Asher Steele rolls his eyes for the fifth time in as many minutes. His friends seem to be acting even more childish today than usual and it is bugging the hell out of him. Normally he does not mind when they act like morons because he can just retreat into his own world and ignore it but for some reason today, he can not seem to get past it.
“Tyler, man, that is-” Thomas says to the guy who just told everyone a story about how over the weekend when he was visiting his patents back at home how his dad caught his younger sister giving her female best friend 'special attention' under the covers at a sleepover party.
Dani sits in the floor at the foot of Asher's bed since he sat in the chair by the window. There was no way in hell that Dani was going to sit on his bed. The damn bed that he sleeps in every night. “The Revolutionary War was from April nineteenth seventeen seventy-five to September third, seventeen eighty-three. It was also called the American War of Independance.” Asher tells her and she nods, writing it down. “Basically it was a war fought because the British Americans in the thirteen colonies wanted to get
Dani sits in the floor at the foot of Asher's bed since he sat in the chair by the window. There was no way in hell that Dani was going to sit on his bed. The damn bed that he sleeps in every night. “The Revolutionary War was from April nineteenth seventeen seventy-five to September third, seventeen eighty-three. It was also called the American War of Independance.” Asher tells her and she nods, writing it down. “Basically it was a war fought because the British Americans in the thirteen colonies wanted to get
Asher sits at a lunch table with his friends, but once again he is seriously annoyed by them. Tyler is still pouting because of what Asher said yesterday. James and Elliot are pissed at each other for some stupid reason and Thomas is blathering on like an idiot about shit that no one cares about in the hopes of getting everyone out of their bad mood. He wants everyone to talk and get alog, but today is just not the day for it. Asher has the beginnings of a head ache and the sound of Thomas's voice droning on and on is making it worse by the second. When he sees Danny walk into the room, he stands up from his seat and moves over tow
Asher watches Danny watch his friends. This is the second time that they have hung out with them and he gets the impression that Danny does not really like them. Not that he really blames him. They can be pretty annoying at times. Hell, sometimes he has a hard time even liking them. Especially Tyler, who he notices that Danny really seems to dislike. But he never says a word about it. He will talk (kind of) and he laughs at jokes. He answers any questions asked of him and sometimes he asks questions back when they are talking
Dani followed behind Asher as he carried the bags up the stairs to their rooms. Dani was going to get them but he stopped her by grabbing them before she could. That leaves her to carry the pizza that they bought while they were out, since they knew that they would miss evening meal. Even if they did get back in time, they did not want to waste the time in having to go get it, eat it and then take the plates back. It was easier to just get a pizza that they could eat in the room and not have to leave. “Can we do this in your room tonight?” Asher asks her suddenly and she freezes.
The next day, Dani knows that she really needs to talk to Asher and set everything straight with him. But she can not find him all day. He does not come to eat breakfast with her, or lunch for that matter. She figures that he is probably avoiding her, since he is upset about last night and the new discovery that he thinks he made about himself. He thinks that he is gay. He is not actually gay for her but he does not know that. It is a complicated situation, but if she could just talk to him then she could fix it and make it all better. But in order to talk to him, she would have to be able to find him and that is apparently far easier said than done.
Dani spends a restless night tossing and turning as she replays his parting words in her mind. She was telling him the truth when she told him that she had never intended to hurt anyone with her charade. She had not seen the harm in it, but she also probably had not given it the thought that it deserved. She had merely thought that she was just pretending to be a guy but that no one would find out. In her despertion to flee the embarrassment looming ahead of her in New York, she had not fully thought through the repercussions of her actions. She did not take into account that she would be lying to literally everyone.
Asher slams the door behind him and falls on his bed angrily. God, what is it about that boy, no- girl.. what is it about that girl that requires her to drive him crazy? She is fucking with his mind. First he spends two weeks with her, day in and day out, thinking that she was a boy. Thinking that this weird chemistry and this sexual attraction that he felt was towards a boy. He wrestled with himself for days on in, struggling with his sexuality. He knew that he felt this out pull towards Danny, the new kid, which made him think that he was gay. Something that he truly did not want to be. Not because there was anything wrong with being gay. But he saw how his fa
November 25, 1999Three Years Later Asher looks around the room for his wife, but she is lost in the sea of people. Their family and friends have only been there about fifteen minutes and already he is regretting his and Dani's decision to host Thanksgiving in their new home. But Dani had been so excited when they finally got the renovations done, after three months of contractors and paint samples.
Dani waits at the closed door until someon gives her a signal. Her hands are shaking and she is tapping her foot. A hand grasp hers tightly. “Nervous?” “No, not at all. Impatient. I am ready to get in there.” Dani says and he nods. “It shouldn't be long now.” Just then the doors open with a florish and Dani gets ger first sight of it all. Her wedding. She sees all of the people filling the seats and
Asher sits across from Fred Millman in a slightly awkward silence, because he does not know how to start the conversation that he wants to have. He knows that Fred already knows everything going on. He and Dani are close, so she tells him everything that happens in her life. “Mr. Millman-” “Call me Fred. If you are going to be my son-in-law, you should probably call me Fred.” He says dryly and Asher winces. “Ahout that.. I wanted to say- I'm sorry that I did
Asher looks back at Dani, knowing that she is nervous. She has nervously chattered the whole way here, being worse than their sons. He smiles when she catches his hand and asks, “They founded the publishing company, right?” “Yes. They put the A & J in AJS Publishing. Adrien and Janice Steele. They started it nearly twenty years ago. I worked their off and on in my teens, but last year when I graduated college, they gave me the company. It was between that, a technology company, a medical supply company or a hotel.” “That is an odd assortment of companies.” Dani tells him.
“I checked on the boys and they are okay. They're both still sound asleep.” Dani feels the bed move as Asher joins her. When he had left the bed a few minutes ago, she had no idea what he was doing. A part of her thought that maybe he was trying to sneak out on her. He moves over until his bare body is flush against her naked back and he puts his arm over her waist, anchoring her to him. She can feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. When she does not respond to him, he kisses the back of her neck.
Asher tells his uncle all about his plans with 'Holly from the second floor' and Leo nods along, apparently approving this choice, while Dani's heart breaks inside of her chest. She waited too long. Asher has already moved on. Asher notices Dani slowl withdrawing from the conversation and he assumes that it is because she is tired. He knows that the twins are as well. When she moves over to sit with the boys, casually talking to Jace, Leo leans forward. “So, kids, huh?” He asks and Asher knows that means that he wants the full story.
Dani trails along behind Asher as he walks a few step ahead of her, holding a boy by each hand. Nik is dressed as a teddy bear and Nate is dressed as a lion. Nate has a drawn on brown nose and whiskers thanks to a brown eyeliner pencil. Nik wanted his face colored on too, so she drew him a brown nose as well. With their fuzzy suits on, they both look so cuddlely that she could not stop hugging them. “Are we almost there, Daddy?” Nate asks Asher looking up at him with tired eyes. “Are you worn out, buddy?” Asher asks him and the child nods.
Dani rewipes the table with the wet washcloth for the thirs time; not because it is sticky but because she is stalling. She just will not admit that to herself because then she would have to dig deep enough to admit to herself just why it is that she is avoiding Eddy. And she does not have to dig deep to admit why, because she knows the reason. Asher. That morning when she had woke up and seen a peacefully sleeping Asher beside her, it had just felt to right. It had felt like old times between them and she had been con
Asher did not want to go home. He wanted to stay with his boys. They had supper together, then he and Dani had given them a bath. He read them two stories with a lot of character voices which the boys loved. Even Dani was laughing. This is the fourth night this week and they were together three nights last week. But it is not enough. Because at the end of the night he still has to go home to his lonely apartment across town. Each night the boys still ask him why he is leaving. Why their Daddy isn't staying their with them, with mommy. They just tell them that it's because daddy's house is closer to his work, which is easier for him.