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—Jasper
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Althea had spent the last hour teaching Carlisle and Esme how to cook some strangely complex Italian dish for Bella.
She seemed to be enjoying herself a lot while cooking with them, but her smiles were still absent. You could just hear the excited pitch of her voice, which was also quite bossy (I like that side of her), and the bright glimmer in her ocean eyes.
She even managed to get Rosalie to smile and have a full conversation with her. She managed to push past Rosalie's rough exterior and meet the Rosalie we all care about, and love.
Emmett was grating the cheese while Rosalie made the salad, Esme was chopping up vegetables and Carlisle was chopping and frying the meat. Me, Alice, Isaac and Althea weren't all that involved in the final cooking steps. Althea gave them the recipe and very bossily instructed them on how to do it again before Isaac whisker her out of the kitchen. We had to bring her outside before she took over, which she almost did. It's clear that she loves cooking.
We were all sat outside on one of the balcony's together. Alice was talking about how much of a romantic swoon Isaac was, while Isaac hid his face, getting embarrassed when Althea started telling Alice some of the stories she had about him.
The topic changed to Isaac taking Alice on a date tonight at some point. I have no idea when.
"Do you know what you're going to wear?" Althea asked as she took a sip of her water. Why is that so attractive to me? Everything she does is so mesmerising. This girl has such an affect on me and I don't even think she knows it.
"I have two options. I have this super nice summer dress and cardigan combination that are more casual and then this really nice body con type dress that is lilac with frills. A bit more on the fancy side, but I love it." Alice said with excitement bubbling in her voice. Alice is naturally the most friendly and energetic person you'll ever meet. She can make anyones day better because she was naturally very good with people.
"Purple frills, definitely." I said, making Alice smile and nod. I liked actively being apart of the conversation, despite it being stereotypically classified as 'girlie'. Alice is my best friend, and I'm going to make sure she looks her best for her date. That's what friends are for.
"I agree with Jasper. Lilac is undoubtedly your colour and you'll absolutely blow him away when he see's you in it." Althea agreed, winking at her brother, who has been death staring her for about 20 minutes now.
"Lilac dress it is then," Alice giggled, glancing at Isaac, who nodded.
"The second you get home, I want you to call me and tell me all about it. My brother is always so vague on the details compared to when you tell me about your dates." Althea sounded excited, and maybe even a slight smile appeared on the corners of her lips for a moment.
"Deal, on one condition."
"What condition?" Althea wondered curiously.
"You do my makeup before the date. I want to look my best and you're absolutely gorgeous." Alice said, making Althea laugh. She covered her face when she laughed, but the sound of it was so... I love her laugh.
I completely agree with Alice. Althea is drop dead gorgeous. With and without makeup.
"Un, you're also gorgeous and deux, of course I'll do your makeup." She replied happily while Alice hugged her softly. When Althea used French pronunciations while speaking even had an effect on me. Could she be any more perfect?
"Thank you, you're amazing." Alice said as she pulled away.
"Bella and Edward are here." I tensed up slightly. Bella's scent was potent. A strong, irresistibly sweet scent that could drive vampires crazy. Though, so is Althea's, but hers is also different. Althea's reminds me of citrus. Summery and sweet, but was unbelievably intoxicating in the best way possible. I didn't feel the urge to drink her blood like I do with Bella. I just want to inhale Althea like she's a drug and I'm an addict.
"It's okay, Jasper. We'll be there." Alice assured as we headed back inside, walking along a branch until we reached the living room where we noticed a smashed bowl, along with the remnants of what was a perfect bowl of salad scattered on the floor by Rosalie's feet. Something obviously pissed her off.
"Hi, Bella." Althea greeted as we walked over, Isaac and Alice following not too far behind her. I walked behind Isaac and Alice hesitantly.
"Hi, I'm, Alice." Alice introduced herself, walking past Althea, excited to officially meet Bella. I walked a little in front so that I was between Alice and Althea, who stood a little behind Rosalie and Emmett.
"Um.. hi." Bella replied, mildly confused as Alice hugged her. I could feel Althea's hand brushing mine slightly. I don't know if it was by accident or not, but all I know was that it helped and I liked it.
"Oh. You do smell good." Alice blurted in surprise as she stepped back and stood between me and Isaac. Edward gave a shocked, exasperated expression at what she said.
"Alice, what are you—" Edward began, but Alice soon cut him off.
"It's okay. Bella and I are gonna be great friends." Alice smiled as she looked at Bella, who was visibly anxious. I remained dead silent and still visibly tense.
"Sorry, Jasper's our newest vegetarian. It's a little difficult for him." Carlisle pointed out to Bella, so that she knew why I was acting a little off, though some of the reason was the fact that Althea was driving me crazy. Her slight touch was driving me insane.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." I spoke, and then turned to face Althea afterwards, who looked up and nodded reassuringly at me.
"All right, I'm gonna take you on a tour of the rest of the house." Edward tried to remove Bella from his most definitely strange family.
"Well, I'll see you soon." Alice smiled as Bella and Edward left. Esme and Alice looked at each other as they smiled and laughed while Rosalie simply looked angry at the world.
"I think that went well." Carlisle said, being as optimistic as possible.
"Did she not want the food?" Althea wondered, looking a little offended as she looked over at Esme and Carlisle.
"She ate beforehand. It was very considerate of her." Esme smiled, receiving a nod from Althea as I eased up a bit, but was obviously still antsy due to Bella's strong scent lingering around the house. "Clean this up. Now." Esme instructed to Rosalie and the bowl she smashed while Carlisle went to clean up the other stuff.
"I'm going to head out for a little bit. Just for a walk, did any of you want to come with me?" Althea asked, looking over at us. Rosalie opted out since she was helping clean up and Emmett decided to stay with her.
"I'm going to start getting ready for my date since we leave at 6 and it's 3:30." Alice responded as she smiled and headed towards the stairs.
"I'll stay with Alice. Maybe Jasper will go with you. I don't really want you going out there alone." Isaac looked at me as if to ask if it was okay.
I didn't say anything. I simply nodded and followed Althea as she picked up her jacket but left her bag.
"I'll be back soon to do your makeup." She informed before we headed out of the door.
We walked out of the door and headed straight into the woods, taking a walk along a worn down foot path.
"Feel any better?" She asked me, glancing up at me as she slipped her hands into her pockets.
"Definitely." I replied since the smell of Bella's blood was near enough gone. Only Althea's intoxicating scent invaded my nostrils and infiltrated my thoughts.
"Good," she looked down and smiled as we continued to walk. We didn't talk much on the walk, but it wasn't awkward. It was actually nice to have each other's company.
"I knew that you'd agree to go on a walk, even if Isaac didn't ask you to." She said, breaking the calm silence.
"Why's that?" I asked, wondering what her thought process was.
"You was tense and uncomfortable around Bella because of her blood. I could tell quite obviously that you wanted to get away, so I asked if anyone wanted to go for a walk. I knew Alice would want to get ready and that Isaac would stay with her. "
"Thank you,"
I really like her company. I'm comfortable around her and she seems to be comfortable around me.
As we reached a small patch of colourful wild flowers, Althea made me stop and she looked at me before kneeling down and picking a pink one, twirling it between her thumb and index finger before standing back up and placing it in the top pocket of my shirt.
"It brings the outfit together." She laughed sweetly, showing me her smile. This was a big smile. A very beautiful smile with the most gorgeous dimples. I couldn't help but smile back at the joy I saw in her eyes when she put the flower in my pocket.
"You're adorable," I complimented in a hushed voice, causing Althea's head to spike up and her eyebrows to furrow.
"What was that? Sorry, I didn't hear you." She wondered, trying to see if she could scramble what I said together in her head, but what she heard was practically incoherent since I spoke unnecessarily quietly.
"I said..." I paused as I walked closer to the beautiful ebony-haired girl, looking into her eyes that perfectly depicted crashing waves. I was mesmerised by her beauty and knew that I'd do anything for her to protect her. "...you're adorable." I smirked as I brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face while she just stood there like she was frozen in time.
I'll be honest, I got a bit worried by her silence, thinking that I might have overstepped, or something. However, she soon smiled up at me, again. A smaller one, but still as beautiful as the last. I then noticed her bite her lip to suppress it. Now that I think about it, she did that when she smiled a minute ago, after putting the flower in my pocket. "You're pretty cute, too." She laughed as I let out a sigh of relief and laughed along with her.
"You had me panicking there, Thea." I said while she looked down at her hands.
"It's funny to see you on your toes." She grinned, so I rolled my eyes and smiled.
I didn't seem to notice the space between us get smaller and smaller, the air getting thinner between us, and tension quickly building. I only realised when her hand brushed mine.
I took a deep breath as I took her hand into mine, causing her to look down at our hands and furrow her eyebrows.
"What are you doing?" She asked me curiously.
"I just want to try something," I placed my hand on her cheek and then brought my lips to hers. I had to kiss her just once. I'm willing to risk everything just to feel her lips on mine.
Althea practically leapt backwards, pulling us away from each other. A pit sunk to the bottom of my stomach when she did that. It hurt me to see the way she reacted, and I genuinely believed I screwed everything up by making a move. How could I be so stupid?
"I am so sorry, Thea. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I shouldn't have kissed you. I made a mistake. I'm so sorry." I babbled as she rushed back over to me, placing her hands on my face.
"Chill out and stop moving. I didn't pull away because of what you did. You didn't make a mistake and I couldn't feel more comfortable around you. I saw something land on your head and it made me jump." She said as she used one hand to take something out of my hair and showed me. A beautiful butterfly sat on her finger. It opened its wings slowly its colour was stunning, a soft icy blue. As I looked at the butterfly, Althea softly kissed my cheek, and the butterfly flew away. "That was a spring azure." Her favourite butterfly. If that's not proof that we are destined, then I don't know what is.
I turned back to face her and kissed her once more, and this time, Althea didn't jump back. She kissed me back, smiling against the kiss. I love feeling her smile against my skin.
"Took you long enough," she whispered, making me laugh.
"I wanted the time to be right, and I'm kind of scared of your brother."
"Yet you're risking it anyways. A true gentlemen," she laughed as she placed another kiss onto my lips.
God she's so perfect. What are you doing to me, Althea?
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