Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry if this chapter kind of sucks…
Jasper POV
Jasper could only stare as the boy slowly got off his bed and walked over, his hand outstretched in greeting. As the boy stood up, Jasper got a look at the book he was reading. A biography on Nelson Mandela. Fuck.
What's-his-face Mr. Nerd Glasses stood expectantly in front of Jasper, his arm still extended, an unidentifiable expression on his face. Jasper quickly snapped out of his thoughts and shook his hand. The boy's hands were smooth and soft, as if he had never worked a day in his life. He probably hadn't.
"What's your name?" The boy asked.
"Jasper Whitlock." Oh shit. Jasper thought. He had known this kid for less than one minute and he had already forgot his name. What a great first impression.
The boy smiled a tiny bit. "Nice to meet you. I'm sure you've already made assumptions about me, given my birth, but I hope that we can get to know each other properly before too much judgment is passed."
What the hell? Did this guy even speak English? Jasper felt slightly exasperated and more than a little confused. What did he mean 'his birth'? What was his name again? Jasper gave into his confusion and decided to ask again.
"I'm really sorry but do ya think you could give me your name again? I must be really outta it or somethin'. I'm not usually this stupid…" He gave out a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his neck. Jasper hated how his southern twang became more prominent whenever he was uneasy.
The guy in front of him blushed. Weird. "Uh…yea, no problem. I'm Edward Mason."
Now Jasper was sure he had heard that name before, but he couldn't for the life of him remember from where. The day had already been such an adventure; some random name was the last thing on his mind.
"Okay Edward," Jasper said, putting unnecessary emphasis on his name. "What do you guys do for fun around here?" He wasn't really sure what he expected for an answer. Edward seemed like a complete dweeb, the sort of kid he would expect to go here, unlike Emmett. After years of getting hand-me-down designer clothes from the abbey, Jasper could immediately tell Edward was wearing a Burberry jacket (probably cost over $1500 dollars), a custom fitted Armani jeans, and Gucci loafers (link to jacket: lizard-skin-topcollar-harrington-jacket-p38794171). Yea, fucking old man loafers, the kind that didn't look good on anyone. Jasper tried, he really did, not to judge a book by its cover, but this book seemed to be an easy read.
"Well…" Edward said, breaking him out of his thoughts. "We have a large library! There is this one section that is particularly interesting, over in the nonfiction…"
Oh yea, definitely an easy read.
Xx
Jasper spent the rest of his Saturday getting a tour from Edward, which turned out to be a super long, super boring history lesson of the school and its grounds. Some of it was interesting, like the part about cowboys, but the rest was just boring as fuck.
Finally, after what seemed like forever (but was really only an hour), the pair found themselves in the cafeteria (which was great because Jasper was starving).
"What would you like to eat?" Edward asked politely, gesturing to the large variety of foods presented in front of them. Jasper felt his jaw hit the floor. Never, in his entire life, had he seen so much food in one area. There was salad, pasta dishes, muffins, the 'special' for tonight (filet mignon), crème brulee, and a bunch of others he couldn't name.
Still gawking, Jasper turned to Edward and said, "This is all for us to eat? It must cost a fucking fortune! How do the cooks even have time to make everythin' here? Is it like this every meal?"
Edward pushed his nerd glasses farther up his nose, a nervous tick that Jasper had noticed he did quite often. "I'm not really sure what to say. The cooks are well versed in the art of making food for large quantities of teenage boys, who as you know require a generous amount of calories, so they're quiet used to it by now. And besides, it's really not that much food. You should really see the Christmas feast they have every year…" But Jasper had stopped listening.
Not that much food? Not that much food?! Jasper had grown up in a household that lived paycheck to paycheck (if there was one), and a lot of food consisted of more than five items in the pantry at once. This, what was in front of them,was enough to feed an entire fucking army. And it was good quality stuff, too!
Realizing that Edward had stopped talking, Jasper turned and looked him in the eye. "What happens to the extra?"
Edward glanced uncomfortably at the ground, running a slender hand through his already-messy bronze hair. "Well…I'm not really sure. Esme is usually the one in charge of running the cafeteria and managing the food supply. I guess you should ask her."
Jasper nodded his head, feeling slightly embarrassed. He had probably just acted exactly how Edward had expected, pushy and annoying. He really need to control himself or he was going to get himself a new roommate. Looking back toward the food, he said "I'll have the filet mignon. Is it any good?"
Looking visibly relieved, Edward nodded and preceded to recount the whole cycle of how the meat comes into the kitchen and turns into the meal now on their plates. Tuning him out, Jasper looked up from the food line and glanced around the large room that was 'the cafeteria' (if it could be called that). It was bigger than any cafeteria he had been in, with a big vaulted ceiling and shiny tile floor. Large windows to the west let in the dying sunlight, casting a pinkish sort of haze over everything.
Jasper glanced around the many tables, taking note of the wide variety of boys. There was one table that was full of large boys with tan skin and flowing black hair. Another table had a bunch of skinny guys all dressed in black, accentuating their pale skin. A few tables over sat Emmett.
What should he do? Edward would probably have his own group of nerdy friends that he ate with, and that didn't sound appealing in the least. Jasper could sit with Emmett, but he looked like a pretty popular guy, and Jasper didn't do well with popular. He most likely would just end up eating by himself, like the loser he is.
"Jasper." Edward said, awkwardly placing his plate on one arm and nudging Jasper with the other. "I…I understand it's hard being the 'new kid' in school. So if you would like to sit with me, I would be honored to have your company." Edward's cheeks heated up, and looked back down at the ground, tightly clutching his plate in front of him in an almost defensive position. With an invitation like that, Jasper couldn't even think about refusing.
"Sure Edward. Where do ya sit?"
Edward let out a shaky breath and gave Jasper a blinding smile. Dang. This kid must be desperate if he actually wanted to spend more time in Jasper's company. Edward lifted one hand of his plate to point to Emmett's table. "I sit over there."
A bit taken aback, Jasper nodded his head and, grabbing his own tray, followed Edward around the cafeteria. When they arrived at the table, Emmett lifted a large hand to greet them. "Yo, Jasper! My man! How is life in slow lane treatin' ya?" He gave out a boisterous laugh before stuffing his face with pasta. Jasper just rolled his eyes and slid into an empty seat next to a baby-faced kid with poorly gelled blonde hair. The poor guy looked like a six-year-old when compared to Emmett's towering figure.
Edward sat down next to Emmett. The brunet thumped Edward on the back so hard, Japer was surprised his glasses didn't come flying off his face. Instead, Edward just began working on his muffin, acting like nothing had happened. It must be a regular thing.
Jasper looked down at his plate of filet mignon and quickly dug in. Delicious.
Xx
"So…you and Emmett," Jasper started. They were back in their room, and Edward was on his bed reading his Nelson Mandela biography while Jasper was unpacking. "Quite the pair ya'll make. I'm guessin' there's a story there?"
Edward blushed, something he seemed to do quite frequently. The blush looked nice on his smooth, pale skin. In fact he looked kinda cute… Wait, did Jasper just think Edward was cute? No. This wasn't happening. Jasper had decided that if he were to come to this school, all of those thoughts would be buried deep, deep inside of him until they all but disappeared. It couldn't happen. It wouldn't.
Oblivious to Jasper's internal debate, Edward responded, "Actually, he and I grew up together. He's was like the big brother I never had, since I'm only child."
Jasper felt a pang of sadness, thinking of how lonely it would be to have no siblings. Yea, he and Rose fought like bitches most of the time, but they were still there for each other. It's what growing up interesting. Well, that and pot.
"But it never bothered me too much, anyway." Edward said, making Jasper leave the world of drugs and focus on the conversation. "I mean, really, I was always more into books and being spiritually edified than being social." No shit Jasper thought. "Emmett forced me to come out of my shell a little bit, but I still feel slightly isolated from my peers."
Again, Jasper felt kinda bad for the kid. Maybe it was the glasses, or the crazy vocabulary he used, but to Jasper, Edward seemed kinda vulnerable. And that was some dangerous shit, man.
Soon it grew closer and closer to bedtime, and Jasper finally got his suitcase completely unpacked. Who knew the damn thing could hold so much crap? And since when did Jasper even own this much shit? Putting his disgusting suitcase in the closet, Jasper yawned and pulled out his PJ bottoms. He looked over at Edward, who looked the picture of contentment, his body sprawled out on the bed, his hair a bronze mess, his glasses positioned haphazardly on his face. And an expression of pure content to accompany them.
"Hey, Edward." Jasper said to get the boy's attention. "Do ya mind that I sleep shirtless? It's kinda a habit, since I grew up in Houston (usually without air conditioning). It won't bother ya none, right?" The last thing Jasper wanted was to freak out his new roommate not even a day after they met.
Edward gave him a crooked grin that did something funny to his heart. "Go right ahead. It would be impolite of me to suggest you change your nocturnal habits merely for my satisfaction."
Jasper scratched the back of his head. "Well, I'm not really sure what you just said, so I'm gonna take that as a yes." With these words Jasper slipped off his shirt, revealing a tanned and muscular body (hey it was hot and Texas and Jasper liked to work out). Jasper slipped out of his old pants and put on his PJ bottoms, not noticing the pair of eyes that were glued to him the entire time.
Once he was dressed, Jasper slipped into the covers of his bed and gave a loud moan. Never, in his entire life, could he imagine sleeping in a bed like this. Silky sheets, a cushy pillow, and a thick mattress that made him want to sleep his life away. Or at least take a fucking ridiculously long nap.
Jasper looked over at Edward and noticed him red-faced and open jawed. After being spotted Edward quickly looked down at his book, trying desperately to blend into his covers in an attempt to hide from his embarrassment.
Jasper just shook his head. Poor boy, he'd probably never spent the night with someone before. Jasper yawned and tried to think of something to say. And then it struck him. "Hey, Edward!" He called out from within his bed sheets. "We should play twenty questions, or whatever the fuck that's called. I'll ask you somethin', then you ask me, and so on. Whadaya think?"
Edward said yes, so Jasper decided to start with an easy question. "What's your favorite color?"
"Blue." He responded almost instantly. Jasper didn't even need to look at him to know he was blushing. "What…What is yours?"
Jasper thought about it for a moment. "Green." He decided. Green was a nice color. It was the color of grass, the color of leaves in the spring, the color of his favorite popsicle flavor. "Alright I guess it's my turn again. Have you ever had a girlfriend?" Jasper wasn't sure where that had come from.
"Ummm…definitely not." Came Edward's reply. "Have you?"
"Yea." Jasper conceded. "I've had quite a few, actually."
"O…oh." Edward said quietly.
It made Jasper feel guilty, and he didn't know why. He was usually proud of his player status. Maybe it was because Edward seemed so innocent. Jasper didn't want to corrupt him. "How about you come up with a question, Edward?"
Edward thought for a moment. Wistfully, he asked, "If you could go back in time and change any one moment, what would it be?"
Wow, this shit's getting' deep Jasper thought. "Uhhh….I'm not really sure. Probably….Probably saying goodbye to my dad one last time before he left for the army. I never saw him again."
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Edward said.
Jasper could only shrug, which was awkward in his horizontal position. "S'okay. I was six, so it's been awhile."
The two continued to talk until their eyelids got too heavy to see. And then fell asleep hard, all thoughts about school far from their minds.
