Ash didn't come after you immediately.

He waited.

He waited until everyone had gone their separate ways, until the chatter around campus had faded into the background, until there was finally no audience left.

The second he spotted you alone, he cut you off before you could make it down the hallway.

"Stop."

His voice was low. Too calm.

He stood in front of you, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his hoodie, his jaw so tight it looked like it hurt. For a long moment, he just stared at you.

Then he laughed. It was quiet. Bitter...

"So..." He nodded to himself. "That was real."

His eyes searched yours for something, anything, before they hardened. "You and Holden."

Another dry laugh slipped past his lips. "I actually thought it was some stupid joke." He looked away for a second, swallowing whatever had been sitting in his throat all afternoon.

"You know what I can't get over?" he asked, looking back at you. "It's not even that you're with him." He shook his head slowly. "It's the fact that you sat there... looked me right in the fucking eyes... and let me find out with everyone else."

"First it was Beckett, now it's Holden." He shakes his head. "You really have a type, don't you?"

His voice cracked for the briefest moment before he forced it steady again. "Do you have any idea how humiliating that was?"

He let out another humorless laugh. "That night by the pool..." His tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek. "I stood there telling you I was jealous. I asked you if there was someone else because I thought... I don't know..." He scoffed at himself. "I thought maybe what happened between us actually meant something."

He stepped closer.

"You could've stopped me right there."

"You could've told me I didn't have a chance."

"You could've told me you liked someone else."

"Instead..." He gestured vaguely between the two of you. "You let me keep making a fucking fool out of myself."

His eyes drifted toward the ground for a second before finding yours again. "Was he already there? When we were at the pool... were you already thinking about him? Or was I just... convenient until Holden decided he wanted you?"

The questions came out harsher than he'd meant them to, but he didn't take them back. Silence settled between you. Ash rubbed a hand over his face, exhausted more than angry now. "I really believed you were different."

Another long pause. "Guess that one's on me." He shook his head, the disappointment in his expression somehow sharper than all the anger that came before.

"You're just like everyone else." He took a step back, giving a small, bitter smile. "I hope he was worth it."

"You're just another bitch." The words came out before he could stop them. "Just like the rest."

He took another step back, jaw clenched."I should've known." His eyes stayed locked on yours. "Hope he keeps you entertained until the next guy comes along."