After a very, gut wrenching day at school, Lily wanted nothing more than to hide in a hole until the sun died out. After muddling through the quiz in English and being subjected to Calen's overbearing heroics--it got less endearing as the day dragged on and he grew more daring--she decided that she was going to hide out at the nearby fast food restaurant and just take the city bus home.
"It's really not even that bad," Calen told her. Lily had to refrain from slapping him.
"Weren't you the one who called me a creepy stalker?" She reminded him. She didn't get why he was acting nonchalant about everything.
"I called you a stalker," he corrected her. "I never said you were creepy."
At this she shook her head in bewilderment. "How else was I suppose to take it? You tell me that I've been stalking the one I loved--what?"
Calen was wincing in discomfort. "Yeah...I would reign in my love confession right now. You do have a habit of singing it to the heavens and all that."
Lily scoffed. "I have never sung my affections to the heavens!"
"Well..." A new voice joined their conversation. "You actually talk everyone's ear off about how you're going to marry him..."
"How you and him are meant to be..." Another voice joined.
"And how you two will have the cutest kids." The last voice finished off.
Lily stared, gobsmacked, as their crew have her sheepish looks. The other three boys were triplets that lived near Calen and her on the opposite end of their street. The Osmin boys were known for their charms and and pranks. Since they were identical, they could switch classes with each other whenever they wanted to. The teachers tried to catch them in the act, but they rarely succeeded. Eventually they just let the boys get away with their mischief. They were curly blond cherubs that made the girls hearts stammer and endeared them to the boys in their school.
And now they were also a part of this stalking conspiracy.
"But I've only told you guys about my dreams of ending up with Armando," She said. "It's not like I tried to force the boy to marry me."
"And you've followed him everywhere," Ilias, the oldest brother told her.
"His family own the most popular store in the city," she pointed out to them. She wasn't the only one who went there to shop and flirt with Armando.
"You've been the only one beside his girlfriends to enter his bedroom," Arturo, the second eldest listed.
Lily flushed. "He never takes his colds or flu seriously," she reasoned. It made sense that someone should watch out for him whenever he fell ill and his family was too busy with their stores. She never took advantage of him when he was in that state. But many girls have tried, which made her somewhat of a guard who would bar other girls from charging his home and bothering him.
She helped clean his room. They wanted to take souvenirs.
"You've slipped a few times and called his mom your own," Eril pointed out, raising a wry brow.
Lily...actually did not have an excuse for that. Though honestly, that happened only a few time in middle school. She would daydream about Armando falling in love with her and introducing her to his mother as his future wife. She would get the chance to call the charming woman mom and be welcomed into the warm-hearted family. The few times she has slipped and called Mrs. Del La Rossi "mom" had been when the woman would ask her a question or greet her during these daydreams. She wanted to die each time.
Who knew that mistake from her youth would still be haunting her now?
"You also become friends with each of his girlfriends," Calen jumped back into the dump-on-Lily parade.
"So?" Lily did not get how this was a problem. She was not going to ignore the girls just because they were dating the boy she loved. Sure, he's felt hurt that he was dating them. Again, he was her friend. She wanted to get along with his girlfriends.
"No, Lils." Arturo breathed in deeply. "You get aggressively close to them."
"Sometimes to the point that Armando can't even spend time with them," Eril finished off.
Now, that definitely made no sense.
"That is not true," she denied. "I always tried to give them time to themselves. I just pop in from time to time to say hi to him and whoever he's dating and then go and enjoy my life."
"Sweetheart," here Ilias looked at her pityingly. "You always act like the third wheel whenever they go out."
"Again, I--"
"Melissa Bennett," Arturo cut her off.
This threw Lily off. She had to think back, but she remembered that she was Armando's third girlfriend in the seventh grade. She had gone to the movies with her a few times. She was a nice girl. Of course, once she and Armando had broken up, they stopped hanging out. She may have been the only girlfriend of that boy that she truly missed.
"What about her?"
"What's her favorite color?" Calen tested her.
"Green--no, wait! It's sage!" Lily corrected herself.
All four boys stared at her.
"That's still green," Eril pointed out to her.
"You have to pay attention to the shades of colors," Lily explained to them, rolling her eyes at their ignorance. "Not everyone likes the basic colors."
Again, her comments were met with silence.
"Why did you even have to know that much about the girl?" Arturo asked her. "Armando was the one dating her. Not you."
Lily shrugged. "I wanted to know more about her. She was dating one of my friends and I would be seeing her around with him."
"Sweetie," Calen patted her on the head. "Just being civil to her would have been enough. Did you know that she was so bothered by your interference that she had to ask Armando to be hang out with her at her home? And they ultimately broke up because he had to help his family out with the opening of the third restaurant during our seventh grade summer. They eventually broke up."
Lily shook her head.
"Nope, that's where you're wrong." She looked at each boy. "They broke up because it didn't work out."
"Yeah," Eril agreed. "Because of you."
Before she could protest, Ilias asked her this question:
"Are you even friends with any of the girls he dated.
She almost gave affirmation before pausing. Armando would still hang out with the girls time to time whenever they came to his family's property. She never found the time or reason to hang out with them
"Okay girlie," Calen patted her on the shoulder. "You may need to take the one to think about your interaction with each girlfriend and you may very well see a pattern." He and the other boys began to walk towards the school.
"Where are you guys going?" She called to them, her voice somewhat weak.
"We're just going to drop by Chris's house." He was another member of their crew. Lilly did wonder where he was earlier. Calen turned back to explain to her. "We promised to hang out and have a movie marathon with him as he's recovering from a cold. Y'know, to give him some reprieve from his sister."
He gave her a two finger salute. "See ya."
Lily watched them walk away from her. When they got far enough, she turned and began to walk towards the burger place across the street. She needed a double shake to shoot some happiness in her veins.