Flowers for you

Snapdragons

When I wake up the next morning, Jasper is no longer beside me.

I get up almost instantly, my eyes wide and searching. He wasn't there.

Instead, I see a note pinned on the board above my reading table.

Parents arrived. See you later.

Sleepiness hasn't left me yet, so it took me a while to understand what he meant. When the realization hits me, my eyes grow wide. I run out of my room and head straight for the living room. I stop midway, after realizing I was wearing Jasper's shirt. I make a move to go back to my room, but my parents heard me.

"Pat?"

I curse, thinking they might have found the pizza box and cans of beers in the living room. Instead of going back to my room and changing, I head to the living room. I don't remember how I got clothes on, but I was thankful I wasn't naked. I find my parents in the kitchen. I walk in, expecting an interrogation but my mom and dad seemed to not care about anything. They do not even look up from the newspaper and phone they were holding.

"Your breakfast is cold," my mom mutters as she flicks through her phone. I stare at the breakfast on the table as my dad reads on. I try to not make it so obvious that I have a shirt that was too big for me, and something I wouldn't normally wear. I try to make it as less obvious as possible. They don't seem to notice. I start eating my breakfast carefully.

"So, Jasper-"my mom starts, her eyes flickering over to me. I almost choke. "I heard you have been hanging out with him a lot these days. Have you and Nathan broken up?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I say, sounding more relieved than I wanted. This doesn't seem to affect her as much as I thought it would. I knew my parents adored Nathan, but somehow knowing that we broke up seemed to not be a big deal for her. I glance at my dad; he didn't seem to be listening at all.

My mom finally sighs.

"Just don't let it, or him, affect your grades," she says sternly and I have the sudden urge to defend Jasper in front of them but caught myself, were they referring to Jasper or Nathan? I am about to ask when someone knocks on our door. For a moment, I feel my whole body go stiff. What if it was a flower? I didn't know what I would do. The flowers were being sent more aggressively now. Was the one who had Jasmine getting impatient? Or was he afraid? Should I tell my parents now?

My mother glances at me and raises a brow, a sign for me to get up and see who was at the door. I force my body to move, trying to reign in the nervousness and fear that I felt. What if it was someone bringing news about Jasmine? I feel cold sweat run down my spine as I grip the doorknob. I turn it slowly and almost cry out in relief to see Jasper standing there, two cups of coffee in hand. I stared at him, wanting to tell him why he left but also to thank him for cleaning up after last night. A shadow of a smile plays on his lips and I feel my cheeks burn at the sudden sight of him, with remnants of last night playing in my mind.

"Who is it, honey?" Mom calls out from the dining area and I struggle to find the words so what came out was just,

"Jasper."

I worried what my parents would think or how they would react to know Jasper visited me. Today. At our house. There was a long pause and I thought there wouldn't be any words or reaction from them anymore but;

"Oh, okay. Are you going out? Finish your breakfast first," Mom calls back and for a moment I am stunned. I hear Jasper give out a faint chuckle behind me.

I swivel around to face him, ready to ask what he found so funny but the expression on his face stopped me. He was...happy?

"Come on in, Jasper," my dad emerges from the dining room and takes a sit on the sofa and Jasper shrugs as he steps into our household and gives me one cup of the coffee.