"He's sweet." Jasper grabs a paper plate to set over the salad, before walking back out.
"Put me down Elliot!" Olivia cries, squirming in her brother's arms.
"Nevah!" He spins her around twice, before falling down.
Olivia immediately pops up, and runs behind Jasper.
"You can't hide forever!" He mumbles, rolling onto his side. He pushes himself up, and pauses when he sees his sister. "You really think fat nose here can keep you safe." Elliot chuckles, pointing at Jasper.
Jasper covers his nose instantly, as his body grows tight.
Elliot notices this. "I was joking." He walks over and pats Jasper on the shoulder. "Sorry, I know that was rude. I apologize." He put his hand over his heart, while his other remains on Jasper's shoulder.
"It's okay." He shrugs Elliot off, and walks toward the fire pit.
"Watch what you say, okay Elliot? He's sensitive." Olivia pats Elliot's arm, before chasing after Jasper.
"Yeah, I guess he is. I need to watch what I say." He then turns to the grill. "Hello, my nemesis, we meet again." He rubs his hand together, before pulling a lighter out of his pocket, and gets to work.
~~~
"I swear my brother didn't mean it." Olivia takes a seat beside Jasper. "He's just, very open, and teases anyone and everyone."
"No no, I get it, I just, I don't know. It's stupid." Jasper chuckles nervously. "Elliot has nothing to worry about." He scratches the back of his neck, for Olivia's eyes bore holes in his head.
"Aight." She turns to the sound of a car, and her eyes widen.
"Uncle Rudy!" She takes off towards a man, who holds out his arms.
"Kiddo! Oh how I've missed my niece!" He wraps her in his arms and spins her around, even though Jasper's certain she's fourteen.
"Did you bring it?!" She stands in front of the stranger now, and Jasper swears, if she had a tail, it'd be wagging a million miles per hour right now.
"Sure did." Rudy pulls out an envelope, which Olivia takes, before running off.
Rudy turns his attention to the brunette by the unlit fire.
"Well, hello." As he gets closer, Jasper can make out more features. He has long brown hair, moderately curly, that stands up straight on his head, with shaved sides. He wears a blue shirt, and khaki shorts, with black sandals. "You must be the new neighbor." He holds out his hand. "I'm Rudy." His eyes twinkle lightly.
Jasper holds out his hand tentatively. "Jasper." He stutters, as he keeps awkward eye contact.
"You gon' be alright mate?" Jasper notices Rudy has a slightly faded southern-Australian accent. Hardly noticeable, unless you concentrate.
"Y-yeah, yeah, I think so." Jasper faces forward once more.
"Stop flirting with him Rudy! He's straight! You know what happened the last time you flirted with a straight man!" Elliot hollers from the grill.
"That was a different time you son'bitch! 'Sides, there's nothing wrong with innocent flirting! Eh?" He hits Jasper's shoulder playfully.
"Sure." He stood then, leaving Rudy by himself.
His fingers drum nervously against his thighs, as he walks up to Elliot. Jasper sighs heavily, catching Elliot's attention.
"I know, Rudy is a bit much, but hey, he's family."
"Your brother?" Jasper scratched his neck, yawning softly.
Elliot snorts. "Nah man, he's a close friend, but he might as well be my brother." He waved at Rudy, who smiled back.
"Is he, uhm, you know, uh, well, is he, gay?" Jasper didn't mean for that word to come out sounding so, wrong.
Elliot freezes, and looks at Jasper. His eyes were untrusting and cold, something Jasper hadn't seen from him before.
"Does it matter?" Elliot's voice scratches at Jasper's ears.
Jasper shakes his head. "No no no! Not at all, I just. No it's not. Uhm." He looked down. "I'll be over there." He points towards his backyard, and leaves Elliot alone.
Erica catches her brother by Olivia's old swing set.
"Hey, hon, are you alright?" She hands him a cup with a translucent brown liquid in it, which he gazes into curiously.
"I think, I might've pissed Elliot off." He takes a sip of the drink, and almost spits it out.
"I see. Was it, perchance, about Rudy?" Erica took a large swig of her own cup.
Jasper looked at his sister. "Sorta, yeah. How'd you know?"
Ignoring his question, she sighs heavily. "You need to learn better social skills. I mean come on, you're forty!"
"And you're forty-one." He looks down, ashamed of his actions.
"Jasper, stop acting like a child, and go talk to him! I'm tired of watching this pity party!" She leaves Jasper alone, knowing this wasn't the first time he'd been childish.
"You must be Rudy?"
Rudy turns to face Erica's voice, and halts. His smile fades, and his eyes light up.
"Uh, Rudy?" He stands then, and hoods out his hand. When she goes to shake it, he brings it up and kisses it.
Erica's face flushes.
"Why hello, ma'am." He spins her around, grinning. "How could I have missed an angel like you." Erica chuckles as her and Rudy begin talking.
"I'm sorry, Elliot." Jasper walks up to the grill once more. "I'm sorry. That was rude and insensitive. You're right, it doesn't matter."
Elliot smiles softly at Jasper. "It's okay, really. You didn't know, so you asked. Perfectly normal." He takes Jasper's cup, and a swig. "Hmm. Beer. Damn good stuff."
Jasper looks at him dumbfounded. "How can you drink that? It's disgusting! Down right repulsive!"
Ellliot laughs, throwing his head back. "You think this is bad? This is light beer, mi amigo. Just imagine what normal beer tastes like." He hands the cup back to Jasper, who simply stares at it.
"Now, to answer your question, no, Rudy isn't gay. He's what you call, well, pansexual."
"What?" Jasper tilts his head like a puppy, which Elliot couldn't help but find adorable.
Elliot rollz his eyes and sets his spatula down. "Pansexual. No, it doesn't mean he's attracted to pans." Elliot takes Jasper's cup again. "In a sense, gender and sex don't mean anything to him. He doesn't love you for what's between your legs, or how you identify, he loves you, for you." He gives Jasper an odd look, before taking another sip. "Would you mind getting me a few plates?"
Elliot bites his lip, continuing to give Jasper an odd look, which made him squirm. "Uh, yeah, yeah sure. I'll be right back."
Elliot watches as Jasper walks into Elliot's house. "Fuck me." He mumbles, before returning to flipping burgers and hot dogs.
Jasper grabs two glass plates, and a stack of paper plates.
"I didn't know which kind you wanted, but I figured the glass would be better for serving the food." Jasper sets them on the picnic table behind Elliot.
"Thanks, Jasper." He hands his cup to Jasper. "Would you mind getting me some more beer? I'm sorry I'm making you do all this, I just, don't trust Rudy around food when I'm not around."
Jasper smiles lightly. "It's fine. I'll be back, again." He raises the empty cup as he walks away smiling.
"Admit it." Rudy pops up beside Elliot. "You just like staring at his ass." Rudy grins mischievously at Jasper, before Elliot swats him with the spatula.
"Shut up!" He rolls his eyes. "I do not!"
Rudy raises an overgrown eyebrow, giving him "the look" before returning to Erica's side.
Elliot watches Jasper walk into his house through a side door.
"Whatever." Elliot growls. "Asshole."
He used prongs to move the finished food onto the plates. "Dinner's ready!" Olivia zips up from her seat.
"Remember kid, eat slow. Enjoy the meal. It isn't going anywhere." She grabs some burgers with cheese on them.
"You don't know that!" She plops two scoops of potato salad onto her plate. "Let me enjoy my freedom!"
Elliot shakes his head. "Yeah sure, whatever punk."
~~~
"So, Jasper, if you don't mind me asking, what do you do for work?" Jasper looks up from his half eaten burger to meet Rudy's curious gaze.
"Well, I'm kind of a freelance author, but most people call me self-published." That didn't sound right.
Elliot looks up, intrigued. "Really?" He asks. "What type of genres you write in?" He pushes a fork full of macaroni salad into his mouth, not even noticing as one falls into his lap.
Jasper laughs nervously as he sets his burger down. "Depends, I guess. I'm working on a romance novel at the moment, and I occasionally work on a poetry novel of mine."
"That's gotta be hectic." Jasper chuckles at Olivia's statement. "I sure as heck couldn't do that." She plucks a hotdog off of its plate, and takes a chunk out of it. "Of course, I wanna be a vet when I get older." She states with a mouthful of food.
"That's a great job to get into." Erica smiles at Olivia warmly, who grins back, with hotdog chunks showing through her teeth.
"Yeah, I'm just doing it to meet animals." Elliot laughs at his sister.
"Dork." Elliot looks over, catching Jasper watching him, making the older man look down instantly.
"You're a great brother, Elliot." Rudy chuckles. "So supportive." Elliot hits Rudy's hand, which had been trying to steal his macaroni salad.
"Hands off!" He holds up his fork playfully, and Rudy brings up his hands in surrender.
"Hands are off." They all laughed, except for Jasper, who kept his eyes on Elliot's pure smile, surrounded by his stubble, and hair that molded his face perfectly.
His sparkling blue eyes, which matched his house, Jasper had noticed first.
"Blue House On The Rocks." Jasper murmurs.
They stop talking and turn to him.
"Beg pardon?" Elliot's face is plastered with concern, apparently Jasper wasn't as subtle as he thought.
He hates it, that look on his face, or maybe?
What is this feeling of peace?
"Yeah I just, I'm not sure." Jasper keeps contact with Elliot's worried eyes, losing himself in his miniature oceans.
"Actually, uh," he coughs. "Excuse me, I don't feel well." He stands from his seat, and marches away, into his house, leaving the rest of them in confusion.
"Go after him." Rudy murmurs, causing Elliot to turn.
"That's not my area." He sets down his fork.
Erica sips her soda, sighing softly. "I think you'd have better luck than I would." She smiles sadly. "Jasper and I may seem close, but, we've had our falling outs. I think he trusts you, you should go."
He looks back at the house. "Fine. Don't eat all the food Olivia, and keep Rudy off of mine."
"Gotcha!"
"Hey!" Rudy yelps.
Elliot follows the path Jasper took into his house, and stops when he sees him sitting on the couch.
"You okay man?"
He looks up at Elliot.
'No.'
"Yeah, I just, I'm not feeling well."
"Alright, well, talk to me." He takes a seat beside Jasper, causing Jasper's cushion to lean towards him. "What's going on?"
Jasper sighs. "I don't know, I just, it was too much, I guess."
Elliot places his hand on Jasper's shoulder. "I get it. Rudy can be a bit much sometimes. Sorry if he said anything inappropriate when I left to get condiments. He's quite a handful." Jasper nods absentmindedly, as Elliot chuckles awkwardly. "Why don't I bring your plate in here, and you just relax, okay? Just, take a break, and stop thinking."
Jasper subconsciously leans into Elliot's warm touch. "Yeah, okay." He murmurs, staring off into space.
"Alright, well, I'll be right back." Elliot stands. "Don't go anywhere." He jokes. before he disappears out the door.
"What's wrong with me?" Jasper rubs his hands up and down his face, sighing when he plops back in his seat.
"Get yourself together Jasper." He wrings his hands. "What are you doing? What the hell are you doing?"
AN:
If you enjoyed this story so far, please leave a like, or comment, and please let me know what you thought! This has been edited. (Finally)
Thanks for reading! I hope you will enjoy the rest of this story!
- Amry Mae (T.H.L)
Copyright © 2017 2018 AmryMae