Chapter 7

  “I got your text.” I held my phone in the air and smiled.
  “I can see that.” Jasper grinned back.
He was sitting on a park bench under the street lamp. There were dark shadows falling over his face, making his cheek bones far more prominent. I would have liked to paint him sitting there; just a man alone on a park bench, the light from an overhead street lamp surrounding him in a soft spotlight. The trees were dark shadows in the background and made me see lurking monsters hiding behind each one.

Jasper beckoned me over and I slowly walked towards him and sat down on the other side of the bench.
  “I was kicked out.” Jasper’s rough voice interrupted the silence.
He turned to look at me with a crooked smile.
  “That’s why I moved to NYAA. I was expelled from the last school I was in.
  “Why were you expelled?” I was curious, I wanted to know all about him. He intrigues me.
  “A lot of reasons.” His voice was heavy and his lips were a thin line.
So it does bother him.
  “Which were?”
I want to know, I want to know, I want to know.
  “Who said I was going to tell you?”
  “Well then why did you call me out here.” I shot him a cheeky grin and moved a little a closer, nudging him with my elbow “Come on.”
He let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair; his scars highlighted under the street lamp.
  “I got myself into a lot of shit.” He sighed and didn’t continue.
  “No kidding. That’s usually how you get expelled.” I’ve always thought it was stupid when people pointed out the obvious.
He gave me this look. His eyebrows were raised and he had a crooked smile. Like he was thinking that he might actually find me quite interesting.
    Or just plain nosy.
  “You gonna let me finish or what?”
I raised my hands in defence and waved him on.
  “There was a bit of an accident. It-” He paused, like he was trying to figure out what words would adequately describe what had happened. “Well, it was fucked up.” He looked down at the floor, kicked a stone and watched it as it rolled away.
  “That’s what it was really; it was absolutely fucked up. People got hurt. Not even sure how it all ended up happening but somehow, somehow I ended up with blood everywhere; lots of blood everywhere and there was glass and splinters too. It looked as if someone had cut them all open and painted the floors with them and the walls too. All that red.”
He looked like he was freaking out at just the memory, his eyes had gone wild and he was speaking so fast. His hands were balled into tight fists; his knuckles had gone white. I found myself inching away from him, from the realisation that I didn’t want to hear about it anymore.                      
  “People were sprawled on the floor, with blood pooling everywhere. I hadn’t even realised that I’d done anything, I didn’t mean to. It was just everywhere.”
What is he talking about? What did he do?
He was trembling and I was sure it wasn’t from the cold.
  “J-Jasper? Calm down. Y-You don’t have to-” My voice was shaking. He was scaring me and I could barely put my words together. I took a deep breath and tried again: “You don’t have to finish, really. It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”
His eyes were darting all over the place as if he expected something to jump out at him; even I thought something might, with all the trees around us. What could have happened that was so traumatising that even the thought of it put him into a state of panic?
Maybe digging into his life is a bad idea, maybe- maybe for once I should just mind my own business.
Really? Is that honestly what you want to do? Have you ever met anyone as interesting and mysterious as him?
Crazy more like it.
That was a good point; never in my life have I known someone like him; crazy he might be. He has something dark and eerie about him and I want to know why.
But the answer may be something that you don’t want to hear.

We just sat there in silence for next quarter of an hour. He was sitting there staring off at nothing and I was just looking at him. He’d relaxed a fair bit; his eyes calm and he’d loosened his fists. His head was resting in his hands with an elbow placed on each knee. I could see goose bumps covering his arms, the hairs standing up on end.
 I should say something.
  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t ha-”
  “No, Isla don’t apologize. It’s my fault; I shouldn’t have called you out here. I’m sorry.” He let out a sigh and stood up. “You best be on your way then.”
He turned to me and I could see that he’d put up a wall. His eyes were clouded and empty.
Good, cause he was scaring the shit out of me before.
Alex was right when he’d told me to stay away from Jasper; this guy has issues. I should probably keep my distance.
  “Yeah, I guess I should be going.” I let out a sigh. “See you at school?” I added.
  “Yeah.” He nodded and then stood there awkwardly with his hands in him pockets. Then he sat back down. “Umm… I think I’m just going to stay here.”
It was odd. His body language and tone of voice had changed entirely. He seemed again like that shy guy who I met a few days ago; his confidence had all slipped away. He seemed to have multiple personalities that change each time I see him.
  “Alright.” I nodded at him stiffly and walked back towards the apartments.
I was halfway there before I heard the padding of running feet behind me; I turned around to see Jasper jogging to a stop.
  “You wanna go for coffee or something? I know a place about 10 minutes from here, it’s good.”
I was about to say “Sure, why not?” until the whole scene of him flipping out popped back into my head and sent shivers down my spine. And I also realized the time; it was 9:15 PM.
Fuck, I’m late.I turned to him and said: “I’m sorry, maybe another time.” And started jogging towards home; I looked down at my watch and eventually broke out into a run.

I stood at the base of the apartment building, leaning against the wall and catching my breath.
Made it. After the stress of being late was off my shoulders I realized that I’d just ran off leaving Jasper standing there in the middle of the path probably thinking I ran away from him rather than running home cos I was late. “Great; you make one friend and you ran away from him. He probably thinks you’re dead scared of him too.” I said to myself and bonked my head against the wall behind me. Probably cause you are scared of him. “Idiot” I grumbled to myself and made my way up to Edith’s place.

Rick answered the door with his usual: “Hey there, kiddo!” He gave me a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek and shuffled me into the living room. He was wearing his favourite shirt: A white T-shirt with a print of Darth Vadar’s helmet on it.  Everyone was sitting in the living room; Alex and Joanie were each on their own, navy-blue beanbags perched in front of the PS3. They were both shouting and Alex was laughing hysterically. Edith was sitting on the couch, curled up in a purple throw.
 “Late as usual.” Edith smiled and looked up at me. “Where were you this time?”
 I sat down beside her and smiled “Hey Edith.” I gave her a tight hug, stalling while I thought of what I’d respond with. I can’t tell her I was with Jasper because Alex would hear and he told me to stay away form him. And I really don’t want to get into another argument with him.
  “Sorry, I was in the shower and lost track of time. Didn’t miss anything interesting, did I?”
She gave me a sideways look and for a second I didn’t think she believed me. She stared at me for a few moments. Thankfully, she bought it and snapped into mother-mode. “Well, Joanie already cut your cake for you. Sorry about that. The slices are on the table; want me to get you one?”
  “Nah, its fine. I’ll get one later.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek and stood up.
  “Isla, what’s that on your neck?” My stomach sank. Fuck, I forgot to cover up the hickey Alex gave me!
Through a mass of “um’s” I managed to come up with it: “Um It was sunny today and-ah- I was out in the field at school and um I got a burn. It’s nothing; I’ll put some lotion on it later.” Before she could retort I turned around and quickly walked over to the boys.
The two of them were in the midst of a bloody battle in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. Alex was winning of course and laughing his head off while he was at it. The characters on the screen flew from one place to the other in a dance of knives and blood.
 “Joanie, isn’t this game a bit too violent for you?” I hung my arms around his neck from behind; leaning my chin on his soft hair. He ignored my question and kept on fighting-pushing all of the buttons on his controller at random.
I looked over at Alex - he was wearing a denim shirt over black jeans with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. I couldn’t help but laugh at the determined look on his face. He was squinting at the screen and his jaw was clenched.  And that is when I found myself caught in a sort of daze. I stared at him, starry-eyed and totally out of it. I looked at his pale lips- lips that were pressed against mine only an hour ago. I watched as they split into a smile, exposing his pearl white but slightly chipped teeth. His arms shot up into the air, the controller flying and hitting the ground with a ‘thump’. I felt Joanie slump under me and I jerked forward, knocked out of my Alex-infused daze.
  “I give up! I can’t beat you.” Joanie let out a moan. “I’ve tried and tried and tried but, you are undefeatable!” He sat back up and looked over at Alex who was looking back at him with a victorious grin.
  “That’s right, Joanie.” He laughed loudly, hooted and stood up “I, Sir Alex Hart!” he said in a loud and deep voice “Am undefeatable!”
I stood up, looking him in the eyes and saying “I bet I could beat you.”
It was quite comical: an underdog taking on the undefeated victor.
  “Hand her that controller will you.” He ordered Joanie, our gazes still fixed. “Let’s see what you got, Birthday Girl.” He winked at me and dropped back down to the bean-bag.

We spent the next few hours battling each other in different combat games and surprisingly enough I was the one winning. Joanie had already fallen asleep at this point- it was 1 AM after all. But of course, Alex eventually took the lead and by 2.30 AM I was sick of losing. I tossed the controlled in the corner and said, in a defeated voice: “You win.” He just laughed at me and started putting away the PlayStation. While he did that, I picked up Joanie and took him to his bedroom.
Jesus he’s so much heavier than I remember! No more chips for you, fat ass. I thought as I tucked him in. When I went back to the living room Alex was lying on the couch with this hand over his eyes.
  “I don’t get it.” I said as I walked over to the corner table to get myself a slice of cake “You used to be so shit at these kinds of games, I was sure I could win. Next time I’ll get you. I mean I wasn’t even that far off from winning.” I turned back to Alex, cake in hand and I sat at his feet at the base of the couch. I kept on rambling for a bit about nothing in particular while eating my cake; Alex just lying there listening to me. Well, I thought he was listening to me anyway.

  “Do you want the French homework we got today? Since you missed class I doubt you’d have to do it but, it’s easy and only a little so you might as well.” I looked over at him, waiting for him to respond but, he didn’t. He just lay there with his hand over his eyes. “Alex?” I put down my now empty plate and tickled the base of his foot.
  “I’ve been talking to myself, haven’t I?” I stretched my arms up and yawned “Hmm, you were that worn out?” I guess you fell asleep and I just didn’t notice.
I moved from his feet, my tiny torso now fitting sideways on the couch in line with his chest.
You always fall asleep on this couch. I let out a sigh. He was cute when he was asleep. Like everyone else he looked much younger but, I’d always thought he looked quite sad while sleeping. When we were little I used to think he’d be having a nightmare so, I’d wake him up. He used to say:
“I look sad when I’m sleeping cos you’re not cuddling me.” And then we’d snuggle together until we fell back to sleep. I couldn’t help but wonder: if I woke him now, would he say the same thing?
 I poked his cheek a few times and tapped his nose but there was no response. “Alex? Alex, wake up.” I poked his cheek again but there was still no response. And then I had an idea. I lowered my lips to his ear and blew air into it quickly. I only expected a little jump but, he got so startled that he fell off the couch, squishing me under him.
   “Woah, what just happened?” I couldn’t stop giggling but I was trying as hard as I could to keep it as quiet as possible.
  “That was priceless, I’m sorry Alex.” I said between laughs. He looked down at me with a confused look on his face which only made me giggle more.
  “Shhh, you’ll wake everyone up.” He put his hand over my mouth but he was so sleepy that he didn’t even move it before setting his head down on the carpet next to mine. We were a bit of a tangled mess; his left hand was on my face, my left arm was under him. His hips were slightly over mine and our legs were twisted together. 
  “Speaking of waking people up.” He murmured into the carpet “Why did you wake me up?”
Why did I wake him up? I couldn’t even remember now. I could feel his breath against my skin. Our bodies were so closely intertwined. I might as well take advantage of the situation.
I slid my hand to the nape of his neck and tugged lightly on his hair as I pressed our lips together. He was suddenly wide awake and he pulled me in closer, his arms gripping my body tightly. His right arm slid down from the nape of my neck to the small of my back and he pulled me in even closer, our bodies moulding together. One of his hands was tangled in my hair and he was kissing up and down my neck and then he was kissing my collarbone, and suddenly his lips were making their way down and my entire body heated up.
The two of us were so caught up in the moment that we didn’t notice the large shadow looming over us. We both jumped at the deep sound of Rick clearing his throat.
Alex and I just stared at him for a good minute; our bodies still twisted together, one of Alex’s hands in my hair and the other still on my thigh. Once we actually processed what was going on, we both jumped out of our little knot and stared up at Rick open mouthed.
Fuck...Fuck….FUCK.
My first reaction was to laugh but when I saw the confused and slightly horror-struck look on Rick’s face, my gaze dropped to the floor. Alex was sitting cross-legged, pressed up against the couch; his gaze also focused on the floor. Rick has known the two of us since we were 10 and knew nothing about our little flings. To Rick, Alex and I were like brother and sister. A feeling of shame flushed over me and I knew my cheeks were probably bright red.
  “Um…..yeah. You know what, I don’t even want to know.” Rick looked from Alex to me; from me to Alex and then to the glass in his hand. “I only came out for a drink.” He almost robotically turned around and walked back towards his bedroom. “Edith, wait till you hear what just happened.” That was the last thing we heard him say before he shut the door behind him.

Chapter 6

I stormed up the stairs, not having the patience to wait for the elevator. The sound of my feet slamming against the stairs echoed against the walls of the paint chipped stairway. I reached my door and slammed it shut after entering my apartment. I threw my bag on the canvas covered couch and stalked into the kitchen, pouring myself a glass of apple juice from the fridge.
My door clicked open and I leaned back against the counter, watching as Alex poked his head inside.
  “What do you want, Alex?” My voice was hoarse from yelling at him and I was out of breath from climbing all the stairs. I took a sip of my apple juice and looked at him.
  “Just thought I might come up to check on you.” He walked into the kitchen and came over to me, and placing his arms on either side of me; resting his body weight against the kitchen counter. He let out a long sigh and hung his head. “Why are you mad at me?”
  “Why? You should know why.” I spat out my words, sounding more pissed off than I actually was.
 “Okay I know why but what’s the point? If you’re mad at me for not telling you about it, than that will make me not want to tell you even more.” His voice was tired and I could tell that he really wasn’t up for an argument.
 
  “Hmm” I grumbled and bumped my forehead against his chest. This is silly. I don’t want to fight with my best friend on my birthday. He’s right, it was pointless.
  “I just want to spend your birthday with you. Is that alright?”
   “Hmm” I mumbled and he hugged me, kissed my forehead and smiled. 

   “Good, now let’s go do something fun.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “What do you wanna do?”
 I put down my juice and jumped up on the counter, reaching Alex’s eye level. 
 
  “I don’t know, let’s just do nothing. Can we do nothing?”

I just want to sit here with him and talk about things and just hang out with him. I love his company; I’ve always loved just sitting beside him and watching him talk. He gets so into what he’s talking about and you see his expressions change while he's in his rambles and his hands fly all over the place. You can see the understanding in his eyes. I’ve always thought he’d be a good public speaker, and I was right. When he does his speeches for the student council, he always leaves everyone in awe. No matter how boring the topic was, he can make it interesting.
 “Yeah, we can do nothing if you want.” He smiled at me and kissed me on the forehead again. Then he moved his hand to my chin and he tiled my head up. He was staring at me with his ice blue eyes; just smiling at me.
 
  “Why are you staring at me? You know I hate it when people stare.”
 I shook my head a little.
Then he surprised me. He leaned in and gave me a tender kiss on the lips; his were warm against mine. Then he hugged me tight with one arm and kissed my forehead again.
  “What was that for?” I wasn’t too shocked or anything, the sometimes surprised me with a random kiss. Kisses between us don’t mean anything romantic, it was just who he was.
   “I just wanted to. You taste like apple juice by the way.” He gave me a flirtatious wink which every girl except me thinks is sexy; I think it’s just tacky and he knows it. 

I glared at him and he kissed me again.
                                        
  “You’re a sucker for sneak attacks; anyone could just walk up to you and kiss you and you wouldn’t even see it coming.” He smirked down at me and, just to prove his point, he kissed me again and laughed at my shocked expression.
This is totally unfair; he’s got a skill with unexpected kisses.
 “Well, how do you know I’m not just letting you kiss me?” That’s a total lie but I don’t really care, as long as I don’t lose its all okay
 “Oh are you now? So you do miss my kisses then.” The sides of his mouth twitched up into a smirk; he was going into woman-killer mode. Alex and I went through this friends-with-benefits faze about a year ago, but we ended that cause he’s Alex and I’m Isla and it was just weird. 

 “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.” I was putting on the best flirt I could, I just hate losing. Alex is always right and losing to him is a pain in the ass ‘cause he always holds it against me. His eyes were twinkling with amusement; I rarely flirt but at times like these it’s hard not to.

  “I think you do. I can see it in your eyes m’dear.” He leaned in close and we touched noses. “You miss kissing me” in that sly voice of his he uses when he’s teasing me.

I couldn’t help but get a few butterflies; I can totally see why all the girls fall for him. If I hadn’t known him all my life, I might have fallen for him too. 


We stood there in silence for a few minutes, our noses still touching. My cheeks were flushed and our breathing was shallow. He tilted my chin up and smirked.

  “What do you know, she’s blushing.” He kissed me on the corner of my lips and my stomach flipped.
 “No I’m not, fuck you.” I buried my face in his shirt only managing to prove that I was indeed blushing. He laughed at me.
  “Alright, I’ve teased you enough. Come here.” He lifted my face to his and I felt his lips brush against mine. It was weird. Kissing Alex was…different. I’m not going to lie, he's a good kisser, but kissing your best friend feels odd. But still my arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him in. His arms were wound around my waist. I’d never really noticed how buff he was, his arms were big and strong around me. Our lips melted together; our kisses slow and soft. I’d forgotten how nice this was, to just lose yourself in a kiss. But of course, Alex had to ruin the moment and say:
  “See what I mean, you’re  a sucker for sneak attacks.” He bumped his nose against mine and laughed at me.
My cheeks were burning and my breathing was shallow; Fuck it.
  “You. You are an evil, evil man.” I gave him a small peck on the cheek and hopped off the counter
  “Admit it, you missed that.” He's getting cocky. 
  “You sure you’re not the one who missed it?” I twirled around and poked his hardened stomach, making a ‘pop’ noise with my lips in the process. 
 
  “Let’s just agree that we both missed it.”   He caught me in my twirl and gave me a tight hug from behind.  I could feel his breath against my cheek, then a kiss against my neck. A light buzz passed through me and I melted a little. He knew that my weakness for neck-kisses
No, no. Bad Isla, calm down, it’s just Alex. He’s only messing with you. I thought to myself.

So what if he’s messing with you. You guys have kissed before, it’s nothing new.
I debated with myself for a while, considering whether or not I should just let him keep kissing me. 
Well, it is your birthday. Have a little fun! And so, with that thought in mind, I turned around and planted a kiss firmly on his lips.

We ended up on the couch and all the canvases were pushed to the floor instead. Somehow, Alex managed to pin me down, one arm on either side of my shoulders and his body over mine. We were kissing for ages then eventually we just laid there cuddling; he was running his fingers through my hair and twirling the strands around in his fingers. Not sure how long went by until he said:

  “I really, really need to take a piss.” I burst out laughing, my hands going up to cover my mouth. He was laughing too; his cute, soft laugh merging with mine. He kissed my neck and got up, then made his way to the bathroom. I lay there on the couch thinking that I actually did miss this. 
I sat up, my head going a little fuzzy since I’d been lying down for so long. My hair was falling over my shoulders and my side fringe was covering my eyes; a red curtain blocking my view.
            
Right, so Alex got into a fight with Jasper. Then Alex got into a fight with me. Then we made up and made out. It’s definitely been an interesting birthday.
Alex walked back into the room and sat cross legged in front of me. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his faded red shirt and there were tiny droplets of water staining the front. His hair was a bit of a mess too, it was spiking up in almost every direction. I guess I’m to blame for that, for running my hands through his hair and all. His lips were pinker than usual; I guess that’s my fault too. His lips were in a tight line, but they started twitching up at the corners and eventually split into a smile.
  “Isla, you’re staring at me.” I jumped a little, snapping out of my daze. I realized that he wasn’t just randomly smiling, but he was smiling because I was staring at him. He chuckled and raised his hand to my cheek; stroking it with his thumb. I leaned against his hand and nuzzled it with my nose.
  “Your hair is a mess.” He combed my fringe to the side and kissed my forehead once he could actually see it.
 “Well, so is yours. You look like Alfalfa.” I sat up on my knees and started pulling at his hair, styling it at different angles and trying to figure out how he does it but no matter how I combed it, it didn’t seem right. He shook his head once and ran his fingers through it twice, and then he looked back up at me; his silky blonde hair parting perfectly and falling slightly over his left eye as usual. I grumbled, annoyed that I couldn’t have styled it myself since it looked quite simple when he did it. He smiled at me. I turned around and placed my head in his lap, looking up at him and asking:

 “What do you want to do now?” 
He was running his hands through my hair again, spreading it out over his lap.
 
  “Well, I was enjoying what we’ve been doing so far.” His voice was quiet and soft and his hands were moving slowly through my hair. 
 
  “Is teasing me really that amusing?” My voice was quiet too, I’m not sure why but speaking louder seemed like it would mess things up. 
 
  “Yeah, it really is. But what’s more amusing is the fact that you’re actually tempting me.” He was smirking again and his blue eyes were smiling too, if that makes any sense.
 “And how’s that?” 
All I’ve done is be completely seduced by him. At this point I was pretty sure that Alex was secretly a siren or something; using his enchanted voice to say things to lure me in. In what way am I tempting at all?
  “I’m not really sure, but holding myself back from kissing you seems to be quite the challenge at the moment.” 

  “Then don’t hold back.”
 I whispered.
Alex pulled me up off his lap and twisted me around to face him. He slipped his left arm around my waist and his right on the nape of my neck, pulling me in and kissing me. His touch sent a shock through my entire body; my stomach was filled with butterflies. 
These kisses weren't soft and tender anymore; they were hard and urgent and something more. My stomach flipped again and my heart began to race. 
I wasn’t used to this; kissing someone with so much passion, let alone kissing Alex with so much passion. Our past kisses were softer and less rushed, but this time; I don’t even know. 
He fell back on the couch and pulled on top of him. Our legs were twisting together and his hands were in my hair. My hands pressed against his chest and I could feel his heart hammering beneath his ribs.
What’s gotten into him?He started kissing my neck but then he stopped suddenly and just laughed. We were both panting and our hearts were racing, but why was he laughing? He stared at my neck and was rubbing it with his thumb, a massive grin spreading over his face. And that was when I realized why he laughed. “You asshole!” My hand went up to my neck, rubbing the spot where he had been kissing me.
He burst out laughing and kissed me on the lips again; this time it was a slow and lingering kiss, distracting me.
 “You’ve got a hickey baby girl.” He had an evil grin on his face and he was eyeing his masterpiece. 
I pushed myself off him and padded over to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and I burst out laughing. 
He got me good.On the left side of my neck was a poppy coloured hickey going from the edge of my jaw to the base of my neck in a narrow ribbon-like line. 
You’re alright; you can just cover it up with foundation.After analysing the damage, I walked back into the living room but Alex wasn’t there anymore.
Where the hell’d he go? 
I checked the kitchen but he wasn’t there either.
   “Alex?” I called out from the kitchen and heard him call from my bedroom.

I walked into my room to find him lying on my bed stoking Homer’s stomach. Homer was stretched out and purring loudly. I bounced onto the bed and scooped Homer up, lifting him high in the air above me then giving him a nice hug and letting him loose. He meowed and shuffled off the bed; his bell jingling as he ran off.
 
  “He never lets me cuddle him, he’s so mean.” I curled up in a ball; my back pressed against Alex’s stomach.
 
  “Well, how would you like it if I randomly picked you up and started hugging you, huh?” 
 
  “I would actually love that and that is why I don’t understand why Homer doesn’t.” I turned onto my side so I could face Alex and he smiled at me “I mean, cats get hugs without even needing to ask but they totally take it for granted.”
 
  “Then maybe I should start doing that, then.”
 “Start doing what? Taking hugs for granted
  “No, randomly picking you up and hugging you.” My stomach flipped and I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks again. 

What is up with you? Alex is making you blush, this is weird.

But, I kinda liked it; it was different and it’s been a while since I’ve felt like this anyway.
 
  “Today was fun.”
I wasn’t lying. It was a lot of fun. When I think about it, I never really wanted to end that whole friends-with-benefits thing Alex and I had going but, Alex started dating other girls so it seemed a bit wrong. 

  “Yeah, it was.” He was stroking my arm and drawing figure of eights on my skin with his index finger.
  “We should do this more often.” 

I wonder how often is more often?
  “Yeah, we should.” 
He smiled and kissed me again.

  “I’m going to head home for-“

  “No, no stay. Please.” I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
I really didn’t want him to leave. 
 
  “Just for a bit, I’ll see you at Edith’s in a while anyway.” He kissed me on the forehead and shuffled off the bed.

What time is it anyway? I checked my watch to see that it was already 8; we’d been at my apartment for the past 4 hours. My cheeks burned up again at the fact that the two of us had spent most of that time making out. 
 
  “I’d forgotten about that. We have to be at her’s for 9 so I guess I don’t mind you leaving.”
I got up off the bed and followed him out the room, leaning against the main door while he put his shoes on. 
“How about this, after Edith’s place I’ll come over and we can play some Mario. You good with that?”
Play Mario? Seriously?
  “Yeah, sounds good to me.” 

No, no it doesn’t. Why are you lying to him?
 “Cool, well I’ll see you in an hour then.” He walked over to the door and kissed me on the forehead but I didn’t move out of the way. I looked down at my feet like a nervous little girl; still not moving.
 “You really did miss my kisses, didn’t you?” He held my head in his hands and pulled me in for another kiss.
 “Maybe.” I stretched out the word and smiled, giving him a small peck. I could feel him smile against my lips.

He gave me a tight hug and I moved out the way, letting him pass through the door.
  “Happy Birthday, Isla.” He winked at me and laughed. 



I had a massive smile on my face. I walked back into my bedroom, going to the closet to find something else to wear. Before I got down to taking something out, my phone buzzed on the table. I walked over and picked up the old blue Nokia (I wasn’t one for fancy Android phones) and checked that there was a message from an unknown number saying:
 Hey it’s Jasper.
 The phone buzzed again and it was another text from the same number.

 wnt 2 meet up 2night?we nvr got 2 finish our chat.
He wants to finish our chat? I thought he left last night so that he could get away from me? Guess that’s not the case. And how did he get my number? This boy was strange. But I was intrigued. What else did he want to talk about? I quickly typed out a short text and clicked ‘send’. I had just under an hour until I had to be at Edith's. Maybe I could the solve the mystery of Jasper before then. Less than a minute later my phone buzzed again. The text simply said;
now. park.
Guess I had better hurry up then if I want to make it back in time for dinner. I forgot about looking for clothes to wear, grabbed my purse and made my way out to meet Jasper at the park.