The Girl he Wants

16- Look Out!

Wednesday morning breezes past. Before Elizabeth knows it, she is plopping down at the lunch table with all of her friends. The girls sit on one side, the boys on the other, Asher sitting directly across from Elizabeth. Jay is seated to his right, Sebastian to his left, and Finn situated beside Sebastian.

    Elizabeth chomps on her ham sandwich, pondering when she might go to the mall again before Monday, the day they leave for the trip. When she, Tess, and Ruth went yesterday, they didn't get a chance to shop. Maybe they'll get another chance in the near-future.

   "So, what should we wear to your party this Friday?" Elizabeth asks Asher, her blue eyes curious as they meet his pale ones. "Casual? Dresses?"

   "Um..." Asher goes quiet, and suddenly Elizabeth wonders if she said something wrong. Asher's back tightens, his jaw works, and by the confused looks on everyone else's faces, they notice the same things. "I don't think you should go to the party this Friday."

   Elizabeth nearly chokes on her food. "Come again?"

   Asher's eyes drop to the table, avoiding her gaze. "I don't want you to come to my party this Friday, okay?"

   Elizabeth, feeling her insides turn to mush, frowns and says, "Why?" Did he not like their kiss?! He was the one that pulled her close and didn't let go, not her. Did she make him uncomfortable or something?

   "Because I just don't want you to, okay?" Asher barks at her, his tone rising an octave. Elizabeth is the only one out of the entire group, at that moment, to notice the hurt and regret shining in his pale blue eyes.

   She doesn't get the chance to ask him why he would say something rude like that to her if he regrets it, because he rises from his seat and leaves the group. In utter shock, Elizabeth's stinging eyes follow him toward the entrance of the lunchroom.

   And that's when she jumps up from her seat.

   "Elizabeth-" Ruth tries to stop her, but Elizabeth is already on her feet and running after Asher.

   Under her breath, she mumbles, "This doesn't make sense." There's no way Asher would kick her to the curb like this. He has no reason to, right?

   Elizabeth weaves around people, nearly tripping over her own feet, and finally finds Asher trudging down the hallway. "Asher! Wait!"

   Asher turns, and his sad eyes spark with a light Elizabeth can only think to be happiness. "Elizabeth?"

   "Asher." Elizabeth says to him, finally coming to a halt in front of him. "Why don't you want me going to your party? Do I make you uncomfortable? Am I a bad kisser or something? Do-"

   "What?" Asher's thick eyebrows shoot up as he turns and grips Elizabeth's shoulders. "No, you don't make me uncomfortable." He chuckles. "And you especially aren't a bad kisser."

   Blush surfaces on Elizabeth's small cheeks, but confusion is still present in the blue of her sparkling eyes. "Then, why?"

As it clicks in her mind, she nearly loses it. "Oh my God... Did my brothers set you up?"

   Asher's face contorts to a grimace and his hands fall to his sides. "No."

   Elizabeth frowns, unconvinced. "They did this. Wow. Those two devious twins..."

   Asher doesn't defend them. Elizabeth doesn't blame him. They probably threatened him in one way or another. They can't help it, really. The two of them have done the same thing to her boyfriends-to-be before. They like messing with Elizabeth's life, it seems like.