Page 20 of Praise You

"Are you sure you don’t want to play?" Asher's voice forces me to lift my gaze to him. He's tilting the controller toward me, so I grab it and smile.

"Fine,” I surrender, knowing they’ll never stop asking. “Thanks."

It’s two days until Thanksgiving, and today has been a perfect day, hanging out with the people closest to me.

I'm helping prepare the kitchen, placing the plates and silverware onto the counter. I'm not much of a cook so I didn't even bother offering to help them make anything. Asher can handle making all the food on his own, which he proved as he kept shooing everyone out of the kitchen all day.

“What else do you need me to do?” I ask Asher as I grab the napkins off the counter and set them down on the table with a thunk.

“Could you start bringing the food to the table?”

“Got it.”

I’m starting to bring the food to the table when I hear Noah and Asher start bickering behind me. I twist my head to look at them, making sure they’re okay. I haven’t heard them bicker since their foreplay days, so it instantly causes me to look. Noah notices all of us staring at them and yells, “What?” Glaring at each of us.

Not wanting to draw more attention to their fight, I shrug my shoulders and turn back around, putting things on the table. Once we’ve gathered all the food and set it down, we grab plates and start piling different things on them.

We sit at the table, conversations passing through us easily. I keep up with talking with everyone, but out of the corner of my eye, I’m watching Noah. He’s seething, sitting next to Asher, not paying attention to anyone. I tilt my head, wondering what’s been happening with my best friend.

He’s never been one to flip out easily, usually so calm. I watch him for a little bit longer, wondering what could have set him off so badly. From what I saw, it wasn’t anything big, just Asher being Asher and his protective self. But maybe there’s more going on to it I don’t know about.

Asher leans over and says something to Noah, who snaps again before pushing his plate away from him and taking off. My first instinct is to go after him, but Asher locks eyes with me and shakes his head sadly.

“I’ll check on him,” Asher says, reaching out to stop me with his hand.

“Are you sure?”

“I got it, Ronan.” He nods sullenly, before standing up and walking out of the room.

West and Carter look at me and I shrug, because I have no idea what happened either.

“I hope he’s okay,” Carter whispers, looking in the direction where Noah and Asher just went.

“Me too.” I push my plate away and stand up. “I’m gonna head up to bed.”

Heading to my room, I spend the rest of the night working on my assignment for Professor Carson.

Walking into Brewz, I come to a stop when I see Professor Carson sitting at a table over in the corner. I step up to him, my shadow darkening over him. He turns toward me, a smile hitting his face immediately.

“Hey, Ronan. How are you doing?”

“Hi, Professor Carson. I’m good, just getting my caffeine fix. You?”

“Same. Been addicted to this drink here for the past few days.” He shakes his cup at me, the ice hitting the sides of it noisily. “Also, you can call me Oliver outside of class.”

“Okay, Oliver,” I breathe out. Holy shit, that feels weird calling him by his first name.

“Do you wanna join me?”

“I’d love to. Let me grab a drink and I’ll be right back.”

I get into the line, giving the barista my order. Within a few minutes, I’m back at the table.

“How has your break been?” I ask as soon as I sit down.

“It’s been great, actually. I found this little cove at the beach yesterday. It’s secluded, off the path, and so beautiful. I haven’t spent much time at the beach since I’ve moved here.”

“Oh, yeah. The beaches here are gorgeous. Have you tried surfing yet?”

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