Alright everyone! The creative juices are flowing now! It's Jasper's story now, enjoy.
Chapter 7
We made it inside just in time to hear the timer on the oven go off. Jasper left me in the living room while he went to what I assumed was the kitchen. His living room was definitely a good mix of manliness and cowboy-ness. There were deer antlers mounted on the walls amidst paintings of horses. "Alice," Jasper's voice came from right behind me breaking me out of my mesmerized state, "I'm afraid we have to eat on the coffee table, I don't have a dining room table."
"That's fine," I replied as he handed me a plate with the most amazing looking pizza slices on it. "Jasper, is this homemade pizza?"
"Yes, it was one of the things my mom made me learn before I turned 18. 'Jasper, boy you are not going to be eating takeout pizza like every single other boy in America'," I giggled as he mocked his mom. We both sat down on the couch and I went for my first piece of pizza, as I took the first bite I knew this pizza was the best I have ever tasted.
"Jasper, you are an amazing cook!" I exclaimed.
"I'm glad you like it little lady."
"So, Jasper, tell me about yourself," I urged not being able to wait another minute for his story.
"Well," he said taking another bite of his pizza, "I was born and raised on a horse farm in Florida where the winter was warm and the summers were hot. Looking back now I feel like I lived most of my life in a rodeo or training for one, which is why now I just own horses to ride them and take care of them, I guess it's like a therapy for me. I know you noticed the "Army Strong" sticker on my truck, so yes I was in the Army. To be honest, it was tough but it was probably the best 5 years of my life."
"Five? Aren't the terms, or whatever, supposed be by four years?" I questioned, maybe pushing a little bit.
Jasper hesitated before continuing on; maybe I did push too far. "Well Alice, this is something no one knows about except for my family and my doctors. When I was in Iraq at the end of my fifth year in the Army, me and a few other men were an unlucky bunch," he paused and took a deep breath, "We were all the victims of a roadside bomb. I have scars because of it, not just physically, but of course emotionally too. And then there's this tiny problem that I've been thinking about since the teacher talked about the nude assignment. The very reason why I thought about dropping the class until I saw that you were my partner. The reason why I didn't let you undress me in that room," he put down the piece of pizza that was in his hand and reached down to his pant leg and pulled it up and took off his boot. All I saw was metal. I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. "Alice, I lost part of my leg that day. The doctors tried to save it but it was too late."
"Jasper…"
"No, Alice, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear how sorry you are. This is why no one else knows. I don't want anyone else to know. And now you know. And then the whole class will have to know."
"We'll take it one step at a time, Jasper. I'm glad you didn't drop the class and that you felt that you could confide in me, it is humbling," I took his tear streaked face in my hands and I kissed him, and I never wanted to let him go, I didn't want him to be afraid and hide anymore.
This chapter has been in my head for a while now and it was so difficult to write. With 95% of my closest friends in the military I know bad things happen a lot, and possibilities like this cross my mid often. On another note, some yummy stuff is coming within the next couple of chapters...
