Love, Lilly

Noah

Sam takes a sharp intake of breath and I see what she is looking at. It takes a moment to absorb what I am seeing and when I do I still can't believe it. Lily was with another girl. It didn't seem like something Lily would do. I feel Sam leave my presence and see her running towards the bathroom. I feel panic rising in my chest, I was here with Ricky. What should I do now? I look back at Lily and see that she is watching Sam run towards the restrooms. I see her say something to the skinny girl with long blond hair.

Lily runs after Sam and the blond girl comes towards us. "Hey," she says as she draws closer. "I'm Max."

"Lily's girlfriend?" I snap. I'm feeling angry, she made my best friend feel bad and I was feeling mean. "No," she says looking worriedly towards the restrooms. "I'm her cousin."

"Oh," I said, feeling bad. "I'm sorry, I guess I got a bit caught up."

"It's okay, I'd be mad too."

"I'm Noah," I say, sticking out my hand. She has a firm grip. "And this is Ricky."

Ricky sticks his hand out and they shake too.

"Wait, what do you mean, you'd also be mad?" I ask, once my brain finishes catching up. This is all moving very fast.

"Oh, right," Max says, twisting her fingers together. "Lily told me everything. I know that he doesn't know, by the way," she adds, nodding in the direction of Ricky. "It's fine. I won't let anything slip." I grin, appreciating her subtlety.

"What don't I know?" Ricky asks. Sometimes I forget how little he is, because he acts so grown up, but other times, like now, I remember that he's only eight.

"Trust me, it's not anything you want to know," Max says, rumpling Ricky's hair. "Let's go see the Planet Earth exhibit," she adds. "It was my favorite when I was younger."

"All right," Ricky responds with a shrug.

"Easy kid," Max says appreciatively, smiling at me over Ricky's head. I laugh a little.

"Yeah. He is," I reply.

"Come on," she says to Ricky. "It's this way."

The two of them walk a little ahead of me, Max pointing things out to Ricky as we go. She's great with him. It's super sweet.

Max has a black sweatshirt tied around her waist. She's wearing dark blue skinny jeans and a tight gray long-sleeve tee with a pride flag on the front. Her light blond hair is really long; it's in a braid that's hanging over her right shoulder, and it reaches almost to her waist. She's really hot. I hope she's not lesbian...

I shake my head to clear it and follow Max and Ricky into the Planet Earth exhibit.