Chapter 7

Em

The rest of the shopping trip was a little bit of a let down compared to the first half. But once they got back to Asher’s and put the groceries away, Em forgot all about her drama.

Aspen came bouncing down the stairs grinning but stopped dead when she saw Em and Asher. Someone then plowed into her back. That someone happened to be Grey.

Grey was in their group of friends. One of both Asher and Quinn’s best friends. Em had been noticing he always seemed to stare at Aspen …. and she knew they’d been texting recently but this… this was new.

“Ummmm” Aspen was speechless… very out of the norm for her.

“Well hello there.” Em said smiling mischievously.

Asher noticed Grey then and gave him a weird look.

“Sup man. Did I forget you were coming over?” Asher said.

Em snorted.

“Ermmmmmm…..” Aspen still couldn’t find the words.

Surely Asher noticed they both had on limited clothing and it was freezing outside and they both looked like they’d just been in a tussle with each other. Then again, this is Asher we’re talking about.

Em leaned over conspicuously to Asher and whispered “don’t think he’s here for you dude.”

Aspen stared at them both wide eyed while Grey, a man of very very few words still hadn’t spoken.

“Sooo did y’all get the groceries?” Aspen finally snapped into action. And it was all forgotten.

“Yeah and you’ll never guess who we ran into.” Asher told her.

“Who? Finley??” his twin said.

Asher looked at her weirdly and frowned.

“Yes! How did you know??”

“Oh ma geez Asher.” Em said giggling at him.

Then she told them all about seeing Fin AND the fact that Quinn was going to eat thanksgiving dinner with her.

“What in the actual fuck?” Aspen said.

“Thank you!” Em exclaimed. “Some of us here already knew that tid bit of info and didn’t even pass it along..”

“She’s talking about me.” Asher piped up.

“Nooooooo.” Aspen said mockingly.

Em still didn’t know how she felt about all this. Her feelings about everything were so screwed up at the moment.. she didn’t know which way was up.

A little while later the four of them were hanging out in the basement and she couldn’t take it any more. Asher and Aspen’s basement had different rooms similar to the one at her house .. only theirs was like an entire separate apartment. They had a living room with a sectional and a huge tv. Asher had a Xbox hooked up to it for games. They had a pool table and even some arcade games set up. There was also a small kitchen. Emerson loved it down there..she’d literally live there if the twins said she could. Minus her brother, there was no one she cared to be around at her own house anymore.

“Asher?” She said.

They’d been taking turns playing pool and she and Asher had just sat down. They were far enough away where the others couldn’t hear the conversation. And Em didn’t know why she was happy about that fact. Hell she didn’t know much of anything at the moment.

“Yup” he answered.

“When you… “. She stopped, not knowing how to ask the question.

She brought the blanket that was on the couch up around her arms. She had gotten hot earlier and borrowed one of Aspen’s short sleeved cropped T-shirts. Her coat was upstairs and she was getting cold.

“You’re freezing.” He noticed. He then took off his cardigan…. the one Em always wanted to steal because she loved it so much….. and threw it around her back.

Then, as if she was a helpless child… he put her arms through the sleeves one at a time, dressing her.

She became immediately enveloped in Asher’s yummy cologne. The sweater was the softest most comfortable thing she had ever put on in her life. She closed her eyes feeling calm and cozy and warm.

Peaceful.

A moment later she opened her eyes and saw Asher smirking at her. Ah damn gopher holes… he saw every bit of that.

“You were saying…?” He asked, still smirking.

“This is my favorite piece of clothing that you own …” she told him, forgoing what she had planned to say. “You’ll be lucky if you ever see this again.”

“If I see it on you it’ll be worth it.” He told her.

What?

What’s happening?

Em felt her stomach flip at his words. The way he said them made her feel funny. It wasn’t usual Asher flirting…. no she was used to that… this was something different.

The way he suddenly became all serious and his voice dropped about three octaves. His eyes had darkened again.

Oh no…I am in so much trouble, Em thought.

Trying to break whatever this was she decided to go back to her original question.

“When you came over the other night to hang out…and today… when you took me to get the groceries. Was that….”

Ugh why did she feel so awkward this was Asher for Christ sake.

“Was that because you generally wanted to hang out with me or is it just because you feel bad for me orrrr is it because you knew Quinn was going to Finley’s house for dinner?”

Phew. She blew out a quick breath once she finally got the words out.

She peeked up at him, waiting for his answer. And oddly enough not knowing what she wanted his answer to be.

But he was just staring at her.

“Babygirl. What kind of fucked up shit goes on in that mind of yours??”

Em almost snorted at that because.. well Asher’s mind is probably the weirdest thing she’d ever come across in her life.

Then something happened …. that shocked her.

He leaned in closely and whispered in her ear….

“From the second you got here, you have been my favorite person in the world. Of course I want to spend time with you.”

Em smiled… but then he got even closer and said: “maybe I used your situation as an excuse to hang out with you even more.”

He leaned back then and smirked at her.