20. FLAME

~ Asher’s POV ~ “Asher, you made it!” Karlie chimed in excitement as soon as she saw Asher. Asher walked lamely on the sand with his hands buried in his jeans pockets. He looked up to the group of people sitting and standing around the bonfire on the beach. “Yeah, hey,” Asher forced out a smile and nodded at Karlie. Karlie immediately got up and made her way over to him. Meanwhile, Zoie, who was grabbing drinks from a nearby cooler, walked past Asher to get to the bonfire. “Oh, hey!” she looked taken aback. “I thought you weren’t coming?” “Mmyeah, I changed my mind,” “Why?” Why do you think? Asher didn’t get a chance to say his response, Karlie was suddenly linking her arms around his neck, pushing herself in between Zoie and Asher. “It’s ‘cause you wanna see me, right?” Karlie giggled and fluttered her eyes at him. Ha-ha. Yeah right. Again, not giving Asher a chance to respond, Karlie stood on her tippy toes and kissed his cheek. Then she whispered, “Well, I missed you too,” Wow. This