вυмp ιn тнe nιgнт

TEN

paul and jasmine ended up meeting at a diner run by the clearwater family, according to her lunch buddy. hailey had once mentioned that the diner was run by harry clearwater and his wife sue, who was also a nurse, and the woman was also a semi-distant relative of her. when bringing up the girl, paul had given her a surprised look.

"you know hailey forrest?"

"yeah, we're good friends. i have her in a couple of my classes," she says, watching as a joyful looking teen approaches them with a notepad, his lips wide in a bright, adorable smile.

"hi! i'm seth. what can i get for you guys?" the boy questions, eyes landing on jasmine first before glancing at paul and looking startled for a moment.

jasmine smiles back at the adorable boy, looking over the menu before handing it over to him. "can i just have some water, please?"

paul asks for some coke, not paying attention to the younger teen who watches them as he goes to get their drinks. jasmine simply ignores the looks, and averting her eyes back to paul, who was still poring over the menu. "what're you gonna get?"

he contemplates, despite most likely having been here quite a few times before. "i don't know. what about you?"

"i'm just gonna get a cheeseburger. i know, basic, but you can never really go wrong with a regular cheeseburger unless you're just incompetent. and, considering you suggested this place and said that they have good food, i'm gonna take a wild guess and say that their burgers are pretty good," she explains, causing the boy to nod along in agreement.

"you're not wrong. though, sometimes harry will make fish fry and put out the special menu so that people can eat it. it's so damn good, oh my god," he compliments, almost groaning at the thought of the fish fry. jasmine chuckles, and seth returns moments later with their drinks. he asks for their orders, flushing brightly when jasmine sends him a pretty smile, and she pretends not to notice his puppy dog looks as he was getting their order together.

"he's cute," she comments, and paul's head snaps up before looking between her and seth. he scoffs, shaking his head.

"seth clearwater? seriously? the guy's a kid, jasmine. besides, he's never had a girlfriend, so he wouldn't know how to treat you," he protests, and jasmine raises an eyebrow tauntingly.

"oh, but he's so cute, and i'm sure his mother and sister have taught him how to treat women. besides, who do you think would know how to treat me?"

paul opens his mouth in surprise, and his eyes were wide as a small flush brightened up his face. jasmine just chuckles again, shaking her head at him, saying, "i'm just messing with you, paul, don't think too much about what i said. besides, i don't see myself as ever being romantically interested in someone years younger than me."

the other teenager simply nods slowly, and his eyes finally leave her when seth returns with a tray of their food. the boy smiles at them, and his eyes land on her once more.

"um, are you new in town? it's just that, you know, you've never come here before, and even people from forks come here from time to time, so i was just wond-"

she laughs, nodding. "yeah, i'm kinda new. moved to forks almost two months ago. i'm jasmine."

seth reintroduces himself once more, then places their food in front of them. he tries to start up conversation with jasmine, considering people from outside of forks didn't really move into town all that much, but his sister called him back to get another order. paul rolls his eyes once more, but he digs into his own burger after the boy leaves the two of them alone.

jasmine lets out a pleased sound as she takes her first bite, nodding in acceptance of the delicious burger. hearing the clearing of a throat, she glances back up at her friend, who looks ready to start another conversation while they ate.