What You're Missing

Chapter 10

"Don't you think it's a little late to be shopping for a gift?" Henry asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I know, I, um," he stammered. "I just needed to get something fast, and this was the closest place still open." He hoped that it was as believable as Charlotte made it out to be. Henry nodded.

"Gotcha," he replied, taking a glance at his watch. "Well, uh, it was nice seeing you, but I actually have to close up now, so-"

"No!" Jasper exclaimed a little too loudly. Henry looked at him weirdly.

"Uhhh," the curly-haired boy dragged. "Help me find a gift first! Please, I need this, bro. Then I promise I'll be out of your hands." Henry bit his lip, pondering. He knew Ray would probably kill him for not making him leave and wasting time, but he also felt like he owed it to Jasper. He never really got to hang out with him, but he still wanted him to like him enough to be friends.

"Yeah, okay sure," he sighed. Jasper grinned. "Let's make this quick, so my boss doesn't get mad about, uh, paying me overtime." Henry cleared his throat after the white lie, then proceeded to look around for something Jasper could gift his mom. Jasper let out a sigh of relief, a bit of the nervousness he had earlier about their plan not working easing away. This could actually work, he thought to himself. Just then, Jasper's phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket to reveal a text from Charlotte, who stood outside hiding in the bushes.

Char: get his boss to the front!!

"Oh yeah," he unintentionally spoke out loud. His eyes widened as Henry replied.

"What?" The blond questioned.

"Uh," Jasper coughed. "By the way, I never got to meet your boss," Henry furrowed his eyebrows in response.

"Why do you want to meet him?" he asked.

"You know," Jasper started, bringing a hand up to scratch the back of his neck as he thought of an excuse. "You're just always here- except when you're at school, obviously- and I just wondered what he might be like." Henry narrowed his eyes at Jasper for a moment before resorting back to finding a gift.

"You don't want to meet him," Henry finally spoke. "Especially now. He gets, uh, a little moody- at night. You know, 'cause he would rather be asleep instead of, like, here."

"Oh, come on!" Jasper pestered. "To be frank, I'm probably never going to come here again. But I wanna meet the guy who keeps calling you during school! Just this once?" Henry scratched the back of his neck in nervousness. Should he call Ray? He'd probably murder him the second Jasper left.

"I don't know," Henry trailed, glancing at his watch. It was practically midnight now and Junk N' Stuff should have been closed.

"Please?" Jasper begged. Henry visibly cringed thinking about Ray yelling at him after this. But he just couldn't say no.

"Alright, alright," Henry gave in. Jasper fist-bumped the air, whispering a victorious "yes." As the blond left to retrieve his boss, Jasper looked behind him through the glass door, trying to make out Charlotte in the darkness. When he spotted her, she raised one index finger at him, indicating another minute more. His heart raced and his palms grew sweaty as he prepared for the events to follow.

Jasper took a deep breath as he tapped his foot anxiously, glancing towards the front door every few seconds. He didn't know exactly what to say to Henry's boss when he got here, so he was hoping by then the police would have arrived and would deal with it on their own.

After another moment, he could hear the faint sound of Henry and his boss whispering angrily from behind the curtain before finally a taller, built man walked through the curtain with Henry in tow. Jasper gulped simply at the sight of him. He was large and very muscular, and could definitely knock him out with one punch if he wanted to. Charlotte so owes me.