And They Were Roommates(58)

My throat goes dry.

A whistle cuts through the night.

Our eyes open wide. The signal that the coast is no longer clear. Already?

I look both ways, but there’s nowhere to hide. No trees or buildings.

Jasper drops his bag of letters, then tugs my own out of my grasp. He scoops up my arm and drags us toward the booth.

“What are you—?!” is all I manage to say before we’re standing in front of the sliding door. He throws us inside, slamming it shut behind us. As I stumble to regain my balance, I scan the glass walls boxing us inside like a fish tank.

I face Jasper perfectly parallel, crossing my arms. He’s so winded that he’s leaned a palm against the door. “Hey.”

Jasper just keeps huffing and puffing.

“Hey,” I repeat. “Do I need to sound angrier to get your attention?”

“No offense, Charlie, but you tend to always be angry at me. I don’t exactly know when I’m supposed to be paying attention.”

My mouth whips back open, but I swallow whatever heated words were coming next. I refuse to prove his point. “You don’t see a problem with this hiding spot you’ve chosen?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re surrounded by glass.”

“I know, I know. I’m thinking.” Jasper’s gaze lands on a back cabinet that’s as tall as our hips. He goes to open it. The inside is empty except for scattered paperwork at the bottom.

We squish ourselves into the cramped space, Jasper clunking his head in the process. Our legs twist into pretzels, small enough that I can shut us in.

Everything goes dark.

Our synced breaths fill the quiet as we sit shoulder to shoulder. Jasper’s flowery fragrance and the cedar cabinet twinges my nose, and his hand presses up against mine. For once, he’s burning hot. He’s that scared?

Footsteps come from outside. Crunching gravel. Jangling keys on a belt.

My heartbeat pounds so hard that I’m positive Jasper can feel it in my wrist. The guard realized Blaze’s foot wasn’t broken. Or worse. She spotted us.

The booth door slides open with a squeak.

“Where are you?” the security guard mumbles.

I squeeze my eyes shut. We’re caught. Expelled.

Rummaging noises come from the desk, like a junk drawer being opened. The booth door slides open again, and more footsteps wander into the distance.

Furrowing my brow, I shift on my knees to peek out of the cabinet.

Jasper grabs my shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure she’s gone.” I crawl out and readjust my glasses to check through the glass. Farther down the path is the guard’s backlit figure. She offers a flashlight toward Blaze, who’s leaning against a tree trunk with a limp stance.

That’s all she wanted.

Sighing, I fall back into the cabinet beside Jasper, our shoulders knocking again. He’s pulled his legs into his chest, staring at his knees like he’s becoming more scared by the second. “You’re this nervous about getting caught?” I ask. “She was only grabbing a flashlight. No need to be so tense.”

“That’s not why I’m tense.” Jasper looks right at me, and his soft, unsure tone speeds up my heart rate more. “I know you told me to leave you alone. I’ve been trying to respect that. But I also made it clear that I still want to explain my side of things from camp.”

“Wait, what?”

“Can I? Please?”

“Now?”

“Perchance.”

Panic seeps through me. Even in the dim lighting, I feel too on display as we stare at each other. The last few weeks, no matter how much my logic screamed at me not to, I couldn’t stop thinking about Jasper. But to talk now of all times? “Maybe when we’re not breaking the number one guideline here. We need to toss the letters.” I start to climb back out of the cabinet.

“It was my fault,” Jasper calls. He stays put.

Glaring, I whip my head back around. Guess his question of whether he could start explaining was hypothetical. “Yeah, Jasper, I think that’s been obvious since the start.”

“But I didn’t realize anyone at camp thought we were together. Let alone that you did.”

“You kissed me.”

“Actually, you kissed me. And that threw me off guard.”

My cheeks burn. Did I?

I flick my face away. I’d rather die than have Jasper witness me turn red. “Okay. Well. How could that have thrown you off? We’d been spending so much time together after our workshop. You flirted with me every chance you got. You called me beautiful, and you always sat so close to me, and—”

“I do that with everyone, Charlie!” Jasper says, tossing his hands.

The words stun me. I scoff and leave the booth.

He calls my name, but I don’t turn around. The rage inside me is too hot. I do that with everyone. Unbelievable. I keep going until I’m at the gate. Our bags of letters are still where we dropped them. Thankfully, the guard didn’t notice. When will she be back?

I pick up a bag. “Hurry up.”

“That came out worse than intended.” Jasper’s not picking up his bag. “Yes, I acted overly romantic toward others without realizing any of it was being taken seriously. That’s a problem. But after summer was over, you were all I could think about. None of them.”