The Girl Who Sold Herself on Ebay

[11] Fish and Fries

For Jaime (: 

C H A P T E R   E L E V E N

❤

          “So, who’s in the room with the loud music?” I asked, pausing to swallow down a burp that had risen in my throat, “your flatmate?” I was absolutely stuffed to the max from the fish and chip’s we’d just eaten, and the leftovers that still sat on the dining room table made me feel even more bloated just looking at them. No matter how hard I leafed through my memory file, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eating a fatty, greasy, meal covered in salt and drowning in sauce. Usually I would have politely refused takeaways, and now I regret ever doing it. Because the meal I had just eaten was finger-lickingly delicious.

          “Yup,” Jasper replied, popping the ‘p’. He stretching out in his chair, “that would be Jaime.” 

          I nodded slowly, before asking “Why didn’t you let me knock on her door?” I felt a pang in my wrist when I remembered Jasper latching onto it to prevent me from knocking.
Jasper sucked in a breath, “Jaime doesn’t like to be disturbed, especially not when she’s writing or reading, which is pretty much all the time.” 

          “Oh,” I answered, before taking a sip of my drink, being careful not to laugh. I'd accidentally choked the first time I'd taken a sip of my drink. Mainly because I was trying so hard to keep my cool and not make a dick of myself on the first night. Trust me to stuff it up and end up almost drowning myseflf in soda. The fact that I could see Jasper grinning through the plastic cup made it difficult -he'd found the whole thing hillarious.

          “How does she write with all the music?” I could still hear the steady thumping and techno beat of whatever music was blaring in her room.

          “Beats me,” Jasper answered, shrugging his shoulders.

 ❤

          This isn’t so bad, I thought to myself, squirting purple dishwashing liquid into the sink I’d filled with hot water. But then, I was doing the dishes. I don’t think you could have gotten more basic. I snapped on a pair of gloves I’d fished out from the cupboard and began washing the small stack of dishes that were sitting on the bench. A hum almost escaped my lips, but instead I let out an ear-ringing scream when something clattered to the ground behind me.

          I spun around on the cream coloured linoleum floor to see a petrified looking Jaime. The black eyeliner and dark eye shadow she’d thickly applied around her now wide eyes reminded me slightly of a startled panda.  Her hands were frozen, poised where she’d been holding a bag of macaroni which she’d accidentally dropped on the floor, triggering my scream that probably scared her socks off.

          “Oh!” I gasped, sweeping a piece of hair behind my ear only to clumsily  swipe bubbles across my cheek, “I’m Gra -Candace.”

          “Jaime,” she replied with a slight wince, her eyes darting to the bubbles sitting on my face. I swiped them away quickly as Jamie scooped up the macaroni and began preparing a meal of mac ‘n cheese. For a moment, I just stared at her. I know, it was rude but in a way I was more than envious. I was jealous of the way she dressed up in neon skinny jeans and band tees, the way she teased her Elmo-red hair and wore choker chains on her neck and leather wrist band bracelets. And here I was too scared to wear a braid to school incase people thought I was trying to hard. It really showed me just how much time I’d wasted making trying to make myself look boring like every one else.

          Realising I was staring; I quickly turned back around to continue with the dishes. I scrubbed away at the cups, making sure to do the best I could on my first job as a hired cleaner girl. Calling myself a ‘cleaner girl’ sounded totally demoralising, like I was a modern day Cinderella trapped in a tower scrubbing sirt from the floor, but I liked it. I was sick of being rich and having everything done for me, Cinderella is exactly who I wanted to be, and Candace was as close as I was going to get.

          While Jaime stood behind me making her macaroni, I was completely tearing my brain to shreds trying to think up a conversation starter. But there was something about the way she looked at me that made me think maybe she didn’t want me to talk to her. Maybe she didn’t even want me in her apartment? She wasn’t exactly going out of her way to make me feel welcome. Or maybe, like me, she was just shy. Anyway, I didn’t have to contemplate for long because Jasper returned to the kitchen, interrupting my thoughts.

          “Hey, Jacey do we have any chips?” Jasper asked, opening a cupboard only to find it was empty, well, apart from a small spider which had inhabited the back corner. Spider in kitchen cupboard, I thought, etching a small list of things to clean in my mind.

          “It’s Jamie,” she corrected, slowly stirring the pot on the stove.

          “Everyone else calls you Jacey,” Jasper protested, and Jaime simply rolled her eyes.

          “Not you,” she said quickly, “and no we don’t have any chips. Make a list and go get some groceries tomorrow,” she pulled a notebook from her pocket and tore out a page, setting it down in front of Jasper. Bubbles began to pop in the pot sitting on the stove, cheese sizzling on the scolding element as droplets were flung out. I began to think Jaime’s anger was like the bubbling cheese, and Jasper was like the element, slowly heating up until Jamie’s anger completely boiled over. 

          “I have work,” Jasper protested, scrawling ‘chips’ on the paper in messy writing.

          “So do I,” Jaime retorted, shooting him a scowl. As an onlooker, I couldn’t help but think of them to as being brother and sister. Jasper obviously being the annoying one, he seemed to be giving off that vibe, like the kind of guy who would have turned his eyelids inside out for the girls at primary, while Jaime was the reserved, sensible one, obviously fed up with Jasper being childish. Me, however, couldn’t help but find Jasper’s lame sense of humour sort of funny.

          “I can get them,” I butted in quickly, before the argument progressed any further. I was already visualising a punch up. Both Jasper and Jaime turned to face me, Jasper with a smile and Jaime with an unfazed expression.

          “No,” Jaime began, “make Jas-”

          “Well I think that’s a great idea!” Jasper boomed loudly over top of her, “but only of you want to,” he added, sounding relatively genuine, but I knew in his mind he was screaming at me to say yes. Typical lazy teenager.

          “It’s fine; I wanted to get a few things anyway.” I smiled, and Jasper grinned.

          “Sweet!” He chimed, picking up the pen and jotting a few more items on the list.

          “Now if you buy these chips,” he started to explain, “make sure to get the jumbo pack, they come with a free action figure.”

          While giving me instructions on how to feel which action figure was in what chip packet, because he made it clear he wanted the specific ‘bakugan Dragonoid destroyer’ his voice became a complete blur to me, a fuzzy noise buzzing in the background like an alarm clock while you’re still asleep. I didn’t know what to think of Jasper at this point.

          I could safely say he was not who I expected. He had an obvious immature side, but it was entertaining, and no matter how hard I tried to roll my eyes I couldn’t help but laugh at his lame jokes. He was friendly, funny, and had a cute smile, but there was something about him that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, like a wire which didn’t connect, or a puzzle piece with a missing corner.

          But whatever it was, I had the feeling time would tell. And the thing that I cared most about, was that to me, Jasper was definitely more Mr. Cutie than anyone else.