Hold My Hand

I met Lilly on June first, two-thousand-and-eight at my high school graduation. I remember Jared saying she was only fifteen. She would be a sophomore in high school that coming fall, and we quickly became friends. Jared and Lilly were cousins, and she was his best friend. The inconvenience, though, was that she lived on the East coast, in Kentucky. She stayed with Jared at his parent’s house for only a week, and then she went back to Kentucky so she could finish her summer reading list. I didn’t know she was going to make such an impression on me.

Her southern accent was just one of the many beautiful things about her. She carried herself so gracefully, it could make any boy drop at the knees for her. Her long, strawberry-blond hair was just like Jared’s. They could have been brother and sister if they wanted to be. She wasn’t too skinny; she just looked completely normal, like she wasn’t trying too hard to impress anyone. I remember she never wore make-up unless it was absolutely necessary. She thought it was going to ‘ruin her skin’ one day. Bottom line; she was just plain beautiful, and I couldn’t get over it.

We spent that week together, getting to know each other. She was hard to figure out, I remember that.

I couldn’t wait until the day I would see her again. I knew it wouldn’t be soon, though. It took everything in me not to blab about her all day in front of the guys; they would probably give me a hard time for it. They would say I was whipped and never let me live it down.

“She’s got a boyfriend,” Jared sighed as we were setting up for a small show at a bar downtown. “I wouldn’t let you near her anyway. So you’re shit out of luck.”

I rolled my eyes, “Thanks, man.”

He gave me a sweet smile, “What are friends for?”

One day, I knew I was going to get her. I was set on it.