“THEN JUST DECIDE ALREADY!” Ashley shot out of bed, the words from her nightmare resonating soundly in her ears. Sitting up at the edge of the bed she sighed, resting her forehead in the palm of her hand as she caught her breath. This hurt way too much. Rising to her feet she pulled on a pair of jeans, lifting her cell off the bed stand and beginning to pace. She wanted to talk to Aiden, but at the same time she wanted to be mad at Aiden. It wasn’t fair. Eventually she flipped it open, dialing his number (she could have done it with her eyes closed) and hitting send.

After exactly one and a half rings the familiar male voice could be heard on the other line, the relief at seeing her name on the caller ID clear in his voice, “Hey Ash.”
“…Hi.” Ashley replied, tempted to hang up but resisting.
“You alright? I haven’t hear from you.” His voice sounded concerned, although for some odd reason it made Ashley want to hug him and strangle him at the same time.
“I’m fine. You want to come over? I want to talk…” Ashley continued to pace, eyes shifting to look out the window as if she expected him to already be there.
“Yeah, sure. About what though?” His voice sounded optimistic, his brain praying the answer would be ‘us’.
“Spencer.”
“Oh… Okay.” The disapointment all but melted off of his words, his tone lowering a bit, “I’ll see you.” The click on the other line told her that he had hung up, and Ashley tossed her cell phone onto her bed.

10 minutes later, like clockwork, there was a firm knocking at her front door. Ashley was already waiting beside it, so just a moment after he knocked she was opening the door. “Thanks for coming.” She greeted, stepping aside as he slipped past her and into the living room. “No problem. But I am going to have to start charging you for all of this relationship counseling.” It was a weak attempt at a joke, but the small smile that it brought to Ashley was well worth it.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” She replied, rolling her eyes as she followed him into the living room, taking a seat on the couch. “So, you talk to her today?” Aiden began, sitting beside her as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. Nodding, Ashley leaned back into the fabric of the furniture, her eyes shutting for a moment, “She was talking to some chick I’ve never met before, they looked like they were flirting but-“ She shrugged, as if admitting she wasn’t really in any state to be the judge of that, “But, anyways, I got her to talke to me. I apologized. She forgave me, said she would be willing to start over just as friends…” Growing quiet Ashley looked at the floor, her face serious and brown eyes downcast.