Who in the Hell Left the Gate Open?

"Do you remember when you told me that you would never take me for granted?" Charlotte asked, early into sophomore year.

Jasper was on the couch in his dorm, editing a video and gave her a weird glance before asking, "Do you feel like I've taken you for granted?"

She folded her arms and shook her head, speaking angrily through her teeth, "Do not do that. If I ask you a question, I expect your answer. Don't ask me a question back. Answer MY question before you go posing questions of your own!"

Jasper's eyes went wide and he set his laptop aside, now sure that he was in trouble for something and guilty that he'd obviously upset her. "I'm sorry," he said, getting up and coming over to her. He rubbed her arms, to try to comfort her, "Of course I remember. That was our first time. It was magical. All I wanted to do was make you happy and give you the world. I said more than that. I said that I would never hurt you, take advantage of you, or take you for granted, and I meant that. If I've mistakenly done any of that, that's the part that I didn't mean… Are you okay?"

Her eyes were damp and he was trying not to panic, but he had never seen this look in them before, so he didn't know what that meant. Then, he was worried because he usually always knew what Charlotte's looks meant, even down to the smallest curves up her lips, up or down, he knew when it was disdain, disgust, desire or delight. "I've made a terrible mistake," she said, shaking her head. "I made a decision to give so much of my heart to you that I didn't think of how much I needed for myself. You were dealt a bad hand and I've done everything that I can to convince you that I love you, anyway, even if you thought that nobody else did. I wanted you to be happy, so I've tried to make you happy, and I miscalculated what would do that. I thought that because praise seems to be your love language that I alone could compliment you and you'd feel amazing and you'd love me for that…" Her voice was breaking and so was his heart. Why did she sound like that? What was she saying?

"I do, so, SO much…"

"Let me!"She finally unfolded her arms, to raise a finger to stop him from begging her not to do this… what it sounded like she was about to do to him… "You needed so much validation, and for years, the people you cared about didn't regularly grant you that and I knew, I knew, that I was one of these guilty parties that didn't build you up. I wanted to try to rectify that…" She wiped a tear with the back of her hand, "I wanted to be loving to you and whenever you became this larger than life presence, I tried not to be jealous and I tried not to dampen things for you. You deserved the attention. You deserve that kind of love, you know?" Her face was distorted in pain. Jasper covered his own with both of his hands. He couldn't think right now. His head was throbbing and his eyes were burning. What the fuck had he done to upset her this much? She looked like she was going to collapse and he knew that somehow, this was his fault. She was saying it was hers, but that couldn't be right. She was just trying to be kind to him again. He'd fucked up and she was about to dump him for it… "Whenever you blew up on Henry a few months ago…" He looked up at her again. If this had anything to do with Henry, he was going to put his fist through a wall. "I probably should have come after you. Maybe I triggered a defense mechanism or, or SOMETHING!" Her hands tried to clench the air in front of her, hoping to pluck the words for the feelings that were tearing her apart. "But, after that night, it went even darker. I'd come into a room and you'd be there, and it used to be that even if the room was full, we were the only people there. The room was always full… But I was the only person there. I made a mistake. I pushed you away, I guess? I just… I can't be in a room with you and be alone. I hate it. I hate looking at you and seeing how happy everyone makes you and not knowing how to be a part of that anymore." She clasped her hands together and shrugged her shoulders, "I thought of the two of us that I was the stronger one, because I'd had a stronger foundation. I thought I could handle these changes. But, now I have to be strong enough to let you know that I have to feel loved too, and I don't have fans or friends here… So, it's up to me, and I think it's best that I figure this out and give you the space to grow into this supernova that I see in front of me…"

Jasper clenched his fists, his entire body shaking and turned a bright red color as he nodded his head and lied, "I want you to do whatever you think is best for you." She nodded, wishing deep down that he had fought her on it, a little bit more, but trying to tell herself that the mature thing to do was accept how much he was trying to make this easier on her. He looked like a different person. She could hardly recognize him as he tried to collect himself. But, when she made it to the door and moved to open it, he reflexively stopped her.

He shut it with his foot, placed his shaking hands together like a prayer and begged her in a whisper, "Please don't do this."

"Jasper."

"I'm sorry. I tried to just let you walk away, but I'm begging you not to. I know that I never even deserved you in the first place and I should just be grateful that you ever saw anything in me, but… don't you love me? Didn't I at least earn that in all this time?"

"You know the answer to that."

"Can I show you something? Let me go get it. Please. And if it doesn't matter, I'll get out of your way forever and let you live your life without me."

"I'm not doing anything on a whim, Jasper. I've thought about this. I've tortured myself with making this decision. I didn't make it lightly."

"Please, Dear God - just a couple of minutes!"

"Okay. But whatever you have doesn't change what I've told you."

He rushed to get a small locking journal and opened it with a key on his keychain of keys. "I have a crappy laptop and I'm always breaking my phone, so I put this on paper, to make sure that I don't lose the information." He showed her a page, "It's my life goals. I started this whenever we got together." He flipped some pages for her. "It's so that I could try to be the man that I thought that you'd want and need me to be for you." She looked at it and read in handwriting that she knew very well from years of Robin's Telling, Interesting ways to make Charlotte feel beautiful, that she'll appreciate. And it was numbered and in the margins, he had checks and X's, because obviously, some things had worked and some hadn't. He was pretty hit or miss with ideas, but just the fact that he'd been doing this when she was thinking that he wasn't paying any attention to her..."I just need you to tell me that you still love me and I didn't fuck this up."

"I will always love you. And you didn't fuck this up.." She honestly said. That only made her feel worse. WHY couldn't she just be the strong person that she wanted to be? Why did she need his validation so much, suddenly? Was it her jealousy or had he really been neglecting her?

"I know I'm not meeting your standards. I know I'm not perfect and I know that even if I did everything in here, I still may never be good enough, but… I just have to know… don't you even think that maybe I'm worth trying to work it out with?"

She was crying now, reading: Make sure to do whatever I have to to make Charlotte feel like I love her with all my heart, everyday. She nodded. "Yeah, you're worth trying to work it out with." She said and dropped her bag onto the floor.

"You… does that mean you're staying?" He asked, apprehensive, trembling uncontrollably. Too scared to get excited without her approval. She nodded. She couldn't form words. Jasper dropped his journal to scoop her up into a hug and hold her closely to himself. He was still shaking in terror. She was sobbing against his chest. "I'll do better. I'll be better. I promise. I don't care what it takes."

… Perhaps… A little rewind is in order?

FRESHMAN SUMMER

Jasper changed shifts at the home improvement shop to a full time, daytime summer gig, so that he had his evenings free for practices, parties and the parlour. Charlotte was in class during the day, and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, so they had plenty of time together. It was going fine, good even at times. She thought that maybe they had gotten over the hiccup with Henry and that whole mess, but even though he said that he texted Henry and apologized and that they were "fine," she knew that they weren't good, because they weren't talking. Whenever Henry visited, Jasper would always invite Casper along, like he needed someone else there to have fun with… which made it feel like an awkward double date. Awkward because Henry and Jasper were supposed to be best friends and Charlotte was supposed to be Jasper's girlfriend! Henry didn't want to bring it up since he and Jasper "were fine," so whenever the four of them crashed at the frat house, Charlotte insisted that she and Jasper slept in his room alone and that the other two went and found an empty room or they could fight over the couch. She and Jasper went to bed, Casper crashed on the couch and Henry pulled into the bed on the other side of Jasper. Jasper didn't have a problem with it. He was between them and it was fine.

But, Casper was sprawled on the couch, topless with boxers on and Charlotte felt taken aback that she was that comfortable. "How often does she go around topless around you?" She squealed, before Henry and Casper could even leave the room good.

"I don't know. It's a regular thing for her. She does that wherever. She's been spoken to by the league for it on multiple occasions." Charlotte was even angrier that Jasper wasn't taking her frustrations about this seriously, but felt like he really did seem oblivious as to why it was a problem for her.

"I don't care if she walks into CLASS like that, she's NOT allowed to do it in here. In fact, I don't even feel comfortable with you hanging out with her in here by yourselves now. Does she play video games like that?"

"I think you're…"

"I'd you say overreacting, my reaction will be to punch you right in the nutsack!"

"God!" He said, cuffing his jewels, "I was gonna say misinterpreting…" Charlotte went on screaming and losing her mind with Jasper trying to talk her down up until he must've succeeded, because Henry and Casper heard them… making up…

Casper smiled and fist pumped the air, "My nigga Big Dog!" She said.

Henry gasped clutched his shirt. "You… SAY that?" He asked.

She laughed and shook her head, "Please don't tell me that you're gonna go off on a tangent about how I can't say that around you, because I've already heard that from him and you can just say ditto."

"You ABSOLUTELY can't say that around me!" Henry said, disgusted. "How dare you!" She laughed, unsure if he was serious. He positively was.

"Look, I grew up around nothing but Black people and I have them in my family and stuff. It's not a big deal to any of them…"

"I'm not them. You'd better be glad that Jasper didn't tell Charlotte you've said that around him. And honestly… I can't believe he still hangs out with you!"

"He knows that I didn't mean it like that, and I've never repeated it since he was so damn offended, like you're acting like now." she rolled her eyes.

"What are you like the girl variant of fuckboy?"

"Wouldn't that just be fuckgirl?" She wondered.

"I guess you would know. That's clearly your tribe."

She shrugged, "Like your tribe is Team Abandon Jasper?"

Now… Henry wasn't the type to hit a girl, but he was ready to punch this one right between the eyes. She was a tall, athletic type with tone muscles and a flat chest. She almost coul;d pass for a boy. He really should probably talk himself out of socking her in the nose. Charlotte came out of Jasper's room all happy looking, glared at Casper and asked, "Why are you still here?"

"My shoes are in there, Chica," She said and went inside.

"What, you grew up around a bunch of Latinx people too?" Henry called out. Whenever she was getting her shoes, Henry whispered, "She said the N word to me!" Charlotte gasped and turned around, ready to pounce on her.

Jasper stopped her and said, "Let her go."

"Let her go? Henry said she said the N word, I should be letting her have it. YOU should be letting her have it!"

"She didn't mean it like that," Jasper said. Henry scratched the back of his neck. "Her Black people let her say that around them like affectionately, and she forgets that not everyone is okay with that. It's not like that guy that accosted you that time."

"Unfuckingbelievable," Charlotte said. "You just pulled your penis out of me and had best believed, you won't be doing that any time soon!" She looked furious, gathering her things. She was madder about that than the tittygate from before. "And just so YOU know, from now on, the Black people get to decide if it's okay and my Black ass says NO. NEVER. I don't give a damn what her shucking jiving ass friends said. And if I see her around here, it's going down. And if I see her with you outside of a game or practice, you can just take your dick to her."

She stormed off and Jasper asked Henry, "Did you do that on purpose?"

"I didn't do anything."

"Why would you tell her that? You know that Casper didn't mean it like that."

"Man, fuck Casper. She's trash."

"I'm a trash magnet," Jasper said and shook his head, chasing after Charlotte. "Char! Char, please!" He caught her from behind in an embrace and she honestly couldn't fathom what he thought that he was going to say to fix that. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or make it seem like I didn't think this was serious. Honestly, whenever I heard her say that, I blew up. I cussed her out, I threatened her. I lost it. Okay? It felt wrong, and I reacted. But, then she and everybody else started explaining to me that I was overreacting, so I believed them. I didn't think that all of them were wrong and I was somehow right…"

"Who is everybody else?" She asked.

"The team."

"So, all of those white dudes that you spend hours and hours with convinced you that it was okay for her to say something that you know people have called me to make me cry? And you didn't think to ask me? Or mention it to me?"

"I thought that bringing it up to you would hurt you for no reason. She'd never say that to you, knowing how I feel about it."

"You are still missing the point… Jasper… Don't you want kids with me? You think I'd make kids with somebody trying to explain to me why a word weaponized against me, against them isn't that bad because she said it in a certain way?"

"No. This is all really making me realize I am an idiot and it'll never happen again."

"Funny, because I remember you pledging that you would never allow that. Henry jumped to my defense. You tried to talk both of us down. What is wrong with you? It's literally a slur. You're supposed to love me."

"I'll… go kick her in the cooter if I have to, to prove myself." The damage was done. That was two huge violations in one day, but he did stop hanging out with Casper and that took a huge load off of Charlotte. Casper tried to apologize to her multiple times, but she didn't bother with her. She blocked her and put her hand between the two of them whenever she saw her around. She stopped attending practices and games, if they really felt that way about that word, she didn't have any energy for them. Jasper stopped playing kite discs, too. He said that it didn't feel the same knowing Charlotte's take on using the word period. At least he was trying, she told herself. And white people often "get confused" about what was inappropriate. She sent him a post of Get Woke Quick ebooks and told him, "If you ever make a mistake like that again, I refuse to overlook it. He nodded solemnly and was reading all of the books by social justice activists and advocates about racism and antiBlackness in his free time. He started going to the campus events for movement meetings and stuff, which were actually on Charlotte's campus. She was in the Black Students Union, but it was extremely small and composed mostly of biracial Black people, because there was more of them in the area than all Black, and whenever he was going to meetings for rallies and stuff, he got really cool with some of the people that she introduced him to from the BSU… and a few of them asked him if he'd like to be their token white boy for their radio show. He asked Charlotte if that was okay. She was fine with it.

The next month of summer was awesome. She forgot to some degree the stuff that she had been rightfully pissed about and wondered about the things that she had been irritated by. Whenever she wasn't around so much and he was back into classes and busy and whatever else, was he gonna still be cuffing her closely in big crowds? Was he going to notice when she came into a room? She felt like she was punishing him for stuff that she never told him about if she'd attack him now, or stuff that he hadn't done yet, if the semesters were gonna be that way. So, she tried to enjoy the month and enjoy her man.

Sex was good again. She found that it was amazing whenever she wasn't troubled or worrying or feeling ignored, and Jasper was fueled by her desire. She'd gotten more aware of what she liked and wanted and more comfortable with telling him. He loved directions. It for one thing assured him that she would like what he was doing and for another, even though she was just telling him what she wanted, hearing her say these things turned him on.

SOPHOMORE YEAR

Shortly after the semester began, while they were "doing great," something else happened. They were getting ready to get down to business and Charlotte was practically begging him for it, whimpering and rubbing against him and pouting for him to hurry up and get started. Jasper went into his little nightstand and reached around, sighed and said, "Okay… I've gotta go snag a condom."

She was so busy pouting that the statement almost was lost on her as he scrambled to get up, but she sat up too and tilted her head, "We're out?" She asked.

"Yeah," he said, zipping his jeans up to leave the room.

"Wait. Why are we out?" She asked and a huge flood of fear and insecurity from the previous semester came flushing over her and her breathing caught. "Did you use them?"

"What? No! The guys come in and take them because they know that I always have them because I have the steady girlfriend…" He looked at her like he couldn't believe that she would ask him that and now that he thought about it, he was deeply hurt. "Why would I use them if you aren't there?"

She was thinking about topless Casper and a number of other girls' faces that she knew specifically from getting much to close to him and being much to flirtatious and him being much too cool about it. She shrugged and he sat back down. "You think I'd cheat on you?"

"I don't know Jasper. You let girls lay around topless in here and say the most hateful slur in the world, so I really don't know if you're ABOVE cheating. Maybe you did something and "didn't mean it like that."

He looked like she had punched him in the gut. "I thought you'd forgiven me for that gross misunderstanding on my part, and I never knew that letting a lesbian be topless was a big deal, especially since she does it in all kinds of places." Lesbian? So, Casper was a lesbian now? Suddenly? He'd never said that before! "Are you ever gonna forgive me for that, or do I have to bleed again anytime you strike me with it because of an unrelated coincidence?"

"I guess I'll have to think about that," she said and got up to leave.

"You're gonna leave like that?" he asked.

"You have something else to say?"

He shook his head, sadly, "Just that I've never cheated on you and I never would. I think about being with you any time that I'm not and I haven't seen anyone nearly as pretty since I first noticed you. The way you make me feel, I don't think I would ever be able to feel that anywhere else and I wouldn't risk it all for even the possibility, because if it wasn't with you, it wouldn't matter…" He laid down, looking all depressed and she felt bad. She went to comfort him and they wound up making up… bare… but she mentioned that she'd simply stop by the clinic for a morning after pill, which to Jasper meant that he could go crazy. And it was the most mind altering thing that had happened between them, thus far.

He was extremely excited, but she didn't know if that was because it was makeup, or because it was raw. But, he mentioned several times how good she felt and laughed about the idea of him ever wanting anybody else when his Chef's Kiss had gotten sweeter and juicier all summer. Her head was reeling. She was floating. She was high. Wrapped around him, nothing between them, hearing those declarations, she felt like everything that he was telling her that she was.

But, whenever they got back around other people… She felt like… not even he was there. Which led us to that blow up where she almost broke up with him. Almost.

.

That was a real come to Jesus moment for Jasper. He started wrestling and boxing, to try to supplement his athletics, and for a while, he didn't touch Charlotte… not like that, anyway, unless she seemed like she felt rejected, then he quickly tried to make up for it by loving her down in all the ways he knew that she loved. But, he was more focused on rebuilding their intimacy and regaining her trust. For a while, he felt like he was walking on eggshells, because he really didn't know exactly where he went wrong the first time and he was scared of somehow winding up on the wrong path again. The path that might lead to her crying as she broke his heart, for her own good. He had nightmares about that talk. He had nightmares that he woke up from and cradled her close, having imagined that it really happened.

He couldn't stomach the thought of messing this up and her leaving him. He couldn't handle losing her. He would have given up every bit of fanfare and whatnot if all he had was her and he didn't know how to make her see that. Then again, he had been constantly wondering for all of his life who he was and who he was supposed to be. He wondered if his dad had stuck around, if his mom hadn't remarried so much, if she'd loved him like Charlotte's parents loved her, would this be so hard?

He was used to being ignored for a long time, but it still hurt whenever he was. That was why whenever Henry and Charlotte were both working, even though he had other friends, he called them over and over, just wishing and hoping that one of them would love him enough to just reach out and let him know that he still mattered, that he hadn't lost his people. More than the idea of Charlotte leaving him and him losing her, he was haunted by the fact that he made her feel that sadness of being alone… of not having your people let you know that you mattered. That made him cry when she wasn't looking. He didn't want her to see him crying, because she'd try to comfort him and how dare he let her comfort him for being upset about hurting her?

Being the center of attention was like a drug to him. Having so many people to enjoy him, even if they didn't really care was exhilarating. But… it wasn't like being Charlotte's little spoon while she ran her fingers through his hair for the hands down best sleep that he could ever have, her little legs wrapped around him and her supple feet brushing the hairs on his legs. The crowds couldn't compare to that 'boozy mahogany flush" of her face whenever he kissed her behind her ear and the baby hairs on her neck shifted ever so slightly and the tingle sent shivers through her and forced her to smile that smile that brought the sunrise to shame. That she thought that she didn't belong in his world anymore, not knowing that she was his world was… it had to be a failure on his part and he couldn't stand for it. The fact that he'd missed it, in his reveling in attention was frightening, and he wanted to place a fraction of blame on Charlotte for not telling him sooner, but, he was too afraid that things were too volatile for that conversation. He did ask her gently, though, "Do you think if I ever seem to be making you feel some kind of way, that you could tell me and let me try to fix it?"

This sounded familiar. He'd asked this of her before, in high school after she'd run to Piper with her rants. But, they had been through a lot and she had felt like she was actually ripping her heart out of her chest when she was considering ending things, so this time she said, "I promise that I will."

"Will you… If I go to meet up with my dad, will you come with me?" He asked. She looked surprised. He explained, "I know my mom's side of things, but I also know the kinds of behaviors and habits that came from her and how we interacted. I just… want to see if seeing him could help me figure myself out."

Charlotte felt super guilty. Like she had broken Jasper, or something. He was so… timid in those days. "Yeah. Of course. And Jasper… You don't have to be scared to be yourself. I just wanted our growth to be together, and I felt like you'd outgrown me. I was scared, but you don't have to be. I'm not gonna leave again without giving you a chance to fix it… if anything goes wrong again. I just… wanted to feel like that girl who was up before sunrise making breakfast for a boy because he was the sweetest, more caring boy that she ever knew."

"And I just wanna be that boy, but you know, in man form. Maybe I should grow my mustache back."

"I will kill you," she said.

He laughed. "Why are you such a hater? Everybody loved it except for you. It was unanimous. Piper loved it and she hates everything."

"It's your face. Grow whatever you want."

"Is it gonna affect how you look at me?"

"I'm gonna look at you like you have a big stupid mustache on your face, just like I did last time." He laughed and she shook her head, "Either commit to growing a beard or shut up!"

"Oh, you want me to grow a beard?"

"I mean… I wouldn't be against it. I'd have to see how that fares with the whole, your face spending time in between my legs thing."

"I would like to see my face spending time between your legs again, just… you know, just 'cause."

"You just stopped! I thought I'd given you performance anxiety and didn't want to put any pressure on you."

"I feel extremely relaxed right now," he said, shifting her legs and living for the smile of anticipation on her face. They were good again. They had some hiccups, some missteps, hell, even a trainwreck, but patching things up was even more fulfilling than the days that they thought they wanted to return to - when they weren't sure of themselves or each other and bumbling through trial and error to reach something that it took a lot of work from both of them to have. At the end of the day, if anybody could analyze and understand someone/something, it was Charlotte Page, and at his core, he desperately wanted someone to understand him.

.

Charlotte's last visit to Swellview, Jasper came along, to go see his mom. He hadn't seen her in person for over a year and she was guilt tripping him about it, but he clarified for her that he was gonna be staying at the Pages but would stop by to see her. He didn't stay very long. He tried to at least give her a few hours. Being away from her had made being in her presence again a supremely unsettling feeling. Charlotte told him that he probably finally knew how she felt around her. "How is Charlotte?" his mom asked.

"She's good," Jasper said.

"Everything's okay?"

"Yeah. Everything is awesome. We're better than we've ever been," he said. She made a face, like it was surprising. He tried not to get angry about that and instead took the time to brag about her. "She started an initiative to preserve land to cultivate for community gardens in food desserts. My frat prides itself on being sure to have at least one member of every sports team in the school, so I was able to convince them to get their teams involved in efforts to assist with those." He didn't add on how long she loved him down for that accomplishment, but nearly every brother in the house commented on how they were both extra loud the previous night and reminded them that some of them had classes in the morning. Jasper had transported back to that night and morning. Charlotte and his sex life was good, but whenever he accomplished something or made her proud, he found that was a major turn on for her, SO… guess wtf he was constantly trying to do? Outdo himself, that's what.

He still had a lot of outside attention and "fans," but if Charlotte was there, he had her right by him, so she wouldn't be lost in the crowd or feel left out, often cuffed to him, but if not, ever so often, he'd smile at her and kiss her on the nose, or behind the ear, or caress the back of her neck. Those were things that made her weak, so if he casually sprinkled her with them all night, it was as intimate as if nobody had been there. She felt included and she felt loved and he still had the chance to kick it with his bros… he created some boundaries with his lady friends. Some of them would get pissy about it, but most were just as infatuated with his relationship as they were with him as a person. They wanted somebody LIKE him, not him, because if he could be taken away from his adorable long term girlfriend, they didn't really want somebody like him, anyway…

"What are you thinking about?" His mom broke into his thoughts.

"How much I love Charlotte." She rolled her eyes and he narrowed his. "What are you thinking about?"

"How your father told me that you found him online and want to meet up with him," she said. He froze. "Were you gonna tell me?"

"No. I didn't think it was your business."

"How not, Jasper?"

"Because, I'm grown."

"Well, do what you want. But, I doubt he's any less toxic than he was when I was forced to leave him." She got up and left the room. Jasper waited a while, went checked on her and.. She had gone to bed. He left and didn't plan on coming back any time soon. In fact, he needed a complete realigning or something after being inside of there.

Uncle Roscoe's house was fortunately the right ambience. There was incense and good food and they had gotten a calming fountain in the family room that played music and lit up various ambient light colors. Plus, Uncle Roscoe made juice and Jasper loved his juice. Aunt Cohort and Charlotte were somewhere getting fish to eat dead skin off of their feet and Uncle Rox wondered, "You getting ready to ask her about it?"

Jasper smiled brightly, full of food and juice and sleepy from the mood of the room, "What?"

"You know what."

Jasper sighed and leaned forward in his seat, "We had a rough year, well… a rough year then a rougher year of getting back to good because of the first rough year."

"I know. I pay attention to the songs she posts. I knew y'all were goin' through it when she posted Karyn White's Superwoman with the caption, "On Repeat Forever."

"I don't know what that is, but I think I've fixed things…"

"Yeah. I know. Like I said, I pay attention to the songs. If you would've remembered my advice and paid attention, you'd have had a less rough year."

Jasper nodded, "I regret so much of my decisions for that time. Did she tell you about the night things hit the fan with Casper?"

"She don't tell me nothing, Lil' Nephew. But, I think that she's ready to settle down. She talks about your future a lot."

"Yeah, but… I'm the one that wants all the family stuff, she only will do all that because I want it. I'm not gonna rush her."

"Don't rush her no… But, don't let her get away, neither." Jasper nodded his head. Uncle Rox gave the best advice. She was never gonna get away, if Jasper could help it.