4 ╱ Making a Summer Bet
If there was anything rich people knew how to do, it was throw a party. Even if it was just an intimate book signing with wine and cheese that came straight from Martha's Vineyard, the event was still swanky in the small yet cutesy bookshop. Jasper looked around Whale of a Tale, cheese and grape plate in hand and a signed copy of his mother's book shoved underneath his armpit as he stood awkwardly to the side before he finally found the chance to get up to Laurel's table to give it to her.
"Laurel, hi," Jasper started, getting up to the table and setting the book down, "I finally wrangled that signed copy of my mom's book for you!" He slid forward the copy of his mom's book, Funny You Should Mention, towards Laurel. "Also, I hope it's not rude that I'm bringing a different author's book to your signing party."
Laurel laughed, accepting the book graciously. "Of course not, as you can see by the number of Cleveland Castillo books lying around. But thank you, Jasper. Is your mom here by chance? I can thank her in person."
Jasper shook his head. "It was actually pretty hard, getting her to sign it as she was already knee deep in her writing before I left the house. But I know she routinely gets done writing around nine p.m. and then just sits with a glass of riesling on the back porch so maybe I can get her to say hi to you, then. Maybe even plan a ladies night with you and Susannah."
Laurel laughed again at the suggestion. "That'd be wonderful."
Jasper nodded and then went to go eat his cheese cubes in peace until he found Conrad with a death grip on the bottle of chardonnay, throwing back plastic glass after plastic glass. Given the fact that Jasper had only been in Cousins for almost a week and had only known of Conrad for three of those days, he knew better than to assume something was going on, but he also knew there was no harm in asking. So after swallowing his fully chewed grape, he walked up to Conrad under the guise that he was getting himself a glass of wine.
"Save some for the rest of us partygoers, okay?" Jasper teased, laughing lightly. Conrad gave him a look that was ripped straight out of a brooding boy's handbook on how to nail disparaging faces. His grip on the chardonnay only tightened.
"You don't have to look after me, you know? I'm fine," Conrad ground out, voice hoarse and a little fuzzy around the edges.
Jasper pointed at both of the darkness under Conrad's eyes. "I think the bags under your eyes would beg to differ, dude. And what made you think I came to check on you?"
"I can sense a self-sacrificial martyr from a mile away. You wouldn't be talking to me for any other reason than to play therapist."
"Okay." Jasper set his plate down, "so say I am playing therapist. I'd tell you that attempting to drink your pain away instead of facing them head on and talking to someone about it is only gonna give you a shit liver when you think you're finally done wallowing in your self-pity." Conrad began rolling his eyes, but Jasper went on. "Of course, I don't know what happened to you because I don't know you at all, and I'm sorry that it happened to you in the first place, but if you can apparently call out a martyr from a mile away, then I can clock a brooding, disparaging prick when I see one. Enjoy your booze." With that, Jasper took his plate back and went to go sit on the couch, letting out a huff.
Jeremiah gave him a look of concern. "You okay?"
"Not really. I kind of had to lay into your brother because I was a little concerned about his drinking, but he didn't want to hear it. But in my defense, he called me a martyr and a therapist." Jasper popped another grape into his mouth, and while he was slightly distracted, Jeremiah stole a cheese cube and a cracker off his plate. "But on the bright side, I got Laurel a signed copy of my mom's book."
"That's great!" Jeremiah went in to steal another cheese cube, but Jasper smacked his hand away this time.
"Dude, get your own plate."
"We're friends now. Friends share things."
"Like sharing their keys to their really cool Jeep Wrangler Sport?"
Jeremiah had the nerve to laugh and clap Jasper on the shoulder at that. "Aw, you're cute, JJ. But you're not that cute."
Jasper rolled his eyes and handed what was left on his plate over to Jeremiah. "I'm getting another plate. Be right back."
Steven turned to Jeremiah, shaking his head in disbelief at the interaction that had happened. "How do I manage to always witness your guys' obvious flirting?"
Jeremiah shrugged, popping a grape into his mouth. "Do you think he's catching on, though?"
"Considering he had the nerve to rip Conrad a new asshole after meeting him just four days ago, I would think that he would definitely be smart enough to catch on to your desperate act that you call flirting."
Jeremiah punched Steven in the shoulder, but not hard enough for it to actually hurt. Steven feigned hurt anyway, making a show of rubbing where Jeremiah hit him. Jasper finally came back with a full plate of cheese, crackers, and grapes and plopped back onto the couch, munching on a grape as he did so. Jeremiah attempted to swipe a cheese cube, but Jasper pulled his new plate away. "I literally gave you what was left of my other plate. What more could you want?"
"You gave me crumbs!" Jeremiah held up the now-empty plate to prove his plate, "The least you could've done was leave me with a decent spread before getting up to go get a new plate."
Jasper gave Jeremiah another look before conceding and slowly held out his plate to him. "Don't go too crazy, dude."
It was in one ear and out the other for Jeremiah as he grabbed a few pieces of each off of the plate. "Now we're even."
"You are absolutely ravenous, Jesus Christ." Jasper shook his head. Jeremiah bumped their shoulders together, meaning well. He nudged Jasper again, saying, "Open."
Jasper opened wide, and Jeremiah tossed a grape into his mouth. Jasper caught it, chewing successfully. Steven rolled his eyes at the two of them, muttering, "Idiots."
After a moment, Conrad went to sit down next to them on the couch, and asked, "Can we get out of here?"
Steven scoffed as he scrolled through his phone. "Yeah, and go where?"
"We could head into town. You know, Jasper hasn't seen much of Cousins since he's been here," Jeremiah suggested, sitting up. Jasper sat up as well, intrigued, and added, "Yeah. I'd be down to go to town."
Jeremiah snickered at that. Mission accomplished.
"We could go to the drive-in," Steven suggested jokingly, chuckling. Jeremiah scrunched up his nose. "Dude, no. I do not want to see Belly hooking up with some guy in a minivan."
"You know what?" Conrad asked, lifting his head a little, "Yeah, let's go to the drive-in."
Steven turned to Conrad and asked, "Really?"
Conrad shrugged. "Why not?"
"You coming, Jasper?" Jeremiah asked, turning to Jasper, who looked rightly uncomfortable.
"I just don't know if it's a good idea. What if Belly thinks we're crashing her date?" Jasper questioned.
Conrad answered, "Then that's on her."
Jasper didn't end up going to the drive-in with the others. Instead, he decided to stay at the book shop, Jeremiah promising to come get him after he dropped everyone else off at the house.
He perused the shelves, a small plastic cup of chardonnay in hand as he checked out the young adult section in hopes to find something to read whenever he was bored out of his mind at the house (he immensely regret not bringing his guitar with him). Eyeing a powder blue hardback, he pulled it off the shelf to read the title. Red, White & Royal Blue. Hm. Intrigued, he flipped to the inside flap to start reading the synopsis (he also hated that hardbacks didn't have the synopsis on the back anymore).
Interest piqued, he went off in search of a few more books. Happy with his selection, he went around to the checkout counter before lying back down on the couch and scrolling through his phone. His mom sent him a picture of her on the back porch and her usual glass, and he sent back a smiley face. Jeremiah eventually came back to the bookstore to come and get Jasper, and Jasper made his rounds of goodbyes before leaving.
"Was I right?" Jasper asked, getting into the front seat and shutting the door.
"Were you right about what?" Jeremiah returned, even though he knew what he was talking about.
"Was I right about Belly thinking that you guys were crashing her date?" He pulled on his seatbelt and looked at Jeremiah and waited for an answer.
Jeremiah sighed, nodding. "Yeah. She was a little pissed."
"I'm sure you would be too if someone crashed your date slash makeout session."
The Jeep roared to life, and Jeremiah put the gear in reverse to get out of the parking spot. "You still wanna head into town?"
"Isn't everything closed by now?"
"Probably. Wanna swing by our place and watch a movie or something?"
"Yeah, a movie sounds good."
The ride back to the house was quiet, save for the radio with the volume turned on low. The windows were rolled down, letting in the warm June air as Jasper watched shop after shop pass him by. He looked over towards the driver's seat, and took in the lines and contours of Jeremiah's face, the way some parts were illuminated by light and darkened by shadow. He noticed the small bump in the arch of his nose, and something deep inside him made him want to touch it. As if Jeremiah heard what Jasper was thinking via ESP, his lips pulled back into that megawatt smile, once again flashing his perfect teeth, canines, and molars.
"You like what you see?" Jeremiah asked, smug, nudging Jasper's arm with his elbow. Jasper rolled his eyes, directing his attention to whatever was whizzing past him out the window.
"You're a very pretty boy, is that what you wanna hear, Fisher?" Jasper turned his head back around to face Jeremiah, eyebrows raised.
"It's like music to my ears."
"Oh my God."
"Alright, we've got Pulp Fiction, Terminator, Superbad, and Hereditary." Jeremiah flicked the DVDs one by one onto his bed, Jasper leaning over to see.
"Also known as the dudebro's introduction to film," Jasper joked, picking up Pulp Fiction. "Although I've never seen Pulp Fiction before."
All Jeremiah could do was blink in response. "How the hell have you not seen Pulp Fiction?"
"I have a list of movies I wanna get through! I'm still stuck on the Fast and the Furious franchise."
"I- I'm gonna stop asking questions before you make my head explode. Gimme that." Jeremiah took the DVD out of Jasper's hands and popped it into the player. "Tonight, you are experiencing the fine art that is. . .Pulp Fiction."
While the movie booted up, Jasper sent a text to his mom telling him that he was still over at the neighbors' house before turning his phone off and setting it on the nightstand. "Question: why aren't we watching the movie downstairs? The living room has a bigger TV. Wouldn't that add to the experience?"
"Sure, but there's a lot more stuff downstairs that can distract you and you just gotta block all of that out. Up here, there isn't much to detract from the movie. Now shush, it's starting."
About halfway into the movie, Jeremiah yawned, stretching his arms up and around, Jasper smirking at the maneuver. "You trying to cop a feel, Fisher?" Jasper asked, leaning his head back against Jeremiah's arm, anyway. Jeremiah huffed out a laugh, but didn't respond. Instead, he took his thumb and forefinger used them to tug on a strand of hair at the back of Jasper's head. The action sent a tingling sensation through Jasper's spine, and he wound up doing his best to snuff out a pleased noise that rose in the back of his throat.
"Maybe I'm reading a little too far into it, but I think this summer could be fun for the both of us," Jeremiah piped up, tone warm.
"What, like a fling?" Jasper laughed a little in disbelief at what he was hearing (although he wasn't totally against it), "You don't even know me all that well. I don't even know you all that well."
"That's what makes it a fling! The fun is in the mystery. We just go with the flow."
Jasper snorted. "Sounds like Russian roulette."
Jeremiah sat up. "Tell you what, instead of a full-blown fling, how about we make a bet instead?"
"I'm listening."
"You get one kiss a day. I can kiss you whenever I want, and you can make it last as long as you want. But, the catch for me is that if you tell me to stop, I'll stop and I won't be able to touch you again until the next day."
Jasper mulled it over, a question on the tip of his tongue. "What makes this a bet exactly?"
"As a consolation for my pain, you have to spend the night here every Friday for the entire month of July. If I miss a kiss, you can stay home Friday. But if you forget to spend the night, you have to stay over Saturday and Sunday. That enough of a bet for you?" Jeremiah raised his eyebrows, hazel eyes twinkling bright with mischief and glee besides the light from the tv and the darkness of the room.
"Game on."
✶ AUTHOR'S NOTE / 101323
and so the actual plot begins !!
i don't really know if you can even call what they're doing a bet but there are stakes so it's. . .something
also i did say that there was gonna be conrad slander and there will be plenty more where that came from <3
pls feel free to comment your thoughts as they are always appreciated and i hope you enjoyed reading the chapter !
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