It started with you

17. Harry who?

"La nourriture est prête, belle."
Asher smiles at me as he motions towards the food and I raise my eyebrows in surprise.

"Wow I'm impressed, what does that mean?" I laugh and begin to set the table.

"My foreign language was French." He smiles not answering my question and begins to grab the plates and sits them around the table as I finish getting the food.

"Was? Don't you still have another year?"

"No I tested out of it, I was speaking better than our french teacher and my mom went into the school and demanded I not waste my time in another year of it." He states but his smile fades and he turns away from me and grabs the silverware.

Not knowing what to say I just continue to grab the rest of the food as the tension thickens in the once light air between us.

It's 7:15 by the time we finish dinner, over an hour later than I wanted but if Asher wasn't helping I'm not sure we would even have anything to eat so I'm not going to complain.

We both finish setting the table and I go to get everyone to eat but as I walk away Asher grabs my wrist stopping me gently. I look at him as he stands in front of me, his filthy apron now laying on the table behind him, his suit somehow still pristine despite our food fight, his hair slightly whiter than usual from the flour that I threw on him. What I notice most is how he swallows hard as he looks at the ground before looking at me.

"Have you remembered anything?" His voice is fragile despite how hard he's trying to act tough, his walls slowly coming down around me. I debate on telling him that I do remember things, like the two extra pair of hands wrestling my sister for the wheel, but ultimately I feel like it would just consume him with who and why and those are answers I can't give him right now.

"No." I say and instantly guilt swallows my body making it hard to breathe and I have to walk away. In this moment I realize its the first time I've lied to Asher and it is honestly a lot harder than I ever thought it would be.

"Food is ready." I manage to choke out to everyone as they sit staring at the tv screen.

"Finally!" Ty and Cam shout as they get off their bums and race to the kitchen, only Leah notices the tears brimming my eyes. Why am I so damn emotional.

"You okay?" Leah asks as she sits her hand on my shoulder, and I pull a tight lipped smile and nod.

"Yeah, just need a minute." I tell her and she gives me a hug and then heads into the kitchen. I close my eyes for a moment and take a deep breath. When I open them my hands shoot towards my mouth to keep from screaming, sitting on the coffee table directly in front of me, with his legs swinging over the edge is Asher's brother.

"Mommy always said lying was bad. She said we should always tell the truth." He says and I shake my head and take a step back.

"You're not real." I say and walk to the kitchen.

I sit down shakily in the empty seat beside Ty, which is directly across from Asher. Great. I hear Leah, Cam, and Ty talking but all I can do is sit with my head in my hands staring at my plate. I can't make eye contact with Asher. Why is it so hard for me to keep a damn secret.

I feel a light brush against my leg that only Asher could reach but I ignore it. He nudges my leg a little harder this time and I take a shaky breath before I look up at him. His eyes question me, asking me what's wrong, so I just shake my head and pull a tight lipped smile and act like I'm listening to the conversation going on.

"Hey Baylor, I think we're out of milk from all the cooking do you want to ride with me to the grocery?" Asher asks as he stands and all conversation stops as everyone looks at him.

"We just started eating do you have to have milk?" I ask him knowing he doesn't want milk. He gives me a look that says get up and come with me and grudgingly I do.

"I guess we need milk I'll be right back." I state blatantly to everyone and walk out before anyone says anything.

"What's wrong?" He asks me demandingly as he walks out of the apartment and shuts the door behind him.

"World hunger, racism, global warming, the government-"

"Okay smart ass what's wrong with you?" He asks again. I take a deep breath and look down at my shoes and then back up at him. I want to tell him so bad.

"Things are so complicated Asher. We were both told that I killed your mom drinking and driving. Then I remembered that I wasn't even driving that night. Things with my mom blew up. I don't know whats even real anymore and now you live with me and we just cooked thanksgiving dinner like everything isn't obliterated and our families aren't torn apart and I'm just so upset right now and I think I'm PMSing because I won't quit fucking crying-" Tears stream down my face and my rant gets cut short with Asher surprisingly wrapping his arms around me for the second time. I let my emotional self sob into his chest as he runs his hand in my hair soothingly.

"Things will get better Baylor, they have to."

"I just want to feel happy again." I say honestly, the tears now dry as I continue to lay my head on Asher's chest.

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."
He says and I can't help but laugh and I pull back to look up at his smirking face.

"I never thought of you as the Harry Potter type."
I say through my tears and laughter and he just smiles.

"You couldn't let me take credit for that one?" He teases and I smile.

"You're the one that literally just said the only Harry Potter quote I know." His mouth drops and he pulls away from me.

"You've never watched Harry Potter?"

"Well I mean I seen pieces of the first one."

"We're watching them. Tonight."
He says and thats what we did.

After dinner he dragged me into my bedroom, turned on the tv and turned on Harry Potter. He made us a giant plate of leftover desserts and he sat on one side of the bed and I sat on the other with the giant plate in the middle as we sat and laughed as we binged watched Harry Potter all night.