**CALLIOPE**

“I saw the whole thing.”

I turn to his voice.

“What?” I ask, staring at his appearance. I examine him with confusion.

His blonde hair is all over the place and rather fluffy, and his eyes are filled with tears. He looks at me with a tired expression.

“Asher, what happened?”

“Ask yourself, Cal.”

I hate that his voice breaks so much.

_—————————_

_“Calliope!”_

**_Don’t turn around. Don’t turn around.

_**_I was practically shouting at myself for turning around. I couldn’t meet his eyes. _

_“Cal.” _

_I heard his footsteps until he was only a few feet ahead of me._

_“What happened in there?” He asked._

_“I can’t keep doing this, Ash.”_

_I pivoted on my heel and started to walk away._

_“Callie!”_

_————————_

“What do you mean?” My voice trembles. “That has nothing to do with—” I gesture to his appearance before he cuts me off.

“I thought we had something, but I couldn’t have been more wrong,” he mumbles.

I rush towards him.

“What did you see? How did we have something?” I nearly shout. “All we did was talk. And, that was when you weren’t with your girlfriend. Must I remind you that you have a girlfriend?”

He shakes his head.

“I saw the chemistry.”

I look up at him.

We’re only inches apart now.

“I saw the whole chemistry. I didn’t see it then, and I don’t know how I was such an idiot.”

He turns away from me, digging his fingers in his hair and breathing unevenly.

I lift my fingers ever so slightly, starting to reach for him. “Ash—”

“Stop calling me Ash!”

He’s yelling at me now.

“Why— why can’t I call you Ash?”

“Callie, you saw it too. You saw the chemistry, and you left me to deal with the ashes of what could have been,” he continues.

Asher pivots back to me.

“You saw the chemistry, Cal. So, why are you denying it?”

“You have a girlfriend,” I caution, my body heating up at his heated gaze.

“I don’t.”

“What?”

His eyes close.

“Claire agreed to fake-date, just like Boston agreed to,” he admits, his tone defeated.

Asher opens his eyes again.

His eyes remain on me.

_Dilated pupils… what does that mean again?_

I’m scouring my brain to figure out why he’s looking at me like that.

I start to back up.

“Asher, please just listen.”

His gaze falters.

“I’m scared,” I explain, “because of the future. We both know that you’re not staying in Colorado much longer. I don’t want to fall in love with someone who’s just going to leave—”

A tear falls from my eye. I glare at my feet.

I keep talking.

“You know that I had no one because my dad decided to take those-”

Disgust crosses my voice.

I look back up at him, my bottom lip quivering. We stand in silence a little longer before he speaks once more.

“I’m so sorry.”

I step forward, watching his eyes water while he continues.

“I’m so sorry I made it all about how I felt, I should’ve considered your feelings—”

I step forward again, motioning for him to lean down a little.

He closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“Callie…”

“Just trust me,” I say, a tear falling down my cheek as well.

He leans down, enough for me to wrap my arms around him.

“Haha! Beat that, stupid 5’3” height!” I joke through my tears.

Asher laughs, a saddened expression of joy.

I lean my head against his chest.

“Can we stay like this?”

—————————

Got a little more emotion than usual. This is not the end of Ash and Cal! I have a surprise in store. Also, I had like thirty minutes and decided against editing at the moment. So, both this and Part Two are in editing. Yay(!)

I wanted to have some sort of a moment between the characters, so that inspired this!!

Thank you for reading,

- Yours, Zain 🌸