“They really did.” As if to prove her point that she wouldn’t be avoiding me, she looped her arm through mine as we made our way through the sea of students headed toward the dorms.
We made it to the common room a few minutes later. After agreeing to meet back there in a few minutes so we could drive together in my car, I ran up to my room to change out of my uniform and into clothes that would be more comfortable to rappel in.
“Hey!” Asher yelped when I opened the door. “Maybe knock first so everyone in the hall doesn’t get a look at the goods?”
“Sorry.” I quickly stepped inside and closed the door, realizing my roommate had been in the middle of pulling his jeans over his boxer briefs. “Didn’t know you were in here.”
“It’s fine.” He finished buttoning his jeans and pulled a T-shirt over his head. “I just noticed some freshman girls in the hall with Rushil earlier and didn’t want them to get distracted by the fact that I never skip leg day.”
“I see that getting voted Best Physique in the Senior Class hasn’t gone to your head or anything.” I chuckled as I dropped my backpack on my bed.
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” Asher said in his dramatic theater voice. “But the people have spoken, so I guess it’s my cross to bear.” He shrugged.
“And you carry it with such grace and modesty, too.”
“Why thank you, dear peasant.” He patted me on the shoulder. “I do try.”
“Are we about to enter a scene that you’re practicing for the spring play?” I raised an eyebrow when I sensed that Asher was about to go from cocky gym rat to theater nerd on me.
“I almost did.” He grinned. “But thanks for stopping me there. I need to save that for when Nash and I are stuck together on the cliff this afternoon.”
“You guys still not getting along after everything?” I asked, sure they’d been mending things more recently.
“We’re getting better.” He shrugged as he stuffed his wallet and protein bars into his backpack. “But as long as we’re still going after the same roles, there will always be some competition between us both.”
“A little competition is good, I guess.”
“It is,” he agreed. “Keeps us pushing toward being the best at our craft.”
“That it does.” I removed my blazer and tossed it onto my bed before loosening my tie. “Are you riding with Elyse to the Hastings’s? Or do you want to catch a ride with Scarlett and me?”
“You and Scarlett are driving together?” He cocked a dark eyebrow. “Does this mean you’re officially together again?”
“Not quite.” I slipped my tie out from under my collar. “But we’re friends again, so she’s riding with me.”
“That’s good,” Asher said. “Do you think she’s still set on keeping everything in the friend zone with the recent changes you’ve made?”
“Pretty sure.” I tossed my tie onto the bed with my other things. “And as long as she still believes her church is the only path to true happiness, I don’t see that changing.”
“So everything really is super strict with her?” Asher asked. “Like, she can’t just have a fun high school romance if it doesn’t fit precisely into this life plan her church has for her?”
“We were taught that you date to get married.” I shrugged. “Having aflingwould just be wasting time.”
Not that I’d be able to have a fling, either. It would be too hard knowing that no matter how great we were together, we’d eventually have an expiration date.
I mean,Iwould be fine figuring things out. If staying in The Fold was that important to her, I’d take her any way I could get her.
I just didn’t know if she could bend her rules enough to be with someone on a different spiritual path.
“I guess that makes sense,” Asher said. “At least you’re friends though, right?”
“Yep.”
Asher walked to the door like he was leaving.
“So I’m guessing you’re driving with someone else?” I asked, realizing he’d never answered my first question.
“I’m hitching a ride with Elyse.”
