Twisted Connections

Jase

Jase saw Jed outside school as he walked in, and immediately tucked his chin into his neck hoping that his blonde head would blend in with the other kids. Sure enough Jed's eyes moved quickly on from his figure to the next, but apart of Jason was seriously freaked. He was coming to his frigging school?! How was Jase supposed to hide if he knew where he had to go every day? Jed had found Jase a couple of weeks back and recognised him from a couple of poker games that Jase had sat in on, oblivious of the fact that his brothers "friends" were actually selling him large quantities of heroin. As Jase had got older and his brother had skipped town, leaving him with a small enough stash to pay the rent on their crappy caravan, Jase had begun to realise that his world would now consist of selling for his brother. So when Jed had come looking for Jase, asking questions about where his brother was, Jase had started to avoid going back to his caravan when he could be followed, and taking shortcuts to get to BJ's or the grocer.
That was why he had asked Tessa to go round to her house, because he knew that Jed would be coming around his area to find him and after the punching that he had taken last time he was found, Jase didn't want it to happen again. Of course that hadn't been his only reason to go with Tessa. She was...always on his mind. Jase couldn't stop thinking about her smile, or the way she had whispered in his ear on his bike. He also couldn't stop replaying bits of their conversation, his mind picking up on unfinished sentences she had left and trying to decipher what she  had meant. Was her father dead? Was her mother abusive? There was something about the way she had tried to play off the topic of her parents that had made Jase wonder.
And of course, she was beautiful. After Max had seen them drive off, he had hunted down Jase the next morning and made suggestive eyebrow waggling faces. Jase had laughed and then they had joked about Dina, Max's somewhat grumpy girlfriend, but he had wanted to say that with Tessa it wasn't like that. If it was like anything.
Jase knew that although Tessa may have opened up to him, she probably opened up to everyone. Her small smile which she gave Jase was probably not exclusive to just him. And he had to remind himself that at the end of the day she lived in that tall penthouse apartment, whilst he could barely afford his caravan. She would judge where he lived, like Fred had, and then go back to him, who she was probably still in love with.
Still avoiding the watchful eyes of Mr. Wheeler, he had watched her in American History. The way she bit her lip when she didn't understand something, or worried her fingers when she was talking to other people. Jase sighed, and trudged out of class. He had to do something to get that friggin girl out of his mind.
That was his first mistake. Jase had walked out to the parking lot, thinking about taking off for a quick joyride when he saw Jed sitting on his bike. The big guy waved him over and Jase stared at him with deep loathing, but knowing he couldn't abandon his bike forever, he walked over to him.
"Man, long time no see. It felt like you were avoiding me son." Jed leered.
"Now what gave you that idea?" Jase questioned sarcastically, watching as Jed began to laugh. This dude was a creep.
"This kids freaking hilarious," he had said and Jase realised he had his phone opened in his pocket. That meant that Jase couldn't take on Jed before back up would come and Jase would be outnumbered.
"What do you want Jed?"
"Now don't be like that son. I just wanna have a quick chat with your big brother. Seen him around?"
"I told you I haven't. He's not here Jed."
"See I know you said that. But the thing is, I don't believe you." He sighed, and pulled out a cigar, lighting it up so smoke fell crudely into Jase's face. "Your brother owes us some money. He said he would sell all of this stash and um, reimburse us for our troubles." He wheezed a laugh.
Then Jase heard Tessa behind him. Her sweet voice yell out "Hey" and for a split second, Jase was elated that she wanted to talk to him again. Then Jed leaned towards him, "Look at your pretty little bitch coming towards us."
Jase turned round and saw Tessa look Jed over. His heart sunk when he saw her face was in tears and a strange part of him wanted to walk over to her, take her face in his hands and kiss the tears away. Jase narrowed his face as he thought about what Jed would like to do to her. Hurt blossomed in her eyes and she seemed to pause, murmuring sorry repeatedly as she ran back to her car. Great, now she probably thought Jase was a psycho.
Jed leaned in closer to Jase and grabbed him around the chest, pushing his meaty fingers into where he had last punched Jase. He nearly crippled to the ground in pain, but Jed pushed him up. "So we were thinking about havin' a little deal now son. You give us what your brother owes us and we'll leave you and your pretty little babe over there alone. You have one week."
Jase pushed Jed away from him and kicked his bike into gear, driving away from Jed. This was bad. Really bad. If his brothers friends thought Tess was involved then she was in serious danger, and it was all Jase's fault.
He sat exhausted on his bike, running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. Think Jase. Frigging think. He had to go back to school. There he could protect Tessa, and they could wait it out at school to do their essay anyway. Jed would leave eventually. As he drove back to school, he saw something that made him feel physically ill. Tessa was caged up against the wall by Jed and a friend, her eyes filled with tears as she tried to protest. Something ripped inside of Jase and he threw his bike against the wall, letting the monster inside of him roar. He pulled back Jed's shoulder and punched him, feeling his knuckles hit the bony cheek of his face. Jed socked him in his stomach, momentarily knocking the air out of him, but Jase used his leg to push Jed away into his friend, who knocked his head and crumpled to the ground. Jed roared and rushed at Jase, who dodged and Jed fell to the floor. Jase kicked him in the pelvis and turned to Tess, who was shivering like a leaf against the wall. His heart broke at the sight of her, but he reached out his arm and tried a small smile. "We have to go! He won't stay down for long." Tessa nodded and grabbed his arm, wrapping her legs around the side of the bike as Jase drove away, Jed yelling curses at them as he stood up.
Jase felt Tessa break into tears, the moisture seeping into his jacket as he body shuddered with grief. Jase didn't know what to do, where to take her, so acting on impulse, he drove towards his caravan. He had never showed anyone his caravan, but as the rain started to pour down and Tess shivered, he knew it was the right place to go.
As he parked, he thought back to their first bike ride, and how different it was to this one. And how Tess' tears right now were all his fault. She was standing in the rain, her hair drenched by the wet and her arms pricked with goosebumps. Jase put his hands on her arms and rubbed them tentatively, watching as she shivered beneath him.
"Come on," he said, having to yell against the wind. "Let's go in." He used his keys to unlock the door and helped Tess up the small silver stairs. Inside, Jase was hyper aware of the fact that she was looking at his small, crappy home. The sofa bed, small kitchen and lazyboy in front of a tiny box TV. The washed out curtains that his mother had hung up before she died, that now had black circles where his brother had squashed cigarettes against the edges. He looked at her, expecting her face to be crumpled with disgust, but instead her small smile broke open. "Your home is so...." What? Jase thought. Crappy, used, small. But instead Tessa smiled at him "homey. I just feel at home." She smiled and he smiled back at her, his hands still rubbing her arms.
Taking his jacket off, he wrapped it around her shoulders and smiled at how it engulfed her small frame. "I'm sorry." He said, realising all the things he had to apologise for. Jed, leaving her crying, getting her into all this mess.
"I'm so sorry."
"What for?" She looked up at him.
"For leading those guys to you. For acting like an ass." She shushed him, stepping closer to him.
"You didn't make those guys follow me. Guys do it...They have done it before. That wasn't your fault." Jase's throat constricted with rage as he thought of other guys stalking her.
"It was." He admitted, letting his shoulders hunch as he released a broken sigh. "They thought you were my girlfriend and they wanted to get at you to get back at me." He expected her to be cross and storm out but she simply took his hands in hers.
"Why would they think I was your girlfriend?"
Jase didn't know how to answer that. He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, because you know, you're gorgeous and you were speaking to me..."
Tess smiled at him, finding his hand once again. "You think I'm beautiful?"
Jase didn't know where to look. "I mean yeah. Well come on, you know your gorgeous, it's just..." But he didn't finish his sentence. Because Tess was looking up  at him, giving him that small smile as she rubbed circles into his bruised knuckles. Because her face was still streaks with tears or rain and he suddenly let go of her hands, and cupped her face in his palms. Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, he let his lips kiss away the stray tears and then move closer to her jaw. And then he paused, looking up at her to gauge her reaction. But she opened her eyes, took her hand and placed it behind his head, moving up on her tiptoes to kiss him, her lips opening his mouth and Jase thought that he might just explode.