Senior Standoff | RETIRED VERSION

Season 1 - Episode 5 | NOT REVISED

My imagination had run away from me just a little bit. Asher had used the word "party", which sent my head to loud music, the infamous red plastic cups, and smoky, low lighting. But this wasn't that scene. Despite Asher saying it was a bonfire, I'd still expected something bigger and louder. Not a chill, laid-back circle around a pile of burning wood. A few armchairs and loveseats had been dragged into the grass. Most everyone had a beer in their hand. One was smoking a cigarette.

"Hey, Asher is here!" someone announced as we started walking down the small hill towards them. "And his new lady friend?"

"Oh, no, I'm not..." I said.

Asher walked between the chairs and sat on one of the empty love seats that looked completely out of place around the fire. He patted the cushion next to him, then looked back at everyone else and said, "Aspen is a lady and a friend, but she's not a lady friend."

I made my way over to him, and then sat down on the empty cushion.

"Right, I forgot you don't do the whole girlfriend thing," his friend who announced our arrival said. I'd never seen him before in my life. He had dark hair and a few tattoos on his arms, and the stubble on his face made him look even older. If I had to guess, he was in college. Not a chance he went to our school.

"Yeah, well, I don't like it," Asher said with a shrug. "I can do all the girlfriend stuff with girls who are just friends. What's the point?"

"Wouldn't that make her your girlfriend?" I asked.

"No. Making someone your girlfriend requires a commitment, being exclusive usually, and you end up completely intertwined in each other's lives. I'm not into that," Asher said.

"High school relationships don't usually mean a whole lot," I said.

Asher shifted further back in the couch, resting his arm along the back and turning to face me. "All right, think of it this way. You decide you want to date someone, make it official or whatever, and you get really attached. That's fun until someone else inevitably comes along, and then you're sitting there miserable because you're second-guessing your relationship. End up breaking up, ruining things with this person you were close with, date the new person, and repeat the cycle.

"Or, you just both agree that you're having some fun. Nothing serious, nothing exclusive. Someone else comes along, you can enjoy them, and you don't have to ruin something and go through all that bullshit."

"That was specific," I said.

"Yeah, well, not my first rodeo," Asher said.

I thought about it for a second. "You can easily form an attachment without actually dating."

"And that's on you. You knew what it was getting into it, and if it doesn't work for you, then don't play the game. Plain and simple."

I didn't say anything else. How could someone be so... detached? I knew that if I was going to be kissing and cuddling on someone, it was going to mean something. I couldn't fool around with someone just for fun. There was going to be some form of a bond there.

"If you're done explaining to your date all the reasons you won't date her," another one in the circle said. The only two here that I recognized were Asher's two friends from school, Shane and Dylan. The rest were a good bit older than us.

"That would only be an issue if I was actively trying to get in her pants," Asher said.

There were a couple chuckles.

"We waited for you," the guy said. He reached into a backpack and pulled out a plastic bag, something I didn't recognize sitting in the bottom. Then he grabbed a colorful glass pipe. It suddenly clicked, and I no longer felt comfortable here.