The Price of Popularity (BoyxBoy)

{3}

Asher was quite surprised to smell fresh coffee when he ventured out of his room the next morning. He sleepily made his way down the stairs and then through the hallway and into the kitchen, where he could see his father’s travel bags piled up against the wall and as he turned his head he saw his father sitting at the kitchen counter, a cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other.

Asher’s father was in his early forties, with light brown hair that was cut neatly around his head. His face was cleanly shaved, and he still wore a business suit as he sat at the kitchen counter. He looked up from his coffee when Asher entered the room, but he didn’t smile.  

‘There’s more coffee in the pot, if you want some,’ His father told him, nodding towards the coffee pot.

‘Hello to you too,’ Asher mumbled, walking over to the coffee pot and pouring himself a mug.

‘Well, I am not in a very good mood this morning,’ his father told him, shooting his son an accusing glance.

‘Why? What did I do now?’ Asher mumbled, taking a sip of the hot coffee.

‘When I got home this morning there was quite the interesting message on our machine…’

Oh god, Asher thought, what’s happened now? Did he find out about the party?

‘Mrs Beverly from next door called to say that she was quite upset at the amount of,’ he looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to remember what she had said exactly, ‘loud music and drunken and rambunctious behaviour displayed at a party the other night.’ 

The way that his father said party spelt out to Asher exactly why his father was in the bad mood.

‘About that…’ Asher tried to cover for himself, but it seemed that he was unable to concoct a reasonable excuse or explanation. The only thing that he could think of was that he had to have an emergency party… yeah dad, sorry but there was a beer pong related emergency.. yeah that would go down well. 

‘Asher, you know how I feel about parties when I am away,’ the disappointment in his father’s voice hit home for Asher. 

Asher looked down at his coffee mug, not saying anything.

‘You’re grounded for a week,’ his father concluded.

‘What?’ Asher gaped, ‘A week?’

‘Yes. School and home, for a week, that’s it.’

‘Dad! What about Danny! It’s my weekend to go to his!’ Asher exclaimed. He had promised to go to Danny’s on the weekend, and he really didn’t want to cancel. ‘Can Danny come over here?’

‘No,’ his father shook his head.

‘Dad! I won’t be able to see Danny for two weeks then!’  

‘Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you went behind my back and had a wild party,’ his father shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee. His father then turned his attention back to the paper in his hand, finishing the conversation.

Asher huffed, throwing his coffee cup down on the bench with a thump, and stomping back to his room. It wasn’t that he really blamed his father for being upset, he knew that he should have expected this, but the thought of not seeing Danny for so long was killing him.

He wished that he could just flop down onto his bed and stay there for an unimaginable amount of time, but he had school. He opened his closet and grabbed the sort of clothes that he usually wore to school, tight pants, v necked shirts, leather jackets. He threw them on before going into the bathroom and throwing some gel into his hair.