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There were certain pros and cons to being that one house everyone chose to hang out in.
Pro, there was always something going on or someone to talk to. Con, there was always something going on or someone to talk to.
Now, Alice was always the social butterfly and while she did not mind the constant come and go of people, a lot of them did not stick around for long enough to really make much of an impression. Either growing bored (or weirded out) by the inhabitants of the Cullen household or moving away.
It didn’t help that her brother was Edward Cullen, the nerdiest nerd that Forks High School had ever seen. He wasn’t even nerdy in the sort of endearing way, he was mostly just a smidge on the strange side. In the sense that there was a good chance that he would answer any odd question with some faux deep philosophical answer that he either ripped from his extensive collection of Victorian literature or his collection of early 2000s emo vinyl.
Because, of course, vinyl sounded better.
Honestly, Alice loved her brother dearly but he was also… Well, a little cringy. A lot cringy. He had his heart in the right place, and for all his faults, she would not trade him for the world.
Then there was their almost brother, Emmett, who technically was a neighbour of sorts. The backs of their gardens were adjoined and ever since he figured out that their father kept the snack cupboard stocked he’d been in their lives. He was rowdy, and loud and smiled a lot. The opposite of Edward. Yet, somehow, he fit in with their strange little collection seamlessly.
Last, but certainly, absolutely, definitely, not least was Edward's best friend. Who, Alice had always thought, was a little out of her brother’s league.
Jasper was tall, blonde and incredibly charming. His sweet southern accent made up for the fact that he was almost as big a nerd as Edward. If that didn’t do it, his gorgeous eyes did. She could spend hours just swooning over the warm amber, the flecks of black spattered around his pupils.
Not that she had looked that close, he was her brother’s best friend, after all. It would be no use getting lost in her affections for a man who would never see her as anything other than a little sister. Which is what she would tell herself every time he learned a little too close, letting her catch a whiff of his aftershave.
At least she assumed it was aftershave since she’d seen the reddish stubble that would start to appear after a day or two of playing god knows what game Edward had roped him into.
Or now, when he was leaning against the frame of her open door, the lift of his arms revealing a stretch of freckled skin normally hidden under his shirt. Constellations of birthmarks that she was dying to explore closer.
Alice was quite grateful for the unironic “Howdy.” Which never failed to make her giggle. She was sure that she was the only one that he used that on. A privilege she was not willing to share. Her eyes travelled up to linger on the stretch of his bicep reaching the top of her door frame before shaking herself out of it.
“So, what are you doing here? Ed not home yet?” she asked curiously, tucking her magazine away under her bed. Alice was sure she’d seen his unstylish combat boots flung carelessly toward the shoe rack when she’d got home from practice but it didn’t hurt to ask.
Jasper laughed and glanced down the hall towards her brother’s room before shrugging. “No, he’s home,” he commented and before she could ask, in a very no flirtatious way, what he was doing here then he added. “So is Bella.”
She clasped a hand over her mouth to contain a very unladylike laugh and her eyes followed the trajectory that Jaspers had just a moment ago. “I think your evening is cancelled,” she commented with a grimace, not particularly wanting to imagine what her brother and her best friend were getting up to behind closed doors.
“I was thinking the same thing,” he said glumly, arms coming down to rest, lightly crossed against his broad chest. She couldn’t help but take a moment to marvel at the way the fabric stretched along his muscular arms.
Now, he wasn’t bulky in any way nothing showy about the well-developed muscles shifting under the stretch cotton. That did not make him less well-built. She’d more than once considered asking him if he really wasn’t interested in joining the cheer squat.
Which was not just to have an excuse to spend more time with him, potentially in his arms. She would never! After all, he was her brother’s best friend and it would only complicate things. In a different universe, she might meet him without these complications and they could be something.
This thought just crossed her mind when he invited himself to plop himself down on her bed, laying back so their faces were at the same height, casually remarking: “Does it ever bother you that he is dating your best friend?”
He said it so blasé that she almost felt like she wasn’t allowed to be shocked at this. Even so, this did nothing to curb the need to mentally kick herself. Her dork of a brother had fallen fast and hard for Bella, pining after her for months while he befriended the new girl. By the time that he finally stopped his querulous brooding and stopped dressing in all black like a Victorian in mourning Bella was one of her best friends.
Alice even had gotten her to agree to a makeover. Something she never accomplished because her brother had to swan in and convince her that being fashionable was not actually in her best interest. Which was complete bullshit and she would get one anyway. Once they were no longer attached at the hip. Lip, more like but that was something she would rather not imagine.
There was a moment of silence while Alice processed this, making no effort to hide the fact that she felt shocked and betrayed by this revelation. Which was only made worse by the fact that Jasper was right there, within kissing distance. She had stopped herself countless times when she thought that they had ‘moments’ because he was Edward’s best friend and she shouldn’t.
“Everything alright there?” Jasper asked his voice cutting through the spiralling thoughts that whirled inside her head. All she could do was give her head a dazed shake, seriously contemplating barging in on her brother. Not that she really wanted to see them at it. Whatever it might be.
Alice drew in a deep breath, finding his eyes quite the distraction from her increasingly more elaborate daydream of ruining her brother’s evening. “I might be considering interrupting their tete-a-tete by kicking down the door and shout something pretentious at Ed.”
"What were you considering yelling at him?"
She laughed and rolled her eyes as she considered the question. "Well, I am currently doubting between 'Et tu, Brute?' or 'Sic semper tyrannis' but I feel like both are a little much," she said, her tongue darting out to wet her lips. "What do you think?"
Jasper's eyebrows knit together and he hummed thoughtfully. "Aren't those both from assassinations? Might be a little on the dramatic side, even for Edward."
"Are you telling me that I am more dramatic than my brother?" The amused smile on Jasper’s face made her heart leap and Alice shifted closer to where he lay on her bed. "I suppose the dramatic streak might run in the family," she conceited after a moment.
"Makes sense, right? Then again, he is dating your best friend." Armed with this new knowledge she considered shooting her shot. Brother’s best friend be damned.
The only problem now was how to bring it up without risking ruining things. While Alice wanted to do nothing more than to dive in head first. She would have if her gut told her that she could. Her usual flawless intuition was muddled by wishful thinking.
While Alice mulled this over she tipped her head back to lean against her bed and tried to not be distracted by the way she could feel his every breath when he didn’t even so much as shift away from her. It was moments like these that gave her hope. He was so content to be close to her, to blur that line between friends and friendlier.
“Maybe we should kiss as revenge, see how he likes that,” she joked, her tone as light as she could muster. This way, they could laugh it off as a joke and she could patch her heart up with the knowledge that it was just a joke.
The silence was telling, still, she waited for the laughter and the awkward moment before they would find themselves back to their comfortable ignorance. Her heart cracked when she felt Jasper move, the mattress dipping and the sheets sliding.
Alice closed her eyes, banishing the hopeful thoughts back to where they had unburied themselves moments ago. She was so in her head that she barely noticed the heat of his body hovering over hers until their lips met. His lips brushed hers, feather-light and questioning.
It was all the encouragement that she needed to let all the feelings rush back, her hand reaching up to curve around his neck and pull him closer. She wasn’t sure if this was him committing to the bit, not when the stroke of a finger along her was tender in a way that felt too serious.
Their moment was rudely interrupted by what she would now consider a definite con to being that house. “Boohya!” Emmett’s shout came from her open door and Alice jolted up and collided with Jasper. “He shoots! He scores!” he roars enthusiastically while she clutches her nose.
“Respectfully, Emmett, fuck off,” she snapped sharply and narrowed her eyes at him, glaring in annoyance. He’d just ruined a perfect moment and he might never forgive him for that. Not if this was the only moment she would ever get. Like things couldn’t get worse, from down the hall she heard a door open and the familiar shuffle of Edward’s dragging feet followed by the uneven stumbling gait of Bella.
Jasper tugged her up to sit on the bed beside him and the way Jasper’s hand gently guided her face to his was a welcome distraction. “Are you okay, darling?” The flutter in her chest soothed the sting for long enough for a smile to creep onto her lips.
“Yeah, just a little sore,” she assured him, her nose aching dully when he kissed it and she crinkled it in laughter. “Is this still part of the revenge?” Alice asked under her breath before hastily adding. “Because I think you might need to kiss me again now that we have an audience.”
“What if I just want to kiss you? No revenge plots?”
Her eyes flicked to his lips, the corners pulling up into a smirk. “I give you full permission to kiss me anytime.”
“Much obliged, ma’am,” he mumbled, his lips brushing against hers. She was sure that he played up the southern act around her because she melted into him at his words. Their lips met in time for her brother’s voice cut off, clearly having seen them. His complaints faded into the soundtrack of her life, drowned out by the soaring beat of her heart,
She would deal with her brother later when her lips were no longer occupied.