21 Questions {Awsten Knight}

F I V E

Without fail, Awsten was banging at our flat's door around four o'clock. 

I was dressed in my usual black jeans and a checkered tank top since it stayed warm until around nine. Houston weather sucked in the summer. Especially if it was humid. 

Hope was in her room singing along to loud music that I knew our neighbors would complain about, but I chose not to say anything and instead grabbed my bag. 

"COMING!" I yelled, hoping that Awsten would stop relentlessly knocking on the front door. I ran to open it and my eyes immediately went to his freshly dyed hair and smiled. I had been wondering when he would dye it next and I had been bothering him about it ever since we met. 

I immediately grabbed his hair and ran my fingers through it, giving a look of approval as I did so. I couldn't help it, it looked so soft don't judge.

I grinned and closed the door behind me, letting out a deep breath as I stood in the hallway, looking up at him. "Where are we going?" I wondered, adjusting my bag on my shoulder. "To my homeland. You'll see," he told me, beckoning me to follow him to the elevator.

When we got to his car, I was already panting from the humid air and heat. Despite living in Houston my entire 22 years on this Earth, I had never gotten used to the weather. I attempted to put my hair into a ponytail as Awsten began to drive, but swore as I felt the hair band snap against my skin. I groaned and threw the broken band in my bag, leaning my elbow against the door frame.

"Your friend Hope is cool," Awsten said out of the blue, keeping his eyes on the road. "Thanks. She thinks you're funny," I mumbled, shifting my body in the passenger seat. 

The moon was bright and there was a little light, aside from the street lamps that kept things illuminated. Awsten mumbled strange things to himself as he parked, probably making fun of the people walking to their cars in the parking lot. He seemed like the kind of person who did that.

"Okay, prepare yourself," he warned me, leading me to the supermarket with a sign above it that read "HEB".

I scoffed, wondering what could be so important about a random grocery store in the outskirts of Houston. I had never heard of it, or even seen it before.

"What's so special about this place?" I wondered as we entered through the automatic doors. i gazed around and it looked like any other grocery store in Texas and I was confused when he gave me a look of judgement. 

"Only the best place ever. They sell my favorite orange juice here. It's so damn good," he groaned, rushing over to the aisle that I'm assuming had what he was looking for. "Hold these. I'm gonna get a cart," he demanded, handing me two pints of orange juice. I rolled my eyes at him as he ran to the front of the store like a child. Why was I even phased by it?

Awsten was wearing a tan knit sweater like always, and I wondered how he wasn't dead yet from having a heat stroke. 

"So why else do you like to come here?" I wondered, putting the bottles of juice in the cart once he returned. He shrugged. "Honestly, I have a lot of good memories here with my friends. And I used to come here with Grace several times a week and I just had so much fun being here. I don't really take people here much unless I've known them a while," he admitted, looking around at the display in front of us.

I smiled a little weakly at him before turning away. "Thank you for bringing me here," I mumbled, playing with a price tag on the display. "Sure. Let's go get some dino nuggets!" he exclaimed, returning to his formal self. 

"Wait, hold up-" I said, stopping the cart. "What?" he groaned, giving me a joking annoyed look. "Lemme get in the cart," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. He grinned at me and picked me up, placing me gently in the cart. I placed the juice in my lap and faced forward as he began to push me around all the aisles as we made our way to the frozen section.