Jasper Lucas (sinsoftheson) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-08-31 19:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | #november 2017, jasper, jasper x ruby, ruby |
Who: Ruby and Jasper
When: Thursday, Nov 9, after school
Where: the parking lot
Status: in progress
Having Amelia back, even though she was different, had really done wonders for Jasper’s mood. Obviously. But it felt like riding a high that he wasn’t ever going to come down from. His sister was alive and safe and it sucked that she’d lost such a chunk of her life, but she was still back. All of the family knew now, and all the girlfriends, and while Gavin had said over and over again that they had to keep the news contained, there was one more person Jasper wanted to tell. Ruby had known how devastated he’d been, and while Jasper was doing okay keeping up a sullen appearance during school hours, he didn’t think he could continue to fake his grief to her on a more personal level when they were hanging out.
So he’d texted Ruby around lunch time to tell her he had something he wanted to talk to her about, and asked if she could meet him at his car after school. It had been raining off and on all day, and he wasn’t sure if she’d brought her bike or not today ... maybe he could give her a ride somewhere and tell her the good news. Jasper got to his car first after the last bell and climbed inside, unlocking the passenger door and settling in with a cigarette. He kept his eyes peeled for Ruby. It was funny how he didn’t even feel worried that she wouldn’t believe him. Ruby was open-minded, and even if she thought he was crazy, it was easy enough to prove.
Ruby was surprised to hear from Jasper, considering how much more quiet and withdrawn he’d been since Amelia went missing. She didn’t blame him, she would have been too, and she suspected it would be a good long while before things got back to even a semblance of normal. In the meantime, she hadn’t minded things being rather quiet when they hung out and she’d tried to provide a distraction when he needed one. Upon seeing his text, she said of course she’d be there and barely managed to refrain from asking questions about what he wanted to talk about.
The weather had been bad enough that morning that her dad had dropped her off at school, the truck in mid-repair and not quite drivable yet. It meant she’d have to call him once she was ready to go home, or walk, but as she hurried out to Jasper’s car she hoped maybe she’d be able to talk him into a ride. Provided he didn’t have other plans. Spotting his car, she hopped into the passenger seat just as it started to rain, pulling the door shut behind her. “Hey,” she said, offering him smile. “How’s it going?”
Jasper flicked the butt of his cigarette out his cracked window just as Ruby climbed inside of the car. He turned to face her more, smiling back at her. It felt more easy and natural than it had for a couple of weeks, and he hoped she would be able to see that. Jasper knew that Ruby believed in certain things, but he also knew that this was a stretch. Dark forces were one thing, different dimensions where time ran at a different rate were another. He was going to have to be convincing. “Hey,” he said back. “It’s ah ... it’s going good, actually. I’ve got some news. It’s good news, but it’s weird news, okay? Ready to have your mind blown?”
Jasper was smiling. It was weird to see him smile after all this time, but it made Ruby smile back at him, interested in hearing whatever news he had that could bring about this change in mood. Her first thought was that they’d found Amelia, but she immediately discarded that. It would have been in the papers, on the news, and in the hallways at school. So it wasn’t that. But whatever it was, it was enough to distract Jasper from it. “I can handle weird,” she said with a little laugh. “Don’t keep me waiting. What is it?”
He knew she could handle weird, but could she handle weird? Jasper didn’t want Ruby to think he was nuts, but he thought she would probably come around eventually. “Okay,” he said with a grin. “Uh ... Amelia’s back. She came home on Sunday. The only thing is ... she’s not nine years old anymore. Wherever she went -- and she doesn’t really know, just that it’s like ... this different place, right? Where time runs faster. To her, she spent nine years there, and so she’s like ... eighteen, nineteen now? And she escaped and came back to us, she thought we would all be older too, but we’re obviously not ... But anyway, she’s home, and I swear it’s her and she knows things only Amelia would know, and she talked to the cops first and they did a DNA test on her and she’s really ours.” It all came out in an excited rush. He’d done a better job explaining it to Jules, probably, but Jasper just wanted to get the whole story out.
Ruby stared at Jasper, an inhaled breath hanging until she found she had to breathe. “Are you sure it’s her?” she asked, not wanting to doubt him, but a nineteen year old Amelia was hard to wrap her head around. It was easier to think someone had popped in to mess with them, a cruel joke, but much more likely. Not that she could see any reason why someone would do that. It wasn’t like the Lucas’s were the kind of super well-off family that a gold digging orphan would want to prey on. But… “How?” she finally asked after a moment’s pause. “Where did she go? How did she get back? If it’s really her… everything checks out?”
They were all the same questions and concerns that most people had had so far, and that totally made sense to Jasper, naturally. If it hadn’t been his sister, and if he hadn’t seen her with his own two eyes and known her immediately, he probably would’ve been the same sort of skeptical. Of course, he’d also been primed to believe in a lot more things lately. He didn’t seem fazed by Ruby’s questions at all, still smiling as he nodded. Yes, he was sure. “I don’t know where, exactly,” he said with a laugh. “She doesn’t remember being taken. She was just somewhere that was ... kind of like here, but darker. It never snowed, she said. She had to fight bad things for years and there weren’t very many people. And she said there was this hole? That was kind of like a pond of this black shit. And one day she just took a chance and went through it, and then suddenly she’s crawling out in the woods and she’s back. The cops found her, and they didn’t believe her story either, obviously, so they ran a DNA test on her and she matched to dad like, a hundred percent. She’s really Amelia. Her memory of that place is kinda fading already though, so I dunno if we’ll ever really know.” Hell, Jasper almost didn’t want to know. He only cared that she was home and seemed mostly okay.
Ruby believed in the weird. She’d seen some of it herself, first hand. But this was definitely crazier than anything she could have imagined. And yet, how could she argue with him? If Amelia’s DNA checked out, if her memories were there, who was she to argue with him? It made her wonder about her mother, if she’d gotten stuck somewhere else and been unable to get back. Amelia had been gone for almost two weeks and that had aged her… ten years? Her mom had been gone years. If time worked like that wherever Amelia had gone, it wasn’t worth asking about her mom. With her mind going down that path, she realized she believed him, regardless of how fantastical it sounded. “Damn,” she said softly, lips turning up just a touch. “Is she okay? I mean, she was nine. Now she’s— she’s our age.” Maybe older. “What’re you telling people? You can’t call her Amelia, right?” People would think they’d lost their minds. They’d think she was an imposter, even if they could prove it. And proving it would bring in the kind of investigation that the Lucases didn’t need on their hands.
Jasper wasn’t thinking about Ruby’s mom at all, he was still too buoyant from having Amelia back. He’d kind of expected Ruby’s subdued reaction because it was all hard to wrap one’s head around, he got that. If it hadn’t been his sister involved, Jasper had the feeling he would be questioning his whole reality even more than he already was. “Nah, we’re going to say she’s a cousin come to stay with us,” he said. “Give her a nickname, get her a fake ID. Let her work part time at the bar, maybe ... or pretend to, I dunno. The age thing is weird, yeah, still getting used to that, but in a lot of ways she’s not that old. Like, mentally. She wasn’t exactly living a normal-ass life over there.” He gave a little huff. “I think ... I dunno, I think she’s been through a lot and she’s not really dealt with it yet, but it’s still early, you know? I’m sure she’ll have some issues, but we’ll take care of her. She’s home now.” And she would never be going anywhere again, if Jasper had anything to do with it.
It really was a lot for Ruby to absorb. She wanted to be as excited as he was, and she was sure she would be eventually, when it all caught up with her. There was just so much to take in. Like, how Amelia had been on her own for ten years. In some weird world. She hadn’t been to school, hadn’t had her friends or family, had to learn to survive on her own. It seemed like something out a post apocalyptic sci-fi movie. “Yeah,” she nodded. “Yeah, shit, I can’t even imagine what she’s been through. That’s great though.” She smiled, slow, but getting there. “That she made it home. I can’t believe it. I mean, I believe you, but damn.” It was going to take some getting used to for sure, not just Amelia being back, but the knowledge that all that was possible. “Can I meet her? Sometime, I mean. When she’s ready. Do you think she remembers me?”
“I know, it’s crazy, right?” Jasper said with good humor, grinning at her. Crazy didn’t really cover it, but his vocabulary around shit like this was limited. Jasper couldn’t really call it a miracle because he wasn’t sure he believed in those, but it kind of felt like one. He just thought his baby sister was tough as nails, and he was so stupidly proud of her for making it through. Sure, she couldn’t remember a whole lot of it, but that didn’t mean it didn’t happen. “Yeah, definitely,” he answered Ruby’s question, feeling kind of warm inside that she even wanted to. “I’ll ask her about it, see when she might want to. She remembered me having a cheerleader girlfriend who she never met, so I’m sure she remembers you.” Ruby had always been really sweet to Amelia, and he had no doubt she would be thrilled to see someone who wasn’t family who knew who she was. “We gotta keep all this on the down low, so I bet she’ll be happy to have someone she can be honest with. Especially like ... a girl. I feel like she’s missed so much learning, and I dunno shit about periods and stuff ...”
“If she’s my age, I’m sure she’s figured out the period shit by now,” Ruby laughed. “But yeah, I’d love to hang out, girl talk and shit. Show her what’s normal around here.” She wasn’t going to say Point Pleasant was normal, but it sounded way better than wherever Amelia had come from. “You tell her you still have a cheerleader girlfriend?” Ruby asked with a grin. She recalled the last time she saw Amelia, all the questions she’d had about Jules, and wondered how it would be if she met her now. It would definitely be different. “How’s Jules taking it?” she asked, sure he would have told her as well. She’d never been that sure about Jules’s threshold for the weird, but this would definitely test it.
Oh right, that stuff started way earlier, didn’t it? Oh well, at least Amelia could ask questions of an actual girl, if she needed to. One she already sort of knew and who was her own age -- ugh, so fucking weird to think about -- instead of Roxy or their mother, God forbid. It actually kind of relaxed him that Ruby wanted to spend time with her. Like he wouldn’t be her only peer-aged friend. Jasper wanted her to have friends. Preferably female ones, because he had not been able to avoid noticing how gorgeous she was now. “Yeah, I told her,” he answered with a chuckle. “And uh, she’s okay with it. A little skeptical at first, like you, but she believes me. She’s happy about it, for us. She hasn’t seen her yet, but they never met before, so I dunno how weird that’ll be. You two are the only non-family people I’m telling, though, so ... keep it on the down low, obviously.”
“‘Course,” Ruby said with an easy smile. Who would she even tell? Who would believe her? It wasn’t her secret and she’d learned a long time ago that most people couldn’t handle these kinds of things anyways. And this was the kind of thing that would actually cause real problems if it got out, not just gossip. Ruby didn’t want that for anyone in the Lucas clan, least of all Jasper and Amelia. “So, does she have a nickname she wants to go by? Since Amelia’s off the table.” It would probably help that she looked so much older, otherwise it would be hard not to call her by her name.
Jasper trusted that Ruby wouldn’t say anything. She knew how things were, and he’d never known her to be a narc or anything. She was a good friend, and he was glad that he had at least a couple of people close to him who he could talk about this with. He had a feeling it wasn’t just Amelia who was going to need time to adjust and process the whole thing. Jasper gave a little laugh and shook his head. “She hasn’t settled on one yet,” he said. “We keep tossing ideas back and forth. We’ll find one. She isn’t really out and about in the world yet, we’ve got some time.” Amelia wanted his help in picking a name, unfortunately for her, Jasper didn’t have the best imagination when it came to shit like that.
“Just not Amy. I don’t see her as an Amy,” Ruby grinned. “Maybe a Lia.” Or she could go by her middle name, like Ruby did. Or whatever she wanted to, really. She had the freedom to be whomever she wanted to be. The downside was she’d missed out on so much. But she could catch up. She was still young. “So is she hanging out at your dad’s house? Or your mom’s?” God, that had to complicate things. His parents hadn’t gotten along before, but she imagined this would a a whole new layer to the issue. At least Amelia was now of age to decide where she wanted to be.
Jasper wrinkled his nose in agreement -- she definitely wasn’t an Amy. Not that there was anything wrong with Amys, the name just didn’t suit her. “I’ve suggested Lia, actually, but she wasn’t sold right away, so I dunno,” he said with a chuckle. “She’s at Dad’s, yeah. She’s gonna stay with us. Mom isn’t ... I dunno, she’s being Mom about it.” Jasper shrugged and pursed his lips in an unimpressed expression. He hadn’t actually spoken to his mother, so he didn’t know exactly how Olivia was taking it, but from the little Amelia had told him, the answer was close to Not Well. “Dad’s actually finally divorcing her now, we found out she had a boyfriend right before Amelia disappeared.” He couldn’t remember if he’d told Ruby that or not. With a smirk, Jasper added, “Dad punched him.”
Ruby’s brows rose in surprise, but then she laughed. “Go dad,” she grinned. “It’s about time. I mean, I really don’t wish that on anyone, but when things get toxic, it’s better to end them.” And Jasper’s parents had been a mess for a good long while now, long before Jasper had moved out of his mom’s place. She hadn’t been all that sure that Olivia was good for Amelia, but it wasn’t her place to say something like that. Now it was probably worse. An opinionated teenager was drastically different than an opinionated nine year old and Amelia had been her own person, even back then. “Things’ll get better. They’ve already gotten better. This is the best news I’ve had all week.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Jasper chuckled, shaking his head. His parents had been a fucking disaster ever since he could remember, and from what he’d been told that had been the case their entire relationship. His dad had once said that Ollie was only chill and sweet when she was pregnant. The last bit of what Ruby said made him grin brightly again. “It’s the best news of my fuckin’ life, I swear to God,” he agreed wholeheartedly. He’d been pretty much inconsolable about Amelia, and it felt like ten tons had been lifted off of his chest now. Jasper hated that she’d been through hell, but she was home now, and there was nothing to do but heal. On impulse, Jasper reached over to snag Ruby’s hand and give it a squeeze. “Thanks for ... y’know ... bein’ there and listening to me,” he murmured.
It surprised her that he reached out, but Ruby smiled back at him and squeezed his hand back, his happiness contagious. Jasper was one of the best guys she knew and he deserved a break more than anyone. “Sorry I… I didn’t have more faith. This wasn’t a possibility that I could imagine. But I’m so fucking glad you have her back,” she grinned. It was unbelievable, yet it had happened and there was no denying it. Not based on what Jasper had said. Amelia’s DNA matched, as did her memories. Ruby couldn’t wait to meet her again, to see what kind of person she’d become. Hopefully they would be friends. That hadn’t seemed like a possibility before, when she was so much younger, but now everything had changed.
Jasper shook his head; he didn’t want her to feel bad about anything. Ruby had had more faith than his own father had, so there was that. “Nobody could’ve seen this coming,” he said. The longer she’d been missing, the less likely it was that she would just turn up on their front porch, so that idea had been far-fetched enough. But Amelia showing up from some alternate dimension, having aged nine more years? Who could’ve predicted that? None of them. Jasper gave Ruby’s hand one more little squeeze, then let her go to fish out another cigarette. He glanced at the rain still coming down outside, and then over at Ruby again. “You bring your bike today? Need a ride?”
He was right. No one could have seen it coming, not without a crystal ball or something crazy. Even though Ruby thought there was something weird involved with Amelia going missing, she could have never even come close to guessing the truth. “If you don’t mind,” Ruby smiled. “I had my dad drop me off ‘cause the truck’s not quite ready.” She figured she had a few more weeks before snow became an issue, but she hadn’t counted on all this rain. It was easy for her dad to drop her off in the morning, before the garage opened, but he couldn’t just leave in the middle of the afternoon when school got out.
“Nah, ‘course not,” Jasper said, giving a little huff as he started up the car. In a town the size of Point Pleasant, giving somebody a ride pretty much anywhere wasn’t a big deal. And while Jasper was kind of eager to get back home to Amelia, he knew he had to learn to deal with that so he wouldn’t smother her. Jasper pulled out of the parking spot and headed toward the street. “So how are things with you?” he asked, glancing over at Ruby with a bit of amusement. “I feel like an asshole who hasn’t had like, a normal conversation in months.” It hadn’t been that long, of course, but it felt like this ordeal had lasted for ages.
“It wasn’t that long, plus you had pretty much the best excuse ever to be a little closed off,” Ruby told him with a smile. “I’m not holding it against you.” And anyone that did needed an attitude check. Ruby would personally seek them out and shake some sense into them. “Things are pretty good. Not a lot going on. Been working on the truck, working on college applications, and just plain working. You know, the norm.” She kind of wished there was something interesting going on, but it felt like bad luck to voice it. Jasper had just had something “interesting” happen to him and it had been horrible, at least till now.
‘A little closed off’ sounded like the understatement of the year, but Jasper appreciated her saying he had a right to it. He supposed he did. He just knew himself enough to know that he would’ve been closed off and wrecked with grief for much longer if Amelia hadn’t turned back up. Maybe it was stupid to feel kind of guilty for a thing that hadn’t even happened, but he did. “Yeah, the norm,” he echoed with a faint chuckle. “Guess I gotta get back to all that, too. Pretty sure I don’t have a job anymore.” And he was behind on school. Jasper didn’t really want to buckle down and fix those things, but he knew he needed to. “Where’ve you applied to?” he asked, glancing over at her again. Jasper wasn’t fond of the idea of Ruby leaving town, but at the same time, she was one of the ones he thought should get out as soon as she could.
As much as Ruby hated working, she liked the freedom that came with it and she knew Jasper probably felt the same way. Having cash of her own was a big deal. “You should talk to your boss. You never know. He might be understanding,” she suggested. “If not, I think we’re hiring at Moxie’s. A lot of places are, with the holidays coming up.” She doubted Jasper wanted to work at Moxie’s though, or any of the retail places. “You ever want to work at the Porch?” she asked, curious. Working for family could be tricky. “I’m kind of stuck applying to University of Maine, whatever campus I can get in to. I can really only afford to stay in state and I’d like to go to a university if I can.” Not that there was anything against a community college, but she was hoping for a bachelor’s degree eventually.
At least she was staying in state, that was something. Maybe Jasper could go visit her, or she would come home to see her dad and stuff, and she wouldn’t completely disappear. He knew plenty of other people were looking to get as far away from Point Pleasant as possible ... Jasper kind of wished he was so certain about his future. He wasn’t in the slightest. “You’ll get into one,” he said with a nod to Ruby, feeling sure of that. She was smart. “You just better come back sometimes. Me? I dunno ... I kinda don’t wanna work for my dad. I can’t until I’m twenty-one anyway.” He had the feeling that he would end up there anyway, hopefully inheriting the place ... at least his dad’s part of it. Who knew? Maybe he and Amelia could run it together some day. That thought was nicer than the ones he usually had about his future.
As much as Ruby wanted to get out, she couldn’t imagine going too far. Everything she’d ever known was in Point Pleasant, especially her family. “My dad’s not going anywhere, so I’ll be back. Every major holiday, at the very least, probably more,” Ruby smiled. “I get not wanting to work for your dad, but it wouldn’t be a bad place to start. Learn the ropes. When you’re legal, I mean.” Bartending could make a good amount of money, even if he didn’t stay in Point Pleasant. And if he did, she was sure he had an in if he wanted it.
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Jasper said, glancing over at her with a little smile. He didn’t even know if he was going to graduate, it was hard to think about what was going to come after. He guessed he would figure it out as he got closer to it. “It might depend on what Amelia wants to do? I mean, like ... if she doesn’t want to stick around here, I can kinda see us moving to a bigger city, you know? Share an apartment, just work and stuff. Eventually, I mean. After graduation. But I dunno if she’ll wanna leave Dad. So ... yeah, I dunno.” He chuckled and shook his head at himself, he probably sounded like an idiot. He just didn’t even know how to start planning like an adult. “What do you wanna major in?”
Ruby wondered how that would work for Amelia, if her weird age glitch would cause any problems, or the lack of school. That might be a problem long term. “Does Amelia want to go to school? Or anything like that?” she asked curiously. “Just thinking, like, long term. No idea what she’d want to do. I’m sure that’s the last thing on her mind right now.” Adjusting to a new life, where everyone was just the way she left them, was probably priority number one. Ruby couldn’t imagine how disorienting that might be. “I dunno. I’m all over the place. Some days I think I’d like to go to law school, other days I think that’s too much work and I think something like hospitality might be fun. I figure I have time to decide.”
Jasper had shrugged, because he wasn’t sure if Amelia wanted to pursue higher education or not. He figured she would probably need to get her GED at least, and they could figure out how to do that, but beyond that, he wasn’t sure. They would figure it out. She had time. He grinned a little at what Ruby said and glanced over at her again. “You would be like, the baddest-ass lawyer,” he declared. “Especially if you keep the hair.” Ruby had plenty of time to figure it out for herself too. Jasper had heard that a lot of people changed majors once or twice, and even getting a degree didn’t guarantee you’d get work in whatever field. “I’d hire you. Dad always says it's good to know a lawyer. So ... guess we decided your whole future right now,” he added, flashing her a grin. “Aren’t you glad you talk to me? I’m a wise motherfucker.”
Ruby hadn’t been thinking about college for Amelia. She just knew she needed more than a fifth grade education, at least in this world. It wouldn’t surprise her if Amelia had picked up all kinds of other skills, the sort she and Jasper hadn’t even considered. But a GED would help her here. “Of course I’m keeping the hair,” she grinned. “I don’t need to represent anyone who’s going to judge me based on my hairstyle. I can still look professional.” She knew there were people who would argue, but she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. “Hey, it’s good to know I have at least one potential client, and I know I can count on you to talk me up,” she laughed. “And if I don’t go law, I’m sure you can come up with some alternate futures for me. Since you’re so wise.”
The odds were pretty good that Jasper would actually need a lawyer in his future, so the jokes weren’t too far off base. He was in too good a mood to give a shit about the implications though, so he just grinned. “I’ll be thinking about it while you’re out there fucking around with school and stuff,” he said, flashing her a grin. “As your career advisor.” It hit him a little that he was going to be sad when she left -- sad when everybody left. Or most people, anyway, because there were other burnout losers like him who weren’t going anywhere. Point Pleasant’s gravity was strong, it seemed. But that was months away, so Jasper tried to put it out of his mind. They were getting close to Ruby’s place now. “So I’ll talk to Amelia and see when she’s down for company and let you know,” he added.
“I’m counting on you to keep me grounded,” Ruby grinned over at him. She didn’t like to think of the friends she’d leave behind when she thought of her future. If she dwelled on it, she might not leave and she knew she needed to get out, at least for a little while. Even if she was pulled back to Point Pleasant, a few years away would be good for her sanity. “That sounds great,” she smiled. “I’m really, really excited to see her again. I’m so glad she made it home.” Wherever she was didn’t matter now, just that she was safe and with family, the people who cared about her the most.
“Yeah, me too,” Jasper agreed, another one of those sublime smiles crossing his face. Even if the rest of his life turned out kind of shitty, at least he had his sister back. No matter how it happened, a lot of people weren’t that lucky, including the one in the car with him. He wished there was some kind of way to say he was sorry Amelia came back when Ruby’s mother hadn’t, but Jasper was pretty sure those words didn’t exist. Hopefully it was one of those things she knew, as his friend, without him having to say. He pulled into Amelia’s driveway and stopped to let her out. “I’ll see ya later, Fox. Stay dry.” He shot an amused glance at the rain still pouring down on the car.
Some things in life were unexplainable, just like some things weren’t fair. While Ruby did wonder why Amelia had come home, but her mother hadn’t, she considered Amelia’s return a miracle. Things like this just didn’t happen. If losing her mother had been more recent, it might have hurt more, but it was an old ache and she was glad not to be mourning Amelia’s loss alongside her mother’s. Impulsively, she leaned over and gave Jasper a quick hug. “I’ll do my best,” she grinned, then jumped out of the car, holding her backpack over her head as she ran towards the house, rain pouring down around her.