Chapter Fifty-Nine

As Lila’s Maths class drew to a close on Thursday morning, she was reminded of the fact that she had promised to help Isaac when he sent a blurred Snapchat of his eyeball to her with the caption “Eye’ll be waiting at the Applied Tech building”. Lila dropped Ayaka off at the congregation of exchange students before hurrying her way towards the Applied Tech building.

To her surprise, Elise and Grace were standing outside the building, looking up at its impressive sail-like architecture.

“What’re you guys doing here?” Lila asked, grinning.

“Isaac asked us to help him with something,” Elise sighed exasperatedly. “I got him an interview at Maccas and as soon as he got the email about it, he asked for more help. Bastard.”

“He asked me, too,” Grace said quietly, biting into a carrot stick. “Something about many lights make handiwork, or whatever.”

“I think it’s ‘many hands make light work’,” Lila chortled. “Are Isaac and Asher here yet?”

“Behind ya,” a voice said. Lila spun around and saw a beaming Isaac. Asher smiled gently at Lila in greeting.

“So what’re we looking for?” Lila enquired, following Isaac as he led the way through the Applied Tech building. They passed the Manufacturing workshop, which smelt of wood shavings and rusted tools, the laser cutter and 3D printer utility room, and the empty Design classrooms as Isaac listed off a few hand tools and specific lengths of wood.

“Why do you need all that?” Asher asked, surprised.

“For Art, dude,” Isaac replied, as though it were obvious. “The topic is ‘found objects’. Luckily Mr Dillon doesn’t care. And technically, we’ll have found these objects within the school.”

“I would’ve thought that’d be more like second-hand, ‘lost and found’ stuff rather than just ‘finding’ a brand-new piece of wood,” Elise snickered derisively.

“Believe it or not, I did run it by Ms Thornton and she didn’t mind,” Isaac said proudly.

“Really?” Grace asked enthusiastically. “Maybe I’ll have to grab some too.”

“Don’t go stealing my ideas,” Isaac huffed. “You’re my competition, you know.”

“Then why am I here?” Grace queried, raising an eyebrow.

“Thought you’d be lonely if Elise and Lila were wasting their break here with me. Plus, you have a good eye. You might find something good.”

“Aha! So now the truth comes out!” Grace cried triumphantly. “You’re just using me!”

“Technically, he’s using everyone,” Asher smirked.

Grace and Isaac began to bicker amongst themselves about his scheming ways. The group eventually reached the end of the exceptionally long hallway, which opened up into what looked like an expansive junkyard of old Applied Tech projects. Lila knew that several storage rooms split off from this one, having had a grand tour of the Applied Tech building at the start of the year, but the room they were standing in was by far the biggest.

“Damn,” Isaac said, giving a low whistle. “This is gonna take a while.”

“I’m guessing we’re not allowed to take projects as part of your ‘found object’ theme?” Lila asked, casting a look around the room.

“Definitely not,” Isaac replied shortly. “Mr Dillon holds out hope that the students who made them will come back for them.”

“Righto,” Elise sighed, taking her blazer off and hanging it up on a hook next to the doorway. “Let’s go hunting.”

Lila placed her blazer next to Elise’s and retied her scarf around her neck. Looking for abandoned pieces of wood inside a woodworking workshop was much harder than Lila had anticipated. It was no wonder that Isaac had pulled out all the stops and enlisted the help of Elise and Grace as well. Grace still seemed miffed about it, but Lila could see she was looking around in earnest.

A rumbling sound preceded the tell-tale clack of wooden objects collapsing to the ground. Lila turned to the source of the noise and saw Elise holding a very small, three-legged stool. Isaac was next to her, holding a tiny shelf. In between them laid a pile of assorted projects that had clearly toppled over.

“Oops,” Isaac said sheepishly. Elise rolled her eyes and began stacking the projects again. Isaac bent down to help and Lila shook her head. She was curious about the other storage rooms. Asher was inspecting one on the right-hand side, so she walked over to one on the left-hand side. It looked like the door was lockable from the outside, but she turned the handle easily.

Opening it provided a waft of musty wood, and she stepped inside, blinking in the darkness. It was a small, cool and dark room with an assortment of shapes along the floor and sides. The light switch was outside the room, so she turned on the light and stepped inside. She saw a few pieces of wood that looked like offcuts. ‘They look about right,’ Lila thought, tapping the end of one with her foot. She poked her head out the doorway.

“I think I’ve found something Isaac,” she called.

“For real?” Isaac’s voice sounded as though he didn’t dare believe it. He immediately walked over to the storage room, craning his neck to see inside. Asher appeared behind Isaac’s left shoulder and Lila moved aside so they could come in. The room wasn’t really built to fit more than two people, so she flattened herself against the wall. Isaac knelt down and turned over some of the wood pieces before handing some to Asher.

“Could you hold these for a sec? I just need to check something,” Isaac said quickly. Asher nodded in acknowledgement, and Isaac left. Lila and Asher looked at each other awkwardly for a moment.

“Lunch today?” Lila asked, beginning to sidle towards the room’s exit.

“Yeah,” Asher smiled. “Let’s find a microwave.”

“Ooh, hot food!” Lila said excitedly. She had almost made it to the door when Isaac reappeared.

“Nope,” he said with a mischievous smirk. He then slammed the door shut. She could hear him guffawing on the other side. Rolling her eyes, she jiggled the doorknob. It felt like Isaac was preventing it from turning on the older side.

“Hey!” Lila shouted, banging on the door. “Isaac, you dick, let me out!”

The wood Asher was holding fell to the floor with a thunk.

“What happened?” he asked, moving closer to the door. He was awfully close now, his eyes seeming concerned.

“Isaac’s holding the door closed,” Lila explained, tearing her eyes away from Asher. It felt like her stomach flipped over. Was that from panic? She took a deep breath, willing her heart to calm down but it wasn’t listening. At least Asher smelt good, considering how close he was. Did she smell good? She couldn’t check in this cramped space. The room had felt cool just a moment ago, but Lila felt close to overheating with her body so close to Asher’s.

Asher’s golden-brown eyes lingered on her eyes for just a moment before he began twisting the handle.

“Isaac, it’s not funny,” Asher said sternly. Isaac’s guffawing only grew louder. Suddenly, the light in the room turned off.

“Isaac, let us out,” Asher tried again, his voice firm. Lila could almost hear Isaac pout.

“You guys are no fun,” Isaac said. Then, the door handle wiggled, but the door didn’t open. There was a franticness with the way Isaac continued to rattle the doorknob that bled into Lila’s own state.

“You’re kidding,” she said, her voice strangled with panic. “You locked us in here?”

“I-It was an accident,” Isaac’s voice stammered. Lila heard some scuffling through the door.

“Lila, Asher, you guys okay?” It was Elise. She sounded worried.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Lila replied, slightly relieved that Elise was still there.

“We’ll go grab a teacher,” Grace’s voice said, her voice calm and composed.

“Isaac, you idiot,” Elise reprimanded. “Why did you lock them in there?”

“I didn’t lock them in there,” Isaac protested. “I just closed it and now it’s stuck.”

“C’mon, let’s grab a teacher, Elise,” Grace said, her voice sounding far more distant. “Isaac, you can stay here and think about what you’ve done.”

“Sheesh, I’m never gonna catch a break, am I?” Isaac replied sulkily.

“Can you at least turn the light on?” Asher asked, leaning against the door. Lila could see his hand in his blazer’s breast pocket.

“Sure,” Isaac said. They heard the flick of a switch, but the light didn’t turn on.

“Try that one again,” Asher called, his frustration evident in his voice now. They heard the switch flick twice, but still, the light stubbornly remained off.

“Great,” Asher said sarcastically. “Now the light’s decided to quit on us too.”

Lila’s eyes had adjusted fully now, and she saw Asher’s eyes shift from the door to her. He pulled his hand out of his blazer pocket and waved something familiar in the air.

“Can you give me a hand?” he asked, his smile evident through the dark. Lila’s eyes lit up as she recognised what it was. It was the lockpicking kit.

“You keep that on you?” she asked, giving a shocked laugh.

“Can’t very well keep it just out in the house,” Asher said simply. “People will see it and ask questions. We’ll need a light so I can see what I’m doing. Need to be accurate with this.”

“Are you sure you want to do this in front of Isaac?” Lila asked in a low voice. “Surely it’ll be hard to explain.”

“Guys,” Isaac’s voice sounded apprehensive. “You know I can hear you right? What are you talking about?”

“Trying to concentrate, Isaac,” Asher replied, squatting now in front of the door handle. He put the lockpicking set on the floor next to him as Lila turned her phone’s torch on.

“Lila, you’ll need to get closer,” Asher said, frowning.

“Sorry,” Lila replied, moving closer to Asher’s left shoulder. He selected a pick and tension wrench.

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“A little more to the left,” Asher said, guiding her phone to the right spot. “I need to see as much as I can of the inside.”

“Asher,” Isaac’s voice called, sounding slightly panicked now. “Seriously, what are you guys doing?”

“Busy, dude,” Asher replied with a huff. He began to peer into the lock.

“Actually, I think I might need your help getting it in,” Asher said after a second, gesturing with the pick. “I can’t really see from this angle. Once it’s in, I can take it from there.”

“Alright,” Lila replied. “Let me just get a feel for it first…”

Lila gently touched the lock and slotted the pick into the right spot.

“That’s all I need,” Asher said gratefully. “You can back up a bit, I need a bit of space to move.”

Lila moved back, holding the torch above her head. He fiddled with the lock for a couple seconds, before sighing.

“Can you change positions a little bit, Lila?”

“Yeah,” Lila said, clearing her throat. Her arm was beginning to ache, and she switched up how she was holding her phone.

“Ooh, yup – nope, too far. Yes, that’s good,” Asher muttered, as he began to work the tools within the lock. “Just hold it there.”

He rotated the pick, listening intently to the sounds it was making.

“Actually, Lila, can you put some pressure here?” Asher asked, moving his right hand towards the door, near the lock. Lila blushed – that would involve leaning her chest over Asher as he worked. This was getting way, way too close. Lila followed his instruction, though the position he was asking of her meant that her hand fell heavily on the door. The heat from Asher’s body was starting to make her sweat now. She loosened her scarf a bit as Asher continued to adjust his tools.

“Wait, can you hold onto this?” Asher asked, still looking at the lock. He let go of the pick and waved the set of lockpicks up in the air.

“With what hands?” Lila replied.

“Just put it in your mouth or something,” Asher asserted. “Depending on how this goes, I may need another one quickly. It’ll be easier to get if it’s on you.” Lila reluctantly bent over and took the set from Asher’s hands between her teeth.

“Guys?” Isaac asked tentatively.

“Whaaat?” Lila replied, her voice heavily muffled by virtue of the picks.

“Hey,” Asher warned. “You’ll drop the evidence. We need to take it with us so the teachers don’t find out about this.”

“Let me just slip it back into your pocket then,” Lila said after taking her hand from the door and relieving her mouth of the lockpicks, her tone slightly frustrated.

“Fine,” Asher shrugged, his shoulders grazing the door.

“I’ll need you to stop moving for a sec,” Lila said pointedly. Asher stopped moving the picks and waited as she lifted his blazer slightly and dropped the set down into his breast pocket. She repositioned her hand on the door with a grunt, having fallen slightly against it.

“I’m gonna need a break,” Lila groaned to Asher after a few seconds. He looked up at her, almost bumping her chest with his head. He immediately looked back down again and nodded. She stood up, the door flexing back to its natural state.

“You’re just so warm,” Lila said, fanning her face. “I’m getting all sweaty even though it’s winter.”

“Sorry,” Asher replied, still not looking at her. He adjusted the door handle, but it still didn’t give. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Lila replied, placing her hand back on the door and holding the phone in just the right place.

“Can you give it less pressure?” Asher asked, adding his own weight to the door. Lila did so and he made a sound of displeasure.

“Actually, a bit more please,” he requested. Lila complied. A few seconds passed and Asher adjusted his weight on the door a couple more times.

“Oh, I think it’s coming,” Asher said excitedly. Lila heard several tell-tale clicks.

“Thank God,” she said, sighing in relief. “I’m gonna cramp up here if you keep this up.”

“No seriously, I’m losing my godamn mind out here,” Isaac’s voice said urgently. “What’s going on?”

“Godammit Isaac, you’re ruining it,” Asher half-shouted. Isaac fell silent and a second or two passed before Asher hit his head against the door. “Fuck,” he hissed. “Lost it.”

“It’s okay,” Lila replied. “We can keep going. You’ve got this. How many times have you done it now?”

“A few,” Asher responded absently. She could hear the grin in his voice though. A few more seconds passed, and with one final click, Asher paused.

“I think I’ve done it,” he said. “It was a bit different this time, since we’re in a new place and I could hardly see, but I managed it.”

“Can I move?” Lila asked.

“Sorry, yeah,” Asher said quickly. Lila straightened up and Asher stood. He turned the door handle and burst out of the storage room. The sudden rush of light stung Lila’s eyes and she hid her face.

“What the heck?” Isaac’s stunned voice asked. “How- what? I thought you guys were…”

“What?” Asher asked, seeming smug. Lila lowered her hands and saw him collect the tools he’d used and swiftly place them in his blazer with the rest. Isaac’s eyes bulged as he stared at the door in disbelief. Isaac turned his head to look at Lila, clearly baffled.

“What just happened?” he asked. Lila readjusted her scarf and stared back at Isaac. His face seemed red, but she couldn’t figure out why.

“Asher just worked his magic,” Lila replied, glancing at Asher. “I guess you could say he’s good with his hands.” She’d leave it up to Asher to explain if he wanted to. Lockpicking was a pretty suspicious hobby to get into, after all.

“That doesn’t help me understand at all,” Isaac replied, turning to look at Asher now. “You guys sounded like you were getting up to something.”

Asher looked at Isaac in apparent confusion before his face turned a bright scarlet. He aggressively cleared his throat before grabbing a hold of Isaac’s shoulders.

“It wasn’t like that!” Asher hissed.

“Doesn’t look like it!” Isaac’s voice was sharp, sounding anxiety-riddled. Then, he deepened his tone and changed his posture to mirror Asher’s usual stance. “Lila, I need your help getting it in. I need to see the inside.”

Isaac’s eyes flashed over to Lila. Then he raised his pitch and began swaying like a coy schoolgirl, twirling imaginary hair strands by his shoulder. “Oh, Asher, we can keep going. You’re so warm! I’m so sweaty! Oh, no, you need to stop moving! Oh, I’m going to cram-!”

Asher slapped a hand over Isaac’s mouth, breathing heavily. Lila watched on in bemusement, trying to think why Isaac repeated what she and Asher had said when picking the lock.

“Asher, what’s Isaac talking about?” Lila asked, frowning. “Tell me.”

“Absolutely not,” Asher shook his head vehemently.

“Why not?” Lila pressed.

“If you didn’t get it, I’m not about to tell you,” Asher replied stubbornly, his face a brilliant shade of red, his hand still firmly clamped around Isaac’s mouth as he fought to keep him still. “You can keep your innocence.”

“My innocence?” Lila furrowed her brow. “What if I don’t want it?”

Asher’s eyes flickered to hers. “You don’t need to know,” he said quietly. “Isaac was just overreacting.”

“Overreacting?” Lila looked at Isaac, who continued to struggle against Asher’s grip. Asher didn’t answer. She pursed her lips as she tried to piece together what Isaac and Asher had been getting at. Then, the answer sucker-punched her in her stomach. She jolted, her face aflame, looking at Asher in horror, a scream escaping her lips. He looked at her in alarm and instantly let go of Isaac, who looked equally alarmed.

“What?” Asher asked, half-yelling.

“I-I,” Lila stuttered, trying to force words to come to her.

“You… figured it out?” Asher asked, his expression sitting somewhere between terrified and amused. Lila nodded briskly.

“I t-think,” she added, her heart almost leaping out of her chest. Isaac immediately began laughing, hiding his face behind his hands.

“That’s not exactly the reaction a guy hopes for,” Asher replied with a grimace. “You seem absolutely terrified.”

Lila immediately turned away from Asher, trying to compose herself. Isaac’s laughter only grew louder. It was reminiscent of a hyena as it echoed across the storage room.

“I-I’m not terrified,” Lila managed to get out, turning back to Asher. “Just surprised.”

“Also, not what a guy hopes for,” Asher lamented. “Can you shut up, Isaac?”

“I’m not objecting-” Lila insisted, before catching herself. Asher stared at her, his eyes as wide as an owl’s. Isaac’s laughter ceased. Lila’s blush deepened even further and she hid her face in her hands.

“I didn’t mean-” she started to say before Asher cut her off.

“It’s okay,” he said softly. “People get things twisted when they’re flustered. I know that’s not what you meant.”

Isaac sighed heavily. “You two are absolutely dense,” he said, his tone distinctly disappointed. “Seriously.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lila asked hotly, glaring up at Isaac. He shook his head, bringing a hand to his forehead as if he was going through a divorce and struggling to make ends meet.

“What were you two doing if it wasn’t having se-” Isaac began to ask before Asher grabbed his shoulders again, forcing Isaac to look at him.

“You can’t tell anyone,” Asher insisted desperately. Isaac nodded fretfully, staring at Asher with wide eyes.

“I picked the lock,” Asher said, letting go of Isaac and pulling out the kit from his blazer pocket. He briefly opened it and Isaac gave a low whistle. Asher put it away again and looked expectantly at Isaac, who began cackling. He cackled so hard he almost retched.

“Damn, dude,” Isaac said after quietening down. “I didn’t know you were that badass.”

“I’d hardly call it badass,” Asher replied stiffly. “Just mildly shifty.”

“Definitely not the Asher of last year,” Isaac laughed, clapping Asher on the shoulder. “Where did my straight-laced, pride of the College, Mr Dux go?”

Asher glanced at Lila before shrugging. “Still here,” he said. “Definitely still a rule-follower.”

“You busted out of that door like a master thief, my guy,” Isaac laughed again, shaking his head. Then, he looked at Lila and asked, “Also, why do you know about it, Lila?”

“U-Uh, we were… practising at Asher’s,” Lila stammered.

“Practising for what?” Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow.

“For the day you’d lock us in a storage room like an idiot, clearly,” Asher said drily.

“You guys still okay in there?” a voice, sounding identical to Grace’s, from behind them called. Elise and Grace entered the room, a thoroughly disgruntled-looking Mr Dillon in tow.

“Wait, why are you guys out of the storage room?” Elise asked, stopping short. Mr Dillon exhaled heavily before immediately spinning on his heel and heading back down the hallway.

“Sorry sir!” Grace called behind him before whipping around to look at Asher, Lila and Isaac.

“How’d you guys get out?” Elise demanded.

“It wasn’t as locked as we thought,” Isaac said hurriedly, giving Asher and Lila a meaningful look. Lila nodded.

“Coulda told us,” Elise huffed, crossing her arms. “Mr Dillon was real grumpy. He didn’t want to come rescue you guys until we said it was super jammed.”

“That sounds like him,” Lila replied with a half-smile.

“They only just got out before you guys came back,” Isaac explained.

“Oh,” Elise said simply. “So, we could’ve just waited.”

“I don’t think you would’ve wanted to do that,” Isaac replied, laughing again.

“What’s so funny?” Grace asked curiously.

“Almost lost my mind,” Isaac managed to say between breaths, shaking his head. “Thought something wildly different was going on.”

“Like what?” Elise pressed.

“It ended up being nothing,” Isaac said, wiping two tears of laughter from his eyes. “Don’t worry about it.”

Elise and Grace exchanged a look before shrugging in unison.

“Let’s grab what we need and get outta here,” Isaac declared. “And no closing doors. For the love of God and the sake of my eardrums.”

Lila frowned but returned to the task at hand.

“Wait, what do you mean, the sake of your eardrums?” Elise asked curiously.

“D-Don’t mind him,” Lila almost shrieked, grabbing Elise’s wrist and pulling her forward. “Let’s look over here!”

----------------------------------------

Now that it was lunchtime, Lila couldn’t erase the memory of Isaac’s accusation. The awkwardness she was feeling seemed to be felt by Asher as well, as he’d hardly looked at her as they walked to the library for lunch. They heated up their containers of spaghetti bolognese with a Thai-inspired chilli twist and sat down in an empty meeting room in silence.

She opened her Tupperware container, and an explosive fusion of various spices and flavours hit her nose, making her mouth water. She began to wrap her food around her fork, and still no one had said anything.

Lila looked up at Asher. She saw that his eyes were glazed over as he looked down at his spaghetti, his fork slack in his hand. She wanted to know what he was thinking. But was she brave enough to ask? He’d been entirely open with her in the past, so she had no reason to believe that he wouldn’t be now… What was she so afraid of?

The numerous times people had warned her to not get close to Asher because she would get hurt flooded her mind all at once. Preserving their friendship, keeping things the way that it was now… that didn’t hurt. There were certain vulnerabilities that she needed to keep close to her chest. She couldn’t risk irreversibly damaging their friendship. She’d grown fond of how it had grown and the memories they’d shared. Opening the door to the unknown… a future possibility where Asher was no longer in her life… now that was worth screaming in terror about.

She’d forgotten how her life had been without him in it. It seemed duller, somehow. The distant echoes of days spent passing him in the halls without a second glance, without his gentle smile and cheery wave… what were they like again?

“… Lila?”

Asher was surveying her intently. She’d zoned out.

“S-Sorry,” Lila apologised, looking back down at her food. It was getting a lot colder with each passing second. She began to shovel it into her mouth with gusto.

“I don’t know if you heard me,” Asher said quietly, putting his now-empty Tupperware container back into his lunchbox. “But… my next debate. It’s next Friday. A home match.”

Lila blinked up at Asher. “So soon?” she asked. He nodded.

“Yeah… I only just joined back up properly last week and I’ve been easing back into it. My teammates forgot to tell me when it was until this morning. Not like we really have to prepare for it, since we don’t know the topic until the day. I just didn’t have an opportunity to tell you about it, except now.”

“I’ll be there,” Lila said firmly. Asher’s posture relaxed slightly after she said that.

“Glad to hear it,” he smiled. “I hope you enjoy all the snacks the school puts out for it.”

“Colour me intrigued,” she smiled back. She checked her phone before packing away her empty Tupperware container and pulling out the frosted chocolate muffin within another container.

“Got about ten minutes before I have to get Ayaka,” Lila said, biting into it.

“Tomorrow’s your last day with her, yeah?” Asher asked. Lila nodded.

“Invite her to have lunch with us,” Asher said simply. “I’ll get Gabriel to pull out all the stops.”

“Alright,” Lila replied, opening up her LINE app and requesting lunch with Ayaka tomorrow. Ayaka responded affirmatively within seconds. Lila relayed this to Asher, who beamed.

“Awesome,” he replied, seeming pumped. “Hope she likes it.”

“Of course she will,” Lila replied easily. “Gabriel’s making it, impossible not to like.”

“There’s been people who haven’t liked his food, you know,” Asher responded bluntly.

“Bet they’re all untrustworthy,” Lila replied, her nostrils flaring. He laughed.

“Actually, yeah. All of them,” he finally replied.

“There you go,” Lila said proudly. “If you ever need to test how trustworthy someone is, you should have Gabriel make them some food. It’s foolproof!”

Asher’s eyes lingered on Lila’s for a moment before his face broke into a wide grin.

“I’ll let him know he has to vet everyone that way. He’ll be delighted,” Asher chuckled.