The Girl he Wants

59- The One in the Leather.

Recap: Asher broke Pete's fingers like he said he would. Natalie gets Elizabeth worried about having to change herself for Asher, but Asher reassures her that he loves her just the way she is. 

***NATALIE'S P.O.V***

   Natalie drops off all the clothes she thought about trying on because she knows Mr. Gaz wants to leave the building soon. Then, she swiftly glides across the large shop until she finds Ruth standing by the dressing rooms, waiting patiently for Elizabeth to exit one of them. 

   They stand there for a while, and Natalie is about to strike up a conversation when the dressing room door closest to them swings open, and Elizabeth steps out. Natalie had expected her to walk out with a handful of clothes that she isn't going to buy, but instead, she struts out with Asher's hand in hers. 

   Natalie has to admit, she would never have guessed that Asher was in the dressing room with her. She's sure her surprise is displayed on her face as Elizabeth and Asher stride over to them. If she was to go back to the first day of school and she was to see Asher and Elizabeth going throughout their days separately, she never would have imagined them being together. 

   Now, holding hands and smiling brightly, Natalie couldn't imagine them being happier apart. 

   "Okay, okay. I was wrong, Elizabeth." Natalie throws her hands up in defeat. "You can stop smiling like a mad person now."

***HANES'S P.O.V***THE NEXT DAY***

   Hanes grabs his sister's luggage from the airport's conveyor belt and sets it down beside her. After she thanks him and pats his shoulder, she turns and she makes a squealing noise that has him tensing so hard. Confusion vibrates inside his body as he watches her take off, but when he sees that his mother and father are who she is making a bee line for, Hanes's shoulders relax. 

   Hanes places a smile on his face and walks over to his parents, trying to be the more behaved kid in the family. Sam definitely isn't because he jogged over to their parents almost as quickly as Elizabeth, only he rammed into their father instead of their mother. 

   Hanes's hazel eyes scan their parents; they are such a sight for sore eyes. His father's dark blue eyes are alight with happiness and excitement, twinkling in the bright lights of the airport through his glasses. Her mother's hazel eyes are just as dazzling, but hers share worry as she asks tons of questions to them. "How was it? What happened? What did you guys see? What did you guys do? I want to know everything."

   "Oh, it was amazing." Sam is the one to respond. His smile and the crinkle of his eyes are genuine, but Hanes knows his brother is lying and covering for all of them. Of course, the trip was amazing, but only at some parts. Not the part when Elizabeth passed out, not the part when Finn nearly died in the pool, and definitely not the part when Jay got stabbed and Hanes and Asher got arrested. No, definitely not those parts. "We saw so much and did so many things."

   "Did you get any souvenirs?" Their father asks, and Hanes proudly speaks up. 

   "Actually, yeah. I got you something at one of the stores we went to." Hanes happily grins. From his carry-on, he drags out a cap that has "I <3 NYC" displayed on the front of it.  "Thought you would like it."

   Their father has a million hats, and he proudly takes off the one he wears at the moment to switch it out with the new one he snatches from Hanes. "Boy, come here." Hanes can't escape his father's grasp in time and is brought into a tight bear hug where he can't breathe and where he gets multiple hard pats on the back. "I've missed my troublemakers."

   "We've missed you, too." Hanes truthfully replies although he doesn't know how he is able to because he currently has no air in his lungs and isn't able to breathe in anymore. He can only stand the hug for a few more moments before he mutters, "Dad, I can't breathe."