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CHAPTER TEN
JUNE 2012
After that fateful concert where I met Asher, Sean, and Ronnie, I texted Ash almost every single day. I’d only seen him in person a couple of times since then. Once was when I surprised him at his high school graduation. He was so shocked that I’d come to watch him cross the stage, and I’m glad I did despite being nervous about it, because the look on his face when he noticed I was there was well worth it. As it turned out, I was the only one in the crowd who’d shown up for him, as all his other friends were graduating with him, and his scumbag parents didn’t even bother to come. Asher dodged my questions about his parents, and I let him, but I hoped he’d open up to me one day when he was ready.
The only other time I saw him was when he came to hang out at my place down in Fredericksburg. Ash didn’t have a car, so I drove up to Stafford to pick him up, even though the construction paired with the awful drivers made the thirteen miles feel like three hundred.
I’d pulled up to his trailer home and understood a little bit more. The trailer wasn’t one of the nice ones that you see sometimes. It looked decades old and was run-down and covered in mildew from the outside. Even from where I sat in my parked car, I could tell the home wasn’t level. The roof seemed to cave in on one side, and the greenery surrounding the small patch of land it sat on was unruly. There were beer bottles and old, discarded Solo cups in the yard. No car was parked in the drive, but Ash had instructed me to park on the side of the road and he’d come out to meet me.
His face looked shameful when he opened the passenger side door and hopped in. I drove away from the trailer without saying a word about it. I wanted to comfort him somehow—after I’d realized he trusted me by showing me that side of his life—but I couldn’t think of what to say or do, so I simply played one of my playlists over the car speakers.
Once we hit the highway back to Fredericksburg, he was bobbing his head along to the music, and his shoulders had eased a bit. He told me at graduation that he wanted to move out as soon as possible. He had packed a bag for the weekend to stay at my place, and we spent the two nights listening to music, playing video games, walking around my neighborhood, and eating all the food Mom made us. On the way back to his parents’ home, Asher told me that they weren’t good people. He didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t pry.
After a few hangouts and many long conversations via text, I started calling him Ash instead of Asher. I think he preferred Ash, anyway, but now that we were closer, I felt more comfortable referring to him by his nickname.
One weekend in June when Ash came over for a visit, he didn’t go back home.
My mother had taken one good look at him and declared he was much too skinny as soon as she met him. The second time he visited, she insisted he bring his laundry for her to wash. I didn’t tell Mom anything about his home life, but something told me he had opened up to her in a way I wasn’t aware of. Mom has always been like that. She’s the person you confide in, even if she’s a stranger to you.
Mom had taken one whiff of the stale cigarette smoke on his clothes, looked at the holes in his t-shirts and jeans, and noticed that his clothes were a bit too small, and that was it. We were playingCall of Dutydown in the basement where I kept my Xbox and drum set and a couple of old, ratty couches, when Mom came marching down the stairs. Usually, she knocked, but not that time.
She pointed at Ash and gave him her beautiful, well-lined smile from years of laughing and smirking, and motioned for Ash to come with her. When he came back, he looked at me with glossy, red eyes and said, “Your mom wants me to crash with you guys for a while.” He looked like this was an unbelievable offer, but I knew Mom. It wasn’t the first time we’d taken in someone in need. That’s how we came to rescue our three dogs, four cats, and my youngest sister, Amy.
“Are you okay with that?” Ash asked.
I slapped him on the back. “Hell yeah, dude. Why not?”
My character in the video game died, but I didn’t pay it any attention. I set my controller down and turned to face him.
“I-I don’t know. We d-don’t know each other that well, and I don’t want to impose on your family and—”
I grabbed his hand in mine. It was a weirdly intimate gesture, but it didn’t feel weird. He almost took his hand back, but I held it firmly. “Dude. It’s fine. Amy is a junior in high school, so she’s hardly ever around, and our older sister, Ellie, lives in Richmond. Mom has the space, and we love the company.” I released his hand. “Does she want you to move into the guest room?”
Our house had more than enough space, and even if it didn’t, I felt like Ash would have been more than happy to stay in the basement. Fortunately, Mom wasted no time when Ellie left for school. She turned her old bedroom into a guest bed so that Ellie could still stay over during her breaks, but it was also a neutral space for family and friends to come and stay, too. Mom wasn’t the type to preserve her kid’s childhood bedrooms. She liked a new project, and she liked to decorate. The first weekend Ellie was gone, she boxed up all her belongings in secure storage boxes and had me and Dad put them in the attic. “Everything she really needs, she has with her,” Mom had said.
Ash nodded. “She wants…” he trailed off and shifted in his spot on the couch. “This is so embarrassing.”
I frowned. “What? You can talk to me.” Despite only hanging out with Asher—well, I’d gotten into the habit of calling him Ash by then—a few times, he’d easily become my closest friend besides Emma. I didn’t want him to feel embarrassed. I wanted him to let me in through the giant walls he’d built up around him.
He refused to meet my gaze, but after a drawn-out period of silence, he said, “She wants to take me to get new clothes. She wants me to go to the grocery store with you and pick out food thatIlike.And…” he huffed but told me about the last part in a rushed sentence, “she wants me, you, and your Dad to get the rest of my stuff from my parents’ place tomorrow. She said she’d come to help, but she’s pissed at my parents, and she doesn’t know if she can ‘keep cool.’”
I couldn’t help but grin. Good ole Mom. I could see how all her demands would be overwhelming, though. Especially since he was used to absent, unobservant parents.
“Anything you don’t want to do, you just tell her,” I said.
Ash looked up at me for the first time. “I don’t want to take advantage of your parents. New clothes and food? That’s expensive.”
I shrugged my shoulders. We weren’t rich by any means, but we were comfortable. Ellie had gotten into university on a full scholarship, and I paid for my community college classes out of my own pocket, though Mom bought my textbooks. Dad was a pretty well-known and highly respected attorney at a private family law firm, and Mom was a substitute Spanish teacher for several of the local schools. Buying Ash a new wardrobe and some food wouldn’t break us.
“I know it’s a bit uncomfortable to have their help, but Ash, believe me when I tell you that my mom wants to do this for you. And my dad will too.” Ash had yet to meet my father, but I wasn’t worried about them getting along. “And if you really want, once you get a job, you can try and repay Mom, but I’m telling you right now that she won’t take a penny.”
He gave me a half-hearted smile and shook his head.
“There’s no way in hell that I’m letting Mom take you shopping, though.” I took a sip of my Mountain Dew that rested on the coffee table in front of us, then leaned back on the couch and picked up my controller. “Mom doesn’t think black should be in the majority of a person’s wardrobe, and she’ll try and get you to wear Polo shirts and khakis. I’ll take you.”
He beamed at me, then he eased back into the couch beside me after picking up his controller and taking a deep breath. “That sounds good. But let’s come home withonePolo shirt. I’ll wear it for her.” He turned to me and wagged a finger. “But only on very special occasions.”
