Chapter II: Asha
…Asha, I want you. Come home with me. It was the final line of his speech and then she was drunk enough and hopeless enough to buy it. Even when she knew everything was nothing more than a lie.
Well, not exactly that part, Asha believes that those final words were true. Alec really wanted her to go home with him, but not because of her, any woman would do. It was because he was lonely, like her, and he had felt even lonelier seeing Max and Logan finally getting together. True love seems to generate that kind of reaction in lonely souls.
Afterwards she had thought about that night and the conversation they had shared over all those shots and beers and the main thing that came to mind was that he was good with words and playing with people, but not, after all, good enough to blind her.
She knew then that he was playing with her, hooking her, seducing her. Not that she minded at the time. He was handsome, smart, and he had a good body. Right then, it seemed like a good idea to spend the night with him and forget her sadness in his bed.
Later she was glad that none of that happened. Not because they didn't love each other, she had other one-night stands, and wasn't ashamed of it. But to take cold comfort from him would just complicate things and she had enough of that.
He had taken care of her and acted as a friend that night. He let her sleep on his couch and by the time Max woke her up, he had put a blanket over her shoulders. He never pushed her to fulfill their previous understanding and she was grateful to him for that.
That made her think about him in a new light. Not just the smart ass or the good looking man, but as a human being, someone who might become a friend. Someone who she might like to have as a friend.
It was then when she realized that all that self-confidence and all that show was just a façade, something to keep him from really connecting with someone, because he was too afraid to open up.
A few days after that night they met in the Crash again. She had tried to be friends with him, letting him know that she had seen through his performance, but it didn't work out. Maybe she should have been more subtle, less challenging…. He just turned to his whisky and told her to leave him alone.
They might have become friends…. She will never know.