“I’ve seen your dad only once,” Asa said, and the sound of his voice gave away just how close he seemed to be standing behind her. “Twice, actually. That day when I dropped you off, and on Thanksgiving. I really don’t think anything of his would fit me. He has a narrower frame than mine.”
Carmen sighed and scratched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t know,” she muttered. “We’ll see. There has to be something. Do you need to change your jeans too?”
“No,” Asa replied. “They haven’t absorbed as much water as my shirt. I don’t mind staying in them.”
“All right…” she mumbled under her breath, trying to recall if her father had any baggy shirts or t-shirts that would fit Asa. Carmen was just about to pass the guest bedroom and walk right into her dad’s when she suddenly stopped in her tracks and headed into the guest room instead.
The room had never been used before and was always kept shut, collecting dust and cobwebs until the past few months, when Hunter had started staying over each time his dad was out of town.
Carmen was sure that her cousin left a few spare clothes around and sure enough, when she pulled open the large chest of drawers placed against the far side of the wall, she found a pile of folded tees inside.
Grabbing one off the top, she walked back out and handed it to Asa, hoping he’d just take it without asking any questions as to whose it was. “Here you go, that should fit you just fine.”
Asa took the t-shirt from her, a distracted expression on his face. He looked like he was a million miles away from here. “Thanks,” he muttered under his breath, eyebrows furrowed together before he seemed to snap out of his reverie and glanced down at Carmen. “Where do I change?”
“Um…” Carmen trailed off uncertainly, her eyes flickering between the different doors in the hallway, suddenly forgetting to form coherent words as her brain picked that moment to freeze over. “I, uh, you…”
She watched the uncharacteristically serious expression on Asa’s face slowly morph into one of light amusement and then she saw that long-forgotten mischievous glint in his eyes, a look that Carmen thought she’d never see him wear again over the span of the past few months.
She watched him lift a hand towards his neck, his forefinger scratching the hollow at the base of his throat where both collarbones met, and then he slowly trailed downwards before coming to a stop at the topmost button of his shirt and popping it open.
Carmen’s body froze but at the same time, her brain decided to do her a favour and kick-start. “What are you doing?” she blurted, her eyes widening.
“I asked you where I’m supposed to change,” he told her in a casual tone, and then dragged his index finger further down, unfastening the second button with a barely-there kind of smirk and revealing a sliver of his chest. “And if you’re not going to respond, I might as well undress here.”
Carmen gaped at him, flabbergasted for a whole three seconds before her senses came crashing down over her again and she huffed, turning around and throwing open the door to the guest bedroom.
“There!” she exclaimed, pointing towards the open room, heat spreading over her cheeks and neck like wildfire. “You can change in there for heaven’s sake!”
Asa’s lips twitched and let his hand fall to his side before pushing himself off the wall and walking towards the guest room. “See,” he murmured, stepping past her. “All you needed was a little bit of motivation.”
“Just shut up and get changed,” Carmen said exasperatedly, pushing him further into the room with a gentle shove and then walking towards her own bedroom, the tiniest of smiles gracing her lips now that Asa had somehow managed to break the uneasiness that’d been hanging over them since the ride from the stadium to here.
And as Carmen stepped into her attached bathroom, stripping off her wet clothes and putting on dry ones, she couldn’t help but wonder if that was what Asa had intended all along, if the little stunt he’d just pulled was to remind her that he wasn’t as serious in nature as he was playful and laid-back.
It seemed like something he would do for her. The thought alone made her chest flood with a particular kind of warmth that only Asa could radiate.
Opening the door of the washroom and stepping out, she found Asa leaning against the open doorway of her room, eyes scanning the walls, her dresser, her wardrobe and everything else as if he’d never been in here before.
“Asa, what are you doing?” Carmen asked, tilting her head slightly.
“Was waiting for you to be done.” He shrugged, leaning away from the wall. “Can I come in?”
Carmen blinked, not responding for the first few seconds as she felt sharp pangs of regret and dismay right in the pit of her stomach. This was the same Asa who had once felt comfortable enough to pay her a surprise visit on the day of Thanksgiving, the same Asa who didn’t have to ask her if she would like him entering her room because he’d already known the answer.
And here he stood—the very same Asa—just no longer confident in his instincts when it came to her.
“Of course you can come in,” she told him in a hoarse voice, looking away from those eyes of his and picking up a fresh towel, making herself look busy while she smoothened its creases and folded it.
Just as she hung it over the back of the dresser’s chair, she felt a hand touch the back of her elbow gently and Carmen turned around to find Asa incredibly
