Love Is...

20. A Mess

"How are you?" I asked, surprised on seeing him here. He got out of his car, and I smiled slightly at him.

"I'm good. I came to see how you are." He tilted his head slightly, studying me with his sharp blue eyes.

A frown covered my face and I asked, "Why wouldn't I be okay? Of course, I'm fine."

He smiled his handsome smile and said, "Let's go and meet my dear little brother."

"Uh! Yeah... sure," I mumbled, following him. Like the gentleman he had always been, he opened the building's gate for me and motioned for me to walk first. If only his brother was even the slightest bit like him, I wouldn't have been cursing myself for my choice.

"Can I ask you something, Dylan?" I asked.

"Ask me anything, Liana," he mumbled in his flirtatious way.

Not paying heed to his dialogue, I asked away, "Why hasn't Ashton talked to Priscilla since months?" He stopped in between climbing a step.

"Oh!" The smirk from his face faltered and he placed his feet on the stair. He cleared his throat and looked at me narrowed eyes.

"Priscilla told me," I answered his unanswered question and watched as his confusion washed away.

He sighed heavily and said, "It's not my story to tell, Liana. I'm sorry."

"But-"

"I can't." He cut me off in a very serious tone. My shoulders slumped in defeat, and we started walking towards his apartment again.

"He talks to you?" I asked, not being able to keep my tongue under control. I told myself that if I didn't have a control over my heart, then my tongue deserved all the freedom as well.

"Yes," he replied curtly, making me pout at the one word answer.

Before I could ask any more questions, I realized that we had reached in front of Ashton's apartment and Dylan had pressed the bell, announcing our arrival.

As expected, it took about five minutes and way too many awkward smiles between Dylan and me, for Ashton to answer the door. It seemed like he, too, was used to his brother's laziness. "You are early today!" He exclaimed, the moment he opened the door and his eyes widened when they settled on Dylan instead of me. "What the f*ck?"

There was nothing new about his appearance today as well. He looked tired, sleepy, and pissed off. His dis-shelved appearance had stopped surprising me last week only. And this just made me curse some more. 'Why him of all people? I could have liked someone else... why him?' I found questioning myself but never got a reply in return.

"Good morning to you too, brother." Dylan grinned in reply and stepped inside, leaving Ashton leaning on the door frame and me on the other side of the door.

My lips pressed in a thin line as his eyes wandered from my head to toe and from toe to head. A normal reaction to his wandering eyes would have been my insides melting, making my legs go jelly and coloring my cheeks red. I mean, why not? My crush was checking me out. How cute! But that would have been a normal reaction, whereas nothing was normal about my crush on Ashton and he proved it right with his next words. "You look like a zombie," he told me, looking at me dead panned. With that, I started cursing myself for the umpteenth time since morning.

I was called beautiful by the elder brother and zombie by the younger one in a span of five minutes. I didn't know whether to praise Dylan's manners or be stunned by Ashton's straightforwardness. They were way too different.

"Gee... thanks," I mumbled, casting my eyes downwards in slight embarrassment. I watched him take a step towards me, making me look up at him abruptly. He brought his warm, rough hands up and pinched my cheeks not too hard and not too lightly, but enough to make my eyes go wide and make me blush in complete embarrassment.