by Toni Aleo
My chest aches. “I don’t either.”
“Well, at least you’re not super boring,” he says hopelessly, and I laugh. “Or lonely. I was so lonely, and I don’t know, but there could be a chance I’m not funny.”
I snort at that, shaking my head. “You’re hilarious.”
“See? I need you, Ally T. You make me who I am.”
“Same.” Oh, heart, here we go. Is this really happening?
I think it is.
“I’m really sorry, Ally.”
“I don’t want an apology, Asher. I want you.”
His lips curve but also wobble as his eyes burn into mine. Love is pouring from his gaze and warming every single inch of me. “I’ve waited my entire life to love someone with my whole being.”
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
“These last six days have wrecked me.”
“Me too.”
“But I needed them.”
“I really didn’t. I got more in my head, and I was ready to let you go.”
“You’re kidding.”
I assure him with my eyes. “Seriously, I made myself live without you so I’d know I can.”
He shakes his head. “Well, that’s not happening,” he says sternly. “You’re mine.”
“I am, Asher.” My eyes search his. “But are you mine?”
He doesn’t even hesitate. “Entirely.”
He holds the can up to his mouth and urges me with his eyes to lift it to my ear. He doesn’t have to say anything for me to know that. Without breaking our intense gaze, I slowly lift it up to my ear as tears roll down my face. Once it’s there, he exhales heavily, and into the can, he says, “I can’t believe this, but I’m about to tell you something in this can I’ve never said to anyone and meant.”
My hand is shaking as I move the can, bringing it to my mouth. “What?”
He waits for me to bring it back to my ear before he says, “I am in love with you, Ally T.”
I don’t move the can. “Ash B, you better not be saying that to keep me around.”
He slowly shakes his head. “I’m not. I love you. I always have, I always will, and I’m pretty sure since you unleashed all these feelings, I’m never going to stop saying it.”
My eyes slowly fall shut as I drop the can and cover my face, emotion taking over. A sob racks my body as I look through my fingers at him. “You promise?’
“I promise.”
As my tears cloud my vision, I whisper, “I have to tell you something.”
“What?”
My body trembles as I drop my hands, gazing into his beautiful eyes. The eyes I will love for the rest of my existence. “You look ridiculous in that shirt.”
His face breaks, and he starts for me just as I start for him. We embrace, falling onto my bed, our lips pressing together with such need. He holds me so tightly as our kiss turns desperate. I’d say it’s the six days apart that make our kiss feel like that, but I know that’s not true.
It’s him.
Asher Brooks.
My best friend.
I hold him close to me, wrapping my whole body around him and never letting go. His lips move with mine, and I feel him going hard beneath me. He pulls back, his lips still touching mine but not kissing me, as our eyes lock. “I’m glad this plan worked.”
I smile against his lips. “Did you have a Plan C?”
He nods, sliding his nose along mine. “I did.”
“What was it?”
“Take you back to the gym and play you a song on the jumbotron.”
I eye him. “Was that the song the girls wanted you to give me?”
“They told you?”
“I don’t know the name, but they told me to ask.”
He takes in a deep breath and lets me go to get his phone. “Now, brace yourself. I’m all about some new shit tonight, but will you dance with me?”
“You’re serious?”
“I know. Shut up,” Asher laughs as he untangles us and helps me up. I want to laugh at how far his shirt is riding up his body, but I refrain as a song I know very well starts to play. He gives me a small smile as he wraps his arms around me, and Keith Urban sings about a “Parallel Line.” As I rest my face on his chest, I mouth the words. The girls were right; this song is us. I hold him close, squeezing his body, and he hugs me back.
“Don’t ever stop hugging me first.”
I nod. “I won’t, as long as you never stop loving me.”
“Deal,” he whispers against my lips. “Not even if I wanted to.”
I grin against his lips. “No?”
“Nope, you let me go and those elevator doors shut, and it was like all those years trying to resist you slammed me in the face and opened this gate to love. I knew right then and there—I was completely in love with you.”
“Why didn’t you come after me?”
“I couldn’t accept it yet. I needed time, and I know that annoys you.”
I shrug. “Maybe I was asking too much.”
He scoffs. “According to your mom, you aren’t some chick off the street. I know you. I love you.”
I roll my eyes. “My mom…”
“…is amazing, just as you are. She was right, and I can promise you, after all this, you aren’t going anywhere without me.”
“I’m not?”
“No, and I’ll never go anywhere without you.”
“I love the sound of that,” I whisper as my heart soars.
His lips move along mine as he whispers, “Me too. But most of all, I love you.”
“You didn’t even need the can.”
“Nope,” he says, pressing his nose to mine. “I just need you.”
My eyes drift shut as our lips meet. Our kiss is soft, sweet, and as we part, his lips move against mine as he whispers, “I love you, Ally.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to those words. But then again, I don’t think I’m supposed to.”
“You’re not,” he says simply.
“I’m pretty sure they’re supposed to give me the butterflies every time too.”
His lips curve. “They will, just as our truth will rattle me whole, but they’ll also give me a full-on chub.”
We break into wide grins as our noses press together, and something he said before is still shaking me to my core.
He can’t be in love without me.
And I now know I can’t either.
I need my best friend.
Completely.
Epilogue
Asher
Three months later…
“Are you sure you don’t want to get two lightsabers bent into a heart?”
Ally looks at me like I’m a doofus. “Do we play with lightsabers, Asher?”
I wink. “You play with mine all the time.”
“Do you feel good about yourself?” she asks dryly, and I grin, wrapping my arms around her neck, pressing my lips to hers.
“Come on. You’re the Leia to my Han.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“No, really. I’m not. I’m more the Rey to your Kylo.”
I scrunch up my face at her. “He dies.”
“Exactly, and if you don’t stop with the awful jokes and tattoo ideas, you will meet the same fate.”
I chuckle as she gives me a sneaky grin. She takes a deep breath when she hands over our drawing. “You know my mom is going to kill me.”
“Not me. I’ll hide mine in all these tattoos right here on my arm. She won’t even know we got matching tattoos.”
“Hide it?”
“What?”
“You’re going to hide our love tattoo?”
“I don’t want to die.”
“Fine, I’ll show her.”
“How rude.”
“You’re rude for hiding it!”
“I wasn’t going to hide it, just not show her!”
“You’re so frustrating, and I thought we were getting them on our wrists.”
I think that over. “Okay, fine, but I’m not showing anyone.”
“I’m making an Instagram post. Hell, I might even Live it.”
I squint at her. “I thought you loved me.”
“Oh, I do, Beef Stick. Now, make sure to write clearly.”
I gawk over at Ally and say, “Keep messing with me, and I’m gonna write ‘I love pussy.’”
“Real cute,” she throws back at me. “And I’ll write, ‘I love dick.’”
We glare at each other, and then I grab her by her chin, bringing her mouth to mine. Our kiss is a little hotter than I intended, but it’s always like that. When I part from her dangerous mouth, my heart swells, as does my cock. “Maybe I’ll get ‘Ally T. drives me nutty’ across my neck.”
It was supposed to be cute, but she’s not having it. “Please don’t.”
“Fine. Property of Ally T.”
“Ash, we are getting one tattoo.”
“You can get my name on your ass.”
She blinks. “One tattoo.”
“Come on—”
“Why are you making this difficult?”
I kiss her nose. “Because you’re so cute when you’re frustrated.”
She looks up to our artist and shakes her head. “He gets silly when he’s nervous.”
Aaron, our artist, doesn’t care. “So, what are we doing?”
“A can on each wrist so that when we press our wrists together, it’s like the string is connected and the words, ‘I love you,’ in each other’s handwriting.” Her face fills with color as she gazes up at me. I can’t take how much she means to me. She’s so damn beautiful. “Because that’s how he told me he loves me.”
“Through a can? Does that even work?”
I look at the guy just as Ally glares at him. “Yes, and it is fucking romantic, okay?”
The guy laughs as he walks off to get everything ready. “Whatever you say.”
“You know he is in control of the needles.”
“I don’t care. He is making fun of our love.”
“I don’t care. I love our love.”
“Damn right, you do.” She decides as she sits in my lap. I cuddle her close to my chest before kissing her jaw. Just like we always have been, we’re inseparable. Not much has changed with our families. They love us, but sometimes I feel they love us more when we’re together. I know I love us.
She leans into my face as she holds up her phone to read the text she just got. I notice it’s from Angie.
“Is she settled?”
“Yes. She even likes her little apartment.”
“Good,” I say since I know Ally was worried about her. Angie moved out a week ago, heading to South Carolina for that program she got into. And because Angie left, Ally moved in with me. Really, Ally moved out a long time ago, but she insisted on staying at the dorm once a week so Angie wouldn’t be totally alone. Crazy, but I dreaded that one night a week. I missed her like mad, but now, I’ve got her for the long haul.
Ally opens her email and groans loudly. “Still nothing?” I ask, and she shakes her head.
“No, I’m supposed to get an answer today. Maybe I should call?”
“Give it until tomorrow.”
She rests her head back on mine, and I know she’s stressed. She didn’t get the job in South Carolina, but she did get offered four other ones. One in New York, which, ew, snow. One in California, ew, Jasmine. One in Vancouver—yeah, I got nothing, which she sees as an opportunity to drag me out there, but I’m not really down for that. The one she really wants is here in Nashville with the Nashville Rockets. Our soccer team. She made it to the last round of interviews, and she feels it went great. They had a player commit suicide a year ago, and some of the guys still haven’t recovered, getting into some substance abuse and other stuff like that. The need for help is great, and Ally wants to be that person. She feels it’s a job she was meant to do, helping athletes with their mental and emotional health, and I love how excited she is. Now, we’re just waiting for an email.
No matter what, I’ve said I’ll go anywhere. I just want to be with her. It’s been months since the dreaded six days of hell, but still, they haunt me. I love this girl, I want to be with her, but her staying in Nashville would work out great for me. I don’t want to leave my jobs. Not only am I working for the Bullies and the Assassins, I’ve been asked to be on the staff for the Nashville Aces, our football team. I haven’t committed since I’m unsure of the future, but then nothing else matters, as long as it’s our future.
“I’m ready for you two.”
She grins at me, and I grin back, getting up and heading to his workstation. I go first since I somehow lost rock, paper, scissors in the car. I’m still convinced it was because she grabbed my dick when she threw her paper. I had no choice but to throw rock, but she says she did no such thing. I felt it, and I know for a fact that she wasn’t looking for my car keys. She leans on my leg and watches as the guy gets started. I move her hair out of her face and ask, “When’s Posey getting back?”
“Hopefully the Assassins win tonight, and they’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Cool, and then we start the shitshow of wedding bullshit?”
She shakes her head. “No, after the Cup finals. July, probably.”
“Why are we celebrating a wedding before the wedding?”
“Because it’s Shelli?”
It’s a valid answer. “Will we make it?”
“I sure hope so.”
“You know what, I want to go on a trip.”
“I’m down.”
“To celebrate your graduation and all.”
She gives me a smile. “I thought this was celebrating that.”
“No, this is celebrating the all-consuming love I have for you,” I say, all dramatically, and she snickers. “I don’t know how men do this all the time.”
Aaron snorts. “I thought you were serious.”
Ally nods. “He is. He’s trying to act tough in front of you.”
“Ally!” She laughs as I squeeze her ass, but I laugh too. I really don’t understand why I resisted all this. But I’m glad I did all the years before now with Ally. If I struggled as an adult, no telling how bad I would have fucked this up as a teenager. But when she kissed me back in the hospital during my short stint as a pirate, I wish I had just told her how I really felt. How, when I looked at her, I saw my whole future laid out like a map. Could have saved me the six days of hell and alleviated some of the stress I caused. Now, though, I can’t stop my feelings for her. At every turn, she evokes a new emotion, and I love it. I love her. While she does stress about school, finals, and jobs, I truly believe that she’s happy. That I make her happy, because she brings such absolute joy into my life.
I really don’t know how I thought I could live without her.
Without us.
“Is Stella really moving out?”
I roll my eyes. The latest drama of the Brooks sisters is a knee-slapper. “She claims to be, but Emery doesn’t believe it. I don’t know what my sister was thinking when she cut holes in all Stella’s bras.”
Ally gives me a look. “Stella told the guy who came to bring Emery flowers that she wasn’t into him.”
I just look at her. “Apparently, he wasn’t good enough for her.”
Ally rolls her eyes. “Emery really liked him.”
“She’s a baby! She doesn’t know.”
“I knew I loved you at that age.”
I blink. “No one said you were the brightest crayon in the box.”
She glares and then leans toward Aaron. “Can you stab him a bit harder?”
I grin over at her as she gives me a sideways glance, but the spite doesn’t reach her eyes. No, those green depths promise me lots of kisses and loving when I get home. The tattoo goes quick, and soon it’s Ally’s turn. She holds my hand as he gets started, and I inspect mine. “Yup, mine is cooler.”
“He’s not even done with mine.”
“True, but my
handwriting is shit compared to yours.”
She rolls her eyes as she takes a picture of me pointing to my tattoo. “I’m sending it to your mom.”
“You’re such an ass,” I accuse, but then I take one of her. “I’ll caption it, ‘Her first tattoo is of my face and my name.’”
“I’ll kill you dead.”
I snort as I tuck my phone between my legs and watch. She leans on my shoulder and says, “We should go to Disney World.”
I bring my brows together. “What? We’re not kids anymore, Ally T.”
“I know. But we can make it, like, a yearly thing.”
“A yearly thing?”
“We can go as pirates.”
I give her a dry look. “You’re not funny.”
“But, Ash, you’re the Jack Sparrow to the Black Pearl.”
I wrinkle my face at her. “Can a pirate bone a boat?”
She blinks. “Why are you so horny?”
“Because it’s you,” I say, waggling my brows at her, and even Aaron thinks I’m hilarious.
She sighs loudly. “Hear me out. We can go, and when you propose, you can do it in front of the castle. And we can go back when we get married, pregnant, and the kids graduate. It would be sweet. We can decorate our house with all the pictures. I think it would be awesome.”
“I think you think I’m rich.”
She snorts. “Hey, my sugar daddy takes good care of me. Look at my new tattoo!”
I make a face. “I thought you were paying for these?” When Aaron glances between us, she giggles. “I’m joking, dude,” I reassure him.
It’s pretty obvious he’s tired of our shit.
“So, Disney World?”
“No, I have other plans for our big life moments.”
“Life ruiner.”
I laugh as Aaron wipes down the finished product. Ally’s phone chimes all of a sudden, and she looks at me, and I look at her phone. I fully expect her to open the new email since that’s what that notification means. But instead, she hands her phone to the artist. “Can you take a picture of us?”
“For sure,” he agrees, and as I wanted, when we put our wrists together, it’s perfect. I never thought, all those years ago, one day I would be telling her I loved her through a can on a string, but here we are. I lean in, kissing her just as the dude takes another picture.