No Rules To Love

Chapter Twelve:

Ashley and I both flopped onto the couch, feeling drained, after a productive day of shopping. We'd finally bought everything we needed. Now we could both focus on the exciting concept that was graduation, which was tomorrow.

"So, are you happy with your dress, then?" Ashley asked. When we hung up our clothes, I couldn't help but spend a couple of minutes admiring my fancy new dress. It was one of the best purchases I had ever made.

"I love it." I grinned. "Is it weird that I'm looking forward to the party?"

"Not weird in general, but weird for you," Ashley replied, and I chuckled. She was correct. Cast parties never excited me, so I didn't know why I was so eager to attend this party. "Do you know what else I'm looking forward to?" Ashley asked, raising her head from the back of the couch to look at me.

"What?"

"I'm looking forward to seeing Tia getting rejected by Hunter." Ashley chuckled. I couldn't help but laugh back. It wasn't that I didn't like Tia — she was a nice enough girl — but I knew what she was like. Especially when it came to boys and dating and Ashley felt the same way as me.

"How do you know that Hunter's going to reject Tia?" I asked. My interest in her answer was genuine. I thought Tia had a fair shot at dating Hunter, and I still wasn't completely sure of how I felt about that yet.

"Oh, please! Isn't it obvious?" Ashley asked. I stared at her blankly. "They haven't had a full conversation in their lives. They only share the odd glance. And most of the time, it was by accident when Hunter would scan the crowd looking for someone else. That's no way to determine whether or not he likes her."

I nodded in agreement. Well, I couldn't exactly fault her logic. I had also thought of that, after all. But I had to look at it from both sides of the situation.

"But Hunter still might say yes. This could be the perfect way to get to know each other." I aired my opinion.

"True." Ashley conceded, shrugging. But she didn't agree with me for long. "But I think he's got his eye on someone else, though."

I sat up straighter on the couch. Ashley had intrigued me, and I had no idea why.

"Who?" I asked, pretending to be calm when on the inside, I was desperate to know this brand-new piece of information.

Ashley gave me a deadpanned look. "You have no clue?" Ashley asked, as if I was stupid. I looked blankly back at her. She rolled her eyes and continued. "Haven't we already been over this? He likes you, idiot!"

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Yes, we've already been over this and I've already told you he does not like me!"

"Whatever you say..." Ashley muttered, as if she gave up trying to get that point across. She then narrowed her eyes at me. "Do you like him?"

I spluttered and coughed. If I was drinking a glass of water, I would've done a spit take.

"What? No! Of course not! Are you crazy?" I exclaimed, desperate to get off this subject, but then I got curious. "What makes you think that?"

"I don't know." Ashley shrugged. "It was when Tia was talking about asking Hunter out. You became all tense and quiet, as if you were jealous or something."

I was hoping Ashley didn't notice my sudden change of mood back at the shopping mall. But of course, eagle-eyed Ashley always spotted things like that.

"Pfft! Me? Jealous?" I said, forcing a chortle. My voice raised in pitch because I was so desperate to get the conversation away from this topic. "I always get uneasy when Tia talks about guys because I know what she's like with them."