Embers [Completed]

{Sharing, Caring, And A Special Moment}

A laugh bubbles up in my throat as Jasper flips me, then carefully sets me down again.

He took me by surprise, and got really into it. We're now on Viva La Vida. I have another positive thing to say about Jasper, he has an amazing taste in music.

The song fades to a stop, and Jasper slows right down, twirling me one final time.

I'm slightly out of breath, and red in the face, much to my embarrassment. But I don't think I've had this amount of fun in years.

"You can dance," I laugh.

Jasper smiles brightly, nearly knocking me over. But he doesn't look like he's done anything at all. Perks of being a vampire I guess.

"I insist you give me lessons," I say.

"You don't need them. You kept up very well."

"I just kept up. Half the time I was wondering if I would collapse!"

"Well, you hid it better than I could have," he says.

I smile and use our proximity to my advantage. Hopefully, I am subtle in my studying of his face.

For the time I've known him, I've been sure he's had scars of some kind. But Jasper usually wears clothes with collars and long sleeves. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen his forearms.

Man, I sound like an amish girl.

Now, closer, not only can I bask in how drop dead gorgeous he his, but I can see the faint outline of a bite mark on his neck.

I think I might have made him self-conscious as my eyes slipped to his neck, because he pulled his collar up.

"Hey, Jaz, no." I take his hand away from it. "There's nothing wrong with having scars."

"They're ugly," he says softly.

"No, not really. At least, I don't think so. Hmm, did I tell you about my shoulder?" I ask.

His brows pull together in a, very adorable, confused look. "No."

I step back a little and move my tee-shirt so he can see my shoulder. His eyes widen, and his hand hovers over it.

"How did that happen?" He asks.

"One of my first fights. I don't know what the guy was wearing, but it ripped the skin and some of the muscle," I say, wincing at the memory.

Jasper touches it gingerly with one cold finger. My muscles relax instantly.

"It looks painful," he comments lightly.

"It was."

"But it's not as bad as mine. Yours is smoothed out, faded. Vampiric scars don't do that," he says, pulling his hand away.

I frown at him. Not liking how you look is something I struggled with horribly when I was younger, and Jasper going through that for who knows how long is terrible.

"What about my back," I say quietly as my stomach twists. "Did I tell you about that?"

His eyes come back to mine and he shakes his head. I laugh noiselessly, humourlessly, as memories fly through my head.

I turn around and pull my shirt up over my head, revealing the curve of my lower back. I know what it looks like. I've seen it in mirrors, pictures, even drawings.

Jasper's silence makes a lump appear in my throat. But it catches when a cold hand gently traces my spine.

"How...?"