Always

48| Ditch or Date

"Hey mom and dad are ready."

"Yeah I'm coming right down." I quickly grab my keys and coat and head downstairs to the car.

"Okay everyone buckle up and does"—

"You don't have to tell us twice," Lilith murmurs. I glance at my sister and mother through my rear view and realize that they're both indeed under their seatbelts.

"I-What? I'm not that bad of a driver am I?"

"Of course not sweetheart," my dad says patting my head. "We're just being safe."

"Sure sure. Any song request before we start?"

"I like anything from Billie Eilish," Lilith pops in.

"You know I love The Beatles."

"Um I like that song from that new girl Olive Rodrigo."

"Her name's Olivia mom. And what do you know about that kind of music?" I ask.

"What? I wanna know what my kids are listening to. So I can be valid, you know?"

Lils makes an incoherent noise in attempt to hold in her laughter but she fails miserably anyway and so do I.

"Olivia it is then."

The whole drive to airport we listened to music and laughed like a normal family and I hadn't realized how long it's been since we've done something like this. I might've hated myself back then, but moments like these made me forgot about it for a bit.

***

"Alright, Lily lights out at ten okay?"

"Dad it's a Saturday."

"Oh. Well don't stay up too late, and Alli... be safe on your date tonight."

"Oh and send lots of pictures," my mom chimes in.

"Yes yes I will."

"And use protection...for now."

"Mommm!!!" Lilith cringes.

"It's just a short business meeting we'll be back soon so don't miss us too much." my dad says patting the top of our heads.

"It's only two days?"

"What she meant to say is that we'll miss you no matter what. You two have a safe trip. We love you!"

"We love you too."

"I guess it's just you and me," I turn to my little sister.

"Yeah right. You mean it's just me? The second Greyson comes you're gonna go skipping along and I'm barely going to see you."

"What? That's not true."

"Sure it's not."

"Okay how about this, after my date tonight we have a girls two day weekend. Just the two of us."

"Hmmm, I guess. I wanted to watch some K-drama though."

"We can do that together, as long as they're romance. We can get boba and do face masks and just talk. The way we used to."

"Fine. But you're paying," she points and I see the smile creeping up on her face.

***

"Anddddd done," Mya says brushing the last bit of highlight on my cheek. "Stunning."

"Thank you, for helping me get ready tonight. You too Lilith."

"What would you do without us," they sighed in unison.

I rolled my eyes at my best friends and turned to look in my vanity mirror. My make up was simple. I used a little concealer to over my dark spots, light mascara, highlight for a little shimmer and a cherry gloss that tinted my lips.

My hair was pretty minimal too. I had Lils layer it a bit and give me bangs, and Mya simply curled it. I wasn't aiming for perfection for once, but the girls worked magic anyway.

For the first time in a very long time, I looked in the mirror without a face full of makeup and thought that the girl before me was absolutely beautiful.

I decided to stick with my glasses tonight not only because I feel comfortable enough around Greyson to wear them, but I feel comfortable enough with myself to.

And because they look absolutely perfect with my outfit. I decided to wear a black deep square neck long sleeve with comfortable blue jeans. We were officially in winter so I went with an tan overcoat that was sure to keep me warm. Lilith insisted that I wear doc martins with this outfit so I did.   ( see picture above)

I had no idea what Greyson had planned or where he planned on taking me, but I knew I was excited and couldn't wait.

"Wait. Mom wanted pictures," Lilith reminds me.

"Oh yeah. We can take a few now and then some with the two of you before you leave."

"Sure, we have time." I agreed.

***

"What time is it?" I ask fiddling with my fingers.

Lilith picks up her phone and checks the time, "7:30."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, he's probably running late picking up flowers for you or something."

"He hasn't answered any of my text, so I guess you're right. He doesn't check his phone while driving."

"See? Nothing to worry about."

***

"He isn't picking up the phone either," I frown.

"Hey, I just came off the phone with Jacob. He said that Greyson told him and Kevin not to come over anymore for 'date prep' and they haven't heard from him since."

"Should I head over to his? It's been over an hour and I'm starting to get a little worried. I mean what if something happened to him?" Suddenly my phone vibrates with a notification.

Greyson :) Hv 2 cancel. Srry.

My throat dries up immediately and the disappointment hits me like a brick. A really big brick that's aimed at my chest because it hurts so bad.

"Was it him?" Lilith asks.

"Yeah," I croak.

"Hey, hey what's wrong? Is he okay?"

"He seems fine. Fine enough to cancel." I shrug.

"What do you mean he canceled? Did he at least tell you why?" Mya questioned.

I just shook my head no with a small smile and began taking off my coat and shoes. It's not the end of the world right? I shouldn't cry over something so trivial when we can just go another time. If he even wanted to go in the first place to try again.

"Hey, we're not letting this perfectly good outfit go to waste." Lils announced.

"She's right. I know you're disappointed but we're not going to let you wallow in it and overthink your overthinking thoughts until they consume you."

"Yeah, I'm right."

"Lilith," Mya warned.

"Sorry."

"Anyway, that said, you were going on a date and you will. We're taking you out."

"Just give us 15-20 minutes to get dressed. You can cry if you want to, do whatever you need to get him out of your system for right now. But we will wipe your tears and help you have fun no matter what." Lils points.

I couldn't help but laugh at the two girls in front of me. Even when I felt like my tears were about to fall any minute now, they manage to make me smile a genuine smile.

"Okay, I'll wait down here."