Asher woke up with a headache that felt as if a tiny hunter was shooting miniature bullets into his frontal cortex, and it wasn’t just normal miniature bullets, it was those ones that explode on impact, just to cause more damage and pain to the poor, defenceless victim.

Well, Asher wasn’t exactly defenceless and innocent, he was the one who drank enough beer to cause this to happen, but blame wasn’t going to help his head. The sunlight streaming in through the large double window was blinding and Asher threw his head under the covers in a last ditch effort to gain a few more precious hours of sleep.

Thankfully it worked and when he woke up for the second time his headache had been reduced to a dull ache, and his body felt actually rested after all those hours of sleep. He rolled around on his dark blue sheets, looking around his still painfully bright room. He had quite a simple room, a large dark framed bed in the centre with a desk along one wall and a walk in wardrobe along the other. The desk was pressed up under the large double windows and had on it only his laptop and a few pens.

Asher’s room was clean, but he feared a much darker fate awaited him once he left the safety of his untouched room. He reluctantly pulled himself from the cocoon of warmth that was his bed, and ventured into the hallway, where he could already see the damage caused by the party. A couple of beer bottles at on the ground, placed randomly, and as he looked down the hall towards the living room he could see some of the damage.

He walked almost hesitantly towards the main rooms of the house, stepping silently almost as if the damage was a real creature hiding behind furniture waiting to pounce. He wasn’t literally attacked when he reached the end of the hallway, but what he found wasn’t much better. The place was littered with beer bottles and empty cups. For some unknown reason each piece of furniture looked like it had been moved to the other side of the room than it was originally.

The only good thing was that there were no passed out party guests still on the property that he could see. He took a walk through the house, surveying the damage. It seemed that nothing was too bad, just a lot of bottles and spilt drinks, all of which he could deal with.

Asher went to the kitchen and grabbed a garbage bag and started to fill it up with the remains of the party. He had cleaned the kitchen by the time his phone rang, and he had to walk around the house for a while to find where the noise was coming from.    

He found the small silver object in between the couch cushions, and he pulled it out just after the ringing stopped. The phone had seemed to have gotten a work out that morning, as he had five missed calls and many missed texts.

The missed calls read,   

                Danny – 9:00am

                Danny – 9:40am

                Dad – 9:55am

                Danny – 11:05am      

The texts were mostly from people who came to the party, thanking him for the great time. One was from his father;

Tried calling but you didn’t answer, I hope you are having a good weekend. I will be home Monday morning. – Dad

Asher didn’t bother replying to his father, even though his dad was a good father he was always busy with work, his boss calling him away all the time.

Danny had sent him many texts, and Asher smiled as he read them. The first one had come in last night but the rest were early that morning.

I’m home safe, missing you already. - Danny

Ash! I miss you! – Danny

Ash, omg, there’s a spider in my room! – Danny

Omggg Asher help me please its huge!  I think it has wings! It’s evil! –Danny

It’s ok, my dad killed it, we can all breathe now. – Danny

You’re an awful boyfriend, I could have died and you didn’t reply to me. – Danny

And Danny, being Danny, replied within the same minute with;

I’m just kidding, you’re the best!!!!!!! – Danny

Tried calling but you weren’t there, call me back later if you can, love you – Danny  

Then the guilt hit him like a wave, throwing him off balance and he had to sit down on the couch to stop from falling over. Memories of Maisy’s hands on him and her lips pressing into his neck crowded his vision and he had to blink away the unpleasant images. 

He had never done that before, he had never been that close to actually cheating on Danny. Danny didn’t deserve to be cheated on, Danny was beautiful and kind and sweet. Danny was the kind of person who would save a stray dog or help an old lady cross the road.

And Danny was his. Danny was Asher’s to love and care for, and Asher suddenly felt like he had failed Danny.

He picked himself up, telling himself not to be stupid. Danny wasn’t hurt here, and technically he hadn’t done anything wrong, so it was alright, and yet something was stopping Asher from calling Danny back right away. Maybe it was the knowledge that he would have to lie to him, that he would have to tell him that his phone had gone flat or that Beth and him had spent a quiet night on the couch.

Asher had always seen his popularity and reputation as something utterly different and separate to his relationship with Danny, and he prayed that it would stay that way.

He shoved his phone into his back pocket and continued to clean the house. It took a few hours, but eventually everything came to look how it did before the party.

His phone rang just as he was taking the trash out, and he answered it as he walked back inside the house.

‘Hello.’

‘Ash!’ Danny’s enthusiastic voice sounded through the phone, and Asher pushed back the sliver of guilt that rose up when he remembered that he had somewhat been ignoring him all morning.

‘Hey Danny, how are you?’

‘Fantastic, dad and I are in the car, we just finished his birthday lunch.’

‘Can you put me on speaker for a moment?’ Asher asked and after a few moments he could hear more noise from the background, like tires on the road and the slight hum of the air conditioner.

‘Hey Mr Clark! Happy birthday!’

‘Thank-you Asher!’ he heard Danny’s father say, ‘Is your father back from his business trip yet? I was hoping to plan a dinner soon with you guys.’

Asher and Danny had actually met through their fathers, who had met at a support group for single fathers. The two had become instant friends.

‘He comes home tomorrow morning,’ Asher told Mr Clark.

‘Alright, I’ll give him a call tomorrow.’

The background noise dimmed and Danny spoke into the phone, ‘What are you doing today? How was your night last night?’

Asher went to the dining room and sat down at a chair as he spoke, ‘Quiet night. I’m just hanging around the house today, missing you as usual.’

‘Aww, I miss you too,’ Asher could hear that gorgeous smile through the phone, ‘but don’t worry, you are still coming down Friday night? Right?’ That was classic Danny, always finding something to be happy about.

‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ Asher told him, a slight smile on his lips.

‘Good.’

The doorbell rung, and Asher wondered who would be showing up at his door at three in the afternoon on a Sunday. He walked to the door as he spoke to Danny, ‘Can you call me back in a few minutes?’

‘Yeah sure, everything alright?’ Danny asked just as Asher opened the door to reveal Chad and Bethany.

‘Bye.’ He hung up, slipping his phone into the back pocket of his jeans.

‘Hey guys,’ Asher smiled cautiously at the two, wondering what they were doing here.

‘Hey,’ Chad smiled, ‘we figured that we would come help you clean up.'

Bethany walked past Asher into the house, Chad close behind her.

‘It looks like you’ve already done it. Sorry we left you to do it all by yourself, we were so tired last night,’ Bethany told him.

‘It’s all good.’

Chad smiled, ‘Well, since there’s nothing for us to do, why don’t we go get some ice-cream?’ 

‘Isn’t there a shop a few minutes’ walk from your house?’ Bethany asked and Asher nodded. There definitely was, he and Danny had been there numerous times.

‘Yeah,’ Asher nodded, ‘But I look like crap,’ he looked down at himself. He didn’t look as bad as he thought, he had at least had the sense to dress attractively, but he was sure that there were giant circles around his eyes and going out in public wasn’t really what he had hoped to do today.

‘Come on Asher, honestly, you care more about your looks than me, and I’m a girl. Let’s go,’ Bethany had already started walking out the door, so Asher guessed that he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. He grabbed his house keys and wallet before following them outside and locking the door.

It was a bright, sunny, clear Sunday afternoon and the sun was warm on Asher’s skin as he walked a few steps in front of the couple. Chad had an arm around Bethany’s shoulders as they walked. The roads to the small cluster of stores in Asher’s neighbourhood were quite large, big houses lined up on each side.

‘Did you have fun last night?’ Bethany asked Asher as her and Chad caught up to him.

‘Yeah,’ he lied, ‘It was a lot of fun,’ he pushed back the unpleasant memory of Maisy’s hands on him, and her lips being pressed against his in a sloppy, drunken kiss.

‘We lost you at some point, I couldn’t even find you to say goodbye,’ she told him, bringing him out of his thoughts.

That was because I was curled up in bed thinking about Danny, he thought. 

‘Yeah,’ Chad interjected, ‘I couldn’t find you either.’

‘Yeah, I was busy.’

‘Busy?’ Bethany asked, obviously not satisfied with the vague answer and needing a more detailed one.

‘Ohh,’ Chad laughed out, ‘I think our friend here got lucky.’

Asher just smiled and shrugged, letting them come to their own conclusions. They kept walking down the footpath until they reached the end of the road where a couple of stores sat. At the edge was an ice-cream parlour, with small outdoor tables and wide open doors. A pretty blonde was serving at the counter and she seemed to focus all of her attention on Asher as she took their order.

 The three of them sat down with their ice-creams in hand. Asher was a little jealous as he saw Bethany steal a lick of Chad’s ice-cream when he wasn’t looking, only to have him see her at the last second and pretend to be wholly horrified at the traitorous action.

Asher’s phone rung in his pocket, the loud melody ringing out. He pulled the phone from his pocket and looked at the caller ID, Danny, it wrote in large bolded letters. He wished that he could answer it but it wasn’t like he could have a casual conversation with his boyfriend while his other friends were listening in.

He looked up from his phone to Bethany and Chad, who were looking at him with interested looks on their faces. They were probably wondering why he hadn’t answered the call already.

‘Don’t ignore it on our account,’ Bethany shrugged, shoving a spoonful of ice-cream into her mouth.

Asher smiled at her gratefully, getting out of his seat and leaving his ice-cream on the table. He walked around the corner to where he knew that they wouldn’t be able to hear him.  

‘Hey Danny,’ he greeted into the phone.

‘Hey, are you alright?’ Danny asked, and there was anxiety in his voice. 

‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ Asher assured him, pacing casually around the footpath that ran along the side of the building. ‘I just have something to do, can I call you tonight?’

‘Yeah sure…Ash?’ Danny asked, somewhat cautiously.

‘Yeah?’ Asher asked.

‘Is everything is okay?’ Danny inquired, ‘You seem….weird.’

That was exactly a Danny thing to say. Only Danny would be able to tell Asher’s bad mood just from a short conversation. Danny was just like that, he was happy and excited about everything and yet he was intuitive. If someone he loved was in a bad mood he could tell in seconds and Asher knew that he would worry about them for days. Even though he was the most upbeat person in the world, he would be brought down if someone he cared about was upset. Asher didn’t want to be that person. He didn’t want to be the person who made Danny upset.

Asher took a deep breath. Why had it suddenly gotten so hard for him to keep this up? His life had been so easy, Danny on the weekends, friends on the weekdays. It was how things were, it was easy, simple, it worked so perfectly.

Yet, today something had been different. Today he had that awful memory of Maisy running her hands over him, and the way she kissed him, but even worse was the way that he had kissed her back, all sloppily and yet so….hungrily. He hadn’t been into her, nothing like that, but he had loved the enticing idea of being even more popular, of climbing that social ladder just one more step.

Those thoughts had overcome him and Danny had been pushed to the wayside, and it was only when he came to his senses that he realised that it was a dangerous line was about to cross.

He couldn’t let that one thing let his entire world slip between his fingers like water.

He stopped pacing and straightened up, ‘Danny, I am fine, just missing you is all, don’t worry about me. I love you.’

His words seemed to be enough as Danny replied instantly with an ‘I love you too,’ and the words were said truly, without the lacing of anxiety that would usually accompany his words if he thought that something was wrong with Asher.

Asher knew the way that Danny would act if he thought that something was wrong. He had been through it many times. There was that time his phone had gone flat and Danny had been sure that something bad had happened, and it took his driving all the way over there just to reassure him that he was alright.

Worrying Danny was something that Asher hated to do, and he wondered if it was one of the reasons that he kept that other side of his life so hidden. If anything disturbed it, it would cause a snowball effect to Danny, and Asher would do anything to stop Danny from being hurt. It worked both ways, he kept his school life from Danny, but things from his past too, he just didn’t see the reason in kicking up old dirt when his life with Danny was so perfect.

‘I love you Danny,’ he told him again, just for good measure.

‘I love you too Ash. Bye.’

Danny hung up and Asher slid his phone back into his pocket.

Things with Danny were fine. Things with his friends were fine.

He walked back around to the table, and saw that Bethany and Chad were both looking at him with grinning faces.

‘What?’ he asked, sitting down on the silver chair.

‘Who were you talking to? Maisy?’ Bethany asked, leaning forwards like his answer was of great importance.

‘What? No..’ Asher told them truthfully, picking up his ice-cream and shoving a big spoonful into his mouth.

‘Woah, you move fast then..’ Chad smirked.

‘What?’ Asher was confused, what on earth were they on about? Why would he be calling Maisy?

‘Well while you were gone, Maisy texted me, it seems like you two had some fun last night,’ Bethany told him, waving her phone around in her hand like the existence of her phone was some sort of proof of the message.

Of course, he thought. Of course Maisy had told everyone that they had slept together. He wondered whether he should correct them, but he guessed that they probably wouldn’t believe him anyway. Anyhow, it was giving him what he wanted right? It was allowing him to get up that ladder without actually doing the deed.

‘Yeah, but I’m not really interested in a relationship with her,’ he shrugged, ‘one time thing you know.’

‘I’m not sure if she feels the same,’ Bethany told him.

Asher shook his head, ‘I don’t really care.’

‘Harsh, but your choice I guess.’ Chad admitted in-between licks of his ice-cream, ‘So was that a new potential girlfriend on the phone?’

‘Eh maybe,’ Asher mumbled.

‘Really?’ Bethany looked surprised, ‘In all the time I’ve known you, I have never actually seen you in a relationship.’

Little did she know, but he had been in a relationship from the first day that they had met. A more accurate statement would have been I’ve never see you out of a relationship, but of course, she didn’t have a clue of the hypocrisy of her words.

‘Yeah, I don’t know,’ Asher mumbled.

‘Let’s stop grilling Asher,’ Chad told Bethany, slinging a lazy arm around her waist.

The three of them finished their ice-creams and walked the short distance back to Asher’s house. Asher stood at his front door and waved as the two of them disappeared in Chads car out of the driveway and down the street.

Asher walked into the large house alone. The entire place seemed to echo and every room seemed ten times bigger when he was there alone. His phone was blowing up with texts about him and Maisy, but none from Danny, and those were the only ones he would actually care about.

Asher plonked himself down on the sofa, pulling the blanket around him as he turned the television on, and he watched a movie alone, wishing that Danny was with him.

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