"Look at you bro and my sis going at it," I giggled as I stared at Bella and Edward totally flirting on the other side of the hallway. Jasper turns to look away from me, shaking his head silently at Edward before turning back to me with a smile.
"They aren't really going at it that much," he stated simply, leaning on my locker, looking like a model, or a statue carved in stone, or something in the middle.
"Nah, I can see the need in Bella's eyes to tear down his clothes and cover his chest with cream, and chocolate, and vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips decorating it all and syrup chocolate and..." I fell silent. "I'm feeling hungry."
Jasper laughed, his laugh making me smile. Not because it was a nice change to see his face for once not twisted in pain, but because his laugh sounded like an angelic music.
"Is it really a good idea for you to eat ice-cream in a place as cold as Forks?"
"I guess not," I sighed, "but it's Breakup 101, can't pass that up." His eyebrow rose and he changed his posture.
"Breakup?" he questioned, sounding casual. "Who'd you break up with?"
"My six years long girlfriend who recently turned my fiance and got married to Adam Levine because he got her pregnant." I stated with a roll of my eyes. Jasper looked at me strangely, tilting his head to the side. "Who can I break up with, Jas?" I questioned, my tone sarcastic, the nickname rolling of my tongue without realizing. "My ex-boyfriend."
"I asked it more as a question to strike a conversation about him and how you're holding up."
"Well, my best friend called me crazy, I poured my heart out to a random taxi driver, and..." I smiled, "I am craving sweets. So I think I'm through the crucial stages, though I think I'll pass on the rebound and the trash his car stage, mostly because that ultimately means I need to fly back to Phoenix- no thanks. I'm good."
"Don't you like Phoenix?" Jasper questioned, and I started feeling lost again. I looked to my feet, trying to count how many pairs of shoes walk past us. "Uh, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Jasper assured, and I felt much calmer.
"I do, it's just... it's complicated."
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently, and I shake my head, still feeling strangely calm. "That's okay, I'm here if you change your mind though." I nodded, smiling.
"Thanks Jas," I sincerely said, reaching to squeeze his hand. I stopped myself from flinching at how cold he felt against my hand, and allowed my touch to linger just a moment before retrieving my hand, burying it in my pocket, trying to make it seem casual. Jasper was taken back by my actions, and looked at me awkwardly for a moment.
"I think we should get to class now."
"Yeah," I awkwardly agreed, and without another word I stalked off to Gym.
Here you go Forks, making the Ashley Swan as awkward and socially inapt as everyone around here.
Great.
☼
There was something about the melancholy of a gloomy weather that could get a recently broken-up-with teenage girl really depressed. I sighed as I watched the raindrops trailing down the window of class. Two minutes left until the bell would ring, I was already starting to lose my will to live.
History teachers had a tendency to kill one's happiness.
I tried to think about how good the ice-cream would taste, but my thoughts kept trailing back to Jasper Hale. There was something intoxicating in that smile of his, causing you to get to a state of euphoria, then making you crave it each time you were away from him. It seemed that this particular drug only had to be taken once for it to become addictive.
The bell rung, at long last, and almost painfully slow, my muscles moved to collect my stuff. I didn't really feel up to anything at the moment, and just wanted to watch some violent movies and eat ice-cream, moping around and napping.
As I leave the classroom, I almost crush face-first once more into one of the Cullen family member's chest.
"Sorry," I apologized to the big guy. What was his name? "Embry?" I tried my luck, scratching the back of my neck.
"Emmett," he corrected with a laugh. The blonde next to him gave me a flat look, before her eyes widened and she turned back to me, eyeing me intently.
"Emmett, r-ight," I nodded, "I knew it, I was just messing with you, obviously."
"Obviously," he repeated with a huge grin on his face. He didn't believe a word I said, and he was right to do so, if I was being honest. "See you around little Swan."
"See you later big Bear," I go with the flow and invent a ridiculous name. I heard his booming laughter as he disappeared from sight.
Weird family.
I sighed, starting to walk towards the parking lot, spotting Edward and Bella casually leaning over his silver Volvo.
Would they just get a room already?
"Tyler!" I called as I spotted the blue car that obviously was my best friend's. He turned to face me, waving.
"Ash, come on!" he called me over, making the girl next to him say something to him before stalking off, hips swaying. As I near him, I realized it was Lauren.
"So," I grinned. "You and Lauren?"
"Well, yeah," he shrugged. "I'm not sure what to tell your sister though- I promised her I'd take her to prom. Lauren thinks that the two of us have something though."
"Yeah, a healthy agreement that all DC supporters must die."
"Wait, I don't support that idea at all."
"You suck then."
"Aw, you're so cute when you dump me," he cooed, pinching my cheek. I raised an eyebrow, challenging him to act like that one more time. "Alright," he sighed, dropping his hand. "Gee, you're so grumpy."
"My suitcase please," I finish our little chat, cutting straight to my point. Tyler sighed, opening his car and allowing me to take my suitcase, offering help but getting denied.
I made my way to the red truck I technically co-owned with Bella, and waited for her to- at the very least- open it so I could guard myself from the cold wind, because unlike all the flirting couples in the parking lot, the cold actually bothered me.
Like it would do to a normal person.
"ISABELLA SWAN!" I snapped at last, "Just unlock the bloody car!"
With a sigh, Bella walked over, dropping the keys in my hands. "What's with you and British accent when you're angry?"
"Shut up, idiot," I huffed. "May I drive away and leave you to rot here?"
"No, you may wait a few minutes."
I sighed, entering the car, sitting there grumpily. I'm a fun person and Forks is ruining me, I decided at that moment. I rolled down the window with great difficulty, calling Bella.
"What Ashley?" she questioned, grumpy.
"I'm going to the rez!" I told her, "I miss my Jakey, and he was too busy with you last time!"
"Like you didn't enjoy your time with that Paul guy," she rolled her eyes at me, walking near.
"I'd much rather spend time with my best friend," I glared at her. How could she even suggest that I'd rather joke around with a hot guy on the beach when I could spend time with my best friend that made me cry of laughter just by looking at me?
Edward smiled at me, as though knowing how much my friendship with Jake meant to me.
"You should go, Bella," Edward said smoothly. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah," Bella agreed, awkwardly walking to the other side and sitting in the driver's seat. "See you tomorrow, Edward."
"Bye Bella, Ashley," he said simply, walking off.
We sat in silence for a few moments as she drove out of the parking lot. "Well? Aren't you gonna ask?"
"I don't care enough, Bells," I sighed, being brutally honest. "I mean, I'm happy you finally have some sort of relationship with anyone, but I don't really care enough to delve into details at the moment."
"Oh," Bella sounded disappointed, and I felt bad.
"I'm sorry, I'm just taking my break-up with Jared hard," I sighed once more, noting to myself how much I've been sighing that day. "I'll probably be better after hanging out with Jake a bit."
"It's okay," she nodded, smiling.
↕
"I'm feeling so fat right now," Jake groaned, hand on his stomach as his eyes rolled back slightly. The worst thing we could've done was to eat chocolate cake and ice-cream one after another, yet we did just that and were currently dying.
"What do you mean 'feeling'? Jake, has no one ever told you?" I straightened up, looking at him with wide eyes. He gave me a 'you're stupid' look as I kept talking. "Jake, you really are fat. Super fat. If you'd jump right now, an earthquake would start."
"Where do you get those stupid stories and ideas from?"
"I dunno, but one of those made me think of you as my best friend."
"Very stupid idea."
"Yup."
We stared at each other for a moment before laughing.
"So, now that breakup 101 is done with," he sighed after we calmed down. "Is it time for Breakup 202, in which you explain what you're going through? You said he cheated, but... how do you feel about it?"
I stared at space for a moment before replying. "Sad. He made me feel sad."
"But that's okay, you loved him."
"Yeah," I agreed, nodding. I sighed yet again. "You know, I just keep thinking; Maybe some people just aren't meant to be in our lives forever, and that they were doomed to leave you at some point. They're like, just passing through. It's like some people just come through our lives to bring us something: a gift, a blessing, a lesson we need to learn or pain that we must suffer in order to strive. But it's cruel to leave me that kind of gift. Making me love him, telling me he loves me, getting me to fly to him and go with him to a dance, just so I'd be told he is cheating on me.
"Don't you think it's cruel Jake? Don't you think it's cruel that I had to learn that particular lesson is such a way?" I shook my head. "I just feel sad, that's it."