Ashley was beginning to make a habit of these sleepless nights, but this was one of the worst yet. How could she kiss Craig? Did she completely lose her mind while she was away? No. It was just in that moment…oh how could she try and rationalize this? She kissed someone else's boyfriend. This was so not an Ashley thing to do. It was more of…well, a Manny thing to do…but he's Craig and he looked so hot and understanding and…there she goes again. Nothing makes this right. Nothing. She realized it was late, but she's called this late before.

Please answer, please answer, please answer.

"Hello?"

"Thank God you're still up!"

"Ashley?" Ellie asks.

"Yes, Ashley. Who else do I sound like?"

"I don't know. It just didn't sound quite like you."

"Oh, OK. Are you busy?"

"Marco and I are just watching a movie. What's up? Did you get the…uh…problem you were having figured out?" Ellie was doing her best to be vague, since Marco was sitting right next to her.

"Ellie, you don't have to talk in code. I don't care if Marco hears, it's fine."

"OK, good 'cause that was gonna be really hard."

"You know, something is seriously wrong with you," Ashley laughs.

"Yes, but back to you. So, how'd it go?" she asks.

"Awkwardly?"

"What, you don't know? You weren't there?"

"I just don't really know the right word to use to describe what happened, except…well, 'idiot' comes to mind. Ya that sounds about right."

"Oh great, what'd he do now?" Ellie asks.

Marco made an 'uh oh' face. He tried to whisper and ask Ellie what was going on, but she was ignoring him.

"Actually, it's what I did," Ashley replies.

"What YOU did?"

"What did Ashley do?" Marco yells.

"Marco, shut up!" Ellie complains.

"Hey, just put it on speaker. I'm actually curious what he thinks about all this too."

"All right."

"Hey, Marco."

"Hey, Ash."

"This is SO junior high," Ellie says. "So anyway, what did you do that was so idiotic?"

"OK, so you know I went there to tell him about Ali and how we never dated blah blah…"

"You and Ali never dated?" Marco was confused.

"Oh ya, sorry. I forgot no one knows this," Ashley says.

"Oh gosh. She just made it up to get Craig to move on and be happy without her. Now will you let her finish?"

"Wow, Ash. OK, continue."

"OK, so I told him all that and I actually had to explain Jimmy to him too, because he apparently thought I was dating him as well as Ali. That's how highly he thinks of me."

"Ash, that boy loves you," Marco says.

Silence. Crickets chirping. Pin dropping.

Ellie slaps Marco across the head.

"Ow."

She tilts her head and gives him the evil eye. To which he puts his hands up, as if saying 'OK, I'm done.'

"Are you guys OK over there," Ashley asks.

"Yes, we're fine. Go ahead," Ellie says.

"OK, so uh….oh ya, I pretty much think it's too much information for him to handle so I go to leave. And he tells me not to and like chases after me to stop. And he was just so…close…and…close…and…"

Ellie and Marco just look at each other, wondering if she's ever going to finish the sentence or at least say something besides close.

"OK, I kissed him," she blurted out.

Ellie's mouth drops, Marco just smirks.

"You kissed him?" Ellie asks.

"Ya, can you believe me? He's going out with Manny. What is wrong with me?"

"Oh, actually about that…"

Ellie turns to Marco wondering what in the heck he knows that she doesn't.

"I think they broke up."

"What?" Ellie and Ashley yell in unison.

"What do you mean you think?" Ashley asks.

"Well word is…"

"What do you mean word is?" Ellie asks.

"Well let me finish!" Marco yells.

Silence. Again crickets chirping. Pin dropping.

Neither Ellie nor Ashley had ever heard Marco yell so loud; they were kind of in shock.

"Sorry," Marco laughed. "I heard from Paige, who heard from Spinner, who heard from Darcy that Manny broke up with him today."

Ashley thought back to the evil look a jogging Manny had given her when she passed by.

"Ohhhhh," Ashley says.

"Ohhhhh what?" Ellie asks.

"Nothing, Manny just gave me this psycho 'I want to kill you' look while I was on my way to Craig's today and I never knew why."

Marco and Ellie both laugh.

"That's classic," Marco says.

"So you two are totally gonna get back together," Ellie responds.

"Noooo," Ashley says.

"No, well why not?" Ellie asks. "Did you not just say you kissed him?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean he and I are getting back together. We have a lot to work out and I think we should just be friends."

"Friends?" Ellie and Marco both say.

"Why are you guys acting like Craig and I can't be friends?"

"Because that! You can't!" Ellie says.

"Well I'm gonna try anyway."

"Ya, good luck with that," Marco says. Ellie covers her mouth to block the sound of her giggling.

"OK you two, I think I've provided you with enough entertainment for one night. You can go back to watching your movie now."

"All right," Ellie says.

"Hey, Ash?" Marco asks.

"Ya?"

"We're glad you're back!"

"Me too."

Each end hangs up the phone.

Ashley smiles. So Manny dumped Craig. Wonder why, she thinks? She lay in her bed on her back, eyes staring up at the blank ceiling. Possibilities began to run wild in her head and then they quickly came to a halt. Wait, she promised herself they were going to try this friends thing. She was going to prove Marco and Ellie wrong. Her and Craig could be friends. Why not? She thought of plenty of reasons why not, but that wasn't going to deter her. Ashley and Craig…just friends. Hey, it could happen.

She calls Craig the next morning to discuss this business of being 'just friends' and ya, maybe the kiss too.

"Ya?" Craig answers.

"That's how you answer the phone? Ya?" Ashley asks.

Craig immediately sits upright at the sound of Ashley's voice. "Ash, oh…uh, hi sorry."

Ashley just laughs. "So look. We need to talk."

"Ya, it probably would be a good idea."

"Do you want to meet somewhere?" Ashley asks.

"We can go find a bench to sit on at the park."

"OK that sounds good," and sweet and romantic she thinks. "When do you want to meet?"

"Five minutes?" Craig asks in excitement and anticipation.

"Five minutes? I know it takes you like 10 seconds to get ready, but you're gonna have to give me a little more time than that. How about a half hour?" Ashley thought a half hour was reasonable, most girls would need at least an hour. But Ashley was not most girls.

"All right, all right. Can't wait," he says.

Which, of course, makes her smile. And not at all want to be anything more than just friends.