Out of Character (True Colors 2)

And it was on a bus line, which was an advantage because I didn’t take my car out unless I had no choice. It was a Sunday, so I had a wait for a bus, but that was fine. I had my phone and other distractions with me. No one was around at the downtown stop, so I pulled out my pocket sketchbook, did some doodles while I waited. I roughed out some crowns, trying to psych myself up for Wednesday, but somehow my pen strokes kept morphing into cartoon versions of Jasper. Messy hair. Easy smiles. I was being ridiculous, but it passed the time until the bus finally pulled up.

As I pocketed my sketchbook, my phone buzzed with a message. Jasper, almost like he’d sensed my obsession with getting the right lift to his expressive eyebrows.

Change your mind yet?

Gee. He had such faith in me. No. You wanting me to back out? Got another prince on standby?

The reply came as I found a seat at the back of the bus. Nope. No such luck. Just making sure because Kellan says some hospital administrators are stopping by. It would suck not to have a Neptune for their visit.

What the heck? He’d said kids. But a promise was a promise.

I’ll be there, I texted even as the skin of my lower back prickled. I hated the idea of being embarrassed in front of anyone, but if this was the price of Jasper’s help, so be it. He’d probably enjoy my discomfort, damn him. And the worst thing was that I couldn’t say I blamed him. I’d been a shit to him in high school, and I’d been the one to trash the best friendship I’d ever had. No one’s fault but mine.

Eventually I made it back to the apartment. As usual, Luther and James had taken over the living room, chip wrappers and beer bottles surrounding them as they battled in some first-person shooter game.

“Hey.” Nodding in my direction, Luther stretched. The two of them had probably been at the game all day because the place reeked. Funny how they loved hating on nerds even as they were obsessed with wreaking fictional carnage. “You were late last night.”

“What the hell? You his mom now?” Not even looking up from his controller, James made a pinched face, like even this amount of interaction was physically painful for him.

“Nah.” Luther made a dismissive gesture. “I just want someone here to have gotten lucky last night. Damn sure wasn’t me.”

Lucky. My stomach gave a fresh roll. “It was all right.”

“Eff those gamers, man. Serious lack of estrogen in their crowd if you know what I mean.” Luther laughed at his own brilliance, but I didn’t. “Was there even any booze?”

“Some.” I shrugged. In my pocket, my phone buzzed. A weird thrill raced up my spine. Was it Jasper again? More warnings not to ghost him? I wanted to see, but no way in hell was I looking right then.

“Lame.” Attention already drifting back to the game, Luther jostled James’s shoulder. “Idiot. I wasn’t ready yet.”

“You never are. You guys gonna yak all night or what?”

“Or what. I need food.” I headed to the kitchen and found that the jar of peanut butter I’d put in the fridge Friday along with a loaf of bread were both gone.

“Not cool, guys, not cool,” I yelled, only to get curses back. Screw having roommates. I found a dusty can of soup instead and heated it up before retreating to my room so I could check my phone in peace. My room was the tiniest and the coldest, slightly bigger than a closet with space for a single bed, a small desk, and little else.

I flipped on my space heater and wrapped up in my comforter as soon as I finished the soup. And yup, my message was from Jasper.

Just remembered that you and search engines don’t get along. This is Prince Neptune. If you see him on any cards, do NOT part with them, no matter how much you drink.

He’d attached a picture to the message and…uh. I had questions. Wow. That’s a toga, I typed. At least, like Jasper had promised, the guy’s junk and pecs were well covered. And he was indeed a good-looking guy—dark hair like me, Mediterranean complexion, and muscle. But that was most definitely a toga with all sorts of fancy gold accents. Wide gold belt with a seashell for a buckle. Tall gold sandals. This was going to be so embarrassing.

Jasper’s reply came quickly, and considering the conversation was thus far centered on my coming humiliation, it was sad how fast my pulse raced, even before I saw the message. It is. There’s also a scepter. And his friend the Octopus Oracle is on a lot of cards too.

My groan echoed off my narrow walls. A talking octopus? Now you’re just messing with me. Maybe I’d rather be one of the frog guys like you.