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ghostofbambifanfiction · 3 years

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Part 1 of ?????

Started writing this fic a while ago and then lost faith in it. Should I continue? Feel bad for not posting much lately so I thought I'd share this. Read on and weigh in.

COME OUT TONIGHT

You don't have to fucking shout?

Said the pot to the kettle?

Oh you grandmother The caps were an accidental by-product of voice-to-text Blame Siri if you're going to blame anyone

You have a Samsung Galaxy S20.

HAD. It got smashed. Worst luck. Listen, come out with me tonight.

Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm tired!

https://www.boots.com/wellness/vitaminsandsupplements/vitamins-supplements-shop-by-ingredient/echinacea

Hah (indifferent)

Just come out with me! Isaac has to go see some godawful student performance of the Antigone in wherever the fuck Chichester is and it's Sirius's flatmate's birthday party so I have to go and I don't know any of his weird mates

You don't HAVE to go.

Have to/want to Semantics

I'm not in a birthday party mood. I'm having a stressful week. My arse has been tense since Tuesday.

I will wade into the deep and massage your arse if I have to, just come It's a swank pad in Belgravia! I bet they'll have all sorts of expensive nibbles!

I read that as expensive nipples.

Those too!

Partying it up with the children of wealthy Tories. Sounds super fun.

Just come out with me, for fuck I'll pick you up at 7 and we can steal their silverware if it's boring as the grave

URGH I'll go but I'm NOT dressing up!

You don't have to dress up!

FINE!

take the drawings down please i'm begging you i'm actually begging you

Nah mate

siriusssssssss pleeeeeease

Nah

PLEASE

Nah

PLEASE ffs it's MY birthday!!!! there are going to be PEOPLE there! standing around! AT EYE LEVEL

I don't see what the problem is.

EVERYONE will see what the problem is! they literally will not be able to IGNORE what the problem is!

Sounds like a recipe for lively discussion to me tbh

that is NOT what i want people talking about at my birthday!

If I take them down, I'll have to take all the nails out and that'll leave nail marks all over the walls. It would be unsightly.

MORE UNSIGHTLY THAN YOUR DICK, SIRIUS?

My dick is bewitching.

DIE

She walks in expecting to find herself the infiltrator of a Made in Chelsea/Royal Ascot/Henley Regatta netherworld, filled with a gaggle of giggling, SW-postcode socialites wielding suspiciously powder-edged Harrods Amex cards in the place of horses and boats, but that's not what actually greets her on the other side of the lacquered front door.

What greets her is really quite ordinary.

Aside from the naked drawings of Kingsley's mate, which aren't.

Otherwise, the whole affair is pretty relaxed. People her age are clustered in their small groups, swigging beers. There's a table of oven-heated party foods, salty snacks and rapidly depleting ramekins of guac. She spies more band shirts than there are dress shirts. There's a round of Fortnite in full swing on the TV.

It's all just...startlingly normal. A normal birthday party.

And that's sort of embarrassing, really.

Where are all the visible Tory toffs, she wonders? Where is the braying laughter? The Eton alumni reunion? The glimpse of hunting-happy tweed and shotgun barrels as a coat cupboard door swings shut? Where's the indelible air of sneering superiority, of "we're richer and more privileged and better than you, so fuck the NHS and death to foxes!" that she'd been expecting? There's a fucking Henry Hoover in the corner of the hall, for Christ's sake. Lily came here to smile through her teeth at them all, to listen to the champagne problems privilege that bubbled from their lips and tell herself that she was the one who knew better, who thought better. Her plain white tee and skinny jeans and scuff-toed, high-top trainers were supposed to be a statement, a subtle setting-apart, but she's not even the most underdressed person in the room.

She pre-judged a house full of people. What's that about?

There's a lesson to be found in this. Perhaps.

James covered all of the dicks in Paw Patrol stickers that he bought from the newsagent on his way home from his mum's, but Sirius peeled them all off while he was taking a soothing lavender bath, so what's the bloody point in birthdays anyway?

It's early in the evening, and he's wedged—against his will—between the dining room bar and Shane Ruttle, who has just pointed at one of the many lamentable dicks and asked, "Is this one of yours?" which James kind of wants to thump him for. It's bad enough that he looks like a madman who stuffed his house with naked drawings of his brother, now people are actually assuming that he drew the damn things, even though most of the compositions are appallingly far beneath his skill level. He's a professional illustrator, for the love of god, and Shane is really standing before him like the posturing prick he is, asking him if he's the one who drew Sirius with one arm disproportionately longer than the other.

He knows that he should cheer up.

It is his birthday. There is cake.

Good cake, too, not the kind that gets buried in too-thick fondant that he has to pick off before he can eat what's underneath.

The problem is, there's also a party, and his friends are his friends, Peter and Sirius included, and Peter and Sirius can both get drunk much faster than James can. When Peter and Sirius get drunk, serious injuries tend to follow, Remus tends to fuck off in a flash and James tends to be the one who calls for an ambulance or mothers them back to health—physical, mental or otherwise. He has just turned twenty-six, and these repeated, drunkenly dramatic medical emergency scenes are starting to wear a little thin.

Can't a man get comfortably drunk and have a laugh at his own birthday party?

No, he can't, because Peter's already halfway to trashed, wobbling unsteadily towards the French doors that lead to the terrace, wearing that look on his face that says I'm definitely going to vomit or maybe even shit myself like I did on that one night we all spent in Munich with the Belgian handball team and the creepy tour guide who couldn't keep his sleazy hands to himself. For the sake of sparing the lawn such a punishment, James hastily removes himself from Shane, grabs Peter by the collar, shoves him in the direction of the downstairs loo and retreats to the safety of the living room, where there are, at least, no naked drawings of Sirius gracing the walls.

Most of the people in here are transfixed by Saffy Stephens, who is down to the last three in her Fortnite game and cursing like a sailor, but there are a small pile of birthday cards on the end table where James and Sirius normally keep their keys. He perches on the sofa arm, sets his half-drunk beer bottle on the carpet, pushes his dark, disheveled hair away from his forehead and begins leafing through them. It's a necessity when one lives with Sirius, who thinks nothing of swiping gift cards when the mood strikes him and he's had enough to drink.

They're mostly from his female friends, and all pretty standard, until he reaches the middle of the pile and finds a card bearing a picture of a moustached tabby and the caption: Have a Purr-fect Birthday!

The inscription inside is written in a lovely, swirling hand.

To Jasper/Jack/Jason/maybe Ja Rule?/J-something idk

(see above: everything I've learned about you from the friend* I came here with, verbatim)

(*who can't remember your name)

Happy Birthday! Thank you for (not) specifically inviting me, a stranger, to your party to celebrate this momentous event in your life. Please enjoy this festive card/social nicety/convention from me to you. My friend brought rum which you may prefer.

I'll be around. Not that you'll know.

James lowers the card and twists on the sofa arm at once, eyes darting around the room in search of its author, as if they might be laying in wait to watch him read it and see how he reacts. Nobody appears to have ducked behind the couch, however, so the situation merits further scrutiny.

Obviously, he needs to meet this person.

A mystery! At his birthday party!

He perks right up after that.

She's coming out of the downstairs loo when a short, blonde man in a garish Hawaiian shirt barrels past her and pukes all over the chequerboard tiled floor, narrowly missing her jeans.

"Oh no," he moans into his wet hands. "Oh no—"

"There there, mate," says Lily consolingly, never one to judge somebody for getting drunk early at a party. She pats him on the back before squeezing past him and rejoining Kingsley, who is standing in one of this meandering Georgian house's many hallways, chatting to a bloke in a houndstooth sweater vest and holding two glasses of something very, very sparkly that she must try at once.

"It's like...it's like everything and nothing at the same time," Houndstooth Bloke is saying when Lily draws close, gesturing to a huge canvas painting of a rain-soaked fairground at night.

"Is it?" Kingsley asks.

"Mmm. Very." Houndstooth shakes his shoulders like he's slipping out of a robe. "Meant to be esoteric, I suppose."

That sounds suspiciously like pretentious bullshit to Lily, who doesn't find the concept of a merry looking fairground all that difficult to absorb. Kingsley knows more about the art world than she does, but he must agree with her assessment because he grunts and shoves her glass into her hand when she stops beside him, and more roughly than she deserves, as if she's the one who landed him in this mess of a conversation to begin with.

Trust him to find himself stuck with the only dick (not etched by a 4B Steadtler graphite pencil) in the building, and trust her to be stuck with the person who got himself stuck with King.

"What are we talking about?" she asks brightly, just to fuck with him.

"Drink your champagne, there's a good little hen," King mutters, his teeth clenched together, hallway lights bouncing off the smoothly waxed dome of his bald head.

"We've been discussing this piece." Houndstooth nods to the painting, but his limpid eyes narrow on Lily's face. "Christ, you're very redheaded, aren't you?"

It's decided. She'll wait 'til Houndstooth is drunk and trip him up with Henry Hoover's hose.

"Ergo soulless, yes," she agrees.

"And you...enjoy that?" he asks, as if being redheaded is her profession.

"Very much, thanks."

"Hmmp. Well. I came here with Saffron," he announces, pronouncing it Sef-ron. As if Lily is supposed to know who that is. "Platonically, of course. Actually, we're some sort of cousins, I think. What do you think the artist is trying to convey?"

He's very pointedly asking her, so Lily blinks at the painting, her eyes on the outstretched arm of a child on the carousel.

"I like the pretty colours," she decides aloud.

"Right," says Houndstooth, "but that's not—"

"And the lights, too. The lights are really pretty."

"But—"

"I love funfairs, actually," she brightly continues, finding a strange satisfaction in playing dumb in front of Houndstooth and his overbleached fade. Although she does really like the colours. "Haven't been to one in years!"

"Yes, good, whatever, but what is the artist trying to convey?"

"What artist?" comes a voice from behind them.

Lily glances over her shoulder and finds herself looking up at the man whose penis she's spent the past thirty minutes avoiding eye contact with, though he is taller, better proportioned and infinitely more beautiful than any of those crudely drawn depictions could possibly convey. He is also beplumed and bejewelled like a pirate, wearing a sumptuous velvet jacket over a loose white shirt, numerous rings on his fingers and an assortment of silver chains around his slender neck, while his grey eyes and elegantly high-set cheekbones are framed by a tumble of black hair that genuinely looks like silk.

The man is so beautiful, in fact, that Lily immediately wonders why he's been taking sketches home from the life drawing class that he and Kingsley pose for—hence their acquaintance and Lily's presence at this party—when nothing she's seen tonight has done him any justice.

Most happily, his penis is tucked safely out of sight.

"Alright, Sirius?" says King.

"Alright, Marvel?" Sirius claps a hand to the taller man's massive shoulder. Kingley's muscles bulge in a way that cannot be hidden by modern habiliments. "What are we talking about?"

"Not much." Houndstooth looks put out by the arrival of yet another person. "We were just mesmerised by this piece."

Lily refrains from gesturing to the painting with both hands and a "ta-dah!" choosing instead to sip her champagne.

It's very good champagne. Mmm. Yes.

"Oh, yeah, it's really something," Sirius agrees. He brushes past Kingsley and runs a finger over the illegible squiggle of a signature on the canvas. His nails are beautifully manicured. "Local guy, young up-and-comer. I assume you've heard of Algernon?" he asks Houndstooth, fixing him with a steely-eyed stare.

"Er, yes." Houndstooth's gaze slides from Sirius to the painting. "I know him."

Sirius's eyebrows lift. "Know him personally?"

"Well—"

"That's so weird, I heard he never speaks to people."

Houndstooth chews on the inside of his cheek, weighing up the challenge. "How…funny."

"Funny?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just, I know I've spoken to him before, and since you've bought his painting I assumed that you'd have—"

"That is funny, actually," Sirius interrupts, "because the artist is my brother, and Algernon is the name of his cat."

Kingsley has been tugging on his earring and almost rips it out of his ear as his body convulses, champagne spraying from his nostrils, while an alarming red flush sweeps across Houndstooth's face and he begins to sputter on his own self-importance. Sirius has clearly decided that he's done with all of that noise, however, because he turns back to Lily instead, looking her up and down with great and sudden interest.

"Who's this then?" he asks Kingsley, cocking his head to one side. "James's present?"

The champagne glass swings down and Lily fixes him with a deadpan stare. "Excuse me?"

Sirius slants a grin at Kingsley, a quick flash of teeth. "This one's queenly, isn't she?"

Kingsley wipes his nose with the back of his hand and laughs again. "Hardly."

"This is Primark, mate," Lily retorts, tugging on her t-shirt.

"Queenliness is a state of mind," says Sirius, "not a state of wardrobe."

"You had me marked down as a prostitute not ten seconds ago."

"Oh, that. I was only joking," he sighs, and grips her arm at the elbow, his long fingers cool against her skin. "But still, you're far too attractive to stand here talking to this clown. Come with me and I'll find you someone better."

James's friends are useless.

And drunk. Useless and drunk—or sort of drunk, in Saffy's case. Remus is certainly already pissed, but Remus is on meds so often that he drinks but once in a blue moon. One cocktail is usually enough to set him off, and he's been hard at the gin since he turned up with Peter at six.

"I don't know anyone with those initials," Saffy declares, once she has read, examined and even sniffed the birthday card for clues. "Except for Lisa Edelstein."

"Who's Lisa Edelstein?"

"Cuddy from House," says Remus, lowering the negroni from which he has been drinking deeply.

James pulls a face. "What the fuck is a Cuddy?"

"Oh, actually, it could mean le?" Remus suggests.

"Yes!" Saffy points at him like he might be onto something. "Like the French word for the?"

"Exactly, like—"

"It doesn't mean that!" James interrupts, unwilling to allow such profanity in his home. "That doesn't make sense, why would somebody sign their name as the?"

"Now you're asking me to explain how French people think?" says Saffy derisively, adjusting her bra strap beneath that burnt orange waistcoat she loves, the one that makes her look like she's directing a pornographic movie in the 70s when she pairs it with her tortoiseshell-framed aviators. It clashes wildly with her electric blue buzz-cut. "Am nooooo drunk enough for that."

"They could be one of those one word moniker pop stars, I suppose," Remus pipes up, smiling slyly. "You know, like Madonna?"

They think James doesn't realise that they're taking the piss out of him, but neither of them are sober enough to attempt their gambit with any kind of subtlety or grace.

"You know that's actually her real Christian name?" says Saffy.

Remus turns towards her with interest. "What, Madonna?"

"Yeah!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Saffy repeats. "I thought it couldn't possibly be her real name because, I mean, Madonna, yeah? But then I looked it up and apparently that's the name her mummy gave her, just goes to show—"

"I'm sorry," James interrupts, "but is Madonna relevant to this conversation?"

"Yes, always," says Saffy.

"She's an international pop megastar," Remus seconds.

James stares at his friend incredulously. "Drinking really chips away at your wit, y'know?"

"Does it?" Remus grins lazily and jiggles his cocktail in the air. "Oh, well, I'm negronly joking."

Saffy does a spit-take without the spit and clings helplessly to Remus's shoulder as she laughs, knees buckling, bangles tinkling, but James fights his own urge to start snickering.

"It's not that funny," he lies, and Remus eyes him with an alarmingly teacher-like shrewdness, despite the tellingly intoxicated flush that has crept into his thin, freckled face.

James's love of puns is tragically well known.

"You didn't get it." Remus points at his drink. His speech is starting to slur. "This is a negroni, what I said was—"

"Yeah, I got that part, I just—"

"Jesus fuck, look at her!" Saffy suddenly hisses, staggering sideways into Remus and sending him into the wall in a flurry of giggles—Remus giggling?—her voice hushed and urgent. "Who the hell is that?!"

James does look, following the direction of Saffy's gaze. Sirius has just entered the living room, casually clutching the elbow of a……

……goddess.

An actual. Like. Goddess.

A goddess. In James's house. In his living room. In the place where he eats his chocolate boulder cereal and rewatches Scrubs (even season 9, which is hilarious, and very unfairly disparaged by Joe Public) on Saturday mornings.

She's a goddess. A real one, and cleverly disguised as a mortal, sure, with her slouchy white t-shirt and her big hoop earrings and her light blue jeans that are torn at the knees, wearing her shoulder-length red hair half up, half down and slightly messy, but that doesn't hide what she is.

"Oh my god," he murmurs. His heart is pounding all of a sudden, which is so...utterly bloody stupid, but Saffy's right, bloody look at her, Jesus fuck.

"Surely she can't be with Sirius?" Saffy murmurs back.

"No, she—" He watches Sirius lean down to mutter something in the redhead's ear. A ghost of a laugh flits across her beautiful face. "She's not his—he isn't—"

"D'you think—"

"No, I—"

"Good," says Saffy firmly. She lets go of Remus and rises, lengthening her spine. It is a battle stance of some sort, presumably. "Because I saw her first."

"No!" James cries, wounded, and the redhead shoots him a curious look with a pair of eyes that are startlingly emerald green, even from all the bloody way over here. He spins to face Saffy and lowers his voice, face burning. "It's my house!"

"What are you arguing here, ownership rights?"

"No but it—it's my birthday!" James retorts, jabbing at his own chest. "And, actually, and—"

"It's in the bloody post!"

"—you didn't get me a present!" he finishes in triumph, not that he knows what he's arguing for, because the likelihood is that his tongue will glue itself to the roof of his mouth if he even dares to look in her direction one more time. "Plus I set you up with Vanya Petrich, with whom, as I recall, you enjoyed four years—"

"Stop throwing that in my face!"

"—four blissful years—"

"Is it my fault that you've never fancied any girl I've set you up with?!"

"—promised me an Easter ham for setting you up with her and I never got it—"

"So now you'll trade a woman for a ham?" Saffy accuses, though her face is too lit up, her brown eyes too crinkled at the corners—she's having fun with this and she isn't going to fool him and she knows it. "That's so low, even—"

"Don't start with that," James scathingly cuts in. "You offered me Sean Connery's autograph for Bonnie Grogan's number—"

"Which you never gave me!"

"Because you forged the bloody signature!"

"And now she's bloody married!"

"Yeah, well, Isabella wouldn't give me a counterfeit present, would she?" he retorts, and Saffy lets her shoulders drop, smirking. "This is pointless, Saf, we can't—"

"She's just left with Sirius," Remus informs them, and burps.

#Jily #Part 1 #Of 3?#Honestly I just wanted to give you guys a treat

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neshabeingchildish · 5 years

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Poly Wanna? Ch. 6

Lemme know if I need to take you off the tag. Idk who’s actually reading because I’ve only heard from a couple of people, so idk if y’all still interested.

@adorkable-blackgirl @chenoahchantel @ciara-knightly @cactus-con @up-the-tube @riebellion @itsyaapollochild@oof–musicals @lesbian-so-what @woahjusttakeiteasy-man @meadowstryingtobepretty @imma-sensitive-btch @okaygal21 @midernacht @divinereign4ever @xoxoemille

Daddy Issues

“I called my mom to try to see if I could come over for a few nights and clear my mind. It didn’t go exactly how I would have loved…”

Charlotte was outside of the lounge, crying in her pretty dress, with Jasper nearby, holding his head, trying to figure out what was happening to them right now. She didn’t want him to hear the conversation, but he refused to leave her alone outside of the building. “Mom… Could I come spend a few nights at your place?”

“Honey, I thought that we agreed that as long as you’re wasting your degrees, we can’t keep coddling you.”

“I’m not asking you to pay a bill or to let me move back in. I just need a few nights away from Jasper,” she said, sniffling.

“I don’t know…” Her mom said. “I tried to tell you that no good could come out of dating a boy whose friend you dated, and it’s even trickier that both of you dated the same boy! I don’t know what kind of swapping you kids are up to these days…”

Charlotte was about to ask her if she could come over or not, but she heard a male voice in the background and wondered, “Who is that, Mom?”

Her mother cleared her throat and asked her, “Who else would it be, Charlotte?”

“That’s Dad?” Charlotte asked, breaking down a little bit more. “Let me get this straight… So, I ask you for a few days there and it’s an automatic no, but the man that put you through everything that he put you through gets to come over there in the middle of booty call hours?”

“Charlotte!” She hissed. “He’s your father, and my husband…”

“He’s everybody’s, Mom, but go off. Anyway, thanks for listening. I’ve gotta call a friend.” Her mother sounded like she was going to say something else, but Charlotte hung up on her. “We’re talking about someone who slept around, ran around, traveled around, just whoring himself all over the place… Had my mother looking stupid for half my life, that I can remember. Out there with pregnancy scares at other people’s houses. He gave her an STD whenever I was in 9th grade. An STD. Then, he just LEFT her ass when I turned 18, like it was on schedule or something! And that community dick can come home, but I can’t?!?”

Charlotte let out a howl of a cry and Jasper rushed to check on her. She was still mad, but she let him hug her and just cried on him. “My dad is at my mom’s house. She told me that I couldn’t even stay for a few days. He shouldn’t even be allowed to cross the threshold!”

“Maybe he’s just there to fix something or they’re sorting through their issues. Maybe he came to discuss something legal that they never finished off. Baby… It’s okay. You don’t need to go anywhere. Stay with me. I promise, I’ll give you whatever space you need and not bother you, if that’s what you want.” “I don’t want this energy in our home. I want to cool off, realign and just…” She started crying again and he held her tighter. “Seeing you with Henry just reminded me of all the times I saw my mother pretend not to notice some woman being all cozy with my dad and I just felt like that rejected girl in the hotel room that night… The one that you didn’t want to be with…”

“That’s not what happened, Char.” He loosened the hug to look at her and wiped her face. “I was scared. I didn’t think I’d be good enough and I was trying to work myself up. You moved on before I could get myself there… Not saying that’s your fault! It was partially mine and partially Henry’s for sliding in as soon as he saw an opening.”

“And I felt so seen, so validated in that moment that I opened myself to exactly the kind of person that I’d promised myself that I would never open up to and he did exactly what I would have expected somebody like that to do.”

“I became my mother. Somebody’s goddamn fool. I let Henry Hart play me and when I walked away from it, a portion of a person, I revisited the promise to myself that I wasn’t going to be anybody’s fool again. So, seeing Henry and Jasper close to each other, I can admit that I was triggered and that I jumped off hot, but… I guess that night, I preferred to be the loud, boisterous fool than the one that smiles through her suffering like her little girl isn’t right next to her. I am not my mother. I can’t just BE her. These mamas used to always say that you must think they’re Booboo the Fool, I feel like just telling her, Yes, Mom. I do. I do think that you’re Booboo the Fool, because that’s how Dad has you looking. Clown shoes just squeaking around Swellview. *Shakes her head)

Henry saw the pink viper driving up to the apartment and he furrowed his eyebrows. He didn’t know that she was in town and he didn’t know why she would be at Jasper’s place. The pink diamond studded license plate that read “Piper” wasn’t even the most noticeable thing about the vehicle, but she whipped it into a space and got out, almost in one fluid motion. “What are you doing here?” She wondered. He opened his mouth to answer, but she said, “Just kidding. I don’t care, but you gotta get out of here.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Obviously, I’m here for Charlotte. She wanted me to come get her for the night, so we’re gonna get a hotel room and chill out until she’s not so upset with everything. Congratulations on coming back into their lives and doing this, almost immediately.”

“I didn’t DO anything. I’m here to try to smooth things out. It was way too crowded and loud at the lounge to do it, and that’s where they work.”

“Well, I warned you,” she said, throwing her hands into the air and going inside… with a key?

“You have a key to their home?”

“I made Jasper gave it to me after he almost killed himself over you. You remember? His mom found him choking on his own vomit on her bathroom floor? Yeah - I wasn’t gonna have him living alone and having similar types of accidents.”

“You live too far away to help, if he does!”

“But, here I am, with the key,” she said and went inside, then locked the door. Piper and Henry got a long a lot better than they did whenever she was younger, but she had not been very happy with how he’d handled his friends and the relationships with them. In her mind, they were all supposed to treat each other better than that. In her mind, everything that happened that broke up the gang was because of her stupid brother and his penis policies. BUT, she wasn’t going to say any of that in front of his cameras, because she wasn’t on the show and even if they negotiated something that was acceptable for her brand, she didn’t want to give them any material until they did. Besides, she’d already let her brother know how she felt about it and tonight was about her swooping in to help clean up one of his messes.

Whenever Jasper’s jeep pulled into the parking lot of the apartment, Henry was still there. Jasper sighed and shook his head, “I can’t deal with this,” he said. It took a lot of energy to calm Charlotte down and get her home, and the last thing he wanted or needed was seeing Henry set her off again.

“What does he drive?” Charlotte wondered.

“That green hybrid…” She got out of the car and Jasper realized that maybe she was asking that for a bad reason. He rushed out of the jeep and smiled at her, “What… Are you doing?”

She was looking around on the ground. “Trying to find something,” she said. Henry approached the two of them and started trying to explain why he left earlier and to apologize. Jasper started trying to convince him to just get in his car and go, but he was insistent. Charlotte went into the apartment. Jasper let out a sigh of relief, guessing that she probably didn’t find anything useful outside… BUT, realized that inside, she knew what EVERYTHING was for!

“Look, you need to get out of here, before Charlotte busts your window with my hockey stick or something.”

“She’s mad, but come on, Dude. She wouldn’t do that. It’s illegal. Besides, you left me this exasperated voicemail accusing me of causing you problems and leaving. I just wanted to be able to talk to the two of you in a more quiet and comfortable environment. I want to invite you both to dinner at my place...”

“She asked me what car was yours, and she’s been crying, fussing and drinking.” Jasper didn’t have time to focus on anything Henry was talking about. Charlotte might be back soon and think HE was giving energy to Henry.

“Yeah but…”

“Her dad is at her mom’s house tonight,” Jasper finally said, feeling a little bit like he might be betraying Char’s confidence by telling Henry, but knowing that he’d understand better what state of mind she was in right now.

“Okay,” Henry said and headed for his vehicle. As he started it up, he saw Piper and Charlotte coming out, with bags. Wait a minute… He stopped the car in the middle of the path out and got out of the car, “Are you leaving him? You can’t do that, Char! It was a misunderstanding!” He begged. Charlotte turned to Jasper, looking like she would go off at any moment, holding her weekend bag and taking a deep breath. Jasper collected her and kissed her, whispered something to her and opened the passenger door to Piper’s viper for her. Whenever she got in, he took her bags and helped Piper get them into the backseat.

“I’ll take care of her. Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time that I’ve had to do this,” Piper told Jasper and gave him a hug. “It’ll be okay. I’m gonna make sure she comes back.” She quickly went to hug Henry too and advised him, “Just… Move carefully with them and mind your business.” She gave him a peck on the cheek, got into her car, sped off and around his, honking the horn way too loud for this time of night and then peeled off out of the parking lot.

“She’s just taking some time,” Jasper said. “Night.”

“Hey… You know that I didn’t do that on purpose, right?” Henry asked. “It’s important to me that you realize that.”

“It’s not that important to me whether or not it was on purpose. Henry… You saw that something was going terribly wrong and you just left.”

“I didn’t think that I’d be able to get through to her in that setting!”

“Okay. Well,” Jasper shrugged his shoulders, “Thanks for stopping by. Night.”

“Jasper…”

“Henry, I have to go collect my thoughts, okay? I need you to leave.”

“I’m scared to. I don’t want you to… hurt yourself, or something…” Henry was being sincere and Jasper knew he was, but he just wasn’t in the mood right now for this. If Henry had done this years ago, yes. But, tonight, with Char in a car spending time away from Jasper to heal herself, Jasper didn’t GAF how genuine Henry was.

“Look. I got drunk and was too drunk to monitor the amount of pills that I took. I wasn’t trying to hurt myself that night and I’m not gonna hurt myself tonight. What I am gonna do is go inside and get myself cleaned up, watch something sad and probably cry, and check with Piper every few minutes to see how Charlotte is because since she’s the one who went elsewhere tonight, she really could just decide not to come back and I’d have to deal with that. Good. Night.” He went inside, ignoring Henry trying to say something else about keeping him company or at least text him in the morning to let him know he was okay or something. Jasper slammed the door a little harder than he meant to, but that was because he felt like Henry wasn’t respecting his boundaries and the night had gone badly enough.

Jasper was still up whenever it was time for the sun to rise. He grabbed his juice and went to stand outside and knew that Henry was doing the same in the brownstone and Charlotte was in a hotel with a passed out Piper, doing the same, as well. He came back inside and checked his phone. Henry had sent several texts the previous night, but Charlotte had called him this morning. He called back immediately and she sounded better, “Hey. I didn’t know if you’d be up or not. I was watching the sun rise and of course she reminded me that it's a new day. So, can I come home today, or should I take the ones that I asked for?”

“You can always come back to me, Charlotte. Whenever you’re ready.”

“Okay. Then, we’ll be back probably before you go running with Henry, or whatever.”

“I wasn’t planning on going.”

“I don’t want you to think that because I was in my feelings last night that I want to control who you chill with, even if it’s him. I just felt a way last night. Honestly, Piper thinks that it was a misunderstanding, so I’m gonna just apologize to him about it. I’m sorry that I flipped out.”

“Actually, it was kinda hot that you were jealous, of course that was up until you were crying.”

“Those were angry tears.”

“No tears are hot, though.”

“What if they’re joy tears? Like, what if, hypothetically, we got married someday and I’m crying tears of joy, that wouldn’t be even a little bit hot?”

“I stand corrected. That’d be the hottest thing that you ever did. If we get married, you gotta give me tears of joy.”

“You can’t plan tears of joy How about this - if we decide to get married and I don’t cry tears of joy, you call the whole thing off.”

“Sounds drastic.”

“Are you not drastic?”

He scoffed, “No.”

“I wish that I had a list to read off of how that declaration is a bold faced lie…”

Henry hoped that Jasper would show up at the gym. He hadn’t gotten back to him, and if he didn’t by the time his work out was over, he was going to go back to his apartment. Piper had texted him that since she was in town that she’d come workout with him. He asked her, “What about Charlotte?”

“Wow. Your only sister takes time to spend with you and that’s what you ask me?”

“No, I just meant… I thought you were here for her.”

“Last night, I was. She’s going back home, so I’m coming to the gym, unless you wanna go running, instead?”

“No, we can meet at the gym.” He was still hoping that maybe, just maybe Jasper might show up and he didn’t want him to think that after all of that, he’d just left him again. So, he watered his flowers, grabbed his gym bag and his hygiene bag and went to the gym.

Whenever he arrived, Jasper and Piper were there and his face immediately brightened whenever he saw that Jasp HAD made it, after all. He smiled his biggest, hardest smile in a while, then Charlotte walked up, having came from Piper’s car and he felt his smile falter, a little bit. She was pissed at him last night and he didn’t know what condition she might be in today. Jasper took her bag and he and Piper headed inside as she approached Henry.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey.”

“Piper and Jasper said that they’d give me a moment to talk to you about last night, and at this current time, we are ONLY talking about last night, you got it?” “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Last night, I didn’t expect to have to see you. You weren’t on the filming schedule for me. I hadn’t even emotionally prepared to see your face, so seeing your face and seeing it thisclose to my man’s face - I didn’t like it and I had to push it down while I’m singing love and longing songs and I didn’t like that either. Long story short, I apologize for how I responded to what I saw. I don’t want to be an angry person. I don’t want to be a sad person. But, sometimes, I will feel both of those things and I need to be an adult and deal with them in a healthy way. All I ask is that if you’re gonna be around me for the show or because you and Jasper have mended your friendship, or because you’re Piper’s brother and I love her to life, please… Don’t just surprise me like that. Last night, I realized that I can’t handle the emotional shock of you just showing up. Like how you stopped beaming whenever you saw me a few minutes ago. It was like that, but I was working and couldn’t easily resolve the issue. Okay?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry. You were great, though. Like, I knew that you could sing, but you had an awesome stage presence, too. I’d love to have your permission to see you perform again, some time.”

“We’ll see,” she said, a little disappointed that he hadn’t also apologized for his part in things last night, but not surprised. He apologized to Jasper, and maybe that was all that he cared about for the moment.

“So… Did Jasper tell you about how the running went for him?”

“No. But, he didn’t have to. Jasper hasn’t run in years. I told him to start slow, but did he listen? No. In true Leo fashion, he jumped right to the highest setting. Taking up running with a superhero…” Her eyes widened and she looked at the camera.

“They know, remember? We’ll cut it out,” he said and held the door for her to the gym. She looked at it for a moment, like she was trying to process something and he wished he knew what it was. Did she think it was a trick? Was she simply surprised that he was being nice to her after last night? Was she impressed that he was getting the door for her even though all that she was holding was a water bottle and he had two very large bags, one on each arm? “You… okay?” She smiled gently, nodded and went inside. Henry followed her in. “I really wish that I knew what she was thinking about whenever I was holding the door. For all we know, she just had a brain fart and was in a daze.”

“Whenever Henry opened the door for me, I remembered all of the times when we were younger that he didn’t! I remember always feeling like he might not really even like me, because it wasn’t his natural response to just do nice little polite things for me. At the time, I’d rationalize that was because we were just friends and nothing else, but I was also only paying attention to it, because whenever I was little, my dad always grabbed doors for me and my mom, and as I got older, I noticed that he didn’t do it for her anymore. Like, he was never mean or anything, but the stuff that my mind knew him to do wasn’t being done and by the time I realized that he didn’t like her anymore… I began almost subconsciously taking inventory of little things that people did for me. I’ve done it for years, not even on purpose or to rack up what I think that they think of me, but just as a habit. It gave me pause that Henry grabbed the door, but then I thought - he’s got social skills, Girl. This means nothing and I went on with the rest of the day.”

#Poly Wanna #Nesha HD Fics #henry danger #henry hart #charlotte page #jasper dunlop #hd ot3

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thisdaynews · 5 years

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Tour de France 2019: Egan Bernal wins, Geraint Thomas second, Peter Sagan wins in Paris

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/tour-de-france-2019-egan-bernal-wins-geraint-thomas-second-peter-sagan-wins-in-paris/

Tour de France 2019: Egan Bernal wins, Geraint Thomas second, Peter Sagan wins in Paris

Bernal (centre) with the six team-mates who helped him win the race – GB’s Luke Rowe was disqualified from the race on stage 17

Egan Bernal became the youngest rider in 110 years to win the Tour de France after Caleb Ewan won the traditional sprint finish in Paris.

With the race leader not challenged on the final stage, 22-year-old Bernal became the first Colombian winner.

He crossed the line in the peloton, hand-in-hand with his Ineos team-mate and last year’s winner Geraint Thomas, who finished second this time.

“To finish second behind a team-mate makes it OK,” said Welshman Thomas.

“Two years ago I had my arm in a sling with a broken collarbone watching Chris Froome win, wishing I was riding and I would’ve taken second then, but it just shows how time and expectations have moved on.

“Egan is the future and when I’m 45 and old and fat and sat in the pub watching him win a 10th Tour de France I can say I told him all I know.”

Thomas went into the three-week race as joint leader with Bernal but his preparations had been disrupted when he crashed while travelling at around 50mph in the Tour de Suisse in June.

He had to abandon that week-long race and then he had three minor crashes during this year’s Tour.

Thomas led Bernal for much of the race but his team-mate was stronger in the final week in the Alps, and ended up winning by one minute 11 seconds, with Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk 20 seconds further adrift in third.

“Thanks to all my team and thank you G [Geraint Thomas] for giving me the opportunity,” said Bernal. “I’m the happiest guy in the world. I have just won the Tour de France and I can’t believe it.”

Bernal’s victory is the seventh in eight years for a British-based team, after Ineos took over the ownership of the Team Sky squad earlier this year.

Bradley Wiggins became the first British winner of the race in 2012, with Chris Froome triumphing in 2013 and then claiming three in succession from 2015 before Thomas took last year’s title.

Bernal is just the third Colombian to win one of cycling’s three Grand Tours. Nairo Quintana won the 2014 Giro d’Italia and 2016 Vuelta a Espana, while Luis Herera won the Vuelta in 1987.

How the final stage unfolded

Caleb Ewan’s victory in Paris followed his sprint success on stage 16 in Nimes

A largely pedestrian 60km ride from Rambouillet to Paris saw Bernal and his Ineos team-mates sipping a celebratory glass of champagne.

As the riders entered the capital city, the race crossed the river Seine via Le Pont Neuf, close to the medieval cathedral of Notre-Dame – French television chose not to show the building that was ravaged by fire in April – before the riders swept through the grounds of the Louvre.

Last year’s champion Thomas was given the honour of leading the peloton through the Place de la Concorde and up the cobbles of the Champs-Elysees for the first time.

The pace increased with the passing of each 7km lap, which saw the riders swing round the Arc de Triomphe before hurtling back down the Champs-Elysees at speeds approaching 50mph before heading off back towards the Louvre.

Julian Alaphilippe, who led the race for 14 days, giving French fans hope of first home win since 1985, led the peloton on to the Champs-Elysees for the final time, trying to set up a victory for his Deceuninck Quick Step team-mate Elia Viviani, however, the Italian was nowhere as Lotto Soudal rider Ewan proved quickest in Paris.

The Australian, who timed his charge to the line to perfection, edging out Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen to win his third stage on his debut Tour, said: “It was quite messy I went down the right, I’d been told to avoid there and it is quite bumpy but luckily I had enough speed to come through at the end.”

For Alaphilippe, who finished fifth overall, there was the consolation of being named the race’s most combatitive rider, while his compatriot Romain Bardet claimed the polka dot King of the Mountains jersey.

Slovakia’s three-time world champion Peter Sagan won the green points jersey for a record seventh time.

Why Bernal’s victory is not a surprise

Bernal (right) was a key domestique for Thomas when he won his Tour title last year

The climbing specialist, who was born on 13 January, 1997 in Zipaquira in central Colombia at an altitude of 2,650m, showed his potential at last year’s Tour, when he rode as a domestique to Thomas and four-time champion Chris Froome.

After pacing Thomas to victory on Alpe d’Huez and ultimately the overall title, Froome said: “He’s got an amazing engine. You only have to look at what he did on Alpe d’Huez, for a 21-year-old, that’s amazing.

“There is a lot in Egan that reminds me of myself when I was younger. It’s great having him on the team and he brings a lot of young, new energy to the group.”

He joined Team Sky for the 2018 season, after winning the prestigious Tour de l’Avenir – a stage race for under-23 riders that has seen many of its winners go on to Tour de France success.

He won the Tour Colombia and Tour of California last year before making his Tour de France debut as a domestique to Thomas and four-time winner Froome.

This year, three crashes helped Bernal arrive at the Tour as joint leader of the Ineos team, formerly Team Sky.

The first was his own, on a training ride in Andorra, and it ruled him out of May’s Giro d’Italia, where he had been due to lead the team for the first time in a Grand Tour.

Froome’s season-ending crash at June’s Criterium du Dauphine then pushed Bernal up the Ineos pecking order for the Tour de France, while Thomas’ spill at the Tour de Suisse later that month saw Bernal take over as the sole leader of that team and he went on to win the race.

After riding away from Thomas on the Tourmalet on stage 14 in the Pyrenees, he did so twice again in the Alps in the final week to position himself as Ineos’ strongest rider at the Tour and secure his first Grand Tour win in only his second attempt.

Bernal is the third youngest winner of the Tour. The youngest is France’s Henri Cornet, who was 19 when he was controversially awarded victory in the second edition of the race in 1904, while Luxembourg’s Francois Faber was a few days younger than Bernal when he took the 1909 title.

Final general classification standings:

1. Egan Bernal (Col/Ineos) 82hrs 57mins 00secs

2. Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos) +1min 11secs

3. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/Jumbo-Visma) +1min 31secs

4. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 56secs

5. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/ Deceuninck-Quick Step) +3mins 45secs

6. Mikel Landa (Spa/Movistar) +4mins 23secs

7. Rigoberto Uran (Col/EF Education First) +5mins 15secs

8. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) +5mins 30secs

9. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +6mins 12secs

10. Warren Barguil (Fra/Arkea-Samsic) +7mins 32secs

Stage 21 result:

1. Caleb Ewan (Aus/Lotto-Soudal)3hrs 04mins 08’secs

2. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned/Jumbo-Visma) Same time

3. Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita/Total Direct Energie)

4. Max Richeze (Arg/Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor/Dimension Data)

6. Andre Griepel (Ger/Arkea-Samsic)

7. Matteo Trentin (Ita/Mitchelton-Scott)

8. Jasper Stuyven (Bel/Trek-Segafredo)

9. Nikias Arndt (Ger/Sunweb)

10. Peter Sagan (Svk/Bora-hansgrohe)

#Peter #Sagan

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lakecountylibrary · 7 years

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Taking the PopSugar reading challenge this year? The LCPL reader’s advisory team has some suggestions. Don’t strain your eyes reading the pictures - we’ve put our suggestions for each category under the cut, plus the suggestions we couldn’t fit between the lines! The person who did the recommending is in parenthesis after the suggestion (just in case you’re a fan of one of us in particular...)

A book recommended by a librarian

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg (Chris)

A book that’s been on your TBR list for way too long

Obviously we don’t know what’s been on your TBR list for eons, but Chris picked A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving from her own. (Chris)

A book of letters

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (Chris) (Seconded! --Rachel)

An audiobook

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan C. Bradley (Read by the amazing Jayne Entwhistle. --Chris)

A book by a person of color

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines (Chris)

A book with one of the four seasons in the title

Cheating answer: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley Legit answer (but a children’s book): The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall (Chris)

A book that is a story within a story

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Chris) The Princess Bride by William Goldman (Rachel)

A book with multiple authors

The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg (Chris Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Rachel)

An espionage thriller

The Expats by Chris Pavone (Rachel)

A book with a cat on the cover

Into the Wild by Erin Hunter (Christina W) Dewey by Vicki Myron (It’s a cute story --Amy V)

A book by an author who uses a pseudonym

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (Chris)

A bestseller from a genre you don’t normally read

So we don’t know what you don’t normally read, but Beth and Robin usually don’t read realistic fiction or superhero comics, respectively. If either of those describes you, give one of these a try: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (I normally read fantasy and sci-fi, while this is realistic fiction --Robin) Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson (Beth)

A book by or about a person who has a disability

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (Chris) (YES! --Beth) (Editor’s note: We understand that the movie portrayal of this novel has been criticized for clumsy handling of a sensitive subject. You may find that the novel handles these issues with more grace, or at least more thoroughness. Either way, books like this one are a good springboard to critical discussion and we encourage everyone to read thoughtfully.)

A book involving travel

This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison (Chris)

A book with a subtitle

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (Chris)

A book that’s published in 2017

Girl in Disguise by Greer Macallister (Chris)

A book involving a mythical creature

His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (Chris)

A book you’ve read before that never fails to make you smile Again, we can’t say what you’ve read before or what will make you smile, but here’s a great re-read Robin and Chris both suggest:

A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens (Chris) (I recommend listening to Neil Gaiman’s performance of it for extra smiles --Robin)

A book about food

Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton (Rachel)

A book with career advice

The Intern’s Handbook by Shane Kuhn (Chris)

A book from a nonhuman perspective

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (Chris)

A steampunk novel

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (Chris)

A book with a red spine

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (Amy J) The Mangle Street Murders by M.R.C. Kasasian (Chris)

A book set in the wilderness

Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat (Chris)

A book you loved as a child We don’t know what books YOU loved as a child, but here’s one Robin loved!

Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (Robin)

A book by an author from a country you’ve never visited Chris hasn’t visited Australia! If you have also not visited Australia, this suggestion is for you.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (Chris)

A book with a title that’s a character’s name

Forrest Gump by Winston Groom or Doc by Mary Doria Russell (a novel featuring Wyatt Earp and John Henry "Doc" Holliday --Chris)

A novel set during wartime

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (There’s a prequel coming out in 2017. --Amy J) Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (Beth) The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (Chris)

A book with an unreliable narrator

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Still the best in the genre! --Chris)

A book with pictures

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Chris)

A book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you We don’t know what ethnicity you are, so here are a few options:

African-American Protagonist: The Mothers by Brit Bennett (Chris) ; The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Beth) White Protagonist: You probably didn’t really need help finding one of these, but I recommend Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. It also has an Arab-American, Muslim protagonist. (Robin) Vietnamese-Australian Protagonist: Cloudwish by Fiona Wood (Robin) Chinese-American Protagonist: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (JBill)

A book about an interesting woman

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik (Chris)

A book set in two different time periods

The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler Chris

A book with a month or day of the week in the title

One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (#6 in the Thursday Next series; start with The Eyre Affair --Chris)

A book set in a hotel

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Chris)

A book written by someone you admire

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny (written while her husband was in the final stages of dementia --Chris)

A book that’s becoming a movie in 2017

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (Chris)

A book set around a holiday other than Christmas

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (set around Easter --Chris)

The first book in a series you haven’t read before

Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart (Chris) In the Woods by Tana French (Rachel) If you happen to have read both these series already, we’d be happy to rec others based on your tastes! Just let us know!

A book you bought on a trip Chances are you didn’t buy this book on a trip, but Chris did, and she recommends Time and Again by Jack Finney (Chris)

ADVANCED:

A book recommended by an author you love

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale (recommended by author Louise Penny --Chris) If Louise Penny isn’t an author you love, we’re happy to look around at recs from an author you DO love! Just send us the name :)

A bestseller from 2016

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (Chris)

A book with a family-member term in the title

My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece by Annabel Pitcher (Chris)

A book that takes place over a character’s life span

The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer (Rachel)

A book about an immigrant or refugee

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Chris) Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok (It is fiction but it’s a story of the author’s own story (she immigrated from Hong Kong) --Amy V)

A book from a genre/subgenre that you’ve never heard of

Beauty and the Clockwork Beast Nancy Campbell Allen (steampunk romance --Chris) Possibly you’ve heard of steampunk romance as a subgenre. If yes, let us know, and we’ll dig for something more obscure to help you out.

A book with an eccentric character

Ten Second Staircase by Christopher Fowler (Bryant & May/ Peculiar Crimes Unit #4 ; start with Full Dark House --Chris)

A book that’s more than 800 pages

City on Fire by David Hallberg (Chris) One Rainy Day in May by Mark Z Danielewski (He’s an… unusual author --Amy V)

A book you got from a used book sale Orleans by Sherri L. Smith (Robin) Didn’t buy that particular book at a used book sale? Talk to your library! Most of them have used book rooms with books at ridiculous prices (ours are all under a dollar) so you can find something excellent for this category.

A book that’s been mentioned in another book

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner (One of the many great books mentioned in Will Schwalbe’s The End of Your Life Book Club, which is kind of cheating. --Chris)

A book about a difficult topic

Columbine by Dave Cullen (Chris)

A book based on mythology

Anansi Boys Neil Gaiman (Chris)

#lcpl recs #reading challenge #2017 reading challenge #robin's recs #beth's recs #amy j's recs #chris's recs #amy v's recs #christina w's recs #rachel's recs #recommended reading #popsugar reading challenge #fiction #nonfiction #book lists #booklr #tumblarians

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neshabeingchildish · 5 years

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15. Who in the Hell Left the Gate Open?

Pushing out chapters pretty quickly. Finna go to sleep. Hope to wake up to feedback. I know Jasper’s been a little bit infuriating the last couple of chapters, but he is my baby and I will defend him. Mistakes were mad and in the words of @chenoahchantel “I’m mad at everybody” Lmao. Enjoy or be enraged. Idk...

Who in the Hell Left the Gate Open?

“Do you remember when you told me that you would never take me for granted?” Charlotte asked, early into sophomore year.

Jasper was on the couch in his dorm, editing a video and gave her a weird glance before asking, “Do you feel like I’ve taken you for granted?”

She folded her arms and shook her head, speaking angrily through her teeth, “Do not do that. If I ask you a question, I expect your answer. Don’t ask me a question back. Answer MY question before you go posing questions of your own!”

Jasper’s eyes went wide and he set his laptop aside, now sure that he was in trouble for something and guilty that he’d obviously upset her. “I’m sorry,” he said, getting up and coming over to her. He rubbed her arms, to try to comfort her, “Of course I remember. That was our first time. It was magical. All I wanted to do was make you happy and give you the world. I said more than that. I said that I would never hurt you, take advantage of you, or take you for granted, and I meant that. If I’ve mistakenly done any of that, that’s the part that I didn’t mean… Are you okay?”

Her eyes were damp and he was trying not to panic, but he had never seen this look in them before, so he didn’t know what that meant. Then, he was worried because he usually always knew what Charlotte’s looks meant, even down to the smallest curves up her lips, up or down, he knew when it was disdain, disgust, desire or delight. “I’ve made a terrible mistake,” she said, shaking her head. “I made a decision to give so much of my heart to you that I didn’t think of how much I needed for myself. You were dealt a bad hand and I’ve done everything that I can to convince you that I love you, anyway, even if you thought that nobody else did. I wanted you to be happy, so I’ve tried to make you happy, and I miscalculated what would do that. I thought that because praise seems to be your love language that I alone could compliment you and you’d feel amazing and you’d love me for that…” Her voice was breaking and so was his heart. Why did she sound like that? What was she saying?

“I do, so, SO much…”

“Let me!”She finally unfolded her arms, to raise a finger to stop him from begging her not to do this… what it sounded like she was about to do to him… “You needed so much validation, and for years, the people you cared about didn’t regularly grant you that and I knew, I knew, that I was one of these guilty parties that didn’t build you up. I wanted to try to rectify that…” She wiped a tear with the back of her hand, “I wanted to be loving to you and whenever you became this larger than life presence, I tried not to be jealous and I tried not to dampen things for you. You deserved the attention. You deserve that kind of love, you know?” Her face was distorted in pain. Jasper covered his own with both of his hands. He couldn’t think right now. His head was throbbing and his eyes were burning. What the fuck had he done to upset her this much? She looked like she was going to collapse and he knew that somehow, this was his fault. She was saying it was hers, but that couldn’t be right. She was just trying to be kind to him again. He’d fucked up and she was about to dump him for it… “Whenever you blew up on Henry a few months ago…” He looked up at her again. If this had anything to do with Henry, he was going to put his fist through a wall. “I probably should have come after you. Maybe I triggered a defense mechanism or, or SOMETHING!” Her hands tried to clench the air in front of her, hoping to pluck the words for the feelings that were tearing her apart. “But, after that night, it went even darker. I’d come into a room and you’d be there, and it used to be that even if the room was full, we were the only people there. The room was always full… But I was the only person there. I made a mistake. I pushed you away, I guess? I just… I can’t be in a room with you and be alone. I hate it. I hate looking at you and seeing how happy everyone makes you and not knowing how to be a part of that anymore.” She clasped her hands together and shrugged her shoulders, “I thought of the two of us that I was the stronger one, because I’d had a stronger foundation. I thought I could handle these changes. But, now I have to be strong enough to let you know that I have to feel loved too, and I don’t have fans or friends here… So, it’s up to me, and I think it’s best that I figure this out and give you the space to grow into this supernova that I see in front of me…”

Jasper clenched his fists, his entire body shaking and turned a bright red color as he nodded his head and lied, "I want you to do whatever you think is best for you." She nodded, wishing deep down that he had fought her on it, a little bit more, but trying to tell herself that the mature thing to do was accept how much he was trying to make this easier on her. He looked like a different person. She could hardly recognize him as he tried to collect himself. But, when she made it to the door and moved to open it, he reflexively stopped her.

He shut it with his foot, placed his shaking hands together like a prayer and begged her in a whisper, "Please don't do this."

"Jasper."

"I'm sorry. I tried to just let you walk away, but I'm begging you not to. I know that I never even deserved you in the first place and I should just be grateful that you ever saw anything in me, but… don't you love me? Didn't I at least earn that in all this time?"

"You know the answer to that."

"Can I show you something? Let me go get it. Please. And if it doesn't matter, I'll get out of your way forever and let you live your life without me."

"I'm not doing anything on a whim, Jasper. I've thought about this. I've tortured myself with making this decision. I didn't make it lightly."

"Please, Dear God - just a couple of minutes!"

"Okay. But whatever you have doesn't change what I've told you."

He rushed to get a small locking journal and opened it with a key on his keychain of keys. "I have a crappy laptop and I'm always breaking my phone, so I put this on paper, to make sure that I don't lose the information." He showed her a page, "It's my life goals. I started this whenever we got together." He flipped some pages for her. "It's so that I could try to be the man that I thought that you'd want and need me to be for you." She looked at it and read in handwriting that she knew very well from years of Robin’s Telling, Interesting ways to make Charlotte feel beautiful, that she’ll appreciate. And it was numbered and in the margins, he had checks and X’s, because obviously, some things had worked and some hadn’t. He was pretty hit or miss with ideas, but just the fact that he’d been doing this when she was thinking that he wasn’t paying any attention to her..."I just need you to tell me that you still love me and I didn't fuck this up."

"I will always love you. And you didn't fuck this up.." She honestly said. That only made her feel worse. WHY couldn’t she just be the strong person that she wanted to be? Why did she need his validation so much, suddenly? Was it her jealousy or had he really been neglecting her?

"I know I'm not meeting your standards. I know I'm not perfect and I know that even if I did everything in here, I still may never be good enough, but… I just have to know… don't you even think that maybe I'm worth trying to work it out with?"

She was crying now, reading: Make sure to do whatever I have to to make Charlotte feel like I love her with all my heart, everyday. She nodded. "Yeah, you're worth trying to work it out with." She said and dropped her bag onto the floor.

"You… does that mean you're staying?" He asked, apprehensive, trembling uncontrollably. Too scared to get excited without her approval. She nodded. She couldn't form words. Jasper dropped his journal to scoop her up into a hug and hold her closely to himself. He was still shaking in terror. She was sobbing against his chest. "I'll do better. I'll be better. I promise. I don't care what it takes."

… Perhaps… A little rewind is in order?

FRESHMAN SUMMER

Jasper changed shifts at the home improvement shop to a full time, daytime summer gig, so that he had his evenings free for practices, parties and the parlour. Charlotte was in class during the day, and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, so they had plenty of time together. It was going fine, good even at times. She thought that maybe they had gotten over the hiccup with Henry and that whole mess, but even though he said that he texted Henry and apologized and that they were “fine,” she knew that they weren’t good, because they weren’t talking. Whenever Henry visited, Jasper would always invite Casper along, like he needed someone else there to have fun with… which made it feel like an awkward double date. Awkward because Henry and Jasper were supposed to be best friends and Charlotte was supposed to be Jasper’s girlfriend! Henry didn’t want to bring it up since he and Jasper “were fine,” so whenever the four of them crashed at the frat house, Charlotte insisted that she and Jasper slept in his room alone and that the other two went and found an empty room or they could fight over the couch. She and Jasper went to bed, Casper crashed on the couch and Henry pulled into the bed on the other side of Jasper. Jasper didn’t have a problem with it. He was between them and it was fine.

But, Casper was sprawled on the couch, topless with boxers on and Charlotte felt taken aback that she was that comfortable. “How often does she go around topless around you?” She squealed, before Henry and Casper could even leave the room good.

“I don’t know. It’s a regular thing for her. She does that wherever. She’s been spoken to by the league for it on multiple occasions.” Charlotte was even angrier that Jasper wasn’t taking her frustrations about this seriously, but felt like he really did seem oblivious as to why it was a problem for her.

“I don’t care if she walks into CLASS like that, she’s NOT allowed to do it in here. In fact, I don’t even feel comfortable with you hanging out with her in here by yourselves now. Does she play video games like that?”

“I think you’re…”

“I’d you say overreacting, my reaction will be to punch you right in the nutsack!”

“God!” He said, cuffing his jewels, “I was gonna say misinterpreting…” Charlotte went on screaming and losing her mind with Jasper trying to talk her down up until he must’ve succeeded, because Henry and Casper heard them… making up…

Casper smiled and fist pumped the air, “My nigga Big Dog!” She said.

Henry gasped clutched his shirt. “You… SAY that?” He asked.

She laughed and shook her head, “Please don’t tell me that you’re gonna go off on a tangent about how I can’t say that around you, because I’ve already heard that from him and you can just say ditto.”

“You ABSOLUTELY can’t say that around me!” Henry said, disgusted. “How dare you!” She laughed, unsure if he was serious. He positively was.

“Look, I grew up around nothing but Black people and I have them in my family and stuff. It’s not a big deal to any of them…”

“I’m not them. You’d better be glad that Jasper didn’t tell Charlotte you’ve said that around him. And honestly… I can’t believe he still hangs out with you!”

“He knows that I didn’t mean it like that, and I’ve never repeated it since he was so damn offended, like you’re acting like now.” she rolled her eyes.

“What are you like the girl variant of fuckboy?”

“Wouldn’t that just be fuckgirl?” She wondered.

“I guess you would know. That’s clearly your tribe.”

She shrugged, “Like your tribe is Team Abandon Jasper?”

Now… Henry wasn’t the type to hit a girl, but he was ready to punch this one right between the eyes. She was a tall, athletic type with tone muscles and a flat chest. She almost coul;d pass for a boy. He really should probably talk himself out of socking her in the nose. Charlotte came out of Jasper’s room all happy looking, glared at Casper and asked, “Why are you still here?”

“My shoes are in there, Chica,” She said and went inside.

“What, you grew up around a bunch of Latinx people too?” Henry called out. Whenever she was getting her shoes, Henry whispered, “She said the N word to me!” Charlotte gasped and turned around, ready to pounce on her.

Jasper stopped her and said, “Let her go.”

“Let her go? Henry said she said the N word, I should be letting her have it. YOU should be letting her have it!”

“She didn’t mean it like that,” Jasper said. Henry scratched the back of his neck. “Her Black people let her say that around them like affectionately, and she forgets that not everyone is okay with that. It’s not like that guy that accosted you that time.”

“Unfuckingbelievable,” Charlotte said. “You just pulled your penis out of me and had best believed, you won’t be doing that any time soon!” She looked furious, gathering her things. She was madder about that than the tittygate from before. “And just so YOU know, from now on, the Black people get to decide if it’s okay and my Black ass says NO. NEVER. I don’t give a damn what her shucking jiving ass friends said. And if I see her around here, it’s going down. And if I see her with you outside of a game or practice, you can just take your dick to her.”

She stormed off and Jasper asked Henry, “Did you do that on purpose?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Why would you tell her that? You know that Casper didn’t mean it like that.”

“Man, fuck Casper. She’s trash.”

“I’m a trash magnet,” Jasper said and shook his head, chasing after Charlotte. “Char! Char, please!” He caught her from behind in an embrace and she honestly couldn’t fathom what he thought that he was going to say to fix that. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you or make it seem like I didn’t think this was serious. Honestly, whenever I heard her say that, I blew up. I cussed her out, I threatened her. I lost it. Okay? It felt wrong, and I reacted. But, then she and everybody else started explaining to me that I was overreacting, so I believed them. I didn’t think that all of them were wrong and I was somehow right…”

“Who is everybody else?” She asked.

“The team.”

“So, all of those white dudes that you spend hours and hours with convinced you that it was okay for her to say something that you know people have called me to make me cry? And you didn’t think to ask me? Or mention it to me?”

“I thought that bringing it up to you would hurt you for no reason. She’d never say that to you, knowing how I feel about it.”

“You are still missing the point… Jasper… Don’t you want kids with me? You think I’d make kids with somebody trying to explain to me why a word weaponized against me, against them isn’t that bad because she said it in a certain way?”

“No. This is all really making me realize I am an idiot and it’ll never happen again.”

“Funny, because I remember you pledging that you would never allow that. Henry jumped to my defense. You tried to talk both of us down. What is wrong with you? It’s literally a slur. You’re supposed to love me.”

“I’ll… go kick her in the cooter if I have to, to prove myself.” The damage was done. That was two huge violations in one day, but he did stop hanging out with Casper and that took a huge load off of Charlotte. Casper tried to apologize to her multiple times, but she didn’t bother with her. She blocked her and put her hand between the two of them whenever she saw her around. She stopped attending practices and games, if they really felt that way about that word, she didn’t have any energy for them. Jasper stopped playing kite discs, too. He said that it didn’t feel the same knowing Charlotte’s take on using the word period. At least he was trying, she told herself. And white people often “get confused” about what was inappropriate. She sent him a post of Get Woke Quick ebooks and told him, “If you ever make a mistake like that again, I refuse to overlook it. He nodded solemnly and was reading all of the books by social justice activists and advocates about racism and antiBlackness in his free time. He started going to the campus events for movement meetings and stuff, which were actually on Charlotte’s campus. She was in the Black Students Union, but it was extremely small and composed mostly of biracial Black people, because there was more of them in the area than all Black, and whenever he was going to meetings for rallies and stuff, he got really cool with some of the people that she introduced him to from the BSU… and a few of them asked him if he’d like to be their token white boy for their radio show. He asked Charlotte if that was okay. She was fine with it.

The next month of summer was awesome. She forgot to some degree the stuff that she had been rightfully pissed about and wondered about the things that she had been irritated by. Whenever she wasn’t around so much and he was back into classes and busy and whatever else, was he gonna still be cuffing her closely in big crowds? Was he going to notice when she came into a room? She felt like she was punishing him for stuff that she never told him about if she’d attack him now, or stuff that he hadn’t done yet, if the semesters were gonna be that way. So, she tried to enjoy the month and enjoy her man.

Sex was good again. She found that it was amazing whenever she wasn’t troubled or worrying or feeling ignored, and Jasper was fueled by her desire. She’d gotten more aware of what she liked and wanted and more comfortable with telling him. He loved directions. It for one thing assured him that she would like what he was doing and for another, even though she was just telling him what she wanted, hearing her say these things turned him on.

SOPHOMORE YEAR

Shortly after the semester began, while they were “doing great,” something else happened. They were getting ready to get down to business and Charlotte was practically begging him for it, whimpering and rubbing against him and pouting for him to hurry up and get started. Jasper went into his little nightstand and reached around, sighed and said, “Okay… I’ve gotta go snag a condom.”

She was so busy pouting that the statement almost was lost on her as he scrambled to get up, but she sat up too and tilted her head, “We’re out?” She asked.

“Yeah,” he said, zipping his jeans up to leave the room.

“Wait. Why are we out?” She asked and a huge flood of fear and insecurity from the previous semester came flushing over her and her breathing caught. “Did you use them?”

“What? No! The guys come in and take them because they know that I always have them because I have the steady girlfriend…” He looked at her like he couldn’t believe that she would ask him that and now that he thought about it, he was deeply hurt. “Why would I use them if you aren’t there?”

She was thinking about topless Casper and a number of other girls’ faces that she knew specifically from getting much to close to him and being much to flirtatious and him being much too cool about it. She shrugged and he sat back down. “You think I’d cheat on you?”

“I don’t know Jasper. You let girls lay around topless in here and say the most hateful slur in the world, so I really don’t know if you’re ABOVE cheating. Maybe you did something and “didn’t mean it like that.”

He looked like she had punched him in the gut. “I thought you’d forgiven me for that gross misunderstanding on my part, and I never knew that letting a lesbian be topless was a big deal, especially since she does it in all kinds of places.” Lesbian? So, Casper was a lesbian now? Suddenly? He’d never said that before! “Are you ever gonna forgive me for that, or do I have to bleed again anytime you strike me with it because of an unrelated coincidence?”

“I guess I’ll have to think about that,” she said and got up to leave.

“You’re gonna leave like that?” he asked.

“You have something else to say?”

He shook his head, sadly, “Just that I’ve never cheated on you and I never would. I think about being with you any time that I’m not and I haven’t seen anyone nearly as pretty since I first noticed you. The way you make me feel, I don’t think I would ever be able to feel that anywhere else and I wouldn’t risk it all for even the possibility, because if it wasn’t with you, it wouldn’t matter…” He laid down, looking all depressed and she felt bad. She went to comfort him and they wound up making up… bare… but she mentioned that she’d simply stop by the clinic for a morning after pill, which to Jasper meant that he could go crazy. And it was the most mind altering thing that had happened between them, thus far.

He was extremely excited, but she didn’t know if that was because it was makeup, or because it was raw. But, he mentioned several times how good she felt and laughed about the idea of him ever wanting anybody else when his Chef’s Kiss had gotten sweeter and juicier all summer. Her head was reeling. She was floating. She was high. Wrapped around him, nothing between them, hearing those declarations, she felt like everything that he was telling her that she was.

But, whenever they got back around other people… She felt like… not even he was there. Which led us to that blow up where she almost broke up with him. Almost.

That was a real come to Jesus moment for Jasper. He started wrestling and boxing, to try to supplement his athletics, and for a while, he didn’t touch Charlotte… not like that, anyway, unless she seemed like she felt rejected, then he quickly tried to make up for it by loving her down in all the ways he knew that she loved. But, he was more focused on rebuilding their intimacy and regaining her trust. For a while, he felt like he was walking on eggshells, because he really didn’t know exactly where he went wrong the first time and he was scared of somehow winding up on the wrong path again. The path that might lead to her crying as she broke his heart, for her own good. He had nightmares about that talk. He had nightmares that he woke up from and cradled her close, having imagined that it really happened.

He couldn’t stomach the thought of messing this up and her leaving him. He couldn’t handle losing her. He would have given up every bit of fanfare and whatnot if all he had was her and he didn’t know how to make her see that. Then again, he had been constantly wondering for all of his life who he was and who he was supposed to be. He wondered if his dad had stuck around, if his mom hadn’t remarried so much, if she’d loved him like Charlotte’s parents loved her, would this be so hard?

He was used to being ignored for a long time, but it still hurt whenever he was. That was why whenever Henry and Charlotte were both working, even though he had other friends, he called them over and over, just wishing and hoping that one of them would love him enough to just reach out and let him know that he still mattered, that he hadn’t lost his people. More than the idea of Charlotte leaving him and him losing her, he was haunted by the fact that he made her feel that sadness of being alone… of not having your people let you know that you mattered. That made him cry when she wasn’t looking. He didn’t want her to see him crying, because she’d try to comfort him and how dare he let her comfort him for being upset about hurting her?

Being the center of attention was like a drug to him. Having so many people to enjoy him, even if they didn’t really care was exhilarating. But… it wasn’t like being Charlotte’s little spoon while she ran her fingers through his hair for the hands down best sleep that he could ever have, her little legs wrapped around him and her supple feet brushing the hairs on his legs. The crowds couldn’t compare to that ‘boozy mahogany flush” of her face whenever he kissed her behind her ear and the baby hairs on her neck shifted ever so slightly and the tingle sent shivers through her and forced her to smile that smile that brought the sunrise to shame. That she thought that she didn’t belong in his world anymore, not knowing that she was his world was… it had to be a failure on his part and he couldn’t stand for it. The fact that he’d missed it, in his reveling in attention was frightening, and he wanted to place a fraction of blame on Charlotte for not telling him sooner, but, he was too afraid that things were too volatile for that conversation. He did ask her gently, though, “Do you think if I ever seem to be making you feel some kind of way, that you could tell me and let me try to fix it?”

This sounded familiar. He’d asked this of her before, in high school after she’d run to Piper with her rants. But, they had been through a lot and she had felt like she was actually ripping her heart out of her chest when she was considering ending things, so this time she said, “I promise that I will.”

“Will you… If I go to meet up with my dad, will you come with me?” He asked. She looked surprised. He explained, “I know my mom’s side of things, but I also know the kinds of behaviors and habits that came from her and how we interacted. I just… want to see if seeing him could help me figure myself out.”

Charlotte felt super guilty. Like she had broken Jasper, or something. He was so… timid in those days. “Yeah. Of course. And Jasper… You don’t have to be scared to be yourself. I just wanted our growth to be together, and I felt like you’d outgrown me. I was scared, but you don’t have to be. I’m not gonna leave again without giving you a chance to fix it… if anything goes wrong again. I just… wanted to feel like that girl who was up before sunrise making breakfast for a boy because he was the sweetest, more caring boy that she ever knew.”

“And I just wanna be that boy, but you know, in man form. Maybe I should grow my mustache back.”

“I will kill you,” she said.

He laughed. “Why are you such a hater? Everybody loved it except for you. It was unanimous. Piper loved it and she hates everything.”

“It’s your face. Grow whatever you want.”

“Is it gonna affect how you look at me?”

“I’m gonna look at you like you have a big stupid mustache on your face, just like I did last time.” He laughed and she shook her head, “Either commit to growing a beard or shut up!”

“Oh, you want me to grow a beard?”

“I mean… I wouldn’t be against it. I’d have to see how that fares with the whole, your face spending time in between my legs thing.”

“I would like to see my face spending time between your legs again, just… you know, just ‘cause.”

“You just stopped! I thought I’d given you performance anxiety and didn’t want to put any pressure on you.”

“I feel extremely relaxed right now,” he said, shifting her legs and living for the smile of anticipation on her face. They were good again. They had some hiccups, some missteps, hell, even a trainwreck, but patching things up was even more fulfilling than the days that they thought they wanted to return to - when they weren’t sure of themselves or each other and bumbling through trial and error to reach something that it took a lot of work from both of them to have. At the end of the day, if anybody could analyze and understand someone/something, it was Charlotte Page, and at his core, he desperately wanted someone to understand him.

Charlotte’s last visit to Swellview, Jasper came along, to go see his mom. He hadn’t seen her in person for over a year and she was guilt tripping him about it, but he clarified for her that he was gonna be staying at the Pages but would stop by to see her. He didn’t stay very long. He tried to at least give her a few hours. Being away from her had made being in her presence again a supremely unsettling feeling. Charlotte told him that he probably finally knew how she felt around her. “How is Charlotte?” his mom asked.

“She’s good,” Jasper said.

“Everything’s okay?”

“Yeah. Everything is awesome. We’re better than we’ve ever been,” he said. She made a face, like it was surprising. He tried not to get angry about that and instead took the time to brag about her. “She started an initiative to preserve land to cultivate for community gardens in food desserts. My frat prides itself on being sure to have at least one member of every sports team in the school, so I was able to convince them to get their teams involved in efforts to assist with those.” He didn’t add on how long she loved him down for that accomplishment, but nearly every brother in the house commented on how they were both extra loud the previous night and reminded them that some of them had classes in the morning. Jasper had transported back to that night and morning. Charlotte and his sex life was good, but whenever he accomplished something or made her proud, he found that was a major turn on for her, SO… guess wtf he was constantly trying to do? Outdo himself, that’s what.

He still had a lot of outside attention and “fans,” but if Charlotte was there, he had her right by him, so she wouldn’t be lost in the crowd or feel left out, often cuffed to him, but if not, ever so often, he’d smile at her and kiss her on the nose, or behind the ear, or caress the back of her neck. Those were things that made her weak, so if he casually sprinkled her with them all night, it was as intimate as if nobody had been there. She felt included and she felt loved and he still had the chance to kick it with his bros… he created some boundaries with his lady friends. Some of them would get pissy about it, but most were just as infatuated with his relationship as they were with him as a person. They wanted somebody LIKE him, not him, because if he could be taken away from his adorable long term girlfriend, they didn’t really want somebody like him, anyway…

“What are you thinking about?” His mom broke into his thoughts.

“How much I love Charlotte.” She rolled her eyes and he narrowed his. “What are you thinking about?”

“How your father told me that you found him online and want to meet up with him,” she said. He froze. “Were you gonna tell me?”

“No. I didn’t think it was your business.”

“How not, Jasper?”

“Because, I’m grown.”

“Well, do what you want. But, I doubt he’s any less toxic than he was when I was forced to leave him.” She got up and left the room. Jasper waited a while, went checked on her and.. She had gone to bed. He left and didn’t plan on coming back any time soon. In fact, he needed a complete realigning or something after being inside of there.

Uncle Roscoe’s house was fortunately the right ambience. There was incense and good food and they had gotten a calming fountain in the family room that played music and lit up various ambient light colors. Plus, Uncle Roscoe made juice and Jasper loved his juice. Aunt Cohort and Charlotte were somewhere getting fish to eat dead skin off of their feet and Uncle Rox wondered, “You getting ready to ask her about it?”

Jasper smiled brightly, full of food and juice and sleepy from the mood of the room, “What?”

“You know what.”

Jasper sighed and leaned forward in his seat, “We had a rough year, well… a rough year then a rougher year of getting back to good because of the first rough year.”

“I know. I pay attention to the songs she posts. I knew y’all were goin’ through it when she posted Karyn White’s Superwoman with the caption, “On Repeat Forever.”

“I don’t know what that is, but I think I’ve fixed things…”

“Yeah. I know. Like I said, I pay attention to the songs. If you would’ve remembered my advice and paid attention, you’d have had a less rough year.”

Jasper nodded, “I regret so much of my decisions for that time. Did she tell you about the night things hit the fan with Casper?”

“She don’t tell me nothing, Lil’ Nephew. But, I think that she’s ready to settle down. She talks about your future a lot.”

“Yeah, but… I’m the one that wants all the family stuff, she only will do all that because I want it. I’m not gonna rush her.”

“Don’t rush her no… But, don’t let her get away, neither.” Jasper nodded his head. Uncle Rox gave the best advice. She was never gonna get away, if Jasper could help it.

#A Chasper Fic #chasper #henry danger #hd fanfic #Nesha HD Fics

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