Delicate Hearts

Chapter 7: Eternal Riddle

Copyright 2013 © Rosesareforever

Delicate Hearts

Chapter 7

'Eternal Riddle'

Sometimes in life, you come across a puzzle you are unable to figure out. You desperately try to put the right pieces together with everything you have, yet in the end your persistent attempts turn out to be futile. To Jasmine, Lucas was that enigma she was unable to solve. No matter how long she pondered about his behavior, she never seemed to magically figure him out. He was a mystery, dark and untouchable.

After the onerous occurrences of the previous day, Lucas had abruptly disappeared from the house. He left her another ‘I’m sorry’ note in her favorite box of cereal, but didn’t face her to speak about what happened whatsoever. Her best guess was that he was cowardly avoiding her.

Nathan had come to her in the morning to question what happened. She simply told him Lucas and she got into a fight – no further explanation. It wasn’t necessary. Nathan had nothing to do with whatever occurred between Lucas and her. It wasn’t any of his business. She hated it when people tried to meddle, no matter how good their intentions.

Apparently Gabriella had told her son some details and asked Nathan to watch out for Jasmine. It pissed her off beyond measure. She didn’t need protection, certainly not from Lucas. If she ever felt threatened she would find help.

Nathan had explained to her he knew Lucas had anger issues, but that he’d never touched a single girl in the past. He hadn’t thought that would change. Lucas was very capricious, yet he usually stayed true to his principles. One of them was to never, ever hit a girl. It was a weak move, very low standard.

“I’m driving you to school,” Nathan informed her strictly as he joined her at the breakfast table. Gabriella and Frank had already left for work earlier that morning. They both had a busy schedule ahead of them. With the warm and arid weather, people were out and about which meant lots of accidents and the hospital was filled.

“Could you drive me home as well? Lucy and I have a project we’re going to work on tonight, but we don’t have a ride,” she asked him as she poured a glass of orange juice. She knew Gabriella had ordered her son to take her to school – she had eavesdropped on their conversation earlier that morning – but she honestly couldn’t say she minded. Anything was better than a fifteen minute walk in this heat.

Nathan nodded in agreement as he put some cereal in a bowl. “The redhead, right?”

Jasmine nodded with a smile. “You know her?” she asked curiously. She needed to know Nathan’s opinion on Lucy beforehand, maybe then she could figure out a plan to set them up. She usually wasn’t the kind of girl that liked to play matchmaker but desperate times called for desperate measures. Lucy deserved to have a nice boyfriend.

“Yeah, I think she’s in my Math class. We’ve never talked though. I usually only hang with the popular crowd,” Nathan blatantly admitted. He didn’t even seem to understand what a cruel remark he just made. Could the kid really be that dense.

“So you don’t talk to outsiders?” Jasmine stated, raising an eyebrow. Her tone must have given her away, because Nathan suddenly looked taken aback.

“Hold on a minute, I didn’t mean to insult your friend,” he quickly interrupted, looking slightly guilty. “The fact that I don’t talk to the outsiders, doesn’t mean I’ve got a problem with them. I would never bully or exclude anyone. I’m not that kind of person, Jas. Despite being a jock I can be nice,” he defended.