We look through the case files until it was well into the afternoon. Jasper had only stood up to get us soda's before plunging into the research again. It was around 4 in the afternoon when he started picking the files up and keeping them.
"My uncle will be home soon," he says, and I understood. His uncle would not like it if he saw us looking at files from another precinct. I still didn't know how Jasper's friend got a hold of these files even though the murder happened somewhere else. Not in this town.
"We can continue at my place," I say it before I can think better of it knowing my parents won't be home until late in the afternoon, tomorrow.
"I mean, if you want to," I shrug, already feeling the magnetic pull I had towards him despite everything. Well, we were not going to do anything. I think. Just focus on our research and solve a murder by understanding a killer.
"Sure," he says and picks up the stacks of files and paper before he starts heading out. A part of me felt a little disappointed by his response but I should understand what I was thinking about may be so far from his mind right now. I pick up the remaining papers and follow him out.
When we get to my house I go and make coffee, thinking it would be needed later. I wait for the coffee to be ready as Jasper takes off the jacket, he had put on earlier and sat down on the floor near the sofa, like he had at his place. I pour coffee into the mugs before taking them out.
"What do you want for dinner? I thought we could just order delivery and all," he says, his eyes finally meeting mine. I shrug in response, not really knowing what to say. I didn't feel comfortable around my own home. I didn't know if I felt okay with Jasper being here or not. There were a lot of things I didn't understand and some of it I don't think I'll ever find out the answers. I hear Jasper sigh as I sit down on the sofa. He takes out his phone and orders pizza, the easiest and most convenient thing we can order. I take out another file and find out it was a map. The place where Rosemary was abducted was not that far from where her body was found.
Jasper takes the map from me and starts making marks. I watch him until I realize what the marks meant. They were places he had probably found the flowers. I understand and stand. He looks up at me as I start looking for a map of my own before I realize that most of the flowers that I found got delivered to my doorstep. I sigh, before placing my own map on the table and place a big mark on my home.
"The flowers were delivered to our doorstep as well," he starts when he somehow realizes I was staring at the map too long. "The marks are places where the flowers that were delivered were being grown or cultivated."
"Like greenhouses?" I ask and he nods. "You still remember all of them?"
"I remember everything," he says, and I remain quiet. There was something different about him right now and it was probably because we were visiting a past, he could not forget but would rather didn't happen at all.
The pizza arrived an hour later which was enough time for me to realize I was hungry. I get up to open the door and was surprised that the delivery guy was carrying not only a pizza but cans of beer as well. I take the pizza and pay for it before staring at the beer cans he was also handing over.
"We didn't order beer," I say, wondering if Jasper had but he should have told me before he went to the bathroom.
"It is part of our promo miss," he says with a smile.
"Ah," I take the cans away from him and give him a little tip before kicking the door close. Jasper emerges from the bathroom and his hands fall on the cans of beer. He raises an eyebrow, a shadow of a smile on his face.
"It was free," I roll my eyes at him as a smile escapes my own mouth. The room somehow felt more comfortable now that he had smiled at me. Even if it was just for a moment. I place the pizza on the coffee table and the cans of beer on the floor.
"Jasmine used to tell me you could drink a man under the table," he says as he opens the pizza and I groan inwardly.
"Something I used to be so proud of," I say. "But not so much now because I realized how embarrassing I get when I'm drunk."
"Really?" He opens a can of beer and hands it to me. I stare at it then at his eyes which were full of challenge and mirth. I couldn't help but want to share in the energy and take the beer from him.
"I warned you," I say before taking a slice of pizza.
"I'll take my chances," he says before grabbing his own can of beer and slice of pizza. I sit on the floor with him, our knees inches apart as we eat our pizzas and drink our beer.
"Why did you stop drinking?" he asks suddenly, and I look at him from the corner of my eyes.
"Like I said, I become someone embarrassing," I answer.
"What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever done when you were drunk?"
I actually blush and avoid eye contact when the memory rushes into my head. Seeing Jasper casually sitting on the floor beside me, it seemed like a recreation of the most embarrassing thing I have done. I turn away from him, looking at the pizza box. I feel him move beside me and feel the weight of his stare.
"Well, to start, I didn't exactly have a good reputation before," I start.
"Mh-hmm."
"You have probably heard the rumors about me," I turn to him, nothing shows on his face, he just listens.
"Everyone in school has probably heard it before," I continue. "I swear it just gets better and better the more it gets passed around. You see, it was a house party- the first one I have ever been invited to, and it got a little crazy," I pause.
"Well, I got a little crazy," I laugh, remembering how bad I held my liquor that night.
"There was this boy," I say. "I wasn't aware at that time that he had a girlfriend. I was tipsy and kind of wanted to fit in. There was this group of kids that dared me to kiss him and being the stupid girl that I was, I did. I mean, I tried." I cover my face, remembering the events that transpired and where I ended up.
"I got up to him and told him to kiss me," almost mumble against my hands. I hear Jasper chuckle and decided now was not the time to face him. I take a long swig of my beer and breathe out.
"This guy," I continue, well, I guess he was also under a lot of pressure or maybe he was just the type of guy who suddenly forgets he has a girlfriend, says yes, sure, of course he will do it!"
"So, there I was about to kiss this stranger who was already cupping my cheeks, when his girlfriend suddenly storms up to us and yanks my hair. I don't scream, at this point I was already losing my rationality. I look at her and she calls me a boyfriend stealing whore- which kind of stuck for the rest of my life, she had a really loud voice," I shrug.
"I stare at her, and people are probably expecting a great comeback, but instead I do this thing," I say, glancing at Jasper from the corner of my eyes hoping that I didn't have to say it out loud. He raises an eyebrow at me.
"I-uhm," I stutter. "You know- Projectile vomiting and such," I shrug, grabbing another slice of pizza and shoving it in my mouth. I try to mumble after that, hoping the embarrassment would go away.
