She actually had the nerve to humph at him. “Stop being paranoid. I’ll be fine.”
He sneered and slammed the door shut. She was so goddamn annoying! Her craziness must have somehow rubbed off on him because he started talking to himself. “Gee, Kevin, you know what I think is aswellidea? Walking around in an unknown place all by myself.” He pulled on a pair of jeans. “I know that we don’t know anything about this town or the people who live in it, but I’m just gonna assume it’s safe. I’m looking for adventure, so what better time to do it than in the dead of night when there won’t be a soul around to hear me scream for help.” He stuffed his foot into his boot and tugged on the laces. “I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, Kevin. I am just dying to be pulled into a black, unmarked van by some creepy guy named Lester. It’s always been a dream of mine. But, Jasmin, that’s not a very bright idea. Why would you do something so undeniably dumb?” He pushed his foot into his other boot. “Oh, haven’t you figured it out already? I’m fucking bat-shit crazy!” He marched to the door and threw it open again. “Hey, Jazz, wait up.”
She stopped and waited for him to catch up. “You hungry too?”
“I could use some fresh air,” he lied.
She mused about how beautiful the city was, the incredible backdrop of mountains in the distance. Although he agreed, he didn’t say much as they walked to the diner. She shrugged off her jacket when they got inside and hung it over the back of a chair.
“This is awesome,” she commented as she sat down.
The diner was trapped in a time warp, with a jukebox and pictures of black and white Cadillacs on the wall. It looked like it came straight out of the sixties—light wood furniture,accompanied by white and bubblegum pink vinyl chairs. Framed posters of James Dean and Elvis Presley only added to the nostalgic feel.
A waitress was at their table before he even sat down. She was cute: curly, short black hair and her pink and white uniform accentuated every voluptuous curve on her body. He guessed that she must be in her mid-to-late twenties.
“Hi, I’m Bella,” she said sweetly.
“Hi, Bella,” Jasmin replied. “I’m Jasmintha. This is my friend, Kevin.”
“We’re not friends,” he corrected tersely. He really hated how loosely she used the word.
It was a little tense for a few seconds, but then Jasmin went back to being Jasmin. She briefly perused the menu, then looked up at Bella. “Can I have waffles?”
He noted that it was the second time today that she’d ordered waffles. Her sweet tooth wasn’t just limited to Skittles.
“Sure.” Bella said and turned to him. “And for you?”
“Do you have chocolate sauce?” he asked.
She nodded.
“I’ll have vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.”
“Coming right up.”
Jasmin waited for her to walk away before she crossed her arms over the table and glared at him. “Can I tell you something?”
“No. I prefer it when you’re not talking.”
She ignored his comment. He honestly hadn’t expected it to deter her. “Have you watched the movie Inside Out?” she asked.
She was going to carry on anyway, so he decided to indulge her. “Yeah.”
“So that movie is obviously fictional, but it’s actually based on a lot of fact. People have emotions, moods and personalities.There are six basic emotions. That movies only shows five. Joy, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust. The missing one is surprise.”
He had no idea where the hell she was going with this, so he just sat back and listened. He really didn’t have much of a choice.
“When something happens, the body triggers a chemical response, which is generally one of those six emotions, and turns it into a feeling.”
She spoke about the release of peptides and adrenalin and whatnot, describing in very accurate detail exactly how those chemical responses work and which part of the brain triggered such responses. Her home-schooling had certainly paid off because she was incredibly smart. He was barely paying attention, though. His eyes were following the cute waitress.
“Now, you can’t control the chemical response,” Jasmin continued, “but you can control your reaction to it, and possibly stop it from becoming a feeling. Like, when my gran up and died on me last year, I didn’t even cry. I haven’t cried in, like, eight years. I’ve learnt how to control those chemical reactions and stop them from turning into feelings, which is why none of your comments bother me, even though they are extremely rude.” She didn’t even take a second to breathe, just kept on spewing out all this information. “But, anyway, I digress. So every person has their own way of dealing with those emotions. Some people will cover their eyes during a horror movie, others will love every gory detail. It’s the way they react to fear. Some people will scream when someone sneaks up on them, some may burst into tears—it’s their reaction to surprise.”
Bella returned, placing the waffles, ice cream and chocolate sauce in front of them, and even then Jazz didn’t let up. His eyes zoned in on the waitress’s round ass as she walked away.
“Those chemicals make your body turn emotions into feelings and sometimes it’s fleeting, but sometimes it stays long enough to become a mood. Like a wife trying to call her husbandwhile he’s out with the boys and he doesn’t answer. She’ll stay angry until he gets home and she can let out her frustration. Her anger stays long enough to become a mood. But sometimes it stays so long it becomes part of your personality. There are some people who arealwayshappy and some people who arealwaysdepressed. It’s their personality. Now, something tells me that your grumpiness is just a mood, but, Kevin, if you’re not careful, it’s going to become an inherent part of your personality. And that would be a shame.”
His eyes immediately met hers as everything she said hit him with clarity. “Wait. Wait. Hang on a second. Did you just tell meallthat to reiterate the fact that I’m…grumpy?”
