Kieran: Yeah does now work?
He takes another ten minutes to reply. Why is he keeping me waiting?
Jasper: Sure.
*
When Jasper opens the front door, he glances at me before looking down, shifting his weight.
It’s confirmed. He hates me.He thinks I’m a monster.
He doesn’t. He said the opposite that night. He iced your face and held you and slept with his arms around you —
“Hi,” I say.
“Do you want to talk in the garden?” he lets me in and leads me down the hallway.
I stop walking. We’ve never gone anywhere but his bedroom before. Why is that changing now? Maybe he doesn’t want to give me the opportunity to touch him. “I’m not here to sleep with you.”
“That’s not — I don’t —” He flushes. “I thought the garden might be nice to talk in. You’ve never seen it before.” He takes me past the staircase, to another room with floor to ceiling windows that reveal the back garden. There’s lawn everywhere, with a tennis court nestled in the corner and a stone-lined pool as well. I can’t muster up the energy to get annoyed about the luxury.
He takes me to a circle of trees, where garden beds are full of blooming roses and tulips. We sit on a wooden bench, the trees above us providing shade from the sun.
Jasper looks at me, a weird expression on his face.
“What?” I say, more aggressively than I mean to.
His eyes go wide for a moment. “Nothing. Just…the bruising.”
“Oh,” I say, raising a hand to touch the skin under my eyes. The bruise has turned yellow like rotten apricots. No wonder he’s looking at me like I’m hideous.
“Does it hurt?” Jasper asks.
I shake my head, then get to the point of this meeting. “I got a call from Fin,” I say, taking my phone out and showing him my call history.
Jasper takes my phone. “How did he get your number?”
“Did you give it to him?”
Jasper flinches. “What? No. Of course not.”
“Then he must have got it through someone else, or maybe through the school.”
“Why would you ask me that?”
“If you gave him my number? You have my number, and you’re friends with him. It’s not a stretch.”
Jasper rubs his brow. “I’m not…what did he say?” He passes my phone back.
“That he’s going to get me expelled. Then he hung up.” I put my phone away. “I know. It’s dumb as hell.”
Jasper shakes his head. “It’s not. I know Fin. He’ll want revenge.”
“He already got revenge,” I say, touching my nose. He got the last blow in, in front of everyone.
Jasper shakes his head. “That’s not enough, not for him. He’ll…”
While I wait for him to continue, I look at his face. His eyes are as bright as ever, but there are hints of dark circles under his eyes. I imagine leaning forward and kissing him. How would he react? Would he kiss me back? Or — and this seems more likely right now — would he push me away, disgusted?
