Phases of the Moone: 1.4

The days after the full moon passed by without incident, I tolerated my co-workers and struggled between acting on my newly discovered feelings for Jasper and my fear that my wolf side would hurt him or my kids one day. He constantly told me I need not worry, especially since I’d never done anything particularly violent since I’d  first transformed.  All those worried were shoved to the side when I received my first true emergency since I’d become a fire woman.

                Like usually the sound of the fire alarm filled the firehouse and I immediately took the fastest route possible to the firetruck and towards the site of the fire. When to the correct location my jaw dropped, it was much bigger fire than I was used to  and people were actually trapped inside.. 

 Once I calmed myself down it was simply of matter of killing all the flames, busting the doors down and  carefully guiding everyone out of the house.  The job took much longer than it should have, but no one experienced any permanent damage.  I managed to save most of the house  as well

 When I reached the firehouse house my heart still beat rapidly in my chest. The rest of the firefighters must have been feeling something similar, because nobody said a word for a long time.  Larry being Larry decided to break the tension by pulling the closest woman into a kiss who happened to be me. 

I immediately pulled away and Baylee scolded him. Instead of being affected though he simply smirked and said, “Thank God we made it through that mess!”

       Either  out of annoyance that he didn’t listen to her scolding or from a delayed stress reaction from the fire, Baylee transformed into her werewolf form and wrestled  him to the ground.  Me and my boss buried out heads in books while we waited for the scene to end. To this day, I still don’t understand other werewolves and their out of control behaviors.

            When the day finally ended I was more than happy to return home. The events of the day came back fullforce and I sat down and leaned back on  the coach. Jasper sit next to he  and  listened patiently while I ranted about my day and when I finished he pulled me into is side and squeezed my shoulders.  After the mess of the day just melted away.

His cooldown hugs are still just as powerful as they were then, but what he did next and everything that followed is why that hug in particular stands out in my mind.

            “So tomorrow is Leisure Day, would you like to go to the Summer Festival with me?” he asked.

            “Yes,” I said without even considering a no .

            He smiled. “Great! We can head out tomorrow after I water my plants.”

 ****

 The next day we left for the Summer Festival just after ten.  The delay was caused partially because of Jasper’s garden and partially because of a phone call from City Hall that informed me that I’d been promoted. Jasper congratulated to me and we headed to the Summer Festival.   

            The moment we arrived an ear-to-ear grin filled Jasper’s face and he ran straight to the face painting booth. I walked over to a lone soccer goal with a ball in front of it. I kicked the ball into the goal a few times to sharpen my coordination.

            A few moments later Jasper ran over to me and pointed to his face. “What do you think?”

            I looked up and stifled a laugh; he’d painted his face like a clown’s.  “Looks great. “  

            Jasper gave me a playful glare and then used his whole arm to point at the soccer ball. “I challenge you to a shoot-out.”

            I smirked. “You’re on.”

The shoot-out went on for about half an hour before Jasper declared me the winner. Moments later a blaring horn filled the air. Jasper grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a booth dedicated to a hot dog eating contest. Seeing no other option  and thinking it could be fun I entered the contest with him. 

 Bits of hot dog and bun dribbled from everyone’s mouths in waves, to the point that I started to feel queasy and gave up first.  Every now and then I glanced back at the contest to see how Jasper was doing, but not long enough to lose my lunch. Eventually he was declared the winner just as the sun started to set.

            Jasper cleaned himself up in the restroom while I waited outside, enjoying the cool evening air and the soft music playing in background.

            After he came out of the bathroom Jasper walked over to me and asked, “ Wanna dance? As champions we should reward ourselves.”

            “I agree.” I said and let him grab my waist and pull me to the dance floor.

            My yellow eyes locked with his spring green ones and words were rendered unnecessary.  As the song went on we drew closer and closer until we were moving cheek-to-cheek.

            “Ramona, I would really like to kiss you now. Is that okay?” Jasper asked.

            I hesitated a moment, caught off-guard by the question. Jasper’s ever present smile dropped a little and another formed on my face. “Jasper, I would love a kiss from you.”

            His kiss started out slow and I deepened it. His lips tasted earthy and sweet like the plants he grew.

            “Can I ask you something else?” he said after the kiss ended.

            “What?”

            “Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

            I answered his question by leaping into his arms and kissing him again. 

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A/N I actually blended to trips to the Summer Festival here. Originally it was after the first trip that she fell for him and after the second that they started going out, but decided against it because two dates to the Summer Festival seemed like it could be boring. See previous entry to see how I made her realize her feeling for Jasper.