Blame it on our Fates

t h i r t y t w o

Damn Nolan! Why did you have to ruin things up?!

--

The ride back to the town was tense to say the least. No one, I mean no one dared to break the thick, uncomfortable silence. The tension so thick you could cut it with a butter knife. And yes a blunt butter knife not even a sharp one at that.

Mark was glaring holes into Nolan's head, completely and utterly angry. Not even Harriet's presence could make him not glare holes into Nolan's back. The girls had earlier tried speaking to me but I just glared at them and they shut up. Breckin tried to crack some stupid jokes and after not getting any response, not even from Hailey, he shut up. A decision well made. I was sitting on the last seat, looking out of the window and ignoring everyone. And I might say I was doing a great job doing that.

It was around five in the morning, the pre-sun sky was slightly light but filled with still visible moon and stars. I could still see Sirius and Orion's Belt in the sky. Thanks to the astronomy course I had taken back in tenth grade.

I felt someone sitting beside me. I whipped my head to glare at the person sitting beside me but instead a smile formed on my face when I saw the person making goofy faces at me.

Asher sat beside me, his ridiculously gelled and quaffed hair making me smile a little. And that was not alone. He was making weird, goofy faces that just didn't scream Asher. The generally very stern, Mr. Glare at everyone that passes you, was making goofy grinning faces at me.

I tried to keep the scowl on my face, trying not to let the smile take over but then again when he literally squinted his eyes I lost it. That was the last straw. I started smiling at his weird attempts to make me smile.

He smiled too, finally giving his facial muscles a little rest.

"You should smile more, Cadence. You look very beautiful," He said and I coughed at his words. From the corner of my eyes I saw Mark standing up, a cautious and stern expression on his face.

"I meant that like a friend you look very beautiful," Asher corrected himself. I looked at Mark and he seemed visibly relaxed. He sighed loudly and sat down.

That was a lot better.

"Thank you Asher," I mumbled quietly.

"My pleasure," He whispered back softly.

And then Asher started cracking goofy jokes and Breckin, the king of goofiness joined him. They both started making up crazy stories and making me laugh. Then my brother joined as and then the girls. Everyone except Nolan was at the back seats. He couldn't come even if he wanted. He was driving after all.

A few minutes later we were all laughing hysterically. Give it to the boys to send us in hysterics. At that moment I made a very huge mistake of looking at the mirror and catching Nolan's eyes.

His sea-green eyes were narrowed down into slits and he was glaring at Asher's hand that was casually holding mine as he was showing how to do a special kind of handshake that he himself didn't know properly.

My smile died and I glared at him harshly before turning back to Asher.

Damn you Nolan!

--

"Do we really have to do this?" I asked, whining.

"Yes we do. It was already planned before you and Nolan decided to kiss and ruin things up. Though as much as we wanted you both to kiss already, we didn't want you to ruin your friendship too," Said Hailey through the phone.

We had reached around six in the morning and every one of us had decided to sleep in till late. It was around four in the afternoon already. I had slept until two in the afternoon and Mark had to wake me up.