Before We Were Us ○ Jasper Hale 2

How Are You Gonna Fix That?

Walking out of nurses office with newly applied cover up, I March my way down the hallway and into the cafeteria with my nerve induced confidence. Taking a deep breath, I walk to the lunch line and grab a water bottle, I can't stomach food at the moment.
"You done feeling sorry for yourself?"
"Shut up." I shoot right back to Bernadette who smirks devilishly.
"Oh~ Thea's come out of her depression kicking."
"I wasn't depressed."
"You looked pretty pathetic to me, I mean come on, you had sex with the guy, what's the big deal?" She shoots, knowing full well that it's a touchy subject. She also doesn't understand the terms "emotionally attached."
"Could you stop talking about it? I'm really starting to reconsider coming back." I smile tersely.
"Just, find some other guy to screw, it takes your mind off it." She winks and I feel my stomach churn.
"I'm not like you." I shake my head no. I can't willingly just throw myself around so I can have three minutes worth of a distraction.
"I'm serious!! Just not with my brother. Speaking of the devil, looks like my rejection wasn't enough for him." She smirks, sending me a wink before he sits next to me, slinging an arm over my shoulder which I shake off.
"What's the matter babe?"
"I'm not your babe, Jace. I already told you, I'm sorry, I just can't do this." I say quickly, wanting to get it over with.
"It's cause of what she said? Cause-"
"No, Jace I just... I don't like you the way you like me. You're my best friend's brother and that's all I've ever thought of you as." I cut him off, starting to feel unnaturally frustrated.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Bernadette sighs, throwing her hands in the air. "What?" But before she could respond, someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around and my eyes widen as I see Nathan with a girl that looks twice his age under his arm.
"Xanthia, this is Katy, my girlfriend, Katy, this is Xanthia." Nathan introduces. "Don't call me that." I say sharply. "What?" Nathan asks with wide eyes. "Call me Thea."
"But I always call you-"
"Exactly." I cut him off before Katy clears her throat. "Hi, it's nice to meet you Thea, Nathan told me how close of friends you were." She smiles.
"Friends?" I ask, shocked really.
"Yeah." Nathan nods, as if he was confident that I'd go along with it. That's the thing about Nathan. He could never tell when I was upset. Or furious. "How close did he tell you we were?" I ask innocently, absolutely livid at this point. How could I have loved him? He can't even say that I was first girlfriend. "Close enough to know his ex girlfriend." She chuckles like it was some kind of inside joke.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Bernadette snorts.
"Look man, I think you should-"
"Jace, stay the hell out of it, you're not even relevant." Bernadette cuts her brother off who scoffs and just walks away, finally admitting defeat. One down, one to go. "Of yeah, I knew his ex-girlfriend. We were really close." I go along with it, feigning sarcasm and she chuckles.
"Was she really as insecure as Nate said she is? I'd love to see her now." She chuckles and that's when I shut down. That's the one thing I trusted Nathan with, above all else, and he turned around, and made it a joke.
"Yeah, she was but confident enough to tell her boyfriend. Did he tell you how she was his first girlfriend?" I chuckle and I think Nathan finally realized how angry I was. "I think we should-" but I cut him off, rising to my feet.
"Yeah, she was his first kiss, first girlfriend, first everything really." I chuckle and Katy smiles awkwardly, looking to Nathan and then back at me. "Xanthia-"
"Yeah, they even gave each other their virginity. Wanna know her name?"
"Katy lets-"
"Xanthia Robertson." I say and Katy's eyes widen and her face turns red.
"I-I'm sorry, he never told me-"
"Yeah. So I guess we were just really good friends." I glare to Nathan before turning around as Bernadette holds out her chocolate milk. I rip it from her hands and chuck it at Nathan, watching as the brown liquid explodes on him and draws everyone's attention.
"You're an ass, you know that?" I glare at him before grabbing my stuff and walking out with my head held high.
•
I throw my locker open, glad to go home, and take out what I'll need for the day. "Are you feeling okay?" Jasper's voice slides into my ears. I haven't heard his voice in a while.
"Yeah! Just fine!" I grin even though I was still fuming from lunch.
"You're angry."
"Gee, I hadn't noticed." I smile like an asshole to him before sighing and rubbing my temples, feeling calmer all of a sudden. "S-Sorry..." I mumble.
"It's quite alright." He replies soothingly. I close my locker quietly and rest my head against it before taking a deep breath and standing up straight, giving Jasper a weak smile before nodding. "Bye Jasper."
"Good day, Xanthia." He replies but my heart doesn't shatter in pain like it would have a day ago. It seems to fill me up to the brim with something pleasant. So, with an involuntary smile on my face, I turn around and walk out of the building to catch the bus. I just need to get home.