Chapter 5

Em

That night after she and Sawyer had watched the movie, she lay awake as he slept beside her. She kept going back to something her mom had said.. about Asher staying at the hospital with her. She of course knew he had been there. He brought new flowers every time he came and from him alone she had six different bouquets. But she didn’t know he hadn’t wanted to leave her side. She wondered why he hadn’t told her ….. she supposed he didn’t find it important enough. But it was important to her.

Asher had literally been her rock the last few weeks. He was always showing up at her house…. dragging her to go places and do things… which she knew he did solely to get her mind of the fucked upness that was her life currently. Asher was literally one in a million. She was so happy to have him in her life. He even stood by her side against his best friend when Quinn was messing with her.

But there was something else. What did her mother mean there were things she didn’t know? What kind of things?? She decided that was bullshit and her mom just probably said that to take the heat off her.

Em fell asleep thinking about all this.. her brother snoring softly beside her.

Asher must have somehow sensed her thoughts. Because the next morning she woke up to him jumping on her bed beside her.

She popped up, her head spinning and shooting pain going through her shoulder.

“Ow!” She said holding one hand to her head and one to her shoulder. She looked around to see that her brother was gone.. he must’ve woken up and gone back to his room early this morning.

Sawyer never slept in. It drove Em crazy because who doesn’t want to sleep in if they aren’t forced to wake up? It was mind boggling to her. But even on weekends and holidays like they were on right now, Saw got up at like 7 am, he stayed in his room and watched his favorite movies until either Em or their mom called him for breakfast.

She looked over at the clock.. it was 10:30. Ughh she could’ve slept another hour at least. She stayed up half the night thinking about Asher and her mother.. Asher, who she didn’t know why he was awake this early.. he liked to sleep in even more than she did. Asher… who she was just seeming to remember was in her bed.

“Asher!” She yelled, quickly looking down to see what clothes she had on and pulling the covers up around her. She had on a tshirt and that was basically it. That was her normal sleep attire.

“Yes baby girl?” He used his constant nickname for her, as he sat looking at his phone totally relaxed in her bed.

“What are you doing up so early?” She asked him.

Without even looking up from his phone he told her it was nearly 11 o’clock.

“Yes but that’s like.. 7 am my time and more like 5 am Asher time.” Em said.

At that he finally put the phone down and turned to her, booped her on her nose, and winked.

Once again… Em rolled her eyes.

“Come on… I’m turning over a new leaf. Now 10:45 is actually 2 pm. And we’ve got much to do! Hop that cute little ass up !”

He then proceeded to smack her on her ass as he got up from the bed.

“ASHER.” She scolded him.

“Okay.. you don’t have to get dressed then… you can go just like that.” He then looked at her leg that had poked out from under the covers.

Em could have sworn Asher’s eyes darkened.

But she conceded. She got up throwing the cover off of her to go in her bathroom. Asher’s eyes followed her every movement.

What was happening right now??

“Where exactly are we going?” She asked him.

“Groceries, for Friendsgiving.” He replied still staring at her naked legs.

“Oh no Asher.. I don’t want to do Friendsgiving now. Not after everything with Quinn.”

Mentioning Quinn’s name seemed to snap Asher out of whatever daze he was in and he looked up at her.

“Ah ah ah don’t worry about that… this is going to be a condensed Friendsgiving. And we’re having it at my house… with only your favorite people invited.”

“Okay……” Em said. She still didn’t feel like doing it but….. maybe it would get her mind off things. She needed to stay busy after all.

She took a quick shower and started getting ready. When she got out she could smell the wood burning in the fireplace downstairs. Something about that smell always put her right at ease. She loved it. It was comforting somehow.

Asher was still sitting on her bed looking at his phone when she came out of the bathroom. She started over to her closet to look for clothes, but when she walked by her window she stopped.

“Omg it’s snowing!!” She exclaimed.

It had snowed a couple times already, but neither time was enough to stick, it had only been a slight dusting.

Em had been obsessed with the weather too… she had always loved snow, but they never got it at her old home. She couldn’t believe she had somehow missed this forecast.

Quickly grabbing her remote, she turned her tv on the weather channel, sure enough they were forecasting snow for the next couple days. They were finally going to have several inches!

She suddenly forgot all about Quinn, her mom, and John. This made her entire day.

“Asher!!” She yelled, smiling brightly. “We’re getting snow!”

She ran over and started jumping up and down on her bed beside where he was sitting, causing him to flop over.

Asher started laughing at her.

“Damn girl, if I had known this is all it took to bring you around I would’ve brought in a snow machine days ago.”

She had no doubt he would have actually done it too. Because that’s who Asher was. She playfully kicked at him with her foot. He grabbed her leg to stop her, but then they both paused. The heat from his hand on her leg was searing into her skin.

Wait. What?

They seemed to both remember she was only wearing a towel then, and he let go of her leg the same time she started to get down from the bed.

Em quickly went to her closet to dress, shutting the door behind her and telling Asher she’d be out in a minute. She stood there a minute, trying to calm her breathing. What the hell just happened? She had no clue.

She threw on an oversized sweatshirt that had pictures of skis and mountains on it… it seemed appropriate for the day. Then she grabbed her baggy red striped jeans.. the ones Quinn had made fun of but she loved them just the same.

Nope.. not thinking about him.

She put on her boots and a beanie and grabbed a coat and then she was ready to go. She opened the door to see Asher standing there waiting on her. He smiled.

“Ready?” She asked him. She looked down at what he was wearing… his usual.. looking like he stepped out of a magazine. Jeans, boots, a graphic tee, and a long cardigan sweater with an Aztec print on it…. her favorite. She loved that sweater it was so soft.. she had always wanted to steal it from Asher when he wasn’t looking. Asher always dressed like he was coming off the catwalk. That boy could easily be a model.

“Almost…” he said, holding up her hummingbird necklace… the one her dad had given her before he died.

She smiled and turned around so he could put it on her. She touched it….thinking about her dad, remembering the dream she had while she was in the hospital.

She closed her eyes a moment, and told herself no matter how bad things seemed…. they could be worse… they HAD been worse. She was gonna be okay.