Poison

[ 11 ]

hey guys i done goofed by messing up my updating days. oh well. enjoy this.

question of the chapter: who is your favorite character?

"Aaliyah's really cool," Maya relays as she takes her usual seat at the table to the left of me. Asa sits across from me with a mouthful of food, which I cooked, and an interested look on his face. I can tell he wants to be apart of this conversation.

"She thinks you guys are cool, too," I pass on the compliment. I'm not lying either. I couldn't get her to shut up about how funny Maya is and how cute Asa and I would be together. Of course, I can't relay that last bit without raising a couple of questions.

"Did Poison tell you?" Asa asks as he twirls his fork in my direction. I stare at him in slight confusion, wondering what could possibly come out of his mouth.

"No, what?" Maya replies as she glances at me before turning her attention to Asa.

"Aaliyah thinks I'm cute," he informs her, which gets a small squint from me.

I stare at him, wondering if it'd be weird to ask if he finds her cute. I decide to just go for it as I push the food around on my plate. "Do you think she's cute?" I wonder and Maya's head snaps in my direction and I can tell she's gauging my intentions.

Asa stares back at me and tugs his brows together. "Are you trying to hook me up with her?" he trails in a slightly curious tone.

"Are you trying to be hooked up with her?" I flip the question as I tilt my head a bit. His gaze narrows as he struggles to come up with an answer. A minute passes and he blinks a few times before coming to a conclusion.

"No, Ivy, I'm not," he answers slowly while giving me another skeptical glance. I probably look and sound like an idiot.

"Uh...anyway," Maya switches the subject after watching the brief stare off between me and her roommate. "Why didn't I know that your birthday is coming up?"

"I don't know..." I answer with a short shrug, slightly grateful for the topic change. The tension is still very present in the air but if I ignore it, it should go away.

"It's the 24th right?" she wonders and I slowly nod. "What do you want? You know, like as a gift?"

"I don't want anything," I dismiss casually.

"You have to want something," Asa comments, which gets a suggestive noise from Maya. Immediately, I shoot her a glare and bow my head. I try to be casual and make it seem as though I'm merely paying more attention to my food than anything but the light blush on my cheeks probably gives me away.

"No, it's fine. I never really celebrated birthdays with my family so it's really just another day," I inform them with a dismissive shrug. It's not a lie. My family would always wish each other a happy birthday but money was usually tight so all we ever did was have cake (if that) and then go about our business.

"You're boring," Asa retorts before taking a long sip of his glass of water. I watch his adam's apple bob up and down as he continues to drink.

"You don't want a few strippers?" Maya wonders with a large and suggestive grin. "I know a business that has male strippers for cheap."

"No, thank you," I shut that idea down with a hushed laugh.

"Damn," Asa mutters disappointedly . "I was hoping you'd request that."

I roll my eyes at him but my smile doesn't waver. Recently, he's been a lot more playful and teasing, which is refreshing. That's not to say I don't enjoy being around him when he's snarky and catty; it's just fun to be able to go back and forth with him. Like I said before, he interests me.