Forsaking Lilly

Chapter Twenty Eight

" And now." My eyes traveled to where the familiar redhead leaned against a tree. She wore a beautiful, yellow cashmere sweater on top of dark blue shorts. Her hair was wild and wavy around her shoulders, making her look more beautiful than usual. Her face was serene, but there was something sad about her. I couldn't place it, but, then again, I wasn't sure if I should have tried.

" Now is this everything you wanted?"

This was the second time she had asked, and, even still, I had no answer for her. Simply I shrugged and sat down into the soft grass. She sighed, her shoulders slumping awfully. I wished that I knew what she meant, I wished I could answer her. But I could give her nothing, I could tell her nothing. She was but a figment of my dreams, how could I satisfy her?

She gave me a depressed smile and walked over so that she could stand beside me. " I'm trapped here you know," she said, looking down at her golden sandals. " All of this, this clearing," she spun around slowly, pointing at everything, "  it's the last place I wish to be." 

" Why are you here then," I found myself asking as I twisted a blade of grass between my fingers. She looked down at me then, something shifting in her eyes. She was still, just staring at my face. I will admit, it creeped me out, but how could I move beneath her icy gaze? How could I breathe beneath her marble features, her still face, and her steel-like composure? Everything within me burned with anxiety to flinch away from her, but she had me stunned in place.

Suddenly, she dropped to her knees and scooted forward so that she could reach out to grab my face.

" I cannot leave until they do."

" A party," my mother asked, a yawn escaping her flushed lips. " What kind of party?" I sighed as I poured milk into my bowl of fruit loops. If I explained it to her one more time, that would mean that I had told her five times now. I shook my head, wondering what was so hard to understand, costume party only had one definition as far as I knew.

" Mom, it's a Halloween party. My friend Corrie's boyfriend, also a friend of Cooper, is throwing it and I was invited." She yawned again, shuffling into the kitchen to make herself a mug of coffee. I watched her, wanting to take in her body language as an attempt to decipher her unsaid answer. She stayed quiet until she had her mug poured and then, much as I expected her too, she held the warm cup up to her mouth and grinned at me through the rising steam.

" Is this like a date?" I watched as her face lit up, a mischievous fire burning in her pupils. I rolled my eyes at her, giving in to laughing at her just this once. Quickly, she took a sip of her coffee and placed the mug on the counter. " So, is that why you needed money yesterday," she asked me reaching over to take my bowl of cereal out of my hands. I whined audibly, reaching for the bowl but she poured it out and started pushing me in the direction of my room.

I was momentarilly saddened by the loss of it, but I shook it from my mind and remembered to answer her. " Yeah," I said," I bought the costume yesterday after school." My mother nodded, her way of showing approval. 

" Let me see it," she said as we stepped into my room. As she asked, I went in my closet and grabbed the bag off the floor to show it to her. Once she saw it, my mother took the bag into her own hands and peered into it. 

" Oh, how cute," she purred, looking up at me. " It even comes with accessories."

" Mhmm." I nodded my head, enjoying every moment of my mother's tween-like reaction. 

" I'll be right back, I'm gonna go get my make-up bag," my mother said as she clutched the bag in one hand and darted for her bedroom. I laughed, loving that she was enjoying herself so thoroughly already.