Perspicuous (J.HALE)

13

"Is, uh..." he started, swallowing. "Is Ethan-

"With Alice," I said.

"Right," he said, nodding. "Okay."

"Okay," I repeated, the word barely a whisper.

He glanced down at my lips. "Okay."

I could hear my own heartbeat thrumming in my ears, but I could also feel the blood beneath the skin of the insides of my wrists surging to meet his hands—pulsing in a quick rhythm. Everything about him was still—his hair hung frozen, half swept back out of his face and half hanging loose around his ears, and his body was static. His eyes tore into mine, sifting through whatever he found with determined fascination.

And then his mouth was on mine.

I'd missed the feeling of him. The taste of his lips and the way they felt. The scent of his skin was divine.

He dropped my hands and snaked his arms around my waist, backing me up against the door. I gasped slightly as my back hit the wood and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him as close to me as possible. He seemed less careful than he had been before, though no less mindful. Each touch that was placed was tested for my reaction, but his lips moved against mine with a new surety that made my knees buckle.

I pushed away from the door and turned around, pulling him toward the couch. He let me guide him and dug his nails into my hips—gently—as I turned us around again, sliding my hands down from his shoulders to his chest and pushing him down onto the couch. He pulled me with him, our lips disconnecting for just a moment as I lowered myself onto his lap, my thighs clenching against his. His hands ran up my back and I twisted my fingers in his hair, breaths shallow and lips greedy.

The feel of his tongue and the sound of his panted breaths sent my head spinning.

My hands slipped down to his stomach, lifting the fabric of his sweatshirt so that my fingers could glide over the cool, firm skin of his abdomen. He let out a shaky breath and tightened his grip on my thighs, catching my lower lip between his teeth and holding it there for a long moment. I rocked forward when he released me and pressed my lips to his neck, just below the jaw, and he swept my hair onto one shoulder, hooking a finger underneath the strap of my bra.

The feeling of him was so different to the hands that crept up on me in my dreams. He was so different, and I felt so different from the afternoon I'd spent staring at that crack in the plaster next to the ceiling fan. A tiny part of my brain expected the hands to take his place and for my skin to itch and curl under their touch, but that didn't happen. I was fully alone with him.

"Should we stop?" he breathed, tilting his head as I kissed down his jaw.

"Do you want to?"

"No. Do you?"

My lips lingered over his, not quite touching. "No."

Suddenly, I was on my back.

My arms were above my head, held in place with one of his hands whilst the other trailed down my body. He kissed down my neck, my collar bone and down the centre of my chest, and I tilted my head back, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment. He hiked my legs up around his waist and I let out a little squeak of surprise, leading him to smirk against my skin. My hands took fistfuls of his sweatshirt and pulled it up in an insistent tug, and it was off in a heartbeat. I shivered at the new coldness and caught his lips as I pulled him down against me again, arching my back and squeezing the muscles in my legs. He let out a low sound that made my stomach clench.

And then there was a knock on the door.

"Guys?"

Our heads snapped in the direction of the door, a hint of amusement in Emmett's voice.

"The rest of the family will be back soon, so, uh...finish up."

The further he got down the corridor, the redder my face became. By the time Jasper looked back at me, I'd turned the colour of a tomato, and he burst into laughter.

"Don't laugh," I spluttered, smacking his shoulder whilst trying to withhold my own horrified giggles.

"I'm sorry," he said, falling on his side on the couch as I slipped out from under him. "It's just...you couldn't write this shit."

I swept his shirt up from where it had fallen on the floor and chucked it at him. "I'm never going to be able to look Emmett in the eye again."

"Hey, at least he didn't turn up any later."

I shot him a glare. "You aren't making me feel better."

He grinned at me.

I took a deep, steadying breath and pressed a hand to my stomach. He seemed irritatingly relaxed, lounged on the couch with screwed-up shirt strewn across his bare stomach, low-lidded eyes fixated on me. I turned away in order to gather myself, running my fingers through my hair and blowing out my cheeks.

"Don't worry," he said. "They won't bring it up."

I looked at him over my shoulder. "That was possibly the biggest lie you've ever told."

He shrugged. "I was trying to make you feel better."

I pressed my lips together.

"We're going to have to get used to it, unless we want to never enter this house ever again for the rest of our relationship-

My head whipped in his direction. "Our what, sorry?"

He looked caught. "Huh? What?"

"You just said something," I said, pointing a finger at him as my lips curved into an almighty grin. "What was it?"

"What? No," he said, shaking his head. "I didn't say anything. I don't even know how to talk-

"I'm pretty sure you did," I cut in, taking slow and deliberate steps toward him. "I just couldn't quite make it out, so if you wouldn't mind repeating-

"I can't repeat something I didn't say," he babbled.

"See, I think you did say something."

"Agree to disagree."

I stilled a little away from the couch and placed my hands on my hips, looking down at him with a smug smile. He avoided my eyes at first, but then the slightest of smiles pulled at the corners of his mouth. I bent at the waist and put my hands on my knees, leaning down close to his face and meeting his eyes.

"I think the word 'relationship' just came out of your mouth," I whispered.

"No," he dismissed.

I pouted.

"Maybe."

"But how can we be in a relationship if you haven't asked me to be your girlfriend, Hale?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Why do I have to ask you?"

I feigned a frown. "Aren't you an old-fashioned man?"

"Yes, ma'am," he murmured. "But it's the twenty-first century. Think I need to get with the times."

"Okay, then," I said softly, leaning even closer. "Jasper Hale."

"Yes?" His voice thrummed through me.

I met his eyes and broke into a smirk. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

He laughed in a way that made the skin around his eyes crinkle, and my heart sang.

"Yes," he said, chuckling. "I will be your girlfriend."

I smiled. "Okay, then."

He nodded. "Okay."