When I was with him I forgot all about my problems and everything made a lot of sense.
I could barely wait to see him and just because I wanted to look my best for him, without eyebags and stress lines, I forced myself to sleep immediately after Alicia left my room.
But, I could barely keep my eyes closed through the night.
I kept thinking about how George and I would show off our sweet dance moves and how I was going to steal as many kisses from him as possible.
I kept looking at my dress, it looked very fancy and I could not wait to put it on.
I knew I had a long day ahead of me because prom was to begin late in the evening and I had to wait for George to pick me up.
So, I decided to visit Lily.
She was as excited for prom as I was. We talked about it all the time before the holidays.
She turned down everyone who asked to be her date for reasons best known to her.
I knew Lily too well and she was not heavy on having dates to events like prom. She believed in partying by herself without any restraints.
I was totally different from her.
If George were not in the picture, maybe I would have bought into her idea but because he was, I did not think twice before accepting his offer.
Lily's yard was very big. It could fit a house perfectly but her mum used the space to plant several flowers.
When Lily and I were little, we always helped her in our own way.
I did not tell Lily I wanted to visit that morning. I thought surprising her was best given that I had not spent enough time with her and it was the day we were both looking forward to.
I opened the door sharply and just as I was about to shout her name, our eyes met.
She was laying down on the couch with a blanket over her body and she had a feeding tube in her nostril. She looked worse than she did when she came over to my house.
A woman I had never seen before was sitting on the chair close to her, pushing food from a syringe into her tube.
Everything looked weird and I was too shocked to move.
Lily stared at me without making any sounds and the woman just kept pushing the food without caring about my presence.
'Lily.'
I could only call out her name. I did not understand what was going on and so many reasons as to why she was using a feeding tube flooded my head.
I walked into the sitting room leaving the door ajar.
'Hi, Kassy! What are you doing here?' She sounded happy and that made me very confused.
Why was Lily acting like what was going on was a normal thing?
I remembered how she looked when she came over to my house and I sucked my teeth.
I should have pressed her to tell me what was wrong then.
I was angry. I was angry at myself and her.
'What happened to you?' I went to sit beside her. She was even smaller now.
She covered her hair with a head warmer and her skin was much paler. My body felt cold.
Was I a horrible friend?
Someone I claimed to be bestfriends with hid her sickness from me and thanks to all my distancing, I had no clue she was suffering so much.
'It's a long story.' She smiled.
Why was she smiling? There was nothing to smile about.
'Prom is today, did you forget?'
That was the least of my problems and I knew she only wanted to change the topic but I made up my mind to find out exactly what was wrong with her.
'What happened to you?' I was looking straight into her eyes hoping she would not break eye contact.
'I'm done, for now.' The lady stood up and left.
The white dress she wore suggested she was a nurse and I knew Lily's mum could afford a personal nurse for her.
'I'm just sick, I guess? That's what the doctor says but I feel fine, really.' She was looking away from me.
She was lying.
I was confused as to why she did not tell me anything about it before.
I was so focused on righting Nate's wrongs that I totally ignored my best friend.
'Lily, what is wrong? Why do you have a nurse and a tube? What happened to you?`
I was scared.
I did not know if I really wanted to know what was wrong with her or if I wanted to believe what she said.
'Cancer. Gastrointestinal cancer.' She was looking straight at me.
She was reading my expression. She wanted to see my reaction.
I stood up and looked around the large sitting room that had expensive looking furniture all over the place.
I felt numb.
It was like a dream or maybe I just did not hear her right.
My best friend was battling cancer and I only just got to know about it.
I felt bad.
'I am so sorry Lily.' I bent to hug her.
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
I could not control myself. I was crying so much.
She held me and said some things but I could not make out anything she said.
I was in my head wondering why she did not call me immediately when she found out.
'Do not throw me a pity party Kassy. I told you it's what the doctor said but I do not feel that way at all.' She was holding me tighter.
I felt her tears drop on my shoulder. The only time we ever cried together was when my mum did not let me travel with her family.
'Where is your mum.' I sat down and wiped my cheeks with the handkerchief I got from my jean jacket.
Lily's mum hardly ever stayed away from her.
Her dad was always on one business trip or the other so her mum decided to make sure Lily never felt alone or abandoned.