Fragile Bones

Chapter Seventeen

"She's probably trying to set us up," he said nonchalantly. "She's not exactly proud of the girls I bring around here," he continued, making me scrunch up my nose in mild disgust. Hasn't it only been a few weeks since he moved here? And he was already one of the most popular guys in our school. Meanwhile I've lived in this town my whole life and hardly get noticed by anyone unless it's to bully me. "Don't give me that face; I can guarantee I left all the girls more than satisfied," he winked at me.

"Your ego is way larger than it should be," I muttered.

"Are you saying that I wouldn't be able to leave you satisfied?" He asked with a crooked smile.

I opened my mouth to try and respond with some witty remark but all that came out was, "What-no- I didn't, I mean- I don't," all in a jumbled up manner. I darted my eyes around the room to look anywhere but at him and I'm sure my cheeks were bright red. He laughed at my reaction and rolled his eyes playfully. I huffed out a sigh and crossed my arms, frustrated that he had gotten to me with one simple comment. "When is dinner going to be ready?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I have no idea," he said shrugging. "Want a tour of the house? I think the only place you saw last time was my room, and then obviously my moms just now."

I acquiesced with a nod, and he pushed himself up from against the wall and started walking off. I kept up his pace, standing next to him as he pointed out different rooms in his massive house. I didn't really bother trying to remember each one, there were too many to count. "Here's the library," he remarked, when we came to a set of double doors. He pushed them open to reveal a big room lined with books from floor to ceiling, not unlike the scene from Beauty and the Beast. Like Belle, I was pretty amazed all the same though. This room was a little different than the other rooms in the house, which were all pretty modern, but this one just had an older feel to it. I craned my neck to look up at the ceiling, which was painted with angels flying among a sunset.

"Wow," I breathed. "Do you read a lot?" I questioned him, wondering how much use this room actually got. I started pulling random books out and looking at the covers, and placing them back in. Asher remained standing in the doorway, watching my every move.

"Not really. I mean, you probably know better than anyone I'm not exactly the smartest person," he said with a smirk, putting finger quotations around the word smartest.

"That's not what your mom said," I responded absentmindedly, not really thinking much about the phrase. I realized my mistake when I turned back to Asher who was now looking at me with a different expression, not a good one.

"What the fuck does that mean?" I wasn't really expecting him to get that angry out of the blue, and I stumbled over what I should exactly respond with.

"Nothing, we were just-"

"So you were talking to my mom about me? When?" He demanded, walking forward to where I was standing. His tall frame probably made me look quite cowardly, standing there with him looming over me.

"When I worked on the project with you. Your mom came home as I was leaving and wanted to meet me. She didn't say anything bad Asher, just that you're intelligent, you just don't put in any effort," I tried to make it sound as best as I could, without angering him further. I understood why he was mad though; I wouldn't like to know people were talking about me behind my back.

"Yeah, she would say something like that," he scoffed, looking off to the side. I wondered why he was so upset about what she said about him, to me it seemed like a compliment. Obviously he didn't see it in the same lens as I did. As I was looking at Ashers grim face it made me wonder where his dad was. He and his mom didn't seem to have the best relationship in the world, although I don't know why. She seemed like a really lovely person to me. I debated whether or not it was a good time to bring up the topic of his dad, and decided it really wasn't. But you know what they say, curiosity killed the cat.