Call Lilly

Slowly, he made up his mind, nodding his head as he made his final call. Maybe it would be embarrassing, but Lilly was the best shot he had. While Clara was still asleep, he wanted to sort out as much as he could, so he reached for his phone, and thumbed down to her number. It was very early in the morning, but he knew that Lilly was much like himself. She tended to rise early. The phone rang, and he battled the butterflies in his stomach. He wanted to shut it off now, and to avoid the whole thing, but he knew better than that. He needed advice on how to handle this, and she was the one most likely to have it.

He was just also hoping she wouldn’t make too much fun of him over it.

The phone clicked a moment later, and he heard his friend’s voice come over the line.

“Hello?” She said. Lilly’s voice was calm and confident, matching her form and personality. She was someone who did things, who sorted out things, who went out and had achievements. She had always been driven, always been the one of them who would come up with a plan and then actually follow it.

He took a deep breath.

“Hey, Lilly, it’s Alex.”

“Yeah, I know.” She said. “My phone recognises your number, dumbass. You don’t need to introduce yourself.”

“Ah.”

She snorted over the phone, and Alex felt a bit more relaxed. She was a driven, determined person, and sometimes that meant it could be hard to catch her in a good mood. She spent a lot of time preparing for the day ahead, practicing, playing sport, or studying for some new qualification – which she tended to collect like kids back in the playground had collected Pokemon cards back in the day. He could tell from her joking manner though, that he had managed to catch her when she wasn’t busy.

“Do you have the day free?” He asked her. “I know you’re usually pretty busy, but this could be important.”

Silence for a moment, and then she replied.

“Seriously important, or so-so important? Is someone going to die if I don’t attend?”

“Why do you always feel the need to ask that?”

“Well, Matt nearly died that one time...”

“That was years ago! None of us have died since then!”

“Only because I’ve been around to keep you all sane.” She cut back, though with an attitude more akin to pleasure and happiness than anger. “You all like to call me the smart one, but really, I’m the sane one. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong.” Alex said. “There, see? I told you, it wasn’t hard.”

“Oh really? So this thing you’re ringing me for, it’s totally normal, and not in the least it insane, right?”

“Well...” Alex paused, hesitated. Before he could answer, she sensed his weakness,

“Knew it.” She said. “I’m right, aren’t I? Someone’s done something again, haven’t they? Is it Matt again?”

“No.” Alex said. “Definitely not him. So, can you meet me?”

“Yeah, I can probably schedule something in.” She admitted. “You know that coffee shop near your place? We can meet up there in about an hour. Sound good?”

“Yeah.” Alex said, trying to suppress the feelings of rising anxiety. “Sounds great. I’ll see you then.”

“So, are you bringing Clara?”

“What?” Alex froze for a moment. She knew! How could she know? He panicked, and said the first thing that came to his mind. “Of course not! Why would I be bringing her?”

“Well, she’s in the city for a while.” Lilly said, in the tone of one laying down an absolute truth. “And she told her folks she was staying with me, but she obviously isn’t. She was at the party last night, I saw her there. And I didn’t her leave, and the two of you have always had that thing between you, so….”

“It’s um...” Alex hesitated again, and once more like a god-damned shark, Lilly honed in on the weakness.

“She IS with you!”

“I’ll talk more about it when we meet...” Alex said wretchedly. “I think you’ve hurt my pride enough over the phone.”

“Suit yourself.” She laughed. “See you in an hour or so!”

Ales sighed as he hung up the phone, looking to the mirror which hung in the front room, and meeting his own reflection squarely in the eyes.

“You know, I sort of feel like maybe we were onto something when we thought she was a witch back when we first met her. No person should know that much, and be that good at guessing exactly what you don’t want to say.”