Senior Standoff | RETIRED VERSION

Season 4 - Episode 7 | NOT REVISED

The warm weather finally coming back around had made everything just a bit better. Liv and I spent rides to and from school with the windows down and listening to our favorite music. We'd take trips to the park, to the forest trails, and to the lake to soak up the sunshine. After all the snow, outside was the only place to be. I was relieved to dig out my shorts and tank tops again.

I'd just gotten home from a lake trip with Liv when the roar of the engine echoed off the houses in the neighborhood. My attention snapped to the street. Finn's black motorcycle was stopping at the curb, followed by Asher swinging his leg over and pulling off the helmet. He shook out his long hair. I watched as he came to the front door with two helmets in hand.

"What are you doing here?" I asked when I opened the door. He hadn't even reached my porch yet.

"There's an event today. Didn't you get James's text about it?" he asked.

"No. I just got home," I said.

Asher stepped onto my porch and held out the spare helmet to me. I took it in my hands, staring at it.

"Are you coming or what?" he asked.

Surrendering, I grabbed my house keys and locked up. Asher waited patiently for me to follow him up to the bike and put on my helmet. His eyes did a once over of me in my denim shorts and gray tank top. While I didn't think much of it, he apparently did. He took off his leather jacket and draped it around my shoulders.

"I know it's warm out, but it gets cold on the back of the bike," Asher said.

I slipped my arms into the sleeves. The jacket was giant on me, and heavier than I'd anticipated.

"So, what's today's event?" I asked.

"Strip poker at Ben's."

"Shit, seriously? I'm not wearing enough for that."

"No worries, my poker face is excellent."

Asher straddled the bike. He pulled it off the kickstand and nodded his head, inviting me onto the back. My arms wrapped around him tightly. His worn t-shirt barely counted as a layer between me and him, allowing me to feel everything he was hiding underneath. His lungs were working heavier than usual. His heart racing. I rested my head on his back and closed my eyes, wondering if this was a good idea. It just ripped the seal off the feelings I'd been trying to hide away.

I didn't get the opportunity to suggest I drive separately. The engine drowned all other sounds, my body being thrown backwards as we accelerated quickly. There wasn't another choice. I had to hold him close to avoid falling off.

The rest of the world was buried in the sounds of the machinery and the blur of everything zooming by. Soon, we were diving into the woods. I looked at the trees towering over us. This wasn't the way I remembered getting to Ben's.

"We've gotta get that blood pumping," Asher shouted over his shoulder.

"What?" I replied.

His hand yanked back the throttle, flooring us forward. The speedometer rose quickly, nearing triple digits. My breath caught. Adrenaline pulsed through me, realizing I had no way out. If we crashed now, we'd be dead before we knew what happened.

A scream pierced out of my throat, rivaling the engine echoing off the trees. I started to slap his shoulder with demands that he slow down. It took too long for him to oblige.

"Don't do that to me!" I screamed.

Asher's body was quaking beneath my arms with laughter. "But did you die?"

"Could have real easily."

"But did you?"

"Damn it, Asher!"

He continued to laugh while turning onto a rough back road through the woods. It was so obscure that where wasn't a shoulder or a line down the center. Just some crumbling pavement and gravel, all compressed into a single lane. It cut through the woods. Asher stopped the bike a little ways down the street.

"This isn't Ben's house," I said after climbing off the bike.

"No kidding. Come on," Asher said. He waved his hand for me to follow him into the treeline. A crude dirt path barely existed between the weeds. Almost too thin to count as a path. Probably made by wild animals rather than people. Some brown, crunchy leaves still littered the ground from Fall.

We came upon a clearing where a small pond dipped beneath the Earth. Green stems were beginning to sprout from the dirt. Ripples floated out from Water Skaters' legs as the skidded across the glassy surface, dodging the hungry mouths of a few fish that swam below the surface. It was incredibly peaceful. A slight breeze rustled some leaves, a few bugs singing along.

"So?" I asked. "Why did you have to lie to get me out here?"

Asher shrugged. "Thought it would be more fun." He paused. "Hey, look."

My gaze followed his pointed finger to a sprout at the side of the pond. Something golden was reflecting the light, hanging from it by a thread. Eyebrows furrowed, I paced to the water. My fingers grasped the golden slip and carefully untangled the thread from the fragile little plant.

Messy black scribbles looped over the white side of the paper. Turn around.

So I did.

Graffiti ran across the trees behind me in messy blue lines. Together, five trees spelled out one invitation: Prom?

"Asher?" I said. I watched him stand between the trees, a tiny smile on his face while he watched me back.

"I wasn't lying about my excellent poker face," he said.

I looked at him standing there, hands shoved into the pockets of his gray jeans and a bit of ink spilling out of the seams of his worn t-shirt. His dark hair was longer now than when I'd met him, covering his ears. He looked out of place for this. Out of place for coming down here, spray painting the trees, and tying the note onto the tiny plant. Out of place for Prom.

"Are you just going to leave me hanging, or what?" he asked.

"Yes, I'll go to Prom with you," I said.

"There you have it!" The phantom voice startled and irritated me at the same time. Somehow, they always managed to pop up somewhere. My eyes darted around until I found James and Mateo perched in the branches of a tree. "She said yes! One promposal down."

"Seriously? You guys were in a tree the whole time filming this?" I asked.

"Well you would have seen us on the ground," James said.

I sighed. This would be on Facebook, just like other big moments between Asher and me. When deciding to be a part of the game, I hadn't considered the fact that my life was becoming public property. Though, it would all be over in a month. I could hold out that long.

"You really went through all this trouble to ask me to Prom?" I asked. Asher nodded like it was no big deal. "Even though it was implied we'd be going together because of the game?"

Asher took a few steps forward and grabbed both of my hands. My eyes dropped to them. He hadn't treated me this way since we'd left our romance behind.

Speaking softly so only I could hear, Asher said, "You are the best friend I've ever had, which is why I'm making damn sure this game--this year--is everything you wanted."

Tears pricked at my eyes. No one had ever been so sweet to me before. No one had ever cared so much or went to great lengths the way Asher did. I pulled him into my arms, whispering, "Thank you." There was no other response.

"I would do anything for you," he said.

I couldn't help it anymore.

I cried.