Pull Out My Insides

Two weeks had passed and although things were a bit more awkward between Asher and I, we had grown even closer, spending time together nearly every day, just enjoying the companionship. A few days ago, Asher and I finally came up with enough money to buy the crib we wanted and we decided to wait until today to go buy it. After meeting up at my house, we get into my car and go to the mall, rushing to the store where the crib resides. We enter the store, automatically looking for the friendly saleswoman, who is up at the register. I nearly drag Asher to where she is and stand in front of her.

"Hello, we have a crib on hold we'd like to buy," I explain to her.

She immediately lights up. "Oh, yes, I remember you. Let me just check it real quick." She types a few things in and after a few seconds, her eyebrows furrow in confusion. She types something else in and again, she looks disappointed.

"Veronica?!" she calls out, releasing the kraken, also known as the bitch who kept glaring at us.

"Yes, Ceri?" Veronica says in a sugary sweet tone.

"What happened to the crib that these two were buying?"

She puts a fake nail up to her chin and pretends to think. "Oh, yeah, I sold that one the other day to a lovely couple," she says smugly. That bitch.

"But it had a hold on it. Unless you lifted the hold on it, you couldn't have sold it."

"Oh, I may have accidentally lifted the hold. Oopsies."

Ceri puts a hand up to her head and lets out a sigh. "This is unacceptable, Veronica. You're fired."

Veronica lets out an angry sigh. "You can't do that!"

"I certainly can! This isn't the first time something like this has happened and I can't have you sabotaging sales and people like that! You're fired."

Veronica just huffs and storms out of the store, making as big a scene she can.

Ceri turns back to us. "Sorry, guys. Hopefully you can find another one? I'll give you a discount on it because of our insolent worker," she offers, smiling apologetically.

I shrug, looking at Asher. "We can find another one. Don't worry about it."

We walk away after a second and start looking at cribs again. Back to square one.

--Twenty minutes later--
"Marco!" I call out.

"Polo!" Asher calls back.

Since no one else is in the store, Ceri doesn't really mind what we do.

"Yo, get your sweet buns over here! I found something I like!" I shout to Asher from across the store.

A few seconds later, the tall man joins me in front of a crib. "This one?"

I nod. "Yeah. And it's in our price range. Like it?"

He nods and smiles. "I like it a lot. I think she'll look perfect in it," he tells, patting my stomach a bit.

I chuckle and slap his arm, walking off.

"Didja find one you like?" Ceri asks as I stand in front of her. I nod and she follows me over to the new one.

"Oh, yeah, this one's one of my personal favorites."

"Okay, cool. We'll take it."

"Alright, if you'll follow me to the register, I can ring it up for you."

--Three hours later--
Asher and I stand next to a completely finished crib and nursery, grinning proudly. We high five each other.

"I think we did a good job," I tell him.

"Hell yeah we did a good job. Now get over here," he orders, pulling me into a hug. I just chuckle and hug him back. When we pull away, I stare into his deep brown eyes and smile a bit.

"Thank you."

"For what?" he asks.

I shrug. "Just being here and stuff. Not running out on me. Helping me."

He shrugs. "I don't think I could ever see my self doing that. Especially not when I..." he trails off.

"When you what?"

"When I care about someone so much."

I blush a bit, ducking my head.

"Well, thank you anyway."

As the moments pass, we don't pull away or break eye contact, subconsciously leaning forward until our noses are nearly touching. Too late to back out now. Before I can think anything else, he closes the gap and kisses me. We stand there for a minute, just enjoying the feeling of our lips reuniting. Suddenly, I can hear the front door open and I know my parents must be home. I push Asher back slightly, causing us to break apart.

"Parents home?" he questions. I just nod, and soon after, my mom is calling for me. I take Asher's hand and drag him after me, walking to the kitchen where my parents are unloading the groceries.

"Did you have a good-- oh, hello there," my mom says.

"Mom, this is Asher. He's the--"

"Fucker that broke her heart," Andrew finishes with a glare.

"Shut up, Andrew," I shoot back.

"He's the baby's dad," I explain.

Mom just gets a slightly shocked look on her face, but still smiles at him and sticks out her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Asher."

"You, too, Mrs. Randall."

"Oh, you can just call me Tracy."

He nods a bit and gets slightly uncomfortable as he notices my dad and brother noticeably glaring at him.

"You guys lay off him," I glare back, dragging Asher back up with me, bringing him to my room. "They'll let up soon enough," I explain, "they're just overprotective."

"It's okay, I'd want to beat me up, too, if I were them."

"Hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"Chicken butt."

And then I kiss him.