Chapter 27

"I will be back before midnight." Maya assured me again for the thousandth times.

"But I want you to go to the party with me." I whined, knowing I was being childish.

"You have Asher, it's time to social Lau. Besides I am only going to visit my brother; who is two hours away. I will be back before you know it."

"You better come back tonight, and come to my house once you get back, then we can celebrate it right on midnight together, like how we always do."

"Of course Lau, just for you." She said solemnly, yet she bursted into laughter moments later; lightening the tensing atmosphere; making me laugh too.

"Yeah well have fun, but not too much without me!" I said to her.

She rolled her eyes, then she hugged me really tightly; I did the same, there was this foreboding feeling I just couldn't shake off.

Her parents honked, signaling that she needed to get in quickly.

"Safe trip!" I shouted after her.

She turned back and gave me that beaming smile of hers; her eyes crinkling and shining like a little kid, then she was in the car. And they were gone.

I sighed, I went back inside my house, there was still a whole day to kill before the party start and Asher to pick me up. I cannot believe I let Maya and Asher convinced me to go to a party. Again. The third of this semester.

Maya and I were hanging out as usual, as we always did every Saturday. Out of the blue, her parents called her and reminded her that she needed to visit her brother. Maya being the forgetful person she was, unsurprisingly forgot about it. So her parents drove to my house to pick her up to go to her brother's place.

I finished my remaining homework then began on a book I bought recently "Heartless". It was so good that I lost track of time. I realized it's 6:30 already and Asher was going to pick me up at 7.

I just finished the book and I wanted to just lay there and think about it. The ending was so sad, I just wanted to read fanfictions and not go out. Why did I even agree to go out? Urgh why am I doing this to myself.

I took a shower and changed into some cloths absentmindedly; still not fully in reality yet, still stuck in the book. Somehow, I managed to get dressed and out of my house to meet with Asher.

"Hey," he greeted me, "where is Maya?" He asked, looking behind my shoulder for her.

It took me a while to realized he asked me a question and I needed to reply, "Oh, she needs to visit her brother."

"But going to the party was her idea." He raised an eyebrows.

I shrugged, "Yeah, it was very sudden."

"Okay." He opened the car door for me. I got in and thanked him then we drove off to the party.

Once we arrived, all other irrelevant thoughts evaporated, the loud music had chased away all of it. I could taste the euphoria of partying on the tip of my tongue, a smile making its way onto my face.

Parties were no longer as awkward as it was before, I was even starting to enjoy it. Asher insisted on playing beer pong against me even when all the others warned him that he would definitely lose. Unsurprisingly, he lost. Afterwards, we went to get some drinks; he got a beer and I obviously got champagne. Casual conversation flowed between us easily. Random talks were the best.

Of course, someone must interrupted us and ruined the moment, "Asher! Asher Hunt, is that you?"

He tended up immediately from the voice and he turned towards the source, "Robert, it had been a long time."

"Yes it had been, heard that your brother finally got out, give him my regards." Robert said, his voice was deep, very deep liked the Grand Canyon, roughed and uneven.

He looked a lot older than us, but maybe it was because of the stubbles and heavy bags under his eyes. What was he doing here in this high schoolers' party?

"I will, thank you." He said politely, yet there was an undertone of coldness.

"Is this your new play toy? She doesn't seemed like your type." He looked over at my direction and I could finally see the color of his eyes, charcoal black but with silver around his iris.

Cocaine

I could feel goosebumps rising and I tensed up, I put on a neutral expression and looked dead into his eyes. Don't ever show fear, look into their eyes to show that you are not afraid.

"She is not." Now his voice was icy cold, with barely controlled fury.

"If you say so." He put his hands up as if surrendering, "Help me ask your brother will he continue."

"I will." He said rigidly.

"Will you join us?"

"No." All his answers were very short, I could tell his patience was running very thin.

"Come on, you wanted to when you were younger, now you are old enough. You can join us now and you don't want to?" He sneaked a glance at me and it didn't went unnoticed with Asher.

"I said no." He emphasized each word harshly. I wished I was anywhere but here, I felt liked I was intruding and listening to something I definitely shouldn't.

"Is it because of her?" His eyes rested on me curiously.

"It's none of your business." He was barely avoiding the question.

"Whatever, " He rolled his eyes, "I will talk to your brother soon. It was nice seeing you again."

Asher kept quiet.

Robert gave me one last glance and left us alone at last.

"Are you okay?" I asked him worriedly. The tension still hadn't leave his shoulders and his posture was rigid as a statue.

"I'm fine." He replied curtly, he opened another bottle of beer and chugged it down in minutes; he opened another and continued to gulp down it.

"Hey, hey stop!" I yanked the bottle away from him.

"Give it back." he gritted through his teeth, grabbing for the beer.

"No, stop, you cannot escape your problem by drinking it away. Maybe we should go back."

"But-" he started to protest, but I interrupted him, "No, we are going back and it's final."

Tensely, he nodded.

Slowly, we made our way towards the exit, pushing through crowds of drunk teenagers. I refused to let him drive since he had consumed a lot more alcohol than I had.

Why is every party I ever been to so eventful. All I wanted was to have one freaking normal party, is that too much to ask for?

"Can I go to your place?" He asked me, sounding surprisingly small and slurred.

"I don't know... my parents might be home and it would be... awkward?" I struggled to find the word to describe it. "Let me text them first."

One new message from mom:

Dad and I are out tonight, might come back very late. Hope you would be home before we would. Take care XO.

After scanning it quickly, I returned my eyes back on the road, "I think you can."

"Okay."

The rest of the way home was quiet.

Once we arrived, I texted my mom,

I am back home!

My fingers hovered over my phone's keyboard, should I tell them about Asher?

Before I could think too much, I shoved my phone into the back pocket of my jeans. We went up into my room; I changed into my PJs in the bathroom and when I went back into my room, Asher was sitting crossed leg on my bed.

"Do you think I am stupid?" Asher asked me when I came out, his cheeks were a little pink and his eyes were still glassy and unfocus.

"No, why will you think that?" I mirrored him, sitting a few feet opposite to him, my bed just big enough to fit the both of us comfortably.

"Because, all these years, I tried to follow my brother, being this 'bad boy' to try to get him to notice me and not hate me. But what was the point? I just ended up ruining myself and people around me." He sounded so honest, it was liked he was pouring his heart out; all bloody and raw. I was taken back that he would be this honest with me.

"I don't think you ruined yourself. You changed and that's important. People make mistakes all the time, what's important is that you know how to learn from it. Don't make the same mistakes twice. Yes, maybe you shouldn't have tried to follow your brother, but he was the only person you had. It is normal to follow him, you were only a child. Now you realized it was wrong and you changed. That's all that matters." I said firmly, I truly believed that he deserves a second chance. Didn't he already prove that he had change?

"Laura." He breathed my name. The way he said my name sent shivers down my spine and made me even more aware of our closeness - our knees were just a micrometer apart. When did we get so close?

He was gazing directly into my eyes, liked how one would stargaze. The air suddenly seemed very heavy. The whole atmosphere had this sudden layer of air -something I couldn't quite tell what it is- in it.

I was tongue-tied for some reason, all I could do was to stare in his eyes in return. Every time I looked into them it seemed to be a different shade of blue. Those ever-changing, captivating blue eyes; sometimes it seemed like a starless night sky, when it was under the sunlight it was a crystal clear ocean blue; when it was closed off it was like there were a sheen of ice over a window. Now it was the color of the night sky; the kind that artists tried so hard to capture, the ones where authors tried so hard to describe in books. The kind of blue that normally seemed to be hiding something, but today it was like a gateway to his soul.

"-you." Asher finished.

Wait what did he say? Oh shuck I shouldn't have been thinking about his eyes. But it is really pretty like I bet it's the color of Will's eyes. Now I get why people like blue eyes so much. They are just so-

"It's alright if you don't feel the same." He said suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts, "We can pretend I never said that."

"What?" I asked super confused, okay okay, focus Laura!

His cheeks turned just the slightest pink, awww is he blushing, so cute. "I'm sorry."

"Wait, what, what? I'm so sorry I actually didn't hear what you said at all I was thinking about- about something." I said embarrassingly.

He stared at me, closed his eyes and took a deep breathe. I heard him muttered under his breathe, "Are you freaking kidding me."

"I'm so sorry, can you please repeat? You know how I am sometimes and you know the alcohol makes me daydream and think and-" I rambled on.

He cut me off impatiently, "I said I like you. I like you a lot, Laura Clark."