"Makayla! Hurry up already!" Char yells from the living room.
I roll my eyes and sigh. I know I have been dragging my feet in getting ready, but after the unexpected delivery yesterday morning and a long day of classes, the last thing I want to do tonight is study with Asher. Who knows what a guy like Asher considers "studying" to be? It's bad enough in class today, he kept trying to get my attention, kicking the back of my chair repeatedly. The guy thrives off getting a rise out of me. I groan when I hear Char yell my name again and quickly slip on my sneakers. I do a once-over in my mirror before leaving. A white tank top and black leggings, with my hair down in my natural loose curls. I kept the makeup to a minimum because I sure as hell don't care about impressing anyone, especially Asher. Makeup is too expensive to waste. I grab my backpack by my desk and close my bedroom door on the way out. Walking into the living room, I see Char pacing back and forth impatiently, while Nina is lounging on the couch, flipping through her magazine. Char looks up when she sees me and sighs dramatically.
"Ugh, finally! What took you so long? Noah texted me asking if I wanted to hang out, and I don't want to be late. It's rude," she exclaims.
"Wait? You and Noah?" Nina looked up from the couch in shock. "What happened to Lucas? Did y'all break up? Can I finally bust out the champagne that Makayla and I have been saving for this very moment?" Nina started to look excited at the possibility of Lucas no longer being around. Can't say I blame her. After we met him for the first time months back, we have been patiently waiting for our friend to come to her senses and realize she can do better.
"No, not yet. I am going to break up with him today, but I've been a little nervous about it. You know how he can be? He's so manipulative, and I don't want to have him talk me out of it. Saturday was the breaking point. I was confiding in Noah, as a friend," she emphasized 'friend', while looking over at Nina, who put her hands up in mock-defense. "He offered to drive me to the pizza place right off campus to meet with Lucas. This way, if it goes badly, I have a getaway driver." Char tries to joke, but I can tell she is worried. Lucas has a hair-trigger temper, that there is no telling what could set him off.
"Are you sure you don't need one of us to come with? I have no problem blowing off Asher, especially if it means being there for you." I say, while walking over and throwing an arm over her shoulder in support. Nina nods in agreement with me from her comfy spot on the couch. Char shakes her head, before moving to grab her purse and keys.
"I'll be fine. This is something I need to handle myself. Like, I'm glad Noah is going to be there, but you guys hate Lucas. If things start to go south, I don't want it to become a full-blown argument, and pretty sure Nina would try and kick his ass." Char laughs.
"Very strong possibility. You're right, best I stay home in my sweats." Nina remarks, stretching out before curling up like a cat. I shake my head, grinning at my friends' antics, before turning towards Char.
"Well, if you're sure then?" I check one last time.
"Yes, I'm sure. Now, let's go! We are already running late." Char says, shooing us both out the door.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you late, Char. We can leave now, and if Noah asks why you're late, blame it on me." I reply.
"Oh! Don't worry. I already did. He said Asher always makes him late too, so he gets it. Another thing you two lovebirds have in common," she says, while smirking at me.
"It's like they are meant to be." Nina sarcastically remarks from the couch, still curled up in a ball. I glare at her. Char doesn't seem to pick up on the sarcasm and quickly agrees with Nina.
"Although, we can't count out Liam. He throws a curveball into my endgame." Char mentions.
Shit! I completely forgot to text Liam back yesterday. I guess I'll see him at the house later, so we can talk then.
"Alright, that's enough. Let's go before I change my mind." I say, grabbing my keys, as Char pulls me out of the door.
"Use protection!" I hear Nina shout before the door closes. I shake my head. I have the most annoying friends, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.
*************************************************
Char pulls up out front of the house, and I am dreading stepping out of the car. Char quickly jumps out and tells me to come on. I open my door and make sure to remember my backpack before slamming the door shut. I try to catch up to Char, but she is already at the front door, giving Noah a hug. Char has always had such a fun and bubbly personality, and she is very much a hugger. He seems surprised at her action at first but hugs her back instantly. As they hug, I notice the smile on his face. I make a mental note to ask her about her thoughts on Noah later. It's clear he seems interested, but I'm not too sure she is going to want to hop into a new relationship too quickly, especially after the toxic relationship she is about to make a break from. I make my way up the front steps, and Noah greets me.
"Hey Makayla! How's it going?" Noah asks me. I give him points for remembering my name. He's already a definite upgrade from Lucas.
"Hi Noah. I'm fine. I think I have almost recovered from Saturday night." I joke, as he and Char laugh.
"You're telling me. We just finished cleaning up the house an hour ago. Most of yesterday was spent in recovery mode. After every party, the guys always say we aren't throwing another for a while. And then what do you know? We throw another one the next weekend!" Noah jokes. I laugh as he steps out of the doorway, allowing Char and I to walk in. I catch Char's eye and give her a knowing look, glancing between her and Noah, so she'll catch my drift. She shakes her head, but the blush that starts to rise on her cheeks says otherwise.
I look around the house and barely recognize it from the other night. The guys must have done a shit ton of cleaning to make the place look livable again.
"So, I'm not sure where Asher is at the moment. Once we finished cleaning up, he told me he was gonna get ready since you were coming over, but that was an hour ago. The boy must really want to make a good impression." Noah says grinning. I ignore Char giving me a "I told you so" look.
Before I can even reply, we are interrupted by Asher yelling from upstairs.
"Noah!! Did you take my cologne?" Noah and Char both smirk in my direction, while I feel my face getting red in embarrassment from their staring.
"No! Why do you need it anyway?" Noah asks, shouting up to Asher. I hear footsteps, before Asher appears running down the stairs, still yelling at Noah.
"Dude, stop playing with me. You asked to borrow it earlier because you were going to be seeing Charlotte, and I really need it for...", Asher stops suddenly when he sees Char and me standing in the living room with Noah, whose face is red from either trying to hold his laughter in or blushing from Asher's comment about Char. Honestly, probably from both.
"No finish what you were gonna say. You need it for?" Noah asks, teasing him.
Asher looks over in my direction before glaring at Noah.
"I, um, might go out later, so I, uh, might need it. Just in case or whatever. Makayla. I didn't know you were already here," he says the last part looking at me. Well, I'll be damn. Who knew Asher Thomas could get all tongue tied on my account. This could be fun.
"And to think, I thought you were getting all dolled up for me." I sarcastically remark. Char and Noah laugh at my comment, as Asher glares at me.
"Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart. Anyways, we should head up to my room and start our project," he says, turning and heading back up the stairs. Nodding my head, I say a quick goodbye and good luck to Charlotte, who desperately tries to follow along. She starts protesting about wanting to spy on Asher and me, when really, I know she is trying to put off going to meet up with Lucas. Noah grabs her and pulls her back, shaking his head at her and laughing. I laugh to myself at my best friend's actions before heading up the stairs behind Asher. We walk past a few rooms until we get to the last door on the left.
"Makayla?" I turn around when I hear someone call my name. Memories from this past weekend start coming back to me, as I recognize Liam walking out of his room from across the hall towards me.
"Oh, hey Liam!" I say, while waving.
"I texted you yesterday. Maybe I have the wrong number, but I was hoping to hang out today. You know, get to know each other better." Liam says with a smile on his face.
"Right. Sorry, I meant to text back, but I sort of forgot. I would have loved to, but..." I start to say.
"But she's hanging with me. Sorry, bro. Maybe next time." Asher chimes in, completely interrupting me. Before I can protest, Asher pulls me into his room, slamming the door in Liam's face.
Shocked, I look over at him, as he gets comfortable on his bed.
"That was kind of rude." I say, crossing my arms over my chest.
"What? I was just letting him down easy for you," he says, shrugging.
"I wasn't gonna let him down easy, though." I say back.
"You weren't? Hmm. My bad," he replies. Deciding that it isn't worth the argument, I sit down at his desk chair and pull out my laptop, a notebook, and a pen.
"What are you doing? There's room on my bed for you to sit?" Asher asked, confused.
"Yeah, nice try. It's fine. I'm perfectly comfortable over here." I reply. No way am I sitting on his bed. Who knows when the last time he changed his sheets was? I shudder at the thought.
"What? Don't trust yourself to be so close to me?" Asher is smirking, once again. God, does this boy ever just smile?
"No, actually I don't trust you." I shoot back. He puts a hand over his heart, like my comment wounded him. I laugh at this before focusing on the matter at hand. You're here to study, Makayla.
"Okay. Let's just pick a cold case to research, and then we can call it a day!" I say.
"Aww, don't want to spend the night, babe," he asks, while pouting. My gaze goes to his lips when he does this before quickly snapping out of the trance. Focus Makayla! Stop it.
"Not even in your wildest dreams, Thomas." I reply while typing away on my computer.
"Oh, so we are going by our last names, now? Well, okay Davis, let's study then," he teases. We eventually fall into a comfortable silence, while we both look up several different cold cases in the state of North Carolina and other surrounding states. I'm in the middle of looking up a bank robbery that happened in a few counties over about two years ago, when Asher speaks up.
"Hey, check it out. I've been reading over this unsolved murder case for the last twenty minutes, and I think this would be perfect," he says. Asher pushes his laptop over to me. My mouth goes dry when I see which case he has picked out.
Of course, out of all the unsolved cases, he stumbles upon my mom's. I'm starting to think that someone out there in the universe is playing a sick joke on me.
"Um, I'm not sure if this is the kind of case we would want to research. I mean, I found a great unsolved bank robbery that would be just as good." I reason.
"Are you kidding? We just stumbled upon gold here. This case had local, state, and federal attention. The media was all over it too, so we could easily find old news reports dating back around that time," he argues.
"It just seems like a lot of hassle. Trying to find any leads for a murder is going to take forever." I shoot back.
"Oh, and a bank robbery is so much easier," he shoots back. "Sweetheart, Professor Lopez doesn't expect a couple of pre-law students to solve the impossible. We are simply researching a cold case, and offering our insight, so we might as well do a case that isn't boring as hell. Like, read this. 'On the night of December 3rd, 2018, local officers were called onto the scene of a presumed fatal car wreck. The victim, Macy Anderson-Davis, age 37, was not found at the crime scene. Her car was left abandoned, still running, with the driver's side door wide open. The car, a 2016 Buick Enclave, was completely totaled. Local police believe Macy's tires were shot at, causing her to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a tree nearby. Bullet casings were found near the scene of the accident. The amount of blood in the car, along with the 10 bullet shells recovered nearby, were enough to assume that she was killed, and then taken from the scene. Over half a decade later, the FBI and local police are still trying to wrap their heads about what really happened to Mrs. Anderson-Davis that fatal night.' They never found a body, Makayla! How do you not find this interesting?" he questions, completely confused.
My breathing gets heavier, as I feel like I am on the verge of a panic attack. I try to slow my breathing, not wanting to alarm Asher, but I can't. This cannot be happening. I attempt to do one of the breathing exercises that my therapist taught me to calm down.
"Hey. Wait. What's wrong? What did I do? Shit, are you okay? Makayla, breathe. What is happening?" he asks out of concern. I can't catch my breath long enough to answer him. My throat feels like it's restricting, and I feel as if I just ate a bunch of dry saltines; my mouth is so dry. I can't think straight.
"Hey, are you having a panic attack?" I barely nod my head at his question, but he must have caught on. He jumps off the bed and comes over to me at his desk. He kneels in front of me. "Okay, Makayla, close your eyes and breathe in as slowly, deeply and gently as you can, through your nose." I do what he says for the next few minutes. Asher coaches me on my breathing until I recover from the anxiety attack. I open my eyes when my breathing is starting to get under control, only to see Asher staring back at me with worry etched onto his face.
"Thanks. I think I'm okay. Sorry about that." I manage to speak. I haven't had a panic attack in ages, and the last time Char was with me to calm me down. As much as I hate that Asher saw me at such a weak point, I'm glad he was here to help me through it.
"Look, we don't have to do our research on this case. You don't have to talk about what just happened. We can just move on, and I won't mention this again," he reassures me. I look at him shocked. Who knew Asher could say something sweet without flirting?
"No, it's okay. We can research it. Besides, this won't be the first time I've investigated this case. It's fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine." I'm not sure who I'm trying to convince at this point.
"Can I ask without upsetting you? I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but was she-"
"She was my mom." I mumble, focusing on a random spot on the floor, instead of him kneeling in front of me.
"Makayla...damn. I'm so sorry. If I knew, I wouldn't have, I mean." Asher says, trying to find the right words.
I close my eyes, inhaling and exhaling one last time, before looking at him. Asher has a mix of worry and sadness all over his face as he looks at me.
"Why don't we do the bank robbery case? You're right. It's probably easier," he says. I look over at him again, and all I see now is pity.
"No. We can do my mom's. As long as we don't tell the class of the connection, it should be okay." I say. I don't want his pity. It's why only Nina and Char know what happened to my mom. When people hear your mother was murdered and that you had to bury an empty casket, it only brings pity and apologies. I know the go-to response when you hear tragic news is to apologize, but why? Their apology isn't going to bring her back. I'm tired of apologies.
"Are you sure?" he hesitantly asks.
"Yeah, I'm sure". He looks at me for a moment longer before nodding his head in agreement.
Of all the sheer damn luck.