Scattering Lilac Ashes

Chapter One Hundred and Seven

Thursday was yet another dreary winter's day. Lila didn't bother opening her umbrella on her way to English first thing that morning, despite being drizzled on.

Asher, on the other hand, was pacing outside their classroom underneath his umbrella, which bopped in time to his footsteps. It didn't even seem like he noticed her presence, what with how absorbed in his own thoughts he appeared.

She stood there, a few metres away, her heart thumping in her chest. After her conversations with Clare and Daniel, she'd managed to put Asher and his weird behaviour, plus her recent odd, overwhelming and borderline obsession with sex, out of her mind. But seeing him just ahead of her, his face scrunched in clear rumination, and uniform sitting untidily on his frame in all the right places, made it all come flooding back with force. She was tempted to turn around and call in sick to Sickbay, but before she could do so, his eyes locked onto hers.

'Uh oh,' she thought as he drew closer to her, a handsome, joyful smile on his face. 'I'm in trouble now.'

"Morning," he said happily, extending his umbrella so it shielded her from the light rain.

'Oh my God, he's close,' Lila observed internally, trying to will herself not to panic, or at least blush.

"M-Morning," she stammered, pulling her blazer around herself for comfort.

"Are you cold?" he immediately asked, stepping even closer to her. She took a small step back, but not before inhaling his scent. She closed her eyes, her heart kicking it up a notch and running a mile a minute.

"You look cold," he said softly. "Should we go inside?"

"Y-Yeah. If it's open."

Asher again lifted the umbrella high above them both and gestured for Lila to head inside. She swiftly entered, scuttling along to her usual desk and sitting down, already placing her requisite materials on her desk by the time Asher joined her.

"Eager?" he smirked, pulling out his own materials.

"Could say that," Lila replied vaguely, turning her head so he couldn't really see her cherry-red face. Somehow, her thoughts had increased in intensity, her curiosity having ramped up tenfold by the prospect of doing things that she'd never done before with her body. What would it feel like? Would it be painful? From her research, it would seem that it felt "good", but what did that even mean?

She definitely didn't want to expose her search history to Asher, by mistake or otherwise. Once she'd woken up from her nap last night, she'd been sucked into a rabbit hole of articles, advice and anecdotes regarding losing one's virginity – and whether or not that was an outdated misnomer, or even something to value in this day and age.

She'd hoped, evidently erroneously so, that doing some light research would satiate her wondering mind enough to be at ease next to Asher. But all it seemed to have done was alight the fire of desire within her. Desire to explore the answers she was seeking – with him. His sturdy, capable-looking hands would probably caress her quite nicely, his long, slender fingers brushing against her from her neck down-

"Lila?"

Lila jolted, coughing slightly. Asher's golden-brown eyes were wide with concern, looking intently into her own.

"Y-Yes?" she squeaked, readjusting herself in her chair so she was angled away from him.

"I was wondering whether you'd chosen your poems yet," he replied, batting his eyelids in bemusement. "Is everything okay? You went really red all of a sudden."

"D-Did I?" Lila pressed her lips together, looking down at her hands. She'd need to Google how to stop thinking intrusive, sexually-charged thoughts about her best friend when she had a spare moment.