-: Chapter 6:-
"Shit, shit, shit." Sophia kept cursing to herself as we sped through the streets, trying to get rid of the cops. "If I get a speeding ticket, you guys are paying every damn penny!"
Jaspar rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah...hide from the men in blue first, worry about tickets later."
"Well, where the fuck do you suppose I go?" the amount of curses I've heard in the past five minutes was enough to make any religious old lady have a heart attack. Twice.
"Crystal's house." Jaspar said without missing a beat.
"What? No! They already know where I live because of last night. It'll only be more suspicious." I pointed out, my arms crossed.
"Okay, then where do you suppose we go?" Jaspar's dark hair was ten times messier now than it was last night. Not going to lie, it was attractive as hell. But don't tell anyone I said that.
"Sophia's." I shrugged.
"What?!" the blonde squeaked, nearly crashing the car.
"Fuck." Jas swore as he fell over in the back seat. Of course he didn't have a seatbelt on.
"C'mon Soph," I tried to persuade her. "It's only until the cops stop looking for him."
She looked back in the rear-view mirror at the messy boy who was the most unlikely thief to have walked this earth. "You guys owe me big time for this." She said after what felt like an eternity of silence. She turned into a small alley and began driving towards her house, using as many back roads and hidden alleys possible to avoid being seen.
I looked back at Jas to find him looking out the window with a small, sad smile. "Thank you." He said in a tiny voice, barely audible. Though by the smile that took on Sophia's features, I knew she heard him too.
"You're welcome." She whispered back.
By the time we reached Sophia's house, the police had long lost sight of us.
The Herondale household was, to put it simply, clustered. It was three floors and may look grand, but add a family of nine children, a single mom (who also happened to be an alcoholic that could barely function right), and one paranoid aunt, and you've got yourself a heaping bowl of the chaotic Herondale family on a daily basis.
Sophia cut the engine once she parked in the driveway. Almost immediately after she stepped out of the vehicle, two of her younger siblings attacked her in hugs. I recognized them as the twins, Daphne and Lilly.
"Sophia, you're back!" they exclaimed, eagerly. When they saw me getting out of the passenger side, their smiles got wider. "Cryssie!" Lilly ran over to me, giving me a massive hug. They acted like they haven't seen either of us for months, when in fact I saw them just last week.
"Hey, squirt." I picked her up. "Miss me?"
The girls' smiles faltered a little as their big blue eyes saw Jaspar struggling his way out of the car.
"Who's that?" I heard Daphne whisper rather loudly to her older sister.
Before Sophia could answer, Lilly asked another question, much louder than her twin sister. "Is that your boyfriend Sophia?"
I burst into laughter and so did Jaspar, now finally out of the car with his duffle bag over his shoulder.
"No, no, no, no." Sophia said with nervousness lacing her tone. "That's Jaspar, Crystal's boyfriend." She 'clarified' with a smirk.
I nearly choked on my own spit. "What?!"
Jaspar didn't even deny it, he just laughed even harder.
"Oh wow, Cryssie! I didn't know you had a boyfriend!" Daphne giggled.
What I meant to say was "I don't." but what came out was "how do you two even know what boyfriends are? You're what? Three?"
They giggled even more as they looked at each other. "Four!" Daphne held up four fingers as she grinned.
"And a half!" Lilly made sure to add.
"Alright, alright, girls. Let's show Jaspar here what good girls you are. Is the house clean?"
"uhhh...."
"Of course not." My best friend sighed. She turned to her surprise guest with a shrug. "Well dude, this is the best you're going to get so..." she looked at her front door warily. "Brace yourself."
The inside of the house looked like a tornado just hit. Literally. There was screaming and running and stuff all over the place. To say it was a mess would be a massive understatement.
Within a blink of an eye, Sophia had transformed into Mama Herondale.
"Hannah, Jesse stop fighting! Oh my God, is that my lipstick?! Tommy, for God's sake get your underwear off of the stairs! Where the hell is Delilah? And who on earth let Jack into Jonathan's art supplies?!" Sophia turned to Jaspar with an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry you had to witness this. It's not often that I bring a guest over." She said the last part loudly, in hopes that her siblings would hear.
The room froze, with everyone being silent. Except little Jack, who was sitting in a puddle of red paint, splashing about, and laughing innocently.
Then, like a tidal wave, the questions came all at once.
"Who's that guy?"
"What's in the bag?"
Is he Sophia's boyfriend?"
"No way! Sophia doesn't even have friends, how could she have a boyfriend?"
"Yeah, she's not even that pretty."
"Maybe it's Crystal's boyfriend."
"Probably. I mean look how close they're standing to each other."
"Ew...she'll get cooties."
"What if Sophia's got cooties?"
"Ewwww!"
"Okay, okay." Sophia interrupted. "That's enough." Everyone shut up. Even Jack. "This here is Jaspar Daniels. He's...err...my friend."
"But you don't have any friends!" her thirteen year old brother, Jesse, pointed out, making the others laugh. Including Jaspar and the twins.
Sophia frowned. "Yes, I do. What about Crystal?"
"She doesn't count!" ten year old Hannah laughed. "We've known her since forever!"
My best friend blew a raspberry. "Well, surprisingly, by some magic force in the universe, I made a new friend today. Now, I'd really appreciate it if you give him a nice, warm Herondale welcome."
There was a mixture of sighs and eye rolls but they all mumbled a "hi" or a "hello", before walking off.
Jas and I followed Soph as she went over and picked up Jack, bringing him into the kitchen. "Lilly, do you know where Delilah is?" she sat Jack on the counter and began cleaning the paint off him with a washcloth.
The little girl shook her head. "Me and Dee were playing outside." She said, referring to her twin sister, whom she liked to call Dee.
She drove away. Vroom! Vroom!" Daphne added.
"So she didn't tell you where she was going?" the twins shook their heads in synchronization. "Thought as much." She put a semi-clean Jack on the floor and he immediately ran off to cause more destruction.
Lilly and Daphne chased after him. "Jack no!" they cried.
"Hannah!" Sophia yelled. "Where's Delilah?"
"At her friend's house!" came the muffled reply.
"Of fucking course." Sophia ran a tired hand through her hair. "You leave for one hour and the house is a mess, the one person you thought you could count on is off getting high off her pretty little ass and I just..." she took deep breathes to try to calm herself. "I'm so sorry, Jaspar. This is probably the messiest house you've ever been to and I'm terribly sorry that my family is a little fucked up and I –" she's on the verge of tears. Jaspar put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay. Really. Trust me, I know how fucked up families can be." Wait was Jaspar being nice? Was this real life? "Now let's get your mind off of this. Is there anything I could do?"
"Well, for starters, you could explain why you were robbing yet another building, Jas!" I suggested, leaning on the counter.
"I see that that cute little nickname you've got for me is definitely staying." Jaspar grinned devilishly. When he saw the unenthusiastic look on my face, he sighed, but continued. "If you must know, I'd rather we talk in a more private location."
"We can go up to my room. It's off-limits to everyone. Well, except Delilah, but seeing as she's not here..."
"Lead the way." Jaspar and I followed Soph up the stairs, down a corridor, to the last door on the right.
Sophia's shared bedroom with her older sister, Delilah, is large. There's two single beds at each end of the room. You can easily tell which side belongs to who, just the way the girls decorated.
The left side of the room had tye-dye bed sheets and fairy lights hanging off the ceiling. There's a small ukulele on the bed along with about a dozen skirts and dress, most flower printed. The walls are covered in posters of old bands from our parent's time. Even grandparents.
Meanwhile, Sophia's side of the room was more basic. Crisp, white bed sheets, a bulletin board filled with pictures – some of Sophia and I, others of random things she liked and took a picture of. The walls on her side are mostly filled with posters of her favourite bands. On top of her wardrobe is her most prized possession. Her camera.
Sophia took a seat on her bed. I sat at the desk chair, spinning around a bit.
"Woah." Jaspar stared around the room, taking everything in, slowly. "Dude, you listen to the Black Keys?" he asked Sophia with excitement.
"Yeah. They're one of my favourites." She tilted her head a little in curiosity. "Why?"
Jaspar's grin widened, if that was even possible. "They're my favourite band." He leaned over and gave Sophia a high-five. The two of them immediately went into conversation about their favourite songs and albums.
I observed the two of them, my inner psychologist coming out. I noticed how Jaspar's smile was true and full of happiness as he rambled on about his supposed favourite band.
I had listened to the Black Keys a few times, and they certainly weren't that bad. But the way Jas went on and on about them, anyone could see that he adored their music. It was cute.
I spun around in that chair a few more times, still listening to him talking about his favourite song, when Sophia stopped him from saying any more.
"As much as I'd love to listen to you talk about 'Sinister Kid', I'm kind of curious as to why you robbed another bank today."
"Wait, how do you know I robbed a bank yesterday?"
"Crystal told me."
Jaspar sighed when he looked at me. I rolled my eyes in response. "What? She's my best friend. Of course I'm going to tell her how you broke into my house."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He sat on the edge of Delilah's bed, pushing her clothes aside to make some room. "Jesus, you break into someone's house one time and you never hear the end of it!"
"So why'd you do it?" Sophia questioned him.
He shrugged. "I needed the money."
"yeah, but that's not a valid reason you could've just gotten a job like a normal person.' I pointed you.
"You and your 'valid reasons', my Lord." I flipped him the bird. "Well, to answer you, I needed the money right away."
"Why?" Sophia had leaned closer, trying to pay as much attention to this idiot's story.
Jas sighed, already tired of us. He looked at me, then at Sophia, then back at me, before gesturing us to come closer. We did and he told us to come even closer. He leaned in too and whispered, in a very clear and mocking tone, "That's none of your business."
Sophia and I shared the same look of annoyance as Jaspar sat back with a satisfactory smirk.
"Asshole." Soph muttered.
"Thank you, I try." He replied with sarcasm.
"But seriously, why won't you tell us why? We helped you lose the cops, and I helped you last night. That's twice I've saved your ass this week!" I tried to keep my voice even, but I didn't think it was working.
"And for that, I thank you greatly. Now please let me be."
"I don't want your gratitude." I spat. "I want an explanation."
"Well, tough luck princess. You're not getting one." He crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at me.
His attitude was both infuriating and endearing. I didn't get why he liked to call me 'princess', though.
Sophia sat quietly on her bed up until then, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Are you two quite finished?"
"No!" I cried, right when Jaspar said "yes."
We both turned and glared at each other once again.
Sophia let out an exasperated sigh. "You two bicker more than an old married couple."
I blew a raspberry in the most unattractive way. "We do not." She rose an eyebrow at me, but I ignored her. I turned my attention back to the infuriating boy sitting innocently on the edge of Delilah's bed. "Will you ever tell me the truth?" I asked him, feeling defeated.
The corners of his mouth turned up in a small fraction of a smile. "Maybe one day."
"Okay." That was all I needed. Reassurance that one day, Jaspar's actions would all make sense to me.
"Great, now that we got that mess out of the way," Sophia got up and shut the curtains on the window, preventing much sunlight from coming into the room. The room suddenly got 30% darker. "I've got a blog to run." She took out her laptop, covered in cute little Adventure Time stickers, from under her bed. She immediately logged onto tumblr.
I knew this was going to be both awkward and boring so I got up and went towards the record player and stereo in the corner of the room. I flipped through Soph's and Delilah's rather large collection of records and CDs, trying to find something to put on. Before I even managed to notice, Jaspar was right behind me. He pointed to an album.
"Put that one on."
I picked it up and examined the pretty, yet simple egg on the cover. "'Magic Potion' by the Black Keys." I read out loud.
"It's one of my favourites. Put it on." He insisted. He sat back down on Delilah's bed, leaning against the turquoise wall. He picked up her ukulele and began strumming it absentmindedly, as I out the volume up on the stereo, blasting the music through the small room.
Jaspar's smile as the music played was contagious. He sang along to all the lyrics, word-for-word.
I lied down beside Sophia, who would occasionally laugh at something on tumblr. She nodded her head along to the music.
I laughed as I watched Jaspar trying to strum the ukulele in tune as the song we were currently listening to. He seemed to be struggling.
His brows furrowed in concentration, his tongue just peeking out, as he tried to get the guitar solo right using this small instrument.
"Having trouble there?" he looked up at me and noticed my clearly amused expression.
"Yeah." He let out a chuckle, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's easier to play the guitar than this..." he looked at the instrument in his hands curiously, turning it over a few times. "Mini guitar."
I used my hand to cover up the laughter that threatened to surface. He looked at me in confusion. "It's called a ukulele. Not a mini guitar."
Jas's cheeks started to redden, while I burst into laughter. Sophia joined me, proving that she was indeed listening to the two of us.
"What the fuck is a 'mini guitar'?" she laughed.
"How am I supposed to know what this shit's called?" Jas defended himself.
"You've never heard of a ukulele before?" I asked him, surprised. Has he not seen Lilo & Stitch?
"Uh...no?"
"Never watched Lilo & Stitch?" Sophia practically read my mind.
"Wait what?"
"You know, the Hawaiian girl and her adorable blue alien?" I tried to explain.
"'Ohana means family. And family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.'" Sophia quoted one of her most favourite line in any movie. "Ever heard that?"
"No?" poor Jaspar was so clueless.
"Ugh. Hold on." Soph typed something and scrolled a little before showing Jaspar the screen of her laptop.
He leaned closer to us, his eyes squinted as he looked at the picture on the laptop screen. A smile broke onto his face. "Oh! My little brother forced me to watch that with him once. It was cute."
The way his hazel eyes shone when he spoke about his little brother, I could tell that Jaspar, despite being so rude sometimes, had a special place in his heart for his younger sibling.
"You have a little brother?" Sophia's own blue eyes widened with curiosity.
Jas nodded. "Yeah, His name's Charlie. He's four."
"Annoying?" I asked.
"Hella." He laughed, the kind of laugh that shines with love and appreciation.
"Tell me about it." Soph rolled her eyes as she started scrolling through her dashboard again.
Jaspar didn't say more about it. He began trying to plat the ukulele once more, failing horribly. The Black Keys album had finished so I got up and put the 1975 album on. I lowered the volume, my ears felt like they were going to bleed with the music playing so loudly. I was about to sit back on Soph's bed, when I saw Jas plucking the strings of the ukulele in the most horrible fashion.
"Need some help?" I offered, with a small laugh.
"You know how to play this shit?" he gave me the small instrument.
"Yeah, Delilah taught me some tunes a few years back." To prove my point, I played a tiny bit.
"Dude, you got to teach me how to play." His eyes focused on the way my fingers moved. "I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep if I don't figure this out."
I gestured for him to move over. When he shifted a little, I sat beside him. "Here, let me show you how it's done."
Without even realizing it, Jaspar and I were quickly becoming...friends? I never even imagined that it was possible.
I laughed at his fingers constantly messing up. He claimed he played the guitar, but if that was the case, I'm sure he would be somewhat decent at the ukulele, but I didn't make any comment on it. How would I know anyways? I've never played the guitar in my life.
The rest of the afternoon passed by in a blur, the room filled with Jaspar's curses, the soft sound of the ukulele, all mixed together with Sophia and I's laughter. The 1975 record played quietly in the background, bringing the livelihood of this precious moment together.
I just love this chapter so so much :)
their friendship is my favourite thing in the world.
last update of the day! and super long chapter what
song of the chapter: Just Got To Be by The Black Keys
(that's probably my favourite song off magic potion)
Let me know what you think!
-Tahira