Chapter 12
As his phone chimes for the umpteenth time Asher reluctantly cracks his eyes open to find the confounded thing. Pushing two different girls arms off him, he grudgingly rises to find his damn pants since his phone is in them. As he crawls over another girl he reaches over a fourth to grab them. Jerking them on, Asher pulls his phone out and squints at it and the video that Ryker sent that makes no fucking sense.
Charlie is sitting at a jade green island over a pan full of brownies as big fat tears roll down her cheeks. She looks up at Ryker, and mutters something that can't be understood to him, before just completely breaking down. The camera flips around, to a very unamused Ryker. "Get her. Fix this."
Hitting the call button next to his name on the text, Asher lets it ring.
Ryker quickly answers the line. "Are you here?!" He desperately asks as Charlie's wails can be heard in the background. "God, please tell me you're here."
"What the hell is going on?" Asher pinches the bridge of his nose. "Why are you forcing her to eat brownies, she's not Grimm?"
"I didn't! I came down here to find her face stuffed in them," Ryker's gets muffled slightly as he pulls the phone away. "Stop eating the brownies. It's eight fucking a.m."
"I'll kill you!"
"Dude, you have to come get her. She's gone mental."
"You're tripping, she hates chocolate." Asher blinks a few times, still tripping himself from the night before.
"You want another fucking video!" Ryker huffs. "You coming or not? Cause seriously, I'm about to call Saint-James."
"I'll come." A girl softly moans beside him but not loud enough for Ryker to hear. "Just as soon as I find out where I am."
"I'm giving you an hour, and I'm calling in the big guns," Ryker grumbles, before the line cuts off.
Just under an hour later Asher rolls up in a car he 'borrowed' and knocks on Ryker's door.
Ryker comes to the door, and jerks it open to find a bloodshot eyed Asher. His hair is ruffled like he just rolled out of bed, and he's wearing the same clothes he was in the night before.
Ryker sighs as he steps to the side to let him in. "The demon has perched itself on my bed, after being up all night crying, and is ready to kill the first thing that walks through that door. So please," he gestures to the stairs, "be my guest."
"Chicken shit." Asher flashes him a dark smirk as he strides up the stairs and opens the door, as he does a football hurled at him. Dodging, Asher glares at it as it flies into the wall behind him.
"I want my brownies back," Charlie growls, jumping to her feet, and walking to the edge of the bed. "Make him give them back."
Frowning, Asher closes the door behind him and strides to her and places his hand to her forehead. "Are you sick? Pregnant? Possessed by Grimm?"
Charlie glares at him, and bats his hand away. "No, no, and no." Her lips start to pucker, as she flops down on the bed.
"Did Reed give you something funny? I told you never to take candy from strangers or idiots."
"I heard that, Asshole!" Ryker snaps from the other side of the door.
"I know." Asher sneers towards the door.
"It's not funny," Charlie buries her face in the blanket, before heavy sobs start echoing through the room.
"What the hell kind of brownies did you make, Reed?" Asher loudly demands, eyeing her warily because he has no idea what to do with her like this.
"My mom made them. They're just regular fucking brownies." Ryker's voice replies on the other side of the door.
"Obviously not, she slips something into them."
Charlie sits up and wipes the tears from her eyes, "I want a milkshake."
"Okay," Asher acknowledges, taking a seat beside her on the bed. "I don't have one of those on me." He reaches up and runs his fingers through her hair as his presence kicks out for her to feel since he knows normally it calms her.
Sniffling, Charlie's eyes run over him, before she scowls. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Went and got trashed in places you don't need to go, little fox."
"Because we fought?" Her eyes start to pool up again.
Asher's expression turns wary. "I feel this is a trap and I'm damned on either response I give to it."
Charlie throws herself back. "Why am I crying?!"
"I don't know," Ryker pipes up from the other side of the door, "but can you do it somewhere else?"
Unsure of how else to handle it Asher captures the back of her neck and kisses her.
Hearing a, "Fuck," from the other side of the door, Ryker soon burst in, knowing what silence between them means. "Not here. Fix this somewhere else. Not my house."
Breaking his kiss with her Asher glares. "How else did you expect me to calm her down?"
"Calm her down, but not here." Ryker gestures out the door.
Charlie bounces off the bed. "I want a milkshake anyways."
Deepening his glare, Asher reluctantly rises off the bed and takes her hand. "Since you're pushing this on me, take the car out front to Jorge." He tosses a set of keys at Ryker.
"You parked a stolen car in front of my house?" Ryker glares down at the keys in hand. "Of course you did."
"No, I parked it down the street." Asher rolls his eyes. "Don't give me an hour next time if you don't want me to."
"Next time, I'll jump to plan 'B'." Pocketing the keys, Ryker grabs his phone to text Calvin to help him drop the car off in LA.
Letting Charlie grab her backpack, Asher takes her hand and walks out. "Any particular place from?"
"Wendy's Frosty." She hums with delight just thinking about it. Her sorrows suddenly gone with just the promise of a milkshake.
Asher frowns. "They don't open till ten-thirty, are you sure you don't want McDonalds, reminding her it's on the other side of the freeway.
Charlie pouts. "Fine."
Taking a set of skateboards from Ryker's garage, they skate the few miles there and get her a damn milkshake and a much needed coffee for him.
Charlie happily sips her chocolate shake while sitting on the curb outside of the McDonald's. She watches a grumpy Asher drink his coffee, and lowers her shake. "You must have gotten pretty wasted."
Lifting up his cup, Asher pauses. "Yes." His gaze shifts to her. "Were you really crying all night?" The idea, causing an odd feeling in his stomach he doesn't like.
Charlie's eyes turn down to her shake as she nods. "Do I need to worry about you being so wasted that you don't know who you were with or how you were with them?"
"I used condoms, I always do when not with you." Reaching out with one hand, he lightly touches her chin. "You're the only one I bareback, Charlotte."
"I know you intend to, but if you got messed up enough would you be able to tell?" Charlie leans into him, knowing that she's the one that put him in the position he was in last night. She flew off the handle, again, and sent him on another destructive path. She can feel the over emotional tears coming again, which just frustrates her more.
Putting his coffee down, Asher pulls her into him and slides his arm around her waist. "You're not responsible for my actions, and yes, I can, because I don't allow myself to get to that level of wasted."
Charlie's glossy gaze shifts up to him.
"Was it because me?" He runs a finger along her jawline. "From something I did?" Knowing it's likely, she was mad at him when they parted.
Charlie shrugs, not wanting to admit the real reason she was crying all night at Ryker's house.
"You're not going to hurt my feelings." Asher runs his fingers through her hair. "I don't have the kind you can hurt, besides my pride," he amends.
Charlie sighs, and sits up to look at him at eye level. "I was crying because Ryker gave me an orange shirt to wear to bed," she bursts into tears, "and it clashed with my hair." To emphasize, she tugs at the long red strands that are hanging over her shoulder.
"Should we burn the offensive shirt?" He raises a brow, fully intent to follow through. Mainly because it will annoy Ryker, but also because it might make her happy.
She shakes her, and wipes her cheeks. "It wasn't just that. That's just what started the chaos. I realized I left Mr. Snuggles at the base, and Miss Patty made me sleep on the couch. As I laid awake I realized that I still have to decide if I'm going to sing at that huge music festival or not. But I'm worried it'll piss my parents off and they won't give me parental consent to do it. It's a huge opportunity, and I could be letting everyone down."
Charlie hiccups from crying so hard. "You weren't there last night to make everything better," her sobs making it hard to understand her. "When I finally fell asleep, and woke up the next morning, I found the brownies. I just kept eating them, but I hate chocolate, and I started crying, because I just kept shoveling it in. And the fucking cherry on top is I had my damn period last night." One night periods aren't normal for her, but it's the only way she can explain why she's being so overly emotional.
Not seeing her logic Asher simply nods. "Do you want to go home, or would you rather go to the lair or my Foster's place?" The idea of offering it is still strange to him. He's still not used to where he's fostered being a safe place.
"I don't want to go home like this." She points to her tear streaked face. "Or have Joker and Grimm make fun of me." Resting her head on his shoulder, she lets out a sigh. "I guess your house."
Pulling out his phone Asher checks the time, knowing they'll need to catch a bus. "The next bus comes in thirty minutes." His gaze flops to her milkshake. "Do you need another?"
She shakes her head, and sips on what's left of the shake before disposing of it in the nearby receptacle.
Author's Notes:
Crazy chapter huh with Asher waking up from a foursome only to find out Charlie's losing her mind. I personally love some of his one-liners like asking if she's possessed by his sister Grimm.
Were there any lines that were your favorite?
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