10. Ashley
TEN
ASHLEY
Has Sebastian been replaced by an alien?
Is he having a psychotic break? Inviting me over for movie night and then to sleep over but only for the sleeping part was a first. Now he wants to run with my Saturday morning group.
I know he’s fit, but working out and running in the cold are two different things. I hope I don’t end up killing him.
As we leave my apartment, he pulls out his phone to call a car. “Bash, it’s four blocks away. We’re going to do a light jog to the square.”
He looks at me. “You run to go meet people and go running?”
“Think of it as a warm-up.”
He seems dubious about it but joins me in a light jog. He’s ridiculous in lime green earmuffs, but the only other option was my knitted ear band, and I prefer that to keep my long hair out of my face.
When we get to the square, half of the gang is there. Laurel’s eyebrows raise so high they practically go into space when she spots us. Before she can get a word in, I mouth, “I swear, we didn’t.”
She looks unconvinced, but Cal and Mark have approached us, so at least that conversation is postponed for a while.
Mark goes through the whole spiel about the group, and we do introductions.
Tess watches us curiously and Stevie does a double take when she arrives, so I’ll have a lot to explain later.
Mark explains how Laurel usually hangs back at the end of the group to make sure we don’t lose anyone, but I jump in to insist I’ll stick back with Sebastian so she can run ahead.
I don’t put it past her to interrogate him in my absence.
Sebastian looks like a fish out of water beside all of us with our fancy running gear and casual group banter. As we start out, he shoots forward. I grab his arm. “Don’t go out too fast.”
“Why? We’re going pretty slowly,” he insists.
“It’s about endurance, not speed. The worst thing you can do is start too quickly.” Privately, I doubt he can run for an hour. I consider the best place to turn around early as he reluctantly joins me at a slower pace in the back.
After a few blocks, Cal drops back and starts an easy conversation with both of us.
I marvel at how comfortable and friendly he is now.
When he first joined us, he was shy and barely spoke.
I’m not sure whether Laurel filled him in on the history between me and Sebastian, but if so, he doesn’t let on.
He chats about work, and I take the opportunity to pop up to Laurel.
She looks around for moment, then whispers, “Oh my God, Ash. Did you guys hook up again?”
“No! We just watched some movies last night, and I fell asleep at his place. It’s no big deal.”
“Uh-huh,” she says dryly. “No big deal. So it’s totally normal that he voluntarily came up here on a Saturday morning wearing your clothes?”
I snort. “We were limited in headgear options. The earmuffs were all I had.”
“I’m going to need a full explanation of everything that happened at this so-called movie night,” Stevie breaks in. “I may be almost forty, but I know what Netflix and chill means.”
I groan, even though I know my friends are doing this because they care. I’d do the same if one of them made a dubious romantic decision, but that doesn’t mean I want to explain myself right now.
“Do we have to do this?”
“We absolutely do,” Stevie replies.
“Later,” I say, taking this as my cue to drop back and catch Sebastian again. I don’t need any further discussions on whether I did or did not “chill” with Bash last night, not in earshot of all our friends.
I find Cal and Sebastian talking about turntables. This is something Sebastian would normally love to go on and on about, but Cal is chatting easily while my friend huffs and puffs, his responses brief. I try not to laugh after his earlier boasting about his fitness.
“How’s it going, Cal?” I ask, trying to give my friend a break from making conversation while he’s clearly short of breath. I slow my pace a little, just enough that hopefully Sebastian will catch his breath but not notice I’m slowing down for him. I see Cal note this and catch my eye.
“Oh, good. Can’t complain,” Cal says. “We’re going up to North Bay to see my family next Friday. I’m not looking forward to the long drive, but at least we took the day off so we can leave early.”
“Oh, that’s a long way,” I reply absent-mindedly, imagining four or more hours of driving in the unpredictable March weather.
Then my brain kicks in. Friday is Laurel’s birthday, which we’ve always celebrated together.
Sometimes she has a big party, and other years we do a girls’ night and eat cookie dough while drinking wine, but we’ve always done something.
This will be the first time in our friendship that I might not even see her on her birthday.
“So you’ll head off early on Friday then …” I trail off. Sebastian glances at me, maybe detecting something in my tone. Cal seems to catch my meaning.
“Yeah, it’s too bad we’ll be gone for Laurel’s birthday. It was the only time we could get up there to pick up some of my stuff, but maybe you two could get together on Thursday. Or we could all go out next week,” he adds, looking at Sebastian.
“Yeah, maybe.” I force a smile, even though part of me wonders why he couldn’t go see his parents by himself. I know Laurel is trying to get to know her potential in-laws better, and maybe she’d rather spend her birthday with Cal than me, but it stings.
I pull myself together and act normal. “Isn’t yours coming up too? We could go out and celebrate both.”
“Yes, the week after hers. We could do a pub night, or karaoke or something.” He smiles at me gently, like he can tell I’m disappointed. He can be awkward at times, but I think he notices details most people miss.
“Cool, yeah, we’ll plan on it. Karaoke would be fun,” I force a smile, then hear Sebastian groan beside me. He’s probably rolling his eyes too. Such a music snob. “I wasn’t going to bring you along, Bash, but now I am. I know you love to sing top forties hits and eighties classics.”
He would typically reply with some sarcastic remark, but he’s too out of breath. I look over at him. “We … must be … almost … halfway done … by now,” he pants.
Cal and I both glance at our fitness watches. “We’ve done almost two kilometers,” I say, and Sebastian’s lets out a slight whimper.
I slow our pace a little more and nod at Cal to say that I’ve got this and he should go join the rest of them. No use in all of us plodding along.
“Not so cocky about your fitness level now?” I say after Cal runs up ahead.
He looks a bit sheepish, so I take pity on him. “Seriously, it’s impressive that you’re hanging in. There’s a reason couch-to-five-kilometers programs are months long. Even fit people can’t just jump into running.”
He mutters a quiet thanks, though he still looks chagrined.
My watch buzzes. “That’s two even.” I can read a slight panic in Sebastian’s eyes at the idea that we’re only twenty percent done, so I throw him a bone.
“We could turn back now, or do another 500 meters and turn around to aim for five. Either way, you’re getting a decent run in. We can also take some walking breaks.”
“Walk?” He looks affronted, like I’ve insulted his manliness.
I roll my eyes. “Plenty of experienced runners incorporate walking intervals. Some do whole marathons like that and many of them are pretty fast.”
“Let’s turn at 500 meters,” he huffs out. “And maybe try walking.”
I smile to myself, then leave him briefly and sprint up to catch Cal and Laurel at a red light ahead. “Hey, we’re going to turn back early, so don’t wait for us.”
Cal gives me a thumbs up while Laurel says, “We have to talk, Ash.”
I make a face, but then Sebastian approaches. I’m off the hook as we let them run ahead. “Let’s turn here, but we’ll take a breather first.”
He bends over and leans on his thighs. “Thank God. I didn’t think I could keep this up for much longer.”
“I know.” I pat him on the shoulder. “We’ll work on it. Soon you’ll be a regular.”
“Fuck, no.” He coughs, then straightens up and pretends he’s completely fine. “I don’t understand how any of you do this for fun. It’s clearly torture.”
“I thought you liked exercise!” The guy certainly posts enough gym selfies to make one think he’s there all the time.
“I like the outcome of exercise,” he says as we start walking briskly back toward Yonge and Eglinton. “I like pushing through stress, sure, but it’s not for fun. It’s to keep up my girlish figure.”
He’s ridiculous as always, but God help me, I’m laughing. That’s how it’s always been with Bash. He’s able to add that little drop of comical self-awareness to his cocky facade, and it draws me in.
We manage the distance back, alternating between running and walking, keeping conversation to a minimum.
When we reach the square, I offer to buy Sebastian a coffee and though he makes a face about drinking their brew, we wait in Starbucks for the crew to return.
I don’t know why he’s sticking around. He’s got his keys and phone, and these aren’t his friends.
Still, he’s keeping me company, so I won’t complain.
“What’s on deck next week?” I ask.
“Oh, same as always. I’ve been messaging a few women in the Six app, so we’ll see where that leads. Seth and I have a meeting with the Vancouver team on Tuesday, and I might visit my mom at some point.”
I haven’t seen Sebastian’s mom in ages, not since our university graduation, but she was always nice to me. “How’s she doing?”
He shrugs. “She’s hanging in. Penny and I try to visit more now that Curtis has finally moved out and she’s on her own.” It’s weird to think of Sebastian’s little brother and sister as adults on their own since they were still kids when we met. They must be in their mid-twenties by now.
“Well, say hi for me.”
He nods. “What about you?”