Rumours of the rink

This pair were barely talking. As much as they kept up their facade that they were perfect they weren’t. One half was a girl who genuinely just wanted to be kind while she was pursuing her passion. And she was, she knew she didn’t need to mentally torment her competition. She knew her skill set and she knew how talented she was. She is so close to being done with her partner. Honestly if she met Connor today she never would have started training with him. Connor was nice like her once, he still can be. But if anyone threatened his chance at gold he would tear them down. He was a mean one. Almost everyday this week they were being lectured by dustie.

She was at her limit, she never yelled at anyone but she yelled at Connor. Dustie told her to go take a walk and get something to eat. So she did. Because of Connor, no one really wanted to hang out with her. They paired them together. That was until Jenn and Asra made themselves at home across the table from her.

“Hi.” Jenn smiled before she went to open her lunch bag.

“Hi.” Katie said back quietly.

“What’s up?” Asra smiled as well. “How are you settling in? Where are you guys staying?”

Katie was a little thrown off. She spent her first month and a half here not really talking to anyone. Asra waited for her response. Looking at them, Katie sat up a bit.

“Uh, I dunno it's kinda hard to settle in. But we’re staying at an apartment downtown. Connor's dad pays for everything.”

“ah is he a trust fund baby?”

“Yeah basically.” She nodded a bit. “Why are you sitting with me.”

“Everyone saw what happened on the ice.” Jenn started. “We wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Jenn.” Asra sighed and looked at the youngest of the three at the table. Jenn knew what the look Asra was giving her meant.

“Oh I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Katie shrugged a bit. “I did yell at him in front of everyone.”

Katie didn’t say much. She was usually really good at talking to new people she didn’t know. But she just felt off because of Connor. It was only another twenty minutes before they were called back to ice. Asra nodded at Katie and gave her a small paper with her number in it if she ever needed anyone to talk to. Jenn gave the pair skater a hug before running off to join her own partner with her coach. Asra sighed and leaned on the inside wall, right next to where Dianescoach was.

“I need to talk to her.”

“She’s busy.”

Asra looked at him and gave him a look. Everyone knew the rumour of Asra cutting someone with their skates. Of course it wasn’t true. If it was there would have been a whole big ordeal. Girls like to spread rumours and it started because during a private ice time Asra and Oliver were goofing off. Asra had kicked him but with their guards on. Sure they left a bruise, but no actual damage.

He rolled his eyes a bit and held his hand up. Motioning for the skater to come over. When she did come over the coach walked away.

“Did you get it?” They questioned as she just nodded. “Okay good. And he gave us permission to do it?”

“Yeah he said he wouldn’t tell our coaches. But I did have to promise to do the dishes for a month.”

“Hey, a good trade off for a whole night of unsupervised skating.” They bumped their shoulders on dianes.

It was a little weird, they went from hating her to just tolerating her, now they went out of their way to actually talk to them. When they saw them at the rink they waved at her and she waved back. Sometimes they’d even warm up together. Asra admitted, it was nice to have Diane as a friend rather then a stupid rivalry. Even if they were still competing against each other.

“Asra.” Lillian called out to them. “Go stretch please.”

“I’ll text you.” Diane explained to Asra. Pushing off the wall they went back to practicing while Asra just went to do as told.

“Since when do you listen to Lillian the first time she asks you to do something?”

They looked at James. Sometimes they really regretted being attracted to him. Sometimes when he opened their mouth they just wanted to punch him. Glaring at him, they started taking off their skate guards. Making direct eye contact with him, he got up quickly and moved and sat on the other side of Jasper.

“Are you mad at him?” Jenn asked as Asra stepped into the ice.

“What?”

“James. Are mad at him?”

Asra laughed a bit. “No of course not, well not yet at least. Why?”

For some reason the coaches were being extra tough today, Jason had to separate Asra and Jenn so she could always get back to rehearsing with Sam. When the day ended Asra was heading to their car. Oliver wasn’t far behind, today Oliver had to get a ride from Asra to get home. His mom had to bring her car into the shop, so she borrowed his car for the day.

“Can you pick me up for tonight?”

“Oh yeah, we’re meeting here at 8:30 to set up a little bit. Do you want me to get you at 8:30?”

“Sure what do you mean by set up?”

Asra stopped to unlock their car before they even got to it. They learned one too many times that Oliver would stand there screaming at Asra when he was feeling extra chaotic. One time they were convinced he was going to rip off their door handle after practice.

“Oh just some lights and stuff. Diane and Jasper are picking up some snacks. Since it’s a party we figured why not treat it like one.”

“Oh nice.” He opened the door to get in. He was about to speak but he was taken by surprise instead. “Woah.”

“What?” Asra was more focused on putting their bag in the backseat rather than the fact they forgot to fix the seat from two days ago.

“Why is it back so far?

“What?”

“The seat.” Oliver told them. “I have never put it back that far. Even Jasper doesn’t.”

He immediately knew that there was something more to this. But he was going to give them a chance to lie their way out of this.

“Oh. Um I took a nap.”

“In your passenger seat?”

“Yeah I mean it’s my car so I’m allowed to do what I want with it.”

They were trying desperately to avoid telling Oliver. They knew he wouldn’t tell anyone but they didn’t want to admit they were sleeping with James in their car late at night. It sounded bad any time they tried to say it outloud. It’s not like they were ashamed of it, they were embarrassed.

“You're being weird.”

“I’m not being weird.” They shook their head before starting the car. “You're being weird.”

“Who did you have in your car.”

Shaking their head as they were pulling out of the parking lot. They didn’t want to answer him, so they didn’t. They stayed quiet but that just made it worse.

“Oh my god you had a guy in here.”

“I did not. When would I have time for that.”

“I don’t know, anything is possible.”

They were gripping the wheel a little bit really trying to play this off as it was nothing. Oliver was pushing for them to answer.

“I literally don’t have time for it. We have basically the same training schedule. Do you have time for boys?”

“Well if I really wanted to make it happen I could.”

“I wake up at 5am to go to the gym, then I spend hours in the dance studio and then studying then I’m on the ice until the evening and my mother would never let me go out late at night unless it was planned and I asked Lillian for permission first.”

They didn’t see it because they were distracted with driving, Oliver was trying to look at whatever was by the feet. It was out of character, Asra didn’t wear scrunchies and if they did it wasn’t a bright red sparkly one. He leaned forward when Asra stopped at a stop sign.

“What’s this?”

They side glanced at it. Oliver saw the look on Asra's face. He knew he was right. Snatching it out of his hand. Asra stuffed it in the middle Console, acting like it never existed.

“You're just not going to tell me?” Oliver huffed and crossed his arms. “Hello.”

Waving his arm around a bit when asra refused to talk to him.

“It’s a scrunchie what did it look like?”

“Yeah okay.”

This was going to eat away at Oliver. He knew he was going to find out so it was fine. He didn’t push it much further. Asra stopped to drop him off. There wasn’t any hostile energy, more like Asra was just terribly embarrassed by that. They tried to ignore it as they were getting ready later that night.

They were happy Oliver didn't talk about it again after they picked him up again. However when they got there Jasper, Diane, and James were standing around outside. Even though Diane had the key.

“Hey.” Asra waved at them, carrying a bag with the lights they promised to bring. As well their own Bluetooth speaker so they didn’t have to use the rinks sound system.

They hugged Jasper and gave Diane a side hug. Completely dodging James’s attempt at greeting them. As if that didn’t raise any suspicions with Oliver. James was a bit confused, thinking he did something to make them mad at him. He even tried to help them set up lights and Asra told him they didn’t need help.

“Are you mad at me or something?”

“What?” Asra was sitting down while they were putting on their skates.

“Like did I do something to make you mad?” He was keeping his distance from them. He genuinely thought he was doing something wrong. “It’s not like I told anybody.”

He only took this second to talk to them because the others were busy. Leaving Asra and James alone in the rink while Diane and Oliver were waiting for the others, waiting to let them in. Jasper was off doing who knows what.

“what?”

“You're ignoring me.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn’t really know how to go about this. “Look i don’t know if I did something-“

Asra shook their heads as they stood up. Stretching a little and reading up to out their hands on his shoulders.

“No no. Shhh. Your perfect, Oliver is onto us.”

“What?”

“Oliver is really good and sniffing out bullshit. I literally can’t lie to Oliver. He knows when I’m lying.”

James nodded a bit. He was processing what they said, he just smiled at them.

“What are you smiling about?”

“You think I’m perfect?”

He laughed a bit when they pushed him. Rolling their eyes they went to step away from him.

“You're hopeless.”

He kept laughing to himself before Asra went to see if Katie had showed up yet. As much as Asra wasn’t really the type to be nice, they understood that Katie was having a hard time. Things were already hard enough being a competing skater, the last thing Katie needed was to feel like she wasn’t welcomed at the rink. Given Katie and Connor at first weren’t welcome at all, but now everyone knew it was just Connor who was the mean one. Katie deserved all the effort and that was proven when they were all actually having a fun time together.

“Thanks for this.” Katie told Asra while she was leaning on the wall with a cup; she didn’t drink.

“Yeah any time. You're not that bad and you know that.”

“Yeah you’re a lot nicer than Connor.” Jasper nodded as she was standing with Asra. Currently the three of them were watching the other try to play dodgeball while on skates.

“I try to be. We’re very different now.”

“Different is good.”

Katie smiled again at Asras' words. Even though the group of the competing skaters were having fun. They all knew tomorrow they would regret having this party. Even though they shouldn’t have James got his hands on alcohol and most of them were drinking. Asra of course wasn’t, but they were all still just teenagers so they wanted to have fun for once. They almost never partied. At least they were all together. Jenn and Sam were the only ones missing, it was 11pm on a school night. So they weren’t allowed to hang out tonight.

Even with all the factors they were still just trying to have fun. They all just wanted to make Katie feel welcome. Katie tried to get Connor to go but he refused.

They felt like they were about to pass out. Stopping for only a second and Lillian was already on their ass about it. They tried to catch their breath but started again. After the party, they ended up getting home pretty late. Completely sleeping through their alarm and they missed a whole day of training. Lillian wasn’t happy with them. It didn’t help that James was a little hungover after the party. Since he barely drank he didn’t have a high tolerance. He had three drinks and woke up with a headache. He tried to play it off as him being sick, but of course Will took him to the doctors just to be sure.

“Keep up the pace you have a whole day to make up for.”

In the moment Asra wished someone would cut off Lillian's hands. They were getting really tired of hearing her clapping. This was the first time in years Asra had to do these, they hated suicide runs. After the first six months of training with Lillian, she stopped using suicide runs as punishment because Asra actually started showing up for practice.

“It was one day.” Asra tried to plead with Lillian but she clearly wasn’t budging.

“Doesn’t matter. You know the rules, skip a practice and you get to do an hour of suicide runs.”

All they wanted to do was fall in their place. James was to the left of them also doing the runs , he wasn’t as fast as Asra. Clearly Will did not use this type of enforcement with his skaters. He didn’t need to, Jasper always showed up and forced James to show up as well. Jasper had her own behavioural issues but after Japan she didn’t stray much. She listened to will without question, and didn't help that Will was also literally her dad. Technically.

“James! keep up. You think you can just miss a day and leave me and Jasper waiting for four hours. Unacceptable.”

Jasper was sitting on the ground on her phone. Unlike James, Asra, Oliver, and Caleb. They still showed up for training the next day. Oliver was also sitting next to Jasper, purely because his knee was acting up and Lillian didn’t need him having to take time off.

The hour passed and Asra thought they were in the clear. But Lillian told them to start on the burpees. Usually it wasn’t that bad, they did burpees and ran everyday. They felt like their heart was going to burn out if their chest. Lillian gave Asra and James five minutes to rest.

“What were you thinking, having a party while you're in the middle of your most crucial training time? Did you suddenly decide that having fun was more important than your career?” Asras was looking at Lillian completely confused. They didn’t understand how she knew about it. “Well, you can’t just miss a day because you stayed out the night before. This is exactly why you don’t have parties. Especially during the week. Whatever you want to do on your day off is your business. But during the week you show up.”

“I know I’m sorry.”

“Really because I don’t think you are. If you were you wouldn’t have done it.”

Asra was bent over trying to breathe. They didn’t like being yelled at like this. It felt like they were back in year one again. Given Asra knew they did something extremely stupid. This was year one Asra behaviour, they were suddenly remembering exactly why they decided to start listening to Lillian. She never let them off easy.

“Burpees. Now.”

They felt like actual mush by the time it was over. After yet another hour of intense workouts again they were laying on the ground. James was close to them. Will had pulled Lillian to the side. Trying to tell her she was a little aggressive with Asra. But that just made Lillian defensive. Accusing Will of trying to tell her she doesn’t know how to handle her skater.

“I’m never missing a day again.”

James looked at Asra. They were both dying and they both needed water but the water was far away.

“Me neither. Why is she so aggressive.”

“Because during our first year of training I walked out a lot and was just kinda dramatic. A lot of time I would just be throwing fits and my skating was fueled by anger. Don’t get my wrong it still is. But no coach was like Lillian.”

“I’m glad she whipped you into shape. But you did this a lot during the first year? How are you still alive?”

Asra laughed a bit. “As much as she is a hardass and right now I hate her. She made skating worth it.” Asra glanced over to where Lillian and Will were standing still talking. “But we’re never missing a day again. At least I won’t.”

“Yeah no. Never happening again.”

The both sat up quickly as Will and Lillian made their way over again. Asra even stood up and was waiting for Lillian to yell at them again.

“You are never pulling this shit again.” Asra just nodded at her words. “We didn't do four years of work into this just for you to go and throw away because you decided to have fun.”

Will sighed and he knew he had to say something Because James also was in trouble. He partly didn't want to because Lillian seemed to have it covered. James wasn’t Lillian's skater.

“We get it you guys wanted to make Katie feel included but there are other ways of doing that don’t mess up your training.” Will shook his head a bit. “Grab your stuff and be at the rink in twenty minutes.”

“Yes sir.”

James kept his head down. Will wasn't mad at him; he just sounded annoyed and done with him. To James that was so much worse.

“Here.”

Jasper got up and handed their water bottles to the two of them. Lillian and will make their way off the field and to their car.

“Well that was a shit show.” Oliver mentioned as he got up. “Can’t wait for my lecture.”

“Yeah you drank. It's going to be so much worse for you.” Asra opened the top of their water bottle before they looked at James.

“What?”

“Connor fucking snitched on us. Because Diane was there and made a deal with her uncle to get us the rink for the night.”

“Connors kinda a bitch.” Oliver added after Asra was done.

“If I didn’t care about my career I would just shut him up. Like first he goes out his way to get his dad to move him here to train. Then he’s constantly saying mean shit about Jasper. Then he’s causing his partner so much stress she flipped out in front of everyone and now that we tried to cheer her up with a party. He went and snitched on us to our coaches. Are you fucking kidding me.”

“A party we invited him too and he declined.” Jasper commented before the group started making their way to the cars. Holding out their hands for James’s keys.

“If he keeps this up he’s going to get his shit rocked.”

Asra handed their keys off to Oliver since they still felt like mush. The four split up to make their way to the rink. Asra definitely felt like they weren’t going to be able to make it through the afternoon training. But knowing Lillian she went to dig around for Asras skates they tried to hide.

While James and Jasper were put on program practice, Asra was right. Lillian went to find the skates Asra hid.

“I don’t want to do that.”

“You have to finish breaking them in. You only did it twice and then you hid them. Besides I know you won’t be able to do anything more than just just laps. Not after this morning’s work out.”

“And who’s fault is that.” Mumbling to themselves as they were pulling on the skates they didn’t want to.

“Do you want to go back outside?”

“No.”

Taking the skates from Lillian's hands, they went to put them on. They knew Lillian was far from done with them.

“There’s no more of this. I don’t want to hear about some party you went to. I don’t want to hear that you were out late. Do you think this is some joke? Like the last four years means nothing. Like this life dream that you have been working so hard is just a hobby? You have worked too hard to just throw it away because you want to party.”

“That’s not what happened.”

“Then what did happen? You missed a day of training, you haven’t missed training in three years.”

“It’s not fair that Katie is being turned into a bad guy just because of Connor. She deserves better than that. She’s nice and kind. She’s nothing like Connor and she deserves friends if she’s going to be forced to train here.” They didn’t bother trying to make eye contact because that would have just made Lillian more mad. “So what I stayed out for the first time in years. I stayed late to clean up the mess we made and we asked to use the rink. We didn’t break in or anything. It was one night because Katie was having a hard day. I’m sorry.”

She didn’t say much. She just gestured to the ice. Telling Asra to get started on their laps. Asra didn’t know if Lillian actually listened to them but they started on their laps. Trying to ignore the other skaters. They didn’t like this Lillian, she sounded like their mother.

“Hey! Asra! Wait up.” James was trying to keep up with them. They were outside just wanting to go home at this point. “Can you wait!”

“I have to get home.”

“So you can’t stop for five second.”

Asra didn’t stop until they were at their car door. Shoving their bag into the back seat. They went to open the driver seat door, James pushed it closed before they could get in.

“You're cute. Move.”

“I’m sorry we got in trouble.”

They shrugged before crossing their arms. “Not like you were the one who snitched. Can you move? I have to get home.”

“Do you still want to meet tonight?”

“I can’t. My mom told Lillian I've been sneaking out. They’re both not happy with me.”

He nodded a bit, his head dropping just a little. The Asra made that sound upset him. Sure it would be nice to go back to having a proper sleep schedule and not being tired all the time. But he liked the time he got to spend with Asra. Even if it was in secret and no one was allowed to know about it.

“So does that mean you want to stop meeting up? Like in general.”

They took a deep breath and shook their head.

“No. That’s not what I’m trying to say. Just until I can get my mom and Lillian off my back. I give Lillian maybe like two or three more days. My mom isn’t as easy. I might have to come up with a lie or something to get her to leave me alone. I could say I’m studying or something. Since she clearly wants me to focus more on school.”

“What? Why school?”

“She gave me some fucked up ultimatum. If I don’t place this year at nationals she wants me to go to school instead. Get a degree.”

“But you're going to place.”

He sounded desperate in his voice. He definitely did not want Asra to quit under any circumstances. His favourite part of the day was when he was at the rink and making Asras' life a living hell.

“I wish she had the same amount of trust in me.” He went to open their car door again. James stepped back this time to let them leave. “I’ll text you okay?”

“Okay.”

He nodded a little. He was expecting Asra to just get in and leave. But Asra would tell that by telling James they couldn’t meet up for a little bit was upsetting to him. They looked around the parking lot for a second.. just to make sure no one was watching before they leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

They say at the dining room table. Lillian didn’t really have an office so her home was where she met with Asra and Oliver’s parents when needed. Sure the parents would show up at the rink during most of their training days. But never for too long. Lillian made boundaries very clear for both sets of parents. During the day and while they were training, Asra and Oliver were her skaters first their kids second.

Usually every three months or so Lillian would sit down with Asra's parents to give them updates on their training and be on the same page as them. However this time Lillian was ready to actually end Asras mother. Of course Asra could just say that they were off because they hadn’t seen James outside of the rink in a week. But Asra lied and told Lillian that they were stressed out about school. It wasn’t a lie, trying to balance everything was hard. They were attending an online college course for a business degree. Asra honestly had no idea what they were going to do with that. But it was a degree they came to an agreement on with their parents.

Asra also told Lillian about their moms ultimatum and she was not happy about it

“I would just like to know, when did you think it was okay to give Asra an all or nothing choice. Was it after they came in fourth at nationals or was it recently?” Lillian sat across from Asra's parents. Asra was sitting at the end of the table. Usually during these meetings it was just an excuse for Lillian to get mad at Asra’s parents in a professional setting. “Did you give them this ultimatum when you realized that they were months away from sectionals? Did you really think it was a good idea to put this choice in their head while they are working every day so they can place when the time comes? Did you really think that was a good idea.”

“I gave my child a choice. I’m not going to keep wasting my money for a fourth place career. It’s my money so i get to decide what I want to do with it.” Asra rolled their eyes. This happened every time. Lillian would get mad at their mom, their mom would say my kid my money. It was an endless cycle. “If they aren’t going to work to get gold I don’t see the point in continuing with their career.”

“But who said they weren’t working to get their gold medal. I didn’t, Asra certainly didn’t. At what point did Asra ever say they weren’t working for gold? And where do you get the idea that you're allowed to have a say in their training and what they do with their career. You clearly don’t see them working their ass off day in and day out.”

“You won’t let us sit in on their training.”

“Because when you do you think you have a right to tell them what they're doing wrong. You are their mother not their coach.” Lillian was getting heated now. As much as she was frustrated with Asra, Asra was still her skater. She did everything for Oliver and Asra. Doing whatever she could to help them. “And not to mention, you quit when you were 18. And you never even placed, I would understand having a say if when you did compete you placed. But you didn’t. You never won gold so I don’t want you to come in here and demand a gold medal from your kid. They are the same age you were when you dropped skating, and they have medals to their name.”

“I’m not paying for anything if they don’t place this year.”

“Shut up.” Asra snapped at their mom. “I’m tired of you talking about me like I’m not up at 5am every morning to train. I am working as hard as I can to train while balancing the college course you wanted me to take. I don’t want to be in college. I told you what I wanted to do and you just don’t listen. I told you I want to place and I want to win gold. I want to go to the Olympics and I want to become a coach after I retire. You just yelling at me constantly to do better isn’t going to make me perfect.”

“Asra.” Their father spoke in a warning tone.

“No. I’m 18 years old, I’m an adult. I should be able to pick what I want to do with my life without you waving money over my head. You don’t own me, I’m not some toy for you just throw around whenever you want.” They turned their attention back to their mom again. “I am a skater, I’m going to place this year. I am going to get gold. It might not be this year and it might not even be next year. But I’m going to place. You don’t control me or what I do. So if I don’t place this year fine, take your money away. But I will find a way to keep training and competing without you. This is my life. Not yours, stop treating it like it is. I’m going to win gold one day for me, not for you.”

“You can’t talk to me like that.”

“well guess what mom. Respect is earned, not demanded. If you're not going to disrespect me why should I give you mine.”

They were clearing getting worked up now and Lillian didn't want this to go any further. She let Asra say their piece before nodding up the stairs. The house she shared with her husband was two floors. They had upstairs where there were two rooms that Jasper and James occupied as well as a bathroom and an office for when Will and Lillian needed to actually get work done. The middle floor was where Lillian and Will's room, they had the master bedroom which had a bathroom connected to it. There was a half bathroom and then the garage. They didnt have a basement so they used the garage to store all their excess stuff. It was long overdue for cleaning out. There was a small section Lillian used to use as a home training area for Jasper. But it was just a mess in there. Jasper wasn't home, they were out with Caleb and Oliver. James was the only one home and when he heard Asra get out of their chair he ran back to his room. He didn't close the door. He didn't really know where Asra was going to go. But Lillian was trying to tell them to just wait upstairs while she kicked out their parents.

Getting to the top of the stairs, Asra looked to their right and sighed when Jaspers room was empty. Jasper probably mentioned that they weren't going to be home but Asra forgot.

“Hey.” James whispered quietly and threw his pillow into the hallway. They rolled their eyes before picking it up and going into his room.

Unlike Jasper's room, his room was plain. White walls with a basick dark oak dresser. His bed was the only thing that gave away that this was more than a guest room. He had a blue comforter with black accents on it. But his sheets were white. There was the desk, it was a dark oak to match the dresser. He had an armchair next to the window, and Asra could tell that he moved it because of the small indents on the wood in one corner.

“Hey.”

“Are you okay?”

They shrugged as they just sat on his bed. Not waiting for his go ahead, not that they needed it. James became very good at picking up on their body language. He closed the door and sat in his desk chair across from them.

“I mean i just stood up to my mom and dad for the first time in 18 years. Well I have before but never to this degree.”

Looking at him, getting ready for him to say something about respecting their parents. Someone always had something to say about Asras life. That always pissed them off to no degree, but James just nodded. He didn't tell them they could have done it a different way.

“From what i heard, it's not fair she was treating you like that.” he reached forward a bit to hold their hand. “Sorry, I heard you and Lillian get angier. So I just sat on the stairs.”

“They can suck sometimes.”

Lillian was talking to their parents for a while. Trying to make them understand they can't keep acting like this. Trying to make them acknowledge that they way they were treating Asra was extremely damaging. Of course they didn't listen to Lillian. James ended up putting on a movie to fill the silence in the room. They pair moved to lay on the bed together just watching whatever was on the screen.

After Lillian finally got their parents to leave, she went to check on Asra. When she noticed that Asra wasn’t in Jasper's room she was a little confused about where they went. Knocking on James's door, when she heard no answer she looked inside the room. They were asleep, the sound from the laptop was still playing. But they looked peaceful and Lillian figured she should let Asra rest.

“Where's Asra?” will ask as he was getting out something to make dinner with.

“Sleeping.”

“Sleeping? In Jaspers room. Asra hasn't done that for a while.”

While Jasper and James were gone Asra slept over quite a bit. Jasper of course said it was fine if Asra used her room. But Asra stopped doing that after a while. Just deciding to tough it out at home with their parents. They just never left their room.

“No. in James's room.”

Will had to quickly stop himself from dropping the pot. He looked at Lillian like she was crazy.

“What?”

“I know.”

“They hate each other.” Will leaned on the counter as Lillian was pulling glasses out of the cupboard. “Anytime they have to be on the ice at the same time they're always at each other's throats. Asra is so mean to him.”

“I mean they have their good days. Asras not always-”

Lillian stopped herself, looking at will like she was putting together the pieces. Will wasn't far behind. He stood up straight again.

“No.”

“It's literally the only explanation.”

“First of all that mental image, I never want that again.” a grossed out look covered will face. “Second of all, if this ends poorly im going to actually murder James.”

“Ill murder Asra. Its okay, I'm sure it'll be fine.” Her voice wasn't super convincing. “Right? It'll be fine. Asra and James are adults.”

“Let just hope they're using protection.”

Asra was going to go home after their nap, but Lillian told them to stay. They tried to protest but Lillian's mom side was going out. She knew if Asra went home right now they would just end up back at her house later or sleeping in their car. Lillian stayed up though, they wanted to know if her instincts were right. She was in the kitchen, watching James and Asra sneak out as quickly as they could around 9 pm. She shook her head before pouring out her glass and going to bed, that was conversation for another day.