As they strolled up the stairs Laura paused, a piece of art on the wall catching her eye. "Are all these graduation caps belonging to you guys?" she asked, looking to Jasper who stood a step down from her.
"We keep them as an inside joke" he explained with a small smile.
"Wow" Laura nodded, eyeing the caps again. "School must come really easy to you guys huh?" she questioned before continuing up the stairs.
"Most of the time" he shrugged nonchalantly, walking with his hands clasped behind his back.
"You guys ever thought of pretending to be homeschooled? I mean, it's not like you go to school to mix with people or anything" Laura pointed out with a small smirk.
"We try to present ourselves as normal as possible, and most kids attend school" he explained as he began to lead the way down the hall once they'd reach the top of the stairs.
"Well most kids don't date their foster siblings but..." she muttered playfully under her breath, knowing Jasper would hear her and he confirmed it by looking over his shoulder with a quirked brow and grin.
Looking ahead of himself again Jasper opened the handle to the door infront of him and stepped inside with Laura following closely behind him. "My bedroom" he nodded as he stood to the side.
Laura's eyes scanned around the room, there were books, CDs, DVDs, movies, and various other normal things, along with a bed. Furrowing her brows she looked to the blonde, "I thought you said vampires don't sleep?"
"We don't. This... was a guest room, I used to share a room with Alice" he explained, honestly. Though in Jasper and Alice's old room there had also been a bed, it just wasn't there for the purposes of sleep.
Laura gave a slow nod before she walked towards the window and looked outside. The view of the treeline was great, the family had great privacy here and there wasn't any other house around for quiet some distance. Suddenly Laura's eyes darted, "What was that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes to try find what she had just seen a blur of.
Jasper was quickly by her side and Laura looked to him; at first his expression was that of confusion but turned to amusement. "Seems Edward's taken Bella for a trip..." he paused as he looked down to Laura. "Through the trees" he smirked.
Laura let out a surprised and amused breath of air as she looked back out to the trees, though she couldn't see the pair. "Saves her from a car crash and now flys her through the trees" she chuckled before flicking her gaze to Jasper. "You're not gonna do that to me are you?"
The blonde laughed and shook his head. "Not unless you ask me too" he answered before turning more serious. "But, I don't know if I'd trust myself being that close to you"
"We'll get there at some point" she smiled optimistically.
Never ceasing to amaze him, Jasper smiled at the girl that brought him light since Alice had ended things, the girl he was hoping he could truly call his. After a moment of the two smiling at one another Jasper's ears picked up on something, "Food's ready"
As the pair began to make their return downstairs Laura knitted her brows. "Am I gonna be the only one eating?" she asked, feeling nervous. She knew it was stupid, but eating in front of people was something that made her anxious. She had felt that way initially when she sat down to join the Cullen's for lunch, but had managed to eat anyway.
"I imagine so, we can appear to eat but our bodies can't properly digest the food so we have to later... bring it back up" he elaborated, trying to find a nicer way to explain it instead of just saying vomit. "I could help your mood like I did at lunch" he assured her.
Laura's mouth was momentarily agape, of course he had influenced her emotions at the lunch table, she should've realised at the time. She nodded wanting him to help with her anxiousness, it was something that could hold her back and if Jasper was willing to help she'd be stupid not to accept. Making their way to the table Laura gave a small smile seeing the food laid out. "This looks great" she told Esme, who smiled happily in return.
"Hopefully it tastes okay, we aren't exactly the best judge" Esme breathed a light chuckle.
"Don't worry, I've already seen Laura enjoy it" Alice hummed as she took a seat.
"Your gift is really cool Alice" Laura nodded, tickled by Alice's assurance as she and Jasper took a seat.
"Sooo, related to the Quileutes huh?" Emmett said approaching the table.
"Emmett" Jasper blurted, to which Emmett gave a comfused, air-headed expression not realising it was something he wasn't supposed to bring up.
"Uh kind of" Laura answered. "My mom was born into the tribe, my brother and I just visited as kids" she shrugged as she took hold of her cutlery. "I think I'm the only one in my family that knows the truth about them and you guys..."
"And do they know you and Jasper..." Emmett started, before trailing off as Jasper shot him a glare. He could feel Laura's slight discomfort but unfortunately he couldn't shut down his brother quick enough. Laura knew the wolves didn't like the vampires and vice versa, take her to be related to one half and romantically interested in the other.
"No, I mean I don't think so" she replied. "Not really any of their business anyway" she added which lead Emmett to smirk.
"I think that's enough questions about the Quileutes for now Emmett" Carlisle politely and smoothly suggested.
After a while the family dispersed, Laura thanked everyone for the food and then it was just her, Jasper, and Alice sitting together until Rosalie told Jasper she needed to talk to him, alone, leaving just the two girls at the table.
"I told Rosalie to take him away for a minute" Alice admitted as she moved a seat closer to Laura.
"I'm not surprised" she chortled, having heard about Alice and her ways from Jasper.
"I just wanted to say I 100% support you two"
Glancing down for a moment Laura played with her fingers. "I'm really sorry Alice"
"It's not your fault" the pixie-haired girl was haste to butt in.
"But, it must be hard for you... getting visions"
Alice pursed her lips and nodded. "Sometimes, but I can see how happy you're going to make him" she told the brunette with a smile.
After Jasper returned he and Laura continued their house tour. The southern vampire brought Laura to a particular room wanting to show her something, "If I recall correctly, you mentioned liking art" Jasper smiled as he stood in front of the big painting he wanted to show her.
Laura's blue eyes lit up as she began to scan the painting. "Wow" she whispered, before her eye was drawn to the top right corner, "Is that Carlisle?" she asked taking a step closer before looking back over her shoulder at Jasper. The blonde nodded. Laura looked back at the painting and pointed, "Who are these other guys?"
"Caius, Aro, and Marcus... leaders of the Volturi"
"The Vol- what?" Laura chuckled lightly as she stepped back to Jasper's side again.
Jasper smiled at her words before he spoke again, "The Volturi. They are a coven of old, strong, usually gifted vampires. They make sure we all follow their rules"
"Like making sure vampires don't go around killing and turning everyone?" Laura guessed, shifting her gaze from the painting back to the blond.
"And that we keep our kind a secret" Jasper answered with a nod. "They were the ones to clean up after the southern vampire wars"
'The ones you were in', Laura thought. "What happens if a vampire goes rogue?"
"The Volturi will dispose of them" he replied simply. "Though depending on the vampire, I'm sure they could bend the rules"
Laura furrowed her brows, "What does that mean?"
"If it were Alice for example. Aro has been wanting her to join his coven for years because of her gift. I'm sure if Alice broke the rules, Aro would happily offer her a place in his coven in exchange for not ending her"
After obtaining some more vampire knowledge the pair went for a walk through the woods by the house, it was on the walk that Laura finally got to see the effect that sun had on his skin and it was truly astonishing. Jasper didn't seem overly fond of it, but as she had said before at least he didn't just burst into flames. As they were making their way out of the woods Forks decided to do what it was known for and rain.
"You wanna run ahead?" Laura chuckled as she lifted her hoodless coat up to cover her head.
"And leave you behind?" Jasper smirked sideways.
"You know..." Laura began raising her brows. "You could always run with me? Save us both getting completely drenched?" Jasper held a reserved expression. "It's called exposure therapy" Laura grinned.
"One could also call it a death wish" the blonde sassed back. Although he had been described as looking like he was in pain all the time, and seemed quiet and cold at first glance, Jasper often held a beautiful smirk, and was witty; it was just that he couldn't be this way around most humans. "When you said we'll get there at some point, I didn't think you meant you'd try it today"
"Yeah well I'm trying to be more unpredictable so Alice has a harder time keeping tabs on me" she joked as she stood in front of him, stoping him in his tracks. She held the coat up as best she could to cover them both allowing her to look up to the taller blonde without getting rain in her face. "Just try, drop me if you're struggling" she playfully added.
Jasper tried to suppress a smile though he failed, looking down at Laura he scanned her beautiful features. He wanted to be close to her, he wanted to be confident in himself, but his fear of hurting her outweighed the two most of the time.
"You knew I was pushy early on, I'll stand here all day if I have to, and you know I'm stubborn too so it's better just do it now" she grinned. Exhaling amused Jasper eyed the small girl before nodding, it seemed her confidence in him really did have a positive effect on him, she was very persuading. "Great! So what's the best way..."
Before she could finish her sentence Laura was on Jasper's back being rushed through the trees, everything passed by so unbelievably fast, it was all a blur until all of a sudden they were back by the parked car and her feet were on the ground. "How are you not constantly running into things, that was so fast" Laura breathed astonished. Jasper laughed, and tucked his hands into his pockets, looking at her happily before she spoke again. "How was it? Me being so close?" she asked stepping towards him.
"Easier than I anticipated" he answered surprised.
"Told you you could do it" she boasted playfully.
Getting into the car Jasper began to drive Laura home when after a few minutes she felt her phone vibrate and checked it. "My mom" she told him as she opened the message. "She wants me to meet her at Carver Cafe, do you mind?"
"Of course not" Jasper smiled. With the cafe being closer than Laura's house it wasn't long before they were pulling into a parking space.
"Mike and Tyler" Laura said, seeing the two boys along with three others she didn't know playing with a ball. "Oh and Bella's truck " she pointed out, having spotted the red vehicle.
"Looks like she survived the tree climbing" Jasper smiled. "That reminds me, there's a thunderstorm tomorrow so we're going to play baseball, care to join us?"
"I'd love to" she grinned as she unbuckled her seatbelt before narrowing her eyes. "Did you say a thunderstorm?"
"Only time we can play, you'll understand tomorrow" he nodded with a smile. "I'll come pick you up"
"Okay sounds good" she smiled before leaning over and kissing his cheek. Her eyes went wide as she sat back in her seat surprised by her instinctual action. "I-I'm sorry" she quickly apologised
Despite the constricting feeling in his throat Jasper managed to speak, "It's fine" he said. Having her on his back was one thing, but having her face so close to his own, her scent filling his nose, that was different.
"I wasn't thinking..."
"I'll pick you up tomorrow" Jasper nodded, attempting to flash her a smile. Forcing a smile of her own Laura then got out of the car and began to head towards the cafe, glancing back at the vampire momentarily as he drove off.