Her moonlight glow

Chapter 2: "Your worst nightmare"

That morning i woke up to a hushed conversation and rolled over, pulling the blanket over my eyes. Lylah's house had massive windows for some reason, something about natural lighting being poetic. Her parents absolutely hated what they dubbed "Hospital lighting" and had an abundance of smaller light sources, like vintage wrought iron lamp trees, massive lumps of candle wax carved into art pieces and, of course, their floor-to-ceiling windows that were pouring sunlight into my eyes.

I finally got up and looked to my right to see a mass of tangled bodies and mused blanket on my left. Lylah and Aster. i walked to the kitchen to see them sitting in the little table on the balcony, mugs in hand, watching the birds and enjoying the morning breeze. I grabbed a mug, my mug since i was there so often, and poured myself some tea. never liked coffee much.

Lylah heard me and turned, grinning "good morning sleepyhead!" I smiled back at her

"morning" i croaked

"come, sit" she scooted closer to Aster and pulled up a chair for me beside her. "How did you sleep?" she asked. Last night i had slept with my head on her pillow with my face cradled into her substantial chest, breathing in the scent of her philosophy vanilla cake body wash and bath & body works strawberry pound cake scented body cream. So I slept well.

"I slept well" I answered. In truth, I always slept well when it was with her. Maybe it was the way she would brush my hair out of my face and out of the way, or maybe it was the way her body would go completely limp and heavy with sleep when it finally caught her, which usually didn't take long.

"That's good" she said, taking a sip from her mug, the contents of which I suspected was that drink from the Ponyo movie. Sometimes she'd pick up random things from stuff she watched or people she interacted with.

She turned to Aster "so, have you got any plans for today? I was thinking that all of us could go out and watch Deadpool and Wolverine since you haven't seen it yet."

He nodded "Yeah I've been wanting to watch it but I haven't gotten the opportunity to yet"

"Perfect, once everyone wakes up I'll make French toast and then we can all go to the cinema!" She turned to me

"You excited to catch more references?" She teased, bumping her shoulder onto mine. She knew I loved reading comics and manga, even more than she did and she's the one that introduced me to my favorites. I nodded.

She smiled, turning back to Aster in conversation and I sat, the back of the chair hard against mine and the white tiles cold against the soles of my feet. I watched the way the sun shone on her black hair and reflected back magenta from when she dyed her hair over the summer. I watched the way she would tap her nails against the handle of her stupidly ugly joke mug Allie had gotten her one Christmas that she insisted was her favorite. I felt the way her knee pressed against mine.

Soon, people started trickling in and she got them all their own mug and drink of choice. How she remembered what everyone liked I did not know. Soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of melted butter and cinnamon-y egg mix over soft brioche bread.

Ellena and Ashlyn offered to wash and cut the berries while Allie whipped the cream 'her way' that she assured would be the absolute best and Aliya fried the French toast with Lylah, laughing at her stupidly funny jokes.

I set her big polished teak wood table alongside Aster, I put down the placemats and and he put down the cutlery and plates.

"So...how long have you known Lylah for?" He asked, putting down the forks and knives. Fork on the left and knife on the right, the correct way. I'd known her since she transfered to my school almost 6 years ago and i told him as much.

"oh. so has she always been like...this nice?" no. she used to be very different but that was her story to tell. So i just nodded.

He nodded as well "...ok then. So...what does she like to do?"

I snorted and asked why he wouldn't just ask her himself

"i'm shy..." he responded. so i took pity on his cowardly self and told him. I told him that she liked to watch movies, and draw, and read, and sing, and talk to people, and write- and as i told him about how animated and full of life she was, i watched his eyes widen.

"wow...she really is amazing huh?" I nodded, he was right.

"And here i thought you guys were gossiping about me!" I turned to see Lylah bathed in morning light holding a hand-painted Italian porcelain tray that was laid to the brim with sweet, hot, golden-brown french toast. Heavens to Betsy, she could cook. She set the tray down the others followed with two bowls of fresh fruit, whipped sweet cream, maple syrup, honey and powdered vanilla sugar.

"shit, i gotta take a photo of this" Allie muttered, already crouching and hunting for the best angles. Then we all sat down finally because the smell was making us salivate more than a vegan dog in front of a can of wet cat food.

"WAIT!" Lylah yelled and we all stopped mid-grab. She muttered a quick prayer and "Amen. Ok you can eat now." before we were all permitted to indulge in the drowning of fluffy french toast slices in sweet syrup and melting whipped cream. The flavours came alive in my mouth and the crispy edges fell apart between my teeth. The tart, juicy berries cut through the rich creamyness of the impossibly soft eats that Lylah had blessed us with.

Ashlyn groaned after swalloing her bite "Lylah I could kiss you" The others around the table nodded in agreement, mouths full of French toast.

"Aww, you guys are sweet. Now hurry, we've gotta get to the theatre before-" She raised her left hand to check the thin gold watch that lay on her wrist "two o' clock"

I nodded before loading my next bite with generous spoonfuls of powdered vanilla sugar. I liked the way it melted against the roof of my mouth.

After we cleaned and packed up, Lylah ushered us out of the house and towards the bus stop as we waited, Lylah decided

"Im bored, we should play never have I ever."
"I'm down" Ashlyn agreed
"Great!" Lylah smiled and put up both hands
"Ok...never have I ever..." she looked around at us and continued "broken a bone"

Three people groaned and put a finger down
"Why do you have to be so lame?" Orion groaned through gritted teeth

"Because I think it's super funny!" Lylah laughed, sticking her tongue out at him, to which he responded in like.

"Ok...Ashlyn!" Lylah shouted, startling her

"Oh- uhm...never have I everrrrr....been chased by the police?"

Orion growled like the furry he was "You guys are targeting me!" He glared at her

"It's not my fault you're a criminal!" She responded, laughing "ok, Ellen's turn!"

"Oh ok" Ellen thought for a moment before smiling "Never have I ever had a boyfriend!"

"Oh come on!" Allie laughed, leaning on Orion.
Three others put their fingers down

"A low blow but if you wanna win, you gotta play it right" she chuckled "alright, your turn Orion."

"Finally." He thought for a second as the bud pulled up and we paid. By the time we got to the upper deck he had his statement

"Never have I ever been paid for like- anything sexual"

Aster put his finger down

"YOU!??" Orion demanded, staring wide-eyed at my thumb that had folded itself against my palm.

I sometimes disliked Orion but this time I had seriously wanted to introduce his skull to the floor by way of my fist.