Who: Jasper and Logan When: Evening, Thursday, July 12 Where: The beach, Logan's house Status: Complete
While Logan wasn’t super thrilled about having a job, he was pretty happy about it being summer… which meant tourists and more people out and about. They came to the Boathouse often and tipped pretty well and Logan was slowly but surely saving enough money to finally get a place of his own. His goal was to be in an apartment by the end of August, and his mom had already said she’d help him with the first month’s deposit so he had a bit of a cushion. Now he just needed to try and convince Jasper to be his roomie.
They were hanging out tonight, with Jasper picking up Logan from the restaurant once his shift was over. His friend was waiting outside when Logan left the building, tugging the tie apart but leaving it hanging around his neck before pulling apart the top few buttons of his white dress shirt.
“Hey,” he said with a grin once he’d pulled open the car door and slipped inside, immediately reaching over to rub his hand over Jasper’s head. The night was young and he was eager to have some fun. “How you doing? How was work and shit?”
It was always a little weird to see Logan in a white shirt and tie like he was going to court, but Jasper liked it when he did that looser look. It made him want to pull Logan around by the tie, but he hadn’t really taken the opportunity yet ... and time had pretty much run out, he supposed. Jasper had been trying not to think about it too hard, his brain was perpetually tired these days, and he probably wasn’t making the best decisions. But he and Jules had been texting and Facetiming and he’d visited a couple of times while she healed, and while they still hadn’t really Talked about it, the vibe felt like they were back together. It wasn’t a perfect movie reunion yet, and Jasper still had some mixed feelings, but he couldn’t really say he didn’t know anymore.
He smiled back and leaned into the head rub a bit, giving Logan’s arm a squeeze. It hurt a little to see him and how beautiful he was, but Jasper was determined to enjoy this evening because they hadn’t gotten to hang out much lately. Jasper missed him. “It was aight,” Jasper answered with a little shrug as he put his hands on the wheel again. “I’m okay. I showered just for you. Where are we headed?”
"Oh you did? Thanks." Logan laughed and reached into his shirt pocket for his cigarettes. "I probably smell like... food and lemon windex or whatever. There's a party at a co-worker's house like... ten miles out of town. Or we can just go somewhere and hang out. Whatever you wanna do." He knew Jasper wasn't always comfortable around crowds these days and Logan didn't really have his heart set on anything specific. He was just happy to hang out with his best friend, even if they were just lounging around and getting high. He eyed his friend as he lit a cigarette. "Anything you feel like doing?"
Logan did smell a bit like Restaurant to Jasper, but not in a bad way. It made him a little nostalgic for his easier jobs of bussing tables and doing dishes while he listened to music in his earbuds, daydreaming all the while. He had to focus a lot more at work these days ... though that was probably a good thing, since his head was full of a lot more dark bullshit nowadays. He licked his lips and considered Logan’s question, but it didn’t take long to decide he didn’t want to be surrounded by a bunch of semi-strangers tonight. Jasper winced a little before he cocked a brow at Logan. “Kinda wanna just chill with you if that’s cool?” he asked, feeling a little guilty for saying no to a party. He started up the engine. “I brought some smoke, if you wanna find a place to chill?”
Logan remembered when he washed dishes at Moxie's. It had been his first job and didn't pay really well, but he'd had fun anyway. He was pretty sure he'd never amount to much else than these random jobs and he was okay with that. "If you want to chill, then I want to chill," Logan said, smiling to make sure Jasper knew he didn't care if he missed a party. There'd probably be a dozen more of them before the end of the month. "We can go anywhere you want. My mom's probably home, but... you know she doesn't bother us. Or we can go park at the beach and chill there. I don't care." And he really didn't. It wasn't like Point Pleasant had a plethora of places for people like them to hang out and get high.
Jasper hadn’t been able to think much about his future, so he had no idea yet what he would amount to ... probably an angry Lucas who drank too much, just like the rest of them. In the past he’d felt so much resistance against how everyone expected him to turn out, he’d wanted to rebel, but now Jasper cared much less about everything. If he ended up falling into and becoming the assumptions about his family, oh-fucking-well. Jasper nibbled on his bottom lip as he thought -- it was tempting to go home with Logan, but that felt kind of risky. Plus it was a nice night, and Jasper had more or less stopped being afraid of what was lurking in Point Pleasant’s darkness. “Let’s go park,” he said as he put the car in gear. “At least for a while.” They could smoke in the car or maybe sit on the hood and look at the stars or something. Talk. That thing he needed to be doing more often.
"Yup." Logan was more than okay with that. He rested his head back against his chair and exhaled, happy to be out of work for the night. Bringing his cigarette back to his lips, he glanced at Jasper. "Okay, so c'mon, tell me all the exciting things that've happened to you today." He was sure his friend would brush that off, say nothing, talk about work a little, but there had to be something. Logan would've asked about Jules but that kind of felt like a maybe sore subject and he didn't want to fuck over the evening before it got started.
He gave a huffed snort and glanced over before he pulled out of the parking lot. “Think I’m all out of exciting things,” Jasper said, vaguely amused. “Got up, one of the dogs puked in the kitchen, went to work ... Did a few oil changes, helped Mr. Fox with a transmission job ...” It all sounded so mundane and boring, but Logan’s day probably would have too if Jasper turned the question around on him. They were working adults now. “Oh uh ... I did get another visit from Greer the other day -- remember we bumped into her a while back? Long hair hippie lady who was over there with me? Everybody else has got some weird shit going on with them too, like my GPS thing. They all wanna get together soon to ... I dunno, talk about it, I guess.”
It did sound mundane but Logan kind of thought that mundane for Jasper was a good thing. Normal, regular life shit instead of trauma and terror. His friend deserved that much. Logan's life in Point Pleasant was pretty damn boring and while he often felt restless, like he needed to just drive away and find some kind of adventure, he was happy that he hadn't yet had to deal with the darker side of this shit. Cocking a brow at the mention of Greer, it took Logan a moment to recall the woman Jasper was describing. "They're all GPS-ing like you too? Or do you mean different kind of stuff?"
“No, yeah, different stuff,” Jasper said. “Like Greer can see people’s deaths if she touches them, Elodie feels the pain of other people’s old injuries, Sage can turn invisible ... There’s more, but like, I know them the most.” Greer had filled him in on some of the others, but Jasper didn’t quite remember what new fuckery belonged to who. Except for the werewolf, of course, that one was obvious. The guy who’d tried to kill him. Did Jasper really want to go sit around in a room with that guy? He wasn’t sure sometimes. “Though I guess the whole thing where we can sense each other is like the GPS, only like, super specific. I can do it for anybody. So far, anyway.”
That was a lot of crazy shit to hear about and Jasper said it so casually, like it was just a normal part of life. Logan supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, given what Jasper could do and where they lived. "Jesus Christ," he muttered. "You gonna go meet everyone then? Talk about it?" What that talk would entail, Logan had no idea. But he was all for it if it meant Jasper had people around who understood him in a way Logan couldn't. He knew his friend needed people like that in his life. "You think it'll be a good thing?"
Jasper heaved a sigh, not really sure of his answer to that. “I think it might be a useless thing,” he said after a pause, shrugging one shoulder. “But I told Greer I would go, so I will. Gonna see if Elodie wants to come too. All of us back together might be a shit show, but we’ll see.” What if they all gathered in one room and all started having PTSD flashbacks or something? Jasper certainly didn’t feel completely stable, and he knew he couldn’t be the only one. He didn’t know what answers they could possibly find together if they were all individually baffled by their experiences, but who the fuck really knew? “I just hope it doesn’t like ... trigger anything weird again.”
"You're all in the same town and it hasn't triggered anything weird... so maybe it'll be okay," Logan said, hoping that reassured Jasper a little. "I wouldn't blame Elodie for not goin' though... you said she can feel old wounds? Weren't you all clawed by those monsters? Your shoulder got fucked up dude." Logan would much rather have Jasper's ability... or being invisible? That would be amazing. "Even if it's useless, maybe it'll help to be around everyone else? You know, 'cause they know what you're going through too."
He winced a little at the realization about Elodie -- yeah, that was going to suck for her. She seemed to get off on pain sometimes, but probably not that much. “Fuck, I didn’t think about that,” Jasper muttered. Maybe she should back out. Maybe he should back out too. What the hell did he need those assholes for, anyway? It wasn’t like he’d really spent time with any of them besides Elodie. Though Max had seemed all right ... Ty hadn’t really hassled him, but Jasper was almost genetically mistrustful of cops. And Greer was sweet. Ugh, why was this so hard? “I dunno man, you’re makin’ it sound like AA or some shit,” he huffed, glancing over at Logan. Going to some support group sounded kind of like torture, even if he knew he needed something.
Unable to help himself, Logan grinned. "Maybe it is like AA. Maybe not with all of them, but if you find a couple of people you could really talk to, then it's not a bad thing, is it? I mean, you know you can tell me anything..." But Logan knew he couldn't really understand where Jasper was coming from the way someone like Elodie or Greer could. Jasper knew that too. "I'd go and just see what it's about. Maybe nothing'll happen, but you never know. I don't think it's something you can really ignore."
“I’m not, it’s fucking impossible to ignore,” Jasper retorted, his tone much more snappish than he’d intended. None of this was Logan’s fault, and Jasper knew he was just trying to help with stuff that seemed too big for him to help with. In Logan’s position, he would probably be giving the same advice. Jasper clenched his jaw, his lips tight for a moment as he took a breath. “I just dunno if any of us can help each other,” he muttered. “And if we can’t, then nothing and nobody can. Just like they couldn’t help before. It’s just ... nothing in my life is under my control anymore.” As he said it, Jasper felt like he hit on a truth he hadn’t been facing yet. The fog had been out of his control, everything that had happened after, what he’d done to his grandfather, the after-effects they were apparently all experiencing ... he couldn’t even have his relationships how he wanted them. Jasper was just trying to hold it together and be okay for the people who needed him to be okay.
Jasper's tone prompted Logan to look out the window, focusing on smoking his cigarette though he was still listening. After a moment of silence, Logan rubbed his brow with his thumb, aware that what he was about to say might not go over well, but at this point, it felt necessary. "Was it ever under your control, man? Is anyone's life in this town ever under control? You've accepted that everything is shit and that no one can help you and the people who do want to help you can't because we don't understand what you've been through. Maybe the others can't help you either, but you've still got to talk about it to someone. Be honest with yourself and me and Jules and everyone else who cares about you and stop trying to make all of us happy by pretending you're okay if you're not. It's just making you more fucking miserable."
He had a point there. A couple of points, actually, and it made Jasper itch to drive his car off a fucking cliff and straight into the ocean. All control was an illusion, they were all subject to the sadistic whims of this nightmare place. Maybe that was true of everyone everywhere, the world in general, but Point Pleasant was just a black hole of intense badness. And on top of that, with his family? He’d been fucked from the start. Jasper’s hands flexed on the wheel as he felt that all-too-familiar rock materialize in his throat and the edges of his vision blurred a bit. “Me being honest just makes everybody upset,” he said, quiet and defeated now. “Better I’m miserable than everybody else.” He knew already Logan would say that was bullshit, but he didn’t know how else to look at it. If he acted as un-okay as he felt a lot of the time, he would lose everyone around him.
"Jasper, stop." Logan's tone took on a harder edge as he tossed his cigarette out the window before turning to look at his friend. "You think this defeatist attitude helps anyone? Do you think we're all so damn stupid that we can't see you're not okay? You know, maybe I shouldn't speak for everyone in your life but I know when you say you're fine, you're not fine. Being a fucking martyr to spare someone else's feelings isn't helping anyone. It's making it worse, okay? You've been through so much fucking bullshit that it's time to try to find some fucking happiness. Tell people what you need and what you want because fuck... I mean, tomorrow the whole fucking world could end. And if you don't know what you need or want, just... be honest about that too. Let people help you... we can't do that if you can't be truthful about where you are mentally and shit." Logan paused to take a breath, raking one hand through his hair. He thought maybe it was too much and he should just apologize and get them back to a light, fun night of getting high. But that didn't seem as important anymore.
It felt kind of good to be snapped at in a weird way, like finally someone was being real with him and not walking on eggshells ... even if sometimes he wanted them all to handle him gently. It was just more conflicting impulses that he couldn’t reconcile. Jasper didn’t know what he needed, and he felt like he’d said that a lot, but he was still trying to keep up a good front, so maybe he wasn’t expressing himself right. Obviously he wasn’t. Just more proof of how bad he was at everything. “I’m not trying to fight with you, dude,” Jasper said, hating the tremor in his voice he couldn’t seem to stop. “I’m not good. Sometimes I’m okay, I can get up and go to work, but ... I think about dying a lot. I fucking miss that place sometimes, how fucked is that? Who can I tell that to? My dad? My sister, who spent a fucking decade in a place like that? My girlfriend who sent me there?” Jasper clenched his jaw and shook his head. “I’m not good, I don’t feel good, and the only times I really get close are with you and Jules, and that’s -- that’s fucked too.” His breath hitched and he slowed the car down and pulled over onto the shoulder before he got too emotional and killed them both for real.
It was a lot but Logan was glad he was finally saying it. No he wasn't glad that Jasper was feeling so shitty, but getting it out there, saying it out loud, was important. At least Logan thought it was. Holding so much inside was never good for anyone and Logan knew how much it hurt to repress misery for the benefit of other people. "Yeah, you tell all of those people," Logan said, reaching over to slip his hand around the nape of Jasper's neck, squeezing gently. "You tell them because they love you and they need to know this kind of shit, even if you don't want them to. Your sister might feel the same way you do, but maybe she's afraid to say it. Maybe you two need each other more than you think you do. I'm still here for you too, Jasper. It's not fucked. I love you and I'm not going anywhere. Ever."
Once he had the car in park, Jasper covered his face with both hands and leaned forward until his forehead hit the steering wheel. Logan’s hand on the back of his neck was comforting, grounding, and he tried to listen to his best friend’s advice. It just made him feel sick to think about looking into his dad’s eyes, or Amelia’s, and tell them he wanted to kill himself sometimes just to make it all stop. After everything they’d already been through because of him? How fucking ungrateful was he going to sound? Maybe it didn’t make logical sense, but Jasper couldn’t shake the fear that the more he struggled out loud, the more people he loved would see him as A Problem and turn their backs on him. Just another unruly, broken Lucas. His throat was too backed up to speak, and he was holding his breath as long as he could to try and keep the tears back, but the last thing Logan said broke the dam. Jasper muffled a sob into his hands, then twisted and reached to pull Logan in closer until he could bury his face in Logan’s shoulder to cry like an idiot for a minute.
Logan hadn't intended to upset Jasper at all. He hadn't wanted to fight or anything like that. But he knew that releasing that kind of emotion could be cathartic. He kept his arm around Jasper, holding him as tight as he could in the constraints of the car. He knew he couldn't speak for everyone, but Logan meant what he said about not leaving Jasper. Even if they never saw each other naked again, Logan would still be there for him. Their friendship went way beyond sex and he was pretty sure they both knew that. If Logan was struggling, he knew Jasper would be there for him too. "The way shit hurts right now... it's just for now, Jasper. It'll get better. I don't know how, but I know it will. You just gotta let us help you, whatever that looks like."
Jasper’s hands fisted in Logan’s dumb dress shirt as he tried not to bawl too hard. Even with the people he was closest to, it was embarrassing to be such a fragile mess. It felt like everyone in his family was tough as nails except him, and it was written all over him all the time now. Caden wouldn’t be blubbering if this had happened to him, neither would his dad. Maybe Aaron, but he had still survived his own awful shit and seemed fine now. None of them complained. It took him a couple of minutes, but he got himself back under control and eased up his grip on Logan. He didn’t pull away though, not yet. “I love you too,” he said rustily when he could talk again. “Hope you’re right. I can’t take this forever.” He went quiet for another moment while he licked his lips and swallowed thickly, his head still on Logan’s shoulder. “I don’t want to give you up,” Jasper added in a murmur. “I wish I could make her understand.”
Logan knew Jasper needed something more than what he was getting now. Whether it was therapy or meds or just someone to listen who understood… if this meeting with the other fog people didn’t go well, they would just find something else to try. He wasn’t going to let Jasper sink deeper into this pit of misery. If he had to drag his friend away from this town for a while, he’d do that too. As Jasper spoke, Logan frowned, feeling like the topic of Jules was a touchy one. He never knew what to say without sounding bias… or indifferent, and he didn’t want to come across as either. “I know,” he murmured. “I don’t want to give you up either, J. But I can’t tell you how to handle that. Maybe you’re just… not ready for a relationship.” He hated the way he sounded and Logan grimaced. Was that the bias part coming out? “I just think you should start prioritizing what you need. Not putting everyone else above that, including me.”
He was probably right again. When Jasper was with Jules, he wanted nothing more than to spend time with her, smell her, kiss her and hold her. He’d missed her so fucking much. But when he thought about everything she wanted from him, even the things he knew she was trying not to want, it started to freak him out. Jasper didn’t want to hurt her anymore, but that seemed so inevitable, no matter what he did. “I just don’t know what that is,” he answered. He pulled back just enough to lift his head and look at Logan. “What I need. Besides a fuckin’ shrink, maybe, but most of ‘em would just wanna lock me up, you know? I know the relationship stuff seems like dumb, petty shit next to everything else, but you guys just ... mean a lot to me. I’d be a lot fucking worse without you.” He needed to be loved, even if he was terrible at asking for it. Maybe the more romantic aspects of that love were complicating things, but Jasper couldn’t help the way he felt, and he didn’t want to lose any part of it. “So you’re helping, even if it don’t seem like it.”
"It's not dumb, petty shit," Logan assured him. "Because... you know, having people who love you is important, especially when you're going through a lot of shit." God, he really wasn't very good at this, but Logan was trying at least. Logan ran his hand over Jasper's head again, his fingertips brushing through Jasper's hair. "I think you know what you need, you're just afraid to ask for it because you're so worried about keeping everyone else happy. Maybe there's a shrink out there who knows about this stuff, who won't lock you up because they know it's real. If they live in this town, it'd be impossible for them not to know, you know? But you've got to stop repressing this shit to spare everyone's feelings. You can't get better if you're so worried about everyone else."
Jasper felt that helpless despair again when Logan said he knew what he needed, because he sure as hell didn’t feel like it -- he knew what he wanted and all of it was selfish and bad and maybe it would just make him worse. At least Logan didn’t think he was an idiot for caring about him and Jules, that was a little comforting. “Okay,” he murmured after a silent moment. Their faces were so close, it just took a tilt of his head to bump his forehead against Logan’s. “I’ll try, okay? To talk about it more, and ... be honest.” it shouldn’t feel like such a difficult promise to make, but it was. Jasper had been trying to keep a lot of balls in the air, keeping everyone else’s thoughts and feelings in mind, and it was exhausting. “You’re part of what I need though, so ... don’t forget that. Tell me you’re not going anywhere more often, I need that too. I just ... I keep feeling like everybody’s as sick of me as I am, and you’re all gonna start dipping out, you know?”
Logan smiled faintly and gave a small nod, not wanting to pull away from how close he and Jasper were already. It was incredibly tempting to close the remaining distance and kiss him, but Logan knew he wasn't allowed to do that anymore. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm never gonna get sick of you. And if I dip out, it'll be out of this town and you'll be with me." That was fantasy, of course, but every now and then Logan did have the desire to just pack up his meager belongings, grab Jasper, and go on a long, cross country trip. Get out of Point Pleasant and experience something of normality. "I don't care how fucked up you get, or I get, or this town gets... I'm gonna stay, okay?"
Running away with Logan to go on a road trip was one of Jasper’s fantasies too. He knew he couldn’t stay gone, not unless his whole family abandoned Point Pleasant with them, but having an extended, adventurous break from all of this bullshit would be beyond nice. And hey, now they’d never get lost. Even though he’d specifically asked for the reassurance, Logan’s words felt good to hear, and Jasper nodded a little as he clung to them. Regardless of their physical relationship, Logan was his ride or die partner, who would never put an ultimatum on him. Jasper kissed his cheek and hugged him tighter for a moment, then made himself pull away. “Don’t tempt me too much with dipping out together,” he muttered, still a little sniffly. Jasper rubbed at his eyes and nose with the back of his wrist, then put his car into gear so they could actually get on with their evening now that he’d had his little breakdown.
Logan had no idea how even to approach an ultimatum. At least when it came to certain aspects of his life, it was something unfathomable to him. Life was what it was and he hated putting restrictions on himself so he sure as hell wouldn't do it to someone else. "Dipping out together could be fun someday," Logan said, smiling when Jasper pulled back. "Even if it was temporary. And you know... the offer still stands if you want to get a place together. My goal is to be in an apartment by the end of August." He didn't want to push Jasper into it, but it would be a hell of a lot more fun to have his best friend as his roommate than someone Logan barely knew.
If Jasper was struggling this much just with getting back together with Jules, he knew that moving in with her would be biting off way more than he could chew. He hadn’t been ready to do that even before all of the fog bullshit, now he felt extra Not Ready. But would she lose her shit if he told her he was moving in with Logan? Maybe. Could he and Logan live together and still resist temptation? Jasper didn’t know. It was exactly where he wanted to be, he could just already see all of the waves it might cause. Didn’t they just have a whole conversation about him not prioritizing everybody else, though? “I really want to, man,” he said, glancing over as he pulled back onto the road and sped up. “Honestly, I’d rather live with you than anywhere else. I just gotta make sure Jules isn’t gonna shit a brick ... but you know, if she can’t trust me, then like ...?” He made a vague gesture. “What are we even doing?”
Again, Logan thought Jasper and Jules ought to talk and get shit out in the open, but it wasn't his place to push that. Shit was always more complicated when there was no real communication and he was afraid Jasper would continue feeling torn when a simple conversation might clear the air some, for better or worse. Logan cocked a brow and glanced at his friend before he returned his gaze to the town flying by them. "I'm gonna sound like a dick right now, but... we've fooled around before when you two were together." He knew at least one of those times Jasper wasn't fully himself, but still. He wouldn't blame Jules for being wary of the situation, but it wasn't up to him to assure her that things would stay platonic. Would things stay platonic? "Talk to Jules about it... see where things go."
Jasper already knew Jules wouldn’t like it, but what else was he supposed to do? Keep living in Charlie’s basement? He liked the semi-privacy and being so close to Amelia, but it was a crowded house already, and Jasper wanted some real independence. Living alone sounded hellish to him ... and as much as he loved her, it seemed weird to share an apartment with his sister. She was still a kid in his head in some aspects, no way was he going to work out some ‘sock on the doorknob’ rules with her. Living with Logan sounded the best, the arrangement they’d been talking about since they were in school together. The reminder of his shittiness made Jasper frown vaguely, and he reached for his pack of cigarettes. “Yeah, but she don’t know that,” he murmured as he pulled one free. “Can’t take it back now. I just gotta try to make her understand that living with you wouldn’t be like living with her, you know?”
Yeah, what people didn't know couldn't hurt them. He knew all about that. Logan ran a hand through his hair, scratching idly at the back of his head. "Yeah, I know. Maybe she'd be okay with it though. Maybe she'll want to move in with a friend too. You guys just got back together... maybe she's cool with keeping things, like... slow for now." He couldn't really speak for Jules but he was trying to find a silver lining, some way to make Jasper feel less stressed about it. It was possible Jules would completely freak out - would Jasper want her living with someone she'd slept with in the past? - but maybe she'd be fine with it. Girls were unpredictable most of the time. Girls like Jules were especially unpredictable. "Man, you just gotta talk to her."
Did Jules even have any friends she was actually close to anymore? Close enough to move in with? Jasper didn’t think so, until Ethan popped into his head. That thought made him feel sick to his stomach, but Jasper was aware of how hypocritical that would be to express. He couldn’t have everything the way he wanted it, especially when that want kept changing. “I will, I promise,” Jasper said. It was going to suck so bad, but he knew it needed to happen just as much as Logan did. “We said slow, but ... yeah, I dunno if we mean the same thing when we say that.” Jules hadn’t talked about moving in together again, but if they were together and he was ‘well’ enough, he knew she would want to. She definitely wanted him to be monogamous and a good boyfriend, and Jasper just didn’t know if he could provide that. “And until I do, let’s just ... let it rest, yeah? I know I brought it up, but ...” Jasper shrugged.
Logan was about to point out, again, that Jasper and Jules should talk so they were on the same page about everything. But Jasper seemed to understand that, so Logan stayed quiet. "We can let it rest," Logan agreed after a minute. He really didn't want to make anything more difficult for Jasper. But being able to push their friendship into another zone over the past month or so had been pretty amazing, even if monogamy wasn't something Logan was positive he could ever do. It was going to suck having to bring it all back to... well, whatever it was they'd had before that. But he'd take what he could get. He wasn't going to drop Jasper, ever. He was feeling particularly weird that night... he wasn't really sure what it was. Annoyance? Horny? Some mixture of the two? "What about... best friend kisses?" he asked after a minute, grinning at Jasper. "No tongue? Can we still do that?"
Jasper knew Logan had been enjoying the more physical developments in their relationship, but for some reason he had the idea that Logan could let it go far more easily than he could. Logan had almost always been a free agent, drifting from person to person however he wanted, not letting himself get tied to anyone in particular. They were best friends, but this hadn’t been some journey of self discovery for Logan like it had for Jasper, and he was sure his emotions around it were much more of a mess. So the question surprised him, and he laughed a bit before he could stop himself. “Can you even keep your tongue to yourself?” he asked, glancing over with a little grin in return. “I mean, we used to love on each other anyway, before. So ... I don’t want to give that up.” Jules probably would not approve of ‘best friend kisses’, and Jasper did care about that ... but could he really push Logan away if their lips locked? He didn’t know. Which probably meant he should flat out say No and keep his own mouth to himself, but Jasper didn’t feel like he had that kind of willpower.
Logan had always done pretty well for himself, never allowing anyone to rope him into something he wasn't ready for. He was always upfront with lovers, whether they were regular partners or just one-night stands. Logan felt like honesty was always the best policy in order to avoid hurt feelings. It didn't always work the way he thought it should, but no one could ever accuse him of leading them on. Even so, Jasper was different. He wasn't asking Jasper to drop Jules for good or for them to be monogamous or anything like that. But there were feelings there, intensified by the physical aspect of their relationship, and yeah, it did suck to know it was going to be taken away from him now. He wasn't going to complain though, aware of how off-putting that was, having been on the other end of it before. "If it meant getting to kiss you, yeah I'd keep my tongue to myself," Logan said with a grin, reaching over to take Jasper's cigarette so he could have a drag for himself. "I'll try though... keeping my hands to myself and stuff. I may have to retrain my dick to stop getting hard around you from now on."
Already Jasper wanted to nip at Logan’s hand when it was so close to his face, but he managed not to, just gave up the cigarette and licked his lips. He knew Logan wasn’t trying to get in between him and Jules, or “steal” him or anything -- all of this was his own fault and he knew it. In his ideal world, he would have both of them, a girlfriend and a boyfriend, and they would get along and Logan could still have his freedom and nobody would be jealous and everything would be cool. That felt like a complete pipe dream though. Jasper just wanted to feel good and content again, at least some of the time. Maybe that was just as much of a fantasy for him now as being with both of the people he loved the most. He gave a faint chuckle and glanced at Logan out of the corner of his eye. “I’d be impressed if you could,” he said. “Mine just does what it wants. Maybe that could be your future career -- Logan the dick tamer.” He tittered a bit as he turned the car into the parking lot at the beach, trying to make jokes instead of feeling the sadness that came with giving up this thing that had been so formative for him. “Good to know I’m that good of a kisser though, I guess.”
"Yeah, I could do that. just call me the dick whisperer." He gave Jasper back his cigarette. They should probably talk about something else so they didn't end up two sad sacks at the beach. "You're good at everything, man. Trust me. But I get it. And... if she's got a problem with you and me living together, we don't have to do that either if it's going to create problems. I'm just really ready to get out of my mom's house, you know?" Logan didn't feel like an adult yet, in a lot of ways, but he was ready for some kind of freedom. He didn't see himself leaving Point Pleasant anytime soon and he had a steady job that paid pretty well. It was time to start figuring some shit out. He moved to get out of the car as soon as it was parked, ready to stretch and hang out for a bit.
Jasper wanted to say that nobody should get to dictate who he lived with, but he couldn’t play dumb to the objections Jules would have. It was tempting just being in a car with Logan, the two of them living together and all the privacy that entailed ... of course she would worry. But if he and Jules weren’t really together after the conversation they needed to have, then what? It all gave him a headache to think about, Jasper was so weary of trying to predict the future. He needed to worry about himself first and foremost, and he was eager to live under his own roof too. “Yeah, I know,” he said as he climbed out of his side of the car as well. Jasper didn’t want to talk anymore about Jules and her potential problems, so he just left that part alone. The two of them would talk and he would go from there. Jasper stretched once he was outside, taking another drag off his cigarette as he locked the car doors and patted his pockets to make sure he had the joints. The ocean air smelled nice. He led the way toward the sand so they could find a spot to plant their asses and get high.
Logan followed Jasper, tugging his tie all the way off of his body and tossing it somewhere in the sand along the way. He'd find it on his way back. He got the rest of his white dress shirt unbuttoned, leaving it open to bare his white tank. They got closer to the ocean and Logan slowed to get his shoes and socks off. What was the point of being on the sand if he couldn't feel it properly? Sighing happily, Logan grabbed Jasper's hand and sat, tugging his friend down with him. It was nice out here, especially since they were alone. He was definitely fine with getting past the discussion about Jules. "Got that joint?"
Jasper plopped down next to him, smiling a bit at the way Logan pulled at him. He dipped his hand into his pocket to fish out a joint and handed it over to Logan to light up. Jasper tugged his shoes and socks off too, and rolled his jeans up a couple of times. He stretched his legs out a bit and dug his toes into the sand, gazing out at the waves. Logan looked stupidly good at the moment with his shirt open and the moonlight making his dark hair look almost blue-streaked, so the black water was easier to stare at for the moment. “I wonder what kinda monsters live in there,” Jasper said idly. The town had already had a taste of the huge kaiju kind of monsters, he’d been attacked by one of them. What was next? Some giant squid thing? That tentacle-face god that he could never pronounce the name of?
While Jasper got settled, Logan pulled his lighter out and lit the joint between his lips. He took a deep pull before offering it back to Jasper. "Normal monsters," he said after exhaling. "Stuff that should live in there, that we learned about in school. But probably not-normal monsters too. As long as they stay in the water, I don't really care." He knew all about the story about the boy in the water and his gaze scanned the dark surface of the ocean, as if he might see an eerie pair of eyes appear. "Maybe there're some hot mermaids in the water... with those sexy seashells covering their tits?" Logan grinned. "Or no seashells at all. I bet mermaids aren't as prude as humans are about body parts."
Jasper took the joint and dragged from it thoughtfully, then snickered over Logan’s commentary on mermaids. “How do they even get ‘em to stay on? Is there like underwater glue? If I remember right there weren’t any straps on those shells in the movie,” he said. He sucked on the joint once more before he handed it back to Logan. “But nah, I bet you’re right. Wet clothes suck, why would they even have those, so I bet they’re all just okay having tits out. They’re prob’ly all fat as fuck though ... you know how like, seals and whales are, to stay warm.” Pondering about mermaid hotness was much easier and more fun than thinking about all the dark and dangerous ocean-monster possibilities. “If you’re down here one day and you fall in love with some chunky mermaid, don’t leave for the ocean without saying goodbye, okay?” Jasper flashed him a grin.
"Maybe they use... what's that shit... aloe? Though it being underwater, it probably doesn't stay on. And I don't know if aloe is sticky enough." Snickering, Logan ran his hands through his hair. "And hey, I don't care if she's fat. If she's got a pretty face and nice tits and a mouth to suck cock, send her my way." Then he started laughing. "Where the fuck did you read that about whales, man? What a weird thing to know. Did we learn that in school?" He couldn't remember much about high school anymore, even though it hadn't been long ago. His "senior year" in boarding school sort of overwhelmed everything else. "But I mean, yeah... if some sea creature comes out of the ocean and seduces me, I'll shoot you a text before I decide to drown with them."
“Aloe, what the fuck?” Jasper laughed, shaking his head a bit. “But fuck no, school didn’t talk about whales. I think I just saw it on TV or something, I dunno man. All those sea animals are fat, except like ... jellyfish.” He tittered and tried to picture a fat-girl mermaid with nice big tits, sitting on a rock and flirting with Logan. It made him laugh more and he bumped their shoulders together and took the joint back for another couple of puffs. “Good though, you’d better. What if she could like, french kiss you and magically make you breathe, though? Would you go live in the ocean? Seems shitty to me, at least up here. Need to go find you a Caribbean mermaid, where it’s not dark and freezing.”
Logan was still laughing as Jasper spoke. It was a ridiculous conversation, but that's okay. It was better than the heavier stuff. "I wouldn't want to live in this water, no. But yeah, some kind of tropical island water... I'd do that. Then I'd have to get fat too, to survive under water and keep warm and stuff. At least I wouldn't have to work to make money or anything like that." Still amused, he ran his hands through his hair. "If there are mermaids, they're probably man-eating ones with crazy teeth. Maybe I'm thinking of sirens... don't they sing and lure men in and then kill them? Women, man."
Jasper had only vaguely heard of the type of sirens that didn’t come from police cars and firetrucks -- mythology had never been very interesting to him, and he’d slept through most of his English classes -- so he just shook his head. “I know, right? Why are they always tryin’ to kill us and stuff?” he asked, darkly amused. Maybe that was a bad joke to make when his girlfriend had locked him away in another dimension that could’ve easily killed him. Jasper didn’t really blame her, of course, but there was still part of him that wasn’t sure how to feel about it. He didn’t want to dwell there either though, so he took another hit from the joint before offering it back. “You’d still be hot even if you were fat,” Jasper informed him matter of factly. “I dunno about the fish tail, but I’d give it a try anyway.”
Logan took the offered joint and grinned. "D'aww, you're fucking sweet, man. You'd still be hot if you were fat too. More of you to love, and all of that. But it's good to know you'd still want to do me if I had a fish tail... I don't know how it'd work, but we'd find a way." Taking a longer drag off the joint, Logan decided to lay back in the sand, using one hand to tug Jasper back with him. They'd get sand all up in their hair and shit, but he was starting to feel too pleasantly stoned to care. Besides, there weren't as many lights at the beach at night, so they could see the sky better. "Fuck, remember when they sent me to boarding school? That sucked, but then it was pretty good 'cause it was a bunch of hot guys... then I just went wherever I wanted and it was great. But I kind of like being back here, like... I missed it and shit. It'd be fun to go on a road trip again, but I kinda like living here again. Is that crazy?"
What choice did he have but to fall back into the sand at Logan’s side? Jasper’s body was feeling loose and warm now, tingly in that nice way a good high did for him. He dug his toes a bit deeper into the sand, his shoulder pressed to Logan’s while he studied the stars overhead. Not having a sky over there had been so fucking disorienting, and the constant light ... Jasper had missed nighttime so much. “Remember? I was so fucking pissed for you, dude, I went and egged your mom’s house.” Jasper paused and tittered, he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. That had been an awful time for him, he’d missed Logan so fucking much, it had just felt like some assholes ripping his best friend away from him, not anything that was going to actually help him. “But no, like ... I know what you mean. It’s probably crazy, yeah, but fuck man ... who here isn’t crazy? We should all run away and burn it down behind us, but we don’t, you know? ... but I’m glad you’re home too,” he ended, a little softer.
Logan's brows rose and he looked over at Jasper in surprise before laughing. He hadn't known anyone egged his mom's house. He felt kind of bad for her, since it was his dad who had been the asshole. But he and his mom had still been living together when it happened, so Logan wasn't going to get pissy about it. "Who knows what kind of fun we would've had that year, if I'd still been here. Maybe things would've been completely different." He had no idea what might have happened but there was no sense in lingering in the past. "This place though, it's like... we can't live anywhere else. Like... we need the crazy shit. I know that sounds... crazy. And shitty." He tittered and brought the joint back to his lips. "But it's true. This town isn't normal and we're not normal, so we all kinda fit."
It was hard for Jasper to hear that maybe things would have been completely different and not think about the status of their relationship. Would he have realized he was bi any sooner? Would he and Logan have tried to really be together, or at least explored more together? Jasper couldn’t say if that would’ve been awesome or if it would’ve cost him his best friend ... maybe the way things actually went was better. Or not. What the fuck did he know? They definitely would’ve had a lot of fun regardless, he was just glad their bond hadn’t crashed and burned yet. Jasper gave a soft huff at Logan’s assessment and grunted low in his throat. “We’re all definitely not normal,” he murmured. He rolled up onto his side to pluck the joint out of Logan’s mouth once he’d had a puff, took a drag of his own, then moved to return it to Logan’s lips. Fuck, he had such a nice mouth. “And I’m even more not-normal now ... that doesn’t freak you out at all?”
Things were good as they were now. Well, mostly good. They'd be even better if he and Jasper could still fool around but it was what it was. Grinning when Jasper took the joint from him, Logan watched his friend, liking the way he looked under the night sky. Chuckling, he parted his lips for the returned joint before shaking his head a little. "It takes a lot to freak me out, man. Your not-normal is a cool GPS system in your brain now, which is awesome 'cause that means I'll never get lost when I'm with you and I don't have to use my phone data to use my maps app." He pulled the joint from his lips and held onto it, happily sinking into that hazy cloud of floaty pleasantness. "You're still Jasper. You look like Jasper, you sound like Jasper and you feel like Jasper. I'm good with that."
Deep down, Jasper thought it was more than just the GPS he suddenly had. He’d been infected by something before he’d been locked away in that place, something that had ... what, made him evil? Taken away his conscience so his real desires could come out? Jasper didn’t know. And then being Over There for so long ... it was so hard not to feel contaminated, even still. But laying in the sand next to Logan, who loved him unconditionally and knew him the best and didn’t feel anything different about him, it all made Jasper’s chest ache in a bittersweet sort of way. Reassuring, but sad. “And if you’re ever lost, I’ll find you,” he added quietly. If he’d been allowed, he would’ve kissed him right then, and the temptation was strong, so Jasper flopped onto his back again and sighed up at the sky. “I don’t always feel like Jasper,” he admitted. “Or more like ... I dunno who that is anymore.”
It was tempting to reach up and pull Jasper's mouth to his, but Logan was a good friend and as much as he wanted to enable that "bad behavior", he didn't want to cause Jasper any more confusion. He also didn't want to try and placate his friend with empty words. Logan knew he couldn't fix anything for Jasper and he couldn't pretend like he could. Jasper knew better. "You're still Jasper. You've just been through a lot of traumatic shit and you're trying to process it. That or you're trying to ignore it, which only makes it worse. I think it'll probably be a while before you figure out who you are now and there's nothing wrong with that."
Was he trying to ignore it? Maybe to some extent, just to get through each day. Logan had already laid the ‘talk to people’ advice on him, and Jasper had promised he would, so he didn’t want to go over all that again. He’d definitely been through a lot of traumatic shit, he couldn’t argue with that, so his friend was probably right. It was the last part he needed to hear, maybe, that it was okay, he could take his time. So often he felt like he ought to be better by now, over it. He was trying to move on with his life and leaving himself behind. It was just depressing to think that he would never be the same, even if he knew it to be true in his heart. “Yeah well ... we’ll see how it goes, I guess,” he murmured after a moment. “Not much else to do but try to keep going, right?”
"We'll see how it goes... life's motto, yeah? Hurry up and wait." Logan was feeling nice and floaty now. There wasn't much of a tide at the beach, but he still liked listening to the ocean. It was better than the clattering of dishes and busy chatter of the restaurant. This was also better than a party, as much as he liked being around people. He'd much rather spend time with Jasper. "I think... we just need to have fun. Find stupid shit to do. I don't even care what it is. Things aren't normal but that doesn't mean we have to sit around in the shit and be miserable."
“Yeah, totally.” That sounded good to Jasper, seeing how the misery tugged at him too often all on its own. Logan was right, he didn’t need to wallow in it. He desperately missed the carefree days he and his best friend used to have, doing all of the fun teenage stuff they used to do. Some of it was no doubt ridiculously dangerous, but Jasper had never given a shit before, and he gave even less of one now. “We need to go up to the swimming hole sometime soon,” he suggested, idly digging his toes in and out of the sand. “Go to parties, that kinda shit ...” That probably sounded dumb since Jasper had opted out of a party that very night, but if he was trying to regain some normalcy, he needed to start being a little more social.
"All of those things." Logan lifted his arms toward the sky. "All kinds of shit! Maybe getting out of your dad's house can be step number one to... living and shit. Think about it, at least... I can live alone, but it'd be a hell of a lot more fun with you there too." He didn't want to beg or make Jasper feel obligated, but it was hard to imagine rooming with anyone who wasn't Jasper. Scooting in closer to Jasper, Logan rested his head against Jasper's shoulder. "Or we can just come here and get high every night. That'd be cool too."
“Why not both?” Jasper chuckled. If they lived together they could just get high at home, but it was so much nicer on the beach looking up at the stars. He still had no idea if Jules would accept that living arrangement or make it a Problem, but if they were going to semi-break-up again, did it matter? Jasper’s gut said yes, it did, but he didn’t want to fall into some trap where she refused to trust him around his best friend. Living together was different than just hanging out, of course ... ugh, his brain was falling into circular ruts again. Jasper had to live for himself and make his own decisions, like they’d said. “But yeah, I’m definitely thinking about it,” he said. “I wanna live with you too, get out of Dad’s basement. Charlie’s basement.” He tittered a bit. “Be ready for Elodie to just show up and crash like a stray cat though, she does that now.”
"I like both. Both works for me." Logan grinned. They would have a great time living together, even if they kept their hands to themselves. Jasper was still his best friend, above and beyond anything else, and that wasn't going to change. At least he hoped it wouldn't. Logan knew some people couldn't help how they felt about things, even if Logan didn't always understand it himself. Jealousy and all that. But he did think Jasper getting out on his own would help a little. He chuckled a little about Elodie, since that honestly didn't surprise him all that much. "I mean, that's fine. As long as she doesn't knock a lot of shit over and vomit on the rug, I'm cool with it. The more the merrier, yeah?"
“I mean ... I can’t promise that she won’t,” Jasper said before he tittered. He could very well picture a drunk Elodie coming to their apartment and making that kind of mess, unintentionally of course. “She’ll definitely try to fuck you though,” he added, nudging Logan with his elbow. He had no doubts about that one. Logan was hot, that was impossible to miss, and Elodie obviously didn’t mind sleeping around when she wanted to. The idea put an uncomfortable tight feeling in Jasper’s chest, but he did his best to dismiss it. He was the last person entitled to be jealous or possessive of Logan. Jasper was going to have to learn to swallow that feeling down though, if they were living together. He definitely didn’t expect his best friend to live like some monk because of him or anything.
Logan chuckled and closed his eyes, happy enough to listen to the ocean, as mild as the tides were at the moment, and enjoy the night breeze on his face. "Well, I'll try to be prepared for that," he said, amused. He did like sex, after all. But he also didn't think it'd be a good idea to bring people home when Jasper was there. Not that Jasper was asking him to not fuck anyone, but Logan wasn't a complete idiot. He knew Jasper pulling back from the intimate part of their friendship wasn't exactly his choice. "I think maybe there're people I shouldn't fuck and Elodie is probably one of 'em. I don't want things to get weird."
That made Jasper feel slightly guilty, but more warm. Of all the people in town Logan could sleep with, there were a few on the Weird list now, and Elodie was one of them, just because of everything she and Jasper had gone through together. “... thanks for that,” he murmured after a moment’s thought. “I don’t wanna tell you who to bone, but yeah ... she’s pretty damn weird anyway, just in general, she would want you to hit her and shit.” They’d talked about this before, but it was still such a strange fetish to Jasper that it stuck in his mind. It didn’t seem like a thing Logan would be into either, so he probably had nothing to worry about anyway. “If we live together though, don’t like ... feel like you can’t. I can always make myself scarce.”
Logan chuckled. "Maybe she doesn't want to get hit all the time... maybe it's a... mood thing. You know, like... wanting it rough sometimes? And then other times... not." Was it possible to sleep on the beach all night? Probably not the safest thing to do in Point Pleasant, but he was so comfortable laying there with the weed in his system and Jasper beside him. "We can do like, socks on the doorknobs like our parents probably did in college or whatever. Well, not my parents... or yours." He snickered. "But you know what I mean. And don't feel like you can't have Jules over to do stuff. I don't want things to be weird. Did I say that already? I feel like I said that already."
He could relate to wanting it rough sometimes, but Jasper drew the line at punching somebody he was fucking -- or taking a hit himself. He would choke her out if she wanted it, maybe, but he couldn’t see himself doing much more than that. Not that he had any plans to fuck Elodie, in spite of the boners she sometimes inspired by being in bed with him. His love life was complicated enough. Jasper tittered softly and nodded, turning his head to look over at Logan’s profile. Everything was soft and shadowy, but it felt safe with his best friend by his side. “Yeah you did,” he answered. “But that’s okay. I don’t want it to be weird either. So we’ll just ... make it not weird.” It seemed so easy at the moment, stoned and comfortable with the white noise of the waves crashing beyond their feet. “You better not start to hate me, living with me. Or I’ll be pissed.”
"Making things not weird is so easy," Logan said, a hint of amusement in his tone. Sometimes it was easy. Sometimes it wasn't. That was life. "And you know I'm not going to start hating you. I mean, hell, you used to sleep over at my house all the time before I got booted out, remember? It'll be fine... and fun. Fun and fine. You can't start hating me either though. Like... communicate with me and shit, if I start doing anything that annoys you." He'd be careful about the sex stuff and make sure Jasper wasn't around if it did happen. At the moment though, Logan's only sexual partner was Jasper. Or had been Jasper. It was going to be weird to shift back to their friendship pre-sex.
It probably wouldn’t be as easy as they were saying. Jasper was finding that out about adult life, that pretty much everything was harder than he anticipated. But if he could Work Through It with anyone in his life, he had a good feeling it would be Logan. They’d been best friends for so long, through so much hard shit already, he couldn’t imagine it turning sour. A lot of things had happened that he hadn’t ever imagined though, so who the fuck knew? Not Jasper. He was just along for the ride in his own life, it seemed like -- sometimes that really sucked, sometimes it was nice. “Pfft, everything you do annoys me,” he teased, reaching over to playfully push at Logan’s cheek. “You’re literally the worst person I know, asshole.” Jasper’s grin and tone said otherwise, of course. Logan was definitely in his top three of Favorite People. “Dude we’re gonna have to figure out like, bills together and shit. Like we’re all married.”
Logan chuckled and pretended to bite at Jasper's fingers before they were pulled away. "We'll figure that shit out. Let's just get to the living together part first. Get your shit together so we can do it." It was his turn to nudge at Jasper. Adulting could be hard, but it had to be more fun to be doing it with his best friend. "If we're gonna pretend like we're married, does that mean we have to bicker and shit? When's the last time we even fought?" He couldn't remember. It was probably when they were young and even more stupid than they were now.
Jasper had a lot of shit to get together, but getting ready to move in with Logan seemed much easier than dealing with everything else, so he just made a dismissive noise and chuckled. Maybe the regular company would do him good, living in a real bedroom instead of a basement. He just hoped Jules wouldn’t lose her shit about it. He needed her to trust him, because he wasn’t giving up his best friend. Jasper laughed at the question and squinted his eyes as he tried to remember. “I don’t even know man, when we were like, twelve?” he suggested, unsure of the real answer. “I wouldn’t even know what to bicker about ... money, dishes ... my mom used to throw dishes at my dad when she was pissed, so like, my idea of marriage prob’ly ain’t the best.” Jasper tittered.
Twelve might have been right, though Logan couldn't really remember. Things had always been pretty chill between them. He couldn't really imagine Jasper being a shitty roommate, or trying to stiff him on the money or anything. Logan wouldn't do that either so it felt like a good situation. He'd rather live with his best friend than with some random person or co-worker. "My parents were shitty to each other too, so yeah, marriage is an anomaly to me." Logan began to pat himself down, searching for his cigarettes. He couldn't remember if he'd brought them from the car or not. Logan found them in his pocket and pulled them out with a grin. "I won't throw any dishes at you though. But maybe we should just use paper plates, just in case."
Both of them had come from such broken homes, Jasper thought now that was probably something they’d bonded over as kids, even if they hadn’t talked about it much. He remembered leaving the house to walk to Logan’s and spend the night there many times when his parents couldn’t get their shit together. Now his dad had turned all Good Father Figure and his mom never spoke to him and refused to believe her daughter wasn’t still missing. Not to mention being knocked up. Jasper got a knot of anger and despair in his chest every time he thought about her too much, so he tried not to. “Fuck yeah, paper plates. No dishes, no dish-fights,” Jasper snickered. It sounded like a solid plan to him, even if it was terrible for the environment. He waited until Logan got a cigarette lit and then reached over to pluck it out of his lips to steal it for himself. “I think my uncle’s got like, a spare vacuum and shit, from moving in with his woman ... bet it’s almost brand new, too.”
Logan blinked when his cigarette disappeared, but he waited until Logan had taken a drag off of it before reaching over to take it back, a grin on his face. "Yeah? Sounds good to me. Anything anyone wants to give us is fine by me. Your uncle ever sell his place? If not we could always rent it from him." He had no idea what the real estate market was like in Point Pleasant but he couldn't imagine people racing to live here. It'd be awesome live in Seaview, mostly because they wouldn't have neighbors on the other side of their walls. But he also knew it might not be feasible. It was still fun to think about.
Jasper had intended to keep the cigarette, but he let Logan take it back, then groped around until he found the pack Logan had taken out. He couldn’t remember if he’d left his in the car or if they were in his pockets, and it was more fun to feel around on Logan than himself. Jasper stole one of his smokes and lit it up, shrugging a bit. “I dunno, I can ask him,” he said. He wrinkled his nose a bit as he glanced over at Logan’s profile again. “It was kinda in rough shape though. He kept like, car parts in the living room, it always smelled like grease and sweat in there.” Maybe it was better now that all of Aaron’s stuff was out of the trailer ... and it would probably be better to rent from family. “I’ll look into it. Got his bachelor party comin’ up. Dad wants me to come,” he said with a titter.
Logan liked Jasper feeling around on him too and he almost took Jasper's new cigarette just to have him do it again. He had intended on sharing, but he was fine with Jasper lighting up his own. "Grease and sweat... eh. Just open some windows and use some of that lemon cleaner shit. That's what my mom always used... especially when I hit puberty and stunk all the time." Logan chuckled. "But it'd be cool to have our own space. Just sayin'. Ask him when he's drunk at his party, that'll do it." Logan took another drag from his cigarette before looking over at Jasper. "What're you guys going to do? Go to Cherries? Watching tits bouncing around with your old man?"
Aaron would probably let them do anything they wanted to the trailer too, he wouldn’t have all those rules like an apartment complex. And they wouldn’t have anybody living above or below them, they could do whatever they wanted. The more he thought about it, the more it appealed to him. “Yeah that’ll be the perfect time,” Jasper laughed, then cringed a bit at the last thing Logan said. “Dammit, now you made it sound weird.” He grinned and nudged Logan before dragging off of his pilfered cigarette. “I think that’s basically the plan though. Get Aaron drunk, play some pranks on him, take him to Cherries to make up for it. It’s gonna be a group of guys though, like Mila’s brother and Aaron’s friends, so ... not just watching tits with my old man. You’re coming to the wedding right?”