Chapter 13 #2
“I don’t think he thinks you’re friends,” she said, laughing.
“Okay, fine. Not helpful.”
Stevie moved her face in front of Jasper’s, forcing him to look at her. “Are you… what is this? Do you want to fix things with Ryan?”
He didn’t. He’d spent the last couple years working towards where he was now—nearly free, unable to be let down by his partner for the seven hundredth time.
“No.”
“That was not convincing.”
“I don’t want to be with him. But I guess I do feel like maybe I’ve been unnecessarily mean to him. His black eye made me feel bad, is all.”
“He didn’t look too upset at the party. Well, no, he looked really upset for a lot of the party. But once you got outside…”
Jasper climbed into a seat next to his sister and groaned, putting his head in his hands. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Stevie shrugged. “Yeah, that was pretty fucked up. But not fucked up enough that his hands didn’t end up down your pants, right? That must mean he’s not too broken up over it.”
“His hands didn’t go down my pants.”
“Okay, but you wanted them to.”
He sighed. “Yeah.”
“What happened after he left?”
“God,” he said, pressing his face further into his hands. “Nothing.”
Obviously, Jasper wasn’t going to tell his sister what happened back at the house.
They didn’t have that type of relationship, and even if they did, he wasn’t proud of what he’d done.
It was shameful, especially since Ryan hadn’t reached out at all since that evening—not that they spoke too often anymore, but Jasper could expect a stupid meme or text every couple of days.
He hadn’t messaged Jasper since two days before the party. Nearly a week now.
“What? Did you guys see each other after the party?”
“Yeah. And actually, that reminds me, I need to go drop off some stuff he left here. A shirt and… some stuff. Clothes I washed.”
“Right now?” Stevie asked, tapping her phone screen for the time. “It’s almost eight.”
“I know. Not everybody goes to bed at nine, you know.”
“Does he even know you’re coming?”
“Yes,” he lied.
After thirty minutes and a promise to Stevie he’d check in soon, Jasper was on Beni’s doorstep.
He hadn’t exactly planned what he was going to say to Ryan, but since Stevie and Beni were heading out on their trip soon, he needed to clear the air.
Otherwise, they were looking at eighteen days of misery, living together and temporarily co-parenting, never discussing their questionable post-party decisions.
Jasper had seen Ryan through the front window as he walked up the front steps, sitting on Beni’s couch with a bowl of popcorn on his stomach—with peanuts mixed in for extra protein—a plate of pizza crusts on the couch to his left, and an ice pack on his eye.
In fact, he could still see him now through the glass panes in the door—his shirt was covered in half-crunched kernels and flaky bits of the hull he’d picked from his teeth.
A classic Ryan move, one that had Jasper smiling to himself before knocking on the door.
Ryan appeared through the glass seconds later, dusting off his shirt, eyes wide at Jasper’s presence.
“Jasper?” he said, opening the door.
“Hi. Can I come in? I have some stuff for you.”
“Sure, of course.”
Ryan walked back to the couch and stashed his popcorn below the end table, gesturing for Jasper to sit down.
He did, but on the far end, to put a bit of distance between them.
Ryan rubbed a hand on the leg of his jeans, using his other hand to hold a bag of ice against his eye.
He looked uncomfortable beyond the pain radiating from his face.
“What’s, uh… What’s up?”
“I brought you some things you left at the house,” Jasper said, pulling a few items from his tote bag. “First, your 2020 Hour of Wreckoning shirt. I know you’ve probably been looking for that one.”
Ryan grabbed it and nodded. “Thanks.”
“And, uh, hm. Here’s that cherry pitter you got last year.”
“Okay,” Ryan said. He took the cherry pitter and set it on his lap. His eyebrows climbed higher, the confused look he sent Jasper’s direction now accompanied by the beginnings of a smile.
“Oh, and your pill organizer. I’m not sure if you’re still taking all those supplements, but if you are, you probably need this.”
“Jasper—”
“And, last but not least,” Jasper said, pulling one final item from his bag, “this framed photo of Calliope.”
Ryan didn’t reach for that one. Jasper wiggled it around to catch his attention, in case he hadn’t noticed, but Ryan just sighed, slouching further on the couch.
“Ry?”
“That’s just going to bum me out. I have photos of her on my phone if I need to be reminded of my cat.”
“Oh,” Jasper said. He dropped his hand, waiting for Ryan to say something else. Anything else, really, even something mean. But he didn’t. “Okay. Listen, Ryan, I came to… I guess, apologize? About what happened the other night.”
“Oh, did something happen?”
“I’m sorry about what I did,” Jasper said. “At the house. I’d been drinking, and I was angry.”
Ryan grumbled something snarky and changed the channel on the TV.
“What was that?” Jasper asked.
“Nothing. I said thanks for the apology.”
It was hard not to roll his eyes at Ryan’s gall—as if he hadn’t set the ball rolling on that disaster of an evening. He huffed out a tired laugh, immediately regretting it and trying to cover it with a cough.
“Something in your throat?” Ryan asked. When Jasper looked up, the corner of Ryan’s mouth was pulled into a little smirk.
“Yes,” Jasper said, turning to face him fully. “I believe that was your audacity getting lodged in there.”
Ryan’s smirk became an honest smile before he let out a delighted laugh. His bruised eyelid turned into a little crescent, and the sight of him laughing so hard at such a stupid joke made affection bloom in Jasper's chest. He joined in, laughing until Ryan stopped to catch his breath.
“You’re ridiculous,” Ryan said, wiping his eye carefully. He must have been too rough, because he hissed. “Ah, shit.”
“What did you do? Stevie said you dropped a wrench on your face?”