philophobia

prologue

     with her legs crossed underneath her, she watched the candle flicker and sway. there was only a few of them in the living room, but this was the one closest to her and she could almost feel the heat of the flame brush against her tan thigh. a cup of tea was rested on her thigh and held by her skinny hand. every once in a while when the tea would scorch her thigh, she would lift it up and press it to her lips slowly and blow the cold air from her mouth to try to cool down the temperature. the room, almost pitch black, surrounded lacey like a blanket, wrapped around her body. it was cold, so she had two blankets softly thrown over her body, the blanket of darkness and a thick wool blanket lazily thrown over her shoulders.

   lacey sat in front of her two best friends, their faces illuminated by the scented candles. her eyes were filled with sadness and slightly red from crying. jade and cameron, with their legs crossed, stayed silent. it had been a hard time for lacey, her boyfriend, well, ex boyfriend now, hurt her. badly. shorts too big for her small legs revealed large black and blue bruises. blood was dried on her neck and lip and red scratches laid on her arms. she held her knees in her arms and rocked back and forth. she was traumatized. after all, she was dangled over the edge of a two story building. she wiped the tears from under her eyes and she looked at her fingers, covered in smeared mascara from under her brown glistening eyes.

her friends watched her, their eyes filled with almost as much sadness that glistened in lacey's. jade held onto one of her hands and cameron found himself doing the same thing. even at this moment, with the room dark and her mascara slightly running down her cheeks, cameron swooned. but wasn't it a rule? you know.. to not fall in love with your best friend? who cares. she looked so beautiful with the flicker of the flame lighting up her face and those eyes that were such a light brown that they reminded him of the coffee that she liked. too much cream, but she liked it, to get rid of the bitter taste of her daily espresso. her eyes were, warm. they were so inviting and he wanted to kiss her, even in that moment. and she breathed slowly, calming herself down and squeezing her friends hands tightly, they looked hopeful.

"i can't."lacey cried, her voice cracking.

cameron almost cried too, her voice filled with fear and innocence. lacey didn't deserve this. she deserves the world, she deserves someone that loves her for who she is. her shy, fearful self. boys would only see her as a body, and a pretty face. behind that, she was a sweet girl who only needed someone to love her.

"i'm afraid."she said, her voice so pure that cameron's eyes started to brim with tears.

"afraid of what?"jade questioned her, her eyes filled with worry as she searched her friends emotions.

lacey closed her eyes.

"i'm afraid of love"

+

enya umanzor as lacey kendrick

cameron dallas as himself

sara sampaio as jade kortejerina