When Jasper walked into his room after coming out of the shower the next morning, he couldn't help but stare at his uniform.

     He wouldn't go as far as to say that he was fearing slowly morphing into a country club membership card owner and suddenly having a new pair of golf shoes like Troy from High School Musical 2 (although that was more or less against his will), but he could already feel his summer beginning to shift. Technically, it already did, considering that he was here in Cousins instead of back home working his usual summer job, and he was about to change into his snack bar uniform and head over to the neighbors for breakfast. It was safe to say that his summer was already a leg up from his other ones.

Walking down the stairs, he made his way into the kitchen to greet his mom who was already up with a cup of coffee in her hand and a toasted butter bagel next to her. Habitually, he opened the refrigerator to find almost nothing besides a case full of water bottles. "Note to self: go grocery shopping," he muttered to himself before grabbing a water bottle and shutting the fridge door.

"Don't even think about using your summer allowance on groceries, of all things. I'm your mom, that's my job," Constance butted in, interrupting Jasper's train of thinking. "If I recall, there was a market I saw on the way here."

"Is there at least a Whole Foods?" Jasper asked, breaking the seal off the water bottle and taking a sip.

"Honey, this is a coastal beach town. The best you're gonna get is a local fish and shrimp market."

"So we can have shrimp scampi for dinner. Problem solved."

"Why did I teach you how to cook?" Constance asked, a faux depleted look in her eyes.

"Well, you did raise me to be a cultural guru after all," Jasper repeated her words back to her. "Okay, I'm off. Bye, mom." After pressing a kiss to her cheek, Jasper jogged over to the front door, pulled on his Converse, and left.

Going over to the neighbors' house never ceased to amaze Jasper, even if it only had been his second time. It always seemed so magical. He wouldn't have been surprised if fireflies only swarmed that house at night. As if by routine, Jasper leaned in to ring the doorbell only for Jeremiah to swing the front door back.

     "Damn, I was wondering when you were coming over," he joked, smiling that thousand-watt smile while also holding a fancy, wired egg spoon, "come on in, I'm making breakfast."

    Jasper stepped into the foyer, already halfway out of his sneakers when Jeremiah stopped him and asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

    "Taking off my sneakers? Isn't this, like, a no-shoe household?" Jasper asked, still pulling his sneakers off. Jeremiah shook his head. Jasper kept his shoes by the door, anyway. Jeremiah rolled his eyes, faux annoyed. "You're so weird. Now, come on or you're not eating."

     "All right, all right. Bossy." Jasper followed suit into the kitchen, waving to Laurel and Steven on the way, and making note of Conrad groaning on the couch in the living room.

    Jeremiah stopped at the stove and asked, "So, how do you like your eggs?"

     "Poached."

     "Lucky for you, I can make a mean poached egg. Do you want a smoothie in the meantime?"

     "I doubt it's any better than mine."

     Jeremiah raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Are you asking for a cook-off, JJ?"

     "Is everything a competition to you?"

     "No, because I'm a winner by nature. And I usually get what I want, anyhow." Jeremiah gave Jasper a once-over, smirking, and Jasper fought the urge to roll his eyes.

     "Thank God I didn't say I wanted my eggs over easy."

     Somewhere from behind, Steven made a gagging noise. "God, Jere, no innuendos before noon, please and thank you. And mom, do we have to be live and in person for Susannah's portraits or can we send a picture?"

     "Uh, she wants you in front of her to best capture your essence while you guys are still young and full of hope," Laurel rattled off, "her words."

    "All right, come on, Jere. I can't be late for my first day of work." Steven nodded and took a bite out of his bacon as Belly sulked into the kitchen, the bruise from last night well appearing on her cheek, promptly ignoring everyone for the box of Cap'n Crunch on the kitchen island. Jasper stepped to the side to move out her way, careful not to bump into her as she was clearly in a mood. So he watched Jeremiah poach an egg, instead.

    "Breathe any harder and you'll break the yolk," Jeremiah warned, playfully elbowing Jasper in the ribcage in an attempt to move him away.

    "Hold your breath any longer and you'll turn blue," Jasper retorted, elbowing him back.

    "It's a delicate—"

    "Food science. Yeah, I know. I say that to my mom all the time."

    Jeremiah turned to everyone else in relief saying, "See? He gets it!"

    "Great, now you have someone to talk about food with. Can we go please?" Steven urged.

    Jeremiah turned his attention back to Jasper. "You cool with eating in the car?"

    Jasper raised his hand as if he was being sworn in. "I promise I won't make a mess."

The country club was no Lava Springs, but it did instill the same general fear of the wrath that could possibly unfold if Jasper were to spill a drink on the white towels that were definitely made of Egyptian cotton. Granted, he knew it wasn't going to happen, but he was still anxious about it nonetheless.

     He got a tour of the facilities which, of course, were nice and was given a locker and a lock so he would be able to keep any of his spare stuff away instead of just shoving his bag underneath the bar. Once everything was settled, he was given the dreaded hairnet and was then put to work.

    "Wait, how come you look better in the hairnet than I do?" Steven asked. Jasper could only smirk and shrug. "Comes with the territory."

    "So, see anyone catch your eye out here yet?" Steven was already switching topics and Jasper could only relish in the whiplash it was giving him.

     "Dude," Jasper couldn't help but laugh, "I've been here two days, and we've been on the clock for–" he checked his watch (which he should've taken off to avoid any health code violations) "–ten minutes. I haven't even been able to see the pool yet."

     Steven nodded sagely. Jasper didn't like where this was going. "No, it has nothing to do with pool boy over there."

     "Oh, so he has a code name now?" Steven gawked, mouth agape with amusement. Jasper only rolled his eyes.

     "He's your best friend, from what I can tell. Why not flay him about it?"

     "Come on, you guys were practically talking about poaching each other's eggs this morning. You said you wanted yours over easy."

     Jasper instantly gagged. "Okay, no. I said that as a joke because Jeremiah was laying it on thick, all right? And does he always talk like that? It can't be good for his ego to think that he can always get what he wants."

     "You think ego drives him?" Steven scoffed, "He skates by on his looks alone. If he wanted anyone, he technically could. But he likes when others make the first move. And if anyone's not throwing themselves at him, he'll concede."

     "So he's a manwhore, then?" Jasper asked jokingly, raising a challenging eyebrow.

    "Hey," Steven flung a potato wedge at Jasper, "that's my best friend you're talking about."

"Guess who was so desperate to see you," Steven called and Jasper wanted to push him into the pool as the two made their way over to Jeremiah as they were both free to take their breaks. "He called you a manwhore, by the way."

"Dude!" Jasper exclaimed, flailing a bit. Jeremiah raised his eyebrows at that, but instead of being offended, he got a kick out of it. Jasper then feigned disgust. "Please don't tell me you actually like being called a manwhore."

"I prefer the term 'cozy'. I just happen to like everybody," Jeremiah replied, sitting nonchalantly on the diving block.

"I see you were chosen to bring balance to the Force. And yet they refused to let Anakin be part of the Council."

     "He just doesn't have the charm that I do."

     "He was also celibate for ten years," Jasper retorted.

     "You make it sound like I've made out with everyone at this pool."

     "And you haven't?" Jasper did his best to contain his laughter, but he did enjoy this witty repartee that he had going on with Jeremiah, even if it was at Jeremiah's expense. Jasper figured sooner or later he'd also be getting the short of the stick as karma so he enjoyed this moment while it lasted.

    Jeremiah pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth and nodded, as if to accept some sort of silent challenge. "I mean, you're at the pool. I haven't made out with you."

     Jasper jabbed his finger in the direction of Steven. "He's here too, you know."

     "Wait, no. Don't drag me into your foreplay," Steven finally interjected.

"Hey, you wanna come inside and chill with us for a bit before we leave to go to Laurel's book party?" Jeremiah asked as the three of them made their way back to the house.

"Yeah, just let me go home and shower first," Jasper accepted the offer, hopping out of the Jeep and making his way over to his own house. Walking through the door, he heard the faint sound of keys harshly clacking on a keyboard, letting him know that his mom was working. So he toed off his sneakers and made his way up the stairs for a shower and a change of clothes.

✶ ╱ AUTHOR'S NOTE 092823

third chapter woooo <33
i truly have nothing to say bc these chapters are so show-driven that the actual plot of the fic hasn't even kicked in yet so i hope you enjoyed regardless !!