Flashed

Chapter 12

Riley

I catch the earlier bus to save sitting with Mallory and Sarah, two of my friends that, like Jason and me, don't yet have the money to have a car of our own to drive to university. There are quite a few others, including Cole and Jacob but I just want to avoid them all and talk to Jason.

I get off at the station to change buses and find Jason with his girlfriend, Liliya. She went to our high school but goes to a different uni now. We weren't friends but I didn't mind her, I had some good conversations with her.

I approach them and say hello.

"Hey, haven't seen you in a while. How are you doing Liliya?" I ask.

"Yeah I'm ok. You two had better go though or you'll miss the early bus and have to catch it with all the losers you actually know," she jokes.

"Yeah we should go. I'll catch up with you later," Jason says before pecking her on the cheek.

She walks away and he falls in step with me before letting me go in front to get on the bus. I head for the back, sitting on the back seat seeing as the whole bus is empty. Well, aside from a few nerds getting there early to study but they won't bother us.

"So, you gonna tell me exactly what happened at this party?" Jason asks as he sits next to me.

"It's not just the party, that doesn't bother me so much, probably because I have no idea what I did but I'm more worried about what I did consciously yesterday."

"What did you do?" he sighs.

"Well I didn't...I guess I did..."

"Stop it."

"Stop what?" I ask.

"Whenever you're nervous you ramble and twirl your ring," he states.

I look down at my ring being twirled relentlessly around my finger.

"Right. Well I'm just gonna say it. Cooper kissed me and I kinda kissed him back and... I don't know what to do because at the party, Rob also kissed me and I don't know what happened after that. All I have is Cooper's word that nothing happened. Also, he asked me to stay away from Rob."

Jason's silent for about twenty seconds and during that time, I start to wring my hands and give up on the pitiful ring.

Then he speaks.

"What the fuck did you do?"

I can't even do anything but laugh and mutter, "I don't know. Help me."

"I don't think anyone can help you. If I was you, pretend nothing happened and ignore them both. But since I'm not you and I know you're going to fall for one of them, let me do some work on them."

"Jason, what work?"

Jason did some dodgy stuff when he was in high school, things like computer and phone hacking, among many other 'skills' and I don't want anything else to happen to him. Last time he did this shit he got caught by the cops and there was no one to bail him out but his carer, who was a drunk and drug addict only in it for the money he got paid each month, which was meant to be Jason's in the first place.

In the end, his carer did bail him out but only after he got a stern phone call from 'someone on the force' threatening to bag him for his use of illegal substances. A.K.A. me putting on a fake older voice and using the info. Jason had told me about him to force him to bail him out.

The guy's a moron and I was so glad when Jace finally turned eighteen and could leave and get a place of his own.

"Jason. What work?" I ask again.