This Prom Queen is winning out of spite.
Since the dawn of internet video, the AV Club of Van Buren High has hosted a reality show for twenty lucky seniors to compete for the coveted titles of Prom King and Queen. Self-imposed social outcast, Aspen...
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A variety of images had run through my mind as we made our way out to the boonies. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it hadn't been what we ended up walking into. Down the hill from the spacious driveway, a bonfire crackled in a large, stone fire pit. Trashed armchairs and love seats encircled it, most filled with bodies I didn't recognize.
"Hey, Asher! You're finally here!" one of them shouted as we stepped carefully down the slope. "And your new lady friend?"
"Oh, no, I'm not..." I tried to tell him, blushing furiously. Thank God it wasn't visible under the night sky.
Asher found a place on one of the empty love seats and patted the cushion beside him.
"Aspen is a lady and a friend, but she's not a lady friend," he corrected.
"Right, I forgot you don't do the whole 'girlfriend' thing," his friend ridiculed with an eye roll.
I watched him as I took my seat. I'd never seen him before; he was one of the many in the party that looked far too old to be in our student body. His deep, ebony hair had a curl to it, matching the color of his carefully-groomed facial hair. He snaked a tattooed arm into a plastic cooler and retrieved a can of beer, tossing it to Asher.
With a nonchalant shrug of a shoulder, Asher cracked open his beer and said, "Why should I be interested in a relationship? I get all the fun parts of having a girlfriend with girls who are just friends."
"What's the difference?" I asked.
"No commitment, no hurt feelings, no obligation, no exclusivity. I'm not trying to find the love of my life. I'm trying to get laid."
"Isn't that what most high school relationships are, anyways?" I thought of a number of my peers who were just dying to get into relationships so they could hook up.
Asher shifted back further into the couch, draping his arm along the back behind my head.
"Sure. But think about all those people who go on and on about how who they're dating is the love of their life, how they're going to get married, blah blah blah. And then, a couple weeks later, they're single and heart-broken, in total disbelief that they got dumped or cheated on or whatever. Why put yourself through that? Just keep your feelings out of it and bone until you're bored."
"You've never caught feelings for someone you were just hooking up with?"
"Nope."
His older friend coughed into his fist, badly masking the word, "Liar."
"Hey, I learned my lesson the hard way. I'm not making the same mistake twice," Asher told him.
I didn't understand the detachment, no matter how hard I tried. Of course there were times I wanted to sleep with someone, but it had always been someone I'd had a crush on. I couldn't wrap my head around being friends with benefits.
