Dancing in the Lilies

Dancing in the Lilies-16

A week passed and then two. I stayed in constant contact with Ty. We texted all day long, and stayed up late at night talking on the phone. It wasn't the same as being with him, but it was the only thing I had. It had been two weeks since I left Texas and I felt lost.

I hung out with my friends and talked about college starting in September. I had even found an apartment that was close to the Southern Illinois campus, so I stayed busy moving out of my parents' house. I helped Lizzie pick out back to school clothes and helped Landon get school supplies. Well, I went with my mom and got everything since he refused to go shopping with the girls. I watched the White Sox games every night and called my grandma a few times. I did everything I could to keep myself busy. I felt like I was just going through the motions of life. I didn't feel like I was doing anything, but more like I was sitting outside, watching it all happen.

Lizzie and Landon eventually started school, my parents opened their law firms again, and I went back to college. I poured myself into my school work and did everything I could to keep my mind off being upset. I went home one weekend just to spend time with my family, and I decided to take a walk around our neighborhood. I pulled on a sweatshirt and slipped into some shoes and walked out the door. I walked down our short driveway and turned right. I followed the sidewalk, my mind was about a million miles away. I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard someone calling my name. I looked up to see Liam walking down his driveway towards me. I was kind of confused as to why he was trying to get my attention. It was very awkward between us since we broke up. I turned towards him. "Hey Leah, I haven't seen you in forever."

I faked a smile. "I was in Texas all summer."

He looked at me sadly as we started to walk. "Leah, what's going on? Do you want to talk about it?" That was one thing that I loved and hated about Liam, he always knew exactly how I was feeling.

I looked over at him. "It would just be awkward." I couldn't exactly talk to my former boyfriend about how badly I missed my current boyfriend, could I? No. That would be awkward.

He stopped walking and turned me so I was facing him. "I'm tired of things being awkward between us. What we had was so special. We may have rushed somethings." I knew he meant having sex. With Liam, I think that I was in love with him, but not the kind of head over heals that I should have been when we took that step. Can you even be in love when you're 16? Can you even be in love when you're 20? "If we can't be together, I want to be friends. I'm tired of not being able to talk to you and I'm sick of the tension. I miss you." He pulled me into a hug and I lost it right there.

The tears that I had been holding back for so long let loose. I told him everything. I told him about Ty and how much it hurt not to be with him. I told him about my mom and how she wouldn't accept him and how much I had grown apart from her over the summer. I told him about reconnecting with Lizzie and the new relationship I had with my grandma. I even told him the real reason that we broke up in high school wasn't because I lost my feelings for him. He held me and stroked my hair the whole time I cried and talked. He never tried to talk, he just held me. When I was done, he pulled back and looked into my now red, splotchy eyes. He wiped away a stray tear. "I'm glad you told me."

I looked back up at him. "Thank you for listening to me. I know it's probably awkward, hearing me talk about my boyfriend." I looked down, kind of embarrassed. I didn't realize how strange this conversation was until I said the word boyfriend out loud.

"Don't worry, it's not as bad as you think. I'm your friend now, remember?" He flashed me one of his prize winning smiles and grabbed my hand. We started walking again. This time, there were no tears. Instead, we talked and joked and laughed. We caught eachother up on what we had missed. He even told me that he had a new girlfriend. We walked around the small community. This was something a lot of people didn't realize about Chicago, it wasn't just sky scrapers and pizza places, there were small communites too. When we got back to my house, we hugged one last time and I went back inside.