No Time

Chapter 26

"HE DID WHAT!?!" Laura yelled through the microphone as I relayed the details of the kiss Jasper and I shared over a week ago, during which time we hadn't had the chance to talk since my filming started and Jasper has been religiously avoiding me by scheduling extra meetings and locking himself in his office whenever he was home.

"I know! I was so surprised I didn't even have time to react, and then he just walked away with no reason whatsoever," I sighed, falling back onto my bed.

"Girl, are you stupid or dumb?" Laura questioned, sass coating her words.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't react!" She exclaimed. "To him your still lips meant that you didn't feel the same way and so he broke the kiss and walked out of the room with his heart smashed into a billion little pieces!"

"I'm sure it wasn't that serious," I said with a roll of my eyes. "We had both been drinking, that's probably the only reason he kissed me."

"Well you know what they say, drunken words are sober thoughts, or in your case drunken actions," Laura argued with a roll of her eyes.

"Whatever," I scoffed. "I gotta go, Alex and his girl thing are taking me out for lunch before I have to be on set.

"Keep me posted on the Jasper situation."

After pinky promising to keep her posted we said out goodbyes and I slipped my phone into my back pocket before grabbing my bag and bounding down the stairs to the foyer where Alex and Maddie were making out by the door.

"Better hope Mr. Crowley doesn't catch the two of you in that position again," I interrupted, causing them to flinch away from each other.

"Maybe if the man got laid he wouldn't be such a prick about it,' Alex said.

"Maybe if you were more aware of your surroundings the man wouldn't have to be a prick about it," Jasper's voice came from behind us causing my heart to leap out of my chest.

"O-of course sir, wont happen again," Alex assured him, his face turning pale as snow.

"It better not," he warned before turning my way so our eyes met for what felt like hours but turned out to be merely seconds before turning away and disappearing into the garage.

"What's got his panties in a twist," Maddie joked, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

'I dunno," Alex sighed. "But whatever it is must be eating away at him.

I opted to say hardly anything during the entirety of our lunch scared that if I opened my mouth the details of Jasper's and I's short lived kiss would come spilling out before I could stop it. So instead I simply listened to Alex and Maddie talk about the latest movie they saw and playfully flirt until they dropped me off at set.

"Oh good Clara you're here," the director said when he noticed I had arrived on set. "We just released our new film schedule and I wanted you to be the first to look at it."

He hastily handed me a piece of paper and I immediately became shocked when I saw the schedule for December.

"We only get Christmas Day off for filming?" I questioned, hardly able to believe it.

"We have a deadline to make," he shrugged before walking away and leaving me to sulk.

This year held the best chance for me to see my parents for the holidays in a long time, and I was looking forward to seeing them more than I thought because I immediately felt the urge to cry when I realized that there was no way for me to be able to work out a way to see them this year and once again I would be forced to spend Christmas alone.

The rest of my time on set was spent sulking and barely putting any effort into learning my lines, my parents were equally disappointed when I told them that once again I wouldn't be able to make it, but they promised to send me a bunch of my moms signature sugar cookies to try and make me feel better.

Once I was done on set I walked over to where Alex usually picks me up only to find Jasper sitting there in his Porsche, typing away on his phone.

"I thought Alex was picking me up?" I stated, catching his attention.

"He had other work he had to get to," Jasper shrugged, leaning over and opening the car door so I could get in.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before I decided I needed to at least attempt to break the awkwardness between us by talking.

"So how was work?" I asked lamely.

"Fine."

We sat in silence for a couple more minutes after that before I once again decided to try to end the awkwardness by bringing up the root of our current problem.

"Look about that kiss-" I started.

"It was nothing," Jasper interrupted. "It was just a drunken kiss between two people who have no business kissing each other. It meant nothing."

"But did it though?" I questioned, against my better judgment, but I was dying to know the answer.

He let out a deep sigh and stayed silent for what felt like hours before finally giving me my answer.

"I don't want to talk about it," he simply stated before quickly pulling into the garage and rushing into the house before I even got the chance to process what he had said.

Well that went well, I thought to myself before making my way into the house so I could put on some comfy clothes and lock myself in my room in order to avoid the possibility of seeing Jasper lurking in the hallways.

Suddenly I hear a knock on the door and Alex pops his head into my room, covering his eyes.

"Are you decent?" He asked.

"Sure am."

"Good cause we're watching a movie right now," he stated, uncovering his eyes and coming over to plop down on my bed.

"Fine, but I am not playing with your hair again," I said firmly moving over so that he could lay down next to me.

"Please!" He pleaded, looking at me with sad puppy dog eyes.

"Ugh, whatever," I gave in, leaning back against the headrest so he could rest his head in my lap like a child while I played with his hair.

This had become a common occurrence between us, Alex had noticed the light on in my room the day after Jasper and I stopped talking and came into my room to make sure I was okay, I ended up finally telling him about my insomnia and admitted that Jasper often kept me company but we weren't really talking anymore.

After that night he came into my room whenever he wasn't with Maddie for the night to keep me company, and in exchange I usually agreed to play with his hair because he apparently is addicted to affection.

About halfway through our second movie of the night Alex fell asleep in my lap and I shook him awake in order to tell him to go back to his room.

Once he was gone I didn't even bother to finish the rest of the movie, instead opting to sit at the window and listen to sad music through Alexa, because that's really the only thing you can do when you're all alone in the middle of the night with a million thoughts racing through your mind.