Apricity

Sailor

Ashur talks about you non-stop," Ashur said, grinning like a cat. I stop. What did he just say? Ashur? He barely talks to me.

"Are you sure? I mean-Are you sure he's talking about me?"

Liam simply shrugged, grin still on his face.

"I don't know. Does Ashur have more half-sisters I don't know about?"

I roll my eyes at his sarcasm. With his playful expression, it seems he doesn't know how Ashur acts as if my mere existence bothers him. Which, in a way, is not very far from the truth. If he is talking about me, it would most likely be about how much he wants me dead. Still, though I know that...

"What does he say about me?"

Liam lets go of my arms, and tilts his head.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Yes, I would, actually, " I say with enough confidence I can muster. Liam stares at me. And then he bursts out laughing. I wait a while for him to stop, and as soon as I knew it, Liam was wiping the tears from his eyes. Is this really Ashur's friend? He seems like the type who still laughs at fart jokes.

"Well, if you must know, he says all the most mundane things about you. About how your hair reminds him of brown autumn leaves, how you guys look nothing alike, about how all you ever do is talk, that your favorite food seems to be donuts, though he's not sure, and that you're a wonderful painter. He talks about your weird dinosaur plushie, about your fear of dogs and how careful he has to be. Hmm, what else do I know about you? Your hermit crabs, your love of comics, how you bake the most amazing cookies, how very superstitious you are, and that you absolutely love aquatic animals. "

The fuck? Ashur? Mr. She's Not My Sister? I want to accuse Liam of lying to me, but there is no way that he could be. Liam should not be able to know all those things. Unless he's my stalker. But that couldn't be right. The thing is, I didn't think Ashur would know those things either. For me, it always seemed like he was ignoring me or spending time with Liam, not observing my every move. Perhaps, with Ashur, it could be a know your enemy thing.

"But...But he hates me. He hates me, why would he..." I whisper the words to myself, noticing after a couple of seconds that I had actually said them in front of Liam. I looked up at him, surprised to see that he wasn't smiling anymore. In basically one step, he was instantly closer to me. Before I had time to react, Liam rested two hands on my shoulders, bent down, and whispered in my ear softly.

"Want to know a secret?"

I can basically feel his grin coming on. I grimace.

"Do you have to whisper in my ear? There's literally no one here."

"Yeah, but that's anticlimactic."

I roll my eyes, but don't move.

"See...the secret is, I don't really know what's going on in Ashur's mind either," He retreated from me, a big smile on his face.

"Ha.Ha.Ha. Fuck you."

I walk away from him, but I hear Liam's steps following me. Eventually, we were walking side by side again.

"You know, Ashur says you guys look nothing like each other, but I disagree."

"Why is that?"

This time, I really was curious. I'm dark-skinned. Ashur is pale. He has green eyes. I have brown hazel-ones; he has dark hair; I have light brown hair. The only similar thing about us is our short hair. And even then, mines is rather bit longer than his.

"You guys have the same look in your eye. And probably the same smile."

"You've never seen me smile."

"That's why I said probably."

I shook my head softly.

When we reached the kitchen, I grabbed two ice cream sandwiches. I passed Liam one, and start eating one myself. We were silent for the most part until Liam opened his mouth again.

"I have to say, Me and Liam are like, the best of buddies. I basically met all of his family, except you. So it's nice now that I know you."

"Because it proves that he trusts you?"

Liam shrugged.

"There's just something satisfying about your friend introducing you to his family, you know? And now that I've met his older sister, I can-"

"Older? I'm older than him?"

Liam nodded and took another bite of the ice cream sandwich. Okay. That's....Interesting. I take a third bite of my ice cream. Liam already finished with him.

"By how much?"

"One year, I think."

Way too close. I think this is one of the many times I can be disappointed in my mother. Really? Only one year? And my father, playing with them both, what a disgusting man. Why did my mother love him so much? I suppose that's also in the box of questions my mother has never bothered to answer. Or should I say can't?

"What are the names of your hermit crabs?"

Liam breaks me from my thoughts, and I stare at him for a moment. That was completely random, but Liam looked like it made absolute sense. We went from talking about me and Ashur's age gap to hermit crabs. Still, not being able to pass the opportunity to talk about my babies, I grin wildly.

"SeaShore, or Cece for short, Susie, Betty Botter, Peter Piper, and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, or Super for short."

Liam stared in horror.

"What in the world made you think those are good names?"

"Are they not?"

Liam bursts into a fit of laughter.

"No, not at all!"

"Whatever. I like them, and that's all that matters."

Liam rested his head on his left hand, still grinning at me.

"I have to tell Ashur about this."

I stared at him. His warm brown eyes stared right back.

"I think it's pretty nice, you know. That something you find remotely interesting, your first thought, is to tell Ashur."

Liam ruffled his hair and sighed. I wonder if Ashur and him as has been friends from kindergarten. Or perhaps they just became friends last year. I wouldn't know. Even so, I think Liam is the right fit for Ashur. Or maybe that's just my optimism shining through.

"Force of habit, I guess."

"Maybe. Or perhaps that's just you being a good friend."

Liam chuckled and leaned on the chair.

"Yep, Ashur is so lucky to have me," Liam smiled again. But this one seemed different. A bit bitter.

"He is." I say, scooting closer to him, "You know, you're a nice guy, Liam. I find it comforting that your friends with Ashur. Besides, I think I like you a bit, too." Liam stared at me for a long moment. A blush creeped onto his face, and for a while, he was silent. He ruffled his hair again, looking away from me.

"Well, I'm not that great. But, thank you."

I smile at him. Ashur's friend turned out to be... Pretty decent. Liam, who seemed to be out of his shy state, looked at me again. A slow, gentle smile appeared on his face.

"See? I told you. Just like Ashur."