A Year In Fort Lauderdale

Avoiding the Past

Chapter Ten

My alarm goes off, making me jump. I groan as I grab my phone off the side table and finally hit the end button after hitting snooze five times. Asher and I played video games until two in the morning, and since we couldn't play Super Smash Bros. without getting bored, we ended up playing other ones which made me turn into the loser. 

I sit up in my bed and stretch, my right shoulder popping. I hop out of bed and throw on an oversized sweatshirt, then head down to the kitchen to get breakfast. I pour two bowls of cereal, grab two spoons, and a gallon of milk, heading back upstairs. I push open Asher's door and set the bowls of cereal on one of his side tables.

"Rise and shine!" I exclaim, throwing open the curtains covering his window. He groans and buries his head beneath his pillow. 

"Why are you like this?" He grumbles from underneath the pillow. 

I grab a bowl and pour the milk in it and grab a spoon. "Like what? Awesome? The best caregiver out there?" I sit down on his bed, folding my legs in front of me. "Come on, you've got some medicine due that you need to take with some food in your system."

He turns around, looking at me. His green eyes are tired and squinting, and his brown hair is disheveled. "It's too early for this."

"It's almost two in the afternoon." 

"Yeah, like I said, too early." He sits up and runs a hand through his hair, making it stick up even more. I suppress a smile. He looks over at me, his eyes still squinting. "Who's sweatshirt is that?" He pulls lightly on one of the strings on the front, making them uneven.

I look down at the light grey Nike hoodie. "It was my brother's."

He furrows his eyebrows. "Do you steal all his clothes or something? I thought girls only did that with their boyfriends?"

"He didn't need them anymore, and I'm not gonna pass up keeping them." I explain, taking another bite of my cereal. "Enough questions. Eat so I can give you your pills."

"Fine," he mutters as he grabs the other bowl of cereal and pours in the milk. "How'd you know my favorite cereal?" He asks after taking a bite.

I look up at him. "I didn't. This is my favorite cereal." I finish my bowl and set it on the table, then head into the bathroom to get his pills. 

My phone buzzes with a text from Christian.

Can't wait to see you tonight, it feels like forever ;)

I smirk and put my phone back in the front pocket of my hoodie and walk back into Asher's room. He's sitting on the edge of the bed, the empty bowl sitting on the table beside the bed. 

After taking the pills, he looks up at me. "You're gonna hate me for this, but I really need to shower."

"Of course you do." I walk back into the bathroom and open the door to the shared shower. I grab the shower chair out of the closet and place it in the shower, also getting out a towel and a washcloth for him. Walking back out to the bedroom, I go to his closet. "Alrighty, what clothes would you like to wear?"

"The dark grey sweats in the second drawer and the University of Florida shirt." 

"You have a Washington State University shirt?" I ask as I notice it handing up amongst many other college t-shirts while looking for the shirt he wants. "Are you thinking of going to college there?"

"I got that sent to me for free from some scouts a little while ago," he explains. "My mom would probably kill me if I went that far for school."

"She's very protective, that's for sure."