Needing (not edited)

Levi (16)

**TW, mental illness and eating disorders mentioned**

Luke got home from his tutoring session and immediately started rambling about this Sage guy. He also said that he called me cute. Well, although I was flattered, Jasper was getting me. I want to be his, and only his. I would however like to at least meet Sage, since Luke said we would probably get along well. For some reason, Luke doesn't want me to see anybody at the house. He said it could be anywhere else, just not here. Something having to do with people seeing into our actual life, which now that I think about it, he's got a point. Our life here is far different from the one in school, and if people saw that there would be questions on top of questions with a side of questions.

The next day, which was Friday, I sat at Luke's table again. Jasper put his arm around me, and this time I decided to be a bit bolder and lean into him. I did. He smiled, and ruffled my hair. I don't why he likes doing that so much. Also, why is he letting me basically cuddle him? And why is every one of his friends staring at us? Whilst wearing small smirks?

Andrew nodded his head, and Zander had an eyebrow cocked. Wait, had they figured out I like him? Nonononononono, that can't happen. Nuh-uh.

Since they already saw me hug him, I stayed in the crook of Jasper's shoulder. He was warm, comfy, and every now and then he would rub my hair or my arm. He felt nice.

"Hey, do you want to hang out sometime?" Jasper asked out of absolutely nowhere.

"Oh. Sure," I replied. "Your friends are cool."

"I mean, only the two of us..."

Woah. "Seriously?" I asked, maybe a little too excitedly.

"Yeah. If you don't want to it's cool, but I thought it might be nice."

"I would love that! When are you free?"

"Is this weekend okay for you?" He asked.

"Yes. It's not like my parents will be home, anyway," I replied with an eye roll.

His flashed an expression, but it was gone before I could determine what it was. "Do you want to go somewhere? Or just go to one of our houses? I will warn you, I have four crazy sisters at home, so we would have to deal with them."

I laughed, and said, "Up to you. I would like to see the cats and lizards at some point, though."

I then remembered that Luke said we couldn't have anyone over to our house. I asked him if Jasper was okay, and he responded with, "If you're okay with him knowing, I am too. The no our house rule basically applies to people we haven't known for nine years."

"Is your house okay?" Jasper asked when I turned back to him. "I just realized my sister's best friend is going to be sleeping over this weekend."

"Oh. Yeah, that's fine. My house it is. Tomorrow?" I asked.

"Sure. 2:00 pm?"

"Yeah, that'll be okay. See you tomorrow, I guess."

"Yep," he replied with yet another ruffle of my hair. Why does he always do that?

~~~~~

"Hey," I greeted as I opened the door.

"Hi. How are you?" Jasper asked, stepping inside.

"I'm okay, I guess. You?"

"I guess? You don't sound that sure of yourself. I'm good, thank you for asking."

"Well, Luke is...yeah," I replied, not sure what to say.

"He's yeah?" He asked amused.

"He's just not feeling great. Both of us are overwhelmed, anxious, and depressed."