Unknown Beauty | ✔️

Chapter Seven: Magical Malls

[Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring]
-Marilyn Monroe

By the end of the month, Fallon had accumulated three more hoodies, all with different designs and prints that she loved. It was miraculous what a little bit of shopping could do. She had also grown impossibly closer to Calbee, loving that she could be herself around her and that she was treated like an actual living person rather than an empty personality trapped in skin and bone.

Asher, however, was a lost cause, constantly prepared with a snarky remarks to knock back down Fallon's wall of confidence. Slipping one of her favourite hoodies which read 'I'm not short, I'm fun sized', Fallon hopped into a pair of jeans and headed out for the kitchen.

"Hey, Callie, did Asher already leave?" Fallon questioned, not bothering to look up to towards the kitchen island where Calbee was always sitting, busy cursing at her phone as she lost a life on Candy Crush.

Instead, Fallon wandered over to the cabinets that lined the tops of the countertops and grabbed the tin of hot chocolate powder, the sugar, and the Coffee Mate - hot chocolate was her go-to drink in the morning, "Cal-"

Turning around, Fallon poked the figure sitting at the table, noticing how Calbee looked unusually masculine today, with broad shoulders and an attire that she would never be caught wearing... and soon enough Fallon realised that as 'Calbee' turned around, she was completely and undeniably... not Calbee. It was Asher. Like a deer caught in headlights, Fallon yanked on her hood and spun around, heart thumping in her chest. She couldn't afford to keep slipping up like this, she was already too wary of the glances Asher would shoot her whenever she was near ever since having seen her face. Looks of disgust.

She was grateful that Calbee was kind enough not to, but she knew it would happen soon enough: she had exposed herself too much.

"I've seen your face before you know, stop hiding," Asher commenting, almost angry and his fist slammed down on the counter, the almost empty tin of Coffee Mate dropping onto its side and rolling towards the edge as eagerly as a log down a hill.

Fallon bumped her hip against the counter to stop it, trying to ignore the stampede of elephants trampling her heart over in her chest, "Sorry," she mumbled half-heartedly, pulling down her sleeves and letting the comforting warmth swallow her hands as well while she hurried to escape Asher's presence.

"Godammit, Fallon! Why are you so fucking scared of me? What did I ever do?" he exclaimed, and Fallon could have sworn a ghost of the wind billowed past her as he madly spun in her direction.

The ironic thing was, his swearing only wore down their current acquaintance status. Asher walked closer to her in his angered stupor and towered over her, trapping her against the counter.

Asher's POV

The fear flickered in her eyes like a candle as she cowered back, head bowed, but it only angered me more, "What the fuck did I do to you?!" I yelled unflinchingly, even as I could have sworn tears collected in her eyes.

I stopped yelling and stepped away, averting my gaze and crossing my arms. What was I doing? I was yelling at a girl I didn't give two shits about because she was scared of me? Wasn't it better if she was scared of me anyway? Before I could make a move to walk out myself, Fallon shoves past me to get to her room, the slam of her door echoing behind her.

"Ash?" the jingle of keys resonated off the walls in the corridor as Calbee, clad in a beige jacket and clutching several bags in her grip, looked up at me curiously, "Did I hear a door slam?"

"No," I snapped before darting out the kitchen and slamming my own room door shut in frustration.

~~~