// Chapter Six //

Ashton laid on his bed, phone pressed to his ear as he talked to Alicia in low voices so that his mother doesn't question him.

"Why don't you just talk to this girl?" Alicia said over the phone.

"It's not that easy, Alicia. I want to talk to her, I do. I just don't know her reaction to it." Ashton whined, running a hand over his face.

"Honey, you will never know how she will react until you take that first step. Who knows? She might be happy to see you." Alicia said over the racket that occurred in her background.

"I doubt that. When our eyes met in class, she looked away like she was disgusted or something."

"Give her a chance." Was all Alicia said on that topic before digressing to another topic. "How's school?"

"Stressful. It's barely been a week and we have tons of assignments."

"It will blow over soon." Alicia brushed it off.

"I hope so." He sighed. "How's my dad?"

"Busy as always." He heard her heavy sigh over the line. From there they moved to different topics and he had only reluctantly cut the call when he heard his mother's footsteps coming closer. Initially, he waited to see if she was going to her room but they sounded closer with each step. He had promised to call Alicia back. He tossed his phone on his bed and pretended to be asleep when his room door swung open.

He had also pretended to not hear his mother calling him. It wasn't till her fourth call that he slowly sat up on his bed feigning sleep as he rubbed his eyes.

"Come down for breakfast sleepyhead." Julia said and closed the door behind her.

"I ran into my daughter in law at the supermarket the other day." Julia said when they sat down for breakfast.

"Daughter in law?" Ashton pretended like he didn't know whom she was referring to but of course he knew, how could he forget her nicknames for Serabi. Daughter in law was one of them and the other was Melodramatic African American Queen.

"Serabi of course. You know she will be my only daughter in law. I don't want just any woman to give birth to my grandchildren." Julia said, scooping a fork full of fried eggs into her mouth.

"I'm still a senior, mom and you are talking about grandchildren." Ashton rolled his eyes discreetly so his mother won't know.

"Whatever." She discarded the subject as easily as she brought it up. " She's still the same kind beautiful African American lady I remembered her to be although she seemed quite in a haste. I'm guessing she didn't want to keep her brother waiting." She finished the eggs on her plate.
Ashton didn't reply her, he didn't feel need too. He thought of how he couldn't have conversations like this freely with his mother again. If his parents were still together, he would be able to talk to her about Serabi and his phobia to talk to her after they've been so closed. He felt like his mother wouldn't understand and she will probably tell him something like,

"That's ridiculous, Ashton. You two have been friends since childhood, don't destroy it." She will say as if he willingly wanted to throw away years of friendship, as if he was suddenly irritated about the thought of Serabi and wanted nothing to do with her. He thought of Alicia in this situation, how the conversation would flow freely and what she would have said to make him feel better. He thought about her often now.

He got up, dropped his plate in the sink and went upstairs to finish up some homework. He was happy when he received a text from Alicia.

Can we continue our talk now about your not so secret crush or are we still hiding from your mom?

He dropped his pen in between the pages of the textbook and leaned back in his chair to reply the message.

We can continue our talk now. He sent to her and they picked up from where they left off.

Want to send out a huge thank you to everyone that has showed support!!! It has nearly reached a hundred reads and I also want to use the opportunity to really thank everyone that has voted on Hey you for the poetry contest. I love you all, thanks for the support!!!

I have only been reading this book Art of love. You guys should really read it, it is amazing!!! And it's a romance story!!!

I don't check my notifications again. I just read that book!!! So pardon my absence but I can't promise I would return soon.. lol😂 but anyways guys, thanks for the love ❤️❤️❤️

Keep showing it😂❤️

Stay blessed guys.

I would update another chapter as a gift.

Anddd you can reach me on Instagram, just.artistic

Stay loved.