The Broken Soundtrack

Track 5: Be Alright

"That's my mom and my sister." Asher pointed at the two girls sitting side by side on his phone screen. His mom, Nancy had the same dirty blonde hair as him, only hers was straight and fell just above her shoulders. Ariana, his thirteen-year-old sister got the same hair and eye color, and even though her face was plump, I could still see the beauty running through their genes.

"They're both really pretty," I commented, glancing at Asher, his eyes still fixed on his phone. I could see how much he loved them from the way his cheeks rose up.

Scrolling through his phone gallery, I realized that it mainly contained photos of his family. Seeing how close he was to his mom and sister made me admire him even more.

As he swiped his screen up, I noticed a few photos of a blonde girl, one of which was her wearing a red two-piece with the beach as her backdrop. Her curves and long legs even added to her already-perfect face. Sometimes, I wondered how such humans exist.

"That's my ex-girlfriend," Asher spoke beside me, snapping me out of my insecurities.

Even though I already expected that she was indeed his girl, my heart still stopped for a nanosecond, trying to let that thought sink in. I remembered Fiona mentioning about this before, but I never asked Asher the details of his past relationship. I just didn't know if I wanted to know about it.

"She's the reason why I'm here, you know..." his voice trailed off, glancing at me with a small smile. Again, he was trying to hide his misery behind it. "I was hoping I could forget about her if I come here."

"Asher... I..." Looking at him, his gaze stayed on the ground. I didn't really know what to say. I was scared that I might say something that could offend him or make him feel worse.

"I'm all right, Jam." He turned to me, his dimple attempting to brush my worry away.

I was not an expert to healing broken hearts, but I remembered my cousin having a way to move on from exes. She had a playlist of songs that she listened to. She said it helped her cope with her ex-boyfriends. But I doubt that would work on Asher.

"Hey, I said I was all right. No need to feel bad for me," Asher forced another smile, but I couldn't just let it rest. I wanted to cheer him up for real, instead of seeing him pretend that he was okay.

"Asher, dear can you help me here a bit?" Grandma Olive's voice bounced back from somewhere inside the house.

"Coming nana," Asher yelled back, turning to me. "Be right back."

Nodding, I fished out my phone and searched on the internet. Ways to move on from your ex. Lots of articles popped out so I just clicked on the first one. "Acceptance is the key," I read, pondering if Asher had actually did that. "Keep busy with friends." He was doing that quite all right. "Get out and do the activities you never got to do while in a relationship." Now that was something I usually see in movies, but never really thought of it as effective. Maybe we could do that.

I tapped my fingers on my lap, thinking what activities he might like to do. I wasn't really adventurous, so I had no idea what guys might like. I consulted my friend, the internet again, typing, 'Activities to do with guy friends.' My eyes scanned an article, when Asher's voice detached me from reading it. "What is that?"

I snapped my head at him, dropping my phone on my lap. "Oh... I was just reading an email from the Chemistry department. They sent us modules to read ahead."

"Really? That sucks." He jumped on the couch next to me, resting his head on the seat.

I cleared a throat, wondering how to initiate my plan with him. "Yeah. Uhm... do you know any theme parks out here?"