Chapter Sixty-Four

The bus trundled to a stop outside Lila’s usual bus stop and she tapped Asher’s arm. He followed Lila off the bus, Daniel close behind. None of them spoke as Lila led the way to the Moloney home, her keys jangling as she unlocked the house. She opened the front door for the boys and Daniel entered, his eyes seeming downcast. Asher hesitated.

“Do I just go in?” he asked tentatively.

“Yeah,” Lila affirmed. “We’re a shoes-off household, too. Just pop them in the entryway. You’ll see a billion shoes there.”

Asher passed through the doorway and Lila followed, closing the door behind her. Daniel was nowhere in sight. Asher straightened up his shoes perfectly, before staring at them for a second and kicking them slightly so they were skewed. Lila privately thought this was amusing, but didn’t draw any attention to it.

“We’ll give Daniel a minute to sort himself out,” Lila suggested, gesturing for Asher to follow her. He looked nervously about the house, his eyes resting on one particular picture of Jesus.

“You… have a lot of Jesus pictures,” he said quietly. Lila also found this comment quite amusing.

“Sure do,” she chuckled. “No sinning in this house, please.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Asher replied, his face turning a strange shade of pink. He averted his gaze, looking instead down the hall.

“There’s the kitchen,” Lila said, gesturing for Asher to head in, which he obliged with a hint of curiosity playing across his face.

“Hello, Asher,” came Clare’s excessively polite voice. “Fancy seeing you here under these circumstances.”

Lila groaned. She hadn’t realised that Clare would be home now.

“What’re you doing here, Clare?” Lila asked, passing through the doorway. Clare was perched on a chair at the kitchen counter, looking towards Asher with great interest.

“It’s exam time,” Clare said simply.

“So?”

“So, I don’t have class. Surprise.”

Asher was standing awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen, looking back and forth between Lila and Clare.

“Do you want a juice or a soft drink?” Lila asked, opening the fridge.

“A juice would be great,” Asher said, his voice wavering slightly. Lila smirked as she pulled out a carton of juice. He definitely seemed intimidated by Clare.

“I don’t bite, you know,” frowned Clare, sitting back in her chair.

“I know,” Asher said quickly as Lila poured three cups of juice. She handed one to Asher and Clare. Both thanked Lila before Clare sighed deeply.

“I guess I was pretty angry, the first time I met you,” Clare said softly, tracing the edge of her cup. “Sorry about that.”

“No, no,” Asher remarked emphatically. “We were in the wrong.”

“I can’t disagree,” Clare laughed, taking a sip of her drink. “But it’s okay. You can relax here. Clare isn’t as uptight as Roxy.”

Lila snorted before quickly taking a sip of juice as well, avoiding eye contact with Clare.

“What’re you tutoring Daniel in?” Clare asked, clearly choosing to ignore Lila.

“Maths,” Asher replied instantly.

“Really? I thought he was pretty good at Maths.”

“Yeah. He’s having trouble wording the assignment,” Lila interjected. “You remember the weird wordiness of Maths assignments.”

“That I do,” Clare nodded sagely. “Hated those things. I’ll let Mum and Dad know you’re here. They should be home in an hour or two. You guys better head upstairs.”

“Thanks,” Lila smiled, taking her cup with her. Asher seemed grateful to be dismissed.

“Lila,” Clare called, just as Lila was about to round the corner.

“Yeah?” Lila replied, not wanting to double back.

“Keep your bedroom door open.”

“Mine? Why?”

“Dad told me to tell you. Said it was a rule when a boy’s over or something.”

“Not like I’m going to be in my room,” Lila retorted, rolling her eyes.

“I’m just telling you how it is. It’s either that, or I sit in on the thrilling study session.”

Lila paused. Clare sitting in would be the worst scenario in the circumstances. “Okay, okay, jeez,” Lila called back. “Let’s go, Asher.”

As requested, Lila opened her door. She glanced at Asher, who seemed more interested in the ceiling than her room, his hands firmly in his pockets. She could’ve sworn that his face was reddening, though she couldn’t quite see from this angle. What she could see, though, was the strap of his school bag digging into his left shoulder.

“Do… you want to put your stuff in my room?” Lila asked, placing her cup on her desk to keep her hands free.

“Is that okay?” Asher questioned, still looking elsewhere.

“‘Course,” Lila replied. Her heart began to drum rapidly in her chest as she gingerly placed her school bag and laptop inside her room beside her desk. Asher didn’t move a muscle.

“You can come in,” Lila said, uncertainty as to why he was still standing there evident in her tone. She took stock of the state of her room, which was pretty tidy. Of course, nothing would match the exceptional neatness of Asher’s room, but she wasn’t ashamed of hers by any means.

Asher warily entered, looking like he was holding his breath.

“I can see why you had a problem going into my room, now,” Asher said stiffly, putting his cup down and taking his bag off his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Lila replied lamely, watching him put it down next to hers. “Let’s get outta here.”

They picked up their glasses of juice from Lila’s desk and Lila knocked on Daniel’s door. She could hear rustling from inside. A few seconds later, he opened the door, his face flushed.

“Come in,” he said quietly, opening the door fully to let them through.

Lila crossed Daniel’s room, sitting immediately on his bed. Asher carefully walked in, and Daniel gestured to his desk.

“You can sit at my desk,” he said, closing the door.

“Clare said I have to keep my door open,” Lila said promptly.

“Yeah, your door,” Daniel countered. “She said nothing about mine.”

“Whatever,” Lila sighed, leaning back on her elbows. “If Clare comes a knocking, irate, I’ll tell her you said that.”

“Fine,” Daniel retorted sharply. Asher glanced up at the corkboard above Daniel’s desk before sitting down in his chair.

“That’s people who owe larger amounts of money,” Daniel explained, his voice sounding somewhat pained. “I needed to keep track.”

“Sure,” Asher acknowledged. “I didn’t think you had a bunch of pictures of people for decoration. More importantly, show me what you’ve been doing.”

Daniel leaned over Asher’s shoulder, taking the top notebook from the same stack Lila had previously seen and opening it up.

“Livi gives me a notebook at the end of morning tea, one at the end of lunch, and one after school. They’re colour-coded so we know which is which. Anyway, I work through the morning tea notebook at lunch, the lunch notebook after school, and the after-school notebook at morning tea. I swap her for one I’ve finished with when she gives me the one she was working on. Originally, we just used one notebook, but then we got a huge rush of people who figured out about the loans and needed this system. Otherwise, there’d be no way for me to keep up.”

Asher remained silent, though Lila could hear him turning through the pages of the notebook.

“Where do you do your calculations?”

“In this one,” Daniel said, pulling a thick, red accounting book from his school bag. “All done by hand, but I check each figure three times.”

“I see,” Asher murmured, taking the accounting book from Daniel’s hands. He turned more pages before looking back at Daniel.

“Your system sucks,” Asher said simply. “But I reckon I know where I can fix it. At least, some of it.”

“Really?” Daniel asked, his voice sounding hopeful.

“Yeah,” Asher replied gravely. “Only problem is, I’ll need a week or so to go through what you’ve already done to make sure everything’s adding up before porting it all to a new way of doing things, judging by this stack next to me. Why haven’t you used a computer for all this?”

“I know I need to,” Daniel uttered reluctantly, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. “But I’ve been doing it by hand for so long, and that system works even if it sucks. Plus, it’s harder to delete records from paper than on a computer.”

“Delete records?” Lila questioned, sitting up straight with interest. “That’s a strange thing to say.”

“… well… I’ve had a feeling that something odd has been happening,” Daniel said lightly. “I can’t put my finger on it though. The numbers add up, but there’s something about them that’s been bothering me.”

“I can look at that too,” Asher offered, “as long as you guide me to what feels off.”

Lila only half-listened as Daniel explained his process further to Asher and the amounts he was working with. Once Daniel finished, Asher gave a low whistle.

“Dude, this is insane,” Asher said weakly. “That… those numbers are ridiculous.”

“I know,” Daniel responded, his voice between exasperation and despair. “I don’t know what to do.”

“That’s fine,” Asher replied confidently, drumming the desk briefly. “You can leave it to me, for now. Once it’s tidied up, I’ll tell you what the new process is. By my rough estimate, I reckon you’ll get your lunches back and some time for touch footy or soccer, whichever you want.”

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“Really?” Daniel’s voice perked up considerably before he paused. “But… the seasons for both have already started.”

“You might be benched for a couple games, but I’m sure they’ll have you on board, especially since you played last year.”

“… the touch footy coach did ask me to come back a couple days ago, but I said my schoolwork was keeping me way too busy,” Daniel murmured.

“That’s a good sign!” Lila said excitedly, leaning towards Daniel with a genuine smile. “They obviously want you.”

“If you want to do touch footy, set it up with your coach now,” Asher muttered, his head low to Daniel’s desk, as though peering closely at the books upon it. “So they can prepare.”

Daniel looked back at Lila, a grin flashing across his face. She nodded encouragingly at him, beaming.

“Thanks,” Daniel said, sounding incredibly relieved. “That’s the best news I’ve heard for a while.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Asher replied distractedly. The room fell silent as Asher continued to read through the books Daniel gave him.

“Daniel,” Lila piped up after a couple minutes. “What was up with the weird-ass drop-off?”

Daniel gave Lila a sideways glance before turning red. “Well, drug drop-offs are always done in secret. 3k is a bit much to be flashing around school. I’ve, uh, been watching a lot of CSI when doing accounting.”

“Oh, I can tell,” Asher uttered grimly. “Why is there long division here? Are you sure you’ve been using a calculator?”

Daniel spluttered as he whipped his head back to his desk, explaining his reasoning. Asher nodded a couple times.

“Righto,” Asher stated briskly. “I’m assuming I can’t take these home, right?”

“I… I’d rather they didn’t leave this room,” Daniel whispered, shifting his weight awkwardly.

“No, no, that’s okay,” Asher assured. “Just thinking about what the next week will look like for me.”

“Well, we have practice on Tuesday and you have a debate on Friday,” Lila said contemplatively.

“That I do,” Asher confirmed. “But even if I don’t come over this Friday and next Tuesday, I reckon I’ll be able to finish it up in a week. It might mean I have to come over on the weekend.”

“That should be fine,” Daniel expressed, a determined edge to his voice. “I can ask Mum and Dad. They’ll say yes.”

“You’re pretty confident about that,” Lila observed.

“They… sat me down the other day,” Daniel recalled. “They said they noticed I was off. I said it was because of schoolwork. They suggested a tutor, so I… kinda put Asher up for it.”

“Glad to be of service,” Asher quipped. “As long as I’m not overstepping.”

“It’s about time you’re hanging out at mine, rather than me going to yours,” Lila laughed.

“Lila, it really sounds like you guys are dating,” Daniel said flatly. Asher dropped his pen onto the floor.

“W-We’re not dating,” Lila stammered. “Not even close to dating.”

“Uh huh,” Daniel replied loftily. “Sure, sure.”

Silence fell over the room again while Asher picked up the pen and continued pouring over the books. As Lila kept observing Asher and Daniel, she realised that the prospect of Asher coming over to Lila’s more often was stirring something within her. She couldn’t articulate what this feeling was, though. Was it excitement? Anticipation? Nervousness? Why?

Asher asked for two clean notebooks, which Daniel supplied eagerly. They continued to work, and Lila thought about going back into her room. They didn’t need her here, surely.

A knock sounded at the door just as Lila thought about getting up.

“Mum and Dad are home,” Clare’s muffled voice stated. “Dinner will be ready in about half an hour. We’re having pumpkin soup.”

“I hope you like pumpkins,” Daniel said to Asher.

“Love ‘em,” Asher replied, though his voice sounded like he was thinking about something else entirely.

“I might just go into my room, guys,” Lila suggested, starting to get up.

“No thanks,” Daniel shot her down. “I’m on the verge of a breakdown. I need you here, sis.”

Asher immediately put his pen down and swivelled in his chair to look at Daniel.

“What’s up?” he asked softly. Daniel looked down before gripping onto his hair.

“I… feel like a failure.”

“I see,” Asher nodded. “Thank you for being honest.” Asher picked up the accounting book and walked over to Lila.

“Lila, flick through this and tell me what you think,” Asher proposed, thrusting the book into her hands.

“I don’t know anything about accounting,” Lila protested, though she took the book.

“Don’t need to know much about accounting for this exercise,” Asher said pointedly. He glanced back at Daniel, who looked awfully sullen now. “Luckily, Daniel is pretty organised with his notes.”

Lila did as Asher asked. He was right – these numbers were ridiculously high. She could see the fees being paid, including what Daniel was keeping and blanched.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, trembling slightly. “You make that much?”

“I’m basically an investor, too,” Daniel said gloomily. “Backed myself into a corner with that move.”

“Daniel, you could probably buy a car right now. Not that you could drive it yet, but damn,” Lila gasped, running her finger down a particular column.

“Exactly,” Asher smirked, taking the book gently from Lila’s hands. “Daniel, you’ve done incredibly well so far. You should be proud. You’re not a failure. I can see by these numbers and how many orders Livi’s been taking – you’re just inundated. All that means is that you need to adjust for that. You don’t need to know everything, especially since this is the first time you’re doing something like this. Besides, everyone feels inadequate once in a while, if not more. But, with the right support, you’ll realise that you’re perfectly adequate as you are. You’re doing nothing wrong and you really should be proud of what you’ve achieved just on your own already.”

“Y-You think so?” Daniel asked tentatively, looking at Asher with shining eyes. He gave Daniel a soft smile as he sat back down.

“Of course. Unlike humans, numbers can’t lie. You’ve got it in black and white, right here. Your idea to do Uber Eats was genius. Sure, it made things incredibly complicated, but it’s paid off in dividends. Don’t worry. We’ll work it out together, alright? We’ve got a plan now, anyway.”

Daniel sniffled and Lila instantly crossed the room. She pulled him into a hug, which he didn’t resist again. She felt his shoulders shake and her right shoulder began to feel wet with tears.

“Did I say something wrong?” Asher asked fretfully.

“No,” Daniel replied, his voice quivering. He wiped at his face and stepped away from Lila. “It… actually feels like I finally have some hope. I just got a bit overwhelmed. Thanks, Asher. Really.”

Asher’s face relaxed into a smile. “Don’t worry about it. There’s no way I’d leave Lila’s brother in the lurch.”

Daniel looked at Lila. “Don’t break up with Asher. He’s a keeper.”

“Shut up,” Lila said, slapping Daniel’s shoulder. “Are you purposefully being dumb?”

Daniel laughed, and Lila felt relieved. If he was teasing her, it definitely meant he was starting to feel better. Asher immediately swivelled back to work, though Lila could have sworn his face was close to cherry-red in colour.

Lila and Daniel continued to hang out in Daniel’s room as Asher worked, discussing all manner of things. They were starting to delve into the merits of a certain anime series when another knock sounded on the door.

“Dinner’s ready,” Clare’s voice called. “Come on.”

Asher put his pen down with a slap and stretched. “I’m starved,” he declared.

“Same,” Daniel concurred.

“Ditto,” Lila added. “Let’s go.”

Lila’s Dad, Mum, and Clare were already sitting around the table, bowls of soup already dished out and waiting to be eaten. Asher shook Lila’s Dad’s hand in a firm handshake again, and politely greeted Lila’s Mum. Lila saw her Mum purse her lips for a moment before she looked at him warmly.

“I hope Daniel hasn’t been giving you much trouble,” Lila’s Mum said as everyone began to tuck into their soups.

“Definitely not,” Asher replied with a knowing smile. “Nothing I can’t help him with.”

“How many years have you been the Dux for?” Clare asked curiously, dipping her piece of buttered bread into her soup.

“Since they started counting it,” Asher responded, blowing onto his spoonful of soup. “So, Grade Seven, I think.”

“Crazy,” Clare breathed. “And you’re hanging out with my sister?”

“Oi,” Lila retorted. “Your sister is right here.”

Everyone shared a chuckle, including Lila.

“What are your career aspirations, Asher?” Lila’s Dad asked, carefully wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“I haven’t really settled on that yet, truthfully,” Asher replied bashfully. “I know it’s a bit late to be floundering, but knowing I’m spoilt for choice is giving me decision paralysis.”

“I know that one,” Clare said eagerly. “Pretty sucky phenomenon. Studied it last semester.”

“Anything you’re particularly leaning towards?” Lila’s Dad queried, swiftly moving on from Clare’s topic before she could go into a rambling speech about it.

“I couldn’t go wrong with being a doctor or a lawyer,” Asher said thoughtfully. “But I’ve been thinking about investigative work lately.”

Lila dropped her spoon into her soup, splashing a bit onto the table. No one seemed to have noticed. She wiped it away with a napkin, refusing to look at anyone for fear of giving something away.

“Interesting choice,” Lila’s Dad boomed. “I’m a PI, myself.”

“You don’t say,” Asher feigned ignorance, sharing a look with Lila. Lila’s Dad immediately launched into details of his work and the types of cases he specialised in, including missing persons. Lila saw Asher grip his spoon tightly, but he otherwise didn’t react with anything besides honest interest and curiosity. Lila did notice, however, that her Dad mentioned nothing of his working with Asher’s Dad.

“By the way,” Daniel interjected after Lila’s Dad ran out of steam. “It looks like I’ll need a lot of help for a week or so. Is it okay if Asher comes over after school until then? And maybe on the weekend, too.”

“Of course,” Lila’s Dad beamed. “He’ll probably be a good influence on you.”

Lila couldn’t help but meet Clare’s eyes, which sparkled with amusement at these words. Clare winked at Lila and she bit back a grin.

Dinner continued with small talk discussions, with some focus given to Asher’s playstyle as a goalie, given Lila’s Dad’s keen interest in soccer. Once dinner was over, Asher helped clear away the table. Lila thought that it was unusual, given the fact that Marlene and Gabriel usually did that for him. Lila could see that he was shaking slightly as he moved towards the kitchen, holding several plates. Were they too heavy for him?

Lila, Asher, and Daniel headed back upstairs once dinner was over, with Asher checking over the notes he’d made. It wasn’t long before a car horn sounded outside Lila’s house.

“That’ll be Marlene,” Asher sighed. “Can I leave this here?”

“Yeah,” Daniel said quickly. “‘Course. You’re coming back tomorrow, right?”

“Sure am,” Asher grinned, standing up with a stretch. “Got more to do.”

“Thanks,” Daniel replied, matching Asher’s grin. “Sorry for the trouble.”

“Don’t be. I love this kinda stuff.”

“Why don’t you be an accountant, then?” Lila suggested.

“Let me rephrase that. I love this kinda stuff as a hobby. Doing it every day for 50-plus years sounds like a nightmare.”

“Noted,” Lila chuckled. She led Asher to her room again, her eyes resting on his jacket that was still hung over her chair. A sudden feeling of guilt came over her as she looked back at Asher. It had been a while since he’d let her borrow it.

“Do you want this back?” she asked, pointing at it.

“Oh,” Asher looked at it for a moment and shrugged. “May as well, since I’m here.”

He folded it over his arm and picked up his school and laptop bags. “Guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow,” he said softly.

“Not like we don’t see each other basically every day,” Lila said with another chuckle.

“I suppose that’s true. We do have English tomorrow afternoon.”

As Lila and Asher passed Daniel’s room again, he stuck his head out.

“See you tomorrow!” he called, waving at Asher. Asher waved back and Daniel retreated again. Asher said goodbye to Lila’s Dad and Mum as he passed the living room. It seemed like Clare had already left for work, under the guise of a study group session at her friend’s place.

Lila stepped outside with Asher, crossing her arms underneath her chest.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I mean it. You’re doing me a huge favour.”

“I meant what I said,” Asher replied firmly. “I wasn’t about to leave Daniel in the lurch. It wouldn’t play well on my conscience. You’re really doing me a favour by letting me help him.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Lila said, the corner of her mouth lifting into a small smile. He winked at her.

“One of my charm points, I’m sure. Goodnight, Lila.”

“Goodnight, Asher.”

Asher headed off towards Marlene’s waiting car and quickly disappeared from view with a wave. Lila slowly headed back upstairs, her face strangely flushed, a funny feeling in her stomach. She hoped she wasn’t getting sick… Perhaps lying down would help her feel better.

She laid down in her bed, her heart beating erratically in her chest. She didn’t feel right. Lila turned to face the wall, her eyes wide open. It wasn’t necessarily unpleasant, but what was it?

Lila closed her eyes as she tried to think. For whatever reason, her mind kept drifting back to Asher. She couldn’t stop thinking about how he helped talk Daniel through his feelings and reassured him. ‘That… was really nice of him,’ Lila reflected as she hugged a cushion close to her chest. Not to mention the fact that Asher would be helping Daniel get everything under control and get Daniel his life back to some degree. Of all the people in the world that she could’ve recruited for the job, she was glad that she chose Asher…

Her heart continued to beat harshly in her chest, its pulse reaching up to her throat. Tingles ran through her body, starting from her feet. It felt as though she was housing a particularly obnoxious bird in her stomach, and her breathing felt restricted as she tried to think of something else. But no matter how hard she fought against it, her mind always went back to Asher. Now, she was thinking about how happy he’d looked at lunch once everything settled down. Would he look that happy again tomorrow when they had lunch with Isaac, Grace, and Elise? Lila hoped so.

As she continued to lay there in bed, a niggling feeling made its way inside her brain. There was something about all this, and everything that she’d been through with Asher, that made her feel giddy and nervous all at once. Was this… a crush?

Everything seemed to click into place within her heart. Now that she’d considered that it was a possibility, there was no going back. This couldn’t be anything else but a crush.

‘I… like Asher… like… seriously like Asher. Why did it take me so long to see it?’ Lila thought as she hugged the cushion even tighter. Thinking back, though, perhaps she had seen it. She’d ignored it, unable or unwilling to face the unshakeable truth… For a while now, too. Her mind began to race as she recalled all the moments that, perhaps, she’d brushed aside for fear of… what exactly?

She pooled together the tapestry of memories she’d created with Asher in her mind’s eye, with every glance, smile, and laugh shared filling the gaps in between. Undoubtedly, he meant a lot to Lila. He was more than a crush.

“He’s my best friend,” Lila whispered to herself. Suddenly, fear tightened its cold grip on her heart. He was, without a doubt, her best friend. She couldn’t risk destroying their friendship. If Asher didn’t like her like she liked him, as Isaac had said, then… what was the point in having this crush?

Lila shook her head furiously. She needed to feel all her feelings first. What Asher did or didn’t want was irrelevant to how she felt about him now. Though if he didn’t want to date her, she’d obviously need to move on… but she didn’t need to, or want to, move on just yet. These feelings… were nice. Warm. Hopeful. She didn’t need to cut them down just yet.