The Lockwood Boys

Just Words

Lilith

"Lily! I'm tired can we go home?" My mother cries dragging her feet through the park. I roll my eyes at her dramatic childlike behavior. I don't remember when my mother began to act more like a child than me but I've always felt pride taking care of her.

"No, we can't, we're almost there!" I chirp excited to show her my surprise. We near closer and it was not until I heard her gasp that I realized we'd made it. "Ta-Da!!" I call. Mother-daughter dates were a thing we did once a month at least.

I turn to look at her smiling face but right when I meet her eyes she poofs into dust.

Now

I run home as fast as I can. I've always been a good runner. How else do you think I get away from all of my problems? Haha...

When I get home I drop my backpack by the door feeling weighted down by the purple bag. Everything feels too heavy right now. I brush passed someone in the hallway but I don't stop as I rush up to my room. I can hear them call for me but it doesn't register who they are or what they said as I head straight into my shower. I feel gross.

When I'm done I bundle myself up in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. The house is freezing right now.

I sit down on my bed and think about my day. My AP classes I have to catch up in now. My new friend Avery. My kiss with Easton. Griffin. I don't know why I thought about Griffin but he seems to creep into anything I think about.

That text. That text I got in class. My new secretive friend. I sent them a text on my way out telling them I had an awful day at school. I did have an awful day. I walk in with Easton and a girl dumps water all over me. Just great. If my life wasn't hard enough why not give me a girl who hates my guts over a MAN? Men are not worth all that trouble.

The sound of a knock at my door snaps me out of the trance I had no idea I had fallen into. "Come in," I say my voice sounding scratchy. When did I start crying? Why was I crying?

My door slowly slides open and like I summoned him with my thoughts, Griffin's head pokes in before he fully enters my room. My eyes are wide as he shuts the door behind him and walks further into my room. "Hey," is all he says. I open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out. What is he doing here?

"I thought you had work," why did I say that? Now he's gonna think I don't want him here. Despite my thoughts, he answers my question. "Yeah but I came home early and noticed you were home early too, wanted to see if you were okay," he tells me. His words grab me in a tight hold and I almost shiver when his accent sinks into my soul. I refrain as that would probably make me wanna die of embarrassment.

"Ah," I all I can manage to say. He nods in response. "What happened?" He suddenly asks. Sometime in our silence, he had sat down on the floor leaning against my bed next to my dangling legs. My face goes red but I don't turn away since he's not even looking at me. I follow his eyes and I see they're looking at the photos on my dresser of me and my mother. I frown at the memories in the frames and at the memory of my first day of school.

"New school and already people hate me just because I'm associated with Easton," I mumble out. He hums in response. "The infamous Easton Lockwood, yeah I know, I bet it's only gotten worse since I left," he says and I can't help but look down at him.