Worst Case Scenario
"Worst Case Scenario," she read aloud. "That's a stupid name to title your essay."
"It's not an essay and it's not stupid," he replied. "It's a prompt for a story I'm making for my writing class."
"Well the paper is blank," she humored.
"Well as you can tell I am going through a little bit of writers' block at the moment," he replied hastily.
Those two always seemed to be bickering for the many years that they have known each other. Casey Newman and Ashley Reynolds have been friends for as long as each could remember. First bike rides, first summer vacation, first scary movie, they had done it all together. The day Casey moved into that little blue house on Elm street was the best day of his life. He remembers looking across the street to see a little girl jump out of a 2001 red F-150 with her dad and thought she was the coolest person in the world because of the colorful shoes she wore. One shoe was orange and the other was green. A mix that was so interesting that Casey had been fascinated with her ever since. Even now, as they both sat in his house studying for the Algebra II test on Friday, Casey felt Ashley was the most awesome person he knew. The way she rested upon the carpet with her long, blonde hair brought a grin to his face every time. As she looked at her phone, she made that cute giggle that warmed his heart every time he heard it. However, this time it left a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"He's so funny," Ashely laughed as she read the most recent text from her boyfriend, Mark.
Mark Sessions was the most arrogant, stupid, and horrible person, at least in Casey's mind, and should not deserve Ashely in a million years. And even though Casey wished he was in the place of Mark, that wasn't the main reason he had such a distaste for him. Two weeks prior, Casey had just finished grabbing his things from his locker at school when he turned the corner to a water fountain. It was then that Casey saw Mark kissing a different girl and laughing and having a good time with her. Now Casey knew that Mark made Ashley happy, but the guilt of knowing the truth and not telling her was just eating away at him.
"Yeah, Mark also says Worst Case Scenario is a stupid name for a prompt," Ashley said as Casey was deep in thought. Casey sat there knowing he had to say something but he was afraid he might go too far. He couldn't let the most amazing girl be led on any longer. With a burst of energy, Casey stood up and yelled,
"Do you wanna know what the worst-case scenario is?"
Ashely looked up from her phone, worried about Casey's drastic change in mood.
"Worst case scenario, you stay with Mark for the rest of your life. Worst case scenario he gets you involved in drugs and alcohol and ruins your amazing potential. Worst case scenario, he gets you pregnant in high school and then leaves you for some other girl that can't see the harm in him. Worst case scenario, you miss spending your life with the one person who truly cares for who you are!"
A doorbell's chime brings Casey out of his own thoughts.
"Oh, that's probably my dad," Ashley said lightly as she gathered her belongings. Casey smiled and waved bye to Ashely. He felt it was for the best that she didn't hear what he so badly wanted to tell her.
Flash forward 10 years where Ashley and Casey are laughing, not too dissimilarly to how they used to in their youth.
"Isn't Mark the new CEO of that major tech company," Ashely laughed as she heard her husband recall stories from their teenage years. "Yeah well when I was younger I thought someone who didn't know how to treat you right was doomed to fail," Casey said defensively as he tried to keep himself from laughing. Ashely rolled her eyes and continued to giggle as she wondered how she didn't realize her love for the sweetest man she knew the moment she met him.