“Tell me what’s been going on with you, Jo. I’m dying to know! The suspense is killing me!” Ash said dramatically.

              We were in a café and just had ordered some drinks. Ash said they had some free time this weekend, so they decided to come down and visit. Honestly, I was excited to see them again. Ash was my only real friend in college and without them I probably would’ve struggled a lot harder than I did.

              Ash on the other hand didn’t give a shit. They told me since the majority of people were pricks who made them feel left out then why should they care about the hierarchal bullshit if they were gonna be on the outside anyway?

              Yeah, that’s right, most of the people at our college were allies until they needed to use different pronouns for Ash. They were non-binary, so they used they/them pronouns. Most of the people were interacted with couldn’t be bothered or outright disrespected Ash. The professors were the worst. Most of them were old and stuck in their ways. They couldn’t be bothered to make the exception for Ash. It made me so angry at times, but Ash usually told me to let it go. They said it wouldn’t have made a difference if I screamed my head off at the old fuckers.

              I sighed.

              “Nothing’s going on Ash. I’m just enjoying my time. Theres no reason to rush anything is there?” I asked.

              “Isn’t there?” Ash replied. “Didn’t you tell me that she had a friend who was interested in them? What did you say? Megan? Manson? Oh! Morgan. That’s right, it was Morgan.” They said with a snap of their fingers.

              “I’m not worried about Morgan, Ash. There just friends.” I said with a shrug.

I frowned when I noticed my coffee had gotten cold. Cold coffee sucked ass.

              “Whatever you say. On a different note, what happened with that hottie you told me about at work?”

              “What is you and your weird obsession with my romantic life Ash?” I said, annoyed.

              “I’m not obsessed! I just got nothing going on, so I’m living vicariously through you.” They said with a shrug.

              Ash said they always said that they didn’t understand the hype about physical attraction and relationships and I’m starting to think they might be Aroace. They said they didn’t have a type and swore they were pansexual, but with their lack of interest in anything romantic these last four years my suspicions might be correct.

              “Nothings going on with Karla either. She just invited me to hang out with her and her friends next weekend.”

              “Can I at least see a picture?” Ash said with puppy dog eyes.

              “Ugh. Fine.” I said and pulled out my phone to show them.

              I was a little hopeful that it might stir something in Ash, but looking at their face it didn’t seem like it. This woman was absolutely gorgeous, so my theory Ash is Aroace is looking like it might be true. I would have to really sit down with them and talk it out sooner rather than later.

              Ash handed my phone back and proceeded on.

              “And you’re not going to do anything about her flirting?” Ash said with a raised brow.

              “No, I love Carol Ash. I would wait an eternity if I had to for that woman.” I said, smiling.

              “You have got it bad my frie-”

              The door to the café jingled and I reflexively looked over in that area to see two people who I recognized walk in.

              Ash noticed me staring. “What are you looking a- Oh shit.” Ash said. Then they got a mischievous smirk and I knew they were going to do something dumb.

              “Don’t you fu-”

              “HEY CAROL! OVER HERE!” Ash yelled.

              All of the patrons looked over to where we were seated including Carol and Morgan. Of all the people it had to be them. Carol and Morgan. Together. My jealousy was starting to rise. I told myself that they were friends and this was normal. I needed to breathe and calm down before they came over here.

              Carol looked perplexed. I’m guessing she was wondering why this stranger was calling her name, but then she looked over to me and smiled brightly. I returned her smile and they both made their way over to us. I looked back to Ash and they were smiling widely. That smile made me wanna punch them, but I held myself back. My grip on the armrests was so tight, I felt like I was going to break them.

              Breathe. Just breathe.

              “Jo! Funny seeing you here. Me and Morgan thought we’d come in here and get some coffee. I guess you guys had the same idea.” Carol looked over to Ash and waited for the introduction.

              “I’m Ash.” They said with an outstretched hand. “They/Them pronouns. I’m Jo’s friend from college.”

              “Nice to meet you, Ash. I’m Carol and my friend here is Morgan.”

              “Oh, I already kn-” I elbowed Ash in the side before they could say something they shouldn’t have.

              “Do you guys wanna join us?” I asked quickly to cover up Ash’s previous sentence.

              “Why not? Is that fine with you Morgan?” Carol asked.

              “That’s fine with me Carol, the more the merrier.” Morgan said with a slight smile.

              “Do you guys want me to get you your drinks while you sit down and relax?” I asked them both.

              See? I can be nice.

              I heard a snicker and sharply looked over to Ash. I gave them my best glare and that shut them up. They were supposed to be older than me, but they acted like such a child sometimes.

              “That would be amazing Jo. Thank you. Can I get a cappuccino please?” Carol asked.

              “Just a black coffee for me thanks.” Morgan said.

              “Alright, I’ll be back.” I said to the group.

              I didn’t necessarily want to leave them with Ash because God-only-knows what kind of shit would come out of their mouth when I’m not there to supervise them. I didn’t need them telling Carol and Morgan about our time at college. I would make this the fastest coffee run in existence.

              “All right all done. They’ll be calling your names soon.” I said to Carol and Morgan. “Ash hasn’t been saying anything bad about me, have they?” I asked with a little apprehension.

              “Huh?! I would never!” Ash decreed.

              “No, no they were just telling us how amazing you were. How no one really championed for Ash, but you always stood up for them when someone wasn’t being nice.” Carol said with a beaming smile.

              Morgan nodded her head in agreement.

              “Well, that’s good at least.”

              “Was there reason you asked that question Jolene?” Carol sternly asked.

              I heard Ash mutter an ‘Oh shit.’

“No, I was just… making sure they didn’t make anything up about me.”

“Jolene Willia-”

“CAROL SIMMONS, MORGAN CARVER.” The barista called.

“Ah, they called your names. You should probably go get your drinks.”

“This conversation isn’t over Jo. We will be talking about this at home.”

I saw Morgan smile at that and that made me not like this woman even more. After they had gone to get their drinks, I turned to Ash. This was all their fault.

“See what you did? Now she’ll never let it go.” I said with a sigh.

“What! I didn’t do anything!” Ash defended.

“Sure, sure.”

With that, they both waited for Carol and Morgan to come back.

The rest of the time was nice. Ash asked a bunch of questions as usual, Carol happily complied, Morgan sat there stoic as ever, but occasionally glanced over to Carol. Did she think I didn’t see her doing that? This just confirmed that Morgan was romantically interested in Carol. Just her luck. Carol hasn’t been involved with anyone, but now that I’m back Morgan is making her move? Fuck that. If Morgan thinks I’m just gonna roll over and show her my metaphorical belly, then she has another thing coming.