Jasper Hale watched with a small smile as Evelyn Brown quietly hummed to herself, her fingers clutched around a fine-tipped paintbrush. She was dabbing cotton candy pink onto her painting, which was the topic the class had been working on that week. Her hair was already scraped back with the scrunchie Jasper had offered as soon as she sat, a terracotta colored one that Evelyn said reminded her of the pottery class from the week prior.

Jasper had long finished his painting, and by long finished, he had finished it two classes ago- and it was now hanging on the back wall of the art room. It wasn't anything extravagant- four blocks divided the canvas, and in each block was a portrait of a girl from Jasper's family. Rosalie was in the bottom right block, Esme in the bottom left, Alice was in the upper right block, and Evelyn was in the upper left.

Rosalie was looking slightly to the right, lips painted in a small grin. Esme was looking up and to the side slightly, eyes firmly on Alice as she looked at her with a motherly gaze. Alice was looking down, yet somehow Jasper had captured the faraway look she got when a vision came almost perfectly. Which left Evelyn, who's curls were wild and hung around her face as she looked straight ahead, cheeks painted pink. Jasper had the easiest time painting the portraits, even though Evelyn had blushed whenever he asked for her to look at him head on- he was happy with the short amount of time she did.

Rosalie herself had painted a hyperrealism portrait of Emmett, as she planned on gifting the painting to him for Christmas. However, neither Rosalie or Jasper knew exactly what Evelyn was painting. The topic was acrylic painting yes, but their teacher did say she would prefer if you did either portraits or self portraits, and both vampires knew Evelyn usually did what the teacher would prefer.

Evelyn's hands were already covered in a bunch of different paint colors, which ranged from black to the cotton candy color she used now. Jasper had noticed she almost always was covered in some form of medium, which Jasper figured since he knew Evelyn practiced art not only in class but at home as well.

When the bell rung, Evelyn made no move to leave her station, instead she continued to run her brush against the canvas- her tongue poked out between her lips. The art teacher, Mrs. Davis, didn't move to correct the girl- and Jasper cleared his throat to gain the girl's attention.

"Are you staying here Eve?" Jasper asked, and Evelyn nodded quickly as she dipped her paintbrush into the cup of murky paint water that was slightly to her right.

"I need to turn this in, I'm not coming to school tomorrow- have a doctors appointment." Evelyn explained, smiling widely at Jasper when his brow furrowed. "Nothing bad Jazz, no worries."

Jasper shifted, trying not to feel her emotions- but nodded once he felt nothing but honesty flowing from her.

"Can I bring you something from the cafeteria?" Jasper instead asked, and Evelyn dipped her shoulders in a small shrug.

"If you have time after you eat, a hot chocolate would be nice."

Jasper tried not to rush through his "eating" time, knowing that even though he didn't actually eat food- if he came back too soon Evelyn would have a cow. There was a rumor going around about the Police Chief's daughter coming sometime after Christmas, and that was all Alice wanted to talk about. It was only the beginning of November, so Jasper mildly understood, but he didn't understand the hype.

Once Jasper secured Evelyn's hot chocolate, with extra whipped cream and chocolate shavings, because the girl was a chocoholic if Jasper had ever seen one- he made his way back to the art room. Where, on an easel was a portrait of his family.

The background was either a sunset or a sunrise-pinks, purples, and oranges blended together in a way that seemed like if he reached out he could touch it. There was a picnic blanket spread out at the bottom of the canvas, and his whole family had been painted sprawled across the fabric. Esme and Carlisle were curled together, a book opened between the two- and Jasper could make out that it was about architecture.

Rosalie and Emmett were next, having been painted cuddling- Rosalie tucked under his arms and their lips locked in a kiss. Edward was next, his arms wrapped around a brunette, who had their face tucked away in his neck- so no facial features were shown. Then, there was Alice- who was sitting next to a pretty native girl, who had short hair that ended at her chin. The native girl's cheeks were tinged slightly pink, and Alice's lips were quirked in a smirk- their hands entwined.

Jasper was next, and sat plopped in his lap- was Evelyn. They had a book that was sitting atop their entwined legs, and Evelyn was pointing at it with one hand- the other covering part of her face as if someone had just snapped their picture.

Evelyn's small signature was scrawled in the bottom right corner in a metallic sharpie, and Jasper let out his held breath when the girl in question came around the corner. Evelyn squeaked at Jasper's presence, before she turned pink under his gaze- beginning to fumble with her paint stained hands.

"I wanted it to be a surprise, for Christmas." Evelyn explained quietly, wide eyed staring at Jasper from across the classroom.

"For Christmas?" Jasper asked gently, his golden eyes never straying from Evelyn's, who nodded shyly.

"I was... I was going to ask you on a date." Evelyn weakly murmured, playing with the bottom of her cable-knit cardigan. Jasper quirked a brow at this, before he took a step forward- hand slightly shaking as he sat Evelyn's drink on the table next to him.

"You were going to ask me out?" Jasper questioned, and Evelyn kicked her foot slightly- nodding again. Jasper chuckled at this, and began to walk forward- before he came toe to toe with Evelyn. "Darlin', I think that's my job."

Evelyn looked up at Jasper from under her lashes, a small smile causing the edges of her lips to turn up. Jasper rubbed his thumb slowly across Evelyn's cheek, a grin causing his own lips to quirk. Up close Jasper noticed a lot of little things about Evelyn he wasn't able to see from a farther distance. Her eyes were a soft hazel-green, not the hazel-brown he had thought they were. She had a splatter of freckles across her nose, and a tiny little scar on her hairline. Jasper couldn't help but reach down and plant a kiss on the scar, and Evelyn let out a small hum.

"What's that from?" Jasper wondered, and Evelyn smiled up at the vampire.

"Fell off of a swing and cut my head open." Jasper nodded slowly at Evelyn's explanation, before he darted his eyes down to glance at her lips.

"Could I kiss you?" Jasper asked quietly, and Evelyn nodded quickly as she pressed herself up onto her toes.

"Please."

Jasper hadn't been kissed in decades, and Evelyn hadn't been kissed since that one time in freshmen year at Mike Newton's birthday party. But this, this was as if they had always been kissing- it felt right, it felt normal. Jasper's cold lips clashed with Evelyn's warm, and Jasper's hands on her waist sent a shiver crawling up Evelyn's spine. Evelyn moved her hands slowly, one resting on Jasper's chest- the other moving to grip his baby hairs on the back of his neck.

Jasper couldn't stop kissing Evelyn Brown. She tasted good, she tasted like home, she tasted like his salvation. Evelyn pulled back with a small pop as their lips separated, and Evelyn turned pinker under Jasper's intense gaze.

"I like you Evelyn Brown." Jasper said firmly, and Evelyn rubbed her thumb over Jasper's cheek, mimicking what he was doing to her previously.

"I like you Jasper Hale. I like you."