Charper (No)… Jasplotte!

Only just for a moment, things got a little weird. Charlotte dreamed about Henry. Henry dreamed about Charlotte. She was brave enough to run hers by him in the lion's den. He'd rather sew his own lips shut than to bring up the dreams that he had had. But, then… Things between them neutralized. As soon as he took his own advice - "Dreams are weird, Dude."

But, there was another reason that things went back to normal for Charlotte and Henry… Because things got really weird with her and Jasper, or at least it seemed that way to Henry.

He first noticed it whenever they went into the Mole people tunnels. Charlotte was uncharacteristically carefree and upon realizing that they could tunnel their way to Nacho Ball, the gang went into the tunnels for a friends' day out. Well, when they hit up Six Poles Over Swellview, Jasper kept rushing to sit with her on rides and then won her a stuffed dinosaur. Jasper was always very competitive, so Henry didn't think much about the number of times he tried to get that plushie for her. Ray's only rule was that Jasper not sit on rides with him, so Jasper clinging to Char there wasn't completely out of character either.

Whenever the mole people threatened them, more than a few times, Jasper seemed to be trying to block Charlotte from them. He figured it was one of those natural reflexes. Jasper was a gentleman, after all. It could be perfectly normal for him to be that guy, the one that tries to defend a lady. Henry just wasn't sure if he'd seen Jasper do this before, for Charlotte, that is. He'd seen him straight up attack a vacuum moments after it sucked her up, though. He'd seen him take a good cactus pummeling to guard a girl on the first and only date. So… Yeah, maybe Jasper did stuff like that all the time and he simply hadn't noticed before. Maybe the only reason that he had noticed that time was because after the weird dreams, he sort of had been paying a little more attention to Charlotte. Not like in an "I want her," way, but more like an, "Honestly, dude… Dreams are WEIRD" way. He kept wondering… WHY did they have those dreams about each other? Anyway, he brushed off the idea that Jasper was being weird around Charlotte.

While Jasper helped Charlotte load batteries into Ray's spotlight for the imminent rescue, Jasper wondered, "Hey… Mole People haven't terrorized you, have they?"

"No chance. We've got Mole People repellent on the grounds. There's not a single pest that my dad would ever let onto Page property."

"Cool," Jasper said. Schwoz was annoyed that he was still tied up, but more irritated by whatever it was that was taking place with Jasper. He was being weird, even for him. But, he was following Charlotte's lead, so hopefully soon she would decide that Schwoz needed to be freed.

After Charlotte rescued Ray and Henry from the Mole People, Jasper kicked a retreating one in the butt, and a blindfolded Henry punched Jasper in the face; they rushed out to avoid getting blown up. Jasper left her. Yep, typical Jasper… But, whenever she tried to run past, he definitely let her pass and pushed her from behind to speed her through. She, Jasper and Henry hugged when they made it out in time and looked at the spot where things collapsed. "Think we should have helped Ray out?" Jasper wondered.

"He's. Indestructible." Charlotte reminded him, with a pat on the shoulder.

.

Whenever Jasper showed up to their morning walk to school with her favorite cupcake and her exact coffee order, Henry's eyebrow raised, though he didn't say anything about it. Jasper didn't get him any cupcake or coffee! They started talking about band practice and while Charlotte was mostly just eating her creme brulee cupcake while Jasper was just telling her how great she was at music, Henry felt left out. That was surprising. This never happened. Sure, they had their own friendship, outside of him and it had definitely grown since Jasper began working with them at Junk n' Stuff, but… Now, they seemed downright cozy and, "REALLY, Jasp? No treats for me, huh?"

Jasper and Charlotte stopped and stared at him. Jasper was at a loss for words, but Charlotte swallowed her last bit of cupcake and reminded him, "Thought you wanted to make sure that your figure was ready for your Hot Boi Summer?"

Henry folded his arms and reminded her, "I can eat cupcakes and be a hot boi. I mean, look at Jasper!" Then he cleared his throat and Jasper blushed.

Charlotte joked, "Get a room, whydontcha!"

Henry stammered over his words as Charlotte continued walking, shaking her head. Jasper waited for a moment, then he and Henry whisper fussed, "What's wrong with you, why would say something like that in front of her?"

"What's wrong with you? That's Charlotte for crying out loud! Why are you acting like she's a girl?"

"She's a woman! A beautiful smart woman and you're not gonna block me this time with your ambiguously jilted lover schtick!"

Charlotte looked back at them, not having heard a word of that, and said, "Well, I'm gonna let you lovebirds have your spat. I'm gonna get to work. Hope you work it out!" She continued walking and Jasper clenched his fists and groaned.

"Wait, Jasp… Seriously… Seriously? Are you really… into her?"

"No, Henry. God, you don't have to be so jealous all the time." Jasper kept walking. Henry stammered over his words again. He wasn't jealous. But, if Jasper said that he wasn't interested in Charlotte, he believed him. Jasper didn't lie to him. He knew that he had no reason to.

Truth was, Jasper was scared. He didn't scare easily. He didn't shame easily. Jasper had very few times in life where he even regretted anything. He was confident and even if he was wrong, he was fine with that. He knew that nobody was perfect and he accepted that he wasn't any exception. But, Charlotte was. She was an exception. She was perfect. He knew, from the moment he heard that she was dreaming about him that he had a new dream, a new mission and a new path to try to follow. But, he also knew that his chances were slim… And Henry had just made them even slimmer. He needed to separate Henry from this thing. He had to go it alone. That was cool. He and Henry didn't have to share everything. Henry didn't have to know all of his business either.

Maybe he'd gone too far with his ministrations if Henry noticed that he was trying to impress her. Maybe he had to dial it back. If anybody knew what Charlotte liked and wanted, it was Jasper… Not really because he was simply so good at knowing people, but because he was generally her first line of communication whenever she had a crush on somebody, or somebody had a crush on her. He was a good listener and she knew that he wouldn't make fun of her, like Henry might, so she confided in him about stuff like that. Her advice to him was usually along the lines of telling him that he went too far with his efforts. That wasn't what he wanted to do, not with her. So, he had to step it back… and he had to keep Henry out of it. He'd had a dream about that, actually.

In the dream: Charlotte had to stay after school to help with student tutoring. Jasper brought her some Nacho Ball and threw in a burrito shaped stress ball because, "I know that stupid people give you anxiety and you can't call them stupid in tutoring sessions."

"Awwww," Charlotte had said. But, by that time, Henry couldn't hold back any longer.

They walked out of the school and Henry asked, "What's going on with you and Charlotte, Dude?"

Jasper excitedly wondered, "You think she's feeling me?" Henry snickered, then chuckled, then cackled, then tried to bring his guffaw down through catching his breath. Jasper frowned.

"Sorry, Bro. It's just… It's Charlotte, you know? Does she really feel anybody? I don't even think that she's noticed that you've been extra sweet on her lately. Speaking of… What? When did this happen? Why you all of a sudden into Char?"

Jasper smiled and looked up at the clouds, trying not to gush as he said, "Well, I overheard her talking to Piper and she said that she was having dreams about kissing me. I don't know - I guess I never thought she'd ever think about me that way, and pretty much from the moment I found out, I've been into it." He shrugged, "She's really pretty and smart and if I have my foot in the door,.. I mean, why wouldn't I try?"

"Charlotte was having dreams about you too?" Henry wondered.

"Too?" Jasper stopped walking and his head fell. "Not too…" He sighed, "There's no way that she was actually talking about me. I feel stupid. You were right to laugh. Charlotte would never go out with me. Especially if she was actually dreaming about you, instead."

"I think you're being too hard on yourself. It has nothing to do with me that Charlotte would never go out with you. She's Char. You know. Smartest girl we know and keeps a cool head, but she just… doesn't really like people and stuff."

Jasper nodded his head, but Henry could tell that he was bummed out.

Then, Jasper woke up and clutched his heart. He'd asked Charlotte about it and she admitted that she hadn't been having dreams about him. He was crestfallen. But, she added, "But, I do think that relationship-wise, you'd probably be much better than Henry could be." And to him, that meant LEGGO! He tried not to smile too wide at it. He failed, but she didn't give him a hard time. And now… He wasn't sure where he was on the path, but he wasn't getting off of it.