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SKIN & BONES
v. FRIENDS

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SITTING ON HER BED, Lorelai grunted ever-so softly as she made several failed attempts to wrap her fingers around her small bicep. She was doing anything she could to take her mind off of what she saw just a few hours before this very moment.

"Have you lost your mind, Alice!? We can't just let a human into our house!" screeched an agitated blonde by the name of Rosalie Hale. She whipped around to the boy with honey-blond hair, Jasper Hale. She glared at him and declared, "This is your fault."

The pixie-like girl called Alice Cullen shook her head and frowned. "That's not true," she argued with her falsetto voice. Her topaz eyes fell on the aforementioned human. "She's so frail that you can hardly hear her heartbeat, never mind smell her blood under all that cigarette smoke. Besides, I saw her in my visions. She's important!"

Lorelai would've asked if that was a compliment or a diss had she not been so utterly fucking confused. There she was, sitting on the couch in the Cullens' household shortly after stumbling into her doctor's son eating an animal alive. What the actual fuck, man.

All around her were the otherwise considered "town weirdoes." Lorelai had always known that the Cullens were... peculiar. They kept to themselves. Quiet but polite. Everyone knew of Carlisle around Forks, but no one knew anything about him. The Cullens being supernatural creatures was easily the last thing Lorelai was expecting.

If anything, the Cullens being vampires was Lorelai Swan's last guess. Witches, maybe, but not vampires.

"What are we supposed to do?" demanded Edward, otherwise known as the boy Bella Swan had taken a strange liking toward. "Can we truly trust that she can keep our secret?"

Forgetting that the vampires in the room each possessed superhuman hearing, Lorelai mumbled, "I kept an eating disorder a secret for awhile."

Clicking her tongue, Rosalie looked the bony girl up and down with cold eyes as she said, "It was never much of a secret."

"Rosalie," warned Carlisle, attempting to reign in his children, who, in reality, were just vampires of his coven. "Everyone, we need to be rational."

"Exactly!" barked Rosalie. "Why is no one agreeing with me?" She scowled as Emmett took his girlfriend's hand comfortingly.

Lorelai would've made a run for it had Carlisle not been involved. He and his wife seemed to be the leaders of this coven, which was impossible to wrap her head around. All this time, Lorelai saw them as this unnaturally beautiful couple with unnaturally beautiful adopted children. Sure, two of their kids were dating each other, but they technically weren't related, at least.

Then again, saying "technically, they aren't related" didn't sound that great either.

Lorelai wasn't sure why she was thinking so hard about that part and not the fact that she was sitting around blood-thirsty vampires. She didn't like how blatantly Edward was staring at her either. 

"Now, I've known Lorelai for a long time. She's been a patient of mine for years... and a friend," remarked Carlisle, earning a hardly noticeable smile from Lorelai. "I believe that she won't tell someone else's secret. Is that right, Lorelai?"

All eyes fell on the human, but Lorelai kept her eyes trained on Carlisle. He was the only vampire in the coven she knew personally. He made her feel comfortable despite the circumstances. He was a friend. Hell, Carlisle was practically family at this point. Lorelai would never want to hurt him, and that went for his family, too.

Lorelai nodded briskly, adding a quiet, "Yeah, totally."

"I trust her," Alice declared. "And I know Edward does, too. Right?"

Edward hardly budged as his family looked toward him. With a clenched jaw, he eventually nodded. "From what I can see..." He sighed. "This isn't just about our secret. It's about her safety, too."

"Which will only be jeopardized if word spreads that she knows what we are," Alice insisted. "It's okay. I promise, Carlisle. Everything I've seen, she's fine."

"She saw Jasper maul a deer with his bare teeth," Emmett pointed out.

"And she's fine!" Alice skipped over to Lorelai's side, placing her ice cold hands around her. The vampires were watching her so warily. It was hard to believe that they were the dangerous ones, not her. "Right? Are you okay?"

Lorelai just glanced down at her, blinking slowly. "You're really cold."

"Oh!" Alice pulled back, smiling. "Sorry about that. Listen, what you saw today... what you know..."

"I understand this is all shocking for you. Believe me, it was a shock for all of us," Esme chimed. "But we're adjusted. We want to live in peace with humans. My family is scared because our safety is in as much jeopardy as yours as a human. Can you understand that, Lorelai?"

Lorelai felt strange listening to Esme, in a way she'd never felt before. Her voice was so gentle, her eyes tame. In a room full of what were supposedly monsters, Esme was... different. So Lorelai nodded.

"I don't want any trouble, really," Lorelai quietly said. "It's not like I have anyone to tell anyway. No one would believe something like that, definitely not from me. I promise."

She looked toward Jasper. He stood the farthest from them, but he stared unblinkingly, wordlessly, at the mortal. She couldn't guess what was running through his mind. It was an uncomfortable first impression, after all. She couldn't understand why she was even alive, witnessing the proof of supernatural existence. If it was her, if Charlie and Bella were in this kind of danger, Lorelai would kill for them without hesitation. They were her second chance at a real family. In a way, it was the same for the Cullens.

Nodding, Carlisle looked to his adoptive children. "Then, it's settled. I don't want to hear another word about it," Carlisle declared. He glimpsed back at Rosalie, who had been unhappily sulking. "I mean it, Rosalie."

Lorelai still couldn't fathom the situation in its entirety. The idea of it all... of vampires... of how incredibly sculpted the lie was... it was impeccable. The Cullens were vampires. They were actual, legitimate vampires, cold ones. How was it possible? She wasn't sure.

What Lorelai did know, on the other hand, was that she was the keeper of a secret bigger than herself. If she slipped up to anyone about the Cullens (assuming they'd actually believe something as insane as that), they'd kill her faster than her own eating disorder. Well, maybe not all of them would. Just Rosalie.

In a way, Lorelai empathized with Rosalie. This was something bigger than her. This was a family and their lives. Rosalie had the right to be petrified and furious.

Sighing, Lorelai freed her bicep from her grip. Her attention landed on the window, her blood chilling as she realized a thread of wind sauntered into her bedroom. The window was wide open.

When did that happen?

Narrowing her eyes suspiciously, Lorelai slowly stood up, grabbing the nearest object to protect herself, which happened to be a shoe. She looked around curiously until she noticed a figure standing by the window in the blink of an eye. Shrieking with surprise, she chucked the shoe at the figure pathetically.

Blinking a few times, it was then when Lorelai realized that it was Jasper Hale, otherwise known as the same honey-blonde man who scared the shit out of her earlier that day.

"Fucking hell, man!" Lorelai hissed, grasping at her racing heart. "Why are you in my house?! What are you doing!?"

"I could ask you the same question, ma'am," responded Jasper, a southern drawl attached to his voice. Lorelai pulled on a confused facial expression. This was the first actual interaction she'd had with him. When she remained puzzled, he made an attempt to wrap his own hand around his bicep.

Rolling her eyes, Lorelai stated, "First, I find out that you're related to Dracula. Now, you're a stalker, too?"

He shook his head. "I'm not a stalker," he defended. "I followed your sister's smell back to your house." When Lorelai raised a questionable eyebrow, he sighed. "I just... I wanted to... check up on you."

"Wait, do vampires have hearts now?" joked Lorelai.

Jasper smiled, which Lorelai didn't think would suit him before seeing it. He seemed so intense, quiet, calculating. But his lips curled, and his entire face lit up. It was hard to imagine this was the same... creature she encountered by chance that day. He was eerily beautiful, though she wouldn't admit that to anyone, never mind herself.

"You aren't afraid of me," Jasper suddenly said.

Lorelai furrowed her eyebrows. "Well, you broke into my house, so I'm a little—"

"You're startled," Jasper corrected. "But you're not afraid."

Lorelai held her breath. "Should I be? How do you even know what I feel?"

He stepped backward, keeping his eyes trained on her as he explored the space. He kept a distance between them, but something in his stance told Lorelai that he didn't want to hurt her. He would've done it already if he wanted to, right? Between everything they'd been through already, despite barely speaking to one another, he would've killed her long ago if he wanted to.

"It's not polite to answer a question with a question, you know," Jasper lightly said. Something in his tone reminded her of Alice.

Lorelai folded her arms. "If you want my honest answer, I think I'm still in shock, and I'll probably die in my sleep from it," she said. "I don't know. There's only one thing I'm afraid of, and I don't think discovering the impossible amounts to it."

Jasper tilted his head. "...What are you afraid of?"

"They ask you what your biggest fear is and you have to come up with some bullshit like the dark or heights," started Lorelai. "But in reality, my biggest fear has always been recovery." She shook her head, her dark brown hair moving with her. "But enough about me. Can I help you with something?"

Recovery was a black hole in Lorelai's head. Because what did that even mean? What if things didn't get better? What if nothing changed, what if everything got worse? She didn't want to know what recovery meant for herself. She didn't even care to recover, not really. She wanted to stop being a burden to everyone, but she didn't care to keep living either. Where did that leave her?

As long as she kept starving, she was in control. As long as she was in control, she would keep starving. It was her only anchor. Maybe that was why she almost didn't care that a vampire had broken into her home. She had no concern for her own safety anyway. Maybe mingling with vampires would put her out of her misery sooner.

"What makes you think I need something?" inquired Jasper.

"Everyone needs something," Lorelai returned. "Air... food... blood."

Jasper, still keeping his distance, asked another question. "And what do you think I need?" he questioned.

Lorelai shrugged. "A friend," she admitted. He stared at her curiously. "Come on, think about it. You want to eat everyone, and I don't want to eat at all. Sounds to me like we'd be great friends."

"Are you volunteering?" Jasper wondered.

She nodded. "You really do ask a lot of questions, you know," she pointed out. "But, yes, I guess I am."

Jasper was silent for a moment, thinking it over. Lorelai watched him curiously until finally, he nodded. It was better than a verbal apology for what she witnessed, at least.

"Okay. Friends it is."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

ahhhh FINALLY! i'm really excited to write all of lorelai and jasper's interactions lol. if you think about it, they're really quite different in certain aspects.

lorelai is very open. she doesn't have anything to hide. she's very friendly and social, despite not actually having many friends in the first place. she's also very humorous and witty, as well as intelligent.

jasper is more closed-off in a sense due to his military mindset that he maintained as a human. it'll probably take some time for jasper to open up in the way that lorelai does. nonetheless, he's intrigued by lorelai, mostly because of how alice claimed that she saw lorelai in her visions. jasper is overall a very kind and bright guy, which is why the two end up clicking in the end.

regardless, jasper and lorelai have a lot of similarities. for example, they tend to overthink at times and are rather insecure and cautious. jasper's afraid of hurting lorelai because, well, you know lmao. they also would do anything to protect their loved ones.

ANYWAYS SORRY FOR NERDING OUT LOL. i'm just so fuckinf EXCITED. ugh i love my kids

Revised: November 6th, 2019
Revised: May 23rd, 2024