Secrets

Whispers of Willows

They were about five minutes walking away from the little icecream parlor when Calvin squeezed Jasper's hand. Jasper looked up from the ground and peered at him. "Hm?" The blonde was silent. He shrugged slightly and continued walking.

"Hey Jasper, do you like kids?" Calvin asked suddenly.

"Why?" he replied, startled by the question.

"Well...it just seemed like you were happy talking to those two, and so I was wondering if you liked kids. Just asking."

Jasper smiled up at him. "Yeah... If I said I didn't, it would be a big lie. I just--" he paused and left the sentence to drift in his head: 'I just like kids because it seems like they're always happier than me, and it makes me happy to see that not everyone is like me.' "Never mind."

"You just what?"

"Nothing," he said as he waved the subject off with the hand that housed both the bracelet and the watch. The bandage that was there before was still there. It still had a little healing to do; he went a bit deeper than he'd meant to. He hated himself for the fact that he had done something like that over a night spent talking to Calvin.

"Oh, come on, Jasper," he pressed, "I know that when you say nothing it's something. If it's about kids I'm sure it's not bad." He shielded his eyes against the sun as he peered past the bustling crowds and shining cars. In the distance he could see swaths of green grass that were speckled with trees. He casually veered them off in a direction that would get them there.

"It's just..." Jasper hesitated before letting the words out from behind his lips. He sighed as he looked at the little bracelet. "That's why. They just don't seem like they've lost much, seen the things I have seen, or experienced much of it for that matter... They're always happy, and their little hang-ups are so easy to fix; I like that about them."

Calvin inhaled deeply. There's always something. "Jasper...um...is it any bother to you to ask how long you were in your coma from a few years ago?"

"It was about five months. I lied to you before when I said one," he said. "I just didn't want you to worry. Remember when I missed the last two months of school in seventh grade, and missed the first month of eighth? That was why."

"And they let you do eighth grade?" 'Five months... I barely noticed he was gone. Damn, was I really that self-centered in middle school?'

"I took a test, and I passed with a grade that allowed me to go on," Jasper replied. He looked up at Calvin. "Can we not talk about this...?"

"Of course," he answered, pulling him off to the right onto a different sidewalk.

"...Where are we going?" he asked him, changing the subject.

"There's a park up ahead," he explained, "I want you to see it."

"Hm." Jasper remained silent for the longest time, and Calvin began getting restless because of it. 'Usually he's trying to talk to me... I shouldn't have asked him about his coma. Fuck, what was I thinking?' "Calvin?"

He looked at him, startled as his thoughts broke. "Yeah?"

"...I...I don't mind that you ask all the questions you do about what happened. Everyone is always careful with me about it, like I'm a baby. So I became one regarding this after awhile. Whenever you ask me about it, make me think about it, I grow up a little. There's nothing that I can do about it now; it happened because of a stupid drunk, not me. I understand that now. I blamed myself for the longest time, without much proof as to why, but since you told me it wasn't my fault, I've been believing that more than I do my previous notion. So ask me whatever you want to. You're doing a better job than my therapist, that's for sure," he added with a laugh.