I pace the length of my dorm room, questioning my attitude towards Ashley. I know she doesn’t deserve the cold shoulder but honestly, I don’t know what else to do. I’ve never had to deal with something like this before and it’s too confusing and too complicated for me to begin to wrap my head around. I shake my head repetitively trying to get the look of Ashley’s face when I walked away out of my head. I sit down on my bed and try to fight back the tears I feel welling in my eyes. After taking a few deep breaths in attempt to relax, I gather my books for my next class.

Chemistry doesn’t go any better than history did this morning. My thoughts are still racing, I can never seem to settle on one before another one creeps in my head. While I’m busy being in my own world, my eyes find Aiden sitting a two rows to the right and three chairs in front of me and my brain hatches an idea. I run up to meet him after class.

“Hey.” I say as he turns around, his face full of surprise.

“Uhh, hi. How are you?” We continue to walk in the direction he’s headed.

“I’m fine.” I say, rather chipper. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.” He says, still sounding unsure.

“So what are you doing tonight?”

“I’m not sure; I haven’t gotten that far yet. What are you up to?”

“Well.” I say slowly. “I was hoping to hang out with you.”

“Oh. Um, well that could be arranged.”

“Really? Cool.”

“Yeah, so how about I give you a call later and we can meet up somewhere.”

“Alright, that sounds good. I can’t wait.” I wink at him to drive it home.

“Uh yeah, okay.” He looks at me unconvinced. Obviously the wink didn’t work.

As the day goes on I try to focus my frustration with Ashley on being excited to see Aiden tonight, and to my surprise it’s working. I get a call from Aiden saying he’s going to pick me up from my dorm at 7 and we’re going out to dinner. I find myself regressing as I’m nervous picking out clothes to wear. After I settle on an outfit I sit on my bed and wait for the clock to reach 7. I use this time to let my mind wander, yet again, to Ashley. I haven’t heard from her since this morning, not like I can blame her and I haven’t made an attempt to talk to her. I grab my phone off of my desk that’s beside my bed and fight the urge to text her and apologize. I still haven’t collected all my thoughts. I’ve tried not to think about it much since this morning when I saw her. I shake out of my trance and make my way down to the lobby of the dorm to find Aiden sitting in a chair, looking spiffy as always. He stands up eyeing me up and down.