Chapter 5: Mama-bear Jasmine

It was early in the morning. Actually, no, it was late at noon, but for Ryder, this was called early on Saturdays. The heavy dark curtains of her room were pulled closed, not a single ray of sunshine broke through. The bedroom was in total darkness. That is until the screen of the phone suddenly lighted up and furiously vibrated.

Brrr... Brrrrrr... Brrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Why do you hate me so much?

Groaning in annoyance and with her eyes still closed, Ryder answered the phone. "UGH... Hungh... Hmmm." Which roughly translated into: what do you want, leave me alone.

"How are you still sleeping?" Jasmine sounded too energetic for Ryder who hadn't fully woken up yet. "Meet me at the café in front of the school in an hour."

"I don't wanna go." Ryder sleepy answered. She had planned on sleeping until four in the afternoon and maybe... MAYBE... start a new project or just watch some anime. She didn't make any plans for today so she can't just... unexpectedly make plans out of nowhere. Where will she find the time to mentally prepare herself if Jasmine drags her out without a warning?

"Please!!!!" Jasmine pouted. "I want to coincidentally meet Remy but it won't be a coincidence if I'm alone. If you're there, you can tell him you dragged me there."

Ryder glowered at the phone. Finally, sitting up, she ruffled her messy hair. "Are you hearing yourself? You know you're not making any sense, do you?"

Through the phone, Jasmine's very well-performed weeps, made Ryder pull the phone away from her ear. Her sleepy mind couldn't handle these noises. "But I wanna see my cinnamon roll."

"We agreed to give him some time to get used to you." Despite refusing her, Ryder had already gotten off the bed and started getting ready. She opened the curtains and the window. The room looked as if it had been holding its breath and it now could finally breathe, coming back to life. Yet Ryder glared at the light that suddenly attacked her, for a split second empathizing with vampires that start howling and screaming when exposed to the light. She deadass hissed at the sun.

Ruffling her hair again, Ryder picked some jeans and stared at them wondering how many times had she worn them. More than five days in a row made them dirty... hmm... she wore them for four days and a half...

"But... the last time he got bullied at work, and now I want to be there before that happens."

Ryder threw the jeans in the pile of dirty clothes and picked a just-washed pair. Not even bothering to change the sweatshirt she was wearing at sleep, Ryder walked out of the room. "Why is he getting bullied anyway?"

"I don't know... those bastards aren't from school and they look like college kids," Jasmine explained. From her tone, Ryder figured out she was frowning. This girl really likes to get herself involved in all kinds of shit just because she takes a liking to someone.

"Inside the café or outside it?" Ryder walked inside the bathroom and frowned at her hair. Putting Jasmine on speaker, she brushed her teeth.

"Outside," Jasmine said.

With the brush still in her mouth, Ryder muttered. "And where exactly are we going?"

"He works in a convenience store. We're going to sit in the café in front of it."

"Mhm... 'kay. See you later then."

"I love you so much." Jasmine beamed. That brought a smile to Ryder's still sleepy face.

"Hehe... Who doesn't."

Ending the call, Ryder stared at her reflection in the mirror and frowned. What happened yesterday repeated in her head like a movie, memories in chaos, entangling with each other.

She had gone to the cinema with Aiden.

She met that guy again.

She had agreed on hanging out with Aiden.

Aiden drove her home.

Her crush is her friend now...

She gave the stranger a name...

He gave her a hint...

Since when did her life get so active? Ryder couldn't understand. Ruffling her hair in frustration, Ryder sneered at herself. Yet, it didn't feel that bad to have Aiden as her friend... to hang out with him... and the whole thing with Midnight guy... it was like a mystery she couldn't wait to solve. It's not that bad at all.

Ryder and Jasmine met after an hour in front of the café, and eight after that walked down the streets, one beaming in excitement while the other just patiently following the other around with a lazy smile on her face.

"Oh..."Jasmine suddenly stopped walking, as if just remembering something, and turned to Ryder. "Did that guy show up again?"

Ryder looked away, refusing to see Jasmine in the eyes. Suddenly, she felt like a fool for letting the guy come again. But he looks friendly... and he is well-read. Nothing could change Ryder's mind on that. She could tell, just by the way he talked and expressed himself. With the tips of her ears turning red under the hair, Ryder nodded.

The warm brown eyes of Jasmine widened in surprise. "Are you fucking kidding me? We should call the police. What if he's a stalker?"

Now that Jasmine mentioned it, Ryder felt uneasy. The possibility of that being true isn't that low. But why would anyone choose to stalk her? HER? Ryder Quin? The chicken head, ultimate hermit? And recalling the way the guy talked and sounded... he sounded lonely and in need of someone to talk to. Aren't stalkers just creepy and perverts? Yet Ryder didn't get such vibes from Midnight.

"I don't think he is a stalker." Ryder bit her lip for a bit. "I think he might be like Remy... he said people call him names."

"Did he show his face at least?"

Ryder shook her head. "He had a hood on."

"Why isn't he showing his face then, if he's not a stalker?" Jasmine raised her voice and threw her arms in the air. This daughter of her is too innocent. How can she tolerate such behavior by a creep in the middle of the night? Can't she see how pretty, cute, and adorable she is? Who wouldn't want to kidnap her? She should smack that adorable head of hers to make that head of hers work again.

This time it wasn't only the tips of her ears turning red. Ryder's face heated up in embarrassment. "I actually want to figure it out myself who is now." In Ryder's point of view, if the guy was willing to give her hints of his identity and had the nerve to show up every night, he then must be very confident in his innocence, which meant he couldn't be that much of a bad guy if he was willing to get his identity exposed. Besides he already made it clear he knew Ryder. They had crossed paths before. If he wanted to do something to her, he would have done it by now, if not a long time ago, if not in the middle of the night in her backyard, then somewhere else. And the desperate tone of his asking for permission to come when Ryder tried to shoo him away... for some reason it made her heart tighten.

"You're crazy," Jasmine yelled at her, and just to prove her point, she actually smacked the back of Ryder's head.

"I have another hint." Ryder rushed to say before her Mama-bear hit her again. "He has a mole in his thumb in the right hand."

"Are we supposed to check all the hands of the guys we meet?" Jasmine wouldn't calm down. The more Ryder tried to excuse herself, the angrier she got. She was already busy worrying over her Rem Rem getting bullied, now Ryder was being an airhead talking to suspicious dangerous men in the middle of the night. What happened to my smart daughter? Why did she choose exactly this time to turn on the chicken head mode? Ahh... being a mother is so hard. "That's it. I'm sleeping at your house tonight."

Ryder couldn't disagree even if she wanted to. Though she wasn't exactly opposed to it as an idea. Jasmine was a good judge of character, that's why she didn't have many friends and chose to attach herself only to a few chosen ones. If Jasmine met Midnight and she told Ryder the dude was dangerous then without hesitation Ryder would call the police and put an end to this. But if she told her that he was okay, then... occasionally hanging out with him for a few hours wouldn't hurt. Ryder couldn't lie to herself. She found Midnight interesting, like a mystery book that needed to be read carefully, like a puzzle in need to be solved.

The two girls sat inside a café in front of the shop Remy worked in. Jasmine chose a table that was by the window so she could keep an eye on the boy as he worked, while Ryder pulled out her laptop she had taken with her and waited for her coffee.

Jasmine rested her chin on her palm and didn't look away from the convenience shop until her order came. Remy was holding a broom, sweeping in front of the shop. He was wearing some washed-out jeans and a red sweatshirt, the long sleeves covering his hands. His black hair that reached his chin was pulled back from his face by a hairpin, for once not covering his face.

"He's so beautiful. Why does he hide that handsome face of his behind that hair?" Jasmine asked bringing her attention to Ryder who was typing down on the laptop. " What are you doing?"

Ryder didn't look away from the laptop. "It's something Midnight said..."

"Midnight?" Jasmine cut her off.

"The dude told me to give him a name. That was the only thing I could come up with."

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "You should have just called him Trash or Creep or Stalker..." Jasmine apparently had a long list of names to call someone, some of them were too colorful and hurt Ryder's ears.

"He already said that people called him names. I didn't want to bully him too."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Jasmine shook her head. "My sweet baby is so considerate of others I'm so proud of you, but you're an idiot."

Ryder looked away from the screen of the laptop just to give Jasmine a glare, before continuing talking. "As I was saying... he used a phrase that I'm sure I have read somewhere, but don't remember where. He won't tell me. I'm trying to find where it's from."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know."

A strand of dark hair fell over the brown eyes that were studying Ryder with curiosity. It had been a while since Jasmine had seen Ryder show such interest in anything, and must be noted that Ryder was the kind of person that would do whatever interested her. She looked almost... enthusiastic... her cognac eyes looked almost red, shining like a warm sunset. Jasmine smiled, suddenly in the mood to tease the girl, and chose the perfect time to do it. Right when Ryder picked her coffee and brought it to her lips. "I think Aiden wants to date you."

That one sentence fell like lightning on Ryder's head, the coffee went down the wrong pipe and she was suddenly choking miserably. Her face flushed red because of the blush, the choking... the cognac eyes became watery.

The smile on Jasmine's eyes turned into a smirk. So crush on Aiden, curiosity on the hoodie guy... she do be busy, man.

It took a few minutes for Ryder to finally calm down. Why is Jaz teasing me like this? Is this her revenge? For what? It's not like I'm keeping things from her. "Why are you being so mean?" Ryder whined.

"Just making sure of something." Jasmine shrugged. "If he asked you out, would you go?"

Ryder felt like she was going to burst from all the blushing. Her face had turned so red it didn't look like blushing anymore, rather like she had gotten a terrible sunburn. How is she supposed to answer that question? True, she likes Aiden, but never during these years of having a crush on him did she think about the possibility of dating him. It was because she thought such a thing was impossible. Aiden is too energetic and outgoing, while she's the total opposite. Why would such a guy like a couch potato like her?

But didn't she think that Aiden would never talk to her as well? Yet now he is asking her to be his friend.

"So?" Jasmine raised an eyebrow at her. That smirk looked quite annoying right now.

Ryder truly didn't know how to answer. She hadn't even thought about dating... what if suddenly a beautiful magical day Aiden truly asked her out... just thinking about it, her heart started to beat faster and her hands got sweaty.

"I don't know..."

"Don't you like him?" Jasmine teased.

"I do but..." But liking him and dating him are different things. You have responsibilities when you date someone, whereas just liking someone, and keeping her feelings for herself was easier... yet...

"I know you like to stay inside your bubble, honey, but you have to get out of it sometimes. Unfortunately, life requires you to interact with people."

Ryder sighed. "What does that have anything to do with me liking someone or not?"

"I'm just saying that you should get used to talking to and being around other people. You know you will have to do everything yourself when you move out don't you? Like making an appointment and doing group projects in university..."

Damn it, how did we go from talking about my high school crush to lectures about my lacking social skills?

"I'm not saying you should date Aiden, all I'm saying is that since he's willing to talk to you, why not use this opportunity to get used to socializing." Jasmine's chocolate brown eyes softened as she sighed. "Being always with me won't do much help. I CAN'T EVEN GET MY SON TO HANG OUT WITH ME."

Upon mentioning Remy, Jasmine turned her eyes to the convenience shop. Right then three guys walked in, judging by their height and built, probably college boys. Jasmine froze, her eyes widening. "Fuck no, not on my watch." Without so much of a word to Ryder, she rushed out of the café.

Ryder looked at her friend running inside the convenience shop and knew things would turn ugly. The look in her eyes was terrifying. Ryder didn't know if she was scared for Jasmine or for the guys that walked into the shop. Not wasting more time, Ryder paid for the coffees and ran after Jasmine. When she walked inside the shop, what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks.

Inside the shop one of the college guys was lying on the ground, groaning in pain holding his stomach, Jasmine had thrown herself on the second guy, while Remy was trying to protect Jasmine from the third guy. It hadn't been a minute since this wild animal ran inside the shop. How the fuck did she manage to do all this in such a short period? Ryder was amazed.

Jasmine was too busy punching the hell out of the guy she was on top of, failing to notice that the third guy had thrown a wicked punch right on Remy's face, making him lose his footing. With him looking vulnerable and not able to react fast enough, the college guy grabbed a wine bottle from a nearby shelf and smashed it at Remy's head. That was his plan at least.

The moment the guy raised the wine bottle in the air, ready to strike, a sizzling sound filled the air, and uncontrollably shaking, the guy fell on the floor. The wine bottle smashed, the pieces of glass spreading all over the place while the red wine pooled on the floor near the guy's shaking body looking like blood. It looked like a crime scene from a movie.

Everybody froze, Jasmine let go of the poor guy's collar, her fist freezing in the air, Remy looked like he didn't know where he was, who he was, or what year it was like his brain had stopped functioning. The guy who was holding his stomach and the other one underneath Jasmine looked at their friend as if he was dead, probably because of the wine looking like blood.

On the other hand, the culprit behind the dude's "death" stood casually two feet away from her "victim's" shaking body, a flashlight taser in her hand.

"You said college boys were bullying him," Ryder explained, feeling wronged by all those widened eyes staring at her. With Jasmine's personality, of course, there would be a fight. Ryder isn't as good as Jasmine in fighting, despite the regular lessons she gave her, so to be on the safe side she brought her mother's flashlight taser.

With his two friends down, the third guy didn't dare to keep fighting. Taking advantage of Jasmine's distraction, he freed himself from underneath her and helped rushed to his friend that had broken into cold sweat from the high voltage. "You fucking bitch." He roared at Ryder who took a step back, the flashlight taser sizzling in her hand. The dude glared at her but didn't dare to do anything else.

He helped his friend up, the other guy miserable stood up and all three of them walked outside the shop. "This isn't over yet." The dude still had the nerve to threaten.

Jasmine, who had been too stunned to do anything, finally came back to her senses and snorted at the idiots. "I dare you to show up again, you scums!" Only after the college boys were gone, did Jasmine look at Ryder. "You brought a taser?"

Ryder now was feeling a little bit depressed. Did she make things worse? She just wanted to help. The dude was about to smash a wine bottle on Remy's head! What was she supposed to do? "They were college boys," Ryder said again.

Jasmine looked at Ryder for a second in amusement and then burst out laughing. Ryder now was feeling annoyed. After shooting a death glare at Jasmine, she turned to Remy. "Are you okay?"

Remy still looked a bit confused. He slowly nodded. "Yeah... thank you..."

As if just realizing that he had almost gotten hit with a wine bottle, Jasmine stopped laughing and rushed to Remy taking his face in her hands. "Oh my God, are you okay? Does it hurt?" The proximity, made Remy blush furiously as he struggled to push Jasmine away but failed.

"Don't touch me! Leave me alone! Get off of me!"

That girl just wouldn't let go. "That fucker bruised you all over." Jasmine stroked his bruised cheek. Remy had turned so red he almost looked like he was going to melt.

Noticing him being so miserable, Ryder couldn't just watch and dragged Jasmine away from him. "Let him breathe."

Jasmine pouted at Ryder but didn't struggle. Her eyes were focused on Remy's bruises, totally ignoring the bruises on her own face. Her eyes looked pained. Those fuckers had dared to hurt her baby again.

"What are you doing here?" Remy scowled at Jasmine who just ignored the scowl and blushed bright red before pathetically hiding herself behind Ryder. Her head poked out from behind Ryder's back, with a finger twirling a curl, she awkwardly laughed.

"Me? I... we were just passing by. Right?" She punched Ryder on her side, making her squeal in surprise. "Right Ryde?"

Ryder nodded, backing up her friend. "Yeah, yeah. I had some business here and dragged Jasmine along."

Remy didn't look like believing them at all. He glared at Jasmine one last time before grabbing a mop to clean the mess. His heart hurt when he thought of the price of that bottle that would be taken off his wage.

"Remmie..." Jasmine called him. "I'm sorry."

Remy froze for a second. His eyes didn't leave the floor as kept moping. "I told you to stay out of this." He moped the floor some more. "You only angered them more and got yourself beaten."

Hearing the last part, Jasmine flares up. "Who got beaten? I beat the shit out of that pigface. He couldn't lay a hand on me."

"You're face is bruised." Ryder pointed out.

Jasmine glared at Ryder. Whose side are you, traitor? "So what? The other guy had it worse. These... " Jasmine pointed at the bruises on her face, ".... are evidence of my victory."

"Stop talking nonsense, you idiot." Remy suddenly shouted, his face red from anger.

Jasmine once more ignored his words and took his face in her hands again. A soft smile spread on her face as she spoke. "Rem Rem, let me protect you."

EXTRA:

Author: Describe yourselves in one word

Ryder: INTP

Jasmine: Cool

Remy: Tsundere

Aiden: Handsome? No, wait... Hmm... Charming, bewitching, thoughtful, sweet, kind, patient...

Author: ¬_¬ Modest too

Aiden: Ah, yes. That too.

Author: *face-palm*

Author: *looks at Midnight* What about you?

Midnight: ...... Depressed ಠ_ಠ