Senior Standoff | RETIRED VERSION

Season 3 - Episode 1 | NOT REVISED

My mattress seemed softer than usual, blankets a warm cocoon that I was ready to wrap myself up in. Tomorrow was the last day of school before Christmas. I absolutely did not want to wake up at six, and I was about to get as much sleep as I could before morning came. Only one more day to survive. Then, a full week to forget about school, the game, and Hailey until the New Year's Eve party at James's house.

I set my phone down on the side of my bed, having made sure my alarm was set. My head hit the pillow. I could have fallen asleep immediately had my phone not started ringing. Part of me was tempted to let it go. When I flipped the screen back up, I found Asher's picture on the screen.

"What's up?" I asked him, fighting off a yawn. God, I was exhausted.

"Aspen?" He didn't sound like himself.

"Are you okay? What's going on?" I sat up, throwing my lamp on. Already, my exhaustion was bleeding away into the grips of adrenaline.

"I need... I just... I don't know." His words were coming fast. "I don't want to be alone right now, and I know it sounds stupid, but I just... Finn is working late and won't pick up his phone, and I need someone right now."

I was already out of bed and finding my shoes. "I'll be there as fast as I can."

Downstairs, Ky was on the couch, lit only by the TV. It was just after eleven. Mom and Dad were in bed.

"I'll be back soon," I said quietly. Ky looked up at me. He didn't seem to care to know where I was going. Maybe he did and was just hiding it. It was hard to tell after our breakfast at the diner.

"Later," he said.

I ran the whole way to Asher's. Every window in the house was dark, save for Asher's, which was alive with the dull blue glow of the TV. The curtain was open just a hair. My fingers tapped along the cold glass, breath fogging a blurry circle in front of my face. I'd rushed so much I forget to even throw on a jacket. I was stuck out here in a t-shirt and fleece pants.

Asher's face appeared in the window. He looked almost ghostly in the low lighting. He pointed towards the front door, and then disappeared. The door opened as soon as I reached it.

Tears were running down his cheeks. I stepped inside and he looked away. Suddenly, he pulled his shirt up over his face and used it to wipe them away, finishing the movement with a powerful sniffle.

"Hey," I said quietly.

"Hey," he said, looking at the wall.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing." He started down the hall, his figure almost invisible in the dark. I stepped through the house carefully. Each little bump and turn was new to me. Yet, he moved through like it was nothing.

"Asher," I said.

"It's just, uh, it's dumb. I shouldn't have called you over here."

"It's okay. What's wrong?"

He shut us into his bedroom. On the edge of his bed, he dropped his head into his hands and took a deep breath that shuddered through his body. "This is stupid. I had a lapse in judgement when I asked you here. I was freaking out."

"About what?" I sat down on the bed beside him, putting my arm around his back.

"Nothing."

"You were crying."

Asher threw his arms down in his lap. He sounded slightly hysterical, fighting back tears and letting his words spill out like fire. "I'm serious. It's literally nothing. And that's the worst fucking part."