Seven Minutes in Heaven

My Mortal Enemy

"Dude. Just spin the freaking bottle," Kai growls, annoyed. River sets the empty bottle in the centre of the table and spins it. It spins around in eight full circles before stopping in front of Ashton.

"Yeah, Ashton!" River smirks, "Let's see who the lucky girl is." Kiara, Rani and I glance at each other as Kai spins the bottle a second time. It completes nine rotations before landing directly on...

...me. Crap.

The room goes completely silent. Ashton and I stare at the ground, and everyone else glances at the ceiling. "Um..." Rani starts, but stops. The silence is so deafening you can practically feel the awkward hanging in the air. I sigh.

Ashton and I aren't exactly... Buddy-buddies. Actually, we're more like mortal enemies. Everyone knows that for whatever reason, Ashton enjoys tormenting me and I'm constantly driven insane by everything he does. Fantastic. I think to myself. Seven minutes in a closet with a guy I've hated since the sixth grade.

"Well?" Kai breaks the silence. "Go get in the closet."

I roll my eyes. Kai is notoriously impatient. Yet, I'd still rather be trapped in a closet with him over Ashton.

"Whatever," Ashton finally speaks up. He looks at me. "You coming?"

I sigh again, and get up off of the floor, following him to the closet. We both slide inside and shut the door. Light peeks through the cracks of the door leaving just enough light for us to see each other's faces.

I sit down, cross-legged on the floor. Ashton flops down opposite me. "So," he says, quietly, "are we going to sit here in silence for seven minutes?"

"What else would we do?"

He snorts. "It's seven minutes in heaven, Alaska. What do you think?"

Now I laugh. "Please. I'm not kissing you."

"Well, I don't want to kiss you either."

I glance down at my watch. Six minutes left. I hear banging on the closet door. It's River.

"You guys better not just sit in silence." He yells. "Because if you do, we'll add another 7 minutes!"

"Come on," I groan.

I look at Ashton, only to see him staring back at me. "Well, you better kiss me, then." 

"No," I scoff.

"Why not? Why do you hate me so much?"

"Are you kidding?" I whisper. "You've been nothing but an ass to me since the day we met. Why do you hate me?"

"What makes you think I hate you?" He whispers back, arching an eyebrow. A ray of lights hits part of his, and I can see his blue eyes sparkle.

"Dude."

He sighs and runs his hand through his brown-blonde hair. "I don't hate you."

"Then why do you always give me such crap?"

He swallows and stares at his hands. "It's complicated."

"No," I say, "It's not. You're either nice to someone or you're not. Why aren't you nice to me?"

"I just have a lot going on in my life," he snaps.

"Well, why take it out on me?"

"Because, you don't fight back." He pauses, and then resumes after a moment, "I feel like crap enough already. But you are the only person who doesn't fight back. Who doesn't try to make me feel bad. You just suck it up."