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"You're having a crush on him!" Why do I feel she gets excited about every small thing I tell her?

I have been thinking a lot about what Jasper told me and I wasn't coming up with an answer. Since I had no siblings, the only person I could turn to is my good old friend, Emma. As much as it was a good idea, it wasn't a very good idea.

"I do not have a crush on him." I reply.

"Look, I can say one thing for sure that Jasper has a small crush on you and since you're affected by his words clearly indicates that you're having a crush on him. It's completely normal." she explains.

"No. It means that he wants us to be friends, that's all." I tell her. "He told me that I was his friend so it's definitely more than being partners." I continue to tell her, I could hear her chuckle.

"It seems like Philadelphia has been doing you some good. Your heart is going through what a normal girl goes through, something you blocked yourself for over a year now." I heard her say.

"Did you say he took you out for breakfast?"

"We went out for breakfast and to shut the lady at the counter, I paid." I tell her again.

"But it was his idea?"

"Yes, his idea but that's only bec-" "I got what I wanted. Holly, believe your heart and admit you like him."

"I do not like him, Emma. He's definitely got the perfect deep blue eyes but he's only my partner for the assignment." I sigh, a little annoyed.

"Blue eyes, someone who is giving the chance of having a good Christmas and you are totally enjoying the company and also that of Jasper's. I can confirm that you, from all that I have been hearing from you, Holly Anne Winters are having a crush and it is no celebrity crush."

"Emma, stop it. The last three times I had a crush; they never looked at me and then came the jerk who just ruined things." I told her.

"Which is totally good! You don't have anyone wanting to ask you out on a date now. The things you refused to do in high school, this the time to go for it."

"Emma-"

"Holly, I'm not telling you that you need to have a crush on him because of all that has happened." I sigh again.

"In these days, if your heart has felt different for a boy who is taking the effort to give you a good memory then go for it. Holding back your feelings like you did back in school will just mess you up even more. All you will have in your mind will be the idiot you decided to date in the senior year." I mentally let out another sigh.

"No therapy will cure your hypothesis about boys until you have another experience, Holly." She told me.

"Jasper is not my kind, Emma. He needs someone better than me because he deserves someone like that. Not a girl who has had her entire life a mess." I told her.

"If that's what you want to believe. Just saying that if your heart says yes to something and you truly trust it then don't step back."

----

"I've got a few errands to run and I cannot have the twins alone at home." Sarah spoke as she washed the last plate that was in the sink.

Since the twins were off from school from today, Sarah decided that it's better that she came home early. I had put some of the leftovers in containers; I placed them in the refrigerator.

"You could leave them here, I'll watch out for them." I say.

"I would but I need a tiny favour from you." I turn to her as I closed door. "Actually you might need Jasper's help as well." I felt funny in my stomach when she said his name, I nod my head.

"I've made a list of items that we will be requiring for the next two to three weeks for Christmas. Usually, Jasper goes with Michael and gets them but since he isn't here for Christmas," she looks at me. "I will understand if don't want to go."

"I'll go, it's the least I can do for the amazing time I'm having here." I smile and accept her favour. "Great, I'll go and inform Jasper then." she tells me and she walked out of the kitchen.

---

I drew the curtains of my room when the sky got dark for the night; I switched on the lights and looked at the room I have been staying in. Nobody was home except for Jasper and me and we were to go for shopping in another fifteen minutes.

I sat on the bed with my MacBook and went through some of my emails and the notifications I had received on Facebook. One of them happens to be someone named Marcus Anderson who had sent me a friend request. When I checked the profile I saw Jasper's picture on the profile. I accepted his request and continued to go through the posts on my newsfeeds.

Apart from watching Emma bake cookies and liking posts of the pages I followed, I learnt that Daniel has gone California for the winter break with a new girl in hand. It wasn't him walking with the girl that bothered me, it was the fact that he took her to places that were our spot but now that I think about it, I may not have been the only one there before we started dating.

I heard a knock on my door, I looked up and I saw Jasper leaning against the door frame.

"We could go later if you have some work to catch up on," he said which made me shake my head. "I wasn't doing anything important." I reply as I got up and placed my MacBook on the table. I grab my beanie and place it on my head.

Jasper and I walked down the stairs, out the main door and then into Jasper's car. He wore black skinny jeans with combat boots and a hoodie which was attractive for some reason. It wasn't the first time that I was seeing him in skinny jeans, combats and hoodie but it looked different.

"Dad works extra hours on the last few days and since Michael isn't here, Juliet likes to take some extra hours," he spokee. 'Once in Royal David City' was playing softly through the speakers of the car. "Mom would have accompanied us had Juliet been at home and if dad decided to run the errands." I slightly nod and watched the street lights. The roads looked so lovely in the evening.

Jasper parked the car in the parking lot of a Departmental store. We got out and we walked towards the store. I found the shopping cart on my right when we walked into the store so I went towards it and pulled one out and walked towards the aisles.

Jasper held a large paper in his hands, which I presume is the list of items to be picked up. "We'll start with the baking trays." he says and directs me to the aisle. We checked the measurement mentioned in the paper and the two of us checked each of the racks and took them and placed them in the shopping cart.

Once we were done with all the baking tools, we walked to the aisles that had the rest of the items on the list. We were simply walking through one of the aisles that we did not have anything to pick. He kept looking down at the list and kept walking, I pushed the cart right beside him.

The hoodie looked so perfect on him, his eyelashes were really long and I might be a little jealous of it. His hair looks soft and shiny too.

Shut up Holly, your mind is working on what Emma told you!

"Holly?" I saw someone wave their hand in front of me, which forced me to come out my thoughts. "Are you alright?" I looked up to see Jasper looking at me. "Yeah, I'm fine." I shook my head and continue to push the cart.

"No, not yet Holly." I look at him again. "We need to pick the flour and sugar." He told me, pointing at the rack that had self-rising flour. "Oh." I say and went to the rack and picked one up since Jasper decided to pick the sugar bags. I placed the flour packets into the cart, so did Jasper with the sugar and we continued to walk, push for me.

I realised that I would need to keep my mind occupied or else I could wander off into some fantasy land. "Are you alright, Holly? You looked a little pale there for a minute." I heard him ask. "I'm fine." I smile. "You could tell me if anything is bothering you or do you not like grocery shopping?" He asks me.

"Nothing like that, I like it as long as I get myself some ice cream in the end." I reply.

"You're a fan of ice creams." He states with a small laugh.

"I don't think I would survive in a world without it," I say and I reach out for the vanilla essence and placed it in. "Then I shall make sure that you get yourself your ice cream when we leave." He tells me and walked to pick up baking powder and baking soda.

He placed the two small cans of it in the cart and then we turned to the chocolate section. I walked to where the Hershey's chocolate chips were while he went to some Reese's. After clearing the chocolates in the list and dry fruits, Jasper added some more chocolates in it. When I looked at wondering why he was adding more to the cart, he chuckled.

"The twins are in the house now onwards, which means the house must not run low on the chocolates."

Well, what a reason.

We picked up heavy cream, whipped cream, cream cheese and all the creams we could possibly find along with four cartons of milk. After this on the list were some fruits. A kilogram of apples, three boxes of organic Strawberries, three boxes of Blueberries, lemons, cranberries and more. We kept loading the cart and when we thought we were done, we checked the list all over again, making sure that all that was mentioned was in this shopping cart.

I pushed the cart towards the checkout counter, Jasper and I put each of the items on the counter and the cashier scanned it and the man, in the end, packed them in the bags and placed it back in the cart. By the time we were done with it, it was quarter to eight. We loaded the trunk of the car with the shopping bags and took our seats in the car.

He started driving and I watched the different vehicles that drove along with the car. "Ever done this big grocery shopping?" Jasper asks me. "Not this big for sure, back home there were people for that." I reply and watched him nod his head.

"So all you have done is go out to the mall and pick up your items." I nod to what he said.

"Hmm, so how is life back in California?" he asked me.

Lonely.

Social for popularity sake.

A large house with lots of rooms and only the maids, the cooks, the butler and me in it most of the time.

"It's fine." I pursed my lips and answer. "I don't like talking about it much." I saw him nod his head slightly.

"So, why Marcus Anderson and not Jasper Anderson?" I change the topic and removed the sudden silence between us.

"Well, that way not many will find me. You know how I'm into the social life." I couldn't help but scoff. "A fake life you put up more like. You may be a little socially awkward and anybody is at first." He suddenly pulled over to the side of the road.

Great, a part of me knew that I should not have told him that.

"What happened?" I ask him. "Is it because of what I said?" he shook his head and looked at me. "We forgot to get you ice cream." I mentally let out a sigh of relief and leaned back in my seat. "It's alright Jasper; I'll have it some other time." I tell him.

"No, I did promise you ice cream." he told me and took a U-turn. "Jasper, we're going the wrong way," I tell him.

"I know this great ice cream joint and it's a little closer to home." he quickly looked at me. "It's a shortcut." he tells me.

"Don't you think taking shortcuts in the night can be dangerous?"

"I know the route, we won't go lost." he assured.

"What if we do?" I ask again.

"Trust me, Holly." He looked at me with calmness. "We won't go lost." I sigh and look outside.

Jasper stopped in front of Kent's Cream Counter. "Jasper, seriously I can have ice cream some other time," I tell him as he unbuckled himself from the seatbelt.

"Which is your favourite choice of ice cream flavour?" he asked me.

"I don't want ice cream right now." I tell him.

"Holly, what is your favourite flavour of ice cream?" he asks me again. I unbuckle my seatbelt but he stopped me. "You're not coming, I'll go get it."

"I'm not telling you my choice." I look at him.

"Fine, then you will eat whatever I get you because then you do not have any choice but to have it." he tells me and opens the door to leave.

"And what if I choose to not eat it?"

"Oh, I'm sure you will, Holly." he closes the door and walks to the shop. I groan and leaned more against the seat.

By now, we would have reached the house, freshened up and would be sitting down for some warm meal but no, Mister Jasper had to keep his word and get me an ice cream and I completely forgot about it at the store.

He came back and opened the door and sat on his seat holding two ice cream cups with spoons in his hands. He placed one on the side and closed the door. He handed me one of them and shook my head.

"Did you know you could fall ill by eating cold ice creams in winter." he laughed.

"Fact says that Ice cream keeps you warm after you eat it. Plus Double hot fudge is poured over yours, you don't have anything to worry about." he tells me and hands me my cup. I had no other choice but to take it.

I slowly took a spoonful of the ice cream and fudge and place it in my mouth.

French Vanilla, Brownies and the chocolate fudge. The combination I would have at any time and any day.

"Do you like it?" I heard him ask.

"How did you know that I would have this?" I ask him and took another spoonful in my mouth.

"A wild guess actually. It tends to be too sweet but it works. I usually opt for this combination." he answers. A small smile was formed by my lips.

"Really?" I look at him. "Yeah, I do not know your favourites at all. Maybe I should have gone for Red velvet." he thought aloud to himself.

"I do not like Red Velvet in ice cream form." I shook my head and laugh a little.

"If you like strawberries then there are fresh ones at the back." I shook my head again and looked at him. "I don't need any of them, you brought me what I would usually have." he smiled and looked down at his cup.

I went back to my cup and took my next spoon.

"Marcus is my middle name." I heard him say.

"Sorry?" I look at him again.

"Jasper Marcus Anderson, that's my full name." he tells me.

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