I Met My Love Playing Pool (Bxb)

Chapter 104 - "I'll never leave you behind again."

Jasper was eventually pulled from his memories when he heard the clacking from the front of his cell.

"You're lucky you're apart of the Timmins' family," a random officer said, reaching for his key and unlocking the cell. He motioned for Jasper to follow him, watching as Jasper stood to his feet and exited the cell, following him. "If it had been anyone else, you're bail would have been set much higher and you wouldn't be out of here."

Jasper furrowed his brows, following the officer towards the front of the police station. "Who paid my bail—" His words were caught in his throat when he turned to corner and he saw a familiar he was supposed to have avoided. Instantly, curse escaped his lips, feeling the officer place a palm on his back and shove him forward. "He has all your stuff already; get going. I'm not happy about this but Chief Timmins' words are the ones we must respect."

The officer stepped away from him, waving a had at the young man standing behind the glass. Jasper followed his way around the station until he finally met up with the narrowed eyes that had stared at him the whole way around. The minute he approached him, Jasper sighed when his box of belongings were dropped onto the ground at his feet. Nothing was said to him, instead his friend turned away and started walking towards the exit, not waiting whatsoever.

Jasper hurriedly grabbed his belongings from the floor, putting his sweater back on and making sure he had everything before rushing outside to follow him. He glanced around, finally finding him walking towards his car and Jasper sprinted to catch up to him. He knew that he would be faced with anger but at that very moment, it didn't matter to him. Even though he had wanted to stay under the radar, seeing him did cause his heart to shake slightly.

"Zyder," Jasper finally caught up to him, reaching for his wrist and pulling him backwards, although Zyder threw his hand away the minute he felt a touch. When Zyder's eyes narrowed even more, his jaw clenching and unclenching by every second, Jasper knew that he had to say the right things or else their friendship that remained would forever be gone. He cleared his throat, shaking his head before he started. "I'm sorry—"

"What are you apologizing for?" Zyder spat, stepping forward. His shoulders were broadened menacingly and he widened one of his arms. "Because you didn't bother to tell me what was going on? Didn't care about our 14 years of friendship?"

"That's not it—"

"I don't want to speak about this Jaz," he interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. "Go back to living your life, acting as if people that were always there for you, never mattered in the first place."

Jasper furrowed his brows. "That's not true—are you going to let me speak?"

"No," Zyder continued towards his car, his footsteps growing faster, "go back to whatever you were doing for these weeks, it's clear you don't need me."

Jasper had initially predicted apologizing, but the more he saw how angry Zyder was, the more he grew angry himself. Zyder and himself were not as close as they used to be; high school had practically drifted them apart. They barely hung out with only the two of them, and whenever Jasper needed someone, Zyder was not the one he approached because their friendship had started to falter.

"Why the fuck are you mad anyway?" Jasper scoffed, raising an eyebrow. He noticed that Zyder stopped in his footsteps and he took that chance to say what he wanted to say. "When was the last time we even had a damn conversation or you even asked how I was doing?"

Zyder's eyes widened in shock, pointing towards the station. "My dad called me to bail you out and I came without even hesitating and that's how you want to talk to me right now?"

"I would have done the same if it was yo—"

"No you wouldn't have!" he hissed, his teeth gritting before he added, "You stopped caring about the people around you and that makes me sick." He slowly shook his head. "All you care about is the guys you can use and then ditch. Ever since that fucking thing that happened with Jay, you changed and you've not acknowledging it—"

"Maybe I didn't want to fucking tell you since you suffocate me!" Jasper shouted, widening his arms.

Zyder inhaled a sharp breath, feeling a tight squeeze against his chest before he glanced sideways and massaged the side of his eyes, as if attempting to slowly degrade the fury that continued to build uncontrollably. He had always been there for Jasper, but enough was enough. He could not allow himself to be treated this way, as if his efforts had never meant anything.

He exhaled a long sigh, resting his palms on his waist and lifting his eyes towards the sky before slowly shaking his head. After a few seconds, he lowered his head to meet Jasper's gaze again and said quietly, "I guess this is goodbye, Jaz."

Jasper thought the entire earth had stopped moving, his heart pausing for a second as all the memories began flashing through his mind. Their entire childhood had been spent in one another's presence, both not having many friends and deciding to instead focus on each other's company and eventually, only spending time with each other. They knew how Jasper's family was barely present, hence why Chief Timmins had welcomed Jasper as his own.

The boys had sleepovers almost every day, spent their weekends playing with toys or imaginative games and then would eat diner rapidly before heading upstairs to continue these games. They had been brothers, and that was what killed him inside, knowing he couldn't let that past by.

He reached for Zyder, grabbing his wrist and shoving him backwards. When Zyder stumbled, he was caught by arms that wrapped around him, tightly squeezing him as Jasper's forehead fell against Zyder's shoulder. It took a moment before Zyder eventually lifted his hands to Jasper's back, returning the embrace as he heard from Jasper, "I'll never leave you behind again."