ASHLEY:

      I pull into my driveway and turn off the car, but I can't even come up with the motivation to open the door right now. We had an absolutely shit day in the studio, it was so bad that I almost wish I hadn't gone back just yet. CC and Tiff are fighting, so he was in a lousy mood from the minute he walked in, which threw him off most of the day. That, of course, frustrated Feldy, so he was a little snappish with everyone, which didn't help the situation. Then to top it off, around the middle of the afternoon, Andy and Feldy just randomly decided that they wanted to redo one of the few songs that were already finished, and that kind of frosted Jake and Jinxx, so basically the whole day just sucked.

      I finally force myself to get out of the car and go inside, grabbing my mail as I open the door. Since only my family and close friends have my address, it doesn't take long to sort the pile, which is mostly bills and sale flyers today. Those go in the trash, I toss the bills on my desk, and head down the hall to my room, where I put my phone on the charger next to my bed. As I plug it in, it sort of occurs to me that I'm supposed to be doing something tonight, but I can't remember what it is to save my own life right now.

      Maybe if I take a shower, that'll jump-start my brain. So I kick off my boots, shuck my clothes, and make my way into the bathroom, turning the water as hot as I can stand it. That way, even if it doesn't do anything for my thought processes, maybe it'll at least relax me a bit. I step in, and just enjoy the feel of the spray pounding the tightness out of my muscles for a couple of minutes before I even think about soaping up, so by the time I shut off the water I feel a bit less stressed. 

      At least until I hear a noise coming from the other side of the door. I stop toweling myself, standing completely still to listen more closely, and after a few seconds, I'm sure: There's somebody in my bedroom, and I left my clothes and my phone in there, so I'm either gonna have to barricade myself in here, or take the risk of checking it out. Neither sounds like a really great option, but I can't exactly stay here in the fucking bathroom indefinitely, so I tuck the towel around my waist and start to reach for the doorknob.

      Then I pause, turning around to grab my hairspray off of the sink, popping the cap and placing my finger on the button, so I can at least half-ass defend myself. I turn the knob as quietly as I can, hoping to take whoever it is by surprise, but as it happens, I'm the one who gets the surprise when I find a very familiar figure lounging across my bed, wearing nothing but a lacy white thong and her waist-length black hair, which barely covers her boobs.

      Alyssa and I have known each other for several years now, and we had something of a "friends with benefits" thing going until she got a new job and relocated to Florida a little over a year ago. We've spoken on the phone a few times, and text every now and then, but this is the first time I've seen her since the move. Not that it's a bad thing, now that I think about it...

      "Hey there, cowboy," she greets me, tossing her hair back and propping herself up on her elbows, which elevates her fabulous rack for better viewing. "I see that you still take long-ass showers. I was beginning to think I was gonna have to join you in there."

      I set the hairspray can on the dresser and reply, "Hi yourself, hon. Not that I'm complaining, but I sure wasn't expecting to see you here. What happened to Florida?"

      "Oh, I still live there. I got promoted, as a matter of fact," she informs me. "I flew in for my ex-roommate's wedding yesterday, and I have to leave tonight to get back in time for work on Monday. But, it just so happens that my flight doesn't leave for another three hours, and it also happens that I'm kind of horny, so I took a chance that you might be home, and up for a bit of fun, shall we say?"

      When she says this, it suddenly occurs to me that I haven't actually gotten laid since before Christmas. Between the split with Jo, and trying to adjust to losing Pop, it just hasn't really seemed like a priority... until now.

      "Ooh, looks like I was right!" she giggles, casting a pointed look at the towel around my waist, which is doing absolutely nothing to hide the raging hard-on I've suddenly developed. "So how about you come over here and join me, so I can ride you like a bronco?" 

      Remembering that I resupplied my nightstand drawer just before the breakup, I let my towel drop to the floor and say, "Y'know what, Lys? I think that's the best idea I've heard all day."

      In very short order, I have her out of her thong, she rolls the condom onto me, and I'm flat on my back in bed, watching her fabulous tits bounce as she does her best to live up to her word. "Oh, fuck, I almost forgot how good it feels to have your cock inside me!" she whimpers, leaning forward so I can give her nipples some attention. "Ooh, Ash, I'm almost there, fuck me harder! I want you to fuck me until I can't walk straight for a week!"

      As I reach down to grab her hips, so I can do as she asked, my phone rings. I glance over to see the screen, and notice that it's Andy, so I ignore it. We've come up with a system where if one of us calls another and doesn't get an answer, we'll hang up and call twice more, in case whoever we're calling is in the john, or out of the room. Then, if they don't answer the third time, we'll assume they're either sleeping or busy, and leave a message.

      The ringing stops, and then, just as I expected, starts up again, and then a third time, so I figure he's leaving a message. Putting it out of my mind, I move one hand between us, using my thumb to give Lys a bit of extra stimulation, which is all it takes to have her screaming my name at the top of her lungs. She leans back on her hands, shaking, and I buck my hips against her. "Come on, babe, I know that's not all you have in you," I rasp. "Cum for me again, Lys. You know you want it."

      Then, the fucking phone rings again, and my patience just flies out the window. Without letting up on Lys, who's on the verge of her second orgasm, I reach out with my free hand, grab it off the charger, and growl, "If I don't answer after the third fucking ring, you should know I'm fucking occupied! I'm kind of busy right now, I'll call you back later. Goodbye!" And with all the noise she's making before I hang up on him, I'm pretty sure he'll get the point.

      Dropping the phone back on the table, I reach out and pull her down to my chest, rolling her so our positions are reversed, and start banging her like a screen door in a tornado, going hard and fast, the way I know she likes it. After a few minutes of this, she arches her back and shrieks, "Ohhhhh, fuck, yes! Just like that! Oh, fuck, Ash, I'm gonna cum again!" She grabs onto my shoulders, and I can feel her nails digging into my skin as she climaxes for a third time, which I take as permission to finally let myself go, finishing just after she does.

      After a few seconds, I pull out to get rid of the rubber, then lay back next to her. "Wow! Amazing as always," she breathes. The she giggles, and says, "Y'know, I think this gives a whole new meaning to the word 'layover'."

      We spend a little while chatting, catching up on what's happened in our lives since she moved, and then I let her use my shower before her Uber comes to pick her up, so she won't have to fly back to Florida, as she puts it, "smelling like I work in a whorehouse". When the car shows up, I throw on a pair of board shorts, walk her to the door and kiss her goodbye, and before she leaves, she tells me that I'm welcome to look her up whenever the band makes it to Tampa.

      I go back inside, and realize that, because of my impromptu "workout", I'm going to need yet another shower, so I just head straight for the bathroom and turn on the water. This one is shorter than the first, both because I want to get done before the hot water runs out, and because the spray kind of stings the claw marks on my shoulders, but by the time I step out, I'm definitely more relaxed than I was when I got home.

      As I amble back into my bedroom, I see the message light blinking on my phone, so I assume that somebody called while I was showering. I grab it, hit the button, and hear Andy's voice, saying,  "Hey dude, it's me. I'm just calling to let you know that the in-studio interview tomorrow got pushed back to one o'clock, so we don't have to go in quite as early as planned. This is my third time trying to get you, but I guess the party's a bit too loud for you to hear the phone. So enjoy, and we'll see you tomorrow."

        Party? Oh, shit, Shannon's party! That's what I had planned tonight. Looking at the clock, I see that I'm already almost two hours late, so I should probably call and let her know I'll be heading out as soon as I can get dressed. I pull up my contacts and call her phone, which rings several times, making me think that I'm gonna have to either leave a message, or keep calling 'til she hears the phone. But, just before it should go to voicemail, I hear her practically snarl, "What the fuck do you want?"

      "Hey, I know I'm late, and I'm sorry, but something came up," I explain. "I'm heading out right now."

      I'm definitely not expecting her to snap back, "Yeah, everybody here knows what 'came up', asshat! Just forget about showing up, I'm revoking your invitation, because right now we're all so pissed off at you that at least one of us might wind up doing something that we may, or may not, be sorry for later."

      "Okay, I get that you're upset with me, but don't you think you might be overreacting just a bit? And when you say 'we', who else are you referring to?"

      The situation gets even more bizarre when I hear Jazy's voice come through. "Ashley, seriously! You're almost thirty-three fucking years old, don't you think it might be about time to grow up a little and stop thinking that the world revolves around your dick? And I have to say, I'm disappointed in you. I thought you had more class than to pull a stupid high-school stunt like this, but obviously I was wrong."

      Holy shit! I've known Jazy for years, and she's never been this pissed off at me before. What the hell am I missing? "Okay, apparently I'm not having the same conversation you two are, so can someone please clue me in? What 'stunt' are we talking about?"

      "Your date, dumbass!" Markie shouts into the phone, nearly taking out my eardrum. "The one who left over an hour ago after everybody heard your fuck-fest over the phone. You know, the girl you ditched to get your knob polished? Does that clear things up for you, or do we need to break it down to one-syllable words?"

      My heart drops into my stomach as I finally get what they're talking about: Stephanie. I invited her to be my guest at the party, and I just left her hanging. 'Nice going, Purdy, you've just managed to piss off nearly every woman you know in one fell swoop,' a voice in my head whispers. 'This has to be some kind of record.'

      But then my brain latches on to something she just said, and I ask, "What do you mean, everybody heard?"

      "She means that my dumb ass put your call on speaker, so pretty much everyone we know is aware that you blew all of us off, including your date, because you apparently decided that a guaranteed lay was more important," Shannon retorts. 

      "And if it was that skank you broke up with before Christmas, I swear to God I'm done with you for good," Jazy adds.

      "No, it wasn't Jo, I'm not that stupid," I assure her. "Alyssa was in town, and she showed up at my place, and, well..."

      "And of course there's no way you're gonna pass up free pussy, no matter what else you're supposed to be doing," Shannon huffs.

      "Hey, that's a bit harsh, don't you think?" I protest. "I'm sure this probably isn't gonna help my case, but I'll be totally honest with you. I had a totally fucking lousy day in the studio today, and I was so brain-fried when I got home that I knew there was something I was supposed to do, but I couldn't quite remember what it was. I was trying to figure it out when Lys showed up, and I admit, I got a bit distracted. I understand that you're upset, you have every right to be, and I sincerely apologize. But in spite of what you seem to be thinking, this wasn't something that I did deliberately. So are we good now?"

      "We will be when you fix things with Stephanie," Jazy informs me. "Honestly, Ash, think for a second how embarrassing that was for her, standing in a room full of people she doesn't know from Adam, and having every fucking one of them hear you banging some other chick instead of doing what you said you'd do? We all told her she was welcome to stay, but she said that she didn't want to spend the rest of the night being, and I quote, 'the elephant in the room', and knowing that everyone was whispering behind her back."

      "Oh, trust me, that's the first thing on my list as soon as we finish here," I tell her. "I never intended for this to happen, you all know me well enough to know that I'd never deliberately do anything to hurt my friends."

      "Yeah, we know that. But whether you meant to or not, that's what you've done," Markie answers. "She seems like a really sweet person, and she doesn't deserve to be treated like crap just because she's not the kind of girl you want to take to bed. So the three of us have agreed, until she calls one of us and tells us that you two are cool, we're not talking to you. Goodnight, Ash." 

      I'm left standing here completely speechless, staring at my phone as they abruptly end the call, trying to piece together what the hell just happened. Three of my best friends are so pissed that they've basically declared me persona non grata, and I've unintentionally put another friend in a position where she was completely humiliated in front of a house full of total strangers.

      I take a deep breath, gearing myself up for another well-deserved ass-chewing, and dial Steph's number. But instead of hearing her yelling at me, the call goes straight to her voicemail. "Hey, Steph, it's me," I say. "I truly, sincerely apologize for what happened earlier. I'm sure you're probably not happy with me right now, and I don't blame you a bit, but I'd really like to talk to you. So please call me back when you get this message, okay? Bye." 

      I put the phone back on the charger, and sit down on the edge of my bed, trying to comprehend how it is that no matter how hard I try to get my life together, I always manage to fuck something up. It's almost like the old saying, "One step forward, two steps back", only in my case, it sometimes seems more like twelve steps back.

      Maybe Steph was right that day in the studio, maybe I really am a moron who thinks with his dick. Jazy certainly seemed to agree with that sentiment when she was reaming me out earlier. And maybe she was right about something, too. 

      Maybe I have some long-overdue growing up to do.