Page 33 of Catching My Dreams

“You know I love you, right?” she asked.

Her actions might have cast doubt on how much his friendship meant to her, but Ella loved him like a brother. Even if others questioned that, she knew it was true.

He smiled, and though it was dimmed by the heaviness of their conversation, it was genuine. “Of course. You know I love you too, right?”

“I do.” He would never have forgiven her if he didn’t.

“So, does that mean you’ll stop avoiding me, and we can go back to normal?”

“Yeah.” It wasn’t a lie. But it wasn’t the truth either.

Ella wouldn’t avoid him, but things also couldn’t go back to the way they’d been before. She would reach out to him and make plans to see him more, but she refused to keep inconveniencing Asher and calling him in the middle of the night. She couldn’t keep doing that, not after everything she’d put him through. It wouldn’t be fair of her. Maybe it never had been.

“Good, because I miss my best friend.”

Ella couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah, I missed you too.”

He covered her hand with his again, squeezing it gently. “Just promise me that you’ll call me if you need help. I’m worried about what Brett might try to do, and I hate that you’re in that house alone.”

He wasn’t the only one who was worried. Ella couldn’t even shower without feeling like someone was watching her. “I promise.”

“You could always come and stay at my place,” he offered, not for the first time. “Our guest room is still empty.”

“And how would your mom feel about me bringing Archie with me?” she replied with a shake of her head. Asher’s mother was allergic to dogs, and there was no way Ella would put him in boarding for weeks or potentially months on end.

He sighed. “Just make sure you call me if you even suspect Brett might be in the house. I don’t care how many false alarms it ends up being, as long as you’re safe.”

This was why Ella didn’t deserve him. He was too good to her. “I will.” She wouldn’t. Because that would mean calling Asher every second of every day. But she would call him if her paranoia grew into something more certain, more concrete.

Asher leaned back in his chair, looking far more relaxed as he took a sip of his coffee. “Now, catch me up on what’s been happening with you. What have I missed?”

Ella shrugged. “Not much.”

Aside from me sleeping with one of your friends for the second time, she thought. Oh, and waking up alone the next morning to a text saying, ‘We need to talk’.

She’d also been forced to eat oatmeal that morning because a muscle in the left side of her jaw was so sore that she couldn’t chew without pain. But that probably wasn’t the kind of news he was after.

“Same old, same old.”

“Wow,” he dead-panned. “So glad you weren’t vague or anything.”

Ella let out a chuckle. “The only thing new in my life is the color of my nails.”

“Red. Nice.”

“They’re maroon,” Ella corrected him with a teasing tut.

Asher laughed, and Ella found herself immensely grateful that he’d pressed her to meet up. Things would never quite be the same between them, but Ella couldn’t remember a time when Asher wasn’t a part of her life, and she didn’t want to live in a world that didn’t include him.

She only wished her feelings for Noah were so clear-cut. But things had never been simple between the two of them, and when Ella spotted him talking to Madison outside the Yates Field House that afternoon, she hated the complicated mess of hurt and anger that wrapped around her chest.

Seeing the man she’d been in love with for most of her life looking friendly with his ex-girlfriend the day after he’d snuck out of her bed wasn’t really what she’d expected or wanted to see on her way to cheerleading practice. Especially when said ex-girlfriend was also on the cheer team. Ella would have a walking, talking reminder of the interaction in front of her for the next hour or two.

Unfortunately, Ella had to walk past them to get inside the building. She kept her gaze forward, even when she saw them hugging out the corner of her eye. Ella’s jaw clenched. Her eyes ached with an unmistakable burn. She felt so stupid.

Was this why Noah had sent that text? After all, it wasn’t the kind of text someone sent when they wanted to ask you out or discuss a friends-with-benefits arrangement. It was the kind of text someone sent when they had regrets, which was why Ella hadn’t responded to it. She didn’t need to suffer any further humiliation at the hands of Noah Warner.

Except there she was, hurt squeezing its merciless fist around her heart as she walked past the man who’d made a fool of her. Again.

---