Catch and Release: Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Heading out of the building, Jasper took hold of Alice's elbow and pulled her along with him, forcing himself to slow so she could keep up. Though she attempted to break away when they reached the parking lot, he held fast, pausing for only a moment to say, "We need to talk, Alice, and this is not the place to do it."
Alice knew he was right, so she held her tongue and worked to calm her agitated thoughts. On one hand, she couldn't believe that she was leaving the dance with him; on the other, she was angry and hurt that he'd never seen her as anything but a buddy until now, only after she had begun to move on from what she had convinced herself was a childish dream. It didn't help that Jasper was still walking somewhat quickly-she was almost panting by the time they reached his car and her feet hurt in the overly high heels she wore.
Jasper unlocked the passenger door of his car and helped Alice inside, closing her in before striding around to the driver's side. Deep down, he wanted to throttle her, but he wasn't quite sure why anger still boiled in his blood when he felt so relieved. He knew only that the conversation they were about to have would change everything.
Taking a deep breath before slipping into the driver's seat, he busied himself with closing the door and adjusting the mirrors as he composed his thoughts. When there was no more to be done, he turned in his seat to face the girl who sat so quietly at his side. "Alice," he said, his deep voice startling in the silence that surrounded them. Neither her gaze nor her silence wavered, though his anger faded as her looked at her sweet face.
"Alice," he began again, choosing his words carefully. For a moment, he considered pretending he was innocent of all that had happened, but the reality of what he'd felt at the sight of Alice on the arm of another was too enormous to deny. "I'm sorry. I didn't know until tonight."
"What didn't you know?" she asked, knowing what he meant, but wanting him to say it anyway. Cruel though it might be to force his hand, she'd waited too long for this moment to let him off easily.
Jasper blinked at this side of Alice he hadn't seen before. She was familiar and yet not, in a way that confused him, making his heart race. "That you were the one I'd been waiting for," he replied, looking down at his hands as though they belonged to someone else.
She had expected it to take much more effort to wring the truth from him, so her reply was more abrupt than she had intended. "I knew that myself," she said, "but I had given up hope that you would figure it out."
He apologized once more, shaking his head. "None of this seems quite real yet." He looked at her. "Why did you leave us-leave your friends? Leave me?"
"You all had each other," she said simply, "and I was alone. I've been gone for months, but none of you even noticed until you saw me with my other friends. And you had someone else to occupy your thoughts."
Ignoring the hurt in her voice, he focused instead on his own. "Friends?" he scoffed. "What about the big one, whose lap you were sitting on at the game? The one from the dance? He looked like more than a friend."
"What was I supposed to do, Jasper? They all became couples, you brought in someone new, and I didn't fit in anymore. Did you think I would just orbit the six of you on your little planet of love, like some eternally virginal moon?"
He swallowed hard at that. "Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"A virgin."
"How is that any of your business?" she asked, her voice rising. "You all left me first. You left me, and after months of being alone I got tired of being lonely."
He paused for a moment, absorbing her statement and the shame of realizing just how badly he had failed her along with his confusion at wanting her to belong to him. When he spoke again, his voice was low and soft, an attempt to gentle her. "I know it's wrong of me to ask that. This is so new, and I'm just trying to make sense of it all."
The notes of wonder and regret in Jasper's voice drew Alice beyond the safe zone of her own hurt and anger, softening her heart for the first time in the hour since Jasper had come over to threaten Tyler, the boy she was dating. "When did you know?" he asked.
Her reply was pure Alice. "I knew the first time I saw you," she said. "But I'd given up on waiting for you to find me, too."
Jasper recalled how Alice had been his first friend in Forks, the first person ever to welcome him so openly when he moved to a new school, the first person ever to make him feel so much at home. He realized that he'd always known she cared for him, but that he'd been afraid to reciprocate, for fear of all he could lose if things were ruined between them.
He searched Alice's face. The look in her eyes made him think that she wouldn't mind if he came closer. Her soft gasp at his approach made him braver still, but he stopped just short of her lips. "Alice," he breathed, looking into her eyes. "Alice, I'm here now. I found you." Then he kissed her for the first time as the lover he wanted to be, rather than as the friend he had been for so long.
Alice sat for a moment, feeling the soft press of his mouth against hers, stunned by the sudden arrival of this thing she'd wanted for so long. Now that it was here, she did not know what to do with it, but she pushed that indecision aside, knowing she might never have this chance again. She threw herself into the kiss, racing her own heart to the finish line. Though she cared for Tyler, Jasper was love.
When they could speak again, he drove them to her house. Her parents were gone for the weekend, and Alice and Jasper spent the night sharing their feelings, reconciling their impressions from the past, and confirming their hopes for the future, pausing only for the occasional sip of water and a few moments of scattered upset. All talked out at last, they fell asleep fully dressed on the living room sofa in the dim light of Sunday dawn.
When they awoke, it was nearly time for her parents to return. She walked Jasper to the door, where he lingered, smiling like the newly smitten fool he had become. After she accepted his offer for a ride to school on Monday, he pulled her into a soft kiss that left them both feel like sighing long after he left the house.
Taking her phone from her pocket, Alice dialed Tyler's number. Every touch of the keypad made the phone seem heavier, the weight of her guilt lifting only long after the awful conversation with her former boyfriend was complete.
Chapter Three
Chapter One