Only Fools

Chapter Twenty One

"Hurry up, Alex," I shout from the front door, earning a disappointed sigh from my father who stands beside me. I suddenly hear a crash from upstairs, causing my dad to wince as I let out a small laugh while wishing I could've seen the fall for myself. After a few minutes, Alex finally comes jogging down the stairs, out of breath from having to rush so much.

"Happy?" he asks me sarcastically and I just shrug.

"You were the one bitching about not getting to see me yesterday. I didn't ask for this," I explain to him.

"Aspen, language," my dad gives me a disappointed glare.

"Yeah, Ass. Watch your language," my brother says, using his ever endearing nickname for me and causing for my dad to give him a glare too.

"What? It's a nickname, dad. She calls me Al," Alex defends himself.

"Yes. Because that is so much worse. How do you ever cope?" I say, my words practically dripping with sarcasm.

"And we're off to a good start for today," our dad says with a sigh as he walks out the front door, most likely already desiring to be as far away from us as possible.

"Look what you did, shithead," Alex says, motioning to our father.

"Yeah. That's my fault," I say, employing sarcasm yet again.

"That's what I said...."

With an eye roll, I smack my brother upside the head before walking outside and claiming the front seat of the car as my own.

As soon as Alex sees me in the front seat, I can tell that he wants to start yet another argument but upon seeing dad, holds his tongue, not wanting to annoy him even further when today is supposed to be a peaceful family dinner. And as my dad pulls out of the driveway and we begin the drive to the restaurant we all decided to go to, I let my mind wander to what happened last night, or, what almost happened last night.

The one image that keeps flashing through my mind is the look on Ivy's face when I pulled away, specifically the disappointment that it held. Had she genuinely wanted to kiss me? Or was it just the alcohol talking?

And that's the key to my questioning, did the alcohol bring out something she was already feeling or did it fabricate something out of her love for me as a friend? I can't help but wish that it was the former.

While I haven't heard from Ivy yet today, I also can't help but hope that I will soon and she'll remember everything. That she'll remember everything and feel the same way. Because all I know is that my hope for us has increased since last night and that easily brings a smile to my face.

"Are you alright, kiddo?" my dad asks me, noticing the seemingly unprompted smile that was brought to my face.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just excited to spend time with you guys," I attempt to explain my smile.

"Liar," Alex grumbles from the back. I roll my eyes at him and we all fall into a comfortable silence that lasts the duration of the rest of the car ride to the restaurant.

It's then only after ordering our food that conversation picks up again.

"How's college life treating you, son?" my dad opens the dialogue.

"Come on dad, we just discussed grades at Thanksgiving. Do we have to-"

"I mean, I just asked about college life in general. Which would include football, parties, friends.... but we can talk about grades again if you'd really like to, Alex. I'm sure there's stuff to discuss," our father says with a smirk. Alex's worry almost instantly vanishes at the clarification and his confident air returns.