Astrophile (Paul Lahote x OC)

thirteen

Bella frowned, confusedly when she spotted Carter next to Emmet, "what're you doing here?" She asked, surprised but pleased nonetheless at seeing her friend there.

"Jasper invited me," she answered, popping a piece of lettuce in her mouth and she returned to cutting up the chicken with Emmet.

"I hope you're hungry." Esme smiled and Bella's eyes darted around the room and she smiled, "very." She answered and at the same time Edward spoke up, "she already ate," he told his family.

Carter flinched at the sound of glass breaking and looked up. Rosalie glared at the couple in front of her, "great." She muttered and Emmet immediately left his place, instead going to stand next to his wife who was fuming. Bella opened her mouth in protest, "yeah, well, it's just that I know you don't eat so..." She said and Esme smiled at her kindly, "of course. That's very thoughtful of you," she reassured.

Edward whispered something in Bella's ear and Rosalie threw her hands up, "yeah, let's just pretend this isn't dangerous for the entire family," she snapped. Carter stepped out to stand next to Rosalie as well and Bella shook her head, "I would never tell anyone-" Bella said.

"She knows that," Carlisle said, calmly and Bella indicated toward Carter, "plus, Carter's here too," she said. Rosalie took a defensive step in front of Carter, "that's different," she growled. Carter's eyebrows furrowed as she saw who quickly Bella brought her under the bus along with herself.

"Hey, Bella," Alice's delicate voice spoke up as she and Jasper entered the room. Alice skipped forward, putting her arms around Bella and hugging her tightly, "Wow, you do smell good," Edward gave her a weird look.

Jasper stood stiffly next to Carter as Alice returned to his side, Carlisle chuckled, "Jasper's our newest vegetarian," he explained as Alice reassured him that he wouldn't hurt her.

"What about Carter? Doesn't her scent bother you?" Bella asked and Carlisle shook his head, "Carter's scent is quite subtle compared to yours, it's almost nonexistent," he told her.

"Yeah well, if things end badly, this will affect the entire family." Rosalie brought them back to their previous conversation. Bella nodded slowly, "badly as in...we'd become the meal," she stated causing Emmet and Edward to laugh.

"No," Rosalie sneered, "just you."

Edward rose an eyebrow, "alright, well, I'm gonna give her a tour of the entire house." He stated, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and leading her away.

Carter shrugged, "whatever, I'm still hungry so," Carlisle smiled and got back to cutting up the vegetables while Esme gave Rosalie a motherly stare, "clean this up. Now." She ordered.

Rosalie bent down to pick up the pieces and Alice grabbed Carter's arm, pulling her along, "come on, I'll give you a tour." She offered.

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Once Alice had given her the complete tour, which finished with the pair standing in Alice and Jasper's room ("I thought you didn't sleep," Carter had said, "why the bed?" Alice laughed, "just because we don't sleep doesn't mean we can't do other stuff." She replied, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Carter immediately stuck her fingers in her ears and left the room with Alice laughing behind her.)

The family sat around Carter as she tried the food that they had cooked together. Bella sat opposite Carter and played with the food while Carter scarfed it down quickly, "Mrs. Cullen, you should use your kitchen more often. This is amazing!" She exclaimed and Emmet leaned forward to give her a high five.

Esme chuckled, "please, dear, call me Esme, and thank you." Carter grinned at her.

A notification on her phone went off and she quickly excused herself to check who it was. Carter felt herself go cold as she read the message and took a huge sip of water. She stood up, "looks like something came up with my dad, I should go." She said collecting her things.

"It was really nice to meet all of you, and the food was amazing. Thank you, Esme, Carlisle." She greeted and turned to Jasper.

"Jazz, if you could just-" she started and Jasper got up quickly, cutting her off, "yeah, yeah, c'mon." She gave him a quick smile and left the room quickly.

Carter grabbed her coat from the rack and left, Jasper following after her.

The two remained silent for most of the car ride as Carter bit her nail harshly. Jasper glanced at her, "What's wrong?" He asked, quietly causing her to look at him quickly, "nothing. Nothing's wrong. What makes you think something wrong?" She rambled and Jasper rolled his eyes.

"Empath remember?" He reminded her, "plus you're rambling," he added and Carter sighed. Of course, he'd notice that.

It didn't take long for them to get back to her house and Jasper parked the car outside but Carter made no move to leave. Jasper sat there as well, feeling all the same emotions that his friend felt. Anger, shock, disgust, fear.

But Carter didn't tell him anything. Instead, she got out of the car and bent down to look at him, "thank you for inviting me today, Jasper. I had fun." She smiled hesitantly.

She walked up to the door and Jasper watched her go without turning to look back even once. He sighed and pulled out of the driveway.

Carter closed the door and closed her eyes trying to keep her tears in as she walked into the kitchen where her father sat, a beer bottle in front of him as he held his head with both hands, hair ruffled messily and eyes red.

"Dad?" She spoke up, hesitantly and Jack immediately looked up at his daughter's voice.

"Hey, baby," he croaked and sighed, "I'm sorry Cart." He shook his head. Carter's tears now fell down her cheeks freely. Her scars stung as though they had never healed.

"No," Carter whispered, shaking her head. Jack got up from his chair and slowly walked over to her, Carter felt her knees go weak and fell to the ground, sobbing loudly, "no no no!" She cried loudly while her dad attempted to wrap his arms around her.

He succeeded and pulled his daughter's head to his chest. He rubbed her hair, comfortingly and shushed her. "Your mom's gonna be here on the first flight tomorrow." He muttered but that did nothing to console the eighteen-year-old teen in his arms.

Carter's vision was hazy and her scars hurt. So did her head. Why her? That was all that ran through her mind. Why was it always her? 

"How?" She choked between sobs, "one of his relatives is in the military. He was away for a year and now he's back." Jack answered and Carter sobbed even more loudly if it was possible because who in their right mind would ever want to bail out Nathan Harper?

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Oops. The last part reminds me of Elena from tvd. This book is making me fall in love with Jasper more than I already am.

Guys please don't be silent readers, I'd love to hear your opinions and thoughts so please comment.

Not edited.