Again with the mocking.
“I should’ve gone to William’s but he hasn’t texted or even called me back.” There was no reason to get into the details. James didn’t give a damn.
“You’re stubborn, eh. I told you drop it, but you just can’t let things go.”
I ignored him. “Why do you always sleep at Will’s?”
“Mind your own fucking business.”
“You’re a fucking broken record. I’m saying bye to Jasper and leaving.”
I got up, went upstairs, and stopped in front of what appeared to be Jasper’s room.
I knocked, but there were no signs of life.
“May I?”
The door was left ajar, and I could make out a figure sitting at the computer.
“What subject do you want to work on tomorrow?” I asked. He didn’t turn to around to look at me, let alone answer me.
“Okay, I’m heading out,” I added without moving a step farther. “Jasper?” He didn’t turn around when I called his name, but I kept going anyway.
“I didn’t mean to say . . . yeah, anyway, when I said my mom made me come and that I didn’t want to be here . . .”
He put on his headphones, leaving me no way to explain. He totally cut me out, and it threw me off-center. I’d done a lot to bother him that day, I could try another time.
“Got it. See you tomorrow.”
Maybe I kind of deserved that. I shouldn’t’ve been so cavalier about those kinds of things or fought with James in front of him. I definitely didn’t want to hurt or offend Jasper, but I wasn’t known for my sensitivity, and James seemed like the total opposite of me.
I went back down the hallway. It wasn’t hard. I should’ve walked down the stairs and left.
Or . . .
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
James leaned on the doorjamb with his arms crossed.
“Are you afraid I’ll go in your room, Hunter?”
“Try me.”
Down the hallway I noticed two semi-open boxes and a series of frames without pictures on the wall. I loved Sherlock Holmes, but in this case it didn’t take him telling me it was elementary to understand that something strange was going on.
“Did you guys just move here?”
“No.”
“What happened to your mom?”
James’s eyes became two narrow slits. “Do you really want to hear me tell you to mind your own fucking business or will you actually do it of your own free will for fucking once?”
He was so close that his cherry aroma flooded my mouth.
“You don’t seem like you’re related at all,” I commented, pointing at Jasper’s room.
“What do you mean, Snow White?”
