Mary Alice (mary_alice) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-07-08 09:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alice cullen, jasper hale |
Who: Jasper and Alice
When: 6 June
Where: Outside the Cullen house to start then to the beach
What: Chatting, beach trip
Ratings/Warnings: Low/None, brief mention of being in the warzone?
Status: Complete
Overhead, the California sun cast its orange glow down on the tree that Jasper sat under, or rather, was lying in a hammock under. His arm was behind his head, one leg dangled as the hammock gently rocked from side to side. Jasper’s baseball cap with its red Cardinals logo blazing, rested over his eyes. In his free hand, he held a cold glass of peach tea that someone in the house had made. The hammock wasn’t the net variety, but rather the more stable Brazilian cotton. He’d bought it overseas and couldn’t wait to just this. After the July 4th celebrations, it was a much needed rest. Little beads of sunlight warmed him from the canopy of leaves overhead like warm liquid on his arms and on his stomach where he’d lifted his t-shirt. When it began to get a little too warm, Jasper moved the glass of tea to his abdomen to let the icey sweat from the glass cool his skin.
The tea that Alice had made, speaking of. It was soon after the fourth celebrations, so Alice was still in her patriotic garb; white shirt with a flag design stenciled on, jean cut off shorts, Old Navy flip flops. She came out from the house, carrying a popsicle, and wandered over toward where Jasper was laying in the hammock. He looked relaxed, and that made her happy. It seemed like he was so tense since his return. And for good reason.
"Scoot over," she said, then climbed onto the hammock with him without warning.
Before Jasper could answer or even remove the cap from his face, Alice was next to him, making the hammock rock a little roughly. She was small, petite even, but hammocks were just naturally unstable things. Jasper smiled and held on to his tea a little tighter. He scooted, but he couldn’t go very far. “Comfortable?” he asked after he adjusted his cap again.
"Very." Alice responded, now cuddled up, shoulder-to-shoulder with him in the hammock. Of course, the thing was rocking back and forth a little more now, and it was a tight fit, but she was comfortable. (She was more comfortable with him than she was with anyone else in the world, it seemed, and that was saying something.) "Are you working later?" Sometimes he worked nights, right?
“No, I’m off for the whole weekend,” Jasper answered, enjoying the soft rocking of the hammock and the touch of Alice’s shoulder against his own. Finally, he removed the cap from his face so he could take a swallow of the tea. The ice was starting to melt and water it down a little, but it was still refreshing, sweet, and delicious. He turned his face to her, noting how close she was to him and he did not dislike it or attempt to move in any way. “Why do you ask?”
“Ooh, I get you for the whole weekend? No way.” Alice said, beaming brightly. She could smell him, that’s how close they were on the hammock. And he smelled like must, dirt, sweat... boy. It was a generic boy smell, but so familiar and so wonderful. She gave a gentle shrug of the shoulder that wasn’t up against his, and lifted the popsicle to rest against her lips as she spoke. “No reason. Thought maybe we could hang out. Y’know, do stuff.”
It was a little awkward. Alice felt so much closer to Edward or to Rose than she felt to Jasper. She wanted to get to know him. Though, there was a part of her that feared it would only make these awkward feelings grow.
Was there ever a circumstance where a girl eating a popsicle didn’t look phallic? Couple that with, y’know, doing stuff, it seemed very suggestive, although Jasper tried not to take it that way. He cleared his throat and thought on it, taking another drink of his tea. By now, it was starting to be more water than tea, just amber liquid floating around in clear. “We’re hanging out,” he told her reasonably. Sometimes, he tended to take things a little too literally.
Well, Alice hadn’t meant it that way, but now that you mention it... it was probably making poor Jasper a bit crazy. “Oh, har har. Hanging out. I get it.” They were swinging more than hanging, and they were outside, so... “That’s totally not what I meant, though. We could go do something fun, couldn’t we?” She asked, then put the popsicle in her mouth. Sorry, Jasper.
Oh god.
Jasper turned his face away from Alice again and put the cap back over his face. “What do you have in mind?” he asked. Of course she didn’t mean it the way it looked, she was just being a kid, because that was what she was, a kid with a popsicle. And lovely lips.
The difference between them was once a trickling stream. But with two years out there in the real world, not to mention all the rough things he’d been through, the terrible things he’d seen, that trickling stream was now the size of the Mississippi River. Alice was still a child, as much as she loved to throw her newfound, legal adulthood into her parents’ faces whenever she was in a sour mood. She was young and (relatively) innocent.
“I dunno. Bowling? Movies? Dancing? Whatever. What is it that people do around here for fun, anyway? Oh! Oh, I know! We could go to the beach.” The beach at sunset. Maybe a bit more romantic than she should have aimed for?
The light in her eyes was back, that life that danced behind them, that hope that maybe he’d say yes when he removed his cap to look at her again. “We have to get up to do that,” he said. It wasn’t a complaint. If she wanted to go to the beach, he would happily take her to the beach.
He removed the cap to look at her, and she was reminded how close they were. Mere inches between them. She beamed a bit. “Oh, I know. Really tough decision, isn’t it? But if we lay here for too long,” she almost said ‘cuddle’ then decided against it, “we might fall asleep. And we’d miss the sunset on the beach.” Her heart wasn’t completely set on the idea. But she liked it.
For a moment, Jasper was unreadable as he tried to recall the last time he’d watched a West coast sunset. He’d watched them from foxholes with his helmet half covering his eyes as the blazing orange fire sun set over the sand dunes and rocky hills that etched themselves over the horizon.
Jasper sat up and placed his cap properly on his head. “Alright,” he said, but he was looking toward the sky as if the pinkining clouds would disappear. He stood, the hammock barely rocking when he did, then he turned and he was smiling crookedly down at Alice’s figure still on the Brazilian cotton. He offered his hand to her.
There was a moment there where Alice’s smile faded just a touch. She saw the look in Jasper’s eyes go blank, and that almost scared her. Almost. More concerned than scared, because Alice had more faith than was probably natural in her brother Jasper. She was about to ask him where he was when he came back and moved.
The bright smile came back to Alice’s features, and she gave nearly a giddy giggle as she accepted his hand and let him help her up to her feet. “Yay! Sunset on the beach! We should get a blanket.” It got cold on the beach when the sun went down.
Alice’s excitement was intoxicating, it was something that Jasper had always noticed, but not in quite the same way. He ducked his chin down and laughed softly, realizing that he was still holding her hand. For a second longer, just a second more than was necessary, he held it, then he let it go, his fingertips touching hers lightly.
“I’ll grab one for us,” he said. “I’ll meet you at my car in ten minutes.” His car was a silver sedan, a simple civilian car he liked to drive on his days off. Jasper went inside, put away his glass after cleaning it, then checked himself in the mirror. It didn’t, or rather shouldn’t, matter what he looked like, but he put a comb through his hair anyway and left his cap behind before he went back downstairs to meet up with Alice, but not before he stopped by a linen closet to grab a blue blanket.
It was hard to ignore the extra second they were holding hands. Alice’s fingertips brushing against his. The warmth of his hand as it departed. The softness of her fingertips sliding along the worn, leathery fingers on his hand. In that moment, Alice knew that there was more here than meets the eye. She knew it now better than ever, more than she’d ever suspected it.
“Okay.” She gave him a bright smile, then rushed up into the house. This wasn’t really a beach for swimming or sunbathing trip. She pulled on some jeans and grabbed a sweatshirt, though she left her flip flops on. Ten minutes was enough time for her to check her appearance in the mirror, too (with very similar if not the same strange thoughts running through her mind) and then she came down to the car. She was the first one there, and waited by the driver’s side door for him.
“Oh, I hope you don’t think you’re driving,” said Jasper with a slight laugh. He opened the passenger side door and made a sweeping gesture. This, it said, was her side of the car.
“I was just waiting for you,” Alice said, throwing up both hands in a playful gesture. “Y’know, showing that I can be faster than you are in getting ready for something. For once.” Though, to be fair, he had to get a blanket, and she’d been moving at hyper speed to limit her away-from-Jasper time. (Because that was a thing.)
She hopped around the car and slipped into the passenger side, then tugged her seatbelt on. “I’m a good driver, I’ll have you know.” She said, clicking the belt buckle into place.
“You sound like Rain Man,” Jasper teased as he pulled his own seat belt on. As he started the ignition, he did his best impression of Dustin Hoffman’s character. “Of course, I’m an excellent driver. Dad lets me drive in the driveway, I’m an excellent driver.” The only other person to really bring out this side of Jasper was Edward, but it was different with Alice. He just felt better around her, like everything was in its rightful place. He smiled over at her, then finally shifted into drive and headed toward the beach. He’d never really thought about it, but they lived in California and rarely went to the beach just to go to the beach. “Do you think we’ll make it?” he asked as he looked at the slowly fading light in the sky.
Alice gave a laugh. One of those in-family things. That silly-yet-amazing movie with Dustin Hoffman and (sigh) Tom Cruise. It was funny how much Edward and Jasper sounded alike when they did their Rain Man impersonations. She’d never noticed until now.
Then he asked about making it to the sunset. Alice turned to look out the window, squinting a little. “...I hope so. Step on it, Jas.” She said, turning back to him with a grin. “We might have to watch it from the car!”
He didn’t quite step on it, but Jasper did go a little faster. Beachline traffic could be tricky to move around and despite having a radar mounting on his rearview, police technology was getting to where it wouldn’t matter and beach side patrol was much less forgiving than on the inland. They did make it before the sun started to duck behind the ocean horizon. Jasper got out quickly and grabbed the blanket from the back seat. Once Alice was out of the car, he locked up and headed down one of the piers where some people were still fishing while others were just waiting for the sun to go down.
It was beautiful already. The sun was bouncing off the water, the sand was still warm, they had a relatively private view. Alice was glad she brought her sweatshirt, though, as she could tell the air was starting to get chilly. Once he set the blanket down, she settled down on top of it and leaned back on her hands, enjoying the fresh, salty sea breeze in her hair. Her eyes closed for a moment.
On the far end, close to the edge, Jasper stopped and leaned forward against the wooden rail with his forearms. He glanced down at his adopted sister who had already laid out the blanket, took another second, then walked down to the sand and sat beside her. There was a companionable silence there as the sun drifted lower, casting what looked like a hundred different shades of pink and orange over the surface of the water. Waves crashed against the shore and a few people played in them. Some surfed, some swam, and others dodged waves, running in their bikinis as if the water itself would bite them. Jasper sat up straight, his legs in an ‘Indian style’ position, hands clasped on his lap. “When animals aren’t talking, it’s kind of nice around here, isn’t it?” he mused.
Alice chuckled. “It’s pretty nice around here, even when the animals are talking.” She loved how alive this place felt. Especially during the summer. There were always people around, running, playing, enjoying the beach. And the shoppers, the people enjoying lunch, dinner, whatever. It was like the seaside was alive. And that was only the people. There were animals, seaweed, the breeze, the waves, all of it. It made her feel warm, welcome, small, too, at the same time. But alive.
“Have you heard that Blue Jay outside my window in the mornings?” She asked. “Sounds like Scuttle from The Little Mermaid. Not sure who he thinks he’s serenading.”
Jasper was not a man who let out a full sound of laughter very often. The last time he’d done it had been while he was still in Afghanistan, in the hospital recovering from a fever. He’d been so delirious that he laughed when one of the nurses started to take his temperature. She’d rolled her eyes, scolded him, then had trouble which only made him laugh more. Eventually, she’d grown tired of it and had made a request for a better thermometer. But now he let one out, full and almost bright. It fairly knocked him for a loop, but he didn’t suppress it. “No,” he managed. “I was lucky enough not to hear that one.”
Oh, wow. That laugh. That was now Alice's new goal in life; to make Jasper laugh. She was grinning so brightly now that it hurt, and almost missing the sunset because she was too busy enjoying the view of Jasper's face. "You should swing by my room before breakfast and have a listen. It's unforgettable. I’d like to say it’s better than an alarm clock, but I’m not sure that’s exactly right."
No promises were made to go to Alice’s room. Even before he left, he didn’t go into another of his siblings’ rooms very often. They were private places and Jasper often felt uncomfortable in someone else’s room. Vaguely, he wondered if even the fish in the sea were talking to each other and becoming confused as to how the sound traveled under water. He watched in silence as the sun slowly began to sink over the line of the horizon, tossing its burning orange over the water before it disappeared and the water only looked its calm shade of blue. Overhead the moon hung faintly in the sky as it began to darken. “That was nice,” was all Jasper could really say about it, although he felt very lame saying it, as if he should say something else or do cartwheels or stare in awe, none of which he did.
It was, though. Very nice. Alice didn't often sit still for long enough to enjoy things like this. She had too much energy, spent too much time moving. Bouncing. But for some reason, Jasper calmed her. She was able to sit down next to him and simply be in the moment. It was a rare occurrence, but something that she was enjoying very much. She almost didn't want it to end. "It was." She said after a moment of silence. "I forget how beautiful the world is sometimes."
Usually a statement like that would see Jasper rolling his eyes and asking what was so beautiful about the world when it was so messed up. But Jasper only had to look over at Alice to know she was right, because she was beautiful and they were sitting in a beautiful spot so maybe even Jasper forgot, or just didn’t take the time to notice very often. “Yeah,” he answered. “Me, too.” He had the urge to reach over and touch Alice’s hand, to feel how small it would be in his own and it was only by a small margin that he managed to refrain.
Alice turned her head and caught him looking at her. A sheepish smile broke out across her features, and she gave a gentle nod. Tonight was a good night. Being with Jasper made everything else in the world seem far away. "You know, a part of me wishes you'd never left," she said, softly, then her eyes tore from his face to look down at their hands. They were so close on the blanket, it wouldn't take much effort for them to touch. "But then I realize we couldn't be meeting again like this if you'd stayed."
Jasper rubbed his lips together, his gaze purposely moving from the horizon to the girl who was, or had been, his adoptive sister. Entertaining thoughts about her that were anything more than that was absurd. Wasn’t it? Then what of Edward and Bella? Jasper felt a swell in his chest as he looked at her features, delicate and strong all at once. Stray tendrils of her hair curled around her jaw. Jasper gave in and moved them with a tentative touch of his fingertips. “Now you’ll be the one to go away,” he said to her matter of factly.
"Everyone has to grow up sooner or later," Alice said, though there was definitely sadness in her voice. She didn't really want to leave. She loved living at home and being so close to Edward, Bella, and her mother. Oh, and Jasper, too. Though? For very different and inappropriate reasons. "I'm not going far, either. Same county and everything." She brought her eyes back up to his face. The light was growing dimmer, now, the temperature dropping.
As the light began to fade, Jasper knew it was time to go. Whatever enchantment was taking hold of him needed to be lifted. He had work, he had other responsibilities and so did Alice. “Are you ready to go back home or do you want to stay a little longer?” he asked, hoping she’d want to stay a little longer. Then he’d have a reason aside from wanting to stay himself. He didn’t want the spell to be broken, even though it would be. Once he got a place of his own in the next month, it would be easier.
"Can we stay a few more minutes?" Alice asked, lifting her hand to touch his. She shouldn't have. It was a stupid gesture. There was no reason for it besides that she wanted to touch him. She felt like she needed some reassuring. Was this moment really real? Was she really feeling these confusing things, or was this a trick of the imagination? Was she dreaming?
If she wanted to stay for a bit longer, Jasper was going to get more comfortable. He smiled at her, silently telling her that yes, they could stay. Then he lowered himself down on the blanket, his fingers linking behind his head as he settled in and looked up at the darkening sky. Here, there were stars, spinning endlessly. It was times like these that he wished he’d never die and that the world could be this peaceful everywhere. Other times, he didn’t wish such a silly thing, but sometimes...
It took Alice another moment to lay back. She was busy staring off into the sunset, but she finally laid back down on the blanket with him. She was close, though nowhere near as close as when they were in the hammock. The sand was still slightly warm through the blanket, though that was fading fast. Alice was getting cold. "We all missed you," she spoke straight up to the stars. "You were gone a long time."
Jasper tilted his head, going briefly bleary eyed as he looked over at Alice. “It’s changed, but it still feels like home,” he said, but he wasn’t sure how true that sentiment was. Home was more a state of mind than a place, and he guessed being with Alice felt more like home than anything had so far. “Are you cold?” he asked, noting her body language. He’d seen guys hunker down, curling into themselves at nightfall when they had nothing more than a cold rifle for company.
“Maybe a little.” Alice said, turning onto her side and lifting her head to prop it up on her arm. She was more interested in Jasper now than the scenery. “...what was it like?” She knew she probably wasn’t supposed to ask, but laying there in the growing dark and cold, she was studying his face and wondering about him. Wondering what his life was like. What he was about. She wanted to touch him. Again.
For the space of a few seconds, the question seemed like something that was too far away to grasp. Jasper was seated upwards, shrugging his button down sweater off. He paused, the sweater down to his hands before he reeled himself back in and pulled it the rest of the way from him. As he settled onto his side again, he placed the sweater over Alice’s frame. The silver from the brightening moon and the orange that still fought to stay on the horizon made her look more lovely than ever.
“Scary,” Jasper answered. He wasn’t ashamed to have been afraid. Fear was what kept life motivated to keep moving along, there was nothing to be ashamed of. “It was either too hot or too cold, showers were almost a miracle to come by and always put us in a vulnerable position. Children lined the streets when our tanks rolled past, but they looked scared, too. I don’t really know how to describe it.”
Oh, man. Sweater. Sweater that was warm from his body, that smelled like him. Like Jasper. Alice wrapped it more tightly around herself, savoring the warmth and the smell of him, then listened to his description of how it felt. She was frowning gently. She reached for his hand.
Fingers, strong yet soft all at once, caressed his hand, bringing him back from the sand dunes and the cold nights. Tentatively, he took her hand, his fingers lacing between hers. The last time he’d held a woman’s hand, he’d kissed her mouth, but he didn’t with Alice. He just watched her for a moment, then smiled. He smiled because he didn’t want her to frown, not because of him.
Alice squeezed his hand. They were palm to palm, fingers tightly knit together, and it felt good. It felt strong and safe. And entirely more than what she felt about Edward or Emmett or Rosalie. But she was okay with that. She didn't feel guilty or ashamed of feeling more for him anymore. She was going to keep it secret--she knew no one else would understand, maybe not even Jasper. The smile on his face made her smile softly. "I'm glad you're home." c