The Bad Girl, The Bullet & The New Beginning (on-going)

2 ~ Making Friends

           

Lila sat motionless in the car for a few seconds. Penny had got out and was already heaving some of her bags out onto the sidewalk but she couldn't join her just yet. Her eyes were roaming over what was in front of her, taking it all in.

                Aunt Penny and Uncle Jon's house was like a suburban paradise and its crisp perfection set Lila on edge. There was something unnerving about how trimmed the lawn was that framed the little path up to the front door, and the spotless white of the paint of the front porch that reminded her of hospital sheets or spotlights. Too bright. It looked like it had been built seconds before her arrival with not a single sign of wear on it, unlike her real house whose only decorations were the scars and breakages that came as a consequence of her reckless childhood.

                "Lila? Could you lend me a hand with some of these bags?" Penny called after a couple of minutes of struggling with a particularly heavy holdall. Lila snapped out of her trance and shook her head a little to remind herself to stay grounded. There was no backing out now, she just had to go with it.

                "Sure," she grunted, hopping out of the passenger seat and walking round to the back of the car that was just as spotless as the house it belonged to. Penny had moved most of her luggage onto the sidewalk, bar a few boxes and bags that Lila managed to lift down herself, despite only being a couple of inches shorter than her aunt. However, examining Penny's waif-like figure, it wasn't surprising that a couple of holdalls would defeat her.

                Together, they transported the bags up to the front porch, Penny still chatting away about anything and everything to fill the silences. Lila tried to nod and force laughter at the appropriate times but was more preoccupied with her surroundings, staring in disbelief at the manicured lawns, picket fences and white-painted balconies that lined the entire street. In the twilight, most houses were emitting a golden glow from the windows that whispered of wholesome family gatherings and candlelit dinners and other events that were totally alien to Lila.

                As she followed Penny up the steps with the final box, the door swung open to reveal the silhouette of her uncle Jon, still wearing his work shirt but interestingly paired with a floral apron, lined with frills.

                "There she is!" he smiled, pulling Lila into a hug that smelt of home cooking. "Welcome to Lake Larson," he said in his soft but eloquent voice that Lila remembered reading her bedtime stories when she was six. Obviously he didn't think she'd grown up much since then as he was giving her the same simpering look that Penny had been wearing through the entire car journey, conveying a kind of smug sympathy that set Lila's stomach on edge.

                "Hey, Uncle Jon," she muttered in response, hovering awkwardly on the threshold and not knowing where to look to avoid his gaze.

                "What perfect timing, dinner's just about ready. Why don't you leave all those boxes in the hallway and come straight through?" he suggested in a cheery voice, ushering Lila into the house. The inside was just as perfect as the outside, with not a single thing out of place. She copied Aunt Penny in taking off her shoes as soon as she set foot on the pristine cream carpet and padded through the hallway lined with family photos, charting years of Thanksgivings, weekends at the lakehouse and school recitals, all leading towards the dining room.

                Lila walked in to find her two cousins sat at the vast mahogany table, politely waiting with their untouched plates in front of them.

                "You remember Harvey and Melissa, right?" Penny prompted her, giving her an encouraging little push into the room. Both of them looked up and offered her friendly but hesitant smiles that she tried to return despite feeling equally uncomfortable. She remembered that Harvey was her age and Melissa was only a year younger but both had cherubic faces that could easily have belonged to kids half their age.