The Why Behind What We Feel

Chapter 3- Show Me

"Okay, what's your favorite season?" Aspen asks while we sit out on the patio of Freeze Zone, the local frozen yogurt shop.

We've been here for maybe an hour, but it's been so much fun hanging out with him. He's not at all like I expected him to be. He's so down to earth, so kind, so in tune with what he wants and what he feels. It makes him really easy to talk to.

"Fall, definitely," I answer, taking a bite of my strawberry swirl. "You?"

"Fall," he laughs. "Wow, we have a lot in common, huh?"

"We really do. So, where did you grow up? Are you from Louisiana?" I ask.

"Nope, never even been to the Big Easy before now. I was born in Colorado, and I grew up in Texas, mostly around the Houston area. I...moved around a lot as a kid," he answers. "What about you? Is Louisiana your home?"

"Yep, born and raised. I was born here in New Orleans, but I've lived Slidell, just across the lake, all of my life, with my grandmother."

"I bet she's proud of you," he smiles at me.

I smile back, nodding. "Yeah, she is. My dad was her only child, so I'm all that's left of her legacy. She wants me to do great things, change the world and all that."

"She must be great. You talk about her a lot," he says through a mouthful of yogurt, using his spoon to scrape every last bit of his Peanut Butter Brownie Surprise out of his cup.

I smile warmly at the thought of my sweet, but spicy grandma. "She's a strong, wise, loving, but sometimes very scary woman."

He laughs. "What does she think about her only granddaughter getting into John Hopkins?"

"She was very proud, of course, but the distance has been a tough pill for her to swallow."

"I can imagine. Does she have anyone else? Any other family around?" he asks.

"She has a sister that lives close by, so she'll be fine. And anyway, I'll only be gone for a few years."

"So you'll come back?"

I nod. "Yep. I intend to work here so I can stay close to her if she needs me. Plus, this is my home. It's all I've ever known. Us Cajun folks don't like leaving the bayou very often, and if we do, we seem to always find our way back."

He smiles like he's impressed by my answer.

"What about you? Where do you plan to work after graduation?" I ask him.

He appears to be caught off guard by my question, but surely he's given some thought to what his next move will be. He blows out a breath, his forehead wrinkling as if he's deep in thought. "Well, I don't really know yet. I guess with the field I'm going into, I could go anywhere."

"That's true. Where do your parents live? Do you want to live someplace near them?" I ask.

Being a psychology student, I notice things about people's body language that the average person may not notice. Like for example, Aspen is really tense right now, to the point I'm afraid he's about to get upset. His parents are obviously a touchy subject for some reason.

Unless...

Oh wow...

He wants to counsel foster kids because he was a foster kid. My mouth drops open when I put it all together, but I try my best not to let my surprise show. He may not want to talk about it and I don't want to stir up any painful memories for him.

When he looks at me, his green eyes seem to soften, as if he knows he can trust me. I've always had that effect on people, I guess. It's a lot of the reason I chose to pursue a career in psychology.

"I don't have a family," he finally says. "I was given up for adoption when I was about two, bounced around from home to home, waiting to be adopted. I was a hyper kid and didn't listen very well, so needless to say, no one had the patience for me. Since I have no family and no hometown, I guess I'll just pick my own hometown, you know? It'll be the place my children eventually call their hometown."

"That's really sweet," I smile.

"Enough of the sappy stuff. If we're going to enjoy our last few weeks here, then we should come up with a plan," he says, suddenly looking more alive.

"Oh...okay," I say, unsure of where he's going with this and why he's using the word we as if we're doing this together.

"We have three weeks. Lets not spend it doing what's fun for our friends, let's spend it doing what we want to do!" he says excitedly.

"And...what do we want to do?" I ask him.

He pauses to give it some thought, but only briefly. "I don't know about you, but I really want to visit every good spot to eat around here. Everyone keeps telling me New Orleans is a foodie city. I've lived here for a couple of weeks and I've still never had a beignet."

"Wow, you've got to try one! It will change your life! Lucky for you, I work at Cafe Monday and we have the best beignets," I tell him.

"I'll have to stop by one day. Is it close to our apartment?"

"Yeah, just a couple of blocks away. It's towards the back of the French Quarter, kind of lost in all the madness. If you blink when you walk past, you might miss it. I'm surprised people even still come."

"Why? You don't have a bug problem there, do you?" he asks.

I furrow my brows, laughing as I catch on to his sense of humor. "No, nothing like that. My boss took over the place after his parents retired. I don't know that he's the most business savvy person, or that he knows anything about customer service, but the man can fry up the best damn beignet I've ever eaten. I feel like if people just gave us a chance, we'd see more customers come through. So far though, we're easily missed. I don't know if you've noticed, but you can get a beignet from just about anywhere around here. We mostly get a lot of lost tourists with bad attitudes. That's why I like to spend my free time alone, or with a small group of friends instead of at a big party. After working all week and going to school, I don't care for people much."

"Wait, you're not a people person?" he asks in surprise.

"It's not that I'm not a people person. I'm just...more comfortable when I'm not in a crowd. I guess it's an anxiety thing," I reply.

"I can understand that. I guess that's why we ended up here when we were supposed to be at a party," he chuckles.

"Oh crap!" I gasp, realizing Lizzy is probably looking for me.

I take my phone out of my bag and quickly check my texts. Sure enough, there's three unread texts from Lizzy.

Liz: Where did you go?

Liz: SEEEEEESSSSSS!!!

Liz: You sly dog! Drake said he saw you leaving with the new guy! Congrats!

Uh oh.

People saw us leave together? That automatically means s*x to most people, even though it couldn't be further from the truth, in my case. It doesn't matter what's true though. Everyone will think the new guy nailed me for sure. And until the next scandalous thing comes along, that's all anyone will talk about. Especially since every girl around here who's laid eyes on Aspen has shamelessly thrown themselves at him at one point in time or another.

"Are you okay?" Aspen asks, causing me to look up from my phone.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. My roommate was just texting me," I reply.

"Everything good?"

"Yeah, she was just worried because she couldn't find me," I say, smiling nervously.

I don't want to tell him that everyone thinks we're up to something, even though I'm sure Drake and his other friends will waste no time filling him in later. He's obviously not the type of guy to just take a girl home from a party, or at least, he's not that type of guy with me. That's okay. I find him very, very attractive, but I'm not dumb enough to believe he could want more from me than friendship. I don't have time for a man in my life and the drama that relationships bring. And from what Aspen's told me, he's probably not looking for that kind of thing either.

"We should probably get back. It's after midnight," he says, looking down at his watch.

"Really?!" I ask in surprise, checking my phone. It's fifteen minutes past midnight and that means I should've been in my bed fifteen minutes ago.

"Come on, I'll drive you back to the party so you can find your roommate," Aspen says, standing from his chair and reaching for my hand.

I don't know why I'm surprised by the gesture, but I am. I guess I'm not used to being treated this way.

I take his hand and let him help me to my feet, but he doesn't let go of my hand, only leads me away to his car, which is parked in front of the yogurt shop. He opens the passenger side door for me and I get inside. I can't help the big, goofy smile that spreads across my face. This may not be the start of a romance, but it's definitely the start of a close friendship. I can feel it.

Aspen drives us back to the party where Lizzy is standing outside the house, next to the road, with her phone pressed to her ear. I quickly get out of the car and hurry over to her.

"Hey Liz-"

"Oh my god! Sessy! I was so worried about you!" she cries, leaping into my arms.

Aspen smirks, walking up to us. "No need to worry, she was in good hands."

Lizzy looks from him to me, a devilish smirk forming on her face. "Good hands, huh? Was his hands the only things that were good?"

"What?" Aspen asks, furrowing his brows in confusion.

Lizzy is clearly drunk, so there's no point in trying to explain where I was to her right now. "Liz, this is Drake's roommate, Aspen. Aspen, this is my roommate, Lizzy," I say, quickly changing the subject.

"Nice to meet you, Lizzy," Aspen says, extending his hand to shake hers.

"You too!" she grins, hugging him instead. "I can't believe my roommie is tapping the hot new-"

"Okay then, you've met him, so let's get out of here, yeah?" I say, cutting her off before she embarrasses the hell out of me.

"But I'm not ready to go yet!" she whines.

"I told you I didn't want to be out past midnight," I whisper, giving her a look- a look that means nothing to her when she's drunk.

"You're such an old lady," she slurs. "I told you, we have to live it up these next few weeks!"

"We clearly have very different versions of live it up," I say, using air quotes. "I'm ready to go and we came here in your car, so give me your keys," I say, holding out my hand expectantly.

She digs around in her black Louis Vuitton clutch for a while before she finally pulls her keys out and hands them to me. "You take my car. I'll get a ride home from Drake," she says.

"No, no, no. Drake is also drunk," I remind her.

"Not as drunk as me. Besides, our apartment is only a few miles from here. We'll be fine," she slurs, swaying from side to side.

Aspen and I share a look. "Why don't I go inside and find Drake, and then all of us can leave at the same time. I'll drive Drake home and Sessy can drive you home. We'll all be safe, we'll all be home, and we can continue our party there. Just us cool kids," Aspen says, smirking at me.

I chuckle, looking to Lizzy. She's staring at Aspen like she's still trying to figure out what he just said.

"Come on, girl," I say, taking her hand. "We have a bottle of wine at home we've been needing to finish off anyway."

"Oooo yeah! Merlot!" she cheers, skipping behind me.

"Hey, wait!" Aspen says, grabbing my arm to stop me.

I turn around and look up at him, waiting for him to say something, but he only states at me like he's lost for a few seconds.

"He's so in love," Lizzy coos.

Aspen blushes furiously, blinking out of his daze. "I was just going to ask if we were being serious about continuing the party."

"Yes, of course we are!" Lizzy giggles.

"Are you sure?" Aspen asks, looking from her to me.

I nod, smiling. "Of course I'm sure. I think it would be a lot more fun to hang out at home with a few friends versus hanging out with hundreds of people I either don't know well, or don't know at all."

"Ugh, I totally agree. I'll go get Drake and I'll see you guys there. Don't break out the Merlot without me," he smirks, playfully punching my arm as he backs away.

After he's gone, Lizzy and I start back for her car. She looks up at me, and even though I know she's staring a hole through my face, I don't acknowledge her. I know what she wants to say, and I don't want to hear it.

"He so has a crush on you," she slurs, giggling.

I sigh, rolling my eyes. "He's just being friendly. Some guys only want to be friends with girls and not try and get in their pants."

"Some guys?" she scoffs humorously. "Show me where those guys are."