Page 72 of Fireworks

A smirk was slowly breaking through her face. Asher grabbed the remote leaning back.

“Totally up to you could probably sell her collection and pay for the rest of your schooling.”

Shaking her head, she peered over her book for a second, looking at her brother.

“You know you two are real assholes and to think I had this crazy idea, things changed between us, bro.”

He leaned into her, grabbing her, knocking her towards his arms as he hugged her.

“They have. I don’t completely despise you being on my couch reading. I might even trust you with a secret I haven’t even told Nate yet.”

“What the fuck, dude? You don’t tell her shit first.”

What the hell was he going to tell her before me?

“Relax, she has to promise she won’t say a single word to mom and dad before I even think about talking about it.”

She straightened herself on the couch, putting her book down in her lap, looking intrigued because her brother was finally going to let her into our secret club.

“Swear on my entire book collection, but it better not be something stupid.”

He shifted on the couch to be closer to her as he leaned in, cupping his hand over her ear. Watching her face, her mouth dropped open as her eyes got wide.

“You’re joking, right? You can’t be serious.”

Moving back away from her, a smirk over his face, he shook his head.

“Hand to God. You need to keep your mouth shut and you know exactly why.”

Looking back and forth between them, I waited to see which one was going to let me in on what was going on. Damn, now I knew what it felt like to be her all those years on the outside of our friendship, never being a part of our jokes or secrets. This sucked.

*****

Katie

Asher’s words were low. I almost had to ask him to repeat it because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It wasn’t unlike him to make quick decisions, especially big ones. This was not something I thought I would ever hear come out of his mouth.

He had been dating Bridget since Christmas. She was also moving down to live with him. I had never seen him date anyone for more than a few weeks before he was over it and looking for someone new. Something so permanent took me by surprise. What was even more shocking was that he could keep a secret. Currently, she was staying in a hotel until we left so that our parents wouldn’t know. They would never approve of us living with someone unless we were married first.

“Okay, I have a million questions right now. How did this come about?”

Turning my body to face him, I needed more details about this entire situation.

“Hello, I'm still sitting here. When did what come about?”

Nate sat staring at both of us, not having any idea what we were talking about.

“We just started talking and hit it off, I guess. I don’t know.”

“Okay, but how do you go from talking to this?”

Nate huffed loud enough that we both looked over laughing at his aggravation. Asher took a deep breath in before he explained that at Christmas she had randomly texted him, wishing him a happy holiday. Since he was in town, he went down to the bar she worked at, and they started talking.

When he got back here, they stayed in touch and he told her anytime she wanted to come down, she was more than welcome to. He surprised her and showed up at her place on Valentine’s Day. They had been making trips to see one another ever since then. Her lease was up on her apartment in a few weeks, so he told her let it run out and move in with him. She told him she needed some time to think, but then she finally agreed. He was over the moon about it.

Nate sat with his mouth open the entire time he spoke.

“How the hell did both of you keep that from me? She kept acting like nothing was going on. You friggin lied you told me…”

Asher quickly cut him off, holding his hands up in his defense.

“Well, not really. I mean, I lied aboutwhenall of what I told you happened, but I had good reason. I didn’t want you slipping up and telling my parents she was here. Especially since she’s at the same hotel as them. You know how hard it is to sneak out of a hotel and not get caught?”

I stifled a laugh. Actually, he knew exactly how hard it was. He had been coming to my room each night under the pretense of being a random hook-up. They were lucky they hadn’t run into one another in the elevator the past few mornings.

“I’m thrilled for you, Asher. Just don’t screw it up.”

I waited to see if Nate was going to say anything about what had happened between us, but he just sat there quietly, not confessing to anything.The knot that always formed in my stomach around him slowly wound itself up again.