Episode 8 - Ashley - Zia Mason

As dad parked the coupe car, Fred and Reyna went out eagerly. Zia helped by carrying the picnic basket and the two toddlers helped carrying the pine mat.We looked around the area before choosing the best spot for us to have a picnic. Fred and Reyna laid the mat and all of us sat down. Mom and I contributed by arranging and distributing plates to the whole family.

All of us started finishing the picnic foods which were basically sandwiches. After Fred and Reyna finished theirs, they eagerly went down to the sea to bathe. Mom and dad had to go and supervise leaving me and my sister having a bonding time together.

"You're not bathing?" I asked her.

"Nah, you know me. I hate doing public stuff. What happened ealier this morning at the door?" Zia asked about when I freaked out after seeing Zale jogging in front of the house.

"Oh nothing."

She smiled for a while "Come on Ash we both know it wasn't 'nothing'." she said again

"It's a really long story." I replied

Both of us looked at our family happily bathing in the sea. "We have time." Zia said and looked at me.

So I told my sister everything about Zale. From the moment when we hugged in the rain until the moment when we talked under the sky. She just nodded and listened. It felt like I was repeating what I told Zoey at Moonbucks.

And in the end, she asked "So it was him you saw in front of our house? What was he doing?"

"He was jogging." I said and we both shared a laugh.

Then I asked Zia "What do you think of him?"

"Well, he may not seem like your typical, everyday guy. He's different."

"Hm.." I said dumbly

"Do you like him?" Zia asked

I stayed quiet for a while. Then I said "I think I do."

"You think you like him?" Zia asked and chuckled.

I turned to her and asked "Why?"

"Nothing." she said, smiling. "It's just when you said that, I remembered saying the same thing about Skyle."

"Skyle.." I tried to remember through our bonding times in the past "He's your.. boyfriend right?"

"He was, a year ago. And still is." Zia said and smiled happily.

"Well, you look damn happy." I said and she playfully punched my arm.

"Do you still remember what I said? About how Skyle and I got together?" she asked and I shook my head truthfully.

"It started with a gossip. I was just about to leave my old school and enter the Arizona High when someone said that I have a secret admirer." she explained.

"What did you do then?" I asked

"I didn't do anything. It was the last day of school and Skyle walked up to me and gave me a bouquet of flowers. Then he knelt down and asked me to be his girlfriend."

"Wow" I said dumbly. "Never thought someone would do something like that"

"Yeah me neither. But he did it anyway. So I had no other choice but to accept him since people were staring. Of course my choice was also because of love."

I nodded and agreed on her statement. Then, Zia chuckled again.

"You really won't know what boys would do nowadays. So, as my sister, you should be careful around one, okay?" She said and smiled sweetly.

I returned her smile and promised.