1. The Deal

"Oh come on Bella, please!" Jasper begged his sister.

"No! I'm not going on some stupid double date with you. It would be too weird." Bella retaliated.

"Please Bells. It's the only way Emmett with let me date his sister, he has to be there." Jasper looked pleadingly at his little sister.

She glared and plopped down on her bed. "Fine! But you owe me big time!" She huffed

"Thank you so much Bella." He picked her small body up and hugged it before letting her go.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." She rolled her eyes.

Jasper smirked as he turned around in her doorframe to look at her. "You know I bet you're secretly thrilled about this, I heard you say how hot you thought Emmett was."

Bella's eyes bulged. "When did you hear that?"

"When Rosalie was over one weekend. I was passing by your room when I heard you two giggling and talking about guys, I was about to walk away when you mentioned how 'fucking fine' Emmett is." Jasper grinned as Bella's face became furious.

"You didn't tell him did you?" She hissed

"Of course not, I would have to be really pissed at you for something to do that."

She sighed in relief.

"Something like you borrowing my car and putting a dent in the back bumper. Then I might have had to tell him." He chuckled.

"Oh my god. Jasper I'm gonna kill you!" Bella jumped off her bed and chased Jas through the hallway and down the stairs into the kitchen where their parents were, just watching their kids fight like usual. "Get back here you jerk!"

The two of them stood across from each other with the kitchen island separating them, each time one moved, the other matched their steps. "You are so dead." She growled

"Don't worry Bells, he thought it was kinda cute that you had a little crush on him." He laughed. Bella ran around the counter and Jasper was already sprinting to the living room.

"Ugh!" Bella grunted as she tripped over the threshold into the living room, she had been extremely lucky that she hadn't fallen down early when they were running down the stairs, but now her luck had ended.

Jasper stood in front of her laughing.

"You're such an ass." She seethed

"Okay, what is going on?" Renee asked as she walked in, Charlie right behind her looking a little amused.

"Nothing." The two of them muttered

"Good, now the two of you need to go upstairs and get ready for dinner. And Jasper help your sister off the floor." Renee sighed at her daughter's lack of coordination.

Jasper grabbed his sister's arm and heaved her off the floor.

"You know I could totally back out of this date for what you did." Bella said as they walked up the stairs.

Jasper turned to look at her with a serious expression on his face. "Please Bells, I really like Alice. Do this one thing for me and I promise I'll do whatever you want."

Bella looked at him and nodded. "Geez when did I get another sister, you pussy." She said as she walked into her room to change. Jasper glared at her but decided not to test her by shouting a few insults. She was, after all, doing him a huge favor. Emmett was a good friend of his, who just happened to have a cute younger sister who Jasper had become infatuated with. The only way Emmett would let Alice date someone was if they lasted through a double date with him. When Emmett had told Jasper this he had sarcastically replied with: "Why don't we make this even more awkward and let you take Bella as your date." Emmett thought it was a great idea, especially when he found out about Bella liking him.

Jasper sighed and pulled on a dark red button up shirt and black pants. They were having their usual Sunday night dinner with their grandmother at some fancy restaurant, and Renee made sure that they always looked presentable for her incredibly wealthy mother-in-law. Jasper ran a hand through his blonde locks and left it at that.

Bella struggled with shimmying into a tight dark blue knee length dress that hugged her every curve. She curled her hair and then for her makeup, did a smoky eye and pink lips. After putting on a tad bit of blush she searched through her huge walk-in closet for shoes, settling on a pair of leopard print heels. Sure she had some balance issues, but she'd be sitting all night anyway. She grabbed her purse and walked out into the hallway.

"Jas?" She said as she knocked on his door.

"Yeah?" He answered from inside.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yep." He said as he opened his door.

"Looking good Bells."He said as he took in his baby sister's appearance. I'm gonna end up killing any guy who tries to touch her, he thought. Which brought his thoughts back to the date. How much more awkward could it get to go on a double date with your own sister?

"You too Jas."

"But aren't you tempting fate a little with those shoes?" He asked as he examined the four inch death traps strapped to her ankles.

"Probably." She shrugged. "But I trust you to catch me."

He chuckled. "You shouldn't." He gave her a smirk and she rolled her eyes.

The two of them reached the bottom of the stairs where Renee was putting on her necklace in the mirror.

"Here let me help." Bella said as she went over to latch the necklace for her mother.

"Thank you dear." She said as she adjusted the expensive black dress she wore. Her eyes roamed skeptically over her children's attire. "Bella don't you think those heels look a tad…well like they should be on a stripper?"

"That's exactly why I'm wearing them." Her daughter said smugly, trying annoy her mother. Renee glared. "They're the only shoes that look good with this dress and they're staying on." Bella answered.

Renee nodded, defeated. She was always a nervous wreck when they had dinner with Charlie's mother, she wasn't a big fan of Renee and didn't always hide it. Renee was just trying to impress her, trying to keep her family's name on the old bat's will. Although the Swan family already was doing fine financially, it was always nice to have a backup plan in case something went wrong.

"What do you think Bella? Does my hair up like this make me look old?" She had her hair pulled up into a classic French twist.

"You look fantastic mom, not a day over twenty-seven." Bella lied expertly. Her parents were in their forties and it showed.

"Good. Charlie hurry up we're going to be late." Renee called.

Charlie strolled out into the foyer wearing a sharp gray suit with a blue tie and his eyes glued to his phone where he was watching a live football game.

"Who's winning dad?" Jasper asked as he moved to watch.

"The Gators." Charlie grumbled.

"Damn." Jasper muttered.

"Let's go." Renee said as she ushered all of them outside and into the Mercedes. They quickly slid into their seats to get out of the hot, dry Phoenix air.

The four of them drove in silence, except from the occasional bickering between the two siblings. They pulled up to a fancy Italian restaurant and went inside. Charlie told the hostess his name and she led them to their table where their grandmother, Ruth, was sitting. She was a small woman, short and thin with her dyed blonde hair professionally done up. She wore a light pink dress with pale gold heels and a string of pearls.

Charlie was the first one to give her a hug, followed by Jasper, then Bella, and finally Renee. When she pulled back from Bella she looked at her dress in distaste. "What kind of impression are you trying to give by showing off all that cleavage?" Bella gritted her teeth and said nothing, Renee gave her daughter a sympathetic smile.

They all sat down in their seats and Charlie made small talk with his mother which the rest of them were forced to engage in. The waiter came by and took their orders, Ruth ordered the table an expensive bottle of wine to go along with it. He came back and poured them all a glass, including Bella and Jasper.

"Renee dear, tell me, where exactly did you find that dress. JC Penney?" Ruth laughed. Charlie placed a comforting hand on his wife's knee, hoping that she wouldn't lash out at his mother.

Renee's anger flared but she didn't show it. "No, mom, it's a Valentino." She said shortly.

Ruth nodded and moved onto her next victim.

This night is going fantastically well, Bella thought sarcastically and took a sip of the wine in front of her.

"So Jasper," Ruth said. Jasper looked up at her reluctantly from his phone which he was hiding under the table, checking it periodically for game updates.

"Yes ma'am?" He asked

"Have you given any more thought to taking over your grandfather's business when you graduate next year?"

Jasper gritted his teeth, she asked this question frequently. His grandfather founded a very successful, yet very shady, insurance business decades ago, though once he had passed it was given to one of his partners. Ruth desperately wanted the company to remain in the family so she get maximal profits and she found Jasper quite suitable for the job, since Charlie had vehemently denied the offer seeing as he didn't approve of the companies tactics in making money from their clients.

"Mom, Jasper has a lot of time to consider what he wants to do with his life. He still has college to go through before deciding whether or not he wants to get involved with the company." Charlie said somewhat sternly. Renee bit her bottom lip nervously waiting to see what Ruth's response would be.

Ruth stuck her nose up in distaste. "Really Charlie there isn't a point in sending the boy to college when he could take over the company and become an instant millionaire. I know you're not too keen on how this business runs, but honestly it's not your choice, it's his." She said coolly. Then turned her piercing gray eyes on Jasper, as if awaiting his answer now.

Thankfully the waiter chose that moment to bring in their meals and Jasper dove into his, acting like he had been starved for years, and not giving his grandmother a chance to ask her question again.

Finally, but not quite soon enough, they were exiting the restaurant and driving off towards home.

"Next time we have to go to one of these dinners, can we not?" Bella asked as she sat down on the couch in the living room once she had changed into comfortable clothes and examined herself in the mirror seeing if Ruth had been right about her looking a little pregnant.

"Seriously, she was particularly ruthless tonight." Jasper added, then chuckled slightly at his own pun. Bella rolled her eyes and lightly punched his arm.

Renee sighed, wishing she could agree with her kids and drop this Sunday night date with hell routine.

"You know she only means well." Charlie reassured them, though not convincingly. He was still a little miffed with his mother always bringing up Jasper's involvement with the company.

"No, I think she gets some sick pleasure out of seeing all of us try not to explode at her." Bella said dryly.

"Bella," Charlie sighed, too exhausted to come up with anything.

Bella laughed. "Well I'm going to bed." She announced as she got up and headed to her room.

"Me too. Goodnight." Jasper said and dragged himself up the stairs.

Eventually the lights in the Swan residence turned off and they had all fallen into their separate dream filled worlds where Ruth was millions of miles away.

So here's the beginning of my new story, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Peace. ERIN