*I own only plot.*
Trudy woke up, full of happiness and she was ready to face the day. She had a cup of mint tea, ran to the bathroom, showered and wrapped in her towel, doing her makeup and cleaning her teeth. She gave herself a critical look in the mirror without makeup and decided it was definitely not time to stop using it. She would have liked to stop using it, though. She selected her favourite purple shirt and her blue jeans, happily. Ten minutes after she dressed, an uncomfortable damp sensation spread and she checked the damage to her clothes. Her jeans were now stained with dark red blood. "Oh, my God." She groaned and ran to her wardrobe. She seized a pair of black jeans and another pair of underwear. She remembered a pad, put her other clothes in the wash, hoping to get the stain out. She had every plan to get to New Look that evening. She suddenly felt the cramp. It made her wince in pain, swallow down some toast and an ibuprofen tablet, then set off in the rain. As if it wasn't bad enough, it rained. She'd thought the rain'd hold off until she got to work, so she hadn't taken an umbrella. She arrived at work, dripping wet. Her coworker took one look and fell about laughing. "Come on, I'm wet, it's not that funny."
He laughed harder. "You... You..." He couldn't even breathe.
"Are you done yet?" She asked after ten minutes, annoyed.
Eventually, he gasped out "God above, Trudy, you look hilarious! Your makeup's dripping, you look like you've just had your second shower and soaked your clothes through too and you stand there, tell me you're soaked like it isn't obvious, then you yell at me with such funny expression on and you... Oh, God, you're hilarious! You're a classic!"
"Well, I have a spare outfit stashed here, so now who's the joke?"
When she returned, dressed in a more suitable outfit, her makeup gone, he stared. Her damp curls were tied in a bun on the top of her head, she wore a decent outfit, then showed him. He shrugged. "It's nice."
Two hours later, Trudy dropped her phone and someone stood on it. "Oh!" She gasped.
"Sorry, ma'am!" The man apologised.
"Forget it, it's fine." She sighed.
Jasper tried to hide his laughter, but he felt sorry for her. That lunchtime, Vera accidentally on purpose threw cola into Trudy's face. "Whoops! I'm sorry." Vera sweetly and falsely apologised.
"Whatever!" Trudy's usually quiet and mild voice had risen a little.
She stormed outside and walked in the woods for a while. Jasper saw her kicking up the leaves, her face displaying her anger and hurt. When she got back into the hall, she grabbed her cleaning supplies and began polishing. She tripped coming down the stairs, hurting her ankle. She sat for a moment in pain, then Jasper asked her "Are you alright?" He felt really concerned for her.
"Just fine." She lied firmly, then forced herself up. All she wanted was to go home and sleep. She felt her ankle twist strangely and it hurt her like madness. She got their coffees, making Jasper feel better about her. He noticed her limp and knew she was in pain.
"Could I check that ankle? It looks like you're not walking right." He told her.
"What's wrong with that? I'm already a joke around here. Why shouldn't I walk as strangely as I am?"
"It's not right. Your ankle could have broken."
"It's a sprain, not a break." She told him. "I can handle it. Forget it."
He heard the annoyance in her tone, he saw it behind her smile. She wished she hadn't turned up at work that day. As they worked, Trudy somewhat sadly, a teacher said "The rumours of what happened in the school canteen between Trudy and Vera have spread like wildfire."
"What rumours?" Jasper asked.
"Oh, just that Vera threw her drink into Trudy's face. It apparently really embarrassed her. She even had a dull look in her eyes. She normally has a sparkle of happiness in there. Poor thing, she needs someone to love her."
Jasper knew his friend was right. He had no trouble catching her, she was sat down, in agony. "Are you OK?"
"Not really. But don't bother. It's not important."
He sighed. "You're having an awful day, aren't you?"
She shrugged. "I had it coming."
"What do you mean?"
"Just that." She told him, not caring.
She sighed softly. He wrapped an arm around her. "Listen, you're just a bit down on your luck today. I reckon that by tomorrow, you'll be back to your chirpy, bouncy self." He told her.
"Yeah, probably. It's just an excuse for people to want me to stay away." She replied and got up.
He knew she wasn't happy, that all her passion for her job and her friends had gone. Her usual happy magic had vanished. Her light and blue-skies attitude had turned dark and grey. She looked colourful to people who didn't know her, but the ones who knew her saw her light darken. Jasper said "Look, I'm going out, Trudy. You have to hold the fort."
She shrugged. Jasper went to Mr Sweet. He knocked and he called "Enter." Jasper walked in. "Ah, Jasper. What can I do for you? You need me to get Trudy out of the hall?"
"No. I want you to give her a day off tomorrow. The poor woman's struggling. She's having a really bad day and she works hard, she needs a day off."
"OK. She can have tomorrow off." Mr Sweet told him. "Just so you know, she'll only really want someone to love her. Try to be nice to her."
In the hall, Jasper found his friend dusting. He called "Trudy? I talked to Mr Sweet. You've got a day off tomorrow."
"Thanks." She replied, her voice breaking.
Jasper heard the crack and her quiet sniffle. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her. "What's wrong?"
She softly replied "What's right?"
He cuddled her. "Really. Come on, what's the matter?"
She squirmed free. "It's not important."
Jasper caught hold of her. "Yes it is. Your happiness is always important."
Trudy controlled her voice and said "No, it isn't. Look, I'm just being silly because I'm hormonal today, that's all. Forget it. I'm not really upset."
Jasper knew better than that. He could see it in her eyes. He could see the redness around the edges, the dampness of her lashes, the tell-tale dampness around her eyes, the light redness of a scrubbing tissue around her nose, the shine of her skin. She'd been crying while he was getting her a day off. He knew that she was hurting and he hated to see her upset. "Well, hormonal or not, come here. You need some love."
"Not particularly. I'm content with you slapping me and telling me to quit being such a girl. It's not like I'm doing anything special."
Jasper saw just how special she really was. He wanted to see her smile, not see her cry. The next thing he knew, she was dusting along the railing of the mezzanine, she leaned down to clean where she couldn't reach, fell over the rail and landed on the floor below. He ran to her side, noticing that she was still conscious. "Are you OK? What hurts?"
"Yes, I'm fine. My stomach hurts, but that's cramps. It's nothing big."
He knew she was rejecting help, he knew she wasn't OK. A half hour later, Trudy was singing the saddest song she knew and she began to feel somewhat better. She was sad, but she kept up a massive smile and the happiest attitude she could possibly conjure up. It was all a lie. She smiled over her coffee, showing everyone who didn't know her better that her life was great. She knew that her life had just had a tiny glitch, nothing else. She was just taking herself one peg down and she needed it. Jasper found himself adoring her. When her lip trembled, he had a strong desire to kiss the pain from her. She was falling to bits inside and it was evident to them both. Trudy sang softly, wishing she was in Spain. She wanted to be left alone, to have people ignore her. She took a walk outside, not really caring so much that she got wet in the rain. Her day had gone to rot in no time. She needed passion, she needed someone to look after her, to make sure that she was happy, but she wanted the opposite. She got back and Jasper was thrilled to see her. "Hey, Trudy. Come here, sit down."
She did, relaxing in the chair. She had an actual pain in her chest and she couldn't find her pulse. She sighed, thinking that her heart had disintegrated. She lay her head back, only to find that she wanted to vomit. "If you don't mind my asking, why are you being nice?"
He shrugged. "I guess I just prefer to know that you're happy and that it's not a fake."
Trudy sighed. "Yeah, I was never that good at drama in school. Wish I was that young and innocent again. At least I was partially decent-looking as a kid."
Jasper smiled. "Look how that turned out."
She nodded dejectedly. "Yeah, worse than that."
He shook his head. "No. You turned out perfect. You're beautiful."
She finally laughed, a genuine laugh. "You think so? The day when I'm not wearing makeup, when my hair's been soaked in rainwater twice and when I look like some god's just gone and wet himself laughing at me, then squashed me flat?"
"Yeah. Except, you look amazing, not like someone's squashed you. You're beautiful and you know it."
She felt a soft glow, a warm, happy glow. "Thanks." She whispered.
Jasper loved that small glow in her dark eyes. It progressed with Victor slapping Trudy, getting yelled at by Jasper, Vera taunting her and punching her low in the stomach, hurting her more, getting thrown out of the library by Jasper, who then tended to Trudy's injuries. After that, a strange man began randomly massaging her stomach. Jasper called the police on him after Trudy had protested. He protectively held her, longing to kiss her. He denied himself the temptation, knowing she may get hurt if he showed her that much love, then backed out of Rufus' plans. That night, as he locked up, he turned to face Trudy, then said "You've got tomorrow off and the whole weekend. OK?"
"Mm. Look, I should have said this hours ago, but thanks. You're really kind. Thanks a lot for looking out for me today. I needed that."
What she did next shocked him. She reached up and brushed a very gentle kiss on his lips. He smiled and wished he could keep her there. "Anytime, Trudy." He told her, smiling happily.
She smiled too. "Goodnight." She smiled at him and walked off.
He was thrilled. "Goodnight, precious one." He softly smiled.