The clock on the night table read 5:20 and Brian Kendrick had yet to fall asleep. The sky from his bedside window had evolved from the pounding sun of yesterday's daylight to the deep purple and pink highlights of the new day. And still, all he could think about was Ashley Massaro.

Ashley. He was sure that he hated her, but then his heart would beat harder and he would decide that all of the trouble was for her. Only for her. In his worn and emotional state even the white ceiling that he stared at made him smile a delirious smile. All because he swore that he saw her face. It was either love or insanity. Could it be both?

"I thought I knew what I wanted. I thought I was doing the right thing."

"Now?"

"Now I don't know if I can do this."

Insanity was what he had decided on as a conversation from earlier flooded his ears. There was no reasonable excuse as to why he would undergo such stress and mind games. Ashley was just another girl. What right did she have to pull him around by his heart? They were both mature adults but they seemed trapped in some crazy time warp that put them back in their teens when love, lies and drama were synonymous.

Maturity. Did a mature person seriously question all of these things at five in the morning? There were just too many things for Brian Kendrick to laugh at.

"We're always going to be friends, Brian. Please don't think that I'm trying to end our friendship. I just don't want this to hurt anyone."

"You don't believe it. Stop trying to save yourself from whatever you think is coming. I know you, Ash, and I know that you're not being honest with yourself. You love me; you said it before. There's no taking that back."

"If we keep our distance from each other I can figure things out, we both can, and we can figure out a way for life to go on as normal as possible. No matter what the outcome is."

Life was funny. The previous day was enough to prove it, and Brian was convinced that the laughs would continue coming his way. Ashley, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He could never tell which way she was going but for the moment it seemed that she was going as far away as she possibly could.