Asher frowned at his phone when the text came in. A new message from Ethan, the Army vet he had hooked up with a few times last summer. "u up? ;)"
He rolled over in bed, closing the message. He instead sent a new message to Asif. "jane feeling better?"
The response came quickly. It was late, but Asif was a night owl like him. "Whatever." Another text followed immediately. "You're sweet for asking."
Asher found himself blushing at the message. He rolled his eyes at himself. Asif was incredibly unavailable. Developing a crush on such a good friend was a bad idea. He rolled the other way, having a hard time getting comfortable. He hated sleeping alone. "it was really good to see you. i miss seeing you in the mailroom. lol" he sent. A few months ago, Asif had finally taken the leap into doing music full time, paying the bills as a studio musician. He described it as "soul-sucking", but it let him focus on Teenage Dracula a few days a week. With the additional time he was able to put in, the band was finally thriving. They had settled into their own sound, a loud melodic punk, and Asher loved it. One of his days off coincided with a practice day, and he sat in more often than not.
Asher's phone vibrated in his hand. "You're still coming over tomorrow, right?" He grinned to himself. Even just for a moment, it was nice to feel wanted. He flipped onto his stomach, resting his chin on his pillow. "hell yes" he texted back. With a few clicks, he opened his photo album. Most of the photos were of any combination of him, Rachel, Goose, Jess, Jane, and Asif. The most recent was him and Asif, smiling at the camera. Asher hesitated before scrolling through. His eyes lingered on Asif's face. He had round, soft features, and kind, dark eyes. He really was lovely.
A new text popped up over the photo. "Excited to see you :)".
They texted for a few hours, mostly about nothing. They discussed Asher's new job as a Little League coach until he could barely keep his eyes open. He sent a final text to Asif before turning his light off. "i give up first, i'm going to bed. see you tomorrow".
Asif's reply appeared just as Asher was plugging in his phone. "Sleep well :)".
