Chapter Eleven
 
               Ashley sat in the middle of the mess that was left over from the party.  
Feeling cheated somehow, she had a box of ice cream in front of her.  Swiping
 up the chocolate syrup, she drizzled it over the top.  Picking up a spoon, she 
prepared to take a bite, just to be interrupted by the doorbell. Setting it down 
again, she got to her feet and walked to the door. Pulling it open, she found 
Andros standing on the other side. 
               "What are you doing here?" she asked in a tired, bored voice.
               "Are you busy?" he asked.
               "Party's over Andros," she replied.
               "Can I come in for a while?"
               "Why?  What's wrong?" she asked, not up to conversation with him 
at the moment.
               "Cassie and I... I don't know, I think I made a big mistake." he replied, 
trying to make sense of everything he felt.
               "As fascinating as that subject is to me, it's late and I want to go to
bed." she stated, starting to shut the door, but Andros caught it. 
               "Wait a minute.  What are you so upset about?" he asked, noticing 
her hostile behavior toward him.
               "Oh nothing much.  You see, I gave this party today for a friend.  Only 
there was a big highlight to the evening and I didn't know what it was.
What it turns out to be is that a couple of friends, getting it on in my parent's 
bedroom," she said, each word showing the hurt.  "Next time you're going to 
do something like this, do you mind telling me first? Because I don't like 
being used." she snapped.
               "I didn't know it was going to happen Ashley," Andros replied, taken 
aback by her hostility.
               "Everyone else seemed to," she retorted, the anger still in her voice.
               "Not much happened," he offered.
               "Yeah, sure," she scoffed. 
               "Look, Ashley, nothing happened ok?  I don't even know why I'm 
explaining this to you when it is not the reason I came." he shot back at her.
               "Am I supposed to guess?" she asked sarcastically.
               "Would you go out with me sometime?" he asked softly.
               "What?" she replied, scarcely believing her ears.
               "I think we should go on a real date.  You and I," he suggested.
               "What happened to Cassie?" she asked.
               "I don't know what happened.  It just was not what I thought it should be.
 I expected her to be like..." he trailed off, searching for what to say.
He caught her gaze, "you." he finished. 
               Ashley was speechless. 
               "You know we have a good time together, but it was not like that.  So, 
she is beautiful, but you can only look for so long.  Because when you start listening, 
all the lights are on but nobody's home.  We have been friends for a long time.  
I like being with you more than anyone else." he said, searching her eyes for some 
glimmer of a chance.  "You probably do not feel as I do, but perhaps we are 
overlooking something.  So we should go on a date, just to see.  What do you think?" 
he asked, hopeful of a positive response.
               Ashley stood there, taking in everything he had just said to her, and yet, 
she couldn't forgive him.  "Andros, I think you just won the asshole of the year 
award," she said, slamming the door in his face.
               Andros stood there a few moments, her rejection not registering.  
Finally noting that she wasn't going to give him a second chance, 
he disappeared into the night.