“Sure,” he answered. He closed his notebook and turned to look at her. The expression on her face scared him slightly. “What is this about, Ash? Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I just wanted to talk to you about going on tour.” She sat down on the king size bed. “I can’t do it, Nick.”
Though he was actually slightly relieved, he pretended to be disappointed. “Why not?”
“There’s school, and, well…I’mafraidofwherethisrelationshipisheading.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re moving too fast, Nick! We’ve been together for three weeks and I’m already just about living with you. Now you want me to spend four months with you on tour. I told you on our first date that I’m not ready for something serious right now.”
“That solves my problem, then,” Nick blurted out.
“What problem?”
“Oh, shit, it’s nothing.”
“Does this have anything to do with how you’ve been acting? You’ve barely said a word to me since I got home. What is going on?”
He took a deep breath. “I’m not in love with you, Ashley.”
“What?” she whispered.
“I care a lot about you, I love you as a friend, but I’m not in love with you,” he admitted. “I’m sorry.”
“When did you realize this?”
The whole story came out of his mouth, from the point where he kissed Lila on the beach to their conversation the next day. “I’m so sorry, Ash.”
“You’re in love with Lila.”
“I’m sorry,” he repeated shamefully.
Ashley tried to take everything in. “I can’t lie and say I’m not mad at you, but you know what? At least you didn’t lead me on. Besides, I didn’t think this would work anyway. I’m going to pack up my stuff and go back to my mom’s.”