Perspective

12- Salty Coffee

"Shhhhh. It's okay, baby. Dada's got you," I hear Asher say.

I open my eyes and find that I'm on a bed while Asher paces around the room with Harper in his arms.

Harper is crying loudly.

"Is he okay?" I ask, rubbing my eyes.

"He had a bad dream that's all," Asher tells me. "Sorry for waking you up."

I wave it off. "Don't worry about it."

Harper starts hiccuping while crying louder.

"Shh, it's okay Harper. I'm right here, baby," Asher coos.

Harper continues to cry as I get off the bed and walk over to them.

"Give him to me," I say.

Asher furrows his eyebrows but hands Harper over.

I hold Harper and place a kiss on his head which immediately makes him stop.

"I tried that, but he started screaming," Asher sighs. "Guess he had a nightmare about me."

"He'll be okay in the morning," I assure him, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah, I hope so."

"Do you want him back?"

Asher looks down at Harper and then glances at the crib that is next to the bed. "You can hold him if you want."

I smile softly as I continue to gently rock Harper in my arms. His blue eyes close and his chest rises and falls with each breath.

Asher sits down beside me and bends down to kiss Harper's head.

"I love you, Harper," He says.

I fight back a yawn as I look around the room. We're in Asher's room. There's a foldout crib beside the bed which is where Harper must've been sleeping. It doesn't even look comfortable.

"Is it okay if Harper sleeps on the bed?" I ask Asher. "That crib doesn't look comfy at all."

Asher glances over at the huge bed and nods. "I usually co-sleep with him anyway. Just wasn't sure if you would be okay with it."

Why would I matter?

"What?"

"You fell asleep on the couch. Once the movie was over, I carried you into here and tucked you in."

Two things. One, he's really strong because I weigh 145 pounds. Two, that's so sweet.

"Thanks," I say.

Asher shrugs. We sit quietly for a bit longer.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" I ask Asher. "Harper's sleeping again and it's like 3am."

"It might take me a while to fall asleep," Asher tells me. "You can get comfy and I'll turn off the lights and fix some blankets."

As he gets up to turn the lights off, I stand up and lay Harper on the middle of the bed. I lie down next to him and adjust the blankets.

Asher turns the lights off and gets on the other side of Harper.

"Are your sisters and mom home?" I ask in a whisper.

"Yeah, they got back a little while after you fell asleep," Asher says, yawning. "Also I'm a bit offended that I'm trash in your phone."

How does he—

"You went though my phone? How?! It's locked!" I whisper yell.

"Your fingerprint and I needed to let your mom know that you're staying over," Asher says, nonchalantly.

"Still. That's invasion of privacy."

"I swear I didn't look at anything."

"I don't trust you but okay."

Asher reaches over and flicks the tip of my nose. "Go to sleep Ryder."

"Bitch, don't tell me what to do," I tell him.

"I wasn't—" he sighs. "Never mind."

:::

The next morning, I'm the last one to get up.

There's a note on the bathroom door that informs me of the extra toothbrushes, towels, and face wash.

I get ready and walk downstairs.

"I made you some coffee," Asher says, handing me a dark blue cup as I enter the kitchen.

I eye him, suspiciously. "What did you do to it?"

"Nothing," Asher assures me.

I squint into the cup.

Hmm....looks normal.

I sniff it.

Smells normal.

I walk over to the trash can and peer into it. There's no out of ordinary things in there like laxatives or motion salt.

I take a sip of the coffee.

Holy shit, it's salty as fuck.

I lock eyes with a smiling Asher.

I'm not going to let him win this round.

Keeping the eye contact, I down the entire cup.

Once I finish, I set the cup down and wipe my mouth with my sleeve.

"Done," I announce.

Asher's staring at me with his mouth slightly open and disbelief written all over his face.

"I thought I had you," He finally says.

"Honey, it's going to take more than salty coffee to get this girl to break." I wink and walk away.

As soon as I'm out of view, I rush into the bathroom and rinse my mouth out with water.

The nasty bitter taste won't leave.

"Chase, you okay in there?" Asher asks.

I turn the water off and make sure I look presentable before opening the door.

"I'm fine," I say even though I feel like puking.

"So you wouldn't mind if we went to the fair after breakfast?" He asks, cocking an eyebrow.

My stomach turns at the thought of breakfast and a fair.

"Not at all," I reply, putting on my confident facade.

Asher's lips pull into a smirk. "We're going to have so much fun."

•••
INDIA FINALLY LEGALIZED LGBT RIGHTS!

Thanks for reading :)

~M❤️