“You’re easy to be nice to,” I tell him with a shrug.
Aspen gives me a look. I look away, cursing the way I feel splayed open for him. How dare he actually perceive me?
“Anyway,” I say quickly, changing to subject. “What’s going on with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean your dating life,” I say bluntly. “My dads are such gossips. They told me you had not one buttwomen come meet you at work recently.”
Aspen’s face turns pink and he quickly looks away. “Well, about that,” he says, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I think maybe I have a crush?”
“Okay,” I say slowly. “Why the question mark at the end of that sentence?”
“I have a crush,” he says more firmly. He shoves his fork into the lettuce and takes a giant bite. I watch him work through his thoughts. “I havecrushes.”
“Oh shit,” I say, my eyes widening. “This is about your little group chat, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he says, his shoulders slumping. “It’s silly. I can’t have a crush onthreeguys at the same time, right? I’ve met Winter. Gods, Shiloh. He’ssohandsome. He smellsso good. I just want him to wrap me up in his arms and ravish me,” Aspen says, all in one breath.
My eyes grow wider the longer he talks.
“Then I got to meet Kent when he came into the coffee shop with some of his teammates. He’salsoso handsome! He’s got this amazing stubble and gorgeous eyes and his arms are so toned from being on the volleyball team and yeah, he’s short but that’s because he’s a halfling and I don’t really mind that he’s so short. Also! He smells really nice too!”
Aspen lets out a long sigh, putting his face in his hands.
“I haven’t even met Glasses yet but I just know he’s going to be just as great as the other two! I just know it in my gut! And he’s always so sweet when we talk over chat. Apparently he and Kent have met before and I’m so jealous but also not really because the idea of Kent and Glasses interacting and getting along and maybe even kissing only makes me warm all over and none of this makes any sense.”
Finally, Aspen stops talking. His mouth shuts with a click, his gray eyes staring over at me. I process everything he’s just said before finally nodding.
“Right,” I say, setting my coffee on the table. Relationships are a touchy subject for me. I never want someone to hold power over me. I hate being vulnerable. I hate feeling like it could all be ripped away at a moment’s notice.
I’m not about to drop all that on Aspen though.
“Would you like to hear what I think?”
He tilts his head at me. “Are you about to prove you’re mean?”
I snort, shaking my head. “Nah, I’m feeling benevolent today.”
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
“I think if anyone was going to make a quad relationship work, it would be you. You put your everything into every relationship you have, including this friendship between you and me. I worry about you giving too much of yourself, but I also know that’s partially my baggage making itself known. I think you should go for it, Aspen. Don’t be afraid to tell them you’re catching feelings. If it’s too scary to tell all three of them at once, maybe take one of them on a date, feel things out, tell that one person that you’re catching feelings for everyone and see how they react. Whatever you decide to do, please don’t push me away, okay? It’s important to keep friends even when you’re dating someone.”
The last part could have gone without saying but I felt compelled to add that in there. I’ll be damned if I let someone like Aspen go through what I did. He’s too much of a softie.
“Oh wow,” Aspen finally says. “I wasn’t expecting all that.”
“Yeah. Well. Whatever,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “It’s not a big deal. I just care about you or whatever.”
“I care about you too, Shiloh. If you ever wanna talk about what happened, I’ll listen.”
“Not right now,” I say. I look at the wall for a moment before snapping back to Aspen, meeting his eye. “I think I’m almost ready to talk about it. But not yet.”
“I’ll be here.” He picks up his coffee, taking a sip. “I think I’ll invite Winter to a volleyball match. Then we can see Kent and flirt over how cute we think he is.”
I smile at my friend. “That’s perfect. If you go to the home game against the Pitt Falls Pirates, you’ll see me in action.”
“Oh right! I forgot you ref sometimes! That’s so cool. It’s so weird how we’ve gotten so wrapped up in volleyball. Blue is dating Maki. You ref. I have a crush on Kent. Okay, so it’s not that much but still, it’s a fun coincidence, right?”
