In Vancouver

Chapter 19~ I spy connections?

"You know you look a lot like your dad." I say, staring out the bus window.

"You mean the intense grey eyes? Yeah. I get that a lot."

"No. Not that. Your eyes are a blue colour, his are lighter, and more grey. Your eyes are nice."

"Thanks. I like yours better. Who do you get them from?" He asks.

"My mom."

"She's back in California right? " He confirms.

I nod.

The bus stops and we stand to get off. It's raining again.

"We are a few blocks from the apartment. Do you want me to get a cab?" He asks.

"No. It's okay. I'll have to get used to this rainy weather at some point." I laugh, still wishing I had a hood.

"That's true." He replies

We continue down the road and I feel Jayson take my hand and lace his fingers with mine.

"Jayson" I say softly, shaking my head, and he takes his hand back slowly.

"You don't have to worry about me Aubrey. I'm not trying to be anything more than a friend to you because I can tell that is all you want." He says.

I look up at him and see he is being sincere. Then I nod, and take his hand back in mine.

"Okay. As long as you remember that. I'm not looking for anything more than that." I say.

His warmth travels up my arm and throughout my body. I lean in against him as we walk.

When we reach our apartment, I almost forget that Jayson is coming in.

"So should we go set up my room?" Jayson asks.

"No. You can go set up your room while I make lunch." I reply.

"Okay fine. Call me when you are done making lunch." Jayson replies.

I nod, and then head towards the kitchen. I open the fridge, trying to decide what to make. I have some pasta sauce already made, so maybe I'll make pasta.

I grab a pot out of the cupboard, and some pasta from a drawer. When everything is ready, I head upstairs to get Jayson.

His door is open, so I raise my hand to knock on the wall. Jayson is standing shirtless in the middle of the room. His back is to me, so I regain composure and then knock.

"Lunch is ready. Get a shirt on and come down okay?" I say.

Jayson turns to me.

"Okay." He says with a nod and turns back to what he is doing.

I roll my eyes with a small smile. I don't know how I will put up with him. He is such a child sometimes, but it's somewhat attractive that he is totally himself.

I turn away and start to leave but Jayson comes up beside me. He has a white T-shirt on now.

I set out the pasta and Jayson finishes when I am only halfway done. He puts his dishes in the sink and then comes up behind me and rests his hands on my shoulders.

"You are a pretty great friend. You know that right?" He asks.

"Yeah, Yeah. What do you want?" I ask.

"Nothing. I just wanted you to know." He says, and then his hands are gone and he is upstairs.

I sigh. Great. This friendship is getting more and more confusing each day.

I finish eating and then feed my cat and start to clean the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I smile when I enter Jayson's room a few hours later and find him asleep on his bed. The room is still a mess and not very much progress on organizing has been made.

I quietly sit down on his floor and organize the things scattering the floor into groups. I come across some pictures and smile as I look through the pictures of Jayson as a small boy with missing teeth, messy lighter brown hair, and blue eyes. He looks so carefree and happy. Even though Jayson tries to act that way some of the time, I know he has been through a lot and changed.

There is a small pile of photos off to the side in their own box. I take them out and notice that they all have Jayson's mom in them. She is beautiful women with a full head of dark brown hair like Jayson's. They look so happy together and I can tell they loved each other very much.

The last few photo in the pile are completely different. They all show a younger Jayson with another boy. He is slightly shorter, has brown hair a brown eyes. I sit back, trying to figure out who he could be. He looks familiar. Then I realize. It's Carson.

I almost didn't realize at first because the two boys seem so close. Jayson has his arm around Carson's shoulder and is laughing at something behind the camera. Maybe a funny face meant to make them smile. They look happy with eachother. That's a first.

I wonder what happened. All the photos showing Carson are like this. They always look happy. The photo showing them at their oldest ages doesn't look like it's from very far from now. Maybe a few year ago at the most.

"Aubrey. What are you doing?" Jayson asks, and I turn to see him sitting up.

I put the photos down and start to stand up.

"Those are private. You can't just look through all my stuff. Why are you even in my room?" He asks.

He seems angry.

"What happened between you and Carson? You look so happy." I ask.

"That's none of your business. Things changed. You don't understand. I don't expect you to. I don't even know you that well." He says getting up from the bed.

He towers above me.

"I want to know you better. That's why I asked and why I'm curious." I say as I leave the room.

He closes the door in my face. I can tell he is upset, but don't understand why. Something really bad must have happened between them. More than he is telling me.

I walk downstairs and sit on the couch, grabbing the remote. A few hours later, I hear the door to his room open and footsteps on the stairs. I'm so bored, so I hope he isn't mad anymore. I look up as he grabs his coat and shoes.

"Where are you going?" I ask.

He doesn't respond.

"Jayson. I'm sorry. I really wasn't trying to pry into your stuff. It's your business and you don't need to explain everything. I was just organizing your room and they were there." I say.

Jayson stops opening the door, and turns to look over at me.

"I promise I won't ask about it again if you hate it that much." I sigh.

Jayson reluctantly pulls off his coat and shoes and makes his way over to me. He sits next to me on the couch.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you." He whispers.

I wrap my arm around his waist and hug him.

"I'm sorry." I sigh.

Jayson grabs me the remote and flips through the channels.

"Hey?!" I say, reaching around his torso to grab it from his far hand.

"You owe me. You might not know that yet, but you will when I tell you what happened." He says, choosing a show and leaning back.

"You're going to tell me?" I ask in shock, looking at him.

He turns his head to look at me.

"Yeah. I think I will. Just not now." He says.

I lay back and let him have the remote for the first time.