"And that's why I believe the Earth is the center of the universe!"
Asher shoots me a 'I'm going to kill you' look as Georgia takes a large sip of her water, just before going on another illogical rant about a scientifically proven fact that she has proven incorrect.
I can tell she's just nervous. Steve hasn't shown up yet. Granted, he's only three minutes and forty-two seconds late.
Ah, forty-three.
"Uh, I hate to miss your theory on the Matrix, but.. I have to pee," Asher says. "Excuse me."
Georgia smiles. "Oh, no worries! I'll wait until you get back to continue!"
"Great!" Asher exclaims and gives her an enthusiastic thumbs up before leaving the booth.
Once Asher is out of sight, Georgia takes my hands in hers. "Oh my gosh. Am I acting weird? I'm so nervous. I've never been on a date before. What if Steve thinks I'm weird?"
"Oh, honey," I pat her shoulder, "he probably already thinks that!"
She rolls her eyes and lets out an odd breath of air, just a sound away from being a classified scream.
What is that? Four minutes and fifty-seven seconds?
"Okay, you need to relax! Steve seems really cool from how you described him. If he lasted a whole conversation with you and still wanted to go on a date, I think it's fate!"
"Really?" she asks hopefully.
I nod. "Yes! Oh, and quit drinking so much water. You're going to peeing all night."
"Sometimes when I'm nervous, I forget how to pee."
Five minutes and thirty-two seconds.
"Let's not tell Steve this, alright?" I pat her shoulder. "Alright."
"Riley, you're never going to guess who I ran into in the bathroom!" Asher says as he gets back, sitting next to me and wrapping an arm around my waist.
Georgia gasps. "Liam Hemsworth? Matt Damon? Bradley Cooper? Leonardo DiCaprio? Ben Affleck? Chris Hemsworth? Justin Bieber? Gerard Butler? Ryan Reynolds? Chris Evans? Brad Pitt?" She takes a pause to catch her breath. "Kyle Blackburn? Michael B. Jordan? Will Ferrell? Christian Bale? Eddie Redmayne? Harrison Ford? James Franco? Ice Cube?"
"You're getting warmer," Asher says with a straight face.
"Uh..." She pouts, trying to think of a solid guess. "I got it! Hugh Grant!"
"Close. It was-"
"Jedi!" I call out my guess when I see Asher's friend passing by our table.
"Yeah!" Asher grabs his friend by the sleeve of his shirt before he walks passed us. "Haven't seen you in a while, buddy."
"We just saw each other peeing," Jedi reminds awkwardly.
"Jedi?" Georgia asks in confusion. "You guys know Steve?"
My eyes widen. "You're the Steve?" Great!
Jedi and Ari were the ones who beat up Dexter. If Georgia finds out, she'll be super pissed. I guess she doesn't actually have to overreact, but people! It's Georgia! And on that note, I don't want to ruin her chance of being with someone who can stand her. What she doesn't know won't hurt her is what I say, eh?
"Ah, sick!" Asher exclaims. "Take a seat buddy. You should've told me you were going on a date with Georgia. I could've ordered for you."
"Wait a second," Georgia pauses, "did you date Steve or something?"
Asher laughs. "Basically. My sister's in a band with him. I've known him practically all my all. Plus, since Lainey's with Ari, I'm with Jed. We kind of are like a couple, a side couple."
"What a wingman," Jedi comments blandly, sitting next to Georgia in the booth.
"So, why were you so late?" Georgia asks.
"Late?" Jedi repeats. "I-I didn't realize I was late at all."
"Over six minutes..but who was counting?" she laughs uncontrollably. Oh boy. She isn't stopping!
I kick her under the table. "Uh, so, Jedi, what have you been up to?"
"Band stuff," he answers. "I don't know. Lainey and Ari are planning their wedding."
"Wedding?" Asher asks in surprise. "They're getting married?"
Jedi nods. "Yep."
"Is this news? I mean, are we some of the first people to know?"
"No, bro. They got engaged on New Year's Eve. Picked the date on New Year's Day. Guess who's the best man?"
Asher's eyebrows draw together, pain and confusion on his face. "Uh.. I would think it should be me!"
"Oh." Jedi squints one of his eyes. "They kind of already asked me.."
"Yeah, I get that, Jed," Asher snaps. "Why the hell didn't anyone tell me?"
"I just did?"
Asher shakes his head. I place a hand on his arm, rubbing my thumb back-and-forth gently. He covers my hand with his, relaxing only a bit. "That is messed up, man."
"Look, Ash, you haven't hung out with us in like over six minutes," he jokes, winking to Georgia.
She blushes.
"I've been busy!" Asher defends. "I'm actually trying to make a living unlike you dropouts."
"Whoa," Jedi says and holds his hands up. "No need to get personal."
"I'm going to take my sister not telling me about her wedding pretty damn personal, Jed," Asher mutters.
Georgia taps her nails against the table to the beat of Total Eclipse of the Heart, humming along to the song in her head. Totally something Zander would do.
As if to save me from an offended Asher, an overly nonchalant Jedi, and a singing Georgia, the waiter finally gets to the table to take our orders. Even though she told everyone she was ready, it took Georgia an extra ten minutes just to decide whether she should get the garden salad or the house salad.
"So, why did you become a veg-"
Asher cuts off Jedi quickly, "don't ask that! Trust me."
I laugh, remembering the day Georgia nearly went on an hour rant about her vegan lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, I respect her decision and think it's totally fine. But it's Georgia.
"I just love animals," she answers simply. "My favorite place in the whole world is the zoo."
"With all those smelly animals and shit? Plus, you say you love animals and the zoo is just keeping those poor animals locked up and shit."
"Nice dude," Asher comments sarcastically, rolling his eyes at Jedi's behavior.
"Do not disrespect the zoo!" Georgia snaps. "Most of the animals are ones they rescued. I mean, have you seen Madagascar? The zoo was way safer and they had so much more fun there. Like, they almost died in the real world."
"What's Madagascar?" Jedi asks. "Is it a documentary?"
"It's the animated movie with animals and shit," I explain, mimicking his use of 'and shit' at the end of every sentence.
Asher chuckles lightly under his breath, squeezing my hand under the table. "I'm pretty sure we watched it at my birthday party, Jed."
"Trippin'," Jedi responds with a head nod.
The food arrives shortly after. It should've helped, but really it just made the awkwardness a million times more evident.
Georgia lets out an annoyed sigh, pursing her lips. I motion for her to remain calm. First dates never go perfectly.
I mean, my first date with Asher was at the pier and when he asked me to be his girlfriend I ran away.
She nods and asks, "so, how'd you get your nickname anyway? Do you have secret force powers?"
He shrugs. "Nah. I guess I'm just kind of like the peacemaker of the group. Ari started calling me it one day and so it stuck."
"Cool. I've always wanted a nickname," she sighs.
"Oh, quick, first date task!" I say enthusiastically. "Jedi, give Georgia a nickname!"
He looks at me with mere hatred. "I'm not much of a nicknaming type of guy."
"You were perfectly fine with calling me Ash-with-a-rash my entire junior high experience."
I cover my mouth to stifle a laugh. Asher looks at me with no sense of humor, only making me want to laugh more. "Sorry. That wasn't funny at all. I hope the rash got better."
"Shut up," he laughs and nudges my shoulder before kissing my nose.
Georgia sighs heavily. "It's alright, Steve. You can't just force a nickname on the first date."
"It'll take time. Let the relationship progress. Maybe by the third date you'll have cute nicknames," I say.
Jedi locks eyes with Asher, a fearful look on his face. As if he couldn't make to his date any worse, he laughs.
Georgia snaps her head in his direction, full-on glaring. "What was so funny?"
"Nothing," he says quickly.
"Do you not want to go on another date with me?" she asks rather forcefully.
"Hey, look, we haven't even eaten all our food yet and-"
"Seriously? What did I do wrong? You were so sweet when I met you at the mall! Now you're acting like a tool!"
I slap my hand against my forehead, falling on to Asher's shoulder for support. He holds me as we painfully watch the fight unfold.
"Oh, sorry? I mean, if we're picking out flaws, you weren't this... annoying when we met."
"Annoying?" Georgia repeats, holding a hand against her heart. "I am not annoying!"
"Well," Asher whispers so quietly that only I can hear him. I hit his chest with the back of my hand weakly.
"Right!" Jedi laughs. "If we're going to be honest here, I just wanted a good time if you know what I mean. This is too much work."
Georgia's jaw drops, heartbroken. "What? You-you only wanted to sleep with me?"
He shrugs.
Georgia takes her side of salad dressing and pours it on top of Jedi's head. He rolls his eyes, muttering about her immaturity as he storms out of the restaurant.
"Hey, he's not worth-"
"Wait!" she screams and goes running after him.
"It," I finish in defeat. "Poor Georgia. That was a first date from hell. And you know, poor Jedi!"
"Some people just aren't meant to be," Asher says. "They're too different."
"But it works. I just don't think this was the right setting," I decide. "I have a plan! I just need to get Georgia and Jedi back in-"
"Riley, Riley," Asher tries to get my attention, "slow down. You have to realize that you can't mend every broken relationship. It would probably be better if you just stayed out of it."
"I can't! Georgia's my friend," I argue. "And Jedi's yours. Don't you want them to be happy?"
"Yes, obviously." He pinches his lips with his fingers nervously. "It's just.. you've been meddling a lot recently and I don't think it's your place."
I tilt my head to the side. "Wait a second.. I've been meddling? What are you talking about?"
"My parents," he says with a sigh. "They're getting a divorce."
My stomach drops. Asher always talks about how he wants a united family. As broken up as the Westfield's are already, a divorce worsens the whole mix.
"Asher," I whisper and reach for his hand.
Instead of letting me touch him, he runs his hand through his hair. "My mom made the decision after she.. after you visited her in the hospital."
"I-I didn't tell your mom to get a divorce," I defend. "I just..I told her she needed to get better, for you and for her relationship with her family. She needed to work on herself first."
"Well, as part of working on herself, she's leaving my father!" he snaps.
I raise my eyebrows at his sudden outburst. "I'm so sorry, Asher. It truly sucks that your parents are getting a divorce," I sigh. "But you know damn well it isn't my fault, so don't you dare blame me."
His face changes from one of anger to sorrow in an instant as he realizes how he yelled at me. He turns away from me, pulling out bills from his wallet to pay for the dinner.
"Why don't we get out of here?" I suggest.
Asher nods and leads the way out of the restaurant.
"I'm sorry," he says once we're in the parked car. "I'm an idiot for yelling at you. You said the right thing to my mom. I should've thanked you."
"It's okay. You're upset and confused and I get it."
He takes my hand in his, smiling softly. "When Jed told me about Lainey and Ari, I felt so betrayed. My mom and dad won't even talk to me about the divorce. How-how could my own family not want me in their lives?"
I don't know what to say. There's no point in trying to say anything. I have no idea what Asher is feeling right now. My family is my everything. Asher tries so hard to have that, but they reject him. I just want to kiss away his pain.
"Remember..remember that night I came into your room and kissed you for the fir- sorry, second time?"
"How could I forget?" I say.
He smiles genuinely. "I felt so alone that day. My sister was fighting with my parents. They were screaming and throwing things at each other and my mom slapped Lainey and Lainey hit my dad and I just needed to get out. And I spent the best couple of night with Tucker. When I finally came home, no one said a thing to me. No one cared I had been missing all those days."
He shakes his head, the emotions getting to him as he relived it. My heart aches for Asher, a horrible feeling to see him like this.
"Is it horrible to say I'm relieved?" I ask after minutes of silence.
Asher looks at me with faint amusement, thankful I'm planning to lighten the mood.
"When you kissed me and I realized you were crying," I paused, "I really thought I was a horrible kisser."
He laughs, leaning over the seat to kiss me softly. "I am so sorry for giving you that impression. Did you keep thinking that after I couldn't keep my hands off you?"
"I don't know. I thought you pitied me for being a tragic kisser," I mumble and blush a little. "Look, Asher, don't cry and kiss a girl without letting her know why. Life lesson."
"If Steve gets to be Jedi, Riley gets to be Yoda."
Asher starts the car and we drive off, hand-in-hand. I make Asher drop me off at Georgia's house. Luckily enough, she's on her porch.
"I'll wait here," Asher says. "You should be the one to talk to her. I sort of get the vibe she hates me. Plus, it's Georgia."
I smile and hop out of the car, walking to the porch. "Hey, Georgia, you okay?"
She doesn't even lift her eyes to look at me. "Once upon a time I was falling in love. Now I'm only falling apart," she says in total defeat.
I sit next to her on the bench and place my arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "Ah, sweetie, you weren't in love with Jedi."
"I could've been!" she argues.
"No, no. It was all too soon. He didn't want the same things you did," I say. "You deserve better."
"Steve was the perfect man," she sighs.
"You can put the Steve in Jedi, but you can't take the Jedi out of Steve," I say ever-so-wisely.
"That didn't make any sense, Riley."
Forty-eight minutes and seven seconds.
~~
AN:
I don't know but I sort of really loved this chapter which hasn't happened in a long time so yay
also I'm feeling pretty confident as his story comes closer to an end (which breaks my heart)
who ships Georgia and Jedi?
I have a secret ship but I can't tell any of you for obvious reasons but can you guess who it is???? it may or may not have been hinted in this chapter
ok I need to express this to y'all bc it's on my mind. I love commenting on your comments, okay? I think it's fun! But I'm getting the feeling that I'm like that uncool parents who says something and everyone is like ummm because nO ONE EVER RESPONDS TO MY COMMENTS and sometimes they're hilarious. I think I'm funny.
respect your elders
•comment•vote•enjoy•