Bonafied Lovin 8

"You know, Rose, if they ever do a remake of Gone With The Wind, you ought to audition for the part of Scarlett O'Hara," Jasper told Rosa as they walked around campus on the last day of class. "I'm sure you'd get the part."

"I can't act," Rosa told him.

"Neither can half the actors Jack and I met on Broadway," he replied. "And with a face like yours, you could give Vivian Leigh a run for her money. Hell, looking like that, all the casting directors will have to do is look at you, and you'll have the part!"

Rosa blushed. "You think?"

Jasper nodded. "Absolutely."

Rosa grasped his hand and tugged. "Follow me." She pulled him underneath a tree, put her hands on his shoulders, and looked straight into his eyes. "You know I used to cut myself, right?"

Jasper nodded. "I saw the scars." Up and down her arms and legs, on her hips, and on her rib cage. He'd even made out the faint remnants of words on her thighs. How she could do that to herself was beyond him.

"I haven't since I met you," she confided. "I've had no reason to." She paused and closed her eyes. "Look, Jasper, you are the most amazing person I've met since Serena. You make me feel happy and sane and pretty and like I'm not a total waste of space. You're like a male Serena."

Jasper beamed with pride. He knew how much she loved her sister and figured that was the highest compliment she could give.

Four familiar voices rang out, and Hecate and the Three Witches sauntered over to Rosa and Jasper.

"Uh-oh," Jasper muttered. "Something wicked this way comes."

"Oh." Hecate looked down her touched-up nose at them. "You're still together."

"That we are." Jasper wrapped his arm around Rosa's tiny waist. He could feel her hip bones jutting out. Maman was right; she needed to eat.

"What do you even see in her?" Witch 1 asked.

"First of all, she's right here." Jasper gestured with his free hand to Rosa, who looked like she'd just been slapped. "Secondly, I see everything in her that you're too conceited to see."

Rosa grinned triumphantly and kissed him on the cheek.

Hecate tossed her hair extensions and said, "Well, if you're ever looking for a real woman, I'm available."

"Or me!" the Three Witches trilled until Hecate silenced them with a glare.

Jasper swallowed the lasagna that was working its way up his throat. No, thanks. He'd made it almost twenty-eight years without contracting an STD, and he didn't plan to start now. "I'm actually not surprised you're available," he retorted. "But I'm not, and I don't plan on becoming so. And for the record, Rosa is as real as it gets."

"At least my boobs are, anyway," Rosa added to Jasper's surprise and amusement. It wasn't the most original comeback, but it was so completely un-Rosa that he had to laugh. His sister, who had told Rosa she needed to be more assertive, would be very proud.

"He'll get tired of you eventually, once he figures out how freaky you are," Witch 3 said.

Jasper didn't even dignify that with a response. Suddenly, it came to him – the perfect way to shut them up for good.

"What are you doing?" Rosa asked as Jasper got down on one knee.

"Rosa McKenzie, will you make me the happiest man alive?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box. He showed her a sparkly diamond ring – one Papá had given to Maman to celebrate Jasper's and Jackie's birth. (He'd put it in a Tiffany's box just to impress people.) He looked up at her and asked, "Will you marry me?"

Rosa's eyes doubled in size. She stammered out, "O-of course I will!"

Hecate blinked, then spun on her heels, her loyal pack of witches following. "Better get a prenup."

"So what do you want to do?" Jasper asked. "Church wedding? Outdoors? Elvis Presley in Vegas at the Graceland Wedding Chapel?"

"I…" Rosa paused. Her expression said, "what the hell did I just do?"

"Second thoughts?" Jasper looked down at her. "It's okay."

"No, just… nerves. I mean, I go from antisocial to engaged in less than a year? You, the most amazing man ever to grace the earth –"

"I am not the most amazing man ever to grace the earth," Jasper protested. "Papá and Elvis Presley are tied for that title."

Rosa rolled her eyes. "How does someone like me land someone like you?"

"That's similar to the question I ask myself every night," Jasper told her. "Except the situation is reversed."

Rosa laughed and tugged at her dress. "I'm just… I don't know."

"Scared? I understand."

Rosa beamed and wiped her eyes. "I knew you would. I love you, Jasper! And yes, I will definitely marry you!"

Jasper let out what may have been the Rebel Yell and wrapped his arms around her. "You literally have made me the happiest man alive! I love you, too, Rose!"

Something told him they would be very, very happy together.