✤ The grave below the flowers ✤ (CRAIG OF THE CREEK)

And then I go and spoil it all by saying somethin' stupid like, 'I love you'

Jason’s tote bag hung over his shoulder, his right hand keeping the strap in place while a sour expression crossed his face and he was looking down at his phone. The time only made him angrier by the minute and he looked like he was ready to explode.

Fifteen dollars sat in his tote bag as Jason impatiently tapped his foot.

As expected, Jason was keeping his promise towards Craig and Xavier for helping out with the yard sale and was waiting for them outside the ice cream parlor they all agreed to meet. Yet the other two were falling a tad late.

“If they're another minute late I might as well just get ice cream for myself…”Jason muttered to himself, shutting his eyes in frustration while putting his phone back in his tote bag.

“Awww, no fairrrr, we wanted some toooo” Xavier's voice spawned from behind him while a pair of hands grabbed onto his shoulders from behind.

“Xavier, you creep! Don't scare me like that!” Jason immediately spun himself around to face Xavier. Xavier held the hands he used to hold onto Jason's shoulders with surrender with a smug look that only annoyed Jason even more.

But Craig came in between them to ruin the fun, at least on Xavier's side. “Alright, alright, let’s not kill each other before we get our ice cream…”.

Jason still had a sour expression while eyeing Xavier, the trio walked into the line and waited. Jason eyed the money in his tote bag, it felt a little weird to have birthday money since he barely got any even before Rosemary died. Money was never a struggle, yet not even a dollar came his way on his birthday.

Jason remembered last night vividly. Eleanor didn’t feel like cooking so she ordered pick up from this crazy-expensive restaurant for dinner, but according to her, Hunter liked it. But the problem was that it was time to pick it up before Eleanor got off work. So she sent Jason to go and pick it up for her just when he got home after breaking his father's phone.

So Jason did so with nothing said, he got his jacket back on, kept a Swiss Army Knife in his pocket and walked towards the restaurant. Hoping, just hoping the weapon wasn't peaking out in any way and he could pick up the order without any problems.

He was able to get to the restaurant without any problems, no one suspected anything and once he stated he was here for pick up he was sent to sit down.

He expected to be out quickly, that was until he became the center of attention to a pair of maroon eyes.

At first Jason didn't even recognize the man who the eyes belonged to, the man looked surprised to see Jason. He seemed to also be waiting to pick up an order, and his voice rang with some familiarity when he spoke. “Jasaginae Durchdenwald?”.

Jason looked up at the man, his suit making Jason look homeless compared to him and Jason finally figured out who the man was and just how he knew Jason.

“Mr.Pendragon?” Jason finally spoke, he looked around him to see if he could spot Eliza. Unless she was waiting in the car, Mr.Pendragon seemed to have come here solo.

“Oh Jasaginae, I haven't seen you in awhile. I remember when your father would bring you to work with him and you'd follow behind him like his little helper! Oh why, I remember when he let you try his coffee for the first time! Do you remember that?”. Surprisingly, his personality was nothing like his daughter's. Though he acted like a rich snob similarly to her, he had a more approachable attitude and could stir up a friendly conversation no matter what. Perhaps he's a fake like his daughter and Jason, guess Jason will never know.

“Y-Yeah, I remember that…”Jason replied to the memories with a nod. Though he didn't remember that much from his earlier days from when his father would take him to his job after school and Forest Scouts, he remembered Eliza's father well. Notably the most tolerable out of all the coworkers his father bragged to him about. He remembered Mr.Pendragon giving his condolences to Hunter after Rosemary died before he left the company for a higher paying career. He remembered seeing him and Rosemary chat a few times on the rare days when she would come to Hunter's job, Jason wanted to spare himself the headache by hoping they were acquaintances like him and Hunter.