I reluctantly agreed, telling him to meet me at DragonFly. He made no effort to hide the surprise in his voice. Unlike me and not thinking about what I just did. So I pretended that meeting Marcus and Jacob at DragonFly, where all my… friends could see, was no big deal.
The bell jingles over the door when I enter DragonFly Books and Café. Marcus and Jacob already have a table up front. A table out in the wide open. So nice of them.
“Hey Jasper, over here,” Marcus calls, giving me a wide grin.
Asshole.
I plaster on a smile like I’m not freaking out over whatever he wants to tell me, along with everyone seeing us and wanting to ask me a shit ton of questions.Ugh, whatever, let’s get this over with.
I ignore Marcus and head straight for Jacob.
“I swear on everything I hold dear that I will hunt you down if you ever go this long without seeing us again.” My chest bubbles with laughter at his empty threat, but knowing I deserved it.
“I promise I won’t go that long again.”
“Good, now hug me!” Jacob is our hugger, and we don’t deny him.
“I took the liberty of ordering for you,” Marcus says as we all take our seats.
“It’s a little presumptuous, don’t you think?”
“I ordered you the BLT.”
I scoff. “What if I didn’t want a BLT?”
“It’s all any of you ever order,” he counters.
“That’s beside the point.”
“Ahhh, yes. Now I remember what it was like when the two of you lived under the same roof.” Jacob sighs. “Matthew was always a good buffer.”
“Matthew was a good peacekeeper,” I say, remembering all the nights he facilitated arguments between Marcus and me.
“I looked at your test results, Jasper.”
My stomach sinks and I hold my breath. I’m dying, I’m sure of it.
“Everything came back good. I saw nothing alarming. Your heart is functioning like it should and your valves look good.”
“But what about the heart murmur?”
“High blood pressure can cause a murmur. The medication you’re taking to lower yours should help. Have you been taking it every day like I prescribed?”
“Yes. Does this mean I have to be on medication for the rest of my life?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Some of that will depend on you. If you cut back on booze, drugs, cigarettes,stress, and start eating healthier. All these things contribute to high blood pressure. So it’s in your hands.”
“I don’t know if these are the best hands.”
“When was the last time you did drugs?”
“Jesus, Marcus, just splay a guy wide open.”
“Well?” He crosses his arms.
“Fine, the night before I fainted,” I confess.
“When was the last time you got drunk?”
