Page 77 of Echoes of Us
When she fell again, she took him with her.Their cries mingled in the moonlight as pleasure crashed through them both, leaving them trembling and spent.
Cole collapsed against her, his weight anchoring her to reality as their hearts thundered together.For one perfect moment, nothing existed but this - their shared breaths, their tangled limbs, the lingering echoes of pleasure.
Then footsteps echoed in the hallway.
"Ashley?"Sarah's voice carried through the door."Dale said you were-"
They froze.Ashley's heart, already racing, nearly stopped.The sound of the doorknob turning galvanized them into frantic motion - Cole pulling away, Ashley scrambling for her clothes, both of them desperate to erase the evidence of what had just happened.
But it was too late.
Sarah stood in the doorway, her expression shifting from concern to shock as she took in the scene - scattered papers, disheveled clothes, Ashley's flushed face and Cole's torn shirt.
"Oh," Sarah said softly.Then, "Oh."
Ashley darted after Sarah through empty hallways, her heels clicking against the tile in an accusatory rhythm.Her dress clung wrong, hastily pulled on with trembling fingers.The ghost of Cole's touch still burned on her skin, making each step a reminder of what she'd just done, what they'd done.
Marie.Oh God, Marie.
The cool night air hit her face as she burst outside, but it couldn't wash away the shame that crept up her throat like bile.Her friend's boyfriend.She'd just...with her friend's...
"Sarah, wait!"Ashley's voice carried across the empty courtyard.She stumbled slightly in her haste, her legs still unsteady from moments before."Please, let me explain!"
Sarah spun around, her expression unreadable in the darkness."Explain what, exactly?How did you just slept with Cole?After everything that happened, everything we talked about?"
The crude directness made Ashley flinch."I..."But what could she say?That she'd known him first, in another life?That he'd been hers before he was Marie's?That for one perfect moment, nothing else had existed but them?
"I don't even know what to say to you right now," Sarah's voice cut through the darkness."Marie is our friend.Your friend, Ashley."
"I know."The words came out small, broken.
"Do you?Because I just walked in on you and her boyfriend-" Sarah stopped, running a hand through her hair in frustration."What were you thinking?"
I wasn't thinking, Ashley wanted to say.All I could think about was him.About having him one last time before...But she couldn't explain that.Couldn't explain any of it.
"I just want to go back to the dorm," she whispered instead."Please."
Something in her voice must have reached Sarah because her friend's expression softened slightly."Fine.But we're going to deal with this later."
They walked in silence, the campus eerily still in these pre-dawn hours.Ashley kept glancing back toward the physics building, part of her hoping, dreading that Cole would follow.But the path behind them remained empty.Of course, he wouldn't come after her.What had just happened between them - that desperate, perfect moment - must’ve meant nothing to him and was already fading like a dream.
The dorm room was dark when they arrived.Ashley curled into her bed, fully dressed, pulling covers around herself like armor.She could feel Sarah watching her from across the room.
"Was it worth it?"Sarah asked finally, her voice quiet in the darkness."Whatever that was back there - was it worth screwing yourself over?"
Ashley pressed her face into her pillow, breathing in the familiar scent of home.Was it worth it?
“Yes.”She confessed.The memory of Cole's hands on her skin, his voice rough with need, the way he'd looked at her like she was everything - God help her, but yes.Yes, it had been worth it.And that realization made her feel worse than anything else.
That night, Ashley didn’t sleep.The first rays of dawn began creeping through her window, painting accusatory patterns across her blanket.She'd been here before - waiting for sunrise after a sleepless night.But this felt different.The light revealed something new settling in her chest: a strange mix of completeness and emptiness as if she'd finally found what she'd been missing, only to realize she couldn't keep it.
"I need to leave," she whispered, the words surprising her even as they left her lips.
"What?"Sarah murmured, still half asleep.
"I can't..."Ashley sat up slowly, certainty crystallizing with the growing light."I need to go home for a few days."
Sarah was quiet for a long moment."You're running away."
