Live, Laugh, Love [COMPLETE/PUBLISHED]

Chapter 8

"You couldn't just tap me on the shoulder?" I say crossing my arms.

"Where's the fun in that?" He chuckles and I roll my eyes. I grab my bag and the paper off the printer.

"Let me run this to Mr. Worth and then we can head out." He nods and I run over to Levi's desk. I hand him the paper and before he can say thank, I'm gone.

"Ready?" Jasper asks. I nod and we walk out together. I feel something slip into my hand and I look down and I see Jasper holding my hand. My stomach flutters at his simple gesture. I go to pull out my car keys, but I hear another car beep, and Jasper leads to his white Toyota Camry.

"Nice car," I comment. He opens the passenger door and holds it open for me.

"Thanks, now, where do we want to go?" He asks leaning against the door with it open.

"I really don't care, I'm up for anything." He glances at me and then closes the door running over to the driver's side. He puts the car in drive and we drive away. About 15 minutes later, we arrive at a Mexican restaurant.

"¡Hola, Jasper! ¿Como has estado?" A woman says walking over to Jasper. She pulls him into a tight hug. The woman looks a little older than my mother. I'm totally clueless about what she just said.

"Mas o menos," Jasper replies. Okay, since when did Jasper speak Spanish? It sounds so freaking sexy.

"Por qué nunca vas por aquí. Tu hermana estaba aquí el otro día y dije que conociste a alguien. ¿Es la verdad?" They both glance at me and I am even more confused. Why did I drop out of Spanish during high school? Oh yeah, because I sucked at it.

"Sí, Maria. Actualmente, está directamente detrás de mi."

"Soy practicamente tu abuela y ¿estás trayendo a ella ahora? Como puedes hacer eso, Jasper," Maria says slapping Jasper against his arm. I have no idea what he did to deserve that.

"Para ser justo, he sido ocupado."

"Ocupado o no, nunca vas por aquí. En el pasado pasaste por lo menos una vez cada semana y luego dejaste de hacerlo."

"Maria, Luna and Rose necesitan mi ayuda mucho." Does Jasper always use a lot of hand gestures when he talks? I don't think he ever noticed. Listening to this conversation makes me think that Jasper doesn't want me to know what he is saying.

"¿No me escuchaste? Luna estaba aquí el otro día. No tienes ninguna excusa. Ahora, preséntame a esta mujer muy hermosa," she says gesturing towards me.

"Antes que hago eso, te prometo que voy a visitarte por lo menos una vez cada semana."

"Bueno, preséntame tu esposa del futuro." Jasper's cheeks form a slight tint of red. Aw, how adorable, he is embarrassed.

"Maria!"

"No soy incorrecto." Jasper opens his mouth to speak, but Maria gives him a look and he promptly shuts it. He grabs my hand and pulls me forward next to him.

"Maria, this is Ophelia Lockhart." I wave, still gripping onto Jasper's hand. She looks at me for a second as if she was analyzing my features. I noticed her eyes widened when Jasper said my last name.

"¡Hola, Ophelia!" She pulls me into a hug. At least I know what she said.

"It's nice to meet you, Maria," I say, pulling away from her.

"I'm glad Jasper finally found a girl like you," she says, leading us to a table. What does she mean by that? What did they talk about earlier?

"I assume you want the usual, Jasper." He nods.

"Yeah, and make it two." She nods and leaves the two of us alone. We sit there in silence for a few moments.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish," I say, sparking up a conversation.

"You learn something new every day, but yes, I took it in high school and then some classes in college."

"Ah, I dropped out of it Spanish sophomore year of high school." A waiter brings up some chips and salsa and Jasper dives right in.

"Why? Couldn't handle it?" He asks once he finishes chewing.

"That and also I had moved foster homes in the middle of that year and I took the chance to drop my language class," I explain.

"Don't you need two years of a foreign language to graduate?"

"Yeah, I switched to Italian." His eyes widen. Wow, we both know love languages.

"I didn't know that they offered Italian in schools anymore." Before I can explain how I learned it, our food arrives and the waiter sets down two plates in front of me. One plate with beans and rice and the other with several different tacos. It looks like carne asada, carnitas, and something that I don't recognize.

"They don't anymore, but the foster home I was in was the best one that I was in. It was this couple who had two other foster kids and they wanted kids but couldn't have any. I was already 16 when they took me in. They were amazing, they had got me into a really good school, which just happened to have Italian. You have to understand that I wasn't the happiest child, but I really did love this couple. They supported me and are the ones that convinced me to go to college. They were going to adopt me, but when I turned 18 I told them that they couldn't. I told them that I needed to go off on my own and find out who I was. They understood and they let me go. They paid for my college until I could pay for it myself. College honestly sucked, but knowing they were still there helped me along, but once I graduated, I was told they both had died. Everyone leaves me. That is when everything went downhill." He stares at me with... Awe? How does this man look at me like that? I'm so broken, so different. I'm not worth his time, yet here he is.

"I don't think it went downhill, I mean you made it here. But, can you do one thing for me before we eat, can you say something in Italian?"

"Come hai cambiato tutto ciò che sapevo in così poco tempo?"

"What does that mean?" He asks, picking up a fork.

"I'm not telling you," I say, taking a bite of one of the tacos. Sweet baby Jesus. This is the best food that I have ever had. My face says it all.

"I guess you like it," he says chuckling. I just take another bite and let out a little moan.

What? It's delicious.

We continued to eat and talk for a while, that was until we realized our lunch break ended a half an hour ago and we were both running late. We rushed back to the office, only after saying a quick goodbye to Maria. Levi was waiting by our desks and we just smiled and waved.

We are so dead.