Page 52 of Scrimmage

I aggressively shake my pre-workout. “Must not be much of anything if she’s having sex with me.”

“I dunno. I got the vibes like they’re not going that direction. He was really polite. Not all over her or anything. He’s not a student either. Older than us. Seems like exactly the kind of guy Ashland wouldn’t bang in a dirty bathroom, but they definitely spend time together. Sounded like they’ve known each other for a while. Cole isn’t a fan, and we both know Cole is in love with her, so if he hates the guy he must feel threatened.”

“I don’t really care, Alexi.” I fucking do. I want him to keep talking. “It's just sex. I don’t give a shit about Ashland either way.”

“Good. So you won’t have a problem driving us?”

“Fine. I’ll fucking go. Just stop bugging me about it. I’m not promising that I’ll stay.”

Once Friday rolls around, I’m fully packed. For four days I’ve been harping on the fact that Ashland has a situationship she hasn’t told me about with some tattooed asshole. It’s not like I ever asked her. I just assumed. I did text her once and fucked her in the bathroom of one of the academic buildings. Neither of us mentioned the Weekender, and we didn’t talk either. She’s fucking good at that, but now it’s starting to irk me.

When Penny and Ashland skip out of the front door of a tan little house, they look over my Jeep. I get out and take their bags, placing them in the trunk.

Ashland grabs Alexi and pulls him from the passenger seat. “Out.”

“Woah, I called shotgun,” he argues.

Penny shakes her head. “Ashland has lifetime shotgun.”

“That’s not even a thing.”

I roll my eyes. "Get in the fucking back, Alexi, and shut the fuck up.” Alexi scowls and climbs in while Penny snickers.

Ashland acts like she’s seeing me for the first time. “Ugh, who invited you?”

I glare at her, taking a deep breath. “Who invited you? Half of the football team? I forget you’re trying to fuck everyone at this school before you graduate.”

“It’s an impossible task, but a girl has to try,” she says nonchalant, passing by me and climbing in.

We aren’t on the road for five minutes before they all start acting fucking wild. Ashland pulls out a blunt and lights it, passing it back and forth with Penny. I almost tell her to put it out, but if I do that they’ll spend the entire two and a half hour drive smoking, so I leave it the fuck alone. Ashland connects her phone to the radio and starts DJing. They turn it up, full volume.

She unbuckles her seatbelt and stands in her seat. I’m about to tell her to get the fuck down when I look up at her. She’s got the wind whipping in her pink hair with her eyes closed and her arms up, dancing to the music. Penny is, too. It’s amazing how she manages to just do whatever the fuck she wants without a care for rules. They scream the lyrics into the wind. Someone honks, pulling me out of the distraction, causing me to overcorrect into the right lane.

The girls aren’t even phased, descending into a fit of laughter.

“Get the fuck down,” I growl. They’re already buckling themselves back in. “You two act like you’ve never been anywhere before.”

“Calm down,dad.” Ashland rolls her teal eyes. “Maybe relax for once. Do you want me to drive so you can try it?”

“Absolutely not. You’d probably kill us.”

She huffs and looks out of the window for a moment before making herself comfortable and putting her bare feet up on the console. “Are you going to spend the weekend being this annoying? If so, I’m going to make sure to avoid you. I want to have fun, not be scolded every four seconds.”

“That was the first time I said anything,” I argue.

“Can we make it the last?”

“Let’s play the silent game?” I suggest.

Alexi groans. “Seriously?”

“Oh, we’re good at this,” Penny leans back in her seat.

Ashland smirks, fucking amused at the suggestion. “I would love to.”

The sound of the wind around us is loud, but Ashland knows how to be louder. She starts flipping through songs, letting them play for about thirty seconds before moving on. At first I thought she was just being indecisive, but it becomes clear that it’s purposeful when I look over and she’s not even paying attention to the phone as her finger is poised over the skip button. She has one hand outside of the car, feeling the wind, and the other is pressing the button every thirty goddamn seconds. Ashland is going to drive me insane.

In the rearview mirror, I make eye contact with Penny, who is practically telling me to eat shit with her eyes. Alexi looks like he’s waiting for me to explode. I let her continue. If I wait it out she’ll stop because she’s not getting a reaction. After four more excruciating minutes I snatch the phone away and shove it between my legs. Ashland looks like I’ve just challenged her to a duel, but there’s something smug about it, like this was exactly what she wanted to happen. She reaches up to the console and clicks the door open, then she clicks it shut. Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Open. Shut.

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