"This was nice." Alex coughs as the smoke went down wrong. "Didn't mean to scare you, ma'am." She rolls her eyes but smiles as she turns to Jasper.

"It was." She looks past his shoulder and sees that Peter is just getting ready to play a game with Emmett and she purses her lips.

"You don't have to stay." Jasper says as he notices the frown on her face.

"If you want me gone, just say it." She smirks at him and a smile appears on his gorgeous face.

"I was just noting how tired you are." She looks at him and nods softly.

"I am." She hadn't slept well since she and Peter had figured out that she needed to do one more tour. It scared her to know that they had put in a small deal of their own.

"I'll walk you home." Jasper walks towards the tree line. "You coming?" He looks at the hesitant girl.

"Shouldn't I say goodbye?" He shakes his head.

"They heard." She chuckles as she walks after him.

"That's not creepy at all." Alex mutters as they slowly walk towards the Spure house. "So how was your holiday?" She asks, not knowing how to start a conversation after last year.

"Same old, same old." He smirks at her. "How was Egypt?" Her eyes start to sparkle as she remembers her friends.

"It was pretty amazing, though Peter can be an absolute dumbass."

"What'd he do?" Alex chuckles and tells the story once more. Apparently Jasper hadn't been paying attention when the Spures were elaborating on their holiday. "That's quite.. something." Alex laughs at his awkwardness.

"It was dumb of him. That's how he is with Harvey. They've been the most eligible bachelors in Egypt for a long time, but no woman wants to marry a tall, strong dummy." Now it was Jasper's turn to laugh and Alex smiles at him. She had learned to love that sound. "If you could be an animal," she begins and Jasper raises an eyebrow out of amusement. "What would you be, and why?"

"A lion." He simply states. "Oh, because they're mighty."

"You got the hair down." She mutters and he laughs, making a smile form on her face again. "I'd be a badger." Jasper raises an eyebrow.

"I thought you were going to say wolf." Alex rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

"I am a wolf. But if I could choose, I'd be a badger. I think. They're loyal and a lot larger than people think." Jasper nods and starts to think of a question himself.

"If you could commission any artist, dead or alive," Alex raises an eyebrow at him. "To create a painting of you, who would you choose?"

"Van Gogh." Alex quickly replies. "He was in a rather dark period of his time when he painted and I loved Starry Night, so I'd hope he made me into something like that."

"I'd choose Alexandra Sportaine," he smirks as her heart skips a beat but she doesn't let it show. "I loved the way how she portrayed her family." She chuckles.

"Everyone said it was her family, I beg to differ." Jasper turns to her.

"Oh do you now?" Alex nods.

"I think they were a bunch of friends. If you notice how they were standing, you'd know that it wasn't family." The Cullen raises an eyebrow.

"Is that a clarification?"

"It's a conspiracy." She smiles at him. She knew that they all knew, but she didn't want to tell him. It was Peter and her's secret and she wanted to keep it that way.

They are walking in a comfortable silence before she turns to him. "Thank you." He frowns a little and confusion washes over his face.

"For what?"

"For being a friend." A tiny smile is on her lips. "I had friends before but they turned out to be the wrong kind."

"How do you know I'm not?" She shrugs.

"I don't." She looks up at him. "But I guess I'll just have to trust it." She stands on her tippy toes and hugs him. He wraps his arms around her and she smiles in content, not knowing that Jasper was taking in every second of this contact. He had wanted her to take the first step and here it was. She gives him a small kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight."

She walks away and Jasper sees her disappear. "Yeah," he mutters. "Goodnight."

**

"What are you doing?"

It was normal for the siblings to be in their own rooms if they didn't particularly want to talk to one another. However, Jasper's door had been open. An invitation for Edward to lean against the door and wait for Jasper to notice him. He didn't. His thoughts were all over the place and if vampires could have headaches, Edward would be having one right now.

Jasper turns towards his brother and closes his laptop halfway, just enough so Edward couldn't see further.

"Just research." Edward raises an eyebrow before walking over to the laptop and opening it fully.

"I can read minds, remember." Jasper sighs and gestures towards the device.

"I was looking up Alexandra Sportaine." Edward rolls his eyes.

"We already know about that." Jasper nods.

"Obviously, she's not even lying about it anymore. But I saw a photograph when we had our last study session and there was a guy-.."

"It's not a good idea."

"To ask her about it, no. To search for the guy online, better." Emmett suddenly booms from the doorway.

"I just want to know how bad he hurt her." Jasper mutters as he looks at his brothers. "I want her to know that I'm not like that."

"Awe!" Alice joins in and Jasper sighs.

"What's the point of separate rooms if no one stays in theirs." He stands up and walks around. "What do I do?"

"You could ask Peter?" Jasper nods as he looks at his sister.

"I'm going to the woods with her," Edward says, everyone noting how Jasper tenses at this. "You could go to Peter then? Without her knowing?" Jasper nods.

"Into the woods with a single woman," Emmett says as he smirks at Edward. "Nice."

"Emmett!"