"SCORE!" Craig shouted, standing up from the couch, waving his hands in the air. He hooted and tooted and made many kinds of noises that only made Ashley cover her ears and stare at her boyfriend as if he was the craziest boy in the world. "Come on, Maple Leafs!"

It was a Friday night, and Ashley was over at Craig's again, three weeks after they both celebrated their five-month anniversary. They were watching a hockey game, which is pretty much what they had been doing since their anniversary. Ashley felt like things between her and Craig had changed drastically. But to Craig, nothing had changed at all. No one else has noticed this because at school, they had seemed inseparable—always holding hands, making each other laugh, talking animatedly about many different things with their friends. But to Ashley, whenever they didn't have an audience to witness their dating behavior, it seemed to Ash that she and Craig were just friends, nothing more, nothing less.

"Ash, come on. The Leafs scored!" Craig said. He grabbed her hand and attempted to lift her off her seat to join in his festivities.

"Whoo! Go team! Let's trample the other team! Yeah…score more points," Ashley said, trying to get into the whole thing. "I'm having fun."

"Ash…" Craig sighed in distress, flipping down on the couch beside Ashley. "I called you over because you said we never go out anymore. Besides, we're having fun, right?"

"We never do go out anymore. And this isn't a date, officially. It's just hanging out. And I was having fun—when we were in your backyard, shielding ourselves from the cool breeze and drinking hot chocolate."

"A hockey game isn't fun?"

"Well, not really…not for me."
There was a loud ruckus coming from the TV, which meant that the Leafs just scored another point, which Craig had missed.

"Oh no, I just missed a sweet play," Craig said, slapping his head. "Ash, can we talk about this later?"

"Sure, later," she said, getting up from her seat. She grabbed her bag and was ready to head out the door.

"Where are you going?" Craig asked, only realizing Ashley had left him on the couch after he watched a slow motion replay of the game.

"I'm going home, Craig," she answered. "If you wanted to watch hockey with someone, you should've just called Jimmy or Spinner."

"Ash, come on," he said, getting up from the couch to stop her from going away. "Look, I'll turn off the TV, we can go back in the backyard and you know, do what we were doing before."

"No, it's okay. I wouldn't want to deprive you of watching something that is so important to you," Ashley said, with no trace of sarcasm in her voice. "I know how much you love hockey, so I'll just let you watch."

"Okay, then why don't you stay with me—so I can watch two of my favorite things together?"

Ashley thought it over for a while. Then, she said, "Fine. What could it hurt watching hockey, huh? Paige does it all the time."

"There you go. Now, that's my Ashley," Craig said as he led her to the couch.

"And that's it, that's all? He just wasted five minutes of persuading you to stay at his house for a little while longer, and after that, he went on to watch hockey, ignoring you were there?" Ellie asked Ashley. It was Saturday morning, and the two of them were shopping around in Kensington Market.

"Sounds about right. Only he didn't ignore me after the game, though," Ashley said. "He wanted to celebrate with a total make-out session. And it wasn't the good kind."

"Meaning?"

"His kisses were wet and sloppy, and kind of awkward. And different. It's not like the cute, sweet, short kisses that I like, you know. Those kisses were the ones I loved the best."

"Okay, Ash, you're going to have to stop that. Your description is making me sick to my stomach."

"Sorry," Ashley said.

"Okay, so recap right now: He invited you over to his house so that you both could spend some time together, because you hadn't been on a date ever since your anniversary. So, you come over, and he plays romantic for an hour. But when the hockey game comes on, he shuts down the romantic side of him completely, and then goes back to being a total guy?"

"Sounds about right."

"What has gotten into him?" Ellie asked in shock.

"Beats the hell out of me," Ash responded.

"How do you feel about it?"

"Well…" Ashley said slowly, to give the impression that it didn't really bother her. "At first, you know, when Craig and I hadn't been going on dates, I figured that it was just because the band had to rehearse and stuff, because that's what he told me. But then, after about the second week, it really bothered me that the band practices in the afternoon from Sunday to Thursday, leaving Friday and Saturday free."

"And Fridays and Saturdays are date nights, which Craig isn't taking total advantage of," Ellie said.

"Right. But then, I brushed it off because, well, the band has been practicing all week. Eventually, he will need a break."

"But Ashley, this has been happening how many weeks now?"

"Well, two…"

"And there were no dates, no hanging out with him, unless the two of you are at school, am I right?"

"Well, yeah. But Ellie…"

"Hey," Ellie said, turning and pointing at Ashley, accusingly. "Don't 'But Ellie' me. This is your time to vent about your stupid, insensitive boyfriend right now, and you're just going to brush it off, as 'he's tired from all the band practicing'? Ash, come on—vent, be heard, get pissed off."

"All right, all right…" Ashley said, calming Ellie down by placing a hand on her shoulder. "By the way, since when have you become Paige?"

"Shut up."

"It just makes me feel…useless. I mean, what good am I? His trophy girlfriend? Something he can show off to the rest of the world, claiming that he is mine forever? But when we are in the seclusion of our own private little world, I no longer exist, I am not longer trophy girlfriend, or rather no longer a girlfriend at all?" Ashley paused for a moment. "I haven't told anyone this, and I know Craig hasn't told anyone either, but you're the only one I'm letting know, so don't say anything to anyone."

"You know me better than that, Ash."

"Okay, well. That night, our anniversary night…Craig and I…well, we sort of took it to the next level."

"Meaning…"

"We did it. We had sex. We made love. We did the horizontal hula dance."

"Oh, okay." Ellie stopped eating her ice cream cone. "And…"

"Well, now, for me, it feels like because I had given myself to him, he no longer needs to be clingy, or sweet, or act like a super-totally great boyfriend. Like, he just needs to be the way he was before he was dating me. It's like he no longer needs me."

"Like all he wanted was the sex, and now that he's had it, it's like 'Hey Ash, thanks for the love-making, but we're just going to hang out as friends from now on. No dates, no flowers, no nothing. Goodbye'."

"That's exactly the way I feel. I mean, Craig means the world to me, but for some reason, it feels like I mean a rock to him."

"It could be a really, really, really big rock," Ellie joked. "And maybe you're overreacting. I mean, Craig doesn't seem like that type of guy. Spinner might be, but Craig? No way, he's sweet."

Ashley shrugged her shoulder, as if she wasn't really buying Ellie's words. So, Ellie quickly added, "It might feel that way to you, but what it really is, or what it really could be, is that your relationship is no longer a new thing for you and Craig. It's been, what, five months now. So, it's no longer flowers everyday, no longer whispers of sweet nothings, no longer acting stupid in front of each other to try to make a good impression. Craig just feels comfortable with you now, and you feel comfortable with him. So the dates, the romantic gestures, the whatever it is you two do, no longer feel necessary because you've got him, and he's got you. And you know it."

Ashley considered this for a moment. "Maybe you're right, Elle. I shouldn't have jumped into conclusions."

"Well, that's why you have me, to balance things out for you," Ellie said. Then, she put on her best prep voice and said, "So, tell me, Miss Kerwin, how was the sex?"
"Eleanor McKenzie Nash!" Ashley said in mock anger.

That evening, the band had an emergency practice because, well, they kind of did suck. So, instead of not doing anything about sucking so bad, Craig decided that they needed to stop sucking badly and give practicing a try. After two hours of going at it, repeating the same song over and over again, but only to come out short with it, Spinner decided he had had enough and requested a break.

"Fine," Craig gave in, only after Jimmy and Marco had convinced him that it was for the better. "But, don't go eating all the food in the refrigerator, and we will be going at it again in twenty minutes!"

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Jimmy said, mock saluting him.

"Come on, Jim. Let's see what Mr. Jeremiah has stashed this week," Spinner told Jimmy, grabbing his arm and dragging him into the kitchen.

Once the two of them were gone, Marco sat on the couch and began tuning his bass. He looked up at Craig, who looked out of it, as if he were thinking of something. After tuning his instrument, Marco placed it on its stand, and said, "So, Ellie called me in the afternoon, after she and Ash came back from their shopping spree."

"Uh, uh," Craig hummed, still completely out of it. He stared at the floor, pretending to strum a few chords, as if practicing more.

"And, uh, she mentioned something about you and Ash."

"Yeah," Craig instinctively said.

"And Ash feels like the relationship is going nowhere anymore."

"Uh."

"So, she is contemplating taking a break from you," Marco concluded. "Which is something that should worry you…are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, you said something about Ellie and Ashley contemplating to go nowhere for spring break," Craig said, finally snapping out of his little zoning out moment.

"What? No, that's not what I said!" Marco almost shouted. "Dude, you're not even listening to me! No wonder Ash wants to take a break."

"What? Ash wants to break up with me?!"

"No, that's not what I said. See, you're not listening at all."

"Well, what, then? What is it?"

"Ellie told me that Ash feels that your relationship with her is going nowhere already. And that's really bad."

Craig stopped what he did altogether. He took a seat next to Marco, his face contorted as if he had just been told that he's really a girl and must get a sex change to correct a few body parts. "Well, what else? What else is Ashley feeling?"

From what I've heard, Ashley feels like she gave a great part of her to you, and now all of sudden, you're acting as if you don't need her."

"What?"

"I know, exactly! What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Marco said.

"No, it's not that, Marco. I already know what it means."

"Well, care to share?"

"Um…" Craig paused, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know if I should be telling this to you, because you know, it's between Ash and me."

"Come on, Craig. Am I not your relationship advice giver?"

"Well…"

"Come on…you can tell me anything," Marco urged, as if trying to get a little kid to trust him. "You know you want to tell me."

"Fine," Craig gave in. "Ash and I sort of, you know, did it. We sort of had sex."

"How can you 'sort of' do it? Don't you have to go all the way with sex? Was it like, you were half way there, and then all of sudden, you stopped in the middle of it?"

"Marco, I know you give me advice on relationships, but I also know you need to shut up now," Craig told him.

"Sorry. I just…you can't 'sort of' have sex. That's stupid," Marco thought aloud. Craig gave him a menacing look. "Sorry."

"Fine, if it makes you happy, Mr. I-Need-To-Be-Politically-Correct, we did it—all the way. We had sex, completely. There, you happy?"

"Very, thanks." Marco smiled contently. "So, Ash feels that since she gave her virginity to you, you're finished with her, huh?"
"But it's not that way," Craig answered. Marco raised an eyebrow. "Marco! It isn't! I swear to you, it isn't. I mean…I love Ash. A lot. And you know that. And I know that. And she knows that."

"Then why this? Why all this insecurity in your relationship?"

"Because it's Ash being Ash. You know how sensitive she can get. That, and moody. But that's one thing I like about her. One thing I hate about her, too."

"Then why put up with it?" Marco asked, pulling a little reverse psychology on Craig.

Craig turned to him, half-smiled, and said, "Because she's my girlfriend. And she's always there for me." Then, he turned away from him, and his smile disappeared. "But there are times when she can get under my skin."

"Like?"

"Like last night. She acted like a total girl on me."

"Well, Craig, hon," Marco said, placing a hand on Craig's shoulder, and pulling off his best Paige, "if you haven't noticed, Ash is a total girl."

"Okay, I'll give you that. But she was acting distant herself last night. All throughout the game, she didn't even try once to talk to me or anything like that. It was like she was mad at me or something."

"Well, did you do anything else other than watch the game or something? Like cuddle or something? Talk during commercials? Explain to her the rules of the game, to get her involved with you while watching the game? Did you say something before, after, or during any part of the game that would offend her?" Marco asked.

"No, we didn't cuddle. I talked to her during commercials only to ask her if she was all right, she need something to drink or eat, and to see if she was sleepy or not. She already knew the rules of the game, so what's the point in telling it to her once again? And, I don't think I have ever said anything to offend her. Well…" Craig trailed off.

"'Well' what, buddy?"

"Well, Ash and I got into a mini argument regarding how we never go on dates anymore, and she said something about how watching a hockey game isn't all that fun. And then, at that moment, I missed this awesome play by the Leafs, and I told her, 'Oh no, I missed a sweet play. Can we talk about this later?'"

"And I assume she wasn't all right with this?"

"Well, she wasn't, really. I mean, not until I persuaded to stay a while at my house. Then she calmed down. But she became all moody again."

"What you need to do, Craig, is to take her out. It's obvious she wants to go out somewhere. And not to your house, or to hers, or to anyone's house. She wants to go out—see a movie, go for dinner, see a concert, do whatever. Can't you see how she desperately wants to be with you?"

"You know what, Marco? I'm going to take her out. And it's going to be the best damn date she'll ever go on."

"You know what, Craig? I totally believe you."