He sternly asked her, “Where are you going?”
“Out,” she calmly explained, “with a friend.”
He began to become both curious and frustrated at her short, bland answers. What can I do now? What if she’s seeing someone? I might not be able to just simply win her back…
“What friend?” he further interrogated, anger and fear both starting to bubble in his veins.
“Just someone, alright? Don’t worry…”
“Lilly, but what friend do you mean?”
“A friend, Frank, the guy’s just a friend.”
“What is this guy truly?”
“Amos and I were going to go out for some coffee. That’s all.”
She then turned away, for the tension in the air made her feel entirely uneasy. He then could not help himself. Frank just had to know. From behind, he grabbed her waist and covered her mouth. He pulled her down to the ground as a means of stopping her from struggling. With her flailing about, he managed to holler, “Just tell me the truth!” Releasing her mouth, he started to think pessimistically again. This is the end. She was cheating on me. It’s dead obvious.
“Alright,” she whispered, a fresh avalanche of tears coating her pale cheeks. “I…Amos asked me on a date and I agreed to go. Believe me, I’m not an inch proud of myself…”
He knew he was beat. Frank entirely let go of Lilly and stepped back. He was paralyzed by shock. Holy crap…how is she with Mr. Lacrosse-team-captain-guitar-playing-pretty-boy? Amos was the guitarist in their band. He had jet-black hair, was lanky, and was one of the most popular people they had graduated from high school with.
“Frank–”
“No, Lilly. Don’t ‘Frank’ me…”
“–we’re not dating anymore, you know that as well as I do. By the way, I will ‘Frank’ you! I thought we were at an understanding.”
“Of what?”
“That we would stay out of each others love life because it would be too awkward.”
He pulled her to her feet. The problem was he did not want to let go of her smooth hands. “If you want us both thinking out, I’m going to just counter your idea by saying no, sweetheart.” With his arms pulling her quickly closer to him, their lips met in the middle. A thoroughly flustered Lilly wrapped her arms around the collar of her best friend: no apologies or explanations were needed. The couple had found their few minutes of blissful love and serenity. Their hands ran through each other’s hair – her long, lustrous, straight, black and purple streaked, strawberry blonde mane; his short, rugged, red-brown, lank tresses.
“Arf-arf! (Pant, pant, pant…) Arf-Arf!” Frank’s silk-furred, charcoal gray miniature schnauzer came running in from the once quiet hallway.
They were at their band’s house in Germany, Frank’s home country. Their home was abundant with wildlife and flourishing greenery. Lilly was from Scotland, where their fathers had met during a business conference.
“Gosh, Pluff, what the heck do you want now? Can’t you see we’re in the middle of something?”
“Aye, Frank, that would be swell to know, would it not?”
Pluff loved running up from out of nowhere to jump-tackle Frank and lick his face, in pursuit of treats and head scratches. Of course, she always got her way.
“AHH!! You crazy poochie! Cut it out, will you? Lilly, I’m being eaten by my pet! Therefore, I would like to tell you how much I love you. I also would like to know if you would have married me had I asked…Happy now Ms. Pluffle? You’ve got treats, now please let me up!” Frank laughed.
“Pluffle,” Lilly giggled, “can I ask you to keep him pinned to the ground?”
Up got Pluff, running off to her bed for her usual slumber. Lilly partially helped Frank to his feet. She could not help thinking about what would happen next.
I wonder if this means we’re dating now. Maybe he’ll consider not going after all. I know Frank would like to be the first drummer in space, but he’d be so far away from me for so long…What if something was to go wrong for some reason? I might not ever see him again!
“Sweetie, anything wrong?”
“Do you have to go tomorrow?”
“Lilly, you know I have to…the band depends on me!”
“Well, I’m the bassist but I’m not going!!”
“You’re a month pregnant. If you were to die, two innocent lives would be lost.”
“It’s not fair, though!”
“I know, honey. I know, ” he soothed while clutching her hands in his, “Don’t worry, there aren’t going to be any other girls half as flawless and gorgeous as yourself up in space. Now that I mention it, there won’t be any at all!”
She could not believe he was being this way. She was stubborn and openly would admit to that, but she was always able to talk him out of unreasonable predicaments. There is always a first for everything. This was the first time he was leaving her since they were thirteen. At nineteen, neither of them wanted to live with the mental burdens associated with lovesickness. The thought of not hearing the heavily accented words, flowing as a river does from their true love was hard enough to imagine. Both Frank and Lilly feared their friendship would drift apart even farther.