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“You are this donut,” Callie said to me, waving her donut in my face.

“What? No, I’m not.”

“You have about as much emotion as this donut,” she pointed out. “Completely empty in the middle.”

“I’m not an actress like you are,” I laughed, tossing the script beside me on the bed.

“Cut!” director Melissa yelled from across the room where she was using my computer.

We were at my house and I was running lines with Callie for her audition. It was Friday and instead of going to the party, they had come over to my house.

Ashton had made sure to properly ignore me at school for the rest of the week. It felt like we had gone back to square one, although when thinking about it, square one wasn’t this bad. Ashton used to talk to me, albeit to make fun of me, but at least then he had acknowledged that I was there. Now there was nothing.

“Liz!” Callie yelled at me. “You’re spaced out again.”

I blinked, coming out of my daze.

“Uhhh… where were we?” I asked, picking up the script and flipping through the pages.

Melissa came over and sat cross legged beside me and plucked the script from my hands. “Let’s take a break,” she said.

“Okay?” I said suspiciously as she and Callie stared at me.

“Let’s talk about you,” Callie said, rolling over to lie on her belly.

“We established the fact that I’m a donut,” I joked drily, but they weren’t having it.

“You’re thinking about him aren’t you?” Melissa asked softly.

I stared down at the sheets and forced a smile. I was like glass front of them. They could see right through me.

“Don’t worry guys. He’ll be out of my mind soon.”

“I don’t know about that,” Callie thought aloud. “I mean, I don’t really understand how this whole soulmate thing works, but if you’re destined to be together, can you really forget about him?”

“She has a point for once,” Melissa smiled.

“I should know,” Callie sighed. “I’m the CEO of trying to forget about someone.”

“That’s also true,” Melissa pointed out and Callie rolled up the script and whacked her.

I laughed. “I know. It probably won’t be easy. But if you think about it logically, I should be fine soon. It’s not like we dated or anything.”

It was my turn to get hit with the script.

“I already told you, Liz. Love is illogical,” Callie said as she propped herself up on her elbows.

“It’s the scientific part of you, Dr. Donaldson,” Melissa grinned. “I don’t know if I agree that love is illogical, but you always look for the logic behind things. You always reason things out and I love that. But sometimes you have to look and listen with your heart too.”

“She has a point,” Callie nodded.

I smiled. “That’s our lawyer Melissa.”

“No, it’s lawyer Whatever Trey’s last name is,” Callie grinned and then it was her turn to get hit as Melissa whacked her with the script and I could tell she was blushing.

She cleared her throat. “My point is, maybe you should give it another shot and see how things go with him,”

“Yeah,” Callie agreed. “And I’m tired of seeing that hussy cozying up with your man,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“He’s not my man,” I argued.

“If the soulmate bond doesn’t say he’s yours, then I don’t know what will,” Callie grinned. “You have the advantage here, the advantage of destiny.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s so cheesy.”

“But true,” Melissa grinned too.

“Either way, Ashton doesn’t want to talk to me, period.”

“You’ve got to be bolder, Liz. Make him listen to you,” Melissa insisted.

“I can try again next week, but if he ignores me, I’m done,” I warned.

“Why wait that long?” she groaned. “Sis, do it tonight!”

“Tonight?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah, at his party.”

“No way. Nuh uh. I’m not going,” I declared.

“Not even for gummy bears?”

“Or red velvet cake?” Callie tempted.

Dang. They hit me with my weaknesses.

“Okay, I’ll go,” I sighed in defeat.

They high fived each other and pulled out the bags that they had brought with them. I eyed them suspiciously.

“Let’s get dressed,” Callie sang, pulling out a romper.

“You guys brought clothes for the party?” I asked in utter astonishment.

They flashed me a pair of knowing smiles.

“We have to let you go get your soulmate,” Callie explained. “We brought these just in case we managed to change your mind.”

I laughed at them and got off the bed to rummage through my closet.

I ended up picking an off the shoulder top and black skinny jeans. It wasn’t exactly party attire, but I wasn’t going there to impress anyone. I was going to have a serious talk with Ashton, if he would even look at me.

Melissa and Callie let me be. They understood that I wanted to feel comfortable.

It took some convincing, since it was last minute, but my parents eventually agreed to let me go. They trusted the girls a lot and they had good reason to do so.

Melissa drove us there, because Callie had come over to my house with her so she didn’t have her car.

We could hear the loud music before we even turned onto the street. This was some serious noise pollution. But then again, the house was a good distance away from all the other houses we’d passed so I doubt they really disturbed anyone.

We dodged and maneuvered around the party goers to get into the house.

“Hey ladies,” a group of guys called out to us but we ignored them. We were here on a mission.

“I have no idea how we’ll find Ashton in here!” Melissa shouted above the noise.

Callie dodged a flying cup. “I’ll text Kevin and tell him to come find us.”

“Kevin’s here?” I yelled over the noise.

“Kevin’s always at these parties,” she said, typing out a message to Kevin.

We searched the crowds for any sign of the party’s host as we waited, but we couldn’t find him.

An arm draped around my shoulder and I was about to throw elbows, when Kevin smiled and winked at me.

“You scared me!” I yelled.

“You don’t have to shout!” he yelled back at me. “I can hear you.”

He put on a surprised face. “I’m surprised to see you guys here. I thought you weren’t coming.”

“I got bribed,” I laughed. “Anyways, I’m looking for Ashton.”

Now he was super surprised. “Ashton?”

“I want to talk to him about some… stuff," I mumbled.

A big smile crossed his face. “I see.”

He took hold of my shoulders and turned me around. He pointed in the direction of the main staircase. “He went up there. I’ll come with you,” he said, taking my hand in his so I wouldn’t get lost in the crowd.

“Go get him!” Callie screamed.

As Kevin and I made our way upstairs, I tried my best to keep my nervousness at bay. I could do this. All I had to do was talk to him and clear up the misunderstanding.

We finally reached the top and squeezed through the throng of people dancing and drinking.

“Go up those stairs,” he pointed to another staircase. “No-one else should be up there except him.”

“Thanks,” I smiled at him.

He ruffled my hair and I was hit with a feeling of déjà vu as he turned and left. Only this time, it was of his own free will. I smiled and began my climb up the stairs. I had rehearsed what to say to Ashton during the car ride here. Now the only problem would be if he was willing to listen to what I had to say.

As I walked down the hallway, I could see light shining from a room up ahead. It was now or never. I walked up to the room. The door was open, but I decided to knock anyways. I raised my hand to knock, but then froze as a gasp left my lips.

Nothing that I had rehearsed in the car prepared me for this.

Nicole was inside, and she was pressed against Ashton in a deep kiss.

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