Asher's Heart

Chapter 24

I scowled at him and walked to the kitchen.

I guess it wouldn't be that difficult if he kept this up. It was hard to crush on someone who made your blood boil every time he opened his mouth.

He brought out two big bowls and put them on the counter. I sat on the stool and shifted one towards me.

He opened the cabinets.

"Cookie Crisp or Fruity Pebbles?" he asked.

"Cookie Crisp!" I said. They were my favorite.

He took both out. I took Cookie Crisp and he filled his bowl with both of them.

Ew. I gave him a disgusted look.

"What? It's delicious. Try it," he said.

"No thanks. I'll stick with one at a time," I said.

Then he poured milk in both of our bowls and slid in the stool beside me.

Have I told you about boys eating like pigs? Well, I was talking about every one of them. He finished his cereal before I could even eat half of mine.

He had a satisfied smile on his face after finishing his cereal.

"Poppy. When did she come?" I asked. I was curious. She appeared out of nowhere.

He washed his bowl and turned to me.

"Just an hour ago," he said and leaned on the counter across me.

I ate in silence. I didn't know what to say. Should I even bring up yesterday? Why wasn't he bringing it up? Would he act like nothing happened?

I was totally fine with that. We could act like that. It was probably better if we acted like that.

But what about his nightmare? I was sure it wasn't the first time. In fact, I was pretty sure it was the reason why he avoided sleeping.

It looked pretty bad yesterday.

"You done eating air?" he asked.

I gave him a confused look. He gestured to my bowl. And sure enough, it was empty. Who knew how many times I brought empty spoon to my mouth. My cheeks turned red in embarrassment.

He took my bowl, an amused smirk gracing his lips as he turned toward the sink.

"You okay?" I asked to his back.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he said casually as he washed my bowl.

"You had a bad dream last night," I said. There, I said it.

He tensed for only a moment, but I caught it.

"Really? It's good that I don't remember it then," he waved it off.

It was obvious he was trying to avoid it.

"It looked pretty bad. Want to talk about it?" I offered.

"Let's go outside," he said, drying his hands and totally ignoring me.

"Asher," I warned.

He sighed in defeat.

"There is nothing to talk. Everyone get nightmares once in a while. I did too. It's no big deal," he said.

"Seemed like it to me," I muttered under my breath, but he heard me. I thought he would say something about it, but he thought better of it. Clearly, he didn't want to have this conversation.

"You know, you can talk to me," I ventured.

"Stop trying to play the therapist, Anderson," he said.