“Come on, Asa. I’m serious. What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” he reassured her easily. “I was just worried about whether you were going out of peer pressure. That’s all, okay?”
It wasn’t exactly all there was to it, of course, but he didn’t really think it was necessary to mention Carson right now. He’d never seen Carmen put herself out there the way she had today when she admitted she found dancing a form of liberation.
She deserved this. She deserved a night with no worries and burdens weighing over her head. Because even though she’d mentioned to Asa about her plans for Thanksgiving dinner and never spoke about it again, he could tell the anxiety was getting to her.
Carmen West deserved the world, and if all she was asked for was one night of dancing and letting go, then she was going to get it, everybody else be damned.
“Okay.” She exhaled heavily, obviously not buying what he said completely, but she did not push him further. “And by the way, Asa?”
“Yeah?” He spared her a quick glance, meeting her eyes briefly—which was ridiculously enough to make his heart flutter—before he directed his attention back to the road.
“Next time, don’t pull your hand away. Feel free to hold mine whenever you want.”
The gigantic smile on Asa’s face lasted the whole ride back, and even though he thought it was impossible to love her any more than he already did, Asa felt his heart fall a little deeper.
When they reached Carmen’s place and she was just about to get out of the truck, Asa placed a hand on her shoulder.
She turned around, the skin on her forehead creased to form a tiny v. Instead of just asking him what it was, Carmen tilted her head a slight fraction, knowing he’d understand the gesture.
“When you, uh, when you reach the party with the rest of the girls, let me know okay? I’ll come get you at the door.”
Carmen’s lips twitched, amusement dancing in her otherwise inexpressive eyes as she observed Asa.
“Asa San Román.” The way his full name rolled off her tongue drove him insane. “Are you scared some other guy is going to run into me and sweep me off my feet?”
Asa’s eyes softened, and he reached for her face, grazing his knuckles along her cheekbones with a certain kind of tenderness he’d never displayed before.
“I’m not worried about that,” he told her, his voice barely audible. “I know where I stand with you; you’ve made it pretty clear.”
“Good,” she whispered. “And you should know that I feel just as confident with where I stand in your life. I trust you, Asa, so if you’re worrying about what I think about your history with girls, I need you to let that worry go.”
And just like that, Asa was reminded of why he loved this girl with such intensity.
Because Carmen managed to voice out an internal struggle of his that he hadn’t known how to deal with. But here she was, reading between the lines of what he was saying and letting him know that she understood.
“You never fail to amaze me, you know that?” He chuckled lightly, using his other hand to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.
“I know that now,” she replied, an uncharacteristic teasing glint in her eyes that told Asa she must be in an exceptionally good mood. “Also, Asa, could you do me a favour?”
He turned serious within a blink of an eye. “Anything, tell me.”
Carmen tapped his hand caressing her ear. “Please don’t tuck my hair behind my ear again. I prefer when it falls around my face.”
For a few seconds, Asa could only stare at her and then he was laughing. He was laughing so hard his stomach hurt and his vision actually blurred.
“Not sure if I should find this offensive or funny,” Carmen told him with a sigh, but there was no mistaking the look in her eyes as she watched him laugh
And it was the memory of that look that Asa knew would make his heart swell during the simplest moments of his life.
He knew that look—he wore it himself every time she gave him one of those rare half-grin-half-smile of hers. Or when she was utterly engrossed in one of her art journal entries, with her brows pinched together and her bottom lip completely pulled into her mouth.
It was the look of someone losing more of their heart to the other person.
•••
The front gardens of the house the party was being held in was clean and completely litter-free.
The backyard, though, was an entirely different story. There was a hedge running along the sides and the back of the two-storey house, so the host seemed to have no qualms about students discarding beer cans, bottles, tissue paper and food wrappers on the ground since that area was shielded from prying eyes.
Asa noticed there weren’t any of the traditional red cups, which meant that there was no beer keg. He figured that explained why there were glass bottles and cans scattered instead.
“You made it.” Ronnie’s voice fell on Asa’s ears just as he began climbing the backyard patio steps. He had to cross the bricked area to get to the open double doors of the house’s back entrance.
“Yes, I am standing here, aren’t I?” Asa cocked a brow.
“You’ve got guts, coming to a party.” Ronnie raised the beer bottle in his hand, tipping it in Asa’s direction, and then took a swig.
“Yes, it must take a lot of guts to come to a party,” Asa said flatly, sarcasm heavy in his tone.
Ronnie, despite being intoxicated, seemed not to appreciate Asa’s mouthing off. “You know what I meant. This isn’t school grounds. No rules or regulations to protect you here.”
“Yeah well, Ronnie, the thing is, rules
