The smacking and crunching of Ashton's dumb mouth was seriously throwing me off my game. I swayed the X-Box controller with extended arms in the direction I willed my CoD soldier to go, a nervous habit my brother hated. "Could you chew any louder?" I asked bitterly, still button-mashing frantically. I hated Call of Duty, but it was Ashton's turn to pick the game.

"I'll try," he replied, leaning into my ear and chewing like a cow. I swatted him away, and moaned in dismay as I got gunned down. Again. I threw the controller on the soft blue carpet of my game room.

"Let's play NHL," I demanded, grabbing the CoD disc out of the console and forcing in my favorite game. Ashton groaned. "Noooo. You guys are hockey freaks, I get it. No need to make me suffer."

It was true, Connor and I were obsessed with hockey. Connor still played on a team with Gabe and some of the other guys, and I'd been better than all of them when I left for Paris.

"Too bad," I singsonged. "My host sister would never play with me. Now I've got my Ash back, I've got a buddy to kill!"

My best friend totally ignored my tender sentiments, grumbling as he picked his team. "It's freakin' California, for chrissakes. Why hockey? So stupid."

Within minutes, I was demolishing Ashton. When the game ended, I stood to do the schmoney dance, grabbing a random snapback of Connor's and putting it on backward over my wild curls.

"Nerd," Ash scoffed, but then launched himself at me, scooping me up so I was over his shoulder.
"Put me down," I commanded, dissolving into giggles. "I'm gonna call the cops on you, Ashton Halsey!"

"Then I definitely can't let you go," he reasoned. He threw me on the couch then laid on me like a human pillow.

"Owww," I groaned, getting his brown hair caught in my lips but laughing all the same. "Get off, you fatty. I'm gonna die."

"How dare you!" Ash screeched. "I'm not even fat!"

"I'm not playing," I whined. "Get off, before I suffocate."

"Say sorry." Ashton turned over and pinned me so our noses were close. "You hurt my feelings, Little Ru."

My breath caught in the back of my throat when I realized, at the same time as Ashton, that friendly horsing around had ended in a compromising position. "Sorry," I whispered breathily before I scooted out from under him.

"Good girl," he teased, ruffling my hair after a moment of weird silence. He tossed me my controller. "So. You excited for camping, Baby Ru?"

"That nickname is tired. But, yeah, I guess. I don't really know that many of them, though, except Hannah and you. Think it's gonna be weird?"

"Nah. It'll be fine, and if it's anything like last year, it'll be too wild for anything to be awkward." Ash mashed the controller buttons rapidly. "How'd you do that? Is that a cheat?"

"Trade secrets. Shhh," I smirked. "What happened last year?"

"Crazy stuff."

"What kind of crazy stuff?"

"The crazy kind." Ash looked over at my puppy-dog face and chuckled. "Look, it's better if you don't know. What happens at the cabin stays at the cabin, okay?"

I shrugged, concentrating on making another goal. "If you say so. Ahhh! That's the third one!" I cried, celebrating my goal in the game, where I was up ten points.

Ashton threw the controller down and mashed his face into the couch cushion. "I hate you, Ruby Farnsworth."

a.n. chace crawford aka ashton aka nate archibald aka MY ACTUAL HUSBAND on the side