Helloooooooo :-) so i decided to impulsively post this at midnight for some strange reason and i'll probably delete this story later from embarrassment BUTTT if you're reading this thanks so much you darling human being! I hope you tolerate it!
A/N: This story is rated M, so that means that there will be plenty of curse words and heavy topics and intimate scenes that'll happen a bit later on.
** THIS IS SET IN THEIR SENIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL BTW.**
I OWN NOTHING!
Chapter One / Jasper
If there was one thing Jasper Dunlop was certain of, it was his friendships between Charlotte Bolton and Henry Hart. They were his fixed point—his epitome of a true, genuine bond that could bend and rattle sporadically, but would never break. And that's one of the many things of what he loved about lifelong friendships: the assuring level of his placement in their lives. He never needed any validation of what he meant to them because he knows already. They're his best friends and he's theirs—and that was that.
Another plus about knowing them and being around them constantly was being unable to be passive about the things that occurred in their much too busy lives, especially when it came to their emotions and sudden changes. Jasper's observation of both of them, whether they expected for something to go right or wrong or anywhere in between had practically grown instinctive. He could practically smell it when either of them were sad or mad or hurt—even happy. Jasper wasn't the most observing person and will never be, but in regards to his best friends, he'd win first place every time.
However, throughout all of his years of knowing them both, Charlotte and Henry never developed any sort of friendship with one another other than acquaintances despite being around each other since their baby teeth days. Though they never desired to hear the truth, they got along great and, shockingly enough, had plenty in common—perhaps more than Jasper does with either of them, but never did Charlotte nor Henry push one another of hanging out whenever Jasper wasn't around.
It was odd, especially since he knows them, and he could just sense that they were restraining themselves from further contact with each other for some unknown reason and damn, was it irritating. Sometimes, Jasper just wanted to pull his hair out because of those two and their infuriating persistence.
They've always had a dynamic he, or anyone for that matter, has never understood, even if they weren't close. Their organic pull to each other was almost something undeniable, in every sense of the word.
So when Jasper had randomly found them in a secluded hallway on his way to his first period, Charlotte against a poorly painted wall and refusing to catch Henry's eye, while Henry, barely a foot away from her, his expression tense and hardening as the minutes passed with a lingering hand held out by Charlotte's book bag, Jasper was more than shocked.
He remained silent as the tardy bell rung across the school's corridors, and so did his two friends, their movements and expressions not changing for several seconds. The lingering of students chatter now took place inside of the classrooms rather than the hallway, but Jasper couldn't pull his attention away from the odd predicament before him no matter how loud the gossiping was.
Henry took an abruptly small, practically insignificant step toward Charlotte, and just that mere movement made Charlotte tense. Jasper couldn't detain his heightening suspicion.
He hadn't hung out with neither of them all weekend, mostly due to both not answering either of his phone calls or text messages, but Jasper didn't look too deeply into it—Henry has been busy now more than ever with focusing on school and college and being the hero of Swellview since Ray was out of town for a few days for some circus-like wedding his distant cousin was having, and Charlotte was almost always occupied with her copious extracurricular activities and schoolwork in order to make sure she was set for college next year.
Jasper understood.
But now, as he watched them both stand in silence with strained expressions, Jasper had never been so conflicted in his life.
"Charlotte."
Henry's hushed voice rung in Jasper's ears, his tone deeper than Jasper's ever heard it be.
Charlotte swallowed heavily, her eyes set aimlessly at Henry's chest, but not quite focusing on it.
"Charlotte," Henry repeated. "We need to talk about this."
Charlotte closed her eyes, her voice breaking. "Henry, please, not now, I—I we can't."
"We can't just pretend—"
"Yes, we can—"
The sound of clacking heels filled the hallway, cutting Charlotte from her sentence. Jasper shuffled towards a nearby boy's restroom, but the familiar woman's eyes were only set on the pair before her.
Their bitter English teacher Mrs. Bridal stood with her hip cocked out, arms crossed. "And why aren't you two in class?" She accused, voice stern. "You may think your voices don't travel, but trust me, they do." Jasper watched as Mrs. Bridal's eyes traveled across their close proximity, and it seemed to only increase her displeasure of their disruption.
Charlotte stared at the woman, panicked. "Sorry, Mrs. Bridal. H—Henry and I were just leaving."
Not once looking away from Charlotte, Henry hadn't spared the teacher a glance. His expression was unreadable to even Jasper. Something in his darkening eyes were running miles as he analyzed her, his jaw clenching and un-clenching repeatedly. "Charlotte—"
"Henry Hart!" Mrs. Bridal hollered once Henry made no movement away from Charlotte. "To class now! You two can save your lip-locking for after school!"
Charlotte's face went pallid, a choked cough emitting from her throat. "No—no, oh god, we weren't—"
"I don't care. Get to class now."
Charlotte did not wait for Henry to move this time, instead, she shoved his hand away and practically jogged towards the other end of the hallway until she disappeared, Henry following her pathway at a much slower pace. Jasper had a gut feeling Henry's eyes never left Charlotte's figure for a second.
The teacher huffed with annoyance once Charlotte parted one way and Henry another, incoherent words leaving her lips as she stalked back to her rowdy classroom, not sparing Jasper a simple glance.
Jasper sighed, resting his head against the boy's bathroom door. What had happened between Charlotte and Henry was the most interaction, both physically and verbally, he'd witness them exchange in months. He was perplexed, that was no secret, and now his mind wouldn't quit wondering off to why Henry had been looking at her like—like he practically needed something from her, and she was the only one who could deliver it.
Jasper ran a sweaty palm through his curls, standing from the door and making his way towards the classroom he shared with Henry, his gaze fixed on the spot he and Charlotte were standing on just a minute ago.
What the hell just happened?
Jasper blinked his eyes once, twice, thrice, in a failing attempt to try and concentrate, but the information just wouldn't stick. He was much too caught up on the exchange between his two best friends earlier, and the fact that Henry was sitting right next to him as if nothing hadn't happened was bothering him much more than he'd like to admit.
Jasper closed his eyes tightly before opening them, his gaze flickering to the whiteboard. A few seconds hadn't even passed before the jumbling equations of calculus was being tossed into his face, his teacher talking in different languages and unteachable comprehensions. At this rate, Jasper was beginning to accept how terrible he was going to do on his calculus final. He couldn't help but think how easily Charlotte would solve every problem being displayed with no assistance.
Jasper cleared his throat quietly, turning to his left to find his best friend jolt down notes in his notebook, his eyebrows creasing into a fine line due to concentration, but even Jasper could see the vocabulary words weren't sticking to his memory, neither.
Maybe he was distracted, too?
If Jasper wasn't careful, he would've missed the slight furrow of Henry's eyebrows as he paused his pencil's movements, twirling it instead, before looking up at the whiteboard and carrying on as if his routine hadn't faltered for a second or two.
Finally swallowing his hesitance, Jasper leaned towards him, but kept his vision ahead. "I, uh,"
Henry glanced at him briefly, a thick eyebrow rose. "You uh?"
Jasper swallowed spit, his eyes blinking continuously until he found his voice. "We need to talk."
Henry hummed, tapping his pencil lightly on the table as he leaned back in his chair, his eyes never leaving Jasper's. "Talk," He murmured slowly, as if the word was foreign on his tongue. "Talk about what? Is everything okay?"
Jasper grinned slightly, resting his head against his hand and paused the conversation while the teacher spoke about statistics and bar graphs with wandering eyes.
When the teacher finally turned away, Jasper looked at him. "Yeah, everything's fine. I just.. I just need you to be honest with me for a second."
Jasper has never been the intrusive type—usually, he let his friends get their respectable space when they kept things from him. He'd find out sooner or later, so there was never a reason for him to allow his curiosity eat him alive. But something like this? Concerning Charlotte and Henry associating? No—associating behind his back? It sounded peculiar, laughable, almost. And yet, what he'd observed in the hallway was nothing but the harsh reality that maybe, maybe, Charlotte and Henry were much more involved in each other than they let on.
He licked his lips pensively, opening his mouth to speak, but nothing but a little stutters came out. "I—I—"
Henry couldn't help but chuckle. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Jasper just couldn't ask. At least, not now. He needed them both to be there, just to see how they'd react. He knew that going after Charlotte would be much easier. She was much more open with her expressions, and couldn't lie to Jasper to save her life without bluffing. But Henry? He could be secretive when he wanted to, even with Jasper.
Jasper nodded stiffly, "I'll talk to you about it later, alright?"
He watched as Henry watched him, his expression neutral but the slight twinkle in Henry's eye gave Jasper everything he needed to know.
Just as well as Jasper knew Henry, Henry knew Jasper, and Henry had always been able to sense when something was off, just like he had just now.
Jasper dropped his head in his arms, a muffled sigh escaping his lips. Today was not starting off well.
Charlotte walked towards Jasper with a large smile plastered on her face, dropping her book bag down on the lunch table as she sat across from him. She stared at him for a few seconds before smiling larger. "Jasper." She greeted cheerfully, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.
Jasper raised an eyebrow, opening the fruit bowl on his lunch tray and chewing on a grape. "Charlotte.."
"Guess what!"
"Mm, what?"
"Well," Charlotte shifted and turned, taking out a out a flag that had 'Swellview High School Dance Team' written in bold cursive, glitter on every crevice of the whole thing. "I made the dance team!" She smiled the biggest she could muster.
Jasper high-fived her. "Ah, yes. You've made the dance team for about.. three years now."
He watched as she shrugged his comment off, still smiling. "We get our costumes, shoes, dance-bag, and other essentials next month. Apparently we're supposed to be joining some sort of dance competition later on this year."
Jasper looked pleased. "Oh really? Now that's a first—"
"What is?"
Silence quickly surrounded the table as Henry took a seat next to Jasper, balancing an energy and a granola bar in his left hand.
Jasper watched as Charlotte stealthily packed her flag, her look of glee disappearing. She cleared her throat awkwardly before looking everywhere but at Henry. "I forgot I promised Sidney and Oliver I'd help them build their macaroni volcano for their science project today. During lunch. So I'll see you later, Jasper."
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Sidney and Oliver? I thought they disappeared into oblivion? And why a macaroni volcano? Wait, I take that back. That's actually kind of cool. Couldn't they have asked me to help them?"
Charlotte blinked her eyes shut briefly, disregarding his questions. When she reopened them, she sighed impatiently. "I have to —"
Jasper couldn't contain himself anymore. "Okay, what the hell is going on with you two?"
Charlotte froze, her eyes planted on her book bag. For a brief moment, Jasper could've sworn he'd seen her eyes swell, but with a few blinks of her eyes the shininess was gone.
So, something did happen.
Henry shrugged casually, ripping the granola bar paper open. "Nothing, Jas. What's giving you the idea that something is going on between us?"
If Charlotte hadn't been so noticeable, maybe Jasper would've believed him. Jasper sighed. "I've.. seen things." He explained lamely. He didn't want to give himself away this soon.
"And what might those things be?"
"You know.. things."
"No, Jasper, I don't think I know what things you're talking about."
Charlotte stood abruptly, muttering things underneath her breath. Her book bag rested against her shoulder as she played with the strap nervously. "Just what Henry said," she started, locking her eyes on Henry, who stopped mid-chew. "Nothing happened between us. Absolutely nothing. I was tutoring Henry for a little while so he could ace his astronomy final, but other than that there is nothing to be suspicious about. I don't tutor him anymore. I'll call you later, Jasper." And just like that, Charlotte was gone.
Henry resumed his movements as if Charlotte hadn't left, but the strain in his jaw gave him away.
Jasper noticed it was the little things that gave Henry away, no matter how insignificant they seemed.
They were lying to him. And for the first time in Jasper's life, he needed to figure out what was going on between them without their assistance, whether they wanted him to know or not.