October “Aspen!”   The sudden sound of Iris’s voice over the swell of the lunch rush noise caught Aspen’s attention and made her pause, frowning curiously as she looked around. She spotted Iris finally, making her way through the crowds, her backpack hanging off of one shoulder and the expression on her beautiful face one of determination.   “Where have you been?” she demanded as she took a seat at the relatively empty table across from her. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for, like, two days!”   “Sorry,” Aspen said, feeling sheepish. “I’ve been working a lot, and trying to keep up with AP…”   “Well, don’t worry, it’s not that big of a deal,” Iris assured her. “I hope you at least manage to make time for hubby in between all of that.” Aspen paused, her fork hovering over her picked over chicken alfredo. She wished that she hadn’t; she could sense Iris pick up on it, leaning towards her in concern. “You are making time for hubby, right?” Aspen didn’t respond, her eyes glued to her food. “What’s wrong?”   “Nothing,” she responded, shaking her head. “He’s just…busy with college and stuff…and I’m busy, too.”   “You were never too busy for each other before,” Iris commented; Aspen remained quiet, shaking her head. “You’re not telling me something. I thought we were better than this.” With a sigh Aspen gave in, and gave Iris a recap of what had happened a couple of months before, that had spawned and extended period of pseudo-estrangement between her and JB; she cringed as she thought of the women who had approached him on campus, and his unintentional rejection of her, and it was enough to keep her from contacting him for another day. Of course, this wasn’t up to Iris’s standards.   “This is what’s keeping you from spending time with him?” she questioned incredulously; Aspen grimaced.   “Don’t say it like that…”   “You should know better!” Iris exclaimed. “JB is crazy about you, it doesn’t matter who tries to talk to him; you should know that.”   “It’s not that easy to remember…or believe.”   “Okay, that’s it,” Iris said suddenly. “After school you and I are going to UM and you are going to see JB so he can prove to you that you don’t have anything to worry about, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”       There was nothing that could divert Iris’s attention from something once she was pissed off enough about it, and Aspen had sufficiently pissed her off. She was outside of Aspen’s seventh period class when school let out, to ensure that Aspen wouldn’t try and slip away discreetly, which she had been hoping to do; with heavy resignation Aspen let Iris physically drag her across campus to the student parking lot, where BamBam and his car were waiting for them by Iris’s request. Aspen’s face was hot with embarrassment as she sat in the back seat of BamBam’s car, while he chauffeured her and Iris twenty minutes away from Miami Shores to JB’s dorm. He didn’t ask questions as to why he was driving them, but it was embarrassing enough that Iris knew how she was feeling and what had happened, and was making this such a priority. She just wanted to go home and think o