"What the hell are you doing here?" Jasper fumes.
"I could ask you the same," Mandy replies. She languidly raises an arm above her head perching her body against the doorway.
"This is my father's house."
"And my boyfriend's."
Jasper lets out a guttural sigh, forcing her to move to the side as he walks past with his luggage. Eleanor winces at her with an awkward wave before following him inside.
Mandy slowly prowls behind them while tending to a blow pop. Eleanor observes the grubby shack that's roughly the size of her old bedroom. Cigarette butts and various pieces of trash line the floor. Most of the walls have holes in them, and there's an overwhelming stench of sweaty sex.
Jasper stands at the foot of the staircase peering upward. The stairs creek as Earl makes his way downstairs. Baggy denim jeans hang around his hips in desperate need of a belt. He isn't wearing a shirt, and his chest and back are extraordinarily hairy. "Heyyy! There's my boy!" he beams with joy spreading his arms open to Jasper.
Instead of accepting the hug, his son breaks into bewildered laughter. "You've got to be joking me, right?" The clueless expression on his father's face clues him in the need to explain. "I told you that Eleanor and I would be arriving tonight."
Earl looks to Eleanor with his signature smirk. He raises his hand curling his fingers together as he waves to her. She returns the same winced, awkward gesture as she had Mandy. "Well what's all the fuss for, Jasper?" he questions scratching his belly.
"For starters.. put a fucking shirt on." He grabs one from the floor throwing it directly at his face.
"Jasper," Eleanor warns. "We're his guests. Behave."
"Oh, that reminds me. How could I be so rude?" Mandy calls from the rugged, beat up couch. She stands to her feet walking toward the kitchen. "Can I get either of you a drink?"
"No. Yes." Jasper and Eleanor say in unison.
"That was a yes from me!" Eleanor shouts, clearing any possible confusion.
"So what's new, kid?" Earl asks swirling his glass of whiskey. He's reclined on the foul couch with his arms spread across the top cushions. Mandy is snuggled up beneath one of his arms, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers.
"Well.." Jasper kneels forward in the fold up chair interlacing his fingers. "There's a blood thirsty monarch on the hunt for me, and if I'm found I'll probably be beheaded.. aside from that, not much."
Mandy's lips shudder as she holds back a hearty laugh. "I warned ya.. you should have run with me when you had the chance." Eleanor glares at her. "And I'm sorry for what I did, Lenny. But you were so easily manipulated. Like stealing candy from a baby.."
"Now Mandy." Earl puts a hand up cutting off her arrogant banter. "There's no need to talk to her like that. And it's not like you got off scot-free anyhow."
"What're you talking about?" Jasper asks with narrowed eyes. "I let her go that night."
"Actually I let her go," Eleanor interjects standing to her feet. She nears Mandy's side with her arms folded as she leans closer. "And don't you forget that."
Mandy spikes a combative eyebrow as she plops the cherry from her drink in her mouth.
"Dad, what do you mean she got off scot-free?" Jasper persists, ignoring the banter between the two women.
Earl's eyes dart between a very unhappy Mandy and his son. "Did I say that?" he chuckles shaking his head. "This drink must be stronger than I thought.."
Jasper speculatively stares his father down, observing the telltale expression that he was full of shit.
"Okay! Who's in the mood for some steak?" Earl preemptively breaks the pending confrontation. Mandy shoots her boyfriend a death glare before excusing herself after him. She stomps behind him, closely trailing him to the kitchen.
"Thirty minutes in, and he's already lying to me," Jasper fumes closing his eyes.
"Lying to you about what?" Eleanor drains her glass of wine.
"Didn't you hear that? They're hiding something, and I want no part of it. I think I have enough bullshit on my plate." He fidgets with the phone in his pocket pushing it to the surface. "Rosie couldn't have made it too far yet. I'll have her turn back."
Eleanor lunges at him grabbing his phone. "Are you mad?" she scoffs folding her arms. "Do you really think that I want to be here either? That bitch stole from me, and is both of our exes, if I must remind you."
"Nope, you don't," he blandly replies, placing his forehead between his thumb and index.
"We need your father's help." Eleanor sits on his lap forcing his arms around her waist. "Give the bloke a chance, would you? He's the only option we have left," she adds stroking his hair. "And I'd rather my boyfriend keep his head. It's too sexy to be chopped off."
"Fine," he complies, raising his brows at the vulgar statement. "Only for you."
She uses her fingers to smoosh his cheeks together before kissing him. "Good."
Suddenly feeling her equilibrium off balance, Eleanor tightly grasps the back of Jasper's shoulders for stability.
"Are you alright, babe?" He observes that she's having trouble sitting upward as he presses his hand against her back.
"I'm- I'm fine," she slurs as she attempts to stand. She lethargically falls back to his lap as he catches her in his arms. He delicately places her chin in between his fingers. Her eyes roll around in her head before she closes them.
"Len?"
Eleanor's head hangs backward, her neck no longer able to hold the weight. Jasper loosens his grip ever so slightly, lightly shaking her. She listlessly loses balance, slips between his grasp, and collapses to the floor.
"Holy shit. Len?!" He kneels beside her on the floor scooping her up once more. She's completely unconscious. "Earl, Mandy! Call an ambulance!"