I grabbed my blanket off the couch and headed outside and rejoined my seat that was, luckily, not covered in snow. The weather was significantly warmer than it had been two hours ago, so I didn’t bother turning on the heated seat part.
Sure enough, within ten minutes Jasper came shuffling up to me.
Instead of continuing to run past, however, he stopped and reached for the bottle of water I had sitting at my feet.
He drained it in half a minute and tossed the crushed-up bottle into my lap.
I handed him the banana, which he ate.
Then the Christmas Tree Cake.
He ate it all in silence, his eyes looking sunken.
“How many more miles do you have?” I asked once he was done with the second bottle.
I had a lap full of his trash, and I wasn’t bothered by that at all.
What was wrong with me?
“Four,” he grumbled darkly. “Fucking Cutter.”
My lips curved up into a small smile. “Get going. You’re almost done.”
He swiped at his face, turned forward to face the road, then said, “I’m going to have rhabdo when I’m done with this.”
He left, and I quickly searched up what rhabdo was on my phone.
According to Doctor Google, it was a breakdown of protein in the body that released dangerous contents into the bloodstream and damaged kidneys. It happened a lot when people had a very hard intensity exercise and didn’t take care of themselves after.
I went inside and pulled six bottles of water from my fridge then walked them over to his doorstep. At least this way, he would see the water and maybe it would remind him to drink.
I’d just picked up my chair from the front yard where it lay with my discarded blanket when Jasper’s phone, still in my hoodie pocket, rang.
I contemplated not answering it for a half of a ring before I decided…fuck it.
“Hello?” I answered.
There was a hitch in the person’s breath on the other end of the line, and I pulled my phone away from my face to see that it was his best friend, Harlow.
Why I hadn’t checked that in the first place, I didn’t know. If I had, though, I probably wouldn’t have answered it at all.
Their relationship was entirely weird to me.
Boys and girls couldn’t be best friends.
“Harlow?” I asked. “Are you okay?”
There was another hitch and then, “No.”
I immediately stiffened. “Where are you?”
She made a sound in her throat that was close to a sob and said, “I’m three hours away.”
I did not care.
“Never mind that,” I said. “Where. Are. You?”
Her breath hitched. “I let Jasper follow my location on an app called Life 360.” She swallowed, and it sounded painful. “I’m at my boyfriend’s house.” Her throat started to sound funny. “Hurry.”
