The Rise of Lydia Rowe ↠ Jasper Hale (ON HOLD)

[1.15] stories

Jasper looked back at Bella, his gaze a little less intense than before. "It's a pleasure to meet you." 

"It's okay, Jasper," Alice said with all the confidence of a seasoned psychic. "You won't hurt her." 

Edward made another face, clearly embarrassed of his family—like anyone would be in his position, honestly. "Alright, uh, I'm gonna take you on a tour of the rest of the house," he told Bella, who didn't look at all opposed to the idea of escaping the awkwardness that had taken over the room. 

"Well, I'll see you soon," Alice said with a smile. 

"Okay," Bella said, still looking a little in-shock from the strange encounter. 

Edward rolled his eyes like a typical embarrassed teenager before the pair walked away, and immediately Esme gushed softly, "Cute!" 

"I think that went well," Carlisle said. 

Lydia glanced at the pile of broken glass and lettuce on the ground by Rosalie. "Really?" she asked. 

Esme fixed Rosalie with a stern look that Lydia knew all to well from her mothers. "Clean this up," she told her, pointing at the mess. "Now." She then turned back to Lydia, her smile back on her face and as bright as ever. "Hungry?" 

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After a surprisingly delicious meal—surprising only because it was cooked by vampires who couldn't even taste it, which was an utter tragedy in her eyes—Lydia and Jasper decided to take a walk through the forest surrounding the Cullens' house. Lydia had always liked walking through nature, but she always had that creeping, irrational fear of being attacked by a bear or some rogue deer. However, with an actual vampire walking beside her, she found it hard to feel even a little scared. 

"Sorry about what happened back there with Bella," Jasper said softly. "I probably should have warned you that it would be extremely awkward." 

"Don't be sorry," Lydia told him. "It was kind of funny. Especially when Alice said Bella smelled good." 

Jasper cracked a small, amused smile. "Most of us thought the same thing—Alice just doesn't have much of a filter." 

"Does she smell better than the average human?" Lydia asked, curious. 

"A little," Jasper admitted. "Especially to Edward."

Lydia looked at him. "How come?" 

"She's his blood-singer," he said, which just gave her more questions. Apparently sensing this,  he explained, "There are certain humans whose blood calls out to certain vampires. It's fairly rare."

Lydia nodded in understanding. "Am I like an anti-blood-singer?" she asked, half-joking.

"I don't think such a thing exists," Jasper said with a quiet laugh. "It is strange that you don't smell all that appetizing to us—even Carlisle doesn't quite understand it. You still smell human, but none of us have any desire for your blood." 

"Huh," Lydia said. "Weird." 

"A good weird," he corrected. 

Lydia smiled in amusement. They continued walking in companionable silence until Lydia's thoughts began to drift, circling back to what had been in the back of her mind for a while—her last session with Dr. Evans. 

"Has Edward ever... mentioned anything about my thoughts to you guys?" Lydia asked softly. She was sure he knew what had happened to her, seeing as she'd definitely thought about that night in his presence more than once. 

Jasper shook his head. "He doesn't typically share other people's thoughts unless they endanger one of us," he told her. "Why?" 

Lydia swallowed, going back and forth on whether she was ready to tell him. Despite the tiny voice in her head saying that he'd think she was dirty or broken after she told him, her mind was already made up most of the way. "My family and I moving here wasn't that much of a chance thing," she told him.

"What brought you here?" he asked her. If he sensed her slightly darker mood—which he must have—he didn't comment. 

Lydia kept walking forward, needing something to focus on as she began to tell him what had led to her move to the rainy town of Forks, Washington. "I had a boyfriend back home," she said quietly. "About two months ago, one of my teammates threw a party to celebrate our win at the championship game.

"I got drunk," she told him. "Usually I didn't drink, but I figured I'd earned the right to enjoy myself that night, so I did. Justin brought me this drink, and soon I was way drunker than I should have been, but I wasn't in the right state of mind to recognize it at the time." 

Lydia swallowed against the flood of memories and emotions that hit her as she recalled the worst night of her life in painstaking detail. "Justin brought me up to a bedroom, where one of his friends was waiting. They planned everything—Justin drugged me so I was too weak to fight back or get away from them, and..." She closed her eyes, her feet stopping and refusing to go forward as tears threatened to come. "They raped me." 

She'd said it out loud only a few times. In court, when she corrected her rapists' defense attorney who tried to insinuate that she was a loose girl who wanted to have a little extra fun and ended up regretting it. In one of her early therapist appointments, which was followed immediately by an emotional breakdown complete with incoherent sobs and too many tears. 

The words always tasted bitter on her tongue, like medicine she had to stomach for her own well-being. 

"Justin and his friend were sentenced to six years in jail," Lydia said. "Most of the school thought I was lying about everything and blamed me for ruining the basketball team's season by sending their two best players to jail. Everyone I thought was my friend turned on me. That's why we moved to Forks—for a fresh start."

Jasper was quiet for a moment, likely taking in the bomb she'd just dropped on him. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," he finally murmured. 

"Yeah," she breathed. "Me too." 

For a moment, Lydia was afraid they would spend the rest of their walk in awkward silence. Before she could worry too much, though, Jasper asked softly, "Can I hug you?" 

Lydia didn't say anything—she just nodded, stepping closer to him as he wrapped his arms around her. His body was cold against hers, but she reveled in the comfort his embrace brought her. She hugged him back tightly, her eyes squeezed shut as she fought tears. 

When Jasper pulled away, he wiped a thumb under her eye, wiping away a stray tear that had managed to slip through her defenses. "Lydia Rowe, you are without a doubt one of the strongest women I've ever met." 

Lydia let out a soft, shaky laugh. "That's a pretty high compliment, seeing as your sister is Rosalie Hale."

Jasper smiled at her, putting every natural wonder in the world to shame. Lydia was falling for him—falling hard.

And it didn't scare her in the slightest.

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[author's note: well, covid-19 has scared my college into moving to remote instruction for the two weeks after spring break, which gives me three weeks at home, so that should give me more free time to work on this story. (no promises, but i'll do my best to update a little more frequently). i've been heavily brain-storming the rest of this story, and i have quite a few plans that i think you'll like ;)]