Page 38 of Hateful
“I need to start … binding my chest again.”
Her mouth drops open. “You can’t bind with bandages. You’ll break your ribs.”
“What?”
She shakes her head. “Bandages can constrict your breathing. You shouldn’t bind your chest with them. I can get you something else in a few days, if you can wait until then.”
I nod. “I’d appreciate that. And, um, I’ve been running and stuff lately. Will I still be able to do that?”
She smiles as she hands me a bottle of ibuprofen. “These’ll help with pain—and yes, as long as you take it easy for a few days, you can go back to running. You’re a little bruised, but it’s nowhere near as bad as last semester.”
“Thanks,” I tell her sincerely. Rafael hovers near the door, waiting for me to be done. When Nurse Weber finally dismisses me, he slides open the door for me—and immediately takes a step back.
Jasper stands right on the other side.
“Jasper,” Rafael says curtly, his face set like it’s made of stone.
Jasper nods at him. “Rafael. How was your Christmas? You went to Fiji, I think?”
“Yes. And your family went to Bora Bora? How was that?”
How does Rafael know that?Even more, how does everyone here seem to know what’s going on before I do?
Jasper just nods his head politely, his eyes flitting repeatedly over to me.
“Great.”
“Great.” Rafael glances over at me, his lips pursed, before looking at Jasper again. “You sick or something?”
“No. I just wanted to see if Alex was okay.”
“He’s fine now,” Rafael says dismissively, folding his arms. But I don’t miss the single, momentary flash of surprise that flits ever so briefly across his face. I wonder if that some look is mirrored in mine.
I step out and slide the door shut behind me while Rafael bustles over to give me some room.
“Hey, Jasper.”
“Hey.” His eyes soften just a little, and my stomach flutters. God, his eyes shouldnotbe that blue. It should be illegal. They pierce straight into me like he’s looking into my very soul.
Every moment I stand here beside him, it’s like another part of my body starts betraying me.
“Should we go back to the dorm?” Rafael asks after a tense moment.
“I kinda need to talk to Jasper,” I reply with a meaningful look.I’ve got this,I try to communicate to Rafael, who unfolds his arms and nods.
“I’m headed to the dining hall—sincesomeone destroyed our lunch.” With a final sharp glance at Jasper, Rafael heads off down the hallway.
“Care for a smoke?” I ask Jasper once we’re out of earshot of the nurse.
Without waiting for a response, I lead the two of us outside.
I’m not really interested in smoking right now, but I hand Jasper a cigarette anyway as I dryly swallow two ibuprofens from the bottle Nurse Weber gave me. Jasper stands beside me with his arm brushing mine. I want to pull away, but a larger part of me craves the contact. It’s sheer force of will that’s keeping me from burying myself into him and kissing him as hard as I can.
“Jasper,” I say softly, after the moments have long since passed into minutes.
He looks over at me, his cigarette still in his mouth, and my stomach lurches. When I was in elementary school, professors drilled it into us so often that “cigarettes aren’t cool” and all, but the way he looks with one in his hand, smoke drifting out of the corner of his mouth …
“This has to stop.”
