Fragile Bones

Chapter Twenty-One

When I woke up, the movie credits were rolling, indicating I had been asleep for almost two hours. Asher's arm was still wrapped around me, as if it hadn't moved at all, and I was swept up in the feeling of comfort it brought me. My head was still resting on the soft fabric of his shirt, and I realized that I just wanted to stay this way forever. However, I soon came to my senses and jerked up off of him, so quickly that I fell off the couch and onto the floor. How many times was I going to embarrass myself in front of him like this?

He leaned over and stared at me as I tried to untangle myself from the blanket that had accompanied me in the fall. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you like that," I stuttered. I tried to discreetly look at his shirt to see if I had left a drool mark, but the room was too dark to tell for sure.

"I don't care. I'm not surprised you didn't get much sleep last night, after everything that happened," he said, holding out a hand to help me. I grabbed it, and he hoisted me to my feet with surprising strength given that he was still sitting. "Fuck, that makes me so angry to think about. I want togo over to his house and give him way worse than a broken nose," he muttered, jaw clenching as he looked away from me.

"Don't make it any worse on yourself Asher. I already told you that he was considering pressing charges, and I'm sure trespassing on his property wouldn't make your case much better," I replied, dropping his hand. He just shook his head, and looked back up at me with care in his eyes. More care than I had ever seen anyone express to me in several, several years. "I'm okay," I reassured him.

"Well, I'm going to be around to make sure you stay that way," he stated, eyes not breaking away from mine. A chime came from his phone, which he pulled out to glance at. He made a face, and slid it back in his pocket, standing up from the couch to stretch.

"Who was that?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. The fact that he stood up after reading whatever message he got made me think that he had to leave, and that thought saddened me a little bit.

"I don't think you would know her. Just some girl from our school." The nonchalant response made me suspect it was something more than 'some girl'. A pang of jealousy hit me, and I tried my best to push it away. I had become more and more attached to Asher these past few weeks, and I didn't like it, especially when I knew that he didn't think of me as any more than possibly a friend. It wasn't like I had a crush on him, I had just become too dependent.

"Oh? Is it your girlfriend?" I have no idea what possessed me to ask this question, but I regretted it almost as soon as it came out of my mouth. I wanted to throw myself off a cliff; now I probably sounded like a complete stalker. He certainly wasn't obligated to tell me anything about his love life. He gave me a strange look, and smiled a little bit.

"I think you would know if I had a girlfriend. If you must know, her and I slept together once, and she still texts me occasionally," he said, picking up the remote to shut the TV off.

"I see," I tried to respond casually. I should have known it would be something along those lines, considering his reputation. "Who is it? I actually know a lot of people from the school." This was true, even though not a lot of people knew me, I could probably name every single person who passed by me in the halls. Just a perk of being a social outcast, I suppose.

"Amanda Wisely," he sighed. "It was a while ago, but she seems to have her heart set on getting into a relationship. She's not exactly the person I'm interested in." Amanda was Lindsay's friend, and it hurt my heart a little more to know that he would be involved with her like that. Although she was pretty, she wasn't exactly the nicest person around. But, a lot of times guys went after girls solely for looks, and body type, something I suppose I would never have to be worried about. No one would ever be attracted to me with how I look now, that's for sure.