Southern Belle

I stood in the kitchen alone for a few seconds, just letting the panic that seeing my family brought up to lessen before walking out into the living room.

“What‘s going on?” I asked as I saw the scene before me. Emmett was giving Jasper a bone crushing bear hug, Edward was yelling at Rosalie about something she did or didn’t do, Bella looked petrified, and my family seemed to be utterly confused.

“You tell us” said Roxy. “We’re just innocent bystanders.” I was about to tell her that she definitely wasn’t innocent but thought better of it.

“Guys break it up” I yelled and was rewarded with smiles I liked and scowls that I felt were very unnecessary. “Just sit down, Steve” you all know he was one that gave me a scowl. He just looked at me but after realizing that I wasn’t kidding, finally sat down.

“Alright, so Ariel, Lester, Roxy, Ricky, I know you must be confused as to why I was kissing Jasper in his kitchen. You don’t know him, and I understand that.”

“Wait” said Steve. This was supposed to my time to inform them of my past concerning Jasper, not Edward’s time to ask more questions. “You and Jasper…”

“Steve shut up” I was very confused by this outburst, mostly because it didn’t come from me. I slowly turned toward Jasper who was sitting on the very edge of his seat looking at Emmett like he was his new god.

“Damn” remind me to give him a couple of cool-o-meter points.

“What? I want to hear this” he said giving me the classic “go on” look.

“Any way” I started “Jasper may be a stranger to you guys” I pointed to my family. “But I’ve known him for awhile. He is the one who turned me, but he was also my best friend for years.” Ariel blinked twice and I knew that she wanted more information than that.

“Okay” I said. Her stares can turn people to stone and they scare me. “I’ve also had a crush on him since 1866. Happy? Damn, I have no secrets anymore.” My family still didn’t look satisfied and I swear I could feel myself melting into the carpet. Only family can do that to you.

“Yes you do, now spill” said Lester. There was a hardness to his voice that told me that I wasn’t getting out of this. The first thing I did was look at Jasper but Ricky wasn’t having that.

“Don’t look at him” he snapped. “Tell us why he turned you in the first place, no offense but I don’t think anyone would do that just to have you as company.” That was a low blow, and I must admit I felt a little proud.

“He felt sorry for me, didn’t you Jazz?”

“Yes”

“Why would he feel sorry for you?” asked Roxy. I didn’t answer her and instead turned to Edward.

“Steve, you ask the questions.” I ordered. “I can hate you but I can’t hate them.” I’ve never liked questions, mostly because I don’t like telling people about my past. As you can properly tell, not even my family knows.

“That’s cold” whispered Emmett and it took all my will power to hold back the laugh that threatened to make an appearance.

“Fine, why would Jasper feel sorry for you?” asked Edward.

“Damn, I don’t know, ask him” I don’t really spend all my time thinking about why someone might feel sorry for me. I’m not that weird.

“Jasper?” asked Edward.

“I was supposed to kill her family, I couldn’t so someone else did. I felt sorry for her since she was all alone so I turned her and she joined my coven.” Said Jasper, he kept his gaze directed toward the floor while he spoke like he expected me to be mad at him for something I already knew about.

“So that’s depressing” said Rosalie. “How about we end this conversation now while I still want to continue living.” There are so many jokes I could make about that statement, but it properly wasn’t the best time to tell them.

“Well, I sure hope you’ll continue living” Everyone glanced in my direction and I turned to find a man in his late twenties with platinum blonde hair standing in the doorway with a huge smile on his face.

“Hey Carlisle, we were just talking.” said Emmett. The name Carlisle rang a bell and I remembered that Jasper had mentioned that he was practically their father.

“What about?” he walked over to where Edward was sitting and plopped down beside him in the leather recliner. “From what I heard, it sounds interesting.”

“About how people feel sorry for me.” I answered. For the first time I looked around and noticed I was the only one standing so I quickly sat down beside Jasper. No reason to draw more attention to me than necessary.

“Oh, I’m so sorry” he had the nerve to say that with a straight face, which made me laugh a little louder than I should have. “I don’t mean to be rude, but who are you?” That ended my hysterical laughing fit.

“Sorry, I’m Lydia Cole” I offered my hand and he shook it.

“Carlisle Cullen and you all are?” he turned to my family and the looks on their faces were priceless.

“Ariel”

“Lester”

“Roxy”

“Ricky” Carlisle nodded to each of them before leaning back in the chair and looking toward Edward.

“You don’t like them do you.” He accused and Edward looked like a four year old that lost his mother in a supermarket.

“How can you tell” he asked after a few seconds.

“Well for starters you’re staring at Lydia like she’s some kind of devil spawn or something.”

“Thank you!” I said louder than I meant to, which drew everyone’s attention to me. “I knew I wasn’t the only one that noticed!” Jasper clamped his hand over my mouth and gave me a look that said “Shut up” loud and clear. Thankfully Carlisle just ignored me.

“So what did she do?” he asked. Edward looked uncomfortable again and I decided right then that I liked Carlisle.

“For starters” said Edward. “She doesn’t call me by my name.” I smiled at the fact he listed that first. “She calls me Steve.” He gave me a look but Carlisle just waited for the rest of the story. “And then, she talks to Bella like she has the right to do that.”

“Hey” it was the first time Bella had spoken and to be perfectly honest, I forgot she was even there. “Liddie’s been nice to me. A lot nicer than some nameless vampires were when I first came here.” Edward Winced and I gave Bella a mental thumbs up.

“Plus, I just don’t like her mind.”Edward concluded. Everyone looked confused and I was incredibly happy that I wasn’t the only one that had no idea what he was talking about.

“What’s wrong with my mind?” I asked. “I know I’m a little demented and twisted but you can figure that out by talking with me for a few minutes.”

“That’s not what I mean” said Edward. “You and Jasper have the same type of thoughts, a lot of sarcasm and weird jokes that only you think are funny. I’m talking about the fact your mind is a ball of string, in order to get to one memory you have to untangle it from a hundred others. It’s a lot like Aro’s mind and I don’t trust it.”

“So you don’t like me because my mind’s wired a little differently?” I asked outraged. That made no sense to me and I wanted to tackle him and threaten to shave his head.

“I can’t help it, I just don’t trust you.” He stood up and took Bella’s hand before dragging her out the door.

“Don’t worry” said Emmett. “I’ll get him later.”

“Thanks, if I were you I’d mess with his hair, but that’s only because it freaks me out.” Emmett smiled and held out his fist which I bumped with my own.

“I know nothing” said Jasper. He was sitting between us and there was no doubt in my mind that he had heard every word that we had exchanged.

“You better not” I warned and he wrapped his arms around me. Before I could say anything he pulled me into his lap and forced me to stay there.

“Well I feel childish”