"Chase! Are you ready?" I hear Mom call.
"Yeah," I reply, walking out of my room.
We have to go to Asher's house tonight for dinner and I'm dreading it.
"Aw, honey! You look good," Mom says, when I go downstairs.
"Thanks Mom, you look good too," I reply.
My mom always looks good. She has toffee colored skin, dark brown eyes, and wavy black hair. She's 45, but she looks like she's 28.
She's wearing a dark green cardigan over her midi white dress. She paired her dress with brown knee high boots and her hair is straightened.
I left my natural curls and applied some mascara and lip gloss. I decided to wear black skinny jeans and an olive green off the shoulder top with a white bralette. I wore my usual ring on my right hand and ankle boots.
It's not that cold outside which is weird since it's smack in the middle of January.
Chandler's wearing a red button down and dark blue jeans. His dark brown hair is kinda spiked like usual.
"Daniel! What's taking so long, honey?" Mom calls, ruffling Chandler's hair.
Dad steps out of the bedroom while tucking his phone into the pocket of his pants.
"Well, I knew you guys would look good, so I obviously wanted to meet your standards," Dad says, kissing Mom.
"Ewww," Chandler and I say, scrunching our noses in disgust.
Mom and Dad laugh before telling us to go sit in the car.
About 20 minutes later, we arrive at the Bradley's house.
"Damn, you're friends with a kid who lives here?" Chandler asks as we get out of the car.
"Again, I'm not friends with him," I remind my brother. "Our friends are dating."
"Whatever, does he have any sisters?"
I smirk as we walk up to the front door. "Yeah, he has two."
"Damn, are they hot?"
"They're really cute."
"How old?" Chandler asks as Mom rings the doorbell.
"You'll see," I reply as Asher opens the door.
"Hi," Asher gives us a big smile. His eyes linger on me for a second but he looks away when I glare.
"Hi, you must be Asher," Dad says as Asher sticks out his hand.
"That would be me." Asher and Dad shake hands. "Come in." Asher gestures for us to come inside. My family enters and takes off our shoes when we see Asher wearing socks.
"Daniel!" Jennifer calls, walking towards us with Harper in her arms.
"Hi, Jennifer," Dad greets her. "This is Alisha, my wife. My son, Chandler, and Chase, who you've already met."
"Alisha! It's so good to finally meet you," Jennifer gives my mom a side hug.
"You too, Jennifer," Mom says giving her a smile.
"Please, call me, Jenny," Jennifer says.
"Where are the sisters?" Chandler whispers, tugging on my sleeve.
I turn to Asher. "Where are the twins?"
"Upstairs, in their room," Asher answers. "Why?"
"Chandler wants to meet them," I say with a smirk.
"Bro, they're five," Asher tells my brother with a disgusted expression.
Chandler's face drops and he glares at me, accusingly.
I pat his hair and follow our parents and Jennifer.
"Asher, why don't you show Chandler the media room and then show Chase the turret?" Jennifer gives Harper to Asher.
They have a turret? Holy fuck!
"Sure, Mom," Asher nods and gestures for Chandler and I to follow him upstairs.
"This is the media room," Asher gestures to the second room on our right. "Chandler, you can go play video games or something. The remotes are on the couch if you want to change the game or movie."
Chandler happily nods and goes to play a game.
Asher gestures for me to follow him. He tilts his head at a door.
"That's my room," He tells me, "for future references." He gives me a flirty wink which results in a slap from Harper.
I roll my eyes.
Harper squeals tugging at his brother's hair. I let out a small laugh.
I might not like Asher, but Harper's really cute.
"And here's the turret." Asher puts Harper down and pulls a curtain aside. "It's my favorite room in the whole house."
I follow Asher and Harper inside. There's a domed ceiling and huge windows. There's window seats, two small couches in the middle of the room, a beanbag chair, and a shelf that's built into the wall. The floor is covered with white carpet while the walls are a calming navy blue.
"Sit," Asher gestures to one of the window seats. I sit down and he sits next to me.
We awkwardly sit in silence while Harper runs around the room.
"You look nice," Asher says, quietly.
Did he just compliment me?
I look at him and raise my eyebrows. There is no way he just complimented me.
"What?" Asher asks, making eye contact. "Is it that hard to believe that I would be nice?"
"Just surprised that you said something without a double meaning," I reply, looking down at Harper who is currently jumping onto the beanbag chair.
"You never told me why you hate me so much," Asher says out loud.
"Well, you have a huge ego, you're a pervert and you're a player. It's as simple as that," I glance over at Asher and see him smiling.
What the hell?
"You're right," He says and stands up. "Well, lets go downstairs. Dinner's probably ready."
"Massy?" Harper asks, running over to his brother.
Asher picks him up and blows him a raspberry on his stomach which causes him to erupt into giggles. He puts him down and lets him walk.
"What's Massy?" I ask, trailing behind them.
Harper turns around and runs into my legs while making a "pick me up" gesture with his arms. I pick him up and balance him on my hip.
"Mashed potatoes," Asher replies with a grin. "He loves them." Then, he leans down next to my ear. "Almost as much as I love pu—"
I gasp and shove him away.
"Puppies!" Asher says, laughing. "I was going to say puppies."
"I doubt that," I say with a chuckle.
"Want to know what else I like?"
"No."
"I like big butts and I can not lie!" He bleats out.
My ears. My poor miserable ears.
"Oh my god, shut up," I cover my ears with my hands
"Your wish is my command, princess," Asher says with a dramatic bow.
"Down!" Harper says once we get to the top of the stairs.
"Put him down, he likes to go down the stairs while sitting his butt," Asher explains.
"Too!" Harper squeals once I set him down.
"He wants us to do it with him," Asher tells me with a grin.
Why is he grinning? He's up to something.
The two of us sit on the first step since Harper insists that Asher and I watch as he goes down the first two steps. I'm practically sitting on Asher since the idiot's man spreading.
"Chandelier? That's your name?" I hear a little girl ask.
"No, it's Chandler," My brother says with a sigh.
"They're downstairs already," Asher whispers in my ear. "And no one can see us right now. We can do anything we want."
I get chills on my neck.
"If you were trying to be sexy, it didn't work." Lie, it totally worked. I quickly follow behind Harper while scooting down the stairs.
"I win!" Harper shouts, getting off the last step. I get off the step too and then pick up Harper.
"Aww, darn," Asher feigns sadness, "I guess that means I lost."
"ASHER! CHANDELIER IS SCARING US!" Reagan screams, crashing into Asher's leg.
"I just stood here," My brother says with a sigh.
"It's your face," I tell him with a pat on his cheek.
Chandler scowls. "Like yours is any better."
"At least I don't look like a cross between Ursula and Jafar."
"You guys are weird," Reagan says.
Asher chuckles. "I agree."
"Oh my gosh, this must be Harper," I hear my mom coo.
"Yup, the one and only," Asher replies.
I turn and watch him hand Harper to my mom. Harper immediately tries to go back to Asher.
"Sorry, I guess he's not in the mood, tonight," Asher apologizes. Harper hides his face in Asher's collar.
They're awfully close for being siblings.
Maybe it's the hue age difference.
"Dinner's ready," Jennifer announces and leads us to the huge dining room.
"Massy!" Harper squeals.
"That's right, Harp," Asher says, his voice becoming a bit higher. "All the massy you want."
Harper lets out an adorable giggle.
Maybe I can babysit for them or something just to spend more time with that adorable munchkin.
Our parents and the twins sit on one side of the table while Chandler, Asher, Harper, and I sit across from them.
Chandler is on my left and Harper is on my right in his high chair. Asher sits on the other side of Harper.
They pass around the bowls of food and everyone serves themselves.
I put a bit of everything in my plate except for the roast beef.
I pass the bowl over to Asher who takes it. I watch him hesitate before not taking any and setting it down in the center of the table.
Chandler nudges me with his elbow. "Stop staring at, blondie." He hisses under his breath.
"I'm not," I mumble, feeling the heat rise to my face.
I focus back on my plate of food. Whoever cooked did a really good job. The spices are just right.
"No, Harper. If you don't want it, give it me. Don't you dare drop it—" Asher stops when the chunk of roast beef lands in my plate. "—in Chase's plate."
The dining room becomes dead silent.
"Oopsie," Harper says.
We all start laughing because that's adorable.
We settle down, everyone going back to their own conversations.
I eat my food, avoiding any of which touched the beef.
I'm Hindu so I don't eat beef.
"Hey," Asher whispers. "Sorry about that, Harper's been in a rebellious mood lately."
"It's okay," I whisper back, glancing over at him. His eyes are shifting from Harper to me.
Harper says something to Asher which makes them both laugh.
"I know, buddy," Asher says, fixing Harper's hair.
They're so cute.
Wait....only one of them is cute. Who am I kidding? They're both so cute.
"Chase would love to!" I hear my mom say.
I set my fork down. "For what?"
"Babysitting Harper after school," my mom replies.
"I would love to!" I exclaim, a bit too excitedly.
"If it ever gets late or the weather is bad, you're welcome to stay over for the night," Jennifer says. "I know you have work on Mondays just like Asher, so I'll figure something out for that day. But you are free on the other weekdays?"
I nod.
"Great! When's the soonest you can start?"
"Tuesday," I reply.
Jennifer stars talking about how much she should pay me but I wave it off.
"Don't pay me," I say. "I would love to do it for free."
Jennifer gives me a uncertain look. "Are you sure? Harper is a lot of work."
"No he's not," Asher butts in.
Jennifer glares at her son before turning back to me. "I need to pay you somehow."
I shake my head. "No, seriously, don't pay me for babysitting."
Jennifer starts to convince me to take money but stops when she realizes that I mean it.
My parents and Jennifer continue to talk while I pick at the beef on my plate.
Harper bangs his high chair a bit too hard and a blob of mashed potatoes ends up on my shoulder and slides down my shirt.
"Harper!" Asher stands up and takes his baby brother out of his high chair. "Thin ice, buddy. You need to behave yourself."
Asher looks up and quickly apologizes. He glances at me and gestures for me to follow them.
I get up and follow Asher up the stairs.
"Harper, cut it out," Asher says as Harper tries to climb up the banister.
Harper pouts and I melt inside.
That might just be the potatoes that are currently in my shirt.
We get to the secondfloor and Asher pulls me into his room.
"Here," He tosses me a hoodie. "Clean up and you can wear that."
"Where?" I ask, holding the red hoodie in my hands.
"Bathroom," Asher points to a door.
I go inside and lock the door behind me.
It's so clean and bright. The mirror has a LED light surrounding it. There's face washes, cologne, and some other things neatly stacked on the counter.
"There's some baby wipes in the cabinet," Asher tells me from outside the bathroom door.
I open up the cabinets under the sink and find half of it filled with baby products.
There's diapers, baby wipes, washclothes, baby lotion, and baby powder. Weird.
I grab a few baby wipes and pull my shirt off. I wipe my skin off with the wipe and then rinse my shirt out.
I put on the hoodie and immidelaty feel like I'm in heaven. It's so soft and smells really good. I fix my hair and then open the door.
Harper and Asher are sitting on the bed and talking about something. When I leave the bathroom, Asher looks up with a smile on his face.
"Done?" he asks.
"Yeah," I say.
"Sweet," He stands up and lifts Harper into his arms.
We walk to the stairs in an awkward silence.
"So...you have a motorcycle right?" I ask, trying to make conversation.
"Yup," Asher says. "Want to ride it one day?"
OH MY GOD! YES PLEASE!
I shrug. "Sure."
"But are you sure you want to ride my motorcycle?" Asher asks, his lips pulling into a smirk. "Because, I have something even better that you can ride."
If he wasn't holding Harper right now, I would punch him.
"Screw you, Asher," I say.
"Oh, I know you want to."
Boys.
•••
"To All the Boys I've Loved Before" is out and I want to watch it so bad bc Noah Centineo is in it and I read the book back in 7th grade and loved it. But I can't because my dumb ass procrastinated all summer and now I have to do summer work for Chemistry and English in 2 days.
Thanks for reading :)
~M ♥