Even Through the Storm

39. Promise

 Two hours later, Linda, Nicky, Asher, Ms, Reynolds, Peter, Dri, my family, and I, along with a few others, are all at my house celebrating the verdict. Even though we won, I don't feel good knowing that my friend and her mom are now in pain. Nicky, Asher, and I are in Ash's room-away-from-home, aka my basement, eating cake. "Okay," I say. "We are going to stop feeling bad now and say one bad thing, and three, that's right, three good things about this. I'll go first. And no repeats! So, we put a man in jail, bad, but he burnt down an innocent family's house, left a mother and her infant son for dead, and then beat that mother until she was unconscious. Asher, your turn."

"Lo, I don't want..."

"Asher! Your turn."

"Ugh, fine. We took a harmful man off the streets, we, I can't do this."

"Okay, just one good then."

"Fine, but we now hurt another innocent family, this time, one that has three little kids."

"That was two bad!"

"That was one!"

"One in a half at least, but still too much! Nick, your turn."

"We locked away the man that hurt someone I care about, but I also care about that man. But, he hurt them multiple times."

"Good, She did two."

"One and a half."

"Two!" Linda comes down the stairs.

"Asher, Nicky, your brothers and sister are here." Ash, Nicky, and I sprint past her and hug the kids when we see them.

"Wait, Ash, we can finally have that playdate we were talking about!" Ash pushes me backwards jokingly. "Ash!" He kisses the top of my head.

"Sorry, babe. Not really." I hit his arm.

"Ash!" He laughs.

"Boys!" Ash yells to my brothers. "Come here!" They walk over. Noah has a popsicle in his hand. "Jake, Lucas, Lia. Meet Liam, Ryan, and Noah. Noah, can you go show my sister some of your toys?" Lia grabs the popsicle out of Noah's hand. Some of it drops onto the carpet.

"Race ya'," she says running up the stairs, the popsicle still dripping down her hand. Noah chases after her.

"Boys," I say. "Wanna' play Plumber Brothers? I have the new one!"

"Yeah!" They all say in unison, including my boyfriend.

"Not you Ash, four players only, remember?"

"So? The twins can count as one?" I slap his arm and set up the game.

"Who's that boy over there?" Nicole asks, pointing to Peter. "He's kinda cute!" Ash and I burst out into laughter. Peter looks over at us.

"I, I'm sorry," Asher manages to say. "But that's Peter. He's my best friend. And I have never heard anyone say that about him. Ever." Peter walks over to us.

"Um, excuse me?" He asks.

"Really? Tell me if I'm wrong."

"Okay, you're not. Who's this?"

"This," I say. "Is Ash's sister Nicole. Nicky, this is our friend, Peter."

"Hi, Nicky, nice to meet you. Can I get you some soda or something?"

"Sure."

"Great, come this way." They leave toward the kitchen and Ash and I burst out laughing again.

"So," Ash says when we're sitting back down on the bed. "Do you know who that girl Dri was with is?"

"Yeah," I say. "That's Leo, or Leona if you want to be all fancy. Apparently, Dri's had a crush on her for a while now but was all freaked out 'cause she had a boyfriend. Turns out though that her and Ricky are just really good friends."

"Wow. Happy ending for everyone, huh?"

"Yep."

"Hey, um, Lo?"

"Yeah?"

"I've wanted to give you this for a while now, but couldn't find the time." Asher pulls out a small box. I gasp. He opens it. It's a ring. "It's just a promise ring. And I know that sounds cheesy, but I love you."

"Asher..."

"It's just from Roxie's, but..."

"Ash, I love it, thank you." We kiss.