Impress Me Not: The Writer

Chapter 20

This was getting ridiculous. Jasper never thought in all the years that he had been alive, that it would come to this. He wasn't supposed to be texting and trying to call him so much, even going as far as buying throwaway phones and apps that gave him a fake number to use. There were countless options out there for trying to get ahold of someone.

Jasper just never thought he would stoop so low as to actually go through with it. This was degrading. The most logical option was to consider all of this a loss and go on looking for someone else to enjoy the finer pleasures of life. That was what he had been doing. Because that was the logical conclusion.

Which made this circumstance utterly maddening. Instead of concentrating on the logic that he had found for himself years ago, he was straying from it all and taking it as far as wasting money on phones that he would never use again just to try and get ahold of Damien.

The man was probably going to change his number soon because of it.

He couldn't stop himself. Jasper wasn't even sure if it was his emotions at play, or the sole need to know more about those stories that Damien was writing. He had never regretted a single thing that he had done in his life other than an incident when he was still in high school. Jasper had been intent on keeping it as such as well. Even a mistake could be beneficial towards improving himself or the technology that he invented.

But he regretted this. Jasper regretted blackmailing the college kid more than he ever thought he would. And he hated the fact that he did. He abhorred it, because he had never let anything take over his thoughts, let alone a story that was meant for something as absurd as mindlessly entertaining a reader for mindless pleasures.

Or a writer who's words, even spoken, played like a broken record in his mind. Even the short texts from him were enough to smile about and remember. Jasper just longed for a chance in which he would let him talk to him now.

He was pathetic. Jasper never thought he would get this way. He hadn't since the moment that he first regretted. He remembered being young and impressionable, letting that monster wrap him around his finger and fling him every which way. He remembered not believing the logic of the events that had led to that moment. He didn't believe what others were telling him until he saw it with his own eyes. No amount of evidence could be stronger than seeing what he had when he stepped into that room.

Jasper never wanted to be blind by his own emotions again. For love was a crushing emotion that made you a slave to it. The conclusion always left you with a torn heart. It also distracted you from the work that could be achieved, the genius that every one had in them, but let dull as they aged due to those very emotions that Jasper fought against.

"Okay," the door to his room opened abruptly. "We're having a talk."

"Is this about another affair of yours that you want to introduce to the family?" Jasper asked his sister. Ashley had been quiet around him as of late. She typically did so when she was trying to date again. That was why she wasn't as smart as Jasper was. She should have given up on the endeavor after her first husband.

"No, Jasper," she folded her arms. She was wearing casual clothes. Just a t-shirt and some leggings. It wasn't like her to wear that style of clothing outside of the house, so he could determine that she wasn't about to leave the house. Her black hair was down as well, looking a little damp. "This is about you."

"Me?" Oh no. This was going to be yet another attempted lecture from her about how he should behave during his work and personal life. "You know, just because our mother is gone, that doesn't mean that you have to act like one."

"Come on, Jas," Ashley plopped down on an armchair next to him. "We're supposed to be siblings, not enemies competing for first place."

"I never said we were enemies."