Crush

Reality

Oliver

Liam stood outside the hotel and waved at us while wearing a knowing grin.

He'd just signed us out of the hotel and saw the room service receipt. He knew just from that receipt that we'd barely left the hotel room all weekend. Asher had quickly handed him the money to pay the receptionist and couldn't look him in the eyes the whole time, while I couldn't stop the bright red blush on my cheeks. Liam had just smirked.

I waved back at my brother through the car window, watching him as Asher pulled the car onto the road.

I was going to miss Florida.

Not that we saw much of the state outside of the hotel room.

But I knew I was going to miss the uninterrupted time I'd spent with Asher.

Since getting back to the room after the tour of the college, we'd hardly worn any clothes, didn't venture much outside of the bed, aside from taking a shower - which we did together - and answering the door for room service.

Now we were back on the road, driving home. Back to school. Dad. Our friends. Last game. Finals. Prom.

Reality was waiting for us at the end of our road trip. Everything I hadn't thought about while I was in Florida suddenly flooded my mind.

I felt ... deflated.

Sad.

Depressed.

One weekend wasn't enough time.

I wanted more time with Asher. Alone.

Slumping in my seat, I grabbed my phone out of the pocket of my jeans. I didn't really want to wear them as it was too hot for jeans in Florida. But I knew I would need them once we got home to our cold town.

Scrolling through my phone, I saw I had a lot of messages from the guys, a few off of Chloe, a couple from Dad. I hadn't replied to any of them over the weekend. I knew I had messages, but I found that I didn't have time to reply. Instead, my time had been consumed by Asher. And what I was doing with him. To him. On top of him. Underneath him.

Now it was time to start letting my friends know that I was still alive.

I frowned as I looked at the clock on the dash. "What time will we be back home?"

Asher glanced at the clock. "Early evening at a guess."

Screwing my nose up at the thought of being home in a few hours, I went back to messaging my friends.

Jenson had asked where I was this weekend. I hadn't told anyone that I was in Florida. I'd just told the guys that I couldn't make the usual Saturday morning hang out, but hadn't given them an excuse. Now Jenson was blowing up my phone.

I sent him a message, telling him that I'd been busy and that I was okay. Almost immediately, he replied, asking if I was around today and could he come round to see me.

He sounded almost ...needy. Clingy.

I think he was only being like this because of our fall out at the end of last year. I think he was just making sure that we were still okay.

We were.

Kind of.

I still didn't think we'd cleared the air, but it didn't seem to be bothering him. He just went back to being Jenson. Teasing. Jostling. Messing. Just being his usual asshole self.

I just didn't feel like things were the same. I still felt ... weird about what happened. Whatever it was that had happened.

One fleeting moment and our friendship had changed.