Jasper Lucas (sinsoftheson) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2020-12-06 09:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | #may 2018, jasper, jasper x ruby, ruby |
Who: Ruby and Jasper
When: late-ish May, afternoon
Where: Ruby's car, mostly
Status: complete
Jasper had been trying to pace himself on seeing people again during the few days he’d been back and remembered who he was. Reuniting with family had been overwhelming enough, he’d woken up in Logan’s house to start with, and he’d seen Jules at least twice now ... but neither time had been for very long. She had school, finals to do, since she was actually going to graduate, and she’d been busy with end-of-senior-year things. That really only left Ruby as the only close friend he hadn’t caught up with yet, and Jasper kind of hoped her schedule wasn’t as packed with obligations and activities. She wasn’t the sort of joiner that Jules was, so he doubted it, but still.
Gavin had gotten him a new phone, and he’d taken possession of his car back from Amelia, but Jasper still didn’t feel like he was back to his normal life. What did that even mean, anyway? He was sleeping in Ms. Harris’s basement, when he could sleep without company -- and when he couldn’t, he was sleeping on his sister’s floor -- he didn’t really know the state of his relationship with his girlfriend, everything felt strange and too bright ... it was just a lot.
He wanted to let Ruby know he was okay though, so he waited until the post-school afternoon, and then he called her. Jasper had gotten her number from Amelia, and he hoped she would pick up the unknown number. If she didn’t he would have to start harassing her with text messages.
Ruby had only two things on her mind these days—graduating and Clint. She only had one exam left to deal with and that one should be a walk in the park. At this point it wouldn’t even impact her college acceptance letters, so it was hard to really care. Her focus was on the ceremony and the after-party, but mostly celebrating with Clint. Neither of them liked to talk about what would happen at the end of the summer, so for the moment she wanted to live it up with him.
When her phone rang, she expected it to be Clint and was surprised when she didn’t recognize the number. Normally, she would have ignored it and let it go to voicemail, but it was a local number, so Ruby answered. “Hi, this is Ruby,” she said, only half paying attention as she flipped through the channels on the television.
He had to smile at the way she answered the phone. It was already good to hear her voice. For a second Jasper didn’t know what to say though, kind of feeling like he was on the weird end of one of those calls-from-the-dead tropes in horror movies. He wasn’t dead though, never had been, and this was hopefully a little less shocking than just showing up at her house. “Hey, uh ... it’s Jasper,” he replied. Maybe it was egotistical of him, but he was king of looking forward to hearing her excitement already. “I’m home.”
Ruby dropped the remote and sat straight up on the couch. “Jasper?!” she asked, but the question was pointless. She knew that voice, even if she hadn’t heard it in months and had never expected to hear it again. “Oh my god! How? When? Are you okay? Can I come over? Where are you? I’ll come over,” she said, already fumbling around for her shoes. It didn’t matter where he was, she would get there and she wasn’t hanging up the phone with him until she could see him in person. His voice sounded real, but there was still an underlying fear that if she lost the connection, she might lose him again as well.
The way Ruby said his name made Jasper grin a little. It was going to be nice to hang out with somebody so enthused to see him without so much of that heaviness that weighed down most of his other relationships. He was sure Ruby had missed him, but he didn’t think she would’ve been totally devastated by it all. “Uhhh ... I don’t know, a few days ago, and yes I’m okay. I’m at Ms. Harris’s house? My dad and sister live here now, um ... you can come here or I can meet you somewhere? Whatever you wanna do,” he told her. He didn’t mind Ms. Harris’s house, but he still liked to wander, and it sounded kind of good to get out and stretch his legs a bit.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Ruby said as she grabbed her purse and her keys, then headed for the door. She imagined it had to be weird to come home and find out that he no longer had a place to stay, though he was pretty sure his dad would find a way to make it work. He'd been talking about moving in with Logan prior to disappearing, so maybe it was time to make that happen. It was something they could talk about later, once she saw him in person and hugged his head off. "Let's go somewhere then. I know she's dating your dad, but it'd still be weird to hang out at her house. If that's okay. Can I pick you up? We can go walk around Main Street, maybe drop by Joyland? I just wanna see you."
“Perfect, yeah,” Jasper said with a smile. He was glad that Ruby didn’t want to hang around the house, they could talk more freely somewhere else, and he would get to walk around outside a bit. Being outdoors was something Jasper intended never to take for granted again. Some delicious coffee was just icing on the cake. “It gets a little crowded-feeling in here sometimes. I’ll meet you out front?” Unaware of Ruby’s intention to stay on the phone until she actually got in front of him, Jasper got up to find his sneakers and prepared to hang up.
“Sure, I’ll be there soon,” Ruby said as she hurried across the yard and hopped in her car. Rather than hang up, she kept talking. “So how long have you been back? Who all knows?” she asked, assuming it couldn’t have been too long, and that his family for sure knew, but how far beyond that circle had he reached? She knew she couldn’t be the first, but she silently hoped she wasn’t the last. She felt like people would’ve been talking if he’d been seen around town, but then neither of them ran in circles where people really cared. There were a number of people who’d thought Jasper had just run off, ditched Jules and decided it wasn’t worth it to finish school. While Ruby knew the truth, it wasn’t something she could tell everyone and it made it hard to convince them otherwise.
He almost took his phone away from his ear to hit the button, but Ruby kept talking. It was kind of cute, like maybe she couldn’t wait to see him in person to ask these things. Jasper grabbed his shoes and plopped back down on the edge of the bed to put them on, tucking the phone against his face with his shoulder. “Only a few days,” he told her. He idly marveled at how nice it was to have clean socks on and slide his foot into a shoe that wasn’t caked in muck. “My family knows, Logan knows, Jules knows ... that’s about it right now. Haven’t really wanted to call anybody else yet.” He did have other friends, of course, but they weren’t real friends. Jasper could count those on one hand. He tied his shoes and stood up to make his way to the door to head outside to wait. Jasper loved being outside now, more than he ever had before.
She was selfishly glad the list wasn’t long. None of the names on it surprised her, though she did wonder how his reunion with Jules had gone. They hadn’t exactly been on the best terms when he left, but he hadn’t been himself back then either. Hopefully they’d been able to work everything out, she knew Jules had been heartbroken for months, but then the last time she saw her she’d had a new guy on her arm. It felt like too touchy a subject to bring up on the phone. “I get that,” she said as she started up the car. “There’s not a lot who really know what happened. It’s not something everyone will believe. And I wanna hear about it if you feel like talking about it. If not, we can talk about whatever. I just… I just wanna see you.” Ruby bit her lip, reigning in the swell of emotion that came with admitting that, then laughed at herself. “I’m afraid if I hang up with you you’ll disappear again.”
Out on the sunny porch, Jasper plopped down on the top step and chuckled, feeling a rush of affection. “I get that,” he echoed her with a smile. “Sometimes I worry that if I go to sleep I’ll disappear again. But it hasn’t happened yet. I’m here. And I’ll stay on the phone if you want.” He didn’t mind doing that if it would make Ruby feel better. Jasper remembered not wanting to let Amelia out of his sight for quite a while after she’d come home. After what they’d been through, that worry wasn’t even close to irrational. “But yeah, we can talk about it. And I wanna know about what you been up to too -- you still with what’shisname?” Jasper smirked. He knew Clint’s name and he honestly didn’t have anything against the guy, he just had to give Ruby a hard time for dating an Overlook brat just like he was. If he and Jules were even still ‘dating,’ that word felt like it was from another lifetime.
It was a relief that Jasper didn’t mind staying on the phone with her. Silly as it was, it gave her peace of mind. Hopefully once she saw him in person, she’d be a bit more confident that he was really there, not just a voice on the other end of the line, and wouldn’t disappear on her again. Ruby didn’t feel like she had as much to catch him up on as he might have, but she grinned when he brought up Clint. “Yeah, I’m still with Clint,” she snickered. “Kinda hard to believe, but he’s a good guy. And a lot of fun.” It surprised a lot of people that they were still together, but Ruby had never let other people’s opinions weigh too much on her. There were only a handful of people whose opinions really mattered anyways. Those people all knew how much she cared for Clint—loved him actually, even though she hadn’t said so— and knew to keep their mouths shut if they didn’t have anything positive to say.
“As long as he’s treatin’ you right,” Jasper said with more sincerity. He didn’t think Ruby would put up with any bullshit from a boyfriend, especially not for this long, but he’d seen plenty of examples of all the ways relationships could go wrong and people could get shitty. Jasper had never had much faith in people staying not-shitty. Ruby sounded happy though, and that was enough reassurance for him. He almost asked what they planned to do after graduation, but Jasper kind of didn’t want to think about graduation at the moment. “How’s your dad and the shop and everything? Everybody says it’s been quiet around here, but that’s kinda hard for me to believe.” He was glad that all of his loved ones hadn’t had extra bullshit to deal with while he’d been gone, but it was still hard to imagine nothing weird happening in Point Pleasant for a whole four months.
"'Course he has. Wouldn't be with him if he didn't," Ruby smiled. "He took me to Miami for spring break, if that says anything." She wasn't the kind of girl that could be bought, but a move like that said a lot more than the money spent. A full week together, just the two of them, in a place that was the polar opposite of Point Pleasant, had been amazing. Ruby was still soaking up every moment with Clint that she could, aware that at some point reality would have to set in, but putting it off as long as she could. "Dad's doing good. Shop's doing it's thing. It has been quiet, which is weird, but also really fucking nice for a change. I have serious doubts that it'll last, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed," she said, driving as fast as she could without putting herself or others in danger. It suddenly felt like he was miles away when she knew it had to take only five minutes to get there.
“Miami, huh?” Jasper echoed, arching his brows out toward the street. That was pretty hardcore for just a high school relationship ... but he guessed Clint could afford it. Or his family could, more likely. But whatever, as long as Ruby had fun and didn’t get kidnapped or something, which she obviously hadn’t. Meanwhile, Jasper had been locked in a place with no sun and no clean water, much less a beach. He shoved a sudden surge of bitterness back down his throat and refocus. “Yeah it never lasts long around here,” he murmured and gave a faint chuckle. Jasper pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket to fish one out. “I’m just hoping us coming back doesn’t like ... trigger something, you know? I know some of them came back before me, so I’m hoping not, but ... still. Watch your back, okay?”
“Yeah, crazy, right?” Ruby smiled. It would have been easy to say that Clint’s parents were rich and that a trip like that wasn’t a big deal for him, but Ruby was reluctant to write it off now that she knew Clint. Yes, it was his parent’s money, but she didn’t think he’d have splurged like that if there weren’t big feelings there between them. They’d never talked about it though, the both of them seemingly aware of another hard talk somewhere in the future. Their relationship had an expiration date that neither wanted to acknowledge, so instead it seemed appropriate to live it up while they still could. “Of course,” she said, since she’d never stopped watching her back while living in Point Pleasant. “I don’t know any of the others that went missing. Except Elodie,” she said with a small frown. She hated the girl, but still wasn’t sure she’d have wanted her trapped in some other dimension. “Do you know if she made it?”
Right, the others. Jasper sighed softly. “She was alive last time I saw her over there,” he said. “We kinda ... hung out, I guess. We were the youngest people there, and were both kinda restless, so ... yeah. I haven’t seen her back yet, but my dad moved in here, so I’m not next door to her place anymore. Amelia said a lot of people have been coming back though, so maybe she’ll turn up eventually.” He hoped she did, anyway. Jasper hated to think of her left all alone over there, mostly because he could picture her giving up and letting herself get eaten just to be done with it all. Elodie had her problems, but he didn’t want her dead. He wanted her back here, where she could get a shower and feel better, like he did now.
It felt weird to care about Elodie. She was one of the only people Ruby harbored some hatred towards, even more so now that she was with Clint. She could think of nothing worse than Clint getting a hold of a video where she’d professed her love to Jasper, but she wouldn’t want Elodie to die just to remove the possibility. She could be a vengeful bitch, but that was beyond her. “Yeah, hopefully,” she said softly, then turned down the street and was able to see Jasper sitting out front, waiting for her. It was the jolt of happiness she’d needed after going down a depressing line of thought and she grinned, tucking the conversation away for later. “I see you,” she smiled. “Oh my god. You’re real,” she laughed, then pulled up in front of the house and jumped out of the car, leaving it running as she went to hug him.
Jasper was happy enough to set the subject of Elodie aside, and he stood up when Ruby said she saw him. Her obvious joy made him laugh a bit too, and he hung up the phone and managed to tuck it into his pocket before she reached him. Jasper took a couple of steps down the walk and wrapped his arms around her waist to lift her up as they hugged, letting out a groan-laugh. It was good to see Ruby in a way that was so pure and unburdened with baggage, it made him feel kind of floaty already. “Hey there,” Jasper said as he set her back on her feet. He gave her a big grin. “I’m definitely real.”
There were few times in her life that Ruby thought she might cry with relief, but when Jasper lifted her off the ground she felt herself tear up. Just a little, enough that she could blink it away, but good God it was nice to see him! She laughed, feeling giddy with happiness, and reached out to run a hand across his head. “You cut your hair,” she smiled, not sure why that mattered, but it was so very different from the last time she saw him that it was worth nothing. It didn’t occur to her that she might be crossing some personal boundary, not in the moment, not when they were standing so close. “Where do you wanna go? Main street? Moxie’s? Coffee at Joyland? My treat.”
It was the first thing everybody kept noticing, naturally, since it was such a big change, and Jasper chuckled a bit as Ruby petted him like so many others had. He kind of liked it, if he was being honest, and even though he sometimes missed his hair, he enjoyed all the touching. He hadn’t touched anybody but Elodie for months. “Yeah, it was all a lost cause, gonna start over,” Jasper said, running his own hand over his buzzed hair. At least the stubble was still pretty soft. “Oh man, let’s go to Moxie’s. I’m starving.” He was starving a lot these days, it seemed, like his body wanted to catch up from months of not eating. A big burger and a milkshake sounded divine. He started to walk toward Ruby’s car with her. “It’s good to see you,” he told her, a vast understatement.
“Moxie’s it is,” Ruby grinned over at him. Even though she worked there, it was one of those places she still enjoyed going as a customer. She’d always been afraid it would lose it’s magic if she was behind the counter, but luckily that wasn’t the case. “You too,” she smiled. “I didn’t even think this was a possibility, so… I’m just… elated.” She laughed, giddy in his presence. “So what happened? I know what Jules told me, about how you guys got trapped in a portal, and it couldn’t be opened again because those creatures could come out, and you might not even be yourself. But you seem like yourself now. Not like—like those last days. So how’d you get back?” There was so much there that Ruby didn’t understand and she’d just had to believe, but that wasn’t exactly new. Some things in Point Pleasant just didn’t make sense.
She was so happy, it was adorable. It was easier for Jasper to find that kind of reaction cute when there wasn’t so much overwhelming love attached to it, or familial baggage, or any of the tons of other complexities that came with his relationship with Jules and Logan. Ruby was just a really good friend who was happy he was home, and it was nice to feel that at the moment. ‘What happened’ was such a broad question, it made him chuckle. Jasper decided to work backward through what she asked him. “I dunno how I got back, to start with,” he said as they climbed into Ruby’s car. “I just went to sleep over there and woke up back here, on the floor in Logan’s house. Only I didn’t remember him, or like ... anything about my life, really. That lasted maybe a full day before it all came back. I uh, became myself again as soon as the portal closed. It was just like a switch, whatever had been influencing us just stopped. We failed, I guess. Which is a good thing.” Jasper gave a soft huff.
“Well, yeah, but…” Ruby frowned as she started up the car, her lips pressed together in thought. “I wanna say there had to be a better way, but I haven’t been able to come up with it, so I can’t really fault anyone for doing what they did. It just sucked balls.” That didn’t really capture how depressing and upsetting the entire situation had been, even for her. She knew she wasn’t family, or his best friend, but Jasper had been a fixture in her life for so long that he felt more like a cousin than a friend, someone who she’d always be connected to. And then he’d been gone and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it. “But Logan’s house? I guess that was lucky. I mean, if you could’ve woken up anywhere, better it be somewhere where someone knows you. I’m sure it was weird not remembering anything. Is it all back now?”
Jasper didn’t really want to comment on the possible alternatives to what had been done to them all. He’d wracked his brain over there to try to think of other ways the four dreamers could’ve dealt with the infected, he’d been through plenty of anger about it, and none of it had been useful. It had happened, they’d done their best to save lives, and Jasper was grateful now that no more time had been wasted, time in which members of his family could’ve died just by being around him. He appreciated where Ruby was coming from though. He huffed a bit and nodded. “Yeah, I could’ve woken up in some random person’s house, I guess, that would’ve been awkward,” he said, picturing some housewife freaking out about the filthy teenager in her living room. No, he felt like being delivered to his best friend was kind of meaningful, however it had happened. “It was weird and confusing at first, but it was harder when it all came flooding back,” Jasper went on. “There was a lot of bad shit to remember. But yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s all back. Nobody’s said anything lately that I didn’t understand like before.”
“I’m sure Logan was thrilled to see you,” Ruby smiled over at him. She could almost imagine Logan finding him in his house and poor Jasper not knowing who he was. Now that he had his memories back, it was probably a bit comical, but in the moment it would have likely freaked them both out. “Same with Jules. She… She hasn’t been herself since you’ve been gone.” Ruby understood, but it was also sad. Jules had practically withered away and there was nothing anybody could do about it… well, except that guy. Ruby bit her lip, wondering if she should say anything. She didn’t know anything, but she’d seen them together at prom, just like everyone else. And she’d seen them at the after party. “Are you and Jules okay?” she asked, glancing over at him.
That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it? Were he and Jules okay? When they’d first seen each other, there had been lots of tears and confessions on his part and holding and kissing, but she’d been so busy since then that Jasper hadn’t gotten to see her all that much. With the end of school and everything that came with it, he’d only gotten to see her in passing, pretty much. They hadn’t even had sex again yet. Jasper knew it had only been roughly a week since he’d remembered who he was, but still. It was good on some level to hear that Jules hadn’t been the same while he was gone -- he didn’t want her to suffer, but he was glad to know she’d still cared that much. “We uh ... we haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time together yet, but ... we forgive each other,” he said. “There’s still a lot to sort through, I guess.” He shrugged a shoulder, then glanced back at Ruby. “Have you seen her much?” The girls had gotten a bit closer since the awful shit with Jules’s stepdad, so he thought maybe they had hung out some.
“Not really?” Ruby said, guilt settling in her stomach. She probably should have worked harder to reach out to Jules, but she’d been happy with Clint and hanging out with Jules was generally depressing. “I mean, we’ve seen each other at school, and we’ve hung out a few times, but… she kinda… disappeared. She still came to school and everything, but she dropped out of cheerleading and I haven’t seen her at parties or anything. Except prom.” Ruby pressed her lips together, unsure if she should say anything. A year ago she’d have led with it, but she’d come to trust Jules since then and wasn’t sure if it was a betrayal on her part to say something. Then again, it was public knowledge that Jules had taken some guy to prom. It felt like someone should tell Jasper before he heard it out and about. “She’s been hanging out with some guy. She didn’t introduce us, but he’s not from around here.”
Had Jules told him she dropped out of cheerleading? Jasper couldn’t remember now. He’d assumed that was part of what was keeping her busy these past few days, but maybe not. What Ruby said about ‘some guy’ -- the same words Amelia had used to describe him, which would’ve been funny if he could have any sense of humor about the whole thing -- put a sinking feeling in Jasper’s stomach, and he looked more fully over at his friend. “Like ... hanging out with him a lot?” he asked. “Amelia mentioned she brought a dude over to the old house before they moved, Dad was having a, uh ... a barbecue thing, and he invited Jules. She brought the guy with her. Amelia couldn’t tell me much about him, though.” Jasper had felt kind of sick hearing it from his sister, and that feeling was coming back. If Ruby hadn’t seen Jules much but had still seen the guy around, what did that mean?
“I don’t really know,” Ruby said, shrugging apologetically. “She brought him to prom, but that’s the only time I’d seen him. I know some of her friends met him. Bash could probably tell you who he is, but all I can say is that he’s really tall.” And looked good in a tux, but Ruby knew better than to add that part. She kind of thought Jules had been steering clear of her that night, but then Ruby might have been doing the same, aware that there was a possibility that a conversation might have put a damper on her mood. It was selfish, but it was her prom, too. “It’s probably nothing,” she told him. “They just seemed like friends. I just didn’t know him. Maybe he’s a cousin or something?” Whoever he was, he wasn’t from Point Pleasant.
Jules had never talked about any cousins, especially not any who were close enough to her to come and accompany her to prom, so Jasper found that unlikely. The thought of asking Sebastian McCarthy for any kind of information like that made him super uncomfortable, so he didn’t think that would happen. It bothered him a little that Jules had shown up at two places with this guy, specifically places where Jasper should have been with her. “Yeah maybe,” he muttered belatedly, his tone doubtful. He was comforted only slightly by Ruby saying they’d just seemed like friends -- at least Jules hadn’t been all over him. Not that Jasper had much room to talk, considering what he’d done with Logan, but ... still. He rubbed a hand over his buzzed hair and tried to refocus on Ruby. “Was it fun? Prom? You and Clint do all the cheesy stuff?”
"Yeah, we got the official prom pictures and all that jazz," Ruby said, keenly aware that Jasper had missed prom and unwilling to gush as a result. "It was at the country club, but otherwise it was really just another school dance. Same people. Same gossip. Victoria and Greg were crowned queen and king, which was just weird." Greg was cool, but she would've never guessed that he'd end up prom king. And Victoria was really the last person Ruby thought should be up there, but that was a crowd she just didn't understand. It was still weird to her that she was on the fringes of it, dating Clint. "All that's left is graduation and then it's like we're being released into the wild," she smiled. "Have you thought about what you want to do school-wise? Or is that off the table at this point?"
Ruby sounded kind of blase about it, but Jasper thought she might be downplaying it for his benefit. He was sad that he’d missed it, especially now that he knew Jules had brought someone else. He wondered vaguely if she would have been prom queen if Jasper hadn’t disappeared, like he’d derailed her life in a multitude of ways. She certainly deserved it more than Victoria did. Jasper wished he could’ve been there, clapping for Jules up on stage, then graduating with all of them ... he wished a lot of things. It didn’t do any good. “I dunno yet,” he answered Ruby’s question, his tone subdued. “Haven’t thought about it much. I’m not graduating with you guys, I’m sure of that much. Maybe I can ... get my GED or somethin’, I dunno.”
“You could totally do that if you wanted to,” Ruby said. “I think that’s still Amelia’s goal and you’d only have about six months of material to make up. I’ve heard getting your GED is even easier than finishing high school.” She didn’t know for sure if that was true, but she couldn’t imagine it would be harder, especially for someone as close to graduation as Jasper had been. “But, you know, it’s probably not a big deal either way. You still thinking about living with Logan?” That had obviously been put on hold when Jasper had disappeared, but she suspected he was eager to get his own living space now that they were all living at Ms. Harris’s house. Or maybe not. Maybe he wanted to be close to his family after being gone for so long. She certainly wouldn’t blame him.
Jasper had kind of forgotten that his sister needed her GED too, which made him feel like an asshole, but ... he’d kind of been distracted for a while, hadn’t he? Maybe they could study together, go take it at the same time or something. It could be bonding. It was so crazy that such crazy shit had happened to both of them, their circumstances so similar but so different at the same time. They’d compared notes on their respective dimensions, and Jasper was at least a bit comforted that he’d gotten the shittier one, though Amelia’s hadn’t been any walk in the park either. “Still thinkin’ about it, yeah,” Jasper answered with a nod. “He’s still at his mom’s place, I guess you know. Just trying to get adjusted before I make any big decisions. Do you think your dad would still give me that job?”
“Of course! He tried to fill it a while back, but the asshole who took it just didn’t work out. Coming in late, did shoddy work, and kept insisting he was hot shit when he clearly wasn’t.” Ruby had been less than impressed with the guy and it hadn’t helped that he’d hit on her constantly. She’d stopped going around the garage for a while, at least until she found out he’d been let go. “I’m pretty sure it’s yours if you want it. Just gotta let dad know you’re back,” she smiled over at Jasper. It was so rare that the people who went missing returned that she felt it needed to be celebrated. Everyone needed to know! Except not everyone knew Jasper had gone missing and even fewer would understand where he’d been. “So, what’re you going to tell people when they ask where you’ve been?” she asked. “I dunno if my dad will understand the truth, but I’ll go with whatever story you wanna go with.”
That was good news, and took a bit of weight off of Jasper’s shoulders. He didn’t want to work fast food or retail or anything stupid like that. If he was going to be out on his own, he needed to earn some real money. And if Mr. Fox had just been through the wringer with a shitty employee, maybe he’d be even more impressed with Jasper. He would definitely be showing up on time every day, at least. He blew some air out through his lips at Ruby’s inquiry in a defeated sort of sigh. “That’s a good question,” he muttered. “How do you explain dropping out of school months before graduation and just disappearing? Like ... I’ve been thinking about saying it was some family emergency with my mom, out of town ... but if anybody knows that a bunch of us disappeared at once, I dunno if they’ll buy that.”
"I dunno how many people have put that all together," Ruby said. "I think you and Elodie were the only ones from school. I heard there were others, but I don't know 'em. And they'll need to come up with something too. I'm willing to bet the number who go with the truth is gonna be pretty fuckin' low." She knew from experience that most people in the town didn't buy into the stories they heard, not without personal experience, and Jasper's truth was at the extreme end of the spectrum. People were way more likely to believe in ghosts than the idea that someone they knew got sucked into another dimension. "A family emergency is probably your best bet. The more mundane, the less people are likely to ask questions. I've always heard it's easier to maintain a simple lie than a detailed one."
Since they’d spent so long trapped together as a group, it was hard for Jasper to wrap his mind around the fact that not everyone in town saw them that way. Hell, unless they had known someone who’d gone missing and believed in supernatural bullshit and knew someone else who knew what really happened ... most people probably had no fucking idea. It was so strange to realize that about a huge traumatic event in his life that seemed to have changed him down to his bones, but maybe that was a more common phenomenon than he knew. Especially in this town. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” he told Ruby, a bit of resignation in his voice. “And since Mom moved out of town, not like anybody’s gonna check up on it or ... anything. I dunno. I don’t think she even knew or cared that I was gone.” Not many people did, besides his family and a handful of friends and Jules, and that was a depressing thought, but Jasper tried to push it away. “It’ll work as an excuse,” he added in a mutter.
Ruby didn’t have a clue what Jasper’s mom might’ve thought, but the idea that she wouldn’t care hurt and it wasn’t even directed at her. She reached out and gave his arm a squeeze, the most she could’ve done while she was driving, though he truly deserved a hug. She wanted to say that ‘of course she cared’, but they both knew that was holding his mother to too high a standard. “There were other people who cared. Me, your dad, Jules, Amelia. You should talk to Amelia. I think you two have more in common now than ever. She might relate to what you’re going through.” Ruby wanted to for his sake, but she knew she didn’t and that she couldn’t wish that kind of trauma on herself for anyone. Maybe it was selfish, but she wasn’t sure she’d have survived it like he did.
Jasper wouldn’t have wished that place on his worst enemy, and he had a few of those. He glanced over at Ruby with appreciation when she squeezed his arm, but she was looking at the road, so he just covered her hand with his for a brief moment. He knew that his family and true friends had cared, and Jules ... he just wished his own mother was on that list. But she was probably busy with her new baby now or whatever. Jasper had lost all track of time in regard to that, and he had a sneaking suspicion he would never meet his new half-sibling. That was probably okay. “I plan on it,” he said to Ruby for the moment. “I’m sure she will. It wasn’t the same place, for sure, but I know she had a hard time adjusting to being back, and I understand that more now than I ever could before, so.” They were almost to Moxie’s, to food and people and normalcy, so he tried to rally himself out of moping about his mom. “I missed you,” he added, looking over at Ruby again. “I was pretty much just stuck with Elodie as company, I gotta get used to having sane friends again.”
“I kinda wondered that, if it was the same. It’s weird to think that there’s all these other dimensions out there, just… a rip in reality away,” Ruby frowned a little, not liking that idea at all. Two people she knew had been to a world that wasn’t this one and returned. What if the same had happened to her mother, except that she hadn’t been able to get back? Was that better than being dead? It was a dark road to go down and not one suited for Moxie’s at all, so she latched onto Jasper’s comment, finding that an easier subject to handle. “I honestly don’t know how you did it. She is the very last person I would want to be stuck with. Except maybe Victoria. I’d have probably killed Victoria,” she laughed, deciding not to think about the fact that she actually had killed someone once. It was to protect Jules, of course, but it wasn’t something she’d ever forget.
He chuckled darkly and nodded. “A couple times I wanted to kill Elodie,” he said, his tone more joking than the words indicated. “But I’m glad it wasn’t Victoria, too. Me and Elodie kinda ... I dunno, it was nice having her there sometimes, in a way. Like company. Everybody else was older and she was the only one with balls enough to leave Juniper.” Jasper paused, then grunted and added, “Except for the werewolf and the old guy. I spotted them a few times.” He didn’t think twice about telling Ruby there had been a werewolf there, it was easily the least shocking part of where they’d been. Jasper wondered vaguely if he would still be a werewolf if and when he made it back to the real world.
“Wait, Juniper? And a werewolf?” Ruby laughed as she pulled into the parking lot at Moxie’s. “Where the fuck were you?” It wasn’t funny, she knew that, except it seemed so impossible that she had to find humor in it. Ruby knew he was telling the truth, but if werewolves were in the picture, then it felt like the crazy had just been bumped up a notch, if that was even possible. “You mean to tell me that this horrible other world you were sent to was Point Pleasant? Like, we are officially living in a lighter shade of hell? Because that would explain everything. Except the werewolf.” Fuck, now she had to worry about full moons, as if they didn’t have enough to worry about already.
Jasper didn’t mind her laughing, surprisingly enough. For one, it was Ruby, he knew she wasn’t laughing at his suffering. And for two ... it was just so damn familiar and good to hear. He’d missed being with friends. Real friends, not ‘we’re stuck together in hell’ friends. Jasper huffed some air out through his nose and nodded. “It was like ... Point Pleasant if it had been taken over by evil mold twenty years ago, I guess. Same roads, same buildings, same layout, but everything was rotting and rusty and gross. There was no day or night, just constant like ... mid-winter overcast light. There was shit floating in the air all the time, I probably got like, five kinds of lung cancer now. No clean water. We’re all really lucky we didn’t need to eat, somehow. The monsters like from the fog, but all kinds of sizes. But yeah the uh ... the werewolf got trapped with us. He was one of Jules’s friends who were trying to stop us.” Jasper knew very well why Carson had gone through the portal with them, but he didn’t really want to talk about how he’d tried to drag Jules in with them in the middle of all that chaos.
Ruby listened with her mouth slightly agape, her expression a cross between shock and awe. There was so much to unpack there, but she had to keep in mind that this had been a horrible, traumatizing experience for Jasper and that he probably didn't want to relive it just to feed her curiosity. "You didn't eat for five months?" she asked. For some reason that seemed the most outrageous little detail because she knew Jasper was human and it went against their very makeup to last that long without food. "No wonder you're hungry," she smiled. "Have you been to the doctor? I mean, I know I'm not your mom or anything, but really, that's crazy. And I'm just so glad you're okay. I'm not sure I'd've survived in a place like that. But maybe it helped that you knew the layout, even if it was a nightmare." She hadn't forgotten that Jules was apparently friends with a werewolf, but that suddenly seemed small in comparison.
He’d been asked a lot of questions about it by everyone, and so far Jasper didn’t really mind talking about it. Maybe he was just numb, and it would get more painful later, he didn’t know. For now, he was caught in this strange liminal space where the past four months had felt like a dream, but his present reality also felt like a dream. “Crazy, right? I dunno how we all didn’t starve, or like, thirst to death, but we didn’t. But it was like all that shit was suspended over there, like the sun rise and set.” Jasper opened the car door as he shook his head. “Haven’t seen a doctor yet, but I plan to, I guess. I know my dad and sister want me to, just to get checked out.” If he was honest, he was a little afraid of what they might find, so he’d been putting it off. He gave Ruby a lopsided smile. “You would’ve been okay. You’re stronger than you think,” he said, then moved to climb out of the car. He was hungry, and he could practically hear the burgers calling his name.
“I’d go to the doctor and, like… maybe see if a witch can check you out or something. Just in case,” Ruby said. “Hopefully it’s nothing. And at least you’ve got an appetite now.” If he still wasn’t eating, she might march him over to the ER herself. She understood why he wouldn’t be eager to get checked out though. If something was wrong with him, it was better to know now and hopefully treat it, though she didn’t know what most doctors would do about a condition earned in another world. As she climbed out of the car, she was hit with the lofty scent of burgers and fries and her stomach grumbled. She hadn’t thought she was hungry, but apparently all she needed was the right food calling out to her. “I like to think I can handle the monsters of our world. Those of another? I dunno,” she smiled as they walked towards the door.
That was another reason Jasper was putting off going to the doctor -- what could they do? If they told him his lungs were full of cancer now or something, he doubted it would be the kind that could be fought with medicine from this world. Maybe he was wrong, but ... he didn’t think so. A witch could maybe do better, but Jasper was doubtful about that too. He was doubtful about a lot of things, really. He opened the door to Moxie’s for Ruby with a faint smile. “I probably woulda said the same thing,” he said as she walked past him. “You’d be surprised what you can do when you have to do it to survive.” Jasper had certainly been surprised. Sure he could’ve just hidden away with everyone at Juniper, but he wouldn’t have survived as well that way, surely driven crazy with being so penned in and surrounded by people he didn’t like. He’d wandered to save some shred of sanity, that was also part of survival. Jasper walked into the diner behind Ruby and followed her to a booth.
The words rang true for Ruby, who’d already surprised herself once with the lengths she would go. It was frightening to think what she was capable of, but at the same time there was some comfort in believing she could get through anything. She might struggle and falter, but she wouldn’t break. She wouldn’t let this world, or any other, swallow her whole. “Yeah,” she said, returning the smile as she sat down and opened the menu. “Let’s just hope I never have to find out. I’m looking forward to a quiet summer.” She wanted to hang out with her friends, enjoy her time with Clint, and then… well, the plan was still to leave for college in the fall. Then she’d be safe, at least until she came home again. Point Pleasant would always be a death trap, but it would also be home and that would never change.