she's mine.

14

We headed to the nail salon first, where i realized Eli had given me three hundred dollars!! I didn't mention it to Lea, but how does he have this money just to throw around?? I tried to wrap my head around it while I smiled about how sweet of a gesture it was. He probably saved up to give her the best sweet sixteen she could have. It made my heart flutter. I quickly shoved the money in my pocket to make sure Lea didn't see it.

Lea and I talked about school, her plans for after, what she did for fun, and I definitely made sure she told me more about this boy she liked. She told me all about how she hated school, and mostly just stuck with Jake. On the weekends she hung out with her brothers and their friends. They always took care of her. She used to hate it because she envied the girls having sleep overs and doing girly things, but as she watched girls off and on again friendships, she said she'd rather have her brothers who never turned their back on her. She said her parents never knew about the cruel things Kaitlyn had done to her, and she was glad they never found out. Lea was strong. I wouldn't be able to do what she does.

She told me she used to want to be an author, but ever since her parents passed she didn't know if she could do it anymore. She told me about how her father had always supported her writing, and her mother was goofy and constantly inspiring. She said without them she didn't know what to write about, and she didn't want anyone else besides her father to read her work. He used to always be the first to read it. Jake would sometimes still nag her about her writing, but never pushed it too hard. He was understanding. I could tell just by the way she talked about him, how much he did for her. He was her rock, her constant reminder of better days to come. I wondered who was Jake's rock, and how he made it through everything with out a falter in his endearingly goofy persona.

Apparently the boy she liked was gorgeous and extremely kind, he sounded perfect for her. She talked about how she wished so badly she could talk to him, but she was too nervous.

"Let's text him right now," I said as we pulled into the mall.

Lea groaned, "nooo. What would I even say?"

"Just text him, say 'this is Lea, I love you with everything in me, marry me?' " I winked at her as she groaned again and rolled her eyes. We headed inside. It was warmer out than I expected. We had decided on Forever 21 and H&M for our shopping, so we headed for them quickly.

"That's the worst idea I have ever heard," we both laughed.

"Hey! I'm all about the straight forwardness; know what you want, then don't stop until you get it," I smiled at her as we browsed Forever 21.

"I thought you said you had experience with this stuff! That still sounds like the worst idea ever," she rolled her eyes once again.

"I said I have experience with protective older brothers," I looked at a couple short black dresses that I would love to wear, but I wouldn't want to give off the wrong impression. I had always been fairly conservative. I stuck with my jeans and flannels for the most part, with an occasional exception. "With boys romantically, I have zero." I laughed and wrinkled my nose in disgust.

I saw her head shoot up on the other side of the rack. "Uhm. What?" she stared at me. "What do you mean you have zero experience? Like none? At all?" She looked appalled.

I felt my brow furrow as I looked at her confused. "I mean exactly that, I don't have any experience. How would I?" I laughed lightly hoping to lighten the mood before my cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Five schools in two years, remember? There was no time to get attached. I never even had a best friend." I wiggled my fingers in the air while I said 'best friend'.

She was still staring at me, which I chose to ignore by lifting one of the black dresses up and looking at it.

"You should try that on," she encouraged and I felt relieved to hear she had dropped the topic.