he'll never be the one (a.i)

"follow my lead"

• C H A P T E R  • E L E V E N •

"What crazy person requires a plus one to a birthday party?" asks Noa as she plops down and sinks into the couch's cushions. The roommates were currently getting ready for a birthday party for Alice's friend Ginny. Hannah and Noa weren't huge fans of Ginny, but they would do anything for Alice. And they weren't going to pass up a night out at the bars.

"Require is a strong word," says Alice from the kitchen. She walks in seconds later with two shot glasses in her hands.

"I don't know why you're acting like you don't have anyone you could invite," says Hannah as she follows behind Alice with a separate shot glass in her hand. Alice extends her arm and offers Noa one of the shot glasses.

"Please enlighten me on my options," Noa says with a scoff as she takes the glass from Alice.

"Ashton," Alice and Hannah say in unison.

"I am not asking Ashton." Pausing the current conversation, the girls clink their shots together before tapping the bottom of their glasses against the coffee table and bringing them up to their lips. As soon as they have all thrown their shots back, the conversation continues:

"Why wouldn't you, Noa?" Alice asks with a groan—both due to her frustration with Noa but also because of the vodka that was currently burning her throat.

"I have already told you how we work—"

"Oh, give us a break!" Hannah says with a laugh. "Noa, you've spent more time with him in the past couple of weeks than you did with Nick during a good month."

"Ouch," Noa says which causes a sigh to leave Hannah's lips.

"Just ask him."

"I can't."

"That poor boy," Hannah says as she shakes her head. "Why's he always doing all the asking? Not once have you been the one to initiate something since you two met back up. But I don't know why I'd expect anything different considering that's exactly how you treated him in college."

"That's not fair, Han," Noa says with a shake of her head. "We have an understanding! I'm sorry that you guys can't get behind it. There's no reason to get him involved in my personal life; that could make things messy and complicated. It could potentially make things mean more. We're not together, and this isn't college! We don't run with the same crowd anymore. Inviting each other to personal things means introducing him to a whole new crowd and having to hope people understand our dynamic."

"Asking him to a birthday party for someone you don't really know—that's at a nice, bought-out bar—is not really personal. It's just like asking him to a party! Which is completely normal, even for your weird situationship that you think is so unique." Noa lets out a loud groan at Alice's words; she hates how stubborn her friends are. "I haven't even met him, Noa. It makes me feel lousy."

"Al..."

"Look, I know you don't want to accidentally make things mean more than they do, but this doesn't even sort of push that agenda! You need a date and he's your only option—end of story." After Hannah's spiel, both she and Alice stare at Noa as they await a response.

"God, fine!" Noa says through a loud groan. She pushes herself off the couch and heads toward her bedroom. She grabs her phone from her bed to call Ashton. As she waits for him to answer, she saunters back into the living room.

"Hey, you."

"Hey," Noa says with a small smile. "I have a proposition for you."

"Okay... shoot."