After Death, Love Unveiled (Elara and Lysander)
Unveiled 14

Chapter

14

Daphne and Asher hopped onto the bus together. Asher leaned in close and said under his breath. I'm not seeing you off today."

He couldn't tutor Elara for extra money anymore-he'd picked up a part-time job instead.

Jefferson was buried in debt, and for too long. Asher's earnings had gone straight into covering his father's mess. Now, he had no choice but to fend for himself. Daphne gave a slight nod. "Alright"

on

Meanwhile, Barrett had taken Elara out to get a new phone and then grabbed dinner together. When they got to the restaurant, Lysander was already there, waiting at the table.

Lysander lived in Brookfield with his uncle, Steven Clark, who just so happened to be one of Barrett's close friends. This little dinner was a thinly veiled setup-a meet-the-family type deal that Barrett had been scheming for a while now. Elara had been dead-set against it at first-she only had eyes for Asher-and that threw a wrench into Barrett's plans. But today, she'd finally agreed, and Barrett was feeling pretty pleased. His girl was growing up and, for once, seemed willing to go along with his ideas.

At the table, Barrett and Steven were in the middle of some animated conversation. Elara, sitting across from Lysander, brought up her little bet to jump up a hundred places in the rankings.

Lysander just gave her a nod-cool, unreadable-and Elara wasn't sure what to make of it. "Do you think I'm being reckless? Like, maybe I bit off more than I can chew?"

Lysander's expression softened a bit as he looked at her. "Nah, not at all."

"Really? You think I've got a shot?" She leaned in a little, sounding more eager. I've actually started getting the stuff you've been explaining to me lately."

"Don't stress," Lysander said, his tone calm but steady. "You're smarter than people give you credit for."

By "people," he meant Asher. Asher had once made some snide comment about Elara being slow, and while Lysander hadn't said anything at the time, he'd clocked it.

Elara's face lit up with a relieved smile. That's a huge weight off my shoulders! I was starting to worry I'd be nothing but dead. weight to you."

Lysander smiled back, his voice gentle. "It's no big deal. I've got your back."

Their conversation was going smoothly until Elara noticed the room had gone oddly quiet.

She glanced over to replace her dad, Barrett, and Steven both staring at her with these weird, intense looks.

Feeling embarrassed, she asked, "Uh, Dad? Why are you both looking at me like that?"

Barrett chuckled, brushing it off. "Nothing. Carry on. He turned back to Steven, though his mind was clearly still on her.

As he continued his conversation with Steven, Barrett felt a surge of satisfaction. Elara and Lysander were hitting it off. just like he'd hoped.

But even though he'd handpicked Lysander as her future husband, there was this nagging feeling that his little girl was already on the verge of slipping away from him, swept up in something beyond his control.

After dinner, Barrett and Steven had some stuff to talk about, so Elara and Lysander headed out first.

Instead of going straight home, they stopped by a café to chill for a bit. On a whim, Elara decided to get herself some ice cream and went to order.

Chapter 14

When she came back, she sat down next to Lysander, and they picked up where they left off, talking about their studies.

But her mind kept wandering to the upcoming six-mile run challenge, which was honestly stressing her out-more of a battle of willpower than just stamina.

"Your order's here," a voice suddenly interrupted.

To her shock, the server was none other than Asher. She stared at him, completely caught off guard. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Asher gave her his signature icy glare. "I should be asking you that. What, did you come here to mess with me on purpose?" He seemed convinced that, despite her cool act, Elara still had feelings for him and was just trying to get his attention.. "Get over yourself," Elara replied, unfazed. This was pure coincidence.

Asher glanced at Lysander but didn't say a word, just turned and walked off without looking back, clearly not interested in continuing the conversation.

As Elara watched him saunter away, she couldn't help but scoff. What's he so full of himself for, anyway?

She handed the ice cream to Lysander, who smiled and shook his head. "Nah, you have it. He kindly picked up her backpack as they left the cafe together.

Elara had wanted to stay a little longer, but bumping into Asher had killed the vibe.

Over the next couple of weeks, Elara buried herself in her studies, with Lysander frequently stopping by her place to help out with homework. All that hard work paid off-her grades improved noticeably.

But every time Asher saw her hitting the books, he couldn't resist throwing shade. "Elara, having second thoughts? It's still not too late to quit, you know. Don't say I didn't warn you when you crash and burn. Elaraj

a just frowned, jammed her headphones in, and tuned him out.

Once the midterm was finally over, Elara practically flew home, feeling pretty good about how she'd done. The results weren't out yet, but she knew she'd nailed it.

When she got home and stepped into the yard, she found Lysander lounging around, sipping coffee, with Cotton-who was looking plumper by the day-chilling beside him.

Elara scooped up Cotton, giving the cat an affectionate squeeze, then grinned at Lysander. "What's got you here so early today?"

Lysander looked up at her with that easy smile. "I come early every day."

She shot him a curious look. "Don't you have other stuff going on at school?"

Asher was known as one of the best students at school, right up there with Daphne. Both of them had crazy-packed schedules, constantly swamped with one thing or another. Then there was Lysander, the complete opposite. Every time Elara came back, she'd replace Lysander just chilling, like he didn't have a care in the world, taking life at his own slow pace. Lysander let out a quiet laugh. "Yeah, I've got a lot of freedom. No one's really keeping tabs on me."

"So.. you don't do any school activities either?" she asked, trying to dig a little deeper.

"Not really," he replied, keeping it brief.

"Not even the student council stuff?" she pressed, sounding surprised.

Lysander shook his head. Tll jump into competitions sometimes, but group activities? Nali."

"Why not?" she asked, intrigued.

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Chapter 14

"Because they're boring as hell," he said, not sugarcoating it. Plus, the teachers thought he'd outshine everyone else and discourage them.

Elara tilted her head, thinking. "But I remember you've done a bunch of competitions. Asher even complained once that you always swoop in and take first place, and it pisses him off."

Lysander just sipped his coffee, unfazed. It was true-he hardly ever missed a competition when Asher was involved.

Elara wasn't done yet. I heard Oakridge High's got a basketball game against Crestview next weekend. Are you playing? Do you even play basketball?"

Lysander noticed the excitement in her eyes and gave her a slight nod.

Her face lit up. "No way! Hang on, I'm gonna go change real quick, and then we can check today's test answers. I think I did pretty well, but I need to know my score like now." She rushed inside without waiting for his response. Left alone, Lysander pulled out his phone and saw an old message from Crispin Kennedy, sent two days ago: [Yo, Lysander, we've got a game against Crestview Senior High next week. You down!]

He typed back: [Yeah.]

Crispin's reply came almost instantly: [For real? You're in? Hell yeah! What made you change your mind?]

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