I'm forced to get an early start the next morning when the movers show up at six on the dot and start dumping furniture onto our front lawn and screaming at one another, which was perfect because I hadn't planned on sleeping in late anyway.
Sarcasm ate me up sometimes.
I try to help for the first few minutes, but I just end up getting in the way and decide to eat peach yogurt while I watch the movers self-destruct trying to move dad's giant work desk through our front door. It felt like watching the best comedy show and I laugh mirthfully when they get stuck in the door and dad starts to panic because his designer sofa was being torn to hell.
"What are you doing?" A random voice announces cheerfully.
"Ahh!" I scream and my yogurt flies out of my hand when Asa pops up beside me, virtually silent and smiling like we were the best of friends, which we weren't. For all I knew, he was a serial killer who'd been murdering the neighbors for years and hiding them in his closet.
"Can you stop doing that?" I yelp, "You're going to give me a flipping heart attack!"
"Doing what?" Asa asks innocently, and he blinks his pretty eyes at me, "I heard a bunch of noise coming from your house so I came over to see if I could help."
We both look over at the movers when they drop the sofa with a bang and punch a hole in our rotted porch. Then dad starts screaming and one of the guys starts screaming back at him as they get into fight mode and prepare to duke it out.
"Do you want to get breakfast with me since you annihilated your yogurt?" Asa asks me suddenly, without shame or embarrassment. He must have had skin made of steel because I hadn't been that friendly to him last night when we met. "There's a cafe that sells amazing breakfast sandwiches. You'll be a changed man, I swear!"
I automatically wondered if having breakfast with him would be considered a date, but Asa seemed so nonchalant about it that I didn't feel a sense of panic like I might have in the past.
"Yeah," I answer, surprising even myself, "You want to come inside for a second while I grab my coat and some cash?" I breeze past him and he does a happy dance from foot to foot before following me into the house, which was silly as hell but also kind of enadearing.
We have to go around the back since the front door was currently blocked by a large sofa, but Asa doesn't seem to mind wadding through the knee-high grass.
"Who gave you that chain around your neck?" He asks casually as I use my key to unlock the back door, his arms behind his back. "It looks really, really expensive."
"Oh--" I don't bother looking down at the chain, "It was a gift from a friend back in New York."
"Really?" Asa lifts his eyebrows in question, "You two must have been really close."
I turn to look down at him, as he was still standing in the grass. "What do you know about barn owls?" I ask him instead of lying more to his face. "Last night something really weird happened and this owl showed up at my window with a dead mouse. It didn't really freak me out, but I was pretty grossed out for a couple of minutes."
Asa blushes bright red for a reason I can't understand. "Uh...maybe he was bringing you a housewarming present?" He offers up, "Like a casserole? Only it was a dead mouse?"
"Sure," I roll my eyes and open the door, "An owl wanted to welcome me to the neighborhood."
"What's so hard to believe?" Asa asks and follows me inside, kicking off his shoes when I do first. "You moved into his territory first. Maybe he saw you as a friend and wanted to bring you something nice to snack on. That stupid mouse was super fresh, too."
I grab my variety jacket from over a chair but pause at his words. "How do you know that?" I ask him, and I turn to stare at Asa, our eyes locked across the distance.
"Just a guess," Asa shrugs, and then he shoots me a smug little smile. "Why? Do you think I'm spying on you at night or something? I'm not that desperate, or crazy enough to climb up your window."
Somehow, I didn't believe him. There was a lot I didn't know about Asa Moon, but I knew I would find out one way or another.
Once I got my coat on and everything, I end up grabbing some cash from my wallet, and Asa and I head back out of the house together. "Dad!" I shout at him as he marches by yelling at one of the movers to be careful with his vinyl records. "I'm going into town with the neighbor kid! Be back soon!"
My dad vanishes into the house without a word, so I take it as a yes to proceed with my plan to drive into town on my own, despite the fact that I'd only recently gotten my learner's permit and hadn't driven that much.
"We're supposed to get some more rain," Asa informs me as we're driving into town, taking the scenic route with all the gorgeous trees and grey clouds in the sky. "I'm kind of sick of all this water," he admits, "It gets my feathers all soggy and wet."
"Your what?" I reply, and I flick on the radio to some country station.
"Um..." Asa baulks for a response, "Do you have a girlfriend?" He blurts instead.
I tighten my hands on the steering wheel and shrug, "I used to before my dad made me move down here. But we weren't on great terms or anything even before that. I think she was cheating on me with another guy if I'm going to be honest with you."
"Oh," Asa watches me and for some reason, all I can think of is that owl last night on my window. With those round eyes and that heart-shaped face surrounded by those reddish feathers.
"What about you?" I ask him, and I remember his dating profile from last night. "You have any secret admirers or someone you're crazy for?"
"I used to," Asa admits, and then he glances out the window, "Two years ago he died. But we were super close, even as young as we were. I guess it's because we were childhood friends. Nothing ever felt weird or awkward with him."
I wanted to ask him more, about the boy he'd loved, but then he reaches over and turns on the radio even louder. "This is a good song," he tells me.
And that's that.
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