Tags:
Drama,
Religión,
Fiction,
Romance,
Young Adult,
Angst,
Teenager,
teen,
Christianity,
teen fiction,
Relationships,
sexting
put her hand on my shoulder. She had absolutely no idea what was happening in my head, and that somehow made it worse.
“Come on, Faith, let’s go set the table,” she said, with a soft squeeze.
ELEVEN
I was avoiding eye contact with Asher as much as possible. Whenever he was around, I felt like a ball of exposed nerve endings, waiting for something to jump out and hurt me.
However, I found there was no way I could avoid watching him when he wasn’t looking at me. And not just because he was total eye candy.
I couldn’t help but notice how sweet and gentle he was with his younger siblings, and how he seemed to take his role as a big brother very seriously. Whenever he was around, he was forever giving piggyback rides or answering endless questions or quietly instructing. He would listen patiently to the little kids, not once laughing at them or shrugging them off.
It was undeniably adorable.
As Abigail and I did the dishes after dinner the next night, I decided to take a risk and ask about him.
“So what does Asher do all day? Does he have a job or something?”
Abigail shook her head. “He used to take classes at the community college in Carbondale. But that turned out to be a bad idea, so he works a lot with Daddy and around the farm. He’s going into the house-building business with Daddy officially, as soon as he saves up enough money to invest.”
“Why was community college a bad idea?” I asked, as casually as possible.
Abigail gave me a sidelong look, as if assessing me. I tried to look innocent, wondering if I’d taken my questioning too far.
“I mean, not that I—”
“Honestly, it’s a little bit of a scandal,” she whispered, interrupting me.
“Really?” Now this was interesting. Asher had a scandal, too? Was this the mysterious “trouble” that Abigail had asked her readers to pray about?
“You have to promise you’ll never breathe a word to anyone about this! Not ever ever!”
I solemnly promised.
“Okay, I’m only telling you because I trust you completely.” Abigail took a deep breath and leaned in toward me, speaking softly. “Last year, Asher met a girl from town in one of his classes and he claims that they fell in love .”
She said it like it was the worst, most shameful thing that a nineteen-year-old guy could do. As if it were on par with throwing puppies in a river or running over a little old lady.
“Really?” I said, trying to look shocked. “In love?”
“Yes.” Abigail went back to scrubbing a pan. “Daddy was so furious. This girl was a total stranger—she wasn’t even a real Christian! She went to public school and goes to a Catholic Church. Can you imagine? Daddy told Asher that clearly the devil had gotten into him. That he had been tempted, and he’d been weak and had fallen, and now his soul is tainted.”
“Wow,” I said, blinking rapidly, trying to assemble all this information in my head. “You said he met her in one of his classes?”
“They were assigned to work on a project together, which Asher never even told us about, and they spent time alone.” I knew that I was supposed to gasp in a horrified manner at this, so I did. Asher spending time alone with an unrelated and unmarried girl was highly forbidden, of course. It’s as if everyone thought teenagers would start bonking like bunnies if they didn’t have constant supervision. “And he told me that one thing just led to another and they talked about all sorts of things and he really liked her. Apparently, even though she wasn’t a real Christian, she was actually very nice.”
Imagine that.
“Well, what happened next?” I asked, wincing as I rinsed a pot in the scalding hot water.
“Asher snuck around with her for weeks, and then Daddy found out. This was, oh, six months ago or so. One of the men from our church saw them together at a park. Holding hands and kissing, right out in public! Daddy got in such a rage, it was scary. He told Asher he had to quit school