Every Kind of Way

14.

A football shot in the air and quickly came right back down into Sanchez's hands. He laid on the floor of his bedroom with his airpods in his ear, throwing the ball up, while organizing his busy thoughts. They weren't even necessarily busy thoughts but really demanding — forcing him to acknowledge them and create a solution to make them disappear. Sensei went quiet then violent and we sparred until we both grew tired...nothing mattered, Frank Ocean played in his ears, and though it was one of his favorite songs he wasn't into it like he usually would be. He lip synced the words but any other time he'd have a full concert especially once Andre 3000's verse came on. However, he wasn't impressed by the song right now. Only by the fact Asha managed to scramble his brain.

For the first time in his twenty one years of life he was feeling emotions and physical sensations he never had. The idea of liking her sparked after she left him disappointed the night of his birthday. He never cared to have people in his life, so being cut off wouldn't even make him blink. Asha had the last laugh on that one because the following days he was annoyed. Annoyed he couldn't call her. Annoyed he couldn't see her simply because he wanted to. Annoyed he was annoyed. Then Christmas Eve came around and he quickly realized he indeed liked her. He had gotten excited when Sydnie said she would be joining him and Ruben to view the lights, but that wasn't his realization.

The realization came to him when he knocked on the door and suddenly grew nervous to see her. The many times he'd seen her before he hadn't gotten nervous, and when she came downstairs that nervousness was replaced by warmth. He wanted to give her a hug and confess how much he'd missed her but he kept his cool. He wanted to gauge what type of time she was on and when she didn't greet him he figured she was gonna be a lil distant. It stung a bit but it was why he pointed out her hair change to let her know he wanted to talk. The more the night went on he was happy she opened up to let their natural connection flourish. The way they joked and played was like they hadn't gone without talking.

Then Christmas day felt like a whole nother ball game. It started when he saw her zoom past the house on the dirt bike because the last thing he expected was to see the heel wearing Asha on a dirt bike. Her skillsets seemed to be limitless and he was impressed, amazed and turned on. But what took place later that evening changed something for him. He sat in the living room having an intense game of thumb war with one of the kids when Asha's yelling and cursing silenced the house. Almost everybody quit moving and speaking in surprise. When she kept going he watched everyone jump up to see what exactly was going on but he stayed put just like the children and Ruben. Even from the living room it was obvious Asha was in distress from the tremble and crack in her voice. He wasn't sure who she was arguing with until he heard her say she wanted her daddy back.

The pain in her voice made his chest tighten as he sat waiting on Ashton to respond. He never did. Asha came speeding through the living room and out the back door. The look on her face made his heart quicken because he wanted to go after her but he knew her family would probably do it. He and Ruben looked at each other before he turned back to see who was going to check on Asha, but instead he heard a young voice screaming and a lot of commotion. He recognized it as Asha's brother as he cursed his dad for hurting her feelings over and over again. That was when he decided to get up and go see about Asha. She was leaned against a tree, sobbing and he hated how it made him feel. But it also showed him that she wasn't this perfect, put together girl like he thought she was.
She had issues as well.