TREVOR #2
Mentally smacking himself, Trevor gives Jasper the code and directions for opening the gate. “Just follow the driveway all the way up until you see the main house and all the cars. Everyone’s out back, but it’s easier if you come through the house. I’ll meet you at the front door.”
“Cool, thanks,” Jasper says before hanging up.
Trevor heads to the front of the house, feeling like a jerk.
He invited Jasper because the guy mentioned he had no plans over the holiday weekend, and because Trevor wants to get to know him better.
He wants Jasper to know he can trust him.
To understand that Trevor’s here to help him build his career, not to take advantage of him.
The album they recorded came out great. His sound guys are just working on a few things in post-production, and then it’ll be ready for release.
But Trevor understands that dropping a newbie’s album onto the scene isn’t enough to get them noticed, no matter how good it is.
Jasper’s success as an artist is going to come down to his own personality and stage presence, so his first few live performances will be crucial.
Trevor’s sure that if Jasper can learn to fully let himself go when all eyes are on him, to not let the pressure or the fear of making mistakes get to him—and to not worry about the inevitable abuse he’ll get from some haters—he’s going to grab people’s attention.
He’ll captivate them the way he did with Trevor, with his voice and his earnest lyrics.
As he opens the front door to step outside, Trevor hears someone hustling up behind him. He turns his head and smiles at Skyler. “He’ll be here in a sec. You didn’t have to come with me.”
“But I wanted to be the first to meet him!”
“I don’t want him to feel overwhelmed or out of place or anything.”
Skyler’s grin is huge and only a tiny bit worrisome. “Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll become friends right away.”
Trevor laughs at that, because yeah, Skyler’s so nice he could probably make friends with a brick wall.
But he has a feeling Jasper’s more nervous about meeting Skyler than he’s let on.
Jasper has spoken more than once about how much he respects Skyler as an artist, and how much of an inspiration Skyler’s been for him with his own music.
They watch as a dark green beat-up car pulls into their large circular drive, and then it takes Jasper a minute to get out.
He’s wearing black basketball shorts, which is quite the deviation from his usual edgy style.
But the shorts reveal that his left leg is entirely covered with tattoos.
It’s the opposite of his arms, where the ink is on his right and the left one is bare.
And Trevor’s allowed to admit that’s pretty hot, right?
What makes the sight of Jasper in sportswear even more jarring, though, is the way he’s paired the basketball shorts with his signature leather jacket. Like he attempted a casual style but got caught up halfway. It’s not a look someone would likely go for on purpose.
Skyler lets out a tiny sigh. “Oh boy. We’ll need to fix this man’s fashion sense, stat.”
“Leave him alone,” Trevor defends quickly as Jasper approaches them. “I don’t think all this is his scene.”
“Clearly,” Skyler says. But there’s absolutely no hint of anything mean behind it. He’s probably already coming up with a plan for how he’ll make Jasper feel more comfortable.
Jasper’s eyes widen as Skyler swiftly slides past Trevor to greet him.
Skyler introduces himself in that endearing way of his, where he pretends like he’s not famous and the person he’s introducing himself to doesn’t already know who he is.
Jasper looks a little caught off guard by this, but he shakes Skyler’s hand and then thanks him and Trevor for inviting him.
Trevor lets Skyler take the lead in ushering Jasper through the house, and thankfully Skyler only makes a bit of small talk while they walk, rather than immediately asking for Jasper’s whole life story. Which Trevor is sure he’s dying to do.
At the back of the house, Skyler stops in front of the doors to the outside and faces Jasper. “You know, you’ll probably be hot with that jacket on,” he says, keeping his tone casual. “We could hang it up in here if you want.” He points to a set of hooks on the wall.
Rubbing one of the jacket sleeves between his fingers, Jasper says, “Right. Yeah. I guess I just felt weird without it.” He shrugs awkwardly but holds Skyler’s gaze.
“I know I don’t exactly fit in here with all you famous people.
I almost brought my guitar to blend in, but then I thought it might make me look like a douche instead. ”
Trevor feels a pang of sympathy for him.
With the band, he and the rest of the guys gained fame absurdly fast, so they didn’t really experience imposter syndrome or anything like that.
When they attended events and met other celebrities, everyone was interested in talking to them and treated them like they belonged.
“Oh!” Skyler exclaims, his face lighting up. “You totally could’ve brought your guitar. But it’s okay, I’ve got plenty for you to use. I’d love to play with you!”
Jasper looks even more confused now than when Skyler introduced himself to him. “You would? Why?”
Skyler laughs. “Trevor keeps talking about how talented you are! I’ve heard some of your stuff, and I think it would be fun.” Shaking his head, he adds, “And there’s not a bunch of famous people here. It’s just us and the rest of the guys and some other family.”
Trevor rolls his eyes, because “the rest of the guys” are most definitely famous people, along with Trevor and Skyler. But obviously, to Trevor and Skyler, they’re just their friends. Their family.
“Uh, okay,” Jasper says as he shrugs out of his jacket. Trevor’s not sure if the okay is him agreeing to play some music with Skyler, or him pretending to agree with Skyler’s assessment that he’s not about to meet a bunch of other famous people.
Skyler holds out his hand to take the jacket, then hangs it up for him. “You brought something to swim in, right?” he asks. “If not, you can borrow something from me.”
“Or me,” Trevor jumps in. Because there’s no way Jasper will want to wear one of Skyler’s skimpy pairs of swimwear.
Jasper shakes his head. “No, it’s okay. I’ve got shorts on under my... shorts. Thanks, though.”
“Okay, perfect.” Skyler slides an arm around his shoulders. “Let’s go introduce you to everyone, and then if you want, we can come back inside and I’ll show you my music room,”
“Oh. Yeah. That’d be cool.” There’s genuine interest evident in Jasper’s voice now.
With that settled, Skyler all but drags him outside. And even though Jasper still looks slightly apprehensive, Trevor knows he’s in good hands, so he leaves them to it.
He heads over to the bar area, where Noah’s munching on some food. “Hey. Having fun?”
Noah doesn’t answer that. His disgruntled gaze is focused over Trevor’s shoulder. “I didn’t know he was coming.”
“Yeah, you did. I told you I invited him.”
With a huff, Noah looks away from wherever Jasper is and grabs a strip of red pepper off his plate, dragging it through a glob of Skyler’s homemade hummus. “I didn’t think he’d actually come. I mean, he doesn’t know anyone.”
Trevor gives him a warning look. “He knows us.”
Why does Noah have such a hard time being nice to Jasper?
Noah shoves the veggie in his mouth and starts chomping loudly, which Trevor takes as a suggestion to change the topic of conversation.
“Have you heard from your parents lately?” he asks.
But this might not be the best topic either, because Noah scowls for a second before he schools his face into a more neutral expression. “Nah. It’s been a couple months. They’re still blogging, though. I read they were in Switzerland last week.”
Trevor wants to say something about how much it sucks that his parents have practically forgotten about him since they took off to explore the world almost a year ago with no end date in sight.
Especially considering it was Noah paying off their mortgage years ago that allowed them to save up for the indefinite leaves of absence from their jobs.
And he knows Noah added what must have been a sizable chunk to their savings account when they told him about their travel idea, which helped them out some more.
But since he’s sure Noah doesn’t want to get into a conversation like that today, all he says is, “Hope they liked the Alps.”
Noah’s expression basically tells Trevor to fuck off, so he reaches out to give Noah’s shoulder a squeeze, keeping his hand there for a few extra seconds before letting go.
“I’m here if you ever wanna talk, man.”
Noah simply nods, then resumes eating. But it seems like at least some of the tension has left his body.
Trevor leaves him alone after that, wandering around to check on everyone else.
Chauncey is throwing a tennis ball for Stella, who has finally overcome her laziness and is now eagerly sprinting back and forth across the yard.
The girls are still sunbathing. And Hal and Mickey have congregated around Mike at the grill.
Trevor asks if Mike needs anything, but Mike salutes him with his beer and says he’s got it handled.
That leaves Trevor free to join the conversation Skyler and Jasper are having with Oli and Jermaine.
Skyler’s still glued to Jasper’s side like a cross between an excitable puppy and an overprotective parent.
But Jasper is smiling as he talks about his album with the guys, which Trevor loves to see.
Noah joins the group a minute later. Thankfully, he refrains from making any snarky comments at Jasper’s expense. He doesn’t actually say much at all, though. And Trevor doesn’t like seeing his friend in this moody funk, but he can’t really do anything about it right now.