The New Boy

chapter 29

"Excuse me?" Standing up, he stepped closer to me until he was fuming in my face. "Drop it, Olivia." Once again, the rude Asher from the first day of school was back. I had the urge to brush it off; letting the topic go would cure the tension in the room.

But I was resolved not to do that. Everytime I touched on one of Asher's secrets, he intimidated me into backing down. My talk with Lu had made me realize that I knew very little about him, and his mysterious disappearances, cracked phone, and new scar left me with questions that needed answers.

"No."

Asher hadn't expected this, clearly, and he stepped back a tiny bit. My defiant attitude was surprising both of us. For me it was a good surprise, for him not so much.

"What?" He growled again.

"Asher, I'm not just going to drop this. I'm so fucking tired of all your secrets, and I want to know how you got that cut."

Rolling his eyes, Asher just shook his head in response.

"Okay... Well, see you later I guess." I abruptly turned and headed towards the steps of the loft.

"Wait, where are you going?" Asher leapt forward to grab my wrist, turning me back around. We came chest to chest as his now-worried eyes peered into mine. The annoyance in his expression was replaced with a hint of sadness.

"I- I can't just ignore all the warning signs anymore. You have to trust me, Asher." He looked conflicted. Multiple emotions passed through his dark eyes at the same time.

After a few moments of silence, Asher slowly reached out towards me, hesitantly wrapping his arms around me in a hug. It took me a few minutes to understand what was happening before I hugged him back, making him tighten his grip around me.

"I- I'm sorry." He finally whispered through the bone-crushing hug.

Asher's arms lingered around me before he finally pulled away. "I do trust you." He said the words slowly, as if he was thinking about each one carefully before he said it.

"Then why do you never tell me anything?"

"I tell you things." He seemed like he was trying to convince himself more than me.

"Sure." I snorted, but I immediately felt bad after seeing the saddened expression on his face.

"I-I want to tell you things." His emerald eyes peered into mine. "But it's... it's hard. There are things that you don't know, things that I'm not ready to tell you." I had to admit that made my stomach drop a little bit.

He reached for my hand and held it between both of his. "I promise I will tell you, eventually."

I slowly pulled my hand away. "What am I supposed to do until then? Go on being friends with you when I don't know anything about you?"

"Let's play 20 questions."

"Wait, what? Don't change the subject."

"I'm not. You want to get to know me, so let's play 20 questions." Asher suggested with a goofy grin. His mood swings were giving me whiplash once again, but I had to admit the idea sounded pretty good.

"Full honesty?"

"100%" he agreed.

"Okay." He grinned at my response and jumped down onto his makeshift bed on the floor, patting the spot next to him. I sat down facing him, instead, and waited for him to say something.

After a few moments of silence, Asher finally spoke up. "Uh- Are you going to ask me something?"

"I want you to go first." I blushed slightly.