chapter five: a gentleman
Since our conversation last night, I have not talked to Asher. He didn't bring up breakfast, but maybe he got the hint that I thought it might be too soon to go out for food. It was not like I was about to go on a date or something with him and then be forced to listen to Ryan complain about it. My brother needed to loosen his grip on my social life, especially when it came to guys. I was sick of feeling controlled.
Currently, I was at the beach sweating under the sun with my book in my hands. Besides me, my mom and Aunt Dina were asleep. They must have had a rough night. My dad and Uncle Jeff were still in bed and it was one in the afternoon. Amberly was down the shore building sandcastles the waves repeatedly destroyed. Every time this happened, she would let out a loud scream and my mom would wince. She was definitely hungover.
Since the waves were pretty good today, the guys were in the ocean surfing. Even though Jesse and Ryan had been surfing practically all of their lives, Asher appeared to be better than them. He was doing tricks that I had never seen my brother or cousin complete. It was obvious that they were a little jealous of him.
With fascination, I watched them lift up their bodies to stand on their surfboards as a waved began to curl underneath them. They bent their knees as if they were about to sit back into a chair, but their strong cores kept them falling backward. None of them had chosen to wear a rash guard, so their tightened muscles were fully visible as they continued to ride the wave closer to the shore. My eyes were stuck on Asher, though. His wet hair was stuck to his forehead, almost close enough to cover his eyes.
One by one, the guys fell back into the ocean, with Ryan being the first one to go down. Simultaneously, their heads popped out of the ocean and they broke out into a fit of laughter. They looked like they were having a blast.
I never learned how to surf when I was growing up. Probably due to my underlying fear of what's beneath the surface of the ocean. I was never fond of the big body of water that wrapped around the Earth. Ryan never understood my fear. He was constantly making fun of me since he considered the ocean a friend whereas I considered it the home to my worst fears.
"The waves are sick as fuck," Ryan breathed out. I hadn't even realized that the guys had gotten out of the ocean. They were now grabbing their towels and laying them out on the sand to lay back on.
"Nice language," my mom muttered. I was surprised she even acknowledged it.
"I'm exhausted now," Jesse told all of us. The guys agreed with him and closed their eyes as they laid back onto their towels. Asher's head was directly in front of me, almost on my feet. If I moved my toes a few inches forward, they would be in his hair. That's how close he was to me. Not saying I was about to put my toes on him, though. That'd be a little gross and unflattering.
My stomach rumbled as I continued to read my book. I wasn't surprised that I was so hungry. I had only eaten a granola bar for breakfast around four hours ago. My body needed food. Now.
"Mom, can I go to that smoothie store down the boardwalk? I'm starving," I asked, hoping that she would give me her permission.
"Sure, Ken," she responded.
I got up and placed my book where I had been sitting. Quickly, I slipped on my black romper and grabbed a five-dollar bill from my wallet.
During the school year, I worked at a restaurant hostessing so that I could make money for the summer. Most of it I spent on food, to be honest. Just like I was doing right now.
"Wait up!" Someone called out as I headed up the steps to get to the boardwalk. I turned my head around to find Asher jogging towards me. Sadly, he had put on a shirt, hiding his well-toned body for me to see.
"Hey," I said once he had caught up to me.
"You didn't ask me if I wanted a smoothie," Asher frowned. I let out a light laugh.
"Would you like to get a smoothie?" I asked him jokingly. He smiled as he whipped out a ten-dollar bill.
"Awe, thank you so much for asking. I'd love to," Asher grinned as he placed a hand on his heart.
He and I began making our way to the smoothie shop which was about a five-minute walk. We strolled in silence, not awkwardly, but calmly. The wind was strong enough to give me goosebumps as it ruffled my long hair behind my neck. Out of frustration, I quickly tied it up in a ponytail, on the top of my head, praying that I would not need to attack it with a hairbrush later today. Knots were not my friend, especially considering the length of my hair.
When we reached the store, Asher sped up so that he could open and hold the door for me. My cheeks felt warm as I thanked him. I couldn't remember a time a guy had done that for me intentionally besides a relative. A feeling that I wasn't used to was overcoming me.
There was no line, so I strolled right up to the cashier and order a strawberry kiwi shake. Before I was able to hand the woman my money, Asher ordered. He got some sort of peanut butter shake, something that I was unfamiliar with. I loved peanut butter, but I usually liked to stick to fruity shakes. Asher then handed the cashier his ten-dollar bill with a grin.
Butterflies rose in my stomach, threatening to spill out onto the cash register in front of me. The only guy who had ever paid for me willingly was this boy in my grade named Jake. He had been one of Ryan's friends from baseball. He was also my first kiss. I was convinced that Jake was going to ask me out until he got with a girl in the grade above us. Immediately, I dropped him, and so did Ryan.
"Thank you," I uttered shyly.
"Anytime," Asher responded. We stepped to the side to let the people behind us order as we waited for our shakes. As I watched the workers blend our drinks, I felt his eyes on me, but I didn't dare look at him. He must've known that I could sense his longing gaze, but he must not have cared. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him scan his eyes over my sun-kissed hair all the way down to my white painted toenails. At that moment, I thanked myself that I had treated myself to a pedicure.
"Here is the strawberry kiwi and peanut butter and banana shake," the worker announced. She held out our two drinks for us to grab. Asher took them and handed me mine. We then ambled out of the shop to find a seat at a table underneath an umbrella.
"You're not allergic to peanut butter, right?" He asked me as he took a sip of his shake.
"Gladly, no." I gulped down on my drink, practically inhaling it, hoping that the pain in my stomach would go away.
"Good because my mom-" Asher started. His mood suddenly shifted as if someone had flipped a switch. His eyes looked glassy as he tried to process what he had just said. "-wouldn't let me have peanut butter growing up since she was allergic. It's one of my favorite foods, though," he continued. His voice was solemn as he recovered this memory from his brain.
"I'm the lucky twin because Ryan's lactose intolerant," I informed him, attempting to change the subject so that I could get him in a better mood. It was obvious that something had made him upset, and I was thinking that it had something to do with his mom. Something seemed off.
"Didn't he just eat ice cream the other day, though?" Asher wondered.
"Oh, just because he can't digest it properly doesn't mean that he won't eat it. If anything, he eats dairy products more than any other food. His favorite dessert is actually-"
"Okay, enough about Ryan. Tell me about you," Asher interrupted. He leaned forward in his seat, eager for my response.
"Um..." I looked up at the top of the umbrella, trying to come up with something to say.
"Tell me something that you like to do," he suggested, noticing my struggle to brainstorm a fact about myself.
"I like to read," I shrugged.
"That's obvious," Asher scoffed. "Are you trying to convince me that you're boring?"
"Okay, okay," I sighed. "I like watching horror movies, cooking food and of course eating it when I'm done, going on runs early in the morning, driving with the windows down, going to carnivals..." I started listing. "Is that good enough for you?"
"No," he smiled. "Keep going."
"I like almost every genre of music," I continued. He was staring into my eyes, intrigued by every word I was saying. "I enjoy going to the beach, obviously. My favorite sport to watch is tied between hockey and basketball. Don't even tell me you play one of those," I giggled, pointing as I jokingly warned him.
"I play basketball," he stated proudly. I was not surprised. Asher had to be at least 6'2". He had an advantage in this sport.
"Of course you do," I replied. He raked a hand through his wavy hair with a smirk. It looked soft, despite the ocean salt that was still in it. I desperately wanted to run my hand through it and untangle the knots that were visibly in his hair.
"Those smoothies look good." Ah, shit.
My head jolted to the side as Jesse and Ryan took a seat at our table, interrupting my conversation with Asher. Ryan crossed his arms, looking back and forth between me and Asher. I shrunk back on the bench. He was trying to intimidate me, but mostly Asher. It was obvious as his eyes remained locked on the side of his head. Asher kept his attention on me, unfazed by my brother's intimidating scowl.
"Hey," Asher said, now looking directly at Ryan. Jesse was sitting next to me, forcing himself not to let out a laugh.
"Sup," Ryan responded with a head nod. He was not happy.
"Did you guys have a nice nap?" I asked, not hiding the fact that I was annoyed.
"Yes, thank you for asking, Kendall. How was your smoothie?" Ryan questioned, batting his eyelashes and flashing me a fake smile. I stood up from where I was sitting and stomped over to the garbage can to throw away my empty smoothie cup.
"I'm going back to the house." I glared at Ryan before I stormed away from the guys, muttering angry slurs under my breath. If I had not decided to leave, I would have not been able to hold myself back any longer. I didn't need nor want Asher to see that side of me. Jesse, on the other hand, had seen his fair share of twin fights. He was used to it.
I made it probably twenty or so feet before I felt a presence beside me. It was Jesse. This meant that Ryan and Asher we alone.
"Kendall, calm down," Jesse serenely said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"That's what I am trying to do," I responded. Once again, I inhaled in deeply, allowing the fresh air to settle my nerves with every breath that I took.
"I'll talk to Ryan about this later. He does need to back off a little," Jesse admitted.
"Thank you!" I praised, grateful that someone else thought that Ryan was being too crazy.
"But you should know, Kendall..." Jesse started to say. He sighed as if he was preparing himself. My stomach tied in knots.
"Yeah?" I swallowed a lump in my throat, anxious to hear what he had to tell me.
"Asher can be a little... I don't know... insatiable."
"What are you trying to say?" I asked him. He looked over at me and breathed out wistfully. It took him a second or two to answer.
"I'm not saying that he's a bad guy—because he's not at all—I just want to warn you that I've seen him go after girls in the past with the wrong intentions. You're my cousin, so I don't want you to get hurt," Jesse said. "But he's never approached me about a girl like he has about you," he continued to reveal to me. In front of us, I could now see the beach house, but I stopped suddenly in my tracks.
"He's talked to you about me?" I questioned astonished.
"Yeah," Jesse answered, standing to face me as I looked at him with wide eyes. Why would he ask Jesse about me?
"What'd he say?"
Jesse scoffed and said, "That's bro code, Ken." I pouted my lips, hoping that he would give in to my sad puppy face. He didn't. "Sorry, but he'd kill me if he found out that I told you."
I huffed and continued to walk towards the house. "Fine." Deep down, I knew that it would be wrong for Jesse to go against Asher and tell me what he said, but I was dying to know. Was it good? Was it bad? Ugh.
"What I can tell you, though..." Jesse started to say. My ears perked up and the frown flew off of my face. "...is that Asher seems genuinely interested in you."
How did this make me feel, though? My own mind was confusing me more than Asher himself. It was like my heart yearned for him to want me, but my head was telling me that I should not care. I was torn between two choices. My conscience was also telling me that it was stupid to be worried about a guy that I met just this week. This was true, though.
I groaned. Why did I care so much?
"Just get to know him, Ken," Jesse told me. I knew he couldn't hear my thoughts, but it was as if he was answering my concerns. Getting to know him was all I needed to do. I felt stupid for stressing over what to do when honestly the answer was so obvious. How could I make a decision if I hardly knew him?
"Okay," I agreed. Now I just had to go through with it.
.........
Honestly, I had a little bit of trouble writing this chapter. It feels a bit rough and I'm not sure if I like it, but I've attempted to perfect it to the best of my ability. Hold tight if this chapter does not live up to your expectations. To me, I consider it a "rising action" chapter, because it will be leading to more important events in the future.
Do you think Ryan is overreacting and is too protective of Kendall?
What are your thoughts on Jesse? Do you think that he handles the situation with Asher and Kendall like Ryan should have?
Anyways, stay tuned, loves. <3