Cruel love

Ashly's mind is drifting in and out of thoughts and memories, and all of a sudden their conversation from before triggers something again in Ashly's alertness, and for a few minutes she's just silently thinking, lots of memories and discoveries she made during their time apart about herself and Alex coming back to the surface. Once she's ready to share, she turns the music off and speaks up, eyes trained on Alex. "You know, when you were gone, I thought about everything a lot, and I realized all the things I was blind to before. Like, your brother made comments about us when we were at the school, and even when you told me you liked me at the ghost other event, even though you took it back, I should have known the truth long before I did, right? But, honestly, I think I wasn't ready to even consider it. I wouldn't have believed you could like me like that, especially since we'd been rivals for so long."  Alex has been watching her quietly, his phone forgotten next to him, his hands hol