Senior Standoff | RETIRED VERSION

Season 4 - Episode 5 | NOT REVISED

I shut the door behind me, hearing the voices and music coming from somewhere in the house.  My eyes drifted up towards the ceiling, around the entry room, at this old house.  The paint was peeling and the floors were a bit warped.  Something about it had a bit of a charm.  Meanwhile, I gnawed on my lip and leaned against the creaky front door, looking at the archway that lead to where the rest of the party was.  This party couldn't be as fun as I'd hoped with the way conversation had gone between Asher and I the past few days.  Maybe we were friends, but something was undeniably missing. 

"Did I hear the front door?"

A shadow appeared in the hallway, my first instinct immediately being to flee.  But, my feet remained frozen in their spot.  Finn came through the archway and stepped down onto the same level as me. 

"Aspen, hey.  I wasn't expecting to see you here.  How have you been?" he asked.

"I'm not even sure how to answer that, to be honest," I said.  I let myself off the door and shoved my hands in my pockets.

"Yeah, Asher said that you guys stopped hooking up.  You okay?"

I shrugged my shoulders.  "I guess.  Maybe?  Not really." 

"Do you want a drink?"

"Please."

Finn waved his hand for me to follow.  We crossed through a thin hallway that opened up into a huge living room, rock music playing on the TV in the corner.  The typical crew that showed to bonfires were all here, plus a few extras.  Finn opened one of a couple plastic coolers against the wall.  He cracked off the cap and handed me a freezing bottle of hard cider.

"Thanks," I said.  After the week I'd had, all I really wanted was to annihilate this bottle and start on a new one, until the edge was gone and the world was a bit fuzzy.

"Pen!  You're here!" Asher shouted.  He jumped over the couch between us, his feet creating a loud thud and shaking the old, wooden floor just a bit.  He gathered me up in his arms.  I wasn't expecting it, and he held onto me a bit longer than I would have liked.  The scent of weed was just barely on his breath, mixed with that of a little liquor.
 
"Yep, I'm here," I said.

"I'm glad you came.  I know things have been weird between us, and I don't want them to be."

"I know.  I don't either."

"We need to hang out again.  Soon."

"We do."

"Asher, come on!  We're waiting for you!" a girl sitting on a couch across the room shouted. 

"I'll see you in a few minutes.  We were in the middle of a drinking game," Asher said.
 
"Yeah, go ahead.  It's your birthday.  You have fun."

He nodded just a bit, the tiniest of smiles on his face.  I stayed at the edge of the room while Asher wove around the furniture and took a seat next to the blonde girl that had called for him.  His arm found a place around her shoulder.  Immediately, my heart dropped out of my chest.

"Is he serious?" I said quietly.  No.  I needed to get that out of my head.  We'd already talked about this.  We were just friends, and he was allowed to go and do what he wanted.

But, fuck me, it still hurt.

"Do you... want to tell me what happened?" Finn asked.

I looked up at him, startled.  I'd forgotten that he was there, or even in earshot. 

"You mean he didn't already tell you?" I asked.

"All he told me was 'the usual', but something about that just doesn't sound right.  I watched you two in my apartment for a month.  Nothing about that is 'usual.'"