Page 77 of Guitars and Cages

“Why would I mind? I enjoyed myself today. I might not know a lot about art, but I do enjoy looking at it.”

“With the way you used to complain about having to take art in school, I’m surprised you enjoyed it.”

“I only complained because I sucked at it. The teachers would say ‘Draw the skyline in perspective,’ and mine would look like someone had dropped a bomb on it.”

We shared a laugh at that.

“I remember those drawings—they were pretty bad.”

“Yeah, well, it was bad enough that I sucked at damn near all my classes but shop and music; I didn’t need the headache of failing my art classes, too.”

“I remember how much you hated school.”

“God, school sucked. Especially high school. The old man always said there was no cure for stupid. Failing all those classes just proved how right he was.”

“Knock it off, Asher. You were never stupid; you just weren’t very good at all the reading and writing papers and stuff.”

“Which equates to stupid.”

“No, that’s the old man talking. As far as I’m concerned, there wasn’t a goddamned thing he ever said to any of us that was worth listening to unless it was on how to care for the animals.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

I stared out the window as she drove, wishing it was as easy for me to dismiss the old man’s words as it was for her. By the time we got to the diner, I wasn’t in a very good mood anymore. Somehow, Rory seemed to sense it, and gave me a huge hug after I’d opened the door for him. I ruffled his hair, and he stuck his tongue out at me before trying to fix it. As soon as he was done, I messed it up again. He blew a raspberry at me, and then hid behind Alexia when I went to tickle him.

The place was crowded; it was gonna take forever to get food. I leaned down to Rory and tapped him on the shoulder. “Know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think we should have dessert first.”

“Yay!”

Alexia looked at me, mouth hanging open a bit. “He won’t want to eat his lunch if you let him do that.”

“Maybe, but it’s just this once. Besides, look at this place. By the time the food comes, he’ll prolly be hungry again.”

Alexia looked around, prepared to protest; I could tell by the look in her eyes. Finally her shoulders slumped and she threw up her hands. “Fine, we can have dessert first.”

“Yay!” Rory and I cheered together, laughing as people looked our way. Alexia fixed us both with a warning look to behave, and I grinned sheepishly and then nudged Rory, pointing to a photo of something called a Piggy Special. It was a heaping dish of ice cream with all kinds of toppings and candy bits.

“We should get one,” I whispered in a low, conspiratorial tone.

“Get one of what?” Alexia asked. I glanced over and noticed she was keeping a close eye on both of us. “Asher, what are you trying to convince him to do?”

I grinned and pointed up at the Piggy Special.

“Oh, no. Oh, come on, Asher, you guys will be bouncing off the walls if you eat all that.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Maybe, or maybe you can help us eat it.”

“Ewww, no way. Do you know how many calories are in that?”

“Tons, which is why it will taste awesome. Besides, we won’t be bouncing off the walls, we’ll be bouncing around the go-kart track ’cause that’s where we’re going next.”

Rory perked up. “We’re gonna race go-karts?”

“Yup.”