Innocent Corruption

Friendship?

I release the breath I was subconsciously holding and I feel my breathing finally get back to normal. Lilith immediately starts laughing, while I on the other hand am extremely confused.

"You should have seen your face!" She laughs harder almost falling over.

What exactly does she mean by that? Was that supposed to upset me or did I do something wrong? Did she want me to lean in? Did I offend her and now she's playing it off? Or did I just make myself look like a complete imbecile? Only one way to find out I suppose.

"Would you like to be friends?" I blurt out, she stops laughing and I almost immediately regret asking it because well if she says no this will become quite weird.

"Sure. I'd love to." She says smiling.

I smile back trying to remain calm, after all she makes me feel ecstatic. I've never really had a close friend within my age range who didn't belittle me, especially with me have done private tutoring for my school year.

"Can I get your Snapchat?" She asks and I pull out my phone giving her my Snapchat. She smiles and my phone dings with a friend request from her and I quickly accept it.

She licks her lips as she looks at me, she intrigues me and makes me feel like I'm on a cloud which is weird considering we haven't had anything other than one conversation.

"So do you want to play 20 questions or something? Just ask stuff back and forth, well at least that's how I play it." I say attempting to break the silence.

"Sure, may I call you Cass? Like a nickname considering Cassandra is, of course, a beautiful name I feel like Cass is a cute nickname." Lilith asks me.

I nod and feel my cheeks flush, she called my name beautiful. Many people have called it beautiful but it feels different when she does it. Like genuine but also... something I can't put my finger on.

"Okay what's your favorite color?" I say and she responds that her favorite color is black and lilac.

"What's your favorite animal?" She asks me.

"Penguins and cats and probably baby wolves, what about you?"

We continue on like this for about 30 minutes. I learn that her favorite animals are bunnies, cats and that she also likes penguins. I learn that she's bisexual, I learn that her favorite class in school was English and her favorite thing to do as a kid was read and write. I learn that she loves horror movies and is quick to watch them if they catch her eye, shockingly I also learn that she has a brother and that he's 20 and goes to Yale University. Apparently he didn't come today due to finals exams. I learned that she's jealous of her brother, that she rebels a lot and that she's a fan of Cavetown and Doja Cat.

After our game my parents call us down and we say goodbye as the party ends. My mother and dad sit down for dinner after all the guests leave.

"Cassandra, honey, did you know she has a brother?" My mother asks. I shake my head no knowing it's rhetorical and she will continue to tell me about him regardless of what I know. My mother has that habit sometimes, I don't mind it though.

"He goes to Yale University, he's majoring in law. Isn't that lovely dear?" My mother says and I think I know where this may be headed but I just nod and eat my food while she talks more about him.

"Cassandra I've arranged for you two to go on a date tomorrow, he will pick you up at 6PM and drop you back off at 10PM." My father says. I chew my food slowly.

"If you don't mind me asking father, how did you contact him?" I ask chewing my lower lip.

"I got his cellphone number through his father and had it arranged, he was actually supposed to be here tonight, but I suppose it was finals week for him so he couldn't make it and instead Lilith came. Not too shabby though, you guys hit it off well so it should go over good with you and him." My father says proudly.

My stomach starts to flip, I've never met this person how would I know if I like him. What's worse is what if I do like him and he dislikes me? That would be so embarrassing. What if this upsets Lilith? So many thoughts and I especially don't want to lose my friend who I just gained. But nonetheless I push those feelings deep down into my stomach, hoping they would not resurface later, but sadly knowing they would.

"Okay, thank you father." I say taking a bite of mashed potatoes. The rest of the dinner conversation was bland. With my father only referring to my mother I was unable to speak. From a very early age I was taught that women, much like kids, were not to be speaking unless spoken too which tended to be a rather stern rule in this household. A rule of course set by my father.

After dinner I briskly excuse myself to my bedroom, claiming I needed to pick my outfit for my date but in reality I simply wanted to sleep. I know I shouldn't fib to my parents but I'm just so tired and couldn't risk them saying no to me sleeping. Not like they ever truly say no to it, just those comments that are meant to be nice but come out like a slap in the face.

When I get to my room I rummage through my closet, my eyes land on a nice floral printed dress that's baby blue. I pick it up and set it on my closet door as a reminder to wear that tomorrow. I change my clothes and slip on a satin pajama set. It's dark red and the top is spaghetti strapped as-well as the shorts stop on my upper thigh. They are quite comfortable but I never wear them outside of my room. I go to my bathroom and brush my teeth and hair one last time before turning off my light and laying my head against my cool pillow case.

As I try to sleep I realize I never texted Lilith. I grab my phone off my nightstand and send her a goodnight text. As I lay down I can't help but think about Lilith. I hope she smiles when she reads my text and isn't too mad about my date with her brother.

A/N- hey y'all sorry I've been absent for a while I had writers block but hopefully I'm back to posting biweekly with this book due to my finals being all of the next few weeks!! Sorry guys <3