Asher Banning still mourns his mother after three years. When his friend, Caden, decides to get their group of friends together for Christmas as a way to help Asher not feel lonely for the holidays, things quickly turn upside down.
MATURE: for expl...
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"You're goin' with Nick?" I turned away from my bedroom window. Freyja stood in the doorway. She walked closer, then shut the door behind her.
I nodded.
"Why?" She snorted. "I mean, you suck at doing things like that, what makes you think you can—"
"Because I don't have a choice." I wasn't expecting that to come out, but there it was. Word vomit. Or was it sentence vomit?
She squinted as the massive fake eyelashes got in the way of her eyes, so it looked like they were fully closed. She shook her head. "You do have a choice, you know that, right?"
"I thought I did, too. But then again, I'm not doing anything to . . . to contribute."
"What the fuck are you talkin' about?" Her voice wasn't angry. Only concerned and confused.
"Come. Look outside." I waved my hand over toward the window. She did, staring down at the front yard with the two cars and the blown-up pieces of what used to be a car. "What do you see?"
"Abigale and Piper trying to fix the cars?"
"Exactly!"
She shook her head, her eyes now meeting mine. "I don't follow."
"They're trying to be helpful."
"And?"
"So, what am I doing? Nothing. I need to be out there, being helpful!" I didn't know how "helpful" I needed to be, or in what way. It was something I wished I had known about, especially if Caden thought I wasn't. Or had I been thinking of it all wrong? Was I being self-critical?
"Have you lost your mind? Should I help you look for it?"
"Ugh, never mind. You don't get it." I shook my head, walking over to the bed to sit down.
"What am I supposed to get, Ash?" Freyja crossed her arms. Her lips curved into a frown, and I wondered if I should've kept my mouth shut. Even if I was doing nothing to contribute, why would it matter now? It would've been easier if I could've shrugged it off, if I moved on with my life and not overthink through everything everyone said.
I looked down. She stepped closer to me, kneeling on the floor so her curious gaze met mine. "Caden said I haven't been doing anything to help the situation."
"Then fuck Caden. Forget about what he said, he's not very helpful either. He's nothing more than a judgmental jock who lays around and complains. Come to think of it, he's more of a wuss than anyone else here. Why're you so caught up in that?"
My eyes trailed toward the wall, looking at its white paint which needed touching up. "I don't know. I've been trying to figure out who the hell is doing this to us."
