Twenty Layers

~Insanely hard~

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We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone~Unknown
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3.Insanely Hard

"Dinner! Get your butts in here!" Ah the polite way my Nonna calls us for dinner.

I slap my knees and stand up, holding my hand out to Asher.

He makes a whole show out of putting his hands on the couch and pulling himself up without my help.

"Okay, I'm trying to be nice here but you make it insanely hard." He stifles a laugh at this and I whack his arm.

"Ugh, I hate boys."

"Seems like you two have hit it off." Lisa smiles and stabs her fork into the turkey.

Asher grunts in reply and takes a sip of his coke.

"Well, we talked for five minutes..." And then we sat silently and watched the lion king, both of us covering our eyes when Mufasa dies. I shamelessly held a pillow to my face but Asher-being the man he is-turned his head and pulled his hoodie down a little. It was an action so subtle yet so obvious.

"That's...something." Nonna offers me some more food which I politely decline before we all fall into a comfortable silence...ruined by my cellphone.

I pull my phone from my pocket and shake my head. "No, no, no. Why? God why?!"

"Answer or decline it before I break your stupid phone!" Asher snaps.

I scowl at him before answering. "Hey..."

"Hey babe! What's up?" His voice comes through the receiver and I squeeze my eyes shut at how high it is.

"Chase, I'm having dinner."

"And? I'm more important." He cockily adds.

I suddenly feel a pea fly into my forehead.

"Hey!" I grab one of my carrots at launch it back at Asher who grumbles before picking up another pea and using his spoon as a catapult to launch it at me.

"Asher I swear–"

"Asher? Cleo who the hell is Asher?!" I curse myself and try to think of a reply but my thoughts are cut short when my cellphone is ripped from my hands.

"Me, I'm Asher." I scoot closer to him to try and hear Chase's reply.

"You're the weird kid right?" He called Asher weird? Oh hell no.

I snatch my phone back.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" My eyes trail back to my food and I remember that I'm actually sitting here with guests at the table.

I quickly end the phone call and feel my face turning as red as a slapped butt.

"I'm so sorry."

All three adults wave me off. "Don't worry, it was quite entertaining." Bruno laughs.

"Well I–" I look down at the carrot that just hit me in the chest and remember what I was doing In the first place.

I look up at Asher who tilts his head to the side as if he hadn't done a thing.

"Bleh, stop it." Aj pretends to gag.

"Stop what?"

Asher suddenly slaps a hand over Aj's mouth. "Shut up, twerp."

Nonna smiles as if she had been told a joke that no one else was involved in and then winks at me. Okay what was that for? Nonna never winks, well I've never seen her wink and to be honest I never want to see it again.

After we all finish eating I get out of my seat and start collecting the empty plates and cups while everyone makes their way into the garden. Well, not everyone.

"You want this?" I reach for the cup from Ashers hand a second time and moan as he raises the cup even higher.

"Asher just give it to me!" He laughs as he doges my grasp another time.

"Fine." Time to play him.

He lowers the cup a little. "You're giving up?"

I nod. "Yup, you win."

He lowers it even more. "But I–"

I then snatch it out of his hands and throw the blue plastic cup into the sink with a smirk. "Thanks Asher."

"Did you just play me?" He pouts adorably and I go to pat his cheek but he grabs my arm before I can.

"Don't touch me."

"Fine I won't but I have a question." I quickly rinse of the cup before placing it into the dishwasher.

"Do I have to tell the truth when I answer it?" I roll my eyes.

"Of course, you've been at my house for five hours and you haven't took your hood off since you removed your headphones. Why?"

"I don't want to make giddy people like you sad, that's why I keep my hood up." He turns his head away from me.

"But–but that doesn't make sense. How do you make people sad?" I wipe my hands of with a hand towel and sit down on one of the stools near the counter.

He huffs. "I don't know if you've noticed but in a group all of the people act the same. If I greet you with a smile then you'd most likely smile back, it's how life works. But I don't greet people with kind smiles, I've lost my only reason to smile. I throw glares because that's all I'm capable of now."

Bruno then peaks his head around the door. "We're going now, say your goodbyes."

"See ya, cupcake." Asher takes his hood down once more, flashing me his sad blue eyes while putting his headphones on his ears before throwing the dark hood back up again.

"Bye Asher."