That Abercrombie Model

TWENTY THREE

The sweet smell of bacon hits me when I leave my room. Cynthia is there manning the stove. "Morning." I say chirpily and sit on one of the dining chairs looking at her.

She looks up from the pan of bacon, "Why are you so happy this early in the morning?" She asks with a suspicion. The bacon she is cooking, though fragrant, looks overcooked.

I choose to ignore her, "You are overcooking that bacon." I tell her as I go to get plates.

"What else can happen when I live with people like you?" She says and scowls. She turns off the stove and gets out plates and forks for us to use.

I eat breakfast quickly and go to bathe. After bathing I find Cynthia lounging on the couch while eating my chocolates. This girl. "Hey, leave my chocolates alone." I slide my feet into a pair of sneakers, ready to go out.

"Where are you going?" she raises her head momentarily to look at me.

I ponder whether to tell her, but decide to do so. "To tell him." I reply.

The squeal she gives matched my own excitement. "Hurry up. Go get him." I laugh at her bounciness.

I head to the door, "Don't empty my fridge, okay?" She hums in approval.

I have been thinking of what to say when he opens the door, I plan on telling him before I chicken out. I knock on the door and wait. I clear my throat to loosen the lump that had formed in my throat.

Asher opens the door, I am disappointed a bit; I had planned that front door kind of scene to be when I tell him, but whatever.

"Liza." He says with surprise. "What are you doing here?" He asks.

"Is Kystan here?" He is about to say something but I interrupt him, "Are you going to let me in or what?" He smiles sheepishly and gets out of the way.

I've been here before but the last time there was a party, it was dark and there were too many people to admire the place properly.

Asher leads me to a contemporary looking living room. The decor is minimal except for a blue accent wall decorated with many photos. The house looks great and cleaner than I expected.

Luca is alone in the living room watching football reruns. "Asher, we killed your team that time." He says before he turns around and sees me. "Oh, hi." He says enthusiastically.

I plop on the seat next to Luca's. "Where is Kystan?"

"He went out for a bit, I think." Luca answers. "Do you want to wait for him?"

"Yeah, I'll wait." This is not how I imagined this to go.

I sit around and watch the match with Luca. Asher leaves the house an hour later. Kystan still hasn't come back, I've been looking over my shoulder every few seconds in the hope that I will see him standing right there in the doorway, but that has not been the case. I find myself looking over my shoulder again, Luca sees me at it; "You don't have to wait for him all day, you know, if you have something else to do." He says sympathetically.

"I've got time." I answer with determination.

"Alright then. In the meantime, I can beat you at MotoGP." He says unknowing that that is impossible.

"Want to bet money on that?" I challenge him.

He looks at me suspiciously. "10 euros per win." He says.

"Alright then." After losing thirty euros and gaining fifty, the front door opens. We are in the middle of a game but I hurriedly put the console down and hurry to the door.