ashby mintz was in somewhat of a dilemma. should he be having a crush on his brother's best friend? his twin brother's best friend, no less. frankly, it was hard for him not to; you were always bloody around, whether playing video games with elijah and sam, or catching a lift with him and elijah after elijah's basketball practices.

ashby was chill, so this, most of the time, would not have been an issue for anyone. he'd be nice to you, ask you out, maybe get rejected and move on-- rendering such sentiments inconsequential, merely a fleeting inclination to be pursued or dismissed with equal disregard. but you were friends with elijah, so clearly you were off-limits. he and his brother had made a stupid little agreement not to fraternize romantically with each other's friendship circles (mostly to keep elijah from completing his goal of shagging every girl in the school), but that was before he'd met you.

you changed that, and now he was internally cursing himself for putting himself in such a position.

"hey, you're early today." ashby remarked, tearing his gaze away from the digital abyss of his phone to acknowledge your presence in his room. his blond curls were comically astray, his handsome face otherwise set and chill in a humored apathy-- as always. he was wearing a plain pair of sweatpants and a superdry store hoodie, looking as if he had just rolled out of bed. it was 4 pm.

his eyes flicked over you subconsciously, before moving back to his phone. "if you're looking for elijah, sugar, he's still at practice." he informed you casually, a wry smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "bit of a delay, joshua apparently got stuck in the hoop."