asher o'connor

“I guess you’ll need to leave a lasting impact on me- not asking for much, right?” 

“I have multiple favourite things. She’s kind, caring, thoughtful, an incredible cook, beautiful- I could go on but we’d be here all day. My least favourite thing would be… that she won’t contemporary dance on stage during my gigs.” 

“I suppose.” She hadn’t expected him to remember her name, if he hadn’t she could remember it didn’t happen. Georgia didn’t regret what happened, but she did regret how wild she had gotten in college a few times. “I’ve been wonderful. Thanks for askin’.” She smiled, ever polite, shaking her head with a laugh. “I have not. I’ve done some growin’ up.” There were no hard feelings towards him on her part, it was so long ago after all.

“I promise I’ll remember it for next time we bump into each other,” he joked. If he had to remember every name of every girl he’d slept with, he’d be studying for several years to memorise them. “Growing up, are we not grown up enough for you then?” he furrowed his eyebrows at the other, all in good fun, he knew what she really meant. 

“Because I don’t think it’s a thing that people do, you don’t see everyone walking around shirtless around town, do you? But I know I won’t be able to stop you, so go ahead, I guess.” He said with a small shrug, putting the shirts back on the box. “Your loss, I think the shirt was great. And once again, I appreciate the offer but you can just clean up. I’m sure you’ll attract some more costumers.” He said as he grabbed the mop and handed it to Asher.

“Which is exactly why I should do it- hey, maybe you should join me!” Asher exclaimed, a wide grin on his face. The man listened to his brother, his grin slowly fading, taking the mop and placing it against the wall. “Jamie,” he paused, waiting until he caught the other’s full attention. “Are you okay?” he asked his brother, he knew that he could be a bit overwhelming at time, Jamie, Bri and Luke had to put up with a lot from him and Benji. “I can put on the shirt if it really means that much- I won’t enjoy it, but I’ll do it.” 

He didn’t remember her, which wasn’t that surprising. Musicians were like that. Georgia on the other hand wasn’t a floozy, she remembered the guys she had slept with, even if it was years ago. “Georgia Ann.” She replied with a polite smile. “It has. Have you been well?” 

“Close enough, right?” he smirked. Now he remembered her, he’d met her at a gig, she’d liked one of the songs he’d play and one thing led to another... of course, it was when he was on a break with Julia, he wasn’t that bad of a person. “I’ve been great actually, and yourself? Met any other musicians recently?” 

Jamie sighed at Asher, shaking his head. “Why do you want to spend the rest of the day shirtless? You’re sure you don’t want one of these? Just while you go back home and change.” He said as he looked over at his brother. “I don’t know how my boss would feel about having someone shirtless taking orders. Plus, I don’t want to get fired. I appreciate the help, but I’d prefer if you helped clean up and I would continue taking orders.” He said with a smile.

“Why wouldn’t I want to spend the rest of the day shirtless?” he questioned Jamie back. “No Jamie, I do not want to wear a Hello Kitty t-shirt home, and while I imagine that people would love to see it, and that I would start some new fashion trend, I’d prefer to avoid it,” he stated. “Alright, that’s fine. I’ll clean up, although, you’ll be missing out on my amazing serving skills.” 

“Alright.” He said as he looked through the box, taking some of the shirts that he thought would probably fit Asher. “Okay, you can choose from either an oversized Hello Kitty shirt, that would look awesome on you, by the way. Or there’s this one that just says ‘Live, Laugh, Love’… Honestly, I think you’re better off with the Hello Kitty one.” He said with a small chuckle, looking at Asher. “Or you can just wear that stained shirt for the rest of the day.”

Asher looked at the shirts, there was no way he was wearing either, maybe he would’ve had he been drinking before arriving at the shop, but it was 10am so that wouldn’t have been socially acceptable. “Or... I can stay shirtless, how about that for an idea?” he smirked at Jamie. “Stop worrying Jamie, I’ll sort myself out, you’ve got a pool of coffee out there to clean up,” he told his brother. Asher and Jamie had never been the closest out of all of the siblings, in fact, he’d say they were the most unalike out of them all, but either way, he was still his brother. “What do you say you clean up and I take some orders?” 

“If she won’t care, then I’m sure you won’t mind if I tell her then.” Jamie said with a chuckle, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t know, I’ve seen one of your shows and I wasn’t paying that much attention.” He said with a shrug, as he started walking towards the break room. “Hide your beauty from the world? Of course that’s what I want to do…” He said as he walked into the break room. “Okay, let’s see what we have here.” Jamie said as he grabbed the lost and found box.

“Go ahead,” he told his brother. He knew he wouldn’t so that didn’t worry him, plus Julia would probably just say something along the lines of explain yourself, to which he would provide her with a wonderful explanation. He pretended he hadn’t heard the words about the band, there was no point in fighting that, it wasn’t like he was going to change Jamie’s mind on the band. Asher crossed his arms over once they arrived at the breakroom, it wasn’t like he was going to wear any of the shirts, the thought of having to put on clothes that someone else had worn sounded gross to him, but if it made his brother happy he’d go along with it. “You found anything yet?”

“Let’s just go into the break room, c’mon. And if you don’t put at least a jacket on, I’ll tell Julia that you took off your shirt in front of other girls. And don’t test me, you know I will.” Jamie said with a glare, looking at his brother. Catching the shirt that Asher threw at him, he sighed. “Alright, fine, I deserved that one. Can you please just walk with me to the break room? I’m sure there’s something in the lost and found.”

“Julia won’t care,” he lied with a shrug of his shoulders. “I take my shirt off at most gigs, plus it was necessary Jamie. I’ve done worse things. What she doesn’t know, won’t hurt her, hey?” he smirked at his brother, moving over to ruffle his hair and drape an arm around his shoulder. “Lead the way dear brother,” he exclaimed at the top of his voice. “I know that you just want to hide my beauty from the world, and while I think that is a disservice, I shall come with you so I don’t embarrass you.” 

Jamie looked over at his brother, raising an eyebrow when he took off his shirt. “Asher, what are you doing?” Jamie said as he shook his head. “C’mon, let’s go into the break room, so you can get cleaned up. There’s no need to be shirtless in the middle of the shop…” He said, sighing. “And what would you know about suing people? Do you have a song about that?” Jamie asked, giggling at his joke. “Sorry.”

“What do you mean what am I doing? I’m making sure I don’t get burnt,” he exclaimed with a shake of his head. “Oh, there’s no need to be shirtless? I think there is need to be shirtless? What’s wrong with me being shirtless Jamie? It’s not like I’m putting customers off,” he smirked over at his brother, winking at a girl sitting in the corner looking at him. “Well at least I didn’t fail my MCAT after studying my ass off,” he raised his eyebrows at his brother, throwing his wet shirt at him. 

@shstarters·

“Welcome to Deja Brew, how can I help you today?” Savannah asked with a bright smile, popping up from behind the counter when she heard the bell above the door ring. “I’ve just brought out some fresh cookies, get ‘em while they’re still nice and warm,” she offered, wiggling her brows and giving a little shimmy of her shoulders. 

Asher couldn’t help but jump slightly when the girl popped up from behind the counter, he hadn’t been expecting it. Had she just been crouched down there waiting for someone to walk through the door? He brushed off the thought, approaching the counter, immediately recognising the girl, but not being able to figure out why. “Oh, no, I’m good thanks. I’ll just take an americano to go,” he told her. There was something he recognised about her voice as well, it seemed so familiar. Ah, maybe he’d met her on a night out of something. 

“And here’s your order.” Jamie said, as he handed the other their drink, before he spilled it all over the other person’s shirt. He was still tired from the night before, since he didn’t get any good sleep, and it showed when he spilled the drink. “I’m so sorry! I’ll get that cleaned up!” He said as he moved from behind the counter.

@shstarters·

“Agh!” Asher exclaimed, his face crumpling together as he jumped backwards. “Fuck! Do you know how hot this is? Fuck!” The man decided to pull his t-shirt off, maybe in an attempt to avoid getting burnt more, maybe in an attempt to show off his body, you never knew with Asher. “You need to be more careful Jamie, people could sue.” 

“Well cut off my legs and call me shorty! I can’t believe it!” 

@shstarters·

Asher stopped in his tracks, side eyeing the girl for a second. Did he know her? No? Yes? Probably? He knew a lot of people? What was she so shocked about? Wait... did he know her? Did her name start with F? No, G? “Oh... Georgi... e...a?” he clapped his hands, hoping to figure out if that was right by her reaction. “It’s been a while.” 

“Had too much to drink last night? That makes two of us”, he laughed a little, just standing there on awful clothes and shoes that didn’t match them all. The scene was ridiculous at best. “Do I?”, he joked, pointing at his outfit. He knew the other recognized he had a night probably equally as wild. Two men with an upcoming killer hungover for sure. “I didn’t… but I did end up lost in the club without phone battery when I didn’t even remember my name”, he shook his head, chuckling lightly. “At least someone was there to save me in the end, if not… I probably would have ended up passed out in someone’s front yard too”

“Listen, no good night consists of drinking a small amount of alcohol,”· he grinned over at the other. Asher often found himself in this situation, drinking after every gig meant that he could be found in compromising circumstances most weekends. “You didn’t remember your name?· Wow, impressive,”· he nodded his head in appreciation of the other’s achievement. “Damn, at least you had someone to save you- I’m not too sure where my siblings ended up, I’m pretty sure my girlfriend left early and fuck knows where the rest of my band is,”· he laughed. “Probably passed out on someone else’s front yard. I’m surprised the police didn’t find me first, to be honest.”·

Ryder nodded slowly, “Now that, we can definitely agree on, man. The two best things in life, seconded only to women.” He added with a chuckle as they walked into the bar. He sat down across from him and sat his guitar against the wall, settling into the booth near the back. “I agree, man. Besides, I don’t know too many people in Springhil, so this would be a great way to make some friends as well.” He mused before nodding again. “I have, actually. Back in Los Angeles, I was in a band. Nothing too serious, but we played a dozen gigs or so. I really love performing. How long has your band been together?” He questioned.

“Ah, yeah,”·Asher nodded with a smile, or woman in his case. The whole band lifestyle was strange for Asher, he was constantly surrounded by attractive women, but still Julia was the one who held his heart and that was the most important thing. He followed Ryder into the booth sitting down and getting comfortable, signaling to the bartender for two beers; he was here often enough that they knew his order. “Absolutely, I mean we’ve got quite a good following in Springhill, so you’ll definitely meet a lot of new people,”· he told the other with a smile, listening as he told him about his past with music. “That’s good enough, as long as you know how to perform, that’s all that really matters.”· Asher had been in bands since High School, it had always been his passion, Law School had meant he hadn’t been able to perform as much, so he dropped out. “We’ve been together a while, maybe like two-three years now, but we’ve never really been able to concentrate on making new music because we’ve been so busy with life, it’s only now that we’ve really had time to think about our future. It’s been a bit of a wild ride.”· Two beers were placed in front of them, Asher picked his up, raising it towards the other in a silent cheers and took a sip. “I’m more committed now than I’ve ever been to get an album together.”·