I must have been walking for a long time. The sun passed steadily through the sky. But the house was in sight now. Back to the house... I wanted to talk to the gals. Maybe they could tell me if I have messed up.

If only it was that simple though.

I could see Wes guarding the entrance from here. I fixed my sights on the door.

Maybe if I don't look at him, he won't notice me walking by? Sure, I needed to talk to him, but I wasn't ready yet. I was getting closer to my destination now. One step, two steps, four steps left, oh Mother, may I take one large step?

"Maddie."

No, you may not.!. Bummer.

"Oh... Hey Wes," I said pleasantly, as though I hadn't noticed him staring at me for the last five minutes.

"Wes?" He asked.

"No, I'm Maddie." If he was going to insist we talked now, then I was going to make him work for it.

"No, you called me Wes." He edited, sounding rather dazed.

"That is your name, right? Unless you prefer Tyler..."

"No, just that you usually call me Tyler."

"I only call you Tyler when I'm mad at you,"

"But you've always called me that."

"And your point?" I couldn't help smiling slightly at his puzzled look. He was cute. I had to give him that.

"Are you going out with Asher?" Wes asked, bluntly changing the subject.

"Maybe," I said, unable to meet his eyes. couldn't help but flinch slightly.

"I wish you wouldn't."

"And why would that be?" I asked slyly, expecting the question to put him on the spot. But contrary to looking embarrassed Wes looked newly determined.

"I don't like him with you. I don't trust him."

"Is that so?"

"Yes it is so," Wes answered harshly.

It seemed important to him to persuade me of Asher's untrustworthiness, but no matter what Said Wes, it still sounded like a bad case of jealousy to me.

"You couldn't be jealous could you?" I said, sounding indifferent.

"How could I be jealous?" Wes asked. "I don't want to go out with Asher."

"You keep telling yourself that Tyler," I said a little irritably.

"What, so now you're mad at me?"

"Aren't you a fast learner," I said. I wasn't really 'mad' per se. Maybe aggravated? No, hurt, I realized. He'd never asked me out. And now he thinks he can tell me who I can or can't date? And is he jealous, or does he think that Asher is untrustworthy? And if it was the latter, I can't help but feel like he wasn't telling me something.

"I don't see what you're mad about. I'm just trying to warn you," Wes defended.

"And what exactly are you warning me against?"

"I told you, I don't trust Asher," said Wes.

"Yes, but you haven't told me why." I waited for a moment, but Wes seemed to be lost for words. I couldn't be sure if the prolonged pause was because he was stuck in an internal battle to break some kind of archaic guy code, or maybe he was attempting to make up a reason for Asher's accused untrustworthiness. But, perhaps still feeling a bit hurt, I wasn't feeling very patient. "Well, you've warned me. Now if it's okay with you, I'm going to head upstairs." I took a tentative step towards the door. Tentative only because... something about the whole situation just felt.. kind of wrong.

"Wait Maddie, No-, I just.." It was strange to see Wes looking so... torn up. Practically heartbroken.

"What?" It sounded harsh. Harsher than I intended really. I suppose I meant it in more of a neural way. I couldn't be sure how I was feeling.

"I just-" Wes looked at the grass by his shoes, and absentmindedly scratched the back of his neck. "I just don't want you to go out with him," he looked up long enough to hold my gaze for half a second before his eyes darted away again.

"I'm... sorry Wes," I said. And I truly was sorry without even knowing why I was sorry. Should I be sorry? I hadn't done anything wrong. And yet, I seemed to have caused him so much pain. Things had seemed like fun and games for such a long time but now... everything just felt so real.

Copyrighted Material. All rights reserved.