Watching Her Chapter 21 - Chip 'n' Dale

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Chapter 21 – Chip 'n' Dale – Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers
Chip is clever. Dale is kind of dimwitted. They are both mischievous, cute, fun-loving, and adventurous. 

"What?" I snap. My heart's stopped, it feels like ice is flowing through my veins, and my head is fucking pounding like Bella's beating on it with her drumsticks.

Jasper doesn't flinch from the harsh tone of my voice or from the glare I send his way. "Don't look at me like that, Edward. You've been acting weird for weeks now. Do you think I've missed the way you always seem to be looking for something … or someone …" he says with a tip of his chin toward the notebook on the bed beside me. "Or the way you're so tired some days, you can hardly see straight? I've been your best friend for most of our lives. You're out of your fucking mind if you think I don't notice shit like that. Emmett's not stupid either, just so you know, he just figured I'd talk to you first."

I don't move, hell, I'm not sure I even breathe for one minute … then two as we stare each other down.

What the hell is going on? I wonder as I hang my head. I wrack my brain trying to figure out how the hell he knows Bella's name, let alone that she's the reason … well, my reason, for just about everything these days.

I take a few deep breaths, admitting that on some level, I'm not sorry Jasper knows about Bella, or rather he knows of her. I don't know how he found out about her, there's no telling. Last night's a bit fuzzy still, but he does and now there's nothing I can do about it. Lying to Jasper's as impossible as it is to my parents, and like with them, it's just something we don't do to each other.

"Jazz, fuck, man." I groan as I lift my head to look him in the eye. "You're never going to believe me," I mutter and look at him with wide eyes when he snorts really fucking loudly.

"Dude, I've always been able to hold my liquor better than you. You should've heard yourself whining and moaning like a chick when I finally put your ass to bed. Bella's so beautiful, Jasper. My Drummer Girl. I hope she plays me my song tonight; it can be my birthday present. God, I want to kiss her and see if she smells as good as I think she will." He snickers and I can feel the tips of my ears burn.

My stomach rolls, and not in that good way it does when I see Bella. I swallow a few times hoping to keep what wants to come up down, because puking would make this whole situation a hell of a lot worse. Once it appears I'll be able to, for the time being at least, I chance a look at him. He's got a somewhat blank look on his face, though the fact that the corners of his mouth continue to twitch lets me know he's just barely hanging on.

"Go ahead and laugh motherfucker," I snap at him again. "I wasn't too out of it to forget the way you were pining away for Ali last night."

He lets go and laughs, way fucking longer than is totally necessary, until he finally catches his breath.

"Done?"

When he nods, I start at the beginning, telling him how I saw her driving through town one day when we were having lunch at the diner, and how I couldn't stop thinking about her. Then I tell him about going out for my run and hearing the drums and how it drew me in, like she was talking solely to me. I tell him how I watch her every night and how some nights she's so sad it makes me want to hurt someone because there's no way anyone like her should ever feel that way. I tell him about the trip to Port Angeles and the drumsticks and then the notebook with the letters back and forth.

I tell him everything.

"Jazz, I don't know what to do." I sigh. "Things are so tentative right now. I mean, I know it's fucked up that I watch her, but she likes it. It's like me watching her gives her a sense of … I don't even know, freedom maybe, or comfort?" I know I sound ridiculous, and I know I'm not making any sense.

"She's so alone. I don't know how or why, but I just know. And me skipping last night? She's gonna wonder where I was, or think I didn't want to be there. Fuck!" I groan and throw myself back on my bed again. "If I've fucked this up, I'm going to kick my own ass."

Jasper still hasn't said a word and when the silence drags on uncomfortably, I pick my head up just enough to look at him over my chest. "What?" I ask with my eyes narrowed.

"Are you done feeling sorry for yourself?" He quirks an eyebrow at me and I'm so confused it feels like my head's going to explode. Between Jasper's cryptic shit, the slight hangover, and the fact that all I can think about is Bella sitting, waiting, wondering where I was last night … or even worse, not caring at all that I wasn't there, has me on edge.

I can't even think about what it means if she doesn't care.

He stands up and crosses his arms as he looks down at me. "Look, if Bella's that important to you, then she's that important to me, too. It's too late to do anything about it now, right?" He doesn't even wait for me to answer, before he goes on, "So what we need to do is figure out what the hell you're going to do to make it up to her."

I obviously have my mouth hanging open or something because he snorts and kicks off his shoes. I take a moment to listen, thankful that the house is quiet. I'm a little freaked I don't remember coming to bed or how I got here.

"Everyone get home okay?" I ask, cringing as I think about my dad and his warning to make sure no one drove home if they'd had too much to drink.

He yawns and grabs a pillow off my bed and throws it on the sofa that's along the opposite wall. "Yeah. Emmett's here, passed out in the living room and Garrett and Alec are … somewhere," he answers with a wave of his hand. "But Ben and Angela didn't drink at all and neither did Bree and Eric so they made sure everyone got home okay. Mike and Heidi need to come pick up their cars later but other than that, everything's fine. Nothing's broken either, in case you were wondering."

He chuckles as he grabs the blanket off the end of my bed and flops down on his makeshift bed.

"Thanks, man," I tell him as I debate whether or not to get up and brush my teeth or just go back to sleep.

"It's your birthday; you're supposed to let loose." He yawns again and I decide that waking up without brushing my teeth is just too gross to think about.

I grab a pair of shorts off my floor, not caring if they're dirty because anything's better than sleeping in my jeans. I brush my teeth and wash my face, then take two Tylenol and drink a few glasses of water, in the hopes of preventing a hellacious hangover when I wake up again. I poke my head out of my door and into the hallway to make sure all's quiet and then climb back into bed.

I don't say anything to Jasper, assuming he's already asleep, but his voice startles me a few minutes later when it floats through the dark. "I wish you would've talked to me about this sooner. I mean, I kind of get why you didn't, but you know you can tell me anything. I'll help you with anything, Edward, you gotta know that. If Bella means that much to you, then I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that you don't lose her."

My voice dies in my throat when I open my mouth to say something back to him. It's not like I didn't expect him and Emmett both to have my back, but to do so, no questions asked, is more than I anticipated.

Of course he has to ruin it by saying, "Can't wait to listen to you explain all this to Emmett though. I need to make sure my phone's charged or something so I can have video. YouTube and all, you know?"

The bastard even laughs when I throw my half-full bottle of water at him.

Asshole, and he thinks he's my best friend.
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