High Tide

Chapter 20 [Right in the Feels]

Chapter 20

Right in the Feels

Asher stood next to Avery in his driveway that following Friday, almost exactly three weeks before Halloween. He was putting all of his faith in his twin sister and to be honest he was completely terrified.

"Okay, I'm dying here, open it," Avery grinned, bouncing a little on her toes.

Asher glanced at her, grinned and obeyed. He opened the blue envelope in his hands and took a deep breath, looking over the simple line of text in Jo's pretty handwriting.

"Walk to Dairy Queen and then open the next letter," Asher read aloud. "In the meantime, each tell three things you like about each other," he added a little more hesitantly.

"Okay, sounds easy enough, you start," she said and started walking towards the Dairy Queen, spinning on her heels to make sure he was following after her. "What do you like about me?" she asked him playfully.

"Alright," Asher chuckled, shoving his hands in his pockets and falling into step with his date. "The first thing I like about you... is your smile... which I don't see often enough," he told her honestly – and a little shyly too, which was kind of adorable.

Avery smiled, ducking her head in embarrassment.

"Like that," Asher grinned. "Now it's your turn... although I already know number one on your list," he smirked.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" Avery laughed.

"You like my butt, I caught you staring at it the other day," he replied casually, causing Avery to blush a furious shade of red.

"I wasn't staring at your butt," she stammered, partially covering her face with her hands, two silver rings on the right one shimmering in the early evening sun. "Besides, if I had to put it somewhere on my list it'd be twelve or thirteen or something, not number one," she giggled.

"Ow, my heart," Asher gasped, clinging to his chest as though her words truly did physically hurt him. "Seriously though, what's your number four?" he asked as they crossed the first street towards the Dairy Queen.

"Alright, um... I like the way you treat your friends. You come off as a bit of a stuck up jerk, but you're really a sweet guy, and you obviously care a lot about people," she explained.

"Thanks... I guess?" Asher snorted.

They walked for a little while longer without talking before Asher went on.

"I like how you're as real as it gets; there's no bullshit, no drama... you're just you," he told her with a sideways glance, sneaking a little closer to her as they walked. "That's really refreshing. You're fun to be around."

"Thanks, you're fun to be around too," Avery replied a little lamely. "Wait, that wasn't mine! Um, I like... I like your confidence, and how you can make everything you do look easy," she added.

It was Asher's turn again and he was a lot quicker to reply this time. "I like how I can make you blush so easily," he smiled, and right on cue Avery felt her cheeks grow warm again. Gosh darn it; he was making this so hard!

"I like how you trust your sister enough to let her do this," Avery grinned. "You might appear all tough, but in reality you're just a big softie," she giggled.

"Am not," Asher shook his head.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Avery grinned, poking him in the side and deciding that he was anything but soft. She'd seen him shirtless plenty of times over the summer and to be honest his abs looked anything but soft. "Come on, your number one, make it a good one or else this'll be real anticlimactic," she told him.