A Year In Fort Lauderdale

Spaghetti Madness and Soaking Up Sun

Chapter Four

"How did cheer tryouts go?" Aunt Jenny asks as she scoops a glob of spaghetti onto my plate. I look down at the mess of noodles covered in red sauce and the giant meatballs that sit on top of it.

Cas begins to spin her fork around, gathering a glob of noodles on it. "They went really well; Teegan is a natural," she says then shoves the fork of noodles into her mouth, some of them still sticking out. I suppress my smile.

"She's lying, I did terrible," I say while poking at one of my meatballs.

Cas slurps the spaghetti into her mouth, the sauce creating speckles on her chin. "Whatever. You did great." She assures. "I would tell you if you sucked."

Jenny finally sits and lays her napkin across her lap. "That's true," she says to me.

"Plus, Adrianna would have told me if you sucked too but she said she was so happy you were trying out," Cas continues. "If you think I'm brutally honest, Adrianna is even worse."

"Okay, okay, fine." We all continue to eat, with Cas adding things about her day and Jenny giving small comments every once in a while. It's just like a family dinner. I haven't had one of these for a long time, and that's part of the reason I'm in Florida in the first place.

Once dinner is over, I head to my room to shower and crawl into my bed. I glance at my phone before ignoring the string of notifications that pop up and roll onto my side to look out the window.

Suddenly, I see a silhouette of someone hop the fence and land hard onto the grass. Without thinking it through, I grab my large math textbook and use my sliding glass door to race out into the yard.

The person on the grass groans and twists, obviously in pain from the fall from the fence. I lift the book above my head and run over to the figure in the grass, preparing to throw my book at the person.

I begin to build up the courage to throw it when the person turns and looks up at me. "Whoa, whoa, chill out!" He puts his hands up in front of his face but I can still see clearly who it is. His brown hair is messy and his green eyes seem to glow even in the dark.

"Asher!" I exclaim as I lower the book. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh. . ." He's at a loss for words and runs one of his hands through his hair nervously as he stares at me.

I'm suddenly aware that I'm wearing a large shirt with no shorts on, just my underwear. I hold the book in front of myself and hope that my cheeks aren't too red from embarrassment. "Hey," I demand, causing his beautiful eyes to snap up to mine. "What are you doing here? Start talking before I scream."

He stands and stares at my shirt for a few moments longer. "That's a guy's shirt; your boyfriend's?"

I look down at the dark grey shirt that has a very faded Star Wars logo on the front. "It was my brother's," I say quietly while still looking down at the shirt. I look back up at him. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"Hopped the fence," he says simply with a shrug. "I'm grounded but I got bored so I was planning to go to Jacob's and I just happened to land here."

My eyebrows draw together and I stare at him. "Okay well thanks for dropping by and scaring me?"

"Thanks for almost hitting me with a math book?"

I suppress my smile. "Anytime." He smiles, his teeth stark white against his tan skin.

He walks away towards the street and looks back before he has to hop the front fence to get to the front of the house.

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