Notes! Sorry for the delay in updates - life is getting too crazy, but I'm not gonna not finish what I started!

Hope you enjoy this next installment! (Atrociously unbeta'd, we die like men.)

Ash retired to bed that night, myself following suit, leaving me to ponder over how quickly life escalated upon meeting him.

Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe this might be someone I may actually bring home to Grandpa, Tracey, and Daisy, if we decided to take things a step further, but I felt like we skipped the whole, casual dating part and went straight to the hot, dirty fucking.

Not that there was anything wrong with that - hookup culture had become a widespread phenomenon - I just, you know, originally came into this (as in the Grindr dating app thingy) seeking true fulfillment in a relationship, someone who could add to my happiness, something I sorely lacked from my immediate life; it was just go to work, go home, sleep, rinse, lather, repeat . . .

Ash shifted in his spot on his bed, stirring awake and seeing me still awake and contemplating the meaning of life caught him off-guard. "Heh, still a little . . . over-stimulated from today?"

"Jesus," I snorted, "You need to lay off those hidden innuendoes, Ashy."

"That your pet name for me now?" Ash rested his head on my shoulder, I could barely see his grin in the darkness. "My ex fiance used to call me Bonehead, so I guess that's a step-up . . ."

I laughed at that. "Numb skull, bonehead . . . people really do come up with the most elaborate, flamboyant nicknames."

"Did you ever have any serious relationships before me?" Ash was genuinely wondering, and I didn't know how to answer that. Few flings here and there, hookups, but nothing ever that serious.

"No," I finalized, shaking my head before we just fell back onto the mattress together. "If we do decide to . . . try it, it'd be just you."

"Well I feel pretty damn honored."

"Is that so? Me being your trophy boyfriend?"

"Sure. I mean. Not like I'm anything remarkable."

I frowned at that. "What makes you say that?"

"Eh. Can we sleep now and worry about that later?"

Ah, how I always solved my problems - a good night's sleep before processing anything else.

"Okay."

The next morning I woke up to the aroma of a heartwarming, perfected breakfast crafted by the man who was not in bed with me. He had already prepared the meal before me, the table tray in his hands as he grinned down at me from the foot of the bed.

"You were really out for a long time. You said you were an early bird and it's past 9 AM."

"Well, to be fair, you kind of wiped me out last night."

Ash beamed, as if charmed by the comment; this guy's ego was louder than mine! "This I'm aware of and completely proud about, so I put together a breakfast that would help you feel good as new."

I sat up and leaned against the headboard, rubbing any sleep out of my eyes as they adjusted to the natural light creeping out of the unfolded blinds of the window. He shuffled over to my side and placed the tray onto my lap, placing the glass of orange juice on the side table by my side of the bed.

"Thanks. You're honestly going through a lot of trouble for some guy you just met."

"Well, I have a good feeling about you," Ash replied earnestly, "Got any plans to head back to your place, or would you want to do more stuff with me today? My schedule is pretty freed up since my breakup, and as I said I'm out of a job . . ."

"So what's that you needed about funding for your college?" I brought up. "My grandfather can maybe pull some strings."

"Hey, man, you really don't owe me anything; I can find a way to get those funds taken care of, however way possible."

"What can you do? Take up a job as a barista, or living by some other barely livable wage job, waste another good chunk of your life just saving up for a better opportunity to come along?" I scoffed, "Life doesn't always have to be all cut and dry, or by the book. Let me help you at least. Time with you thus far has been great. My family's always been pretty well-to-do, so . . . why not extend our good fortune to people who actually need it more than we do?"

"Aw, geez, Gary," Ash scratched the back of his head, tone bashful. "I appreciate it - if you need me to pay you guys back though . . ."

"No, we earn more than enough." Per month, per year, collectively what my family earned, myself included, was way more than enough. Being one-percenters had their perks, but they also had their struggles. Just because someone came from a place of privilege monetary didn't mean their lives were that much better than those who weren't as well-to-do.

Take it from someone who had been on both ends of the socioeconomic ladder!

"So, I guess after you finish breakfast and spruce up, you can go running with me if you're into that."

"Hey, we run so we can keep stuffing sweets into our mouths. I can't slack off or I'll be adding inches to that waist in nanoseconds."

"That is fair. I didn't get shredded sitting on my ass and eating junk foods - though I do a lot of that too in between," Ash chuckled, winking. "Got to find that balance!"

As I took a bite out of the beautifully garnished strawberry-banana waffles, I wondered how to bring up the topic Ash easily shied away from last night.

"What were you talking about yesterday, about you not being anything special?"

Ash mentally stumbled over that question. "Eheheh . . . let's just say the last breakup had me reflect on a lot of things about myself that I didn't realize were hindrances on my other relationships. Not just lifetime partnership."

"Uh, like ego problems?" Well . . . not like I haven't picked up on that, but it's honestly charming on him.

"Something like that, sure," Ash shrugged. "It actually goes far deeper than that. Like, I dunno. I guess I'm a magnet for drawing attention - whether I want it or not, and that kind of like, threatened my ex a bit. Which is fair. But I mean, isn't my choosing her over everything reassurance enough?"

"In theory, yes, but sadly some girls are just that insecure about themselves." I still continued to finish up the breakfast, because it would be inconsiderate of me not to otherwise.

While listening, intently, though!

Ash nodded, "That was basically the issue. I got a lot of attention, and she got nothin' - she herself can be kind of unapproachable, and people thought she was scary when that wasn't true! She was the kindest, sweetest, most empathetic and cool person underneath all of those layers. But people don't want to do that. Give her the time, and all that."

I winced, being all too familiar with such things - I've been told I was unapproachable or closed off or 'out of everyone else's league' myself. How oh so very isolating to be written off that way when nothing more all humans craved some levels of intimacy.

"Was there someone else who tried to put a wedge between you two?"

"Thankfully nothing like that, but she - you know - let her insecurities get the better of her a lot of the time, and she would accuse me of doing things I never did or intended on doing with other people. Like, I get too close to another girl or another guy, and she gets maniacally jealous."

"Sounds more like a 'her' problem than a 'you' problem, Ash," I told him, "While I understand her pain - that's actually something I'm struggling with right now - her feelings isn't excuse to you know, control you."

"Except she didn't control me, or manipulate me and stuff. We've all got issues to work through and we communicated the best we could at the time. It just got to a point for her where she had to break it off because it was hurting both of us, a lot."

"Has she been with anyone since then?" Yeesh, just bouncing off with question after question, Oak . . . I felt compelled to know, and to help alleviate the past relationship pain, somehow.

Ash shook his head, pouting a little like a wounded puppy. "No, as far as I know - I keep tabs about her via mutual friends."

"Geez, dude, that's really rough and I'm sorry. That shouldn't taint how you view yourself though. Sure it didn't work out with that person, but don't they always say - be grateful for closed doors, because there are many others to open or . . . some shitty poem my grandfather wrote in one of his many published books."

Ash laughed, "Hey! I can't believe you talk about your grandfather like that!"

"Hey! I respect him with everything I have, but his poetry is painfully awful."

"I'd like to see you do better, then," Ash snickered, "Or is literature not your strong suit either?"

"Admittedly, no. We were all always more geared toward the sciences."

"That is fair." Ash then glanced at the breakfast. "Wow, you really ate that up, huh! Do you feel powerful already?"

"Very! Just one more thing," I trailed off as I swiped the glass of juice off the side table and washed away the meal with the tangy flavor. "Now that hit the spot."

"Heh. Awesome. I'll take that for you and you can go about your business. We can do a lot more 'living' together before 'living together,' if that's what you want eventually."

I didn't answer as he crept out of the room with the emptied tray, but honestly - life already felt so easy with him - I was beginning not being able to imagine anything else in the future.