Guest Fic Rec: Get Me to the Daisies

Chicklette
Get Me To You - M/R
Romance/Angst
6 Chapters, 37558 Words
08/19/2009 - Completed
[ FFN ]

Winner of Winter 2010 Indie! Pet names and Pop Tarts. Sunday mornings with Etta and Ella. Cibola. Candymouth. You finally realize the truth. What if it's too late? M for drinking, drug use, sex and effing language. ExBxJxAxEm/POV, AH, OOC.

Daisy3853's

The first time someone recommended I read Get Me to You by Chicklette, I didn’t jump on it like I should have. I know you love Jasper, they said, and there’s no way you won’t love this one. Her writing style is so different, they said. You’ll love it or won’t, but either way it’s gorgeous and not to be missed. Give it a try, they said. I said yeah and okay and when I have time. I got busy with writing and work and other distractions, and lo and behold what pops up during final validations for the Indies but this little gem. I read it, I laughed over it, I smiled and cried and yelled at it and smiled and cried some more.

This story is lazy Sunday mornings in bed with Ella Fitzgerald, Van Morrison and candymouth kisses. It’s Jasper and Bella – easy and organic. It’s a story about finding love when you least expect it, learning to trust when you’re not sure who or what to trust, and figuring out what you need in your life to make you happy. It’s romantic yet realistic, because love is real and sometimes it hurts. It’s one of the most beautiful stories you’ll ever read, and if you don’t give it a try you’re truly missing out on something spectacular.

We start out with Bella, heartbroken and disappointed one more time thanks to an Edward who maybe loves her but maybe doesn’t, and the maybes are starting to kill her. He’s hot and cold and yes and no, and one day it goes a little too far.

“For one afternoon and one night Edward Cullen loved me. But in the morning? It was hustle and flow and get your shit together and what, did you think I was going to drive you to school? Make some big statement with you in the passenger seat, my arm around you like we're in love or some shit like that? Get going, Swan.”

Enter Jasper through her bedroom window, like it’s the most natural thing for him to be there – for him to be the one to notice she’s not at school and worry about her and hold her while she cries. And it is natural, because that’s who he is for her. He’s more than just her friend; he’s all she can count on, and they’re so alike that when you see them together it just fits.

“With Jasper it was chill and quiet and bluegrass on the stereo without being embarrassed and strawberry Pop Tarts right out of the box and fuck the crumbs getting all over. With Jasper it was holding hands and nestling into his chest because it was safe to be with him.”

Jasper’s safe because he knows she loves Edward, and he’s safe because she knows he loves Alice. Everything between them just sort of happens when they never really expected it to. He comforts her and it’s right. He kisses her and it’s right. She kisses him back and it’s just right, because he’s her Jas and she’s his (Bella)Trix. Their easy friendship turns into more, and the way it happens is just beautiful. They have their own language full of I love yous that say everything without saying anything that anyone else will understand. It’s one of my very favorite things about their relationship, and I swoon every time they do it.

“It meant I miss you, I'm sorry, I need you, please, yes, more, no, fuck you, don't stop, what are you talking about? It meant I adore you, I worship you, I need you, stop being an ass. It meant everything we couldn't say out loud. We funneled it into I love you and no matter what we meant by it, we understood. I love you.”

But things aren’t always easy when you think your love might love someone else more, and here you have Alice and Edward who suddenly miss what they never realized they would. Alice never even gave Jasper a chance before she saw him with Bella, while Edward strung Bella along with swings and switches and maybes. Seeing Jasper and Bella together opens their eyes, and neither of them like what they see.

“No more window, no more bed, no more Bella and fuck me. No more Bella because she's with Jasper and I didn't see it before I sure as fuck see that shit now, the way she touches him all the fucking time. How he keeps looking at her and they're talking in their heads to each other, you can see that shit and, oh, fuck, the way she just tugs on his collar and he gets up and follows and when they come back she's flushed and fucking exquisite and he does that to her and I fucking hate him.”

Chicklette’s style is different and fresh. I worried when I heard about it that it’d be hard to follow or get into, but nothing could be further from the truth. She weaves this tale seductively, with gorgeous language that flows so perfectly. Every word fits the story, and the story fits the style, and everything is good and right, just like Jas and Trix. She slips in subtle references to music and literature and history, and each one works so flawlessly that you’ll never stumble over them. Her descriptions are lovely and stunning, and sometimes there’s nothing you can do but smile at her words and say yes – exactly.

“I know that bourbon and mint were made for each other, and that this simple alchemy is proof of the divine. I know that watching a baseball game in the sunshine on a summer day, with the smell of grass in your nose and the sound of the crack of the bat in your ear is the epitome of what it means to be human.”

Something else that impressed me was that even though she uses multiple character points of view, the switches never disrupt the flow of the story. Each character has a distinct voice, yet the writing style never falters. Even when they’re living through the same event, you’re seeing everything under totally unique circumstances.

These characters become a part of you so quickly you might not realize it happened, but all of a sudden it’s true and their pain is your pain… and all you want is just one more lazy Sunday morning with pop tarts in bed and Ella. You’ll find yourself gutted and lonely the first time Bella's point of view pops up without the Trix when all the trouble begins, and hoping that maybe the next time he says Trix, cher, she lets him.

“So when I said I love you (are you alright?) he said I love you too but the words were so devoid of inflection, emotion, I had no idea what language he was speaking.”

Sigh. That one kills me every time.

As I sat down to write this recommendation, I reread the story to take notes and look for quotes to use (which let me tell you, narrowing down my favorite lines was no easy task). The second time around, I was just as moved, gutted, thrilled and devastated as the first time I read. I didn’t feel the need to skim or skip ahead, because every word – every unique description or turn of phrase – was just as gorgeous as the first time I read.

“She looks up at me and says, Jas? I feel that thing inside me swell, that feeling like my heart is attached to her smile and like there's balloons and butterflies inside of me, like I'm going to fly and no girl in the world can say that one syllable like she can. She says Jas and I hear love, love, love.”

Basically, you have to read this story. You have to read it if you love Jasper and Bella, because you haven’t read them like this. You have to read it if you’re not sure if you’d enjoy non-canon pairings, because this is the kind of story that makes you jump in with both feet and never look back. You even have to trust me and read it if you don’t usually like Jasper and Bella together, because I dare you not to get caught up in this story, despite your preferences. It’s something that will stay with you days and weeks later, and you probably won’t find anything else quite like it. It’s one of those stories that you’ll want to save and bring out on a lazy day when you want to curl up and read something that you know will make you feel. I really can’t say enough about it. So go. Read. Love. You’ll thank me later.

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Daisy3853 loves the whole world, especially Jasper, and writes a Jasper/Bella multi-chapter called Underexposed.