Metanoia |BxB|

Chapter Nine

JASPER

It starts on a friday night, after precise planning and many weeks of observation. Declan maps the exact time and date they're all able to get completely plastered in the basement of a dorm room without fearing for their academic safety, and everyone is all too delighted to take him up on the offer. Declan assures them that their meeting time of half past midnight is perfect and that the closest RA will be three floors above them, completely out of hearing range. Dianna provides a bottle of Rum, a bottle of tequila, and several two ounce cups from the caf that are filled with watermelon jello and smell strongly of something fruity and alcoholic while Tessa brings drinking games and a small disapproving lecture about underage drinking. Spencer brings enough chips to probably feed a small army.

When Jasper sends a raised eyebrow after they all set their offerings on the carpeted floor, Dianna merely smirks and tosses back a jello shot without ever breaking eye contact.

"What's wrong, Jasper? Not the same without Blair here?" she teases and extends her hand to offer him another little plastic cup.

They had been spending more time together lately. Voluntarily meeting up in the Caf and in the library and talking about nothing. They'd been joking about getting absolutely smashed tonight for the last several days and Diana hadn't missed the way they were practically best friends at this point, Blair giving even Spencer a run for his money concerning that title.

But Blair, after fighting off the First Year Fever for weeks, had finally fallen victim to the sickness and was currently locked away in his room for the foreseeable future. He had texted Jasper that morning, telling him he'd visited the clinic after his first class and was told to stay in bed in order to keep his fever at bay. Jasper had brought him crappy soup from the Caf before he'd come over to NoVi and had promised to get wrecked in his honor.

Blair found the idea of him 'remotely having a good time' to be funny enough to be sent into a fit of coughs and wheezes and Jasper was determined to show exactly just how much of a good time he could handle.

He was not, however, allowing himself to get too close to this kid.

"I could care less." Jasper mutters at Diana and takes the two ounce cup from her outstretched hand.

It's slimy and strong and tastes a lot like the black scented markers he used to have back in grade school. Despite how bad they taste, however, he schools his features and crushes the cup in his fingers without a word.

Diana had been on his back without precedent lately, and he wanted to buck her off without outright telling her she was breaking his spine and making him uncomfortable with her breathing down his neck and all.

After they start drinking, the night moves languidly, with the five of them sitting in a loose circle on the ground and sipping from the cups they had stolen from the Caf earlier in the day.

Spencer, at some point, had gone up to the second floor and purchased three soft drinks from the vending machine after Diana and Tessa had gotten huffy at how bad the Rum tasted. He had mixed the alcohol into a diluted drink for the girls and had allowed them to go absolutely wild with their portions.

Jasper's phone, playing softly from the top of the table, hasn't even gotten all the way through an entire album before the night began to go sour.

They were all reckless and stupid and had drank too much too fast and so when Declan begins a stupid game of truth or dare, no one bothers to stop him. And because the room had begun to spin and Jasper felt like he's laying on a trampoline and someone is bouncing on the other end, he had joined in thoughtlessly.

They manage to get through a couple rounds wherein Jasper is dared to drink each and every time it's his turn. Eventually, he's sat against the wall with his legs splayed out in front of him and his hand holds the neck of the bottle he's been drinking from loosely because he can bet that the next time someone calls his name, he'd just have to toss back another swig. The room bounces slightly and gets fuzzy around the edges, and he's laughing easier than he thinks he usually does. He feels good and warm, so he doesn't back out of the game when Diana looks at him and points a lazy finger and asks him to choose either truth or dare.