Page 4 of Asher

She looked at me from the corner of her eye and shrugged, “That’s just Marco. He’s a good man.”

I nodded, then tried to remove him from my thoughts.

In twenty minutes, we were pulling up in front of Stella’s house.

Her house sat on ten acres of land, and it was one of those old Victorian-style houses, and sometimes I envisioned that I lived there.

I really wanted to turn the nook that overlooked the driveway into a reading corner.

It would be awesome.

And it needed a bright purple wingback chair to read it.

The front door opened, and Stella ran out, “You’re here. You’re here.”

I giggled, then leaned over and kissed my mama’s cheek, “Love you, Mama.”

She smiled, “Love you too, Mija. Have a fun time.”

Once I was out of the car, my bag and Stella’s gift in my hand, we walked arm-in-arm up to her house.

Her dad, Mr. Hendrix, stood in the open doorway, then he took my bag and her gift and said, “Y’all go have fun.”

I smiled, “Thanks, Mr. Hendrix.”

He groaned. “You’re making me feel old, Chloe. Why can’t you call me Asher?”

I giggled up at him, “Because it’s disrespectful, and my mama would wash my mouth out with soap.”

He chuckled and then closed the door as we walked into the house.

***

The party was in full swing.

The girls and I sat in a circle, making crowns out of daisy chains while rock music played in the background.

And sinceAC/DCwas her favorite band, they played nothing but that music.

Which was why I was singing along to the lyrics, way out of tune, but that was okay.

So, look at me now, I'm just makin' my play. Don't try to push your luck, just get out of my way.

Stella grinned at me, and together we sang the lyrics.

After we all had all the crowns on, Poppy said, “Do y’all want to play a game my older sister plays with her friends?”

We all shrugged and then nodded.

Poppy said, “Okay, so it goes like this. You must name someone you would kiss, date, and then marry. And it must be actors or actresses.”

“Since Stella is the birthday girl, she gets to go first.” Maria giggled.

We all looked at Stella as she tilted her head and thought for a moment, and then she said, “Kiss, it would have to be Jensen. Date, it would be Jared. Something about thoseSupernaturalboys. Marry, it would totally have to be Jason Momoa.”

We all giggled.

“It’s that long hair?” Casey asked.

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