"Hey," Lily responds with a shy smile, as she gestures for Ayla to come into her house.
"I don't know if there was something that you wanted to do tonight. I'm up for whatever. We could go back to my place, stay here, or find some place around town to hang out," Ayla says as she walks through the doorway.
"Actually my parents got two tickets to go to this art show at The Museum of Modern Art. They're both busy with work, so they gave the tickets to me. A friend of theirs has a piece that's on display, and there's a small open house tonight. I don't know if you're still into art, but I thought we could go if you'd like?" Lily offers.
"Sounds like fun."
[At The Museum of Modern Art.]
"I didn't realize how popular you have gotten over these few years," Ayla slyly smirks after Lily's phone buzzes in her pocket for nearly the hundredth time tonight.
"What? Oh, no," Lily says, brushing of Ayla's comment, as her cheeks begin to tint pink. "It's just my parents texting me."
Ayla raises one of her eyebrows. "Have they never let you out of the house past eight before?"
"And Brandon and Danny," Lily adds, quickly biting her lip in an attempt to hide her lie.
Ayla quietly nods her head for a second, pretending that she fell for Lily's lie. "Right... Can I see your phone then?"
"What? No!" Lily quickly responds. Ayla begins to look into Lily's eyes, not saying a word. Instantly Lily begins to fidget her hands. "Staring at me like that isn't going to make me give you my phone," she timidly remarks.
With a tilt of her head, the next thing Ayla feels is a phone in her hand. "Thanks. Now let's see... Whos Dylan?"
"No one," Lily replies, lunging for her phone, but Ayla turns around in time to block her.
"Can I respond to him?" Ayla asks, as she is in the middle of typing out a message.
"No you can't. What did he say?" Lily asks, as she tries to reach over Ayla's shoulder to grab her phone.
Ayla turns back around and hands Lily her phone back. "There you go. You two are suppose to meet up at nine," Ayla says with a somber expression on her face.
"A, it's not what it looks like," Lily replies. "I was going to have have us meet him somewhere."
Ayla shoots Lily a quick smile. "That's okay. I think I'll just head back to my place."
"Ayla, please wait," Lily says, as she begins to fast walk to catch up to the other girl, who had began her way to the exit. "Really? You had to send him the pink hearts emoji?"
"If you didn't want to hang out with me tonight, you could have just said so," Ayla argues, picking up her pace.
Ayla is suddenly yanked back by the force of by Lily's grip. She looks down and sees that their two hands are connected. "What are you doing?"
Lily shakes her head. "You don't get to keep coming back into my life just to leave again. If you let go of my hand now, this is the last time we will ever say goodbye."
Ayla takes a second to think. "The whole purpose of me asking you to hang out tonight was for us to catch up. Just the two of us. I hadn't really planned on there being another person around."
"Are you going to hold on or let go?"
"Let go?" Ayla laughs, as she reaches under her shirt to grab a necklace that she had been wearing. She slips the necklace off and examines the piece of jewelry at its end in her hand. "I've held on for this long, why in the world do you think I'd let go now?" Ayla asks, revealing to Lily what's in her hand.
Lily looks at it in disbelief. "Is that our friendship ring from middle school?"
"The only time I've ever taken it off was to put in on this necklace and now."
Lily giggles and looks up at Ayla. "That's a lie," she says, but the look on Ayla's face proves her otherwise. "Really?"
"You were the first person that showed me what it feels like to be loved. I guess I've worn this ring to always remind me that I can be loved. And more importantly, that I'm also capable of finding love," Ayla declares, as she puts the necklace back on, tucking it under her shirt.
Lily immediately lets go off Ayla's hand and scratches the back of her neck. "So-uh- I have this other place that I thought we could go to," Lily replies, her voice cracking at first.
"Lead the way."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A/N:
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