Chapter 13 - Forgetting

Things went back to normal the day after. Eleanor couldn´t stand to get all her stuff from Jaspers flat so she just left her stuff there when a car from the palace came to pick her up. She did her best not to cry, or to show any kind of emotion, and strangely enough she was successful. The driver was minding his own business but Eleanor still didn´t want anyone to see how miserable she felt. The question if she was actually going to see Jasper ever again was on her mind, over and over again. She didn´t know.

Eleanor didn´t even tell the queen about her recent not-divorce, sending a short text to Rachel instead, hoping no one would ask questions about this embarrassing situation any time soon.

God, how she wished she had any drugs in her room, but she knew the little she had left would get her nowhere. Annoyed she made a little trip to the wine cellar to nick some wine to dull the painful sadness she felt in her heart. Bad idea, considering that's where Eleanor and Jasper first met. It brought back so many memories she would rather have avoided. So naturally she grabbed two bottles instead just one – who needs feelings anyway?

Jasper felt no better. Eleanor going back to the palace was like someone ripped out a part of his heart. It hurt more than he thought it would. Sure, technically both of them had known their ways would part again relatively soon but he just wasn´t prepared for it to be like this.

In fact Jasper still had hoped for her to stay. Not just to stay with him but also to stay married to him. Every time they had looked in each other's eyes he had seen it – she would have stayed his wife, they never would have signed the divorce papers. Or at least he had hoped so.

But this? This was the end. There was no recovering from this. There was no future where they would be together, living happily ever after.

The apartment felt so empty without her. He had gotten so used to her company now he felt the emptiness even more.

Technically he should book his flight back to the states and give up the apartment. It was about time he went back to his real life – his life without the woman he loved.

So in his misery he did the only sane thing he could think of. He called his sister Jo.

Jo was not actually surprised about him calling but he could hear it in her voice that she didn´t expect to hear the bad news he sadly had to tell her. Jasper knew she had probably been more excited about his marriage than he had been himself, if that was even possible.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"I don´t know. I guess I´ll come back to Vegas, I mean, what else am I going to do?"

"Maybe...I don't know…don't give up that easily?"

"Yeah right. We've tried so many times in the past. Maybe some things are just not meant to be."

"Oh Jasper. Since when do you care about what is meant to be and what isn't?"

Jasper sighed. He'd probably agree with his sister if his mind wasn't so clouded.

Jo sighed as well, only hers was out of annoyance.

"Ok, so listen up Mr. The-Universe-throws-rocks-at-my-love-life. I'm gonna take the next best flight to the UK and then we'll figure something out. I'm in desperate need of a vacation anyway."

"You don't need to do that. I'll be fine."

"Bullshit. That's what family is for. Pick me up from the airport. Text you when."

The airport was busy this late in the afternoon. Jasper had no idea how Jo got a flight this fast but not even 24 hours had passed since their last phone call.

"Wow, you look like you haven't showered in three weeks."

That was not true. In fact only in the last 6 hours he somehow managed to shower 3 times. A clear sign he felt like shit.

"I don't see how you being here will help me."

But Jo just laughed.

"It won't help you but maybe I can annoy you enough to figure it out yourself."

Three days had passed and Eleanor was a mess.

No calls, no texts, no nothing.

Not that she really expected him to but she still wished he would have since she was certainly not brave enough to do so herself.

She didn't know what she had expected her life to be once this was over. That everything went back to the way it was before? It seemed so silly now she even considered this an option when Jasper had already been a big part of her life before she went to Vegas.

Before she went to see him and thought to have married him.

Once again she checked her phone like she did so often in the last few days.

And she made a decision.

Jasper was an idiot. A terribly stubborn idiot. He would not call or text her, simply because he thought he didn't have the right to, she knew him good enough to know that. It made no since to wait for her phone to ring when she knew it wasn't going to happen.

"u up?"

Right after pressing send she could have hit herself. It was 2 pm, of course he was up.

She didn't have to wait long for an answer.

Jo watched her brother curiously.

The reason she came visit was because she thought him to be lonely and devastated. But apparently he must be alright. More often than not she caught him staring at his phone and grinning to himself. On her third day in the UK they were watching a movie and his phone was charging at the other end of the room. As soon as it started vibrating he shot up from the couch like a dolphin out of the water.

This was not normal behaviour. Not even for Jasper.

Now she was watching him and so far he hadn't seen her. This was her chance. Quietly she came closer, Jasper all into typing and not noticing Jo coming close enough to snatch his phone away.

"So, what do we have here? Found a replacement for your dear wife already?"

"Give me that back! Jo, seriously, I need that back."

Jasper tried to chase her, desperate to get his phone back but Jo was faster, managing to lock herself in the bathroom. He was banging at the door, Jo almost worried he would punch a hole through the wood. One look at his recent messages and she knew why.

They had not given up completely.