Be There For Us?

Four

Before she went to the mall, Liese stopped by her house to tell her mother where she'd be. "Well, alright. Try to be home by ten."

"I'll probably be back before then, mom."

Her mother smiled, kissed her forehead, and stated "I love you Annaliese." Liese headed toward the door and said "I love you too mom. You look pretty worn out, are you okay?"

"Yes darling, I'm fine."

"Are... are you sure? I can stay home if you need me to. It's not that big a deal if I go or not." Her mother giggled, and said "I'm okay honey, really. I'll call you if I need you. Go along now, have fun."

"I'll try. Get some rest mom, don't wait up on me." and Liese left on that. It was only, like, 4:45 when she left, and she didn't think she would be out for five hours. She thought about texting Lily and seeing how things were going, but she decided to wait until later in the evening. She did pull out her phone though, to turn on some music. She began to play Johnny Cash, as she thought about her mother. Like, what the hell was going on? She usually doesn't look like that. Then it clicked for her. Today... Today was, the day. Seventeen years ago today, Liese's real father left her mother. Fucking prick, Liese thought. Then she remembered what she was doing before she almost screamed. She was going to talk to Oz. Oz Lyle... She smiled at the thought of him.

~*~*~*~

Lily and Alex were having a hard time getting to the topic, due to laughter. "Alex what the hell?!" Lily rhetorically asked, still laughing at the sexist joke he'd just made. "It's not my fault! It just happened!" Alex claimed. "Okay, okay," he continued. "What did you drag me to the park for?" Lily half giggled and sighed. "First off, it was your choice to come to the park. Second, I've been meaning to talk to you about some.....one. I mean, uh.... yeah."

"You scare me, Lily."

"I should."

"Monster."

"Idiot."

"Alrighty then, get on with it." Alex said, mocking a British person.

"You'd make a horrible actor, Alex."

"Seriously Lil, tell me." Lily sighed in defeat and said "Okay. Well... there's this guy--"

"OOO BOYS ALEX LIKEY!"

Lily laughed so much it hurt and she fell off the bench they were sitting on. She mentally facepalmed. When Alex was done laughing, he helped her up and asked if she was okay. "Dandy," was her reply. They both sat back down and Lily continued. "I really, really like him. I might be in love with him... But I don't really know what that's like." She paused. "Also, he's extremely hot. Anywhore, I don't know how to tell him." Alex knew exactly what to say to that. "Just tell him you 'really' like him. I think it would be the most majestic thing ever if you broke out into song. Like... Sing that stupid Carly Roy Jackson song."

"Carley Ray Jepsen," Lily laughed. "So you think I should just... Tell him?"

"Yes, exactly."

Lily looked at Alex and he looked up from his hands. She started mumbling something, and Alex said "Doll, you're mumbling." Lily sighed and spoke understandable English. "I really, really, really, really, really, really like you."

"You're rediculous and I apologize for suggesting you use that. Don't do it for the real thing. But yes, that's good."

"Alex."

"Lily?"

"You, Alex. I really like you."

Alex smirked and Lily thought she was going to cry. "What?" She cautiously asked. "You called me extremely hot."