The lighthouse [ in progress ]

Chapter 5: Outfit of the day

For the first time after two long years, Alice was feeling happy. Overwhelmed. Her new bed wasn't as soft as her old one back in California, but in that moment, it felt for her like floating in the air; like a big cotton cloud. At least that's how Alice would call it. She has been staring at his number all afternoon. At Josh Miller's number. The boy with the emerald green eyes.

He gave her his number today after school. He said, just in case she needed something. But Alice knew, that his provocative smile meant more than that... It turned out, that they actually had to walk the same way. His house was just a couple of blocks away from hers. Which made Alice even more eager to see him again.

She finally decided to call him. She had never talked to a boy on the phone before, but she tried to ignore her nervousness. She held the phone next to her ear all confidence, until she heard his voice... She swallowed.

"Having an emergency?"
Oh, shoot. It wasn't probably the way Alice was seeing things... But his smile... No- it was probably all fake... he was just being annoyed of her, talking. That's why he gave her his number. To get rid of her.

"Oh Josh! Hey... listen, I..." what was she supposed to tell him? "... I actually wanted to call Lexi, but accidently called you. It was a mistake. Sorry to bother you." said Alice, who had lost all of her confidence.

"No Alice! Wait!"

"What is it? " he probably just wanted to say, that it's not a big deal...

"No big deal... " she knew it "... I actually wanted to call you myself" he said.

"I'm sure he wants to say, that I need to stay away from him or something" Alice thought.

"Do you want to go out on a date with me?"

-The next day-

Alice couldn't stop herself from thinking about him. From thinking about how much her life has changed after moving to Seattle. Everything seemed perfect. All these years, after Grace's death, Alice felt alone, abandoned... unprotected. Leaving California - including her old life and memories - was the best decision she had ever made. I mean, she was about to go on a date with Josh! Her life couldn't be any better, right?

"Alice? ALICE!" she heard Lexi almost screaming next to her ear. " This is literally the 100th time!"

" What is?" said Alice, while her mind was still being in her world of perfection.

"You just said, you wanted to tell me something!" said Lexi, while rolling her eyes, but not in an angry way. Lexi was never angry. She was the kind of person, who drinks tee instead of coffee and is always optimistic, no matter if the world is about to end or not. The kind of friend you need. Just admit it already!

"Yeah, right" Alice said "what I wanted to say was... "

"Was....?" repeated Lexi.

"Well, I kind of have a date with Josh..." said Alice, blushing.

-Later this evening-

Alice had just received Josh's message. They were going to meet outside the movie theater around 19:00. He said, he had already booked the tickets, but he wouldn't say for which movie. He wanted it to be a surprise.

And talking about surprises, you should be noted, that Alice wasn't as excited for the date, as she thought she would be. Not after opening a mysterious package waiting for her on her desk as she came home...

Inside the package, she found the clothes, her best friend was supposed to wear at Alice's 14th bithday. The clothes she was wearing the night she disappeared... And a letter.