hey guys i hope your holidays went well. i just want to let you guys know that i've been trying to get as much writing as possible done seeing as i am on vacation, but i've simultaneously been working on two papers, two movie reviews, my school of education application, and studying for a psych exam. so take that into consideration if my updates are a little later than usual. however, good news: i have two new stories that i've been working on, so as soon as the two that I'm writing right now are finished then I have more for yall. :) stay tuned for those updates. anyway, comment and vote and whatnot. <3
I let myself into the apartment and travel down the hall in search of Maya. After finding her room empty, I start towards the living room, where I discover her sprawled on the recliner. "Hey," I greet her and I hear Asa clearing his throat on the couch. I turn to him and feel slight confusion. I was under the impression he was going to be hanging out with Tyson tonight but here he is laid out on the couch with his half-rimmed glasses on and a textbook in his hands. "Why are you here?"
"Tyson cancelled because Aria had cramps and wanted someone to cuddle with. So I'm getting ahead on my homework- trying, at least; I've read this page thirty times." He closes his book, removes his glasses, and rubs tiredly at his eyes.
"Well...do you want to come out with us?" Maya wonders with a hopeful grin as she jumps off the recliner. She somehow managed to convince me to go to a party with her and act as her wingwoman. Though I'd rather be spending my night doing anything else, I can't risk her safety and let her go alone.
The expression on his face is typical Asa- flat and emotionless. "No." He leaves no room for argument but of course Maya doesn't see that, or care enough to acknowledge it.
"Asa, just come to the party with us." He continues to ignore her pleas and stretches his hands over his head.
"No," he grunts once more. "I don't like parties."
"What are you going to do without me or Ivy?" Her demeanor quickly switches when she sees that asking nicely isn't going to work.
"Watch TV?" he replies as if the answer isn't obvious. His hand, which is pointed at the television, drifts to his bag beside the couch. "Do homework? You do know we're allowed to spend time apart, right?"
"Come on." Maya once again switches her attitude. "Someone needs to entertain Ivy while I flirt with girls."
"She can make new friends. Invite Zack or Aaliyah or literally anyone else."
"Come on," she continues to drone and he gives me an exasperated look as if her begging is my fault.
"She doesn't even care if I go! Look, she's fine." Asa acknowledges me with a short wave. Maya tilts so that she's facing me now.
"Ivy, don't you want Asa there?" I decide to be honest, even though I know that a party is the last place he wants to be.
"I do," I confess and his eye automatically narrows at me, "but he can stay here if he wants."
"See? Exactly! Someone respects my wishes!" He turns his glare back to Maya, who crosses her arms.
"Fine. Let's go get ready, Ivy. I'm sure you'll find some cute boys at the party."
"Go ahead, find cute boys, windowshop, I don't care," Asa encourages, "appreciate the merchandise. Just don't buy anything."
I start in the direction of the door hoping to escape this escalating argument. However, Maya decides that there's more to be said so she halts in her spot and gives me a mischievous look. "Oh no, Ivy is going on a shopping spree tonight, aren't you Ivy?" I don't even bother entertaining the conversation and drop my bag in her room, where she eventually joins me. While I rummage through my bag, she gives me a wide eyed gaze. "Please tell me you brought scanty clothes."
Anything remotely low cut is scanty if you have big enough boobs. I change into the red shirt I brought, which is apparently enough for Maya because she lets out a satisfied coo. I squeeze into my ripped jeans and Maya only beams wider. "What?" I wonder as I look at myself in the mirror. I did my makeup back at my dorm because I didn't feel like bringing it all here.
"Asa's going to feel like he has to go because you look good," she explains as she adjusts her bodysuit.
"It's fine. He doesn't have to go. I'll be fine alone," I tell her after briefly rolling my eyes. The only reason I agreed to go is because I didn't want Maya going out by herself. And the only reason I'm dressing up is because I don't want to draw attention to myself by showing up in average clothes.
"I don't want you to be alone." She offers me a small frown but I just shrug in response.
"I'll just use my phone." I wave the device around for a few seconds. "Great thing about the 21st century."
"Well, we'll see how he reacts when we go out there." It takes twenty minutes for her to finish getting ready. Once she announces that she's finished, I crawl off of her bed and reach for the door. She stops me with an extended hand and jogs over to me, tugs my shirt down a bit, and gives me a thumbs up. A guffaw slips through my mouth at her desperate antics as she pulls open the door. "Are you sure you don't want to go?"
"Positive, Maya" He doesn't even glance up from his phone.
Maya gives a long, dramatic sigh. "Fine," she concurs before turning to me, "are you ready to go flirt it up with random frat boys, Ivy?"
Asa turns his attention to Maya before glancing at me. He eyes me for a few seconds before parting his lips. He quickly decides not to speak but then blurts out his statement anyway: "are you ready to flirt it up with random frat boys?" Maya clears her throat and successfully breaks his gaze from me back to her.
"Of course she is," she nods with a nudge to my side. "Single and ready to mingle, am I right, Ivy?"
Asa's hard glare falls from his face as he tips his head back and groans noisily. For some reason, this gets a large grin from Maya and it takes me a second to realize that this is him giving up the fight. He heaves himself off of the couch and offers me a hard glare as if this is, again, my fault. "Give me ten minutes." As soon as his bedroom door closes, Maya high fives me.
"See, I told you!" I shake my head at her though I can't help but be a bit impressed. She knows Asa a little too well for his own good. Just as he promised, ten minutes pass and he exits his room with his phone in one hand and his keys in the other.
"Really?" Maya asks with raised brows. Her pleading tone is long gone and has been replaced with a mixture of genuine disbelief and slight pride. It takes me a second to catch on to what she's talking about. At first glance, I think that Asa looks good. His crimson colored shirt is complimented by a black jacket and black jeans, which fall into his clean pair of red and black Nikes. Then I realize what all the hullabaloo is about: we're matching.
He grins knowingly at me and Maya. "Let's get going, shall we?" he encourages and I follow behind our mutual friend, who is chuckling to herself. Asa insists on driving so I get into the front seat with him while Maya props herself in the back seat and leans as far forward between us as her seatbelt will allow.
"So...what inspired your outfit choice?" Maya eyes Asa curiously and even though we all know the answer, I want to hear him admit it. As expected, he moves to turn on the music but I swat his hand away.
"You do realize I can just outright ignore her question, right? I do the music thing to seem like less of an asshole." Because drowning out someone's voice with music is obviously better than pretending you didn't hear them.
"Either way, you're an asshole." Maya clears her throat. "Now, answer my question."
"I just saw these clothes in my closet and decided to put them on."
"Oh, well, it's just really coincidental that you are wearing the exact same colors as Ivy," Maya matches his perky tone. "It's almost as if you went out of your way to match with her, you know...like a couple."
"Wow, that wasn't my intention at all," he continues on with the upbeat conversation. I listen in with an amused expression on my face. I don't care what he's wearing. I think he looks good. I'm just happy I have someone to talk to.
We continue in the direction of the party and the second we step in the door, Maya grabs my shirt eagerly. "Ivy! It's the cute girl I sat next to in history class right before break! Remember? The one I had a ten minute conversation with about shoes? Do you think she remembers me?" Maya asks and I peer over at the girl she's motioning to. I barely remember Maya telling me; then again, she does talk about a lot of girls. But I wasn't involved in the conversation. Personally, I'd remember any conversation that lasts longer than two minutes with someone I don't know.
"Go for it," I encourage with a shrug and she gives me a strong nod. She starts in the direction of the girl leaning against the wall on her phone.
"Does she normally do that?" Asa watches her sashay over her conquest of the night and I break my eyes from her retreating figure.
"Yup." I thoughtlessly grab his hand and guide him away from the door, which is flooded with people coming in and going out. He allows me to lead him to the corner of the living room, amongst other people making conversation. Not to mention, we're no longer within the reach of the blinding strobe lights nor are we anywhere close to the booming speakers. Still, the noise is a bit much so Asa stands a little closer to me than usual and we make conversation that way.
"What do you keep looking at?" I blurt twenty minutes into our conversation. His gaze keeps traveling to a specific point behind me and I've been trying my best not to whip around and see what the hell is capturing his attention.
"He's been staring at you since we got here." I furrow my brows in confusion. Here I was worrying that he was eyeing a girl.
"Who?" I wait for a brief description so that in a minute or two I can turn around and assess the guy. But no, Asa is not discreet in any way, shape, or form.
"Him," he announces bluntly with a finger pointing diagonally across from where we're standing. I immediately follow his hand and swat his arm down once my gaze settles upon the boy he's accusing of checking me out. Luckily enough, he's facing away from me and Asa.
"No he's not." He's having a conversation with a couple of guys and drinking a beer. He seems less than interested in what I'm doing.
"He just looked away," Asa insists and I roll my eyes dismissively.
"I don't care." My words barely register with Asa because he's too busy assessing the guy across the room. In fact, he keeps his gaze on him for a few more seconds before turning his attention back to me.
"I have to pee. Are you okay if I leave you alone?" I wave him off dismissively. I'll be fine. Besides, wasn't he going to let me come alone with Maya?
"Go empty your baby bladder." He gives me a mocking expression before turning to find the bathroom. I take out my phone and check my notifications. Other than a text from Aaliyah, there isn't much to see.
"Hey." I keep my gaze focused on my phone, unsure if that greeting was for me. I don't recognize the voice. "Hey." Maybe he's one of Maya's friends from one of her parties? I risk a glance up to see if the conversation starter is being directed towards me. I find the boy that Asa pointed out only moments ago standing two feet away.
"Hi..." I trail in slight confusion. He must've known I was with Asa if he waited for him to leave.
"I couldn't help but notice you from across the room," he motions to the area he was standing on the opposite side of the living room. I glance over and pretend as though Asa wasn't glaring so hard that the floor almost burned through and dropped them to the basement. "I thought I'd come over and tell you that you look good."
"Thanks..." I try to estimate how long it's been since Asa left. I hope he didn't get lost. But I also don't want him to return while this guy is still here; then he'll be able to say that he told me so.
"What's your name?" he wonders before speaking again, "I'm Louie."
"Ivy." Maybe he'll catch on to my disinterest and walk away before Asa gets back and things get awkward. Maybe I should just tell him a lie that I'm here with my boyfriend. I feel like that'd save him a lot of trouble. Just as I'm about to lie to him, I see Asa approaching over his shoulder. He glances back briefly from my change of expression before doing a double take.
It takes Asa a second to register what's going on. When it hits him, he pockets his hands and tilts his head in a casual fashion. It throws me off because I was about to warn this kid to run for his life but now I don't know what to expect. "Hello." Asa joins the conversation and Louie looks to me for some kind of assistance. I avert my gaze and leave him scrambling for something to say or do.
"H-Hi." He's very clearly nervous and I feel a bit bad for him. He's a fool for approaching me after seeing me spend all of my time with Asa but I give him props for trying. Maybe he thought I told Asa to leave me alone or something.
"What are we talking about?" Asa looks between both of us as if we're all old time friends. I'm just as confused as Louie, if not more. Asa is normally not a social person so even if I wasn't expecting him to give this kid an attitude, I definitely wouldn't think he'd make conversation.
"We were just...talking," Louie explains with his gaze locked on me. Why is he looking to me for help? I clearly don't know what the hell is going on either.
"Yeah, I figured as much. What about?" Asa appears relaxed meanwhile Louie struggles to maintain his breathing. I wonder what he'd be doing if Asa was being hostile and threatening. Realistically, he'd probably piss himself. When I find that Louie can't think of an answer, I decide to cut in.
"He was just asking my name," I tell Asa, who nods. Louie seems relieved and I avert my gaze. He's probably a freshman who doesn't have much experience with girls. What a great way to break him out of his shell, except not at all.
"Good question." He then turns to our new found friend. "I'm Asa, by the way. And you are?"
"Louie." His voice shakes. There's an awkward pause where Asa is just staring at Louie with an interested expression on his face. I'm at a loss for words so Louie decides to speak up. "Are you guys dating?"
"What makes you think that?" Asa wonders in a dryly sarcastic tone. Louie looks between me and Asa with a lost expression on his face.
"You know, I'm just going to go..." he trails as he slowly starts to back away.
"That's a good idea." Asa nods and quickly retakes his spot. Without so much as a smile, he nods at the retreating boy, "it was nice meeting you, Louie."
I watch him hurry back to his friends in a shaken up manner. They stare at him in surprise and I turn back to Asa, who is now watching me curiously. "What was that?" My tone is both confused and entertained. If that was a form of jealousy, it's my first time witnessing it. I was half expecting Asa to come back and tell the kid to get lost, with less friendly terminology of course. But he almost killed him with sarcastic kindness in an oddly friendly fashion.
"Should I not have joined in on the conversation?"
"I was going to tell him to leave a second before you came." I glance back at Louie, who is now with his friends talking, probably telling them how crazy Asa is. "You scared the shit out of him."
"Good," Asa mumbles before shaking his head. "I mean, that wasn't my intention. But I was right when I said that he was staring at you. I didn't think he had the balls to approach you, though. I shouldn't have been so surprised that he did. Well, I'm actually surprised I didn't come back to a swarm of guys trying to talk to you."
"Asa..." His rambling catches me off guard. He's never out of his element like this.
"It's really hot in here. I kind of want to go outside and breathe clean air," he blurts and it takes me a second to catch up with his mood swing.
"Okay," I agree. Perhaps the fresh air will give him a clear mind. I follow his lead outside and into the yard, where he dawdles quietly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he answers, "are you?"
I swallow nervously. I know he said I can voice my concerns to him without judgment but I feel like accusing him of being jealous may be bold. I decide to just go for it. I can play it off as a joke if it doesn't work in my favor. "Are you jealous?" I make sure to not sound amused, pleased, or satisfied.
"Do I have a right to be?" He buries his hands in his pockets and shuffles awkwardly along the sidewalk.
"Can you just answer my question?" I don't mean to sound as harsh as I do but it's hard to get straight answers from him.
"The short answer is probably yes," he confesses, "but the long answer is...not so much."
"Why not so much?" I'll pretend that didn't hurt.
"Hypothetically speaking, I believe your loyalty lies with me. I trust you completely." I feel my eyebrows inadvertently rise. "I know that guys are going to find you attractive. I know they're going to approach you. I want to say when I'm not around but apparently even when I am. It's just annoying to bear witness to, I guess. But again, do I even have a right to be jealous? Hypothetically speaking, I believe your loyalty lies with me. But realistically, I know it might not. I claim no right to it after all."
"So do you want me to be loyal to you?" I'm a little confused at his stringing of words. He seems like he wants me to but he also makes it a point to acknowledge that I'm not and I don't have to be.
"There you guys are!" Maya announces as she comes from the front door of the house. I sigh in slight defeat but Asa isn't having it tonight.
"Go start the car," he says almost immediately. His keys are in his hand one second and then flying through the air at Maya the next. She struggles to catch them with a small frown but starts in the direction of his truck. "Anyway..."
"I asked if you want me to be loyal to you." Maybe I can get a straight answer this time.
"I wouldn't be opposed to it," he murmurs as he watches my expression. I bob my head up and down slowly as I absorb his words.
"Will you be loyal to me?" Before I can finish my sentence his eyes are rolling to the back of his head.
"I already am, Ivy," he retorts as if I was supposed to know that.
"Okay." This conversation was surprisingly easy to have. It didn't give us a title but at least now I know that whatever we have going on, its exclusive.
"One last thing," he starts, "it feels like I'm backtracking but were you really going to come here and flirt with guys?"
I stare at him with a flat expression on my face before I start in the direction of his truck. "Asa, you've had my loyalty from the beginning. No I wasn't going to come here and flirt with guys. Maya just said that to get you here."
"Okay, good. Just checking." I hear him walking close behind me and he brushes his hand against mine. The second I open my palm, he ties his fingers around mine and I smile into the darkness.