Still Waters Run Deep

Chapter 6: Darkness Falls

Chapter 6:

Darkness Falls

Lily felt sick to her stomach all night. Not even Eli singing Beyoncé or Fiona, Harper, and Scarlett getting down to an old Spice Girls song made her feel better. While all of her friends were enjoying pizza, Lily was staring at her water thinking about her sister's upcoming swim meet. It was an odd and random thing to think about, but for some reason she couldn't get it out of her head.

She couldn't bring herself to eat. She could hear her friends laughing and having a good time, but she just couldn't focus. She'd smile and nod occasionally so no one would ask her any questions, but the reality was that after her talk with Fiona about being in tune with the world around them she couldn't help but wonder why the world had been screaming at her all day. It was starting to make her body ache.

When the party wound down, Holden drove the girls and Eli to Aria and Ezra's place. By the time they got there, Lily's head was throbbing. Eli joined the boys in the living room. Ezra and Caleb had been watching action movies with their boys all night. Kai and Levi had been so into the movies that they hadn't noticed that every so often their dads would look at their phones and then glance at one another with hard expressions on their faces. Their wives had been keeping them updated. Eli plopped down next to Kai while the girls walked through the living room.

"Hey, dad." Fiona waved.

"Hey, girls. Did you have a good time at the party?" Ezra tried his best to maintain a normal tone of voice.

"Yeah." They all answered almost simultaneously.

Harper and Fiona glanced at one another nervously, trying not to let on that they'd had a little excursion away from the party. Lily looked over at Eli, who was as cool as a cucumber. She was a little envious of how easy it was for him to relax. Then again, she was completely on edge tonight. Every little thing was bothering her. She felt like she was reading in to things that weren't really there, only she knew that not all of it was in her imagination. Both the adults and the kids in the room were hiding something from one another. She knew what they were hiding from Caleb and Ezra. But she had no idea what they could possibly be hiding from them.

"Are you guys getting ready to start another movie?" Lily asked curiously, trying to get them to talk a little more to see if maybe her paranoia was all in her head.

"Uh, no. We just finished the last one." Ezra glanced at his watch and stood up. "The TV is yours if you want it."

Ezra looked at Caleb. Lily thought she caught a slight nod of his head motioning for Caleb to follow him into the kitchen.

"I'm TV-ed out." Levi shook his head.

"A sentence I never thought I'd hear you say, short stuff." Kai teased him.

"I may be short in stature." Levi shrugged it off. "But I'm big where it matters."

"Did you seriously just make a joke about your..."

"Brain." Levi interrupted Eli and pointed to his head. "My brain. Duh."

"Levi, what did we talk about earlier today?" Caleb frowned at him.

"Don't make my friends feel inferior to me. I know." Levi responded sheepishly. "But they make it so easy."

"You know I have a higher IQ than you do, right?" Harper teased him.

"Harper, don't encourage him." Eli scolded her.

"Oh, okay dad," she scoffed.

Lily usually enjoyed seeing their playful banter, but for some reason it was upsetting tonight. Her brows furrowed and she put her hand on her aching stomach.