Life Through a Lens

14. A Very Long Night

UNEDITED

14. A Very Long Night

Once inside they turned on some of the lights. Luckily the power was still on. Jasmine feared they would have to go at it in the dark, trying to find candles just so they could see where they were going. But nope, everything seemed to still be working, meaning the food would stay cold, they house would stay cold, and they could see. No worry for refrigeration of their food, no rotten things that she would have no idea how to deal with. Jasmine grabbed two of the towels that they kept in the front closet for situations like this. They dried off as much as they could then made their way into the kitchen. Jasmine still felt drenched to the bone, like she was dripping water from the inside out. Carter fluffed his hair with the towel as he sat down on one of the bar seats of the island. It stuck out in all places, up to the sides, everywhere.

"Hey crazy haired boy, just stay right here. I'll be right back," Jasmine cajoled with a smile. Carter whipped his head around towards a mirror in the front hallway and saw what she meant. But he didn't fix it. Instead he looked right at her, ran his hand through it and shook his head which made it even messier than before...and somehow hotter at the same time. Jasmine smirked from the stairs as she ran up them, towards her room. She saw the open door to Safe Haven and hastily closed it, 'Just in case,' she thought as she walked down a few steps to the hall and to her room. Jasmine had already let down one wall today, and a big wall at that. She was most definitely not showing him Safe Haven, her largest of the walls that she put up. If she showed him that, she was done. Not even Emilia or Ashley had been inside Safe Haven. They knew what it was, but hadn't stepped one foot inside, or seen even a sliver of it. That was the one place that she could be herself; it was her and hers alone. Well, hers and Peyton's. She took a deep breath in before closing her room's door behind her and slouching down onto it. She ran a hand through her mildly dank hair and sighed. 'What was I thinking?' she thought. There was a happily dazed smile on her face about the whole day and how it went down, from her proving him wrong to them holding hands on the Ferris wheel. 'What does he expect now? I mean the Ferris wheel was great...but does he actually like me?' paranoia was beginning to set into Jasmine's head. 'I probably should have just let him drive home...but it is tornado weather.' She probed as she got up from the floor. She grabbed a not-drenched pair of jean shorts from her drawer and an overly large sweater, threw them on as she thought some more. 'What are we going to do for the night? I mean it's not like we can watch T.V. the whole time.'

Carter was sitting down stairs, patiently waiting for Jasmine to come back down, though he was a bit bored. She walked back down to the second level of the house, where her parent's and Peyton's rooms longed. Every time Jasmine was on this floor she thanked her parents for buying a three-story Victorian-style house. She got the third floor all to herself, not to mention the attic that was originally supposed to just be an attic but was turned into her studio long ago. Jasmine walked into her parent's room and went to their large walk-in closet. She knew there were tubs of old clothes around there somewhere. When she found three large Tupperware bins she opened each one, then closed two; one contained baby clothes, the other her mom's old clothes. The last one was her dad's clothes that he grew out of. She found a pair of old ripped jeans that looked like they would fit Carter, then an over-sized t-shirt. 'It might not be too big, just a little baggy,' she thought throwing it over her shoulder. She grabbed a pair of grey socks that she hoped didn't have holes in them. Then she saw her dad's old University sweatshirt. She picked it up with both hands, inspecting every little detail. It was a Western Michigan University sweatshirt, grey with yellow and brown writing. Not very attractive colours, a little worn, but it would do. Jasmine grabbed all of the clothing and trudged back downstairs.