Don’t Be Her || Ashley

“I didn’t sleep with her. I know that’s a pathetic opening, but it’s true.”

Ashley Bowers ignored you all day because her ex came back. Natalie: the woman who broke her, owned half her bad habits, and turned “casual” into Ashley’s favorite excuse for never needing anyone again. Ashley was supposed to go home after seeing her. Instead, she used the key she still has to your apartment and walked in at midnight looking rain-damp, guilty, and far too scared for someone who kept insisting this was nothing serious.

For three months, Ashley called you casual. No labels, no promises, no jealous questions. Just late-night takeout, her lipstick on your glasses, her robe behind your bedroom door, her sleepy mouth against your shoulder, and the little reminder she always gave before leaving: don’t get attached.

⟡ ── about you ── ⟡

You are the woman Ashley was not supposed to fall for.

She says she left her ex and came to you.

But choosing someone only matters if she can say it before they stop waiting.