The Boiling Point | ✔️

08 | bitter

ASHTON

"Ashton, do you even realize how annoying it is hearing you and Summer at each other's throats behind me every single day?" Nick immediately drops his head in his hands as we sit in a booth in Craves & Coffee, the student café on the edge of campus.

It's been a full week since the soup incident.

"I mean, lay off the girl already, man. You're relentless."

I laugh, scooting over for Diego while Ryan slides in next to Nick.

"It's fun getting under her skin." I shrug. "Gotta enjoy it while I can before we switch partners, anyway."

"Yeah? Hook me up when that happens." Ryan grins. "I wouldn't mind partnering up with her."

Diego scoffs, his bushy brows creased.

"Not that you're a bad partner." Ryan adds. "But Summer? Sign me up for that hot piece of ass any day."

He rubs his hands together with a look of greed I have the urge to slap clean off his face. I pick up a menu to focus on something else, automatically scanning the lowest prices without looking at what they're attached to.

Diego belts out a laugh next to me. "You think you can score with someone like her? Shit, you really are loco."

"In a typical situation, sure, she's out of my league. But Ashton's already written the playbook, bud."

My eyes shoot to him. "Explain."

"Simple. She hates you, so all I have to do is the opposite of whatever you're doing." He stretches his arms on the seat. "Bam. I'm in her pants."

"Please, that girl will eat you for breakfast," Nick mutters as he reads his menu. "You haven't heard them. She dishes it out just as much as she takes it."

That's true. Now that the class has seen Summer's hot temper, she doesn't bother hiding it. I almost think she's thankful I spilled that soup on her.

It started off with me throwing smug comments in her direction and being brushed off in annoyance, but two days in and she was hitting back with zero mercy. Along with actively trying to beat my answers to questions in theory classes. Both our hands are usually in the air before anyone else's, and when I attempt to throw her off by knocking my shoes against the back legs of her chair, she literally kicks me away.

Not only that, but she's noticeably improved her chopping over the week. Whatever I do seems to fuel her determination instead of fizzling it out. Anyone else I was up against would fold, but it's like she's immune. And it's kind of infuriating that all it does is make her more interesting to me.

Ryan leans forward with that same greedy glint in his snake eyes. "Well if she's good at taking it, then best believe I'm gonna give it to her all night. And I'll gladly let her eat me for breakfast, too."

He fist bumps Diego, and I call the waitress over when my teeth threaten to crack.

❖❖❖

Under my bed, there's a stash of money hidden beneath a loose floorboard. My dad has no idea about it. If he did, then he'd blow it in an hour. I would have blown it in the past too, but that cash is my ticket out of Cloverbrook now.

I started saving the day I got accepted into Clocul, and most of what I earn and manage to slip past my dad goes into the stash. It's not meant to be spent, so being forced to dip into it time and time again is beyond frustrating.

At 9pm when I'm back from my shift and workout at the gym, Dad's molded into his usual position on the couch.

I drop my bag at the door. "You go to the store like you said?"