Then and now

Chapter 18: Ashers POV

Amira gets up from the bed suddenly, seemingly remembering something. She goes over to her closet and I sit up, curious. 

I can her her riffling through a whole bunch of papers and other things in her cupboard. She finally seems to find what she is looking for and comes back to sit down next to me on her bed. 

When she puts down a pink notebook, I'm only more confused. The notebook has sloppy but cute lovehearts drawn all over it and 'Amira' written in messy cursive in the middle of it. In the corner the notebook also has a message drawn on, 'DO NOT OPEN, PRIVATE STUFF!'

As soon as I read that it clicks, and I realise that this must be her notebook from when she was young. This is going to be good. 

She doesn't say anything as she flips through the pages until she lands on one and starts to read. 

January

Age 5

I met a boy today. He's so nice and he wanted to play with me. We laughed a lot and played football in my backyard. His name is Asher and he has brown hair and eyes. I want to be Ashers friend.

I can't help but chuckle at the diary entry made by little Amira over 12 years ago. 

Amira puts her hand up, as if to tell me that there's more and she continues reading after flipping a couple of pages over. 

December

Age 8

Asher told me today that I was his best friend. I've never had one before, and I don't know if we have to do special best friend things now. All I know is that if I want anyone to be my best friend it would be Asher. He's the only one who's nice to me at school and I don't laugh with anyone else like I do with him. 

"This is the cutest thing I've ever heard. We were so young." Amira nods and continues with a smile on her face. 

March

Age 9

My friends told me what a crush was today. I think I have a crush on Asher but when I told them Bella said that she had a crush on Asher so I couldn't. 

Amira laughs and tries to hide her blush, and I laugh along with her. 

"Didn't you end up dating Bella?" Amira is still grinning, and I cringe at the memory she is bringing up. 

"When we were like 11. Don't ever mention it again." I look at her with a mock stern look and signal for her to keep reading. 

She flips the page. 

"I wasn't very consistent with this whole diary thing. These entries are like a year apart."

I laugh and she begins to read again. 

July 

Age 11

My dad yelled at me today and now I'm sad. Asher saw me crying through his window and rushed right over to give me a hug. That made me feel better but  my dad calling me 'useless' and a 'waste of space and money,' will always haunt me. Maybe I am a waste of space. 

That entry makes my heart drop, and I think it makes hers sink too. She puts down the notebook and looks at her lap. 

"Maybe thats enough of the diary for today." She puts it back where she found it and the mood of the room has dropped. It really seems like it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I can tell that it is to her. My guess would be it marks the day that her dad started to be different towards her. 

I put her bag over my shoulder and we both leave her room, silently agreeing that it is time to go back to my house. 

She locks the front door behind us when we get outside and then a realisation hits her, and she quickly unlocks the door again and rushes inside before quickly informing me of what she is doing. 

"Forgot something!" I don't have any time to reply as she rushes upstairs and comes back down a couple minutes of waiting later. 

We go to the car and I chuck her bag in the back. 

"What did you forget?" She freezes at the question and slowly turns towards me while putting said thing in her pocket. 

"Just... medication." Amira's voice is nervous and guarded, but I decide not to push any further. 

I just nod and begin to back out of her driveway. Her eyes are trained on her feet, which I am glad about when I see a suspicious looking car dangerously close to her driveway. 

I don't want to alarm Amira, but the person in this car could very well be the fucker, Logan. There are never people who just park on the street like he is, because it is so quiet around here. No one has any reason to be here apart from visiting someone and they can park in said persons driveway if so. 

I could be overthinking it, the protecter in me coming out. But my gut is telling me otherwise. 

In a split second decision, I root for ignoring my gut because I don't want to worry Amira more than she clearly already is. It could be nothing anyways. And she's coming with me, so she will be completely safe. 

We get to my house and I dump her bag in my room with her following behind. I lead her into the living room and tell her my families home. 

"Amira's going to be staying here for a couple nights." I tell my parents frankly and they look shocked, but once they see her their expressions change into a welcoming one. 

"Of course honey. May I ask how come?" My mum is smiling and looking straight at Amira while my father who is next to her shoots me a questioning look. I shake my head, telling him to ask me about it later. 

I look at Amira and she gives me a pleading look, silently asking me to answer the question. 

"Her dad is uh... on a work trip for a couple of days." 

My mother nods understandingly.

"Oh, well then defiantly stay here. It's not safe for young girls to be home alone in this country." Mum rolls her eyes and dad chuckles next to her. My mum secretly hates America, as she didn't grow up here. She grew up in Australia but moved here when she was a young adult for work. 

I know my dad wants to say something about not sleeping in the same bed, but I drag Amira and I away before he can open his mouth. 

I sleep that night on the couch as I did last time, but not before making sure Amira was okay and saying goodnight. 

NOT EDITED