Last Confrontation

Despite the cold, my hands started to sweat as the car pulled up close to us. Like my doom was pulling up to me luxury. Rocco and Vincenzo stepped out of the car carefully and I could hear them approaching us.

I thought about unfair all this shit had been for long. It was me that was left to deal with the nightmares and anxiety of being treated as less than human! I should be able to say that I hate them openly! I've been trying so hard to just live as a new version of myself, so why should any of it involved Vincenzo still?

For fucks sake, he almost killed me before! That alone should make this easier for me. When I was clear on what I was going to do, I turned around to face them making them stop in their tracks in surprise. 

"What happened to you?"

"Ask your man!" I snapped at Vincenzo. "I'm getting real tired of dealing with your fucking partners, Vincenzo! If you can't keep this one under control I swear-"

"Wait! Rocco did this?!" Vincenzo asked. "How? He's been with me or at school!"

"His sister has been popping up at school and she just did this a little while ago!" I yelled.

"Rocco!"

"Stay out of it Vincenzo!" Rocco snapped.

"Baby-"

"Shut up, Ashton!" 

"Just let them handle it guys, we're all men here," Sam said eagerly.

"Jackass Jerk!" I yelled at him.

"Show off!" Rocco yelled back.

"Egotistical idiot!"

"Wannabe gangster!"

"You and your fucking sister should just go back to whatever hole you crawled out of!"

"You and should go back to whatever hospital ward you escaped from!"

"You are the most arrogant asshole I have ever met!"

"You are the most stubborn fucker I have ever met!"

"I'd slap you, but that would be animal abuse!"

"I should push you into the river, then wave good-bye!"

"Get lost jerk!"

"Yeah? Well I hate you! Read the shirt. I hate you!"

I glanced down at Rocco's shirt. He was wearing a grey sweater that said "I Hate You" in big black letters.

"Who wears a shirt that says that?" Sam asked. By the tone of voice, I could tell he was very amused and probably thought that this was as far as I could take it.

"I do, that's who." Rocco answered.

"It's weird. Just like you," I snapped.

"Ok, baby, just get to what you want to tell him so this can be over and done with," Ashton interjected seeing that we were getting nowhere fast. Thankfully, he reminded me of my original plan...to beat up Rocco.

"Stop it," Rocco mumbled. A fucking timid act now that he caught! What an lying asshole!

"What?"

"You're glaring at me." That just means I got him.

I shrugged. "It's a free country. I can look wherever I want."

"But you're making me uncomfortable and if you don't stop I'll..."

"What? Tell your sister to bother me more? Be a narc? Typical."

"I didn't fucking hit you! Why are you giving me a hard time?" Because being kind to him was being cruel to myself!

I narrowed my eyebrows in challenge. "Because I can!" Rocco and I glared daggers at each other. "Why the fuck are you so jealous of me? You're the one that's dating him! Not me!"

"You should just stay out of Vincenzo's life from now on. He doesn't need or want you anymore. He has me." Rocco snapped.

Who was this guy? What right does he have to say I what I can and can't do. I know Im going to break off the friendship but Rocco kept pushing me off.

Time to handle it in Mickey's style.

I stood up straight so I was eye to eye with him. I pointed my finger in her face and said, "Listen here, Fuckface, I don't know who you think you are, but you will most certainly not tell me what I can and can't do!"

He took a step towards me and was literally four inches away from my face. "Bullshit. Listen here Daniel. You will NOT talk to Vincenzo anymore. Do you want to know why? I'm his boyfriend right now. Once he can forget about you, he will forget all about his stupid ex-friend that broke his heart. I don't care if you 'care' about him, stay away."

Just what the hell was Vincenzo saying to this kid? Sam let out a couple of oohs as he listened to our back and forth. I ignored it and continued to stare Rocco straight in the eye. Does he think i'm afraid of him? Hell no! I've faced death and Rocco wasn't even close to that. Did he seriously think he won? Oh no, he didn't. Am I even close to backing down? Hell fucking no!

I'm tired of being 'Hospice Boy', I'm tired of being labeled as the weak one, I'm sick and tired of people thinking I can't handle myself, even though I really can't. Well, newsflash world, Hospice Boy is no more.

"And if I don't stay away." I challenged, feeling a restless energy take over my soul. Rocco pushed me with both of his hands making me stumble back a bit. To say I was in shock that he would actually put hands on me first, was a complete understatement. 

"Bad things, Hospice Boy." he warned.

I laughed and looked at Sam in astonishment. He had on angry glow in his eyes. I watched as he mouthed the words, 'Kick that ass, Dan' so turned back to Rocco who was smiling and had his arms crossed, "So you admit you set her on me?"

Rocco dropped his arms and pushed me again, "And if I did?" he smiled. In that moment, all hell must have frozen over and the pigs must be flying outside because I had slapped him across the face so hard that a big red hand print was printed on his cheek and my hand went red and numb. 

Why did I slap him? I need to correct that!

Rocco let go of his cheek and walked up to me and slapped me hard across the cheek in return. It hurt like hell and fueled my fire! I felt my cheek and it was growing warm and I bet it was turning red as we speak. I don't know what Ashton could be thinking as I instinctively motioned for him not to interfere, but it's a good thing he wasn't getting in the middle, because if he was, this fight would most likely be over. It's not even close to being over. I'm not going down without a fight.

This kind of adrenaline felt great. 

With all force I had in me, which was a lot more than I expected, I punched Rocco in the face. A yelp escaped his mouth making Sam yell out an excited 'ooooooh' in support. I could hear a click of a phone, indicating someone was filming the entire thing. 

I hope I didn't look stupid.

Rocco's nose started to bleed and he wiped his hand on his shirt before jumping at me. He pushed me onto the car they came in and punched me in the face. He punched me back in the cheek, I checked to see if blood came gushing out, but none did.

I lifted my knee and kneed him in the gut, he ended up falling to the ground. With him now on the ground, he pulled me down by grabbing one of my ankles and making me fall on my front. He jumped on my back and started to pull my hair. I could feel the roots being tugged at and I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I attempted at flipping him over but didn't succeed.

I could hear Sam's voice screaming, along with others, "Go Cunningham!" Rocco and I were rolling on the ground, fighting for dominance over the other. Rocco ended up on top of me, his unstable legs around my torso.

Before he could strike me again, with all the force I had, I flipped him over on his back and punched him a few times right across the face. He kicked me off and got off the ground with me following suit. He picked up a his backpack suddenly and threw it at me.

The item hit me in the stomach and it hurt like crazy from the weight of the books inside. Tossed it aside quickly and lunged at him and the next thing I know is, our limbs were tangled, punches and kicks were also put in there. Rocco and I let go of each other. He outstretched her hand and got hold of my bicep. I cupped my hand a little and slapped him upside the head, making his body involuntarily jolt to the side.

With this opportunity of him being out of balance I elbowed his body so hard that he ended up on the ground once again. It was like I couldn't hear or feel anything anymore. I could see different cameras around us, catching us in our fight, reminding me that we were still on school grounds. I didn't care if my fight with Rocco ended up on the internet, all I cared about was beating the shit out of him.

Rocco suddenly jumped at me, and before I could react, he had me pinned to the ground. He started punching my face. I could feel his nails scratching me and the sting of pain hitting me a couple of seconds later. Our legs were entangled and our arms were sort of wrapped around each other, trying to punch each others faces. I got in a good punch to the side of his head where it would hurt most, and he punched me pretty hard in my arms.

We started rolling around on the ground again , I could feel the part of my skin being exposed. The area of skin from the hem of my khaki pants all the way up to my belly button. Some guy kept yelling at Rocco to take my shirt off.

I somehow got Rocco on his back once again and started punching him anywhere I could like Mickey had taught me long ago. Rocco blocked his face and twisted his body and grabbed a hold of my sides. He put force so that I ended up on my side on the ground. I grabbed two fistful of hair on the top of his head and pulled at it, until he let go of my body.

I don't know how long we have been fighting but it was easily noticeable that I was winning, which just fueled me to go harder. I had a few cuts on my face, my hair was a mess, my shirt was all wrinkled since he kept grabbing hold onto it and I had some blood on my shirt and khaki pants. I wasn't sure who's blood it was, but i'm pretty sure it's Rocco's.

He was now sporting a bloody nose, a swollen eye, cuts and scratches on his face, arms and neck. His hair was coming out of it's carefully slicked hair style, his sunglasses were broken, his face was swollen on both sides, and there was blood on his pants as well.

Sweat was dripping down both of our faces despite the cold weather. We were both breathing hard, but I wasn't stopping anytime soon. We were both standing and we both leaped at each other. He side kicked me and I did what Mickey called a "Door Knocker". It was when you continually punched someones head with the side of your fists in a pressure point. I continued to beat up Rocco with all of my force in me.

I never felt so alive before! This felt so fucking great!

We tackled each other so hard, both of us ended up back on the ground once again. He tugged at my shirt and I could feel it coming off my body. If my shirt was coming off so was his. I don't know what he was trying to do, but he kept trying to pull my shirt off all the way. I could feel cool air hit my chest and I heard a few people holler in excitement as they witnessed some of the marks Ashton left behind.

"Yeah!"

"Fuck yeah! Take your top off!"

"This shit better be on the internet!"

"For the love of Betty White's C cups, SOMEONE TAKE A FUCKING PICTURE!"

"Cunningham! Come on man! Kick his ass!"

"Cunningham! What's wrong with you? Kick the bitches ass!"

"HEY! WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BITCH!! KICK HIS ASS CUNNINGHAM!"

"CUNNINGHAM! GET A BODY SHOT!"

I could hear my classmates yelling and it didn't slow me down one bit. I hadn't really noticed that our altercation was causing a crowd to gather to watch us. My shirt wasn't completely off, only high up my body that they could see a few teeth marks and hickeys. My legs were once again entangled with Rocco's and I punched and kicked as hard as I could.

What hurt like crazy was when he used his nails and raked them down my face. My eye started to sting and I started punching with so much force, I could hear my fist making contact with his face. I hunched over and I started punching Rocco's back.

I wasn't going to stop until someone pulled us apart. I knew they would soon, so I gave it my all.

Punches, slaps, hair pulling and the whole book was being put out there right now. I could suddenly feel a pair of strong arms being wrapped around me and lifting me off of Rocco. When I looked up, I saw Ashton grabbing a tight hold onto me as Vincenzo was holding Rocco back. Remaining stubborn, I continued to kick and squirm until I managed to get loose of Ashton's hold on me and I attacked Rocco once again. I punched him square in the jaw until I felt Ashton's arms hold me back again with Sam's help this time. I gave up and I stopped struggling as Rocco was pulled from my sight.

I turned around in Ashton's arms as he put his blazer over my torn shirt. Meanwhile Sam was smiling and laughing like an idiot. He told me, "Daniel Cunningham, I had no idea you had that in you!" He lifted his hand to give me a high five which I returned with a smile. The people that had gathered around cheered and it was declared that I had won the fight before they started to leave. "Damn Dan, did you see what you did to him? You have to watch the video when you get home. You drew blood! You're officially a scrapper!"

I was so surprised that I won a fight. Something I had never thought was possible before, had now become my reality! 

"I did it!" I sighed feeling a high I had never felt before. It felt all consuming! It felt like I had finally been purged of all my weakness! 

"Does anything hurt?" Ashton asked with a worried face.

"I can't feel a thing!" But something does hurt. 

"You kicked his ass! I got the entire thing on video!" Sam patted my back. "How do you feel?"

"Great! I can go three more rounds!"

"Can you now?" The Dean had walked over with Mr. Hernandez, the math teacher, with a stern look on their face. The look of disappointment on the Dean's face made me look away and the few people straggling behind to grow quiet or finally leave. I looked back could see Mr. Hernandez with a small smirk flashing me a thumbs up before quickly changing back to stern before The Dean could see.

The Dean beckoned me with one finger and told me to follow him to his office. Ashton grabbed my bag and got ready to follow me while Sam let it be known that he'd wait for us outside as Soyoung was getting close to the school. As I was walking away following the Dean, I saw some of my classmates give me a thumbs up while some started clapping for me doing a walk of shame. I smiled softly at them all and walked towards my doom silently.

"I must admit, this is out of character for you, Daniel," The Dean sounded grim. "I've fought hard for you be in this school to study, but now you're fighting. I severely hope that you aren't adopting your fathers behavior from back when he was at school."

"Were you the Dean then?" I asked.

"No, we were in the same year."

"I see, so he bullied you?" The Dean whipped his head around showing off a flustered red faced pout. Now that explains a lot. Ashton suddenly spoke up and told The Dean about everything that's been happening to me for the past few days, which only made him sigh in frustration.

"Why fight on our school property?" 

"Better than letting my dad or Uncle handle it. If anything, he's lucky that I didn't let them know and since you probably wouldn't do anything about it, I took care of the issue myself for once." I explained. "Besides, there's no need to be worried, I've never caused any trouble before."

"I'll call Kensington Prep about this Rocco kid and let them handle him. And if that girl is spotted on campus again, she'll be arrested right away, that's the best I can do, just don't call your dad or that Mickey character here." The Dean looked between Ashton and I. "Will that be satisfactory enough."

"Yeah."

"You still fought on school grounds, so I have to punish that. Both people always get suspended when there's a fight because fighting isn't tolerated on school grounds. However, it'll be a light punishment because you've been attacked by an outsider. I don't want to hear anything about unfair treatment, Cunningham," The Dean insisted. 

"I already said I won't call them. And from now on I'll send my mother over. She's far less intimidating and way more understanding, sir," I assured him. "Sorry for the trouble, I mean it."

"Fine," he looked at me and shook his head a bit. "Who started the fight?"

"I beg your pardon?" Ashton asked. The Dean adjusted his eyeglasses as if they could help him hear better.

I wished that he would just give it to me straight. It made me see why my dad messed with him so much. After all, we've had this same conversation before. I had already lost count of how many times I had been called to the teacher's office because of Vincenzo's behavior.

"You beat someone up, right? I just want to know who started the physical fight. I bet everything it's the other kid."

"It was," I lied. "The bitch sucker punched me."

"And..."

"I don't hit girls, so I got her brother.....after he attacked me first," I crossed my arms and looked away.

"Ok then."

"You believe me?"

"You've never lied to me before, Mr. Cunningham. A good student like you would never cause a commotion without a reason behind it. You've always been a shining example of what this school is supposed to represent. I have no reason to doubt you," The Dean leaned back in big leather chair and let out an exhausted sigh. "Now go home and ice your eye. Detentions starts tomorrow."

I walked out of The Dean's office with a tiny smirk on my face and a weeks worth of detention after school. I wasn't disappointed that I was in a fight, I was proud.

"Are you mad at me, Ash?" I asked noticing how quiet he was. He looked at me as if he were confused.

"No, I'm just processing what happened. I know it's right to be concerned about the fight, hell, I ain't want you to fight at all. But I'm just really glad you let out all that pent up aggression and you'll finally stopped worrying about Vincenzo," Ashton said.

This guy wasn't even in the present right now. He was only focusing on me declaring that I'll completely devote myself to him from now on! He had somehow managed to make it all about that. It was kind of worrisome, but it was really cute seeing him spaced out like that.

"You're too easy," I complained.

"I'll be that. Besides, if you started losing the fight, I could've just jumped in to help," Ashton shrugged it off. "How do you feel about it?"

Refreshed. Truly reborn. Proud. Excited. Horny.

"A lot. Honestly, I can't even remember most of it. It was just such a rush being able to hurt him like that! I feel alive! I see why Mickey loves picking fights so much."

"Well let's not make it a habit. You're looking a bit tired right now," Ashton wiped my face with his sleeve. "The adrenaline will wear off at some point, baby."

"It already has. I just want to go to bed now."

"Should I carry you to the car?"

"Carry me to bed and put me to sleep."

"What do you-OH!!" Ashton blushed.

"What?"

"Nothing, I'm not surprised. You kind of get off on violence anyway, so it's nothing new," Ashton blushed a deeper. "Well...exposure to violence at high levels or across multiple contexts has been linked with emotional desensitization. Desensitization to violence, including the pattern of 'pathologic adaptation' to violence, has been proposed to increase the risk for subsequent violent behavior. Specifically, the strong negative reactions that exposure to violence normally elicits, such as emotional distress, physiological arousal, and cognitive disapproval, should inhibit the enactment of violent behavior. Thus, repeated exposure to violence should increase violent behavior both directly through increasing aggressive behavior and indirectly through diminished negative emotional, cognitive and physiological reactions to violence that would otherwise inhibit aggression (i.e., through desensitization)."

"Are you saying have an addiction to violence?" I frowned a bit as Ashton's worst quality reared its ugly head. He always felt like he had to tell me the truth about things and behavior and being reality to the forefront of every situation. As cute as it was, it was always hard to hear. "Is it that concerning that I'm happy about it?"

"Aggressive behavior can be reinforced by positive feelings of power and dominance. So aggression isn't just about 'I'm angry and I want to hit someone,' It's also about how it feels good sometimes to get revenge on someone who has wronged you or who you perceive as having wronged you. That positive sensation, works on the same neural circuits as other addictive behaviors, such as cocaine, gambling and engaging in risky sexual behavior.

"It follows this trajectory where negative and positive emotion fit together. So, 'I feel bad, I don't want to feel bad, so I'm looking for things that make me feel good.' Well, we've always known that drugs and risky behavior are in that group. We're saying that aggression belongs in that group too. And that people seek it out when they're feeling bad. And that they use it like a tool to help themselves regulate their mood state. And when they do that, it activates these addiction circuits in the brain and it reinforces this behavior."

"So you won't reinforce my behavior? I guess no victory sex then. Too bad, I was really counting on it," I sighed.

"I'm just saying to be wary of it! We can still have sex!" Ashton tried realizing his mistake. "I'm sorry I got analytical again! It's a habit that's needed in the business world! I can't help myself! Why don't I take you home now and-"

"Nope! I wanted a reward and you just want to talk about violence addiction and empathy and emotional desensitization and whatnot," I teased. Ashton looked like he was cursing himself right about now.

"I can still take you bed and reward you for choosing me over Vincenzo," he suggested.

"You've been doing that since we started having sex, so that's not a reward," I laced my fingers with his as we turned the corner hallway. "Listen, I'm more aware of myself than you think, I just don't always make the best decisions. I'm used to violence because I grew up with it, but I also grew up being told the right and the wrong times for violence by the same people. Mickey and my father have a wonderful code of ethics that was passed onto me, so there's no reason to worry."

Besides, someone had to make up for Ashton's soft boy attitude. "I know that.....I just couldn't help it!"

"Then reward me for giving up completely on those two," I sighed.

"You really won't care about them anymore?"

"Not even a little. They're dead to me, and I don't speak of the dead," I smiled.

"Really dead?" A voice sounded from behind us. Ashton and I turned to see Vincenzo behind us, by himself. "Why do I have to be-"

"Because there's no reason to continue anything," seeing him act like nothing was wrong had gotten under my skin, and I hadn't forgotten that he tried to defend Rocco when I first confronted them. To be fair, none of what I was feeling was his fault, all my problems were with his boyfriend and his sister.

"If you told me what was going on I could've-" 

"What could you have done that I couldn't just ask Ashton to do? It's a good idea to just let it go now," I told him.

"So that's just it then? You're giving up, just like that? We can't even be friends? I really didn't know about it!"

"What happens every time you start dating someone, I end up caught in the crosshairs even though it has nothing to do with me. What are you going to do when he continues to harass me? Next time I might not be able to fight back and what if shit becomes lethal for me. And I know you Vincenzo, I know you never have to handle anything because, and I know I once said that it's what makes you extraordinary, but at times it's what makes you so frustrating to be around because you never handle anything. It just puts me in harms way more often than not, so yeah Vincenzo. I'm done with everything and anything that has to do with you, live well. Let's not cross paths again. Let's go, Ashton."

"Wait, I....I understand, but can we still talk it out one last time?" Vincenzo begged.

"Vincenzo, you've been my best friend since we were in diapers. I saw you as part of my family. Every time you were in trouble, I was always there to help you out. I was there when your crazy mother was keeping you locked up and wouldn't allow you to hang out outside. And I never once stopped believing in you, and in the very few moments I asked you to believe in me, to listen to what I have to say and help, you didn't. You ignored me, and blamed me and you're always willing to believe some stranger over someone who've you've said was your best friend.

"I've always done my best to treat you like a brother and compensate for the love you weren't getting at home. I did my very best to keep you out of trouble every time you did something wrong. I helped you continue going to this school. I'm done with it all."

"I....but....I'm going to therapy-"

"And that's your journey, you should just handle it already. At what point are you going to just buck up and handle things yourself?"

"I don't want to do anything wrong!"

"Then keep living doing that! Keep me out of it from now on! And tell him to call his sister off, or else I'll send someone after her!" I yelled fully intending to set Soyoung on her.

"Dan..."

"Fuck off, Vincenzo." I bit out thru clenched teeth, not taking my eyes off of his movements just in case he lost control of himself.

"But..." came Vincenzo's soft reply as he tried again.

"Fuck. Off. Vincenzo." I tried not to snarl, but my adrenaline was wearing off, among other things...like my pride...my self worth...stop that train right the hell NOW! Not going there! I growled in frustration...God, this fucking sucked!

"At least take these..." Vincenzo held out a couple of white pills I recognized as ibuprofen and a bottle of water...his try for a peace offering...at least until they could actually sit down to talk. Not that that would solve anything...it wouldn't...except...maybe make Vincenzo feel better.

I wasn't for it.

"Fuck off, man," I didn't bother to look at him this time either...

Vincenzo slowly lowered his hands, letting the water bottle slide out of them and into the floor. Then he returned the pills to the bottle they came out of. "So it's over for good."

"Yeah, it is. I've been listening to other people too long...I'm done, so just go take care of your boyfriend...make sure that you tell him that I'm done and I can't forgive you." I sneered and walked out without looking back with Ashton in tow.

I walked to the pavilion and I saw Sam and Soyoung. He had his bag pack and hers as well. When they saw us , Soyoung ran over to me and asked, "So, what's the damage, Dan?" 

I stood still as she closely examined my face. I sighed and told her, "Detention. One week. Possibly grounded, but it's okay. I also bumped into Vincenzo on the way back."

"What the fuck did he want?" Soyoung lifted her lip in disgust. "Hasn't he done enough? Why are you even still giving him the time of day?"

"I'm not!" I assured her. "It's just not worth it anymore."

"Good! Let it stay that way! I'll find that Sofia girl for you-"

"Don't worry about that Soyoung. The Dean is handling that, now we just need to focus on what matters! We're finally free of that guy," Ashton looked much happier than I did about this.

"Let's celebrate! Party at Sam's house! Just us!" Soyoung clapped excitedly.

Honestly, it looked like it was nothing special...I really treasured this moment. It was a fun moment filled with pride and friends who truly cared about me. All the sadness, grief, happiness, joy and love I had experienced, I'm happy to experience it with people who loved me. Speaking of love, I blushed at the thought.

"Bonfire at the beach!" Sam announced excitedly.

Soyoung laughed, "Sure, we should celebrate." she agreed. "It's too cold for the beach though."

"Celebrate what?" Ashton asked in a hard voice, "We can't just do that out of the blue. You're supposed to-"

"Hey, I know," I said cutting him off also wanting to celebrate. "There will always be something not done right, but we have to take it upon ourselves to find something to celebrate, to remind ourselves that lives are worth living or else....we're all just living and dying in vain and I can't go on living like that. It's no way to live and I wouldn't would really like to celebrate this small win. So tonight," I said turning to look everyone in the eyes, "We party, and we party hard because its been a very good day."

"Let's get some Barbecue! I'll tell the staff to get the it ready, I'm getting us lots of meat," Sam led us to Ashton's car which was being driven by Morgan. We squeezed into the back seat quickly and started on our way to some location Ashton told Morgan before anything more could be said.

When we pulled up to an ok looking place instead. I was confused only because it wasn't up to the usual Ashton standard. Turning to my left, I could see that Sam and Soyoung were probably thinking the same thing. We stared in...not quite in horror at the place where Ashton had taken us. At first i'd thought Ashton had accidentally brought us to the wrong place. Then I saw the sign in the window and groaned.

"Ashton," Sam said, "This....it's not...."

"Fast food chains trying to do barbeque is not real barbeque!" declared Soyoung, moving to stand in front of and glare at him. 

"Believe me, I know. I'm from the South. And if there's one thing we know there, it's barbeque." Ashton assured her. "Have you ever had this place's barbeque before?" asked Ashton, giving Soyoung a defiant look.

"I don't need to, Ashton. You know why? Because this is not Asian Barbeque. This is clearly not a barbeque restaurant!"

"Oh yeah?" demanded Ashton. "Well that sign right there begs to differ! Besides we've had tons of Asian food, it's time for sourthern fast food. The best in the world."

I glanced again at the sign that hung in the old buildings window, proudly displaying the message: Let's Have A Barbeque Today!

Soyoung gave an exasperated sigh that did nothing to dampen Ashton's enthusiasm. He dashed toward the restaurant, not bothering to hide his eagerness. Soyoung glanced toward Sam, who shrugged.

"Whatever makes him happy," I told them choosing to just go with what Ashton wanted. I've never tried this "southern fast food" or seen him this excited about food before.

By the time we'd caught up to Ashton, he'd already ordered for all four of us and was in the process of paying for it all. "It's in the uptown area so I guess we can give it a shot."

"I guess it doesn't smell cheap in here," Soyoung rolled her eyes.

"I got us all Cook Out Burgers, fries and hush puppies," Ashton told us when we reached him. "And chicken fingers, a country ham biscuit, or a piece or two of their crunchy, salty fried chicken. Have you ever had those before? They're all really wonderful!"

"They sound full of fat and oil," Soyoung argued. "And who told you to order that for me?"

"Well I wasn't going to let you order for yourself," Ashton explained. "You wouldn't have ordered the barbeque, since you're soooo biased against it, but you need to taste southern comfort food. You would have ordered something else. And that would have completely defeated the purpose of this trip!"

"Did you get us drinks too?" I asked, noticing that the cashier hadn't given us cups or the soda machine. Perhaps Ashton had forgotten those in his haste to get us the food? I started to get out my wallet, planning to buy the drinks since Ashton had taken care of everything else, but Ashton quickly snatched the wallet from me and slipped it back into my pocket.

"I got us all a pitcher of Tropicana Pink Lemonade!" he said proudly. "That's part of their Barbeque menu too!"

I shook my head, but still couldn't help smiling a bit. He was a big too excited to show us this new find. Beside me, I noticed Sam as well caught somewhere between being amused and annoyed.

"Ashton," he said, "you are way too susceptible to marketing ploys."

"Am not," Ashton defended himself.

"You ordered everything on their promo menu thing."

"Did not. I didn't get the fixins' or any of the extra shit that I could have. Not this time, at least."

I started laughing. I couldn't help it. Beside me I saw Soyoung struggling not to join in.

Then Ashton sauntered over to where a number of the cardboard crowns that this place kept on-hand for kids were sitting on the counter and snatched one up for each of us. He put it on his head and carefully adjusted it, before slipping one on my head. He then bounded over to get our drinks which had just been made. The next thing i knew, he was holding a large clear cup full of the dark pink concoction known as Tropicana Pink lemonade.

"Try it," ordered Ashton. "It's good."

"It's pink," I scowled, looking at it with mixed embarrassment and annoyance.

"Because of the strawberries," Ashton explained

"Ashton," I sighed, "Thanks, but never buy me a pink drink again."

Beside me Soyoung laughed and reluctantly took a sip of her own lemonade. "It's actually not bad. Like it's real fruit," she decided.

I tried mine and considered the good taste. I don't think I've ever had a fruit drink that tasted like actual fruit before. "It tastes OK . . . but it's still pink."

Moments later, three heaping bowls of orange sweet potato fries were put down on a tray on the counter. "Your sandwiches will be ready in a moment," the boy behind the counter told us.

"Good, good," said Ashton, already pulling a handful of fries off the tray.

"Ashton, I think we're supposed to wait until we sit down to eat those," Sam told him.

"Why?"

"Because they probably don't want you dropping them all over the floor."

Ashton looked indignant as he rolled his eyes. "Let me tell y'all, I'm not droppin' em on the floor. That would be a waste."

"Just let him," I chuckled. I had learned by now the futility of arguing with Ashton about anything southern, or trying to get him to do things another way once he'd decided on something. And since his plan today was to gobble down French fries, the only thing that delaying that plan would accomplish would be making the fries grow cold. Somehow i was sure that would result in a very annoyed Ashton.

Only minutes later, our sandwiches were set down on the tray. Ashton picked it up and quickly made his way to a table near the windows with me close behind. Sam and Soyoung followed at a slower pace since the idea of fast food barbeque didn't seem to excite them as much as it apparently excited Ashton.

"This stuff is really good," Ashton insisted distributing the food as we all sat down. "It's on par with Bojangles. And it's only here for a limited time."

"What Bojangles?" I asked.

"Southern fast food, baby."

"See?" Sam pointed out to me, specifically at the paper crown on my head. "Susceptible to marketing ploys."

"He's just excited to eat food from he comes from," I defended him. 

"And does Ashton usually eat with a crown on his head?" Soyoung chuckled.

"The crown is part of the service!" Ashton snapped

"For children!" Sam continued to tease.

Nonetheless, i opened up my sandwich box and unwrapped the barbeque sandwich. And i had to admit, it didn't look like there was anything wrong with it. It actually looked and smelled really good. Too good! And i loved barbeque. I raised it to his mouth and took a careful bite, then nodded. The explosion of flavor completely shocked me to my core. The simplicity of it all just made my mouth water for more. "It's actually pretty good."

Soyoung still looked skeptical. "I don't know about this. Fast food barbeque.....Orange French fries...and aren't you used to cheap food, Dan?"

"It doesn't taste cheap at all," I took another bite of the sandwich. "It's definitely high quality ingredients."

"They're orange because they're made of sweet potatoes. Not because they've got food coloring in or somethin'."

"It still seems weird," she argued.

"Not as weird as Sam and all his irregularities, but I don't see you bug him about it."

"Just try it, this is really good," I added.

Soyoung sighed and picked up her own sandwich. She took a tentative bite then froze.

"Well?" Ashton smiled smugly.

Annabeth's expression was hard to read. As was her voice when she spoke. "Well.....I guess it's not the worst thing I've ever tasted."

"She likes it," Sam translated.

"I never said that!"

"You didn't have to."

"I only said it's not the worst thing I've tasted."

"Which is probably the nicest thing you're going to say about it, given that you were so set against it to begin with," I chuckled.

"I – that's not.....okay, it's alright. You won the fight, so I'll give you that," Soyoung glared at Ashton. "Happy?"

"Very," Ashton smiled. "But . . . uh, well, you've got some sauce dripping down your face."

Soyoung quickly picked up a napkin and dabbed around her mouth. "Did I get it?"

I shook my head. "It's more off to the side."

"Just have Sam lick it off for you."

"ASHTON!" Sam and Soyoung both exclaimed at the same time.

"I'm just saying what you're both thinking," Ashton smiled, a wicked gleam in his bright blue eyes.

Neither one of us was thinking that," growled Soyoung, finally managing to wipe away the sauce on her own.

"Mmm hmmm." Ashton continued to chew his food.

"Just eat your own sandwich," I ordered them. "And stop being so judgey. We eat Korean barbecue all the time, so give my man a chance to share some southern comfort."

"I was going to do that anyway." Soyoung rolled her eyes.

Sam muttered something unintelligible under his breath and picked his sandwich back up. I noticed that he dug into it the way he did when he thoroughly enjoyed something, but decided not to comment on that. 

Ashton, on the other hand, was gleefully chowing down in his own world. "Next time, I'll grill you guys up something nice. Real southern cuisine that'll put you to sleep."

"I'm not eating a tub of lard," Soyoung said much to Ashton's amusement.

"There's a dog in here," Sam suddenly pointed to a dog with a paper hat and uniform on. "Why is there a dog in here?"

"The south loves dogs?" Ashton shrugged.

"Isn't that a health violation?" Soyoung asked.

Just as my thoughts were spiraling I felt something cold and wet on my left hand. I looked down to see the cutest dog ever sniffing my hand. The dog had dark brown curly fur and light brown eyes. Probably a golden doodle mix.

"Hi there," i said softly, smiling, i let the dog sniff my hand for a second before burying my hands in the soft curly fur and letting it get itself up on the bench next to me, "What's your name buddy?" I asked taking a look at the collar. "Princess?" She suddenly licked my entire face and wagged her tail.

"Ew!" Soyoung gagged.

"It's just a dog, Soyoung," Ashton said.

"Hi, Princess, I'm Dan," i introduced myself. "Do you know shake? Shake," i said, holding out a hand, Princess slapped her paw into my hand, making my heart flutter, letting her tongue loll out the side of her mouth. "Good girl!" I praised, petting her behind her ear. She purred and leaned her head into my hand. "Aww, you're so sweet. Ashton, maybe she can be with Leatherface!" Princess laid down on the bench next to me and rolled over on her back, I obligingly gave her a belly rub. 

"We don't need more Leatherfaces running around the house," Ashton gave me a smug look. It looked like he was making fun of me but I couldn't keep the smile off my face, nor did I want to. I'd always wanted a dog, but my dad was too broke and Uncle Mickey turned his into viscous attackers, so it wasn't an option for me as a kid. Ashton finally made the dream come true when he gifted me Leatherface, but he couldn't live full time with me since my mom was allergic thus spending most of his time at Ashton's house.

"Princess!" A lady in the same uniform as the dog ran up to our table and groaned out of breath. "My apologies, we're still trainin' him, he's not supposed to jump on people like that," she explained, in Ashton's accent, petting Princess who had stood up and came back to her in all the commotion.

"Aw, it's ok, he's just excited, aren't you buddy, you're just so excited," I crooned to Princess, petting her. "I love dogs anyway. How old is she?"

"Princess is five years old," the owner informed me, showing the number on her fingers. "Do y'all have pets?" she asked.

"I have a dog named Leatherface!" I said.

"Well, Princess just had a few youngins a week ago. I'll tell you what, come back tomorrow and y'all can pick a pup," the owner offered. "I won't ask for much for it, just a good home."

"Don't worry about the price, after talking a bit more, we'll come back for one," Ashton insisted. With that being said, Ashton proceeded to exchange numbers with the owner before she left with Princess to assist other customers.

"Thanks," I told him. I love him so much! I definitely won't regret this choice.