Chapter 7: Leases and names 2 (Jason + Chloe)

Chloe sniffed, dragging the slight amount of snot back into her nose. She felt terrible, with every single joint still aching faintly. After the shock that had been Sunday's… surprise, she had barely been able to fall asleep. When she finally did, though… she was fairly sure the dream she had wasn't a pleasant one. When she had finally woken up, it was in a cold sweat, though even worse was that she had a fever. She had gotten the flu, and had spent Monday through Wednesday stuck at home. She had studied of course, and done her job, though to a reduced capacity as she couldn't do anything that wasn't remote. Mr. Henderson had been adamant that she take a few days off, but she had managed to talk him into letting her work at least a little.

No, the worst part of the last few days was that she hadn't been able to ask Jason what the deal with that… woman was. Surely she was just some pushy customer who would never come back… right? Chloe's mind flashed back to the blush that had been on Jason's face after that… woman left.

No, it's nothing, I just have to ask him, and it will all be cleared up.

A soft thudding sound emanated from the desk in front of her as she kept fidgeting with her mechanical pencil. Softly knocking it into her notebook. The sound of Ms. Karmer droned on in the background, saying something about literary tropes in dystopian fiction. The topic was interesting, but Chloe hadn't managed to catch a word of it, not really.

Chloe looked up at the clock and let out a breath. Ten more minutes, soon she would finally have her answer. Time dragged on before the bell finally rang.

Packing her things quickly, Chloe got up and followed Jason out the door.

“Jason, wait a minute.”

Jason turned around at the sound of her voice and smiled a small smile. “Hey Chloe, what's up?”

“So I was thinking we could work some more on that history project today, so you wanna just head to the library or something?”

Jason hesitated for a second. “Yeah, we could do that. Sophia's got her 4H thing, so I can just drive home when she's done.”

“How long does that give us?” Chloe cocked her head to the side slightly.

“About an hour or an hour and a half. It kinda depends, they always go overtime.” Jason had fished out his phone and was typing away. “I just gotta send her a message and tell her where to go when she's done.”

They headed towards the school library and mostly made small talk. Chloe knew she had to ask, but she didn't want to do it just yet. Getting interrupted wasn't something she wanted. God, that might just make it more awkward than the writhing pit in her stomach already suggested this was going to be.

They eventually found a quiet corner in the school library, far from the entrance and with no one else nearby. Not that there were many others in the library to begin with. Chloe sat down across from Jason on a cheap and squeaky chair.

“So what should we start with?” Jason asked while spreading out his computer and notebooks.

Chloe's hand slowed as she was unpacking her things. “Well, I was thinking we could focus on the Watergate scandal. or, you know, continue on that.”

“Yeah, sounds good, I didn't get as far as I would have liked last time, so.”

Chloe looked up at Jason and, for a second, watched him continue to set up his stuff. She let out a deep breath and tried to keep her voice as casual as possible. “So I just happened to walk by the Bar and Grill on Sunday. I had to get some stuff in town, so I was just in the area. Anyways, who was the girl you were talking to?”

Jason's eyebrows furrowed, and it took him a second to answer. “Ahhh… I talked to a lot of people, maybe you mean Mari?"​

“No, I don't think it was Mari. I have met her. It was later in the day. Blond girl with a kid.”

Jason seemed to search the tabletop with his eyes for a second, before… a slight blush seemed to colour his cheeks. Chloe moved her hands under the table and tried to rub off the sweat on her pants. “Ohhhh… You mean Jasmine. She's the woman who bought the old lodge up above my place. She tips a lot, and I mean like A LOT.”

Chloe could feel her heart hammer. Jason's voice sounded almost fond as he spoke. Her grip on her pen tightened slightly.

“She looked kinda young to have a kid?” Chloe asked, though she knew she was just postponing the questions she had to ask.

“Well, it's not her kid she was babysitting for her roommate i think it was. Great kid though, a little shy but that's just how four-year-olds are sometimes.”

“ohhh… Well, she seemed to have something really important to bring up with you. You sat down at the booth afterwards, and I just wasn't sure you were, you know… Ok.”

Jason's hand went up as he scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, she is kinda… intense. She asked me to show her around town on Saturday. I got the feeling I couldn't say no, or I shouldn't.”

“Oh…” Chloe's tone went far higher than she felt it should have. “I see… Well, it's good to know it wasn't anything bad then… It wouldn't be good if you were being harassed or something. Were you being harassed, because it sounds like she forced you?” Her voice became smaller with the last question.

“I don't think so. Though there was the thing with Mari, I think she might have tricked me out of a lot of money.” Jason said as he moved a lock of his hazel brown hair out of his face. Chloe had always thought that the way Jason's body seemed to color coordinate his eyes and hair greatly enhanced his looks.

“What did Mari do?” Chloe said as her eyebrows furrowed.

It took about fifteen minutes for Jason to walk her through what happened, and by the end, Chloe was looking at him slack jawed.

“That… I am not gonna finish that sentence.” She let out a deep breath. “Yeah, I am pretty sure she lied to you and stole your money. Why didn't you double-check that you guys were sharing tips like that, or for that matter, what she was doing while gone?”

Jason squirmed in his seat. “Well, she seemed nice. I figured she wouldn't lie to me about that, because who does that? Like, what's the odds? I also kinda figured she needed to do something important.”

“Jason, you can and should ask people why they keep disappearing. You can also ask… me next time someone behaves strangely like that. I can try to help you figure it out. You know… Just if you want to do… that.” Chloe hoped he wasn't noticing how she was wringing her hands together behind her back. She felt a slight heat rise on her cheeks.

“Yeah, I might just do that. Thanks, Chloe.” Jason gave her a small smile. “Now we should probably begin, shouldn't we?”

They spent another hour working on the project before Jason had to leave, and as Chloe herself was walking out, her mind was racing. She had a name for that… woman, and she knew who to look into. The only question now was what to do about it. Maybe she could just tell her to back off; maybe that could work. Either way, she needed to know more about her.

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(Pov Jason)

The shadows cast by branches in the late afternoon sun passed over Jason as he drove down the road back home. The day had been productive thus far. Chloe had been intense, but he couldn't quite figure out why. She seemed worried about something, but worried about what?

Jason's eyebrows furrowed slightly. Could it just be that she wanted to know he wasn't being harassed?

“You good, Jason?” He heard his sister ask from the passenger seat.

Jason shook his head slightly. “Hmmm… Yeah, I am fine. Just thinking.”

His sister mock gasped. “What, you thinking? Did it hurt? Do you need me to drive so we can get you to the hospital?”

Jason glanced back at her and saw a shit-eating grin plastered across his sister's face. “Ha Ha Sophia. very funny.” Jason could help but smile.

“So what did you recruit those dusty cogs in your brain to think about?” While the question itself seemed genuine, Jason couldn't help but note the amount of snark she had laced it with.

“You know you could always walk home, it would only take you about ten fifteen minutes. Do you want me to stop here?” Jason felt a grin spread across his own face.

“Nah, I am rather comfortable right here. But seriously… Like what's on your mind?” Sophia cocked her head slightly to the side.

“It was just Chloe, she was really worried about me being harassed for some reason. And when I explained to her what actually happened at work. She saw something that made her think that. Anyways, she seemed tense for the rest of the like hour, or so we worked together.” Jason hesitated for a second before explaining the thing with Mari. He left out a few details that his sister didn't need to know. If he told her the amounts involved, he would never hear the end of it.

“Ok, so it's either or then. Now I am worried about you. You need to double-check that kinda shit, Jason. If not, you're getting scammed again. But anyways it's either or. She's probably worried you won't talk to her when someone might be scamming you, or she's worried you're getting harassed and don't realize it.”

Jason tightened his hand slightly on the steering wheel. “Yeah, I know, I'm gonna talk to her next time. But I don't know, I didn't know she was that attached to… Well, whether or not I get bothered at work.”

“Yeaaah, sure. It's weird or whatever. Just talk to her, alright.” Jason could practically hear his sister roll her eyes. Still, he knew he wouldn't be able to get her to explain what she meant by that.

It didn't take long before they got home, and as they walked in the front door, something felt different. Ever since the morning he had walked in on his parents talking about the tractor a few weeks ago, there had been an oppressive blanket of tension lying over the home. That blanket was gone. He heard a light laughter coming from the kitchen. It was his mother's, and it hadn't sounded that carefree in weeks.

Taking off his shoes, he walked into the living room. His eyebrows raised. “Hey, did something happen?”

His mother's laugh was waning off, and she said. “We… Or rather, someone has rented the barn up by the main road. She mentioned your name actually.”

Jason blinked a few times. “Her name wasn't Jasmine, was it?”

His father looked up at him from what seemed like a contract. “Yeah, it was. She is the regional manager, I think, for West Star in this part of Montana.”

There was some chattering from the rest of the family. They were eating out tonight, apparently, something they hadn't done in… Years? Jason wasn't really sure when they had done that. However, his heart was racing. He hadn't seen his father that… carefree in years. He was gonna show Jasmine around Fairvern on Saturday. What was gonna happen if he screwed it up?