One Hot Summer (boyxboy)

Chapter 14: No pie for you!

"I always said your mouth gets you into trouble."
☆

"My God! What's happened?" Are the first words to leave Molly's mouth as Jasper guides a still slightly dazed Thomas into the kitchen. The question is met with silence, with Jasper slowly setting Thomas on the bench seat by the kitchen table before standing back and looking down. Molly rushes to the chest freezer, pulling out a bag of frozen peas, she wraps a nearby tea towel around it before placing it onto the swelling on Thomas' face, causing Thomas to flinch and hiss through clenched teeth.

She looks over to Jasper again, who's still staring at his feet. "Tell me...what happened?" Her voice now is a little firmer than before, with her evidently getting over the initial shock.

Jasper begins to pull on the hem of his t-shirt, twisting it around his finger. "I hit him." He mumbles.

Molly looks wide eyed at Jasper and turns a little more to face him "You hit him? Why Jasper? Look at his face! What did he do?" Jasper could hear her voice raising an octave with each question. But he just couldn't answer. He couldn't tell her exactly why.

"Mol it was my fault." Thomas says in a groggy tone.

Molly is now turning her attention back to her brother. "Tom? What do you mean?"

Jasper now also looks at Thomas. How was he going to explain this? Jasper's heart was racing at the thought of Thomas possibly divulging what went on, being exposed. "I was teasing him Mol. I took it too far. I deserved it." Thomas looks a little to his right through his better eye to see Jasper's panicked stricken face. He carries on talking. "I was questioning his strength and I guess he's strong." Thomas is a little relieved to see Jasper's tense face ease a little as the white lie which has now unfolded has saved both of them from awkward questioning, though Thomas is not quite out of the woods yet.

Molly takes Thomas' hand and replaces it on the makeshift ice pack where her's once was, before walking away from Thomas. "Then you deserve it!" She says with a quick tone. "I always said your mouth gets you into trouble."

Thomas puts on a fake whine in an attempt to get at least a bit of sympathy from his sister. "Mollyah! I'm in pain!"

Molly doesn't even turn from the fridge, where she is getting out some custard to warm up on a pan she has ready and waiting on the stove. "No. You are as bad as each other. You both will have no pie." She declares as Jasper suddenly remembers the promise of fresh home made pie after an afternoon's work, being dashed.

Now both Thomas and Jasper are sulking. Molly continues with her savagery as she flaunts the warm fresh pie in their faces by placing it in the centre of the table. "You can both make your own tea. There's cold cuts in the fridge."

Thomas gives a "Tsk" instantly followed by an "ow." As his face twinges with pain. Whereas Jasper now feels his body relax a little as the situation seems somewhat diffused, but it still didn't erase the fact that now, Thomas knew. He knew exactly what Jasper was thinking and Jasper just couldn't predict what Thomas was going to do next.

*****

Jasper turns once again in the creaky metal bed. He just couldn't get to sleep. His body ached from the day's toil, desperate for slumber to hit him, but his mind wasn't playing. Jasper pulls his phone towards him, checking the time. 23:46 lit the room. This was the only use for his phone these days. He rolls onto his back, staring up at the moonlit ceiling. Why couldn't he sleep? Jasper kept thinking about Thomas, the lake, how he was so close to letting Thomas satisfy him and how it all ended up with bruises, both visible and invisible.

When Molly had finally taken Thomas home in the four by four, the atmosphere had become estranged. Both boys did not really know how to move on from what had occurred. Both guilty of doing wrong, but neither making an apology.

Jasper also kept thinking about something else. The apple pie. Jasper had low-key been thinking about it on and off since he had been denied the sweet treat and was now contemplating sneaking into the kitchen to steal himself a slice.

He finds himself grabbing his phone, switching on the torch, pulling back the light bed sheet and swivelling around to sit up. The creak of the bed and then floorboards against him. Jasper light foots it the best he can to the door, the creak of the hinges is inevitable, but Jasper thinks he has it covered. Just an innocent trip to the toilet if he should greet Molly or his uncle on the landing.

As the door opens wider, Jasper sees no visible lights, deducing that everyone is in bed. Jasper however isn't prepared to hear the muffled noises from his uncle's room. Clearly both he and Molly were 'otherwise engaged' as the odd groan and moan could be heard through the door from both parties. At least Jasper knew he had at least a five minute window of opportunity.

He hurries down the stairs and heads straight to the kitchen, making a bee line for the fridge. He opens the door, the light of the fridge now illuminating the room. There, like a jewelled crown, in the center of the shelf was the apple pie. Its deep filled apple centre on show, where a slice had already been taken out. Jasper pulls the plate from the fridge and places it on the table, keeping the fridge door open to allow him to see enough to grab a plate from the shelf and grab a knife from the drawer.

Jasper can't help but lick his lower lip at the mouth watering anticipation of enjoying a slice of this pie, made all the more appealing by having been denied a slice. After carefully covering his tracks, Jasper takes the plate and a fork from the drawer and quietly tiptoes back to his room. He can still hear relentless antics occurring in the next bedroom, with Jasper smirking at how they thought he would be asleep, oblivious to his uncle pounding away.

Quietly he gets back into his room undiscovered, carefully closing the door behind him before wanting to settle in to devour the pie. As he turns, Jasper feels a breeze blow across his bare chest. He turned to see the window slightly open and there, laid on his bed was Thomas.