Southern Charms

Party Crasher

A row of perfect, white teeth appeared as he put an arm on the door frame. "Cute sweats. The pink hearts match your hair."

"I'm sorry. The correct answer was 'I'll be leaving now.' Thanks for playing, but don't come again." I swung the door shut. He cursed and stumbled back as the toe he'd wedged inside to keep the door open was smashed.

"That freaking hurt, Rose."

"Rose," Willow said, jumping up and letting him in the house. He limped beside her, and I almost laughed. Their faces were contorted in a twin set of disapproval. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I think I'll keep the toe."

"To be fair, that was a kind of douche-bag thing to say."

He closed his eyes and mouthed something- it looked like he was repeating what he'd said when I opened the door. When his eyes popped open, he shook his head. "I don't see it. What part of that was bad?"

"I didn't do this on purpose." I jammed a finger at my head. "It was a present from my sister for outing her to our grandmother."

Those pearly whites twinkled again. "What secret did you spill? Hopefully, it was worth the dye job."

"Harmony has a major crush on you, and Clemmy was not pleased. In fact, if she finds out you're sitting in this house, without a parent present, I'm going to have bigger problems than my hair."

A vein pulsed in Ash's forehead, and Willow jumped in. "Aren't you supposed to be at a party cuz? Celebrations don't end until after dawn."

Willow's question failed to diminish the rising anger in her cousin. From the flush spreading across his cheeks, it appeared to have exacerbated it. With jerky motions, he loosened his bow-tie and ran a hand through his wavy hair, all the while, pacing.

"Apparently, Clemmy is not the only one on the Council who believes I shouldn't be allowed free reign in town until I pass their examination. I was asked to leave the party, and Tia Flor said I could spend the night at your house."

Guilt shredded my insides, but I crossed my arms and said, "I'm missing the part in the story where you ended up here."

"I'm also missing the part where you became such a shrew," he snapped, all the color rushing from his face as soon as the words left his mouth. "Lo siento. That was uncalled for."

Something broke. I don't know what it was, but I felt it expand and fracture inside of me. It didn't cause pain. No- if anything, it felt like relief. All the tension and irritation that had been simmering in my gut evaporated, leaving me giddy as the irony of the situation washed over me. Willow and Ash shared a look as I doubled over with laughter, but they remained silent until the last giggle.

"Rosey, you okay?"

"I'm fine, Willow. I'm fine. Ash, I'm the one who is sorry." He gaped at me. "Willow just finished forgiving me for lashing out at her. It wouldn't be fair if I didn't do the same."

Ash cocked his head to the side. "Are you calling a truce?"

"Something like that," I admitted. After all, he'd been nothing but kind- if a bit brash at times. I squashed the flutters that somersaulted through my stomach as he straightened his head and smiled.

"Well, now that we're all friends," Willow said, "why did you come here instead of waiting at the house?"

"Um," he shifted his feet, "It was locked."

"You're a warlock. A locked door shouldn't stop you," I said, sitting on the couch and pulling a pillow onto my lap. It wasn't much of a barrier, but its warmth against my legs offered a small comfort.