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Given that I barely have a social life, maybe being a real estate agent here part-time would be a nice change of pace…
I toy with the idea over breakfast, on my trek to Groveton, and all throughout my morning at my desk. By the time lunch has come and gone, I’m starting to do some digging into the different brokers in the area. Who would I want to work for if Ididget back into this field? As stealthily as I can, I scroll through the different names and companies on my phone between bookshelves as I push the cart around, picking up books left behind at the small tables and desks that students use on the second floor.
“Miss Wilson, playing on your phone while you’re supposed to be working? Tsk, tsk.”
I freeze just as I’m about to round a bookshelf. My heart slams in my chest as dread pools in my gut. Jason’s here? Now? On a Tuesday in the middle of the day? I glance around, noting the students at one of the longer tables nearby. No one is looking at me, but they are certainly within hearing distance. Shoving my phone into my pocket, I turn around slowly, and I brace myself for trouble.
Jason strolls up to me with a swagger to his walk and smile reaching from ear to ear.
“Aw, come on, don’t look so miserable to see me. I brought you a present,” he says, coming to a stop right before me.
A present? That’s when I notice the box in his hands. It’s a white square box, unassuming and small. Jason hands it to me, but I don’t move to take it. Knowing my luck, it has something that will screw me over inside it. Looking back up at him, I stare at his face suspiciously.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“Isn’t that what boyfriends are supposed to do?” His smile blossoms into a full-blown grin at my gasp of horror.
“You’renotmy boyfriend!” I hiss, looking around to make sure people still aren’t watching. Nope, it doesn’t appear that we’ve made a scene yet. Glaring up at him, I take a step back, pushing my cart along with me. “Go away, Jason, and take whatever that is with you.”
“First off, I’m not sure I appreciate your reaction to my title. It kind of hurts my feelings. You’re lucky I’m not big into labels,” he starts and takes another step toward me, refusing to give me space. I don’t believe him. Judging by the delight in his face, he absolutely islovingmy reaction. Clearly, upsetting me is his favorite pastime. “Second, I promise it’s nothing too wild. I wouldn’t want to ruin what we have going on at the moment.Third, the present was just an excuse to come find you while the others were busy.”
“Why did the others have to be busy in order for you to come find me?”
“We do everything together, but,” he shrugs, “I wanted to do this alone.”
“Dowhatalone?”
“Talk to you.”
Again, I don’t believe him. Rather than say that, I turn and place my hands on the handle of the cart and walk away. Jason doesn’t call out or make a scene, but he does follow, coming up beside me and swooping up an abandoned book at one of the smaller desks. He places it in my cart and then drops his little box on top of the book so that I’m forced to push it around.
“Anyway, what were you looking at on your phone so closely?” he asks, unperturbed at the anger radiating off me.
“Nothing.”
“It didn’t look like nothing.”
I heave a heavy sigh of frustration. “Jason, please can you just—”
“Look, I’m having a tough day. I have class in, like, twenty minutes, so I’ll be out of your hair soon.”
“Can’t you study or jerk off to porn like a normal student?” My voice comes out as a whine that I have to stifle as a student walks by.
“I finished studying, and why watch porn when I can watch you do literally anything and I get the same satisfaction?”
What he’s saying is absolutely ludicrous. I have no reason to believe him whatsoever. Yet as my cheeks burn with humiliation, the rest of my body grows warm for another reason.
“Oh, and before you offer up doing homework next, just know that I managed to get it all done for the next week.”
My body is radiating stress as we continue to walk around with one another. I guess I could go back to my desk, but what would stop Jason from lingering there? And heaven only knows what things might pop out of his mouth. With a twang of resentment, I concede to Jason’s request to talk.
“Fine.” Quickly, I take charge of the conversation, not letting him say something outrageous to get a rise out of me. “Why are you having a bad day?”
“Besides my girl not being happy to see me?” Jason asks, winking as I squeak in protest. “My parents are showing signs of their age, and it’s bumming me out. I have to go to the ranch later because I’m afraid if I don’t, my dad will work all night on a few of the horses. If I can tend to some of the animals while they rest up, at least they can make it another day. It’s just scary, you know? Nothing used to wear my dad out, yet here he is losing weight, losing sleep, and the man I see now looks nothing like who he was before. They don’t deserve the rough life they’re living. They’re good people who just trusted the wrong person, and now they’re facing the consequences. Whenever I tell them that they need to stand up to their boss, stop putting in the long hours, and to take it easy, they just get mad at me. I’m only trying to help, and lately it feels likeI’mthe bad guy.”
Oh, he was serious about talking. I thought this was going to lead to some type of harassment. Shooting Jason a nervous look, I catch him deep in thought. With a shaky breath, I try to relax a little. If he wants to simply talk, I can do that. Unfortunately, in regards to this particular subject, I don’t have anything to offer. I don’t know what to say. Apparently, Jason doesn’t need me to say anything because he immediately continues.
“It’s hard to say anything around Grant and Trip because they have their own issues with their parents. Grant’s dad has always been a source of tension between all of us, but Trip? His dad is in a bad way. It’s eating Trip up on the inside because he can only do so much, you know? But he won’t talk about it, which is making all this worse. He just wants to deal with it on his own. And it sucks because Carlos is like a dad to all of us.”
