It was two in the morning, and Ray was tired. However, a part of him was not, almost refusing to rest. His mind kept drifting back to how Lily left him staring at her door.
The door was painted white, plain, and ordinary. He wanted to say, "Hello, door. Nice to meet you," but the door stared back at him, uninviting and closed shut.
Unbelievable. She freaking shoved the door to my face!
Shaking his head and with a smirk on his face, amused even, he put that memory to the back of his mind, steered his car towards Concord, and considered ditching Alas in front of his house.
With a cigarette in his left hand, he mused that his life was so simple when he was all by himself. After driving two people, one a friend and the other a stranger, he deserved to be alone, needing his personal space back.
For the sake of everybody and, most importantly, his self-preservation, he hoped no damage was done after helping someone other than a friend, someone he didn't care about and had no reason to.
He simply didn't want to get into trouble anymore.
Not with anybody. Not to her.
So, he pushed the nagging out of his mind, the restlessness away from his system. He locked out images of her rosebud lips and innocent little frown. Erased any slightest hint of connection, memory, or attention.
Whatever it was he wanted tonight... fuck, help him. He could not do it again.
***
It was two in the morning, and Lily didn't want to sleep in an essentially empty house so she crossed the front lawn leading to the next house, her grandmother's.
Their current living arrangement was atypical, but it kept things convenient for the both of them, making them closer to each other.
She opened the door and went up the stairs, straight to the master bedroom. She wasn't expecting to find her grandmother still awake. She only wanted to know if she was sound asleep.
Not surprised, she found her grandmother still wide awake. The TV was on.
Lily laid herself next to the older woman on the four-poster bed. "Hello there, gorgeous. Can't sleep?"
Lying on her side and facing the window, Granny Violet replied, "Hello to you too. There is nothing else for me to do tonight, and I know you were out so I tried to watch TV. Baked cookies. I guess I got bored, so here I am on this bed, waiting for my dear granddaughter to come home. Before you even ask, yes, I am not bitching about being an old woman."
Lily snuggled closer to her. "My head feels a little bit weird, Granny. I want to sleep here on this awesome king-sized bed!"
"Sure. So did you get kissed tonight?"
Did she just hear that right? Her grandmother did just ask that question all right. She always did anyway.
"You always ask this question. And the answer is no. No kissing, no holding hands, no flirting. Helped myself to two, three, four bottles of beer? Does that count? I was actually a wallflower the entire time I was there. Jean asked Milo to be my date though. She hoped we clicked."
"Oh, to be young and in love again."
"Missing Grandpa?"
"Miss him? Ha! That old bastard left me years ago! He was so excited to go to heaven."
Granny Violet turned to look at Lily, showing a smile on her wrinkled yet quintessential face -- a woman content. "So tell me what are teenagers up to these days? I am sure dating is one of them. I'd like to meet my granddaughter's boyfriend."
"No boyfriend, boo. Sorry to break it to you. I can't tell you much. I am different, Granny. At least in this town. I don't necessarily play by the normal teenagers' book. Besides, I just don't want my hormones or this teenage sexual awakening, whatever, to dictate my life. Being called Stiff is already frustrating enough. Thank you very much."
"You'll be fine. Trust me. I can still remember back in the day when I first had a boyfriend. The first kiss. It was at the back of that old farmhouse. We had to do it in the dark or else his--"
Lily thought that her grandmother was giving her TMI. "Okay. Okay. I get what you mean." She added, "You're getting to that topic again. I can't further comment."
Granny Violet giggled, "You're funny."
The younger woman frowned. Right... because I am super funny. Hahaha!
Looking lovingly into the eyes of the younger woman before her, she began, "I know you. You are more than what you let on. Don't mind what other people think and say about you. Don't worry about this old town with its old people and old habits."
Sighing, she continued, "So what if you are from the big city? People looking at you and giving you strange looks, they don't matter. Nonsense. You are not the only McQueen who feels like leaving, but there's just something about this goddamn town that doesn't want me to even think about packing my bags and running away. You were born here for crying out loud! You were just gone a few years but look at you now. You came back. You are no outsider. You're a new ray of sunshine here. You have a better, broader perspective than all people here could ever imagine."
All those words made Lily love her grandmother, even more, made her realize that the older woman was the perfect remedy to a headache, to her weary heart.
Granny Violet, bless her heart, was comfort personified. Her presence, caring. Her love, honest.
Lily smiled, feeling more understood than ever, "I know. Kids at school call me the Stiff. I get what they mean. I really do you know. I'm awkward. Blah, blah, blah. But I'm okay with it, I suppose. My freshman year was not particularly a good start for me. Remember Becca Teller?"
The older woman replied, her eyes lit up, "Oh! Yes. I love that girl. She has guts! She bullied you to sneak into the shower rooms. If I were only younger, she and I could be the best of friends."
"For sure. I sneaked into shower rooms. I did it for The Bugle. That was always my excuse. One of the things I did to fit in. That or because I desperately wanted to write for the school paper."
Granddaughter and grandmother moved closer to each other, holding each other's arms, sharing body heat. Their embrace, their cure for loneliness.
Lily breathed in the fragrance of her grandmother's lavender shampoo, "I feel better now."
Squeezing Lily's arm, Granny Violet replied, "Of course, you do. I'm your grandmother. I'll always be here. It's the power of my love."
"Before I forget. I saw him at the party."
"Him? Like him? The little drummer boy?"
"Yes."
"Oh, young love."
"He is simply charming. I cannot help myself but smile every time I see him. It's ridiculous."
"You like him that much, huh?"
Giving a shy nod, she replied, "But he has a girlfriend. I already told you about her."
"I keep forgetting things and people these days."
"You talked to her last time you went to church. She could also be your best friend, you know."
Her grandmother touched her forehead to Lily's. "No. You are my best friend."
They hugged each other tighter, more reassuring.
"Lily, my dear girl. If you want the little drummer boy that much, then make him fall in love with you. Forget about the girlfriend. Do whatever it takes. Grab the bull by its horns. That mentality. That attitude. Go after what your heart wants."
Is her grandmother serious? "You know that's one way of putting the word 'cheating' in there, right?"
"Exactly. Life is short."
"Yeah, right. Let's say whatever it takes. But what if I still can't make him fall in love with me in the end?"
Granny Violet gave Lily her sweetest smile. "You make the other boy fall in love with you."
Lily's face lit up the brightest at last. "The one with the banjo, right?"
Two in the morning. Two smiles, two giggles welcomed the dawn of the sleeping old town.
***