Memorial

“Delilah!” I shouted as I walked into the house, Tom was right behind me, and I had a hold on his wrist. He had tried wondering around outside. I had to pull him to the door, I hadn’t wanted my neighbors asking question. I closed and locked the door as soon as he walked into the house. I heard the patter of feet on the wood floor.

They stopped and I saw Delilah, still dressed in an angry Hello Kitty tank top and pair of white shorts with little characters on that also looked like Hello Kitty. Her light brown hair was pulled into pig tails and laid over her shoulders. She stopped at the end of the hall to the front door. “Where have you been?” she signed.

“Out on a run.” I said taking off my shoes with one hand.

She looked at Tom, curiously. “Who’s the drunk?”

I shook my head. “He’s not a drunk,” I signed with one hand. “He’s sick.” I took my phone and iPod on the small table next to the door.

She rolled her eyes. “Sure.” She stretched the word out.

I let go of Tom’s wrist. He was looking around the front entrance. There wasn’t much to look at, just two or three pictures of Tay’s Family and mine, then one of me and her. “Take off your shoes.” I said, standing there waiting. He looked down at his feet and stepped on the back of his vans, slipping them off.

Once his shoes were off I grabbed my running shoes and grabbed his wrist again pulling him towards my room. We walked pass Delilah and she gave me a look. I waved it away and pulled Tom into my room. “Sit,” I pointed at my bed, before walking over to my closet, tossing my shoes in. I looked threw my t-shirts and pants before finally deciding on wearing a pair of pajama’s. I grabbed my favorite long sleeve To Write Love On Her Arms shirt and a pair of red flannel shorts. I grabbed a new set of knickers and a bra. “I’ll be back in a minute.” I showed him my clothes. “I’m going to shower.” He nodded and I made my way over to my bathroom.

I quickly hopped into the shower, scrubbing my body clean and washing my hair. One I felt I had gotten all of the sweat off my body I rinsed off and step out. I dried myself off and pulled on my pulled on my pajamas and wrapped a towel around my head. I didn’t want to leave Tom alone for too long. I grabbed my dirty clothes, slipped on my fuzzy slippers and walked back into my room.

Tom was looking around my room, curiously. I walked over to my clothes basket dumping
my running clothes in. “You want some clothes?”

He looked over at me, his face blank. “I won’t fit in yer, clothes Pay.”

I giggled and shook my head. “I didn’t mean mine.” I walked over to my dresser. “I have some guy’s clothes.”

“Sure, ef yeh boyfriend won’ mind.” He said

I grabbed a pair of sweats and a black t-shirt. “I don’t have a boyfriend Tom.” I said walking over to the bed, with the clothes in my hand. He looked up at me with questioning eyes. I sighed “I haven’t had one in a few months.” He nodded and I sat down on my neatly made black and blue bed. “I didn’t stop dating, you know.” I said slightly irritated.

Why was that everyone’s idea of how I got? I mean yes, I was completely and utterly heart broken when Oliver dumped me. And Yes I fell apart, but I’m better now and I have started dating again. I haven’t had many dates but I’ve still dating.

He stood up. “I never said yeh did.” He walked over to the bathroom.

When the door clicked shut, I felt something soft hit the side of my head. I looked down to see a marshmallow on my ground. I looked up at my door, to see Delilah standing there with a bag of marshmallows in her hand.

“Is that your new boyfriend?”

I shook my head. “Old friend I went to school with.”

“Oooh,” she blushed slightly. “He’s cute.”

I began to laugh. “You just said he was drunk!” She stuck her tongue out at me and threw another marshmallow at me before disappearing behind my door.

A few moments later Tom came out in the clothes I had given him on. He walked over to the bed, sitting next to me and placing his clothes on the foot. I sighed and hugged him. “Get some sleep, Tommy.” I stood and kissed his forehead.

I picked up the marshmallows off the ground before walking towards the door.

“Thank yeh, Pay.” He mumbled.

I looked over my shoulder to see him getting beneath my covers. I smiled and nodded walking out of my room and closing the door. I walked over to the guest bathroom that Delilah and Lilly were using. I found their hair dryer and went to work at my hair. It took 15minutes to do.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked so different from back in high school. I mean you’re supposed to but I mean I looked different to me. Like in the last four years I hadn’t actually looked in the mirror. I had aged in a physical way, but it didn’t feel like I had mentally. I sighed running my fingers through the soft waves in my hair. I looked at my green blue eyes in the mirror. The looked so dull, I bit my lip, looking away. Maybe this is why I didn’t look in the mirror.

I put away the hair dryer way and hung my towel up and turned off the light stepping out.
Sitting across the hall on the ground was Delilah, eating the bag marshmallows. She had three in her mouth. “You’re going to get fat that way.” I giggled softly and she glared. I smiled and tossed the marshmallows at her. “Where’s your sister?”

“I killed her.” She signed a mock serious look on her face.

I rolled my eyes. “Ha, ha, funny.” I held out my hand for her and she took it. I helped her up and we walked into the living room. I saw Lily in the other room messing with the many cameras’ she had. They were all laid out over the dining room table.

I looked at her, “Get Lily and I’ll make you breakfast.” She nodded and let go of my hand to go get her sister. I walked into the kitchen, I smiled. Taylor had clean up before she left and there was a few boxes on the island. I picked one of them up to see that it was tea.

I walked over to the stove and grabbed the kettle; I put some water in it before I place it back on the stove turning up the heat. I grabbed, three mugs placing the on the counter.

I pulled my hair up into a sloppy pony tail humming as I walked over to the cold box and opening it. I grabbed the eggs, milk, and other ingredients for breakfast. I put them on the counter. I got out the pans and placed them on the stove. I cracked and egg into a small bowl and pour a little milk in.

I heard banging on the counter top. I turned to see Delilah and Lily sitting on the stools at the island. Delilah was holding her fist on the island top. “What are you making?” she signed when she saw she had my attention.

I smiled, “Eggs and toast.”

“And Bacon too?” Lily signed. She was wearing a similar outfit to her sister. Her top was different thought. She had her hair pulled up into a pony tail. I could see her bright neon Stretchers. I rolled my eyes and nodded. “Yay!”

I walked over to the cold box and grabbed a thing of bacon. I sang while I cooked breakfast, my sing wasn’t the best but Delilah didn’t say anything, which was nice. Once I was done, I turned off the stove and I made each of us a plate and poured us each a cup of tea.

“Thank you!” they both signed. I smiled and nodded taking a sip of my tea.

“So what did you guys do this morning?” I asked taking a bit of egg.

“Played with Karma.” Delilah signed after shoving a piece of bacon in her mouth. Karma was her beloved violin. She took that thing with her everywhere. It was like her baby.

“Cool,” I smiled and looked at Lily. “What about you?”

She took a sip of tea, shrugging. “Ran around naked.”

I started laughing choking on a bit of toast that I had taken a bit of. Both of them started to laugh at me.

I got up and grabbed a glass of water. Trying to breath, I looked at her. “Don’t do that when I’m eating!”

She smirked and shook her head taking a bite of her egg. The rest of our breakfast was filled with small talk and a few jokes from Delilah and Lily.

“Alright,” I sighed and picked up my plate and put it in the sink. “I made breakfast you to get to clean up.” Lily groaned and Delilah glared.

“I should have known you had other motives for making breakfast.” I laughed and ruffled her hair walking into the living room. I went over to the TV, turning on the DVD, placing a CD that Taylor had made for me in it before turning the TV.

I smiled and pressed play on one of the remotes, pulling my hair out of the pony tail.

The surround sound began to play the song The Funeral by Band of Horses. I started to sing and picking up the blankets and pillows that I’m guessing Lily and Delilah had used to keep themselves entertained. I folded the last blanket, tossing it on the back on the couch.

I walked over to the front door and grabbed my iPod and Phone. I had 2 missed calls. I sighed, walking back to the living room while checking them. The First one was from my adopted mom.

"Payton, dear can yeh call meh an’ tell me when tha’ dance show case, of yers is? Yer father an’ I would like to come see yeh preform. Don’t yeh think tha’ it would be nice to ‘ave yer family there supportin’ yeh?” She was quiet for a moment. “Just call meh, back love.” Then she hung up.

I rolled my eyes, deleting the message. I didn’t hate JoAnn; I liked her I really did. It was just that she always tried to BE my mom, and she wasn’t. I mean she was a motherly figure. She helped me with everything; education, boys, dance lessons, high school, life. But she wasn’t MY mom.

I listened to the second message. It was from my friend, from the dance studio that I worked
at; Paul.

“PAYTON!” He had shouted. “Yeh aren’t goin’ to believe this! Yeh got an audition in a month. For a play! A big shot from this theater in London came down an’ asked Meil ef she had anyone she thought would like an audition an’ she showed ‘im a tape of one of yer routine an’ ‘e said ‘e liked it! An’ ‘e wan’s yeh to audition! Can yeh believe it? Yeh gonna be in a play in London!” There was a bit of shouting then a different voice came on. “We’ll looks like big mouth already told yeh Payton.” Amelia, my boss went was silent for a few moments. “OI! Pauly did 'se faint?” I heard Paul said some about an answering machine. “Ooh! Well tomorrow when yeh come into work we’ll talk bout the audition. See yeh tomorrow, love.” Then she hung up.

I pulled my phone away from my ear, in shock and looked down at it. An audition? Real audition?! I squealed really loud jump up on the couch and jumping up and down. I began to do a victory dance, ‘An audition!’ I thought happily. I head slamming on the walls. I looked over to the door way to the kitchen to see Delilah and Lily looking at me with confused expressions. I jumped off the couch and did a happy dance all the way over to them.

“I have an audition! I have an audition.” I sang happily, I started to play with Delilah’s pig tails, still singing and dancing. “I HAVE AN AUDITION!” I nearly screamed.

Lily shoved her sister out of her way and grabbed my arms holding me in place. I looked down at her, a smile plaster across my face. “What is wrong with you?” She mouthed! Shaking me slightly.

I put my hands on her shoulders. “I have a dance audition!” I squealed. She smiled and began to jump up and down with me. I stopped dancing for a moment and looked down at them. “Let’s celebrate!” I walked over to the DVD player and skipped a few tracks. I stopped on the one it wanted. “DANCE PARTY!”

I pressed play once again and the song Beech Like The Tree by Lower Than Atlantis began to play. Delilah smiled and hurried over to me. We began to dance and jump around along with the song. I laughed at Delilah as she spun around waving her arms about. I giggled, jumping up and down, dancing like a peanuts character. I made my way over to Lily, who was sitting crisscross on the couch.

“Come on and dance!” I said, continuing to dance in front of her.

“I can’t.” she signed looking up kind sad. I tilted my head slightly and stopped jumping around. “I can’t hear the music you are dancing too.”

I gave her a small smile and stuck out my hand. “You don’t need music to dance.” I said softly. She didn’t take my hand. I rolled my eyes at her and grabbed her small wrists pulling her up. “You can dance without music.” I started to tug on her arms slightly, urging her to dance. She smiled a bit and dance with me a little. “And you can sing the lyrics. And I wish upon a shooting star. That I might end up where you are, Will you wish too? Two wishes are better than one, dude.”

I smiled and she began to mouth them with me. Delilah came over to us, and we all hoped around dancing and ‘singing’. It was fun and I felt like the smile on my face was realer than it had been in a while; which made me smile more. Me and Delilah laughed as Lily started to whip her hair around, looking like a human fan. She stood up straight and nearly fell over, sending me into a bigger fit of giggles. The songs changed as we danced around, celebrated my audition offer. I got more and more lost into the music, drowning out the bad stuff in the world. I started to do some dance moves and Lily cheered me on. I spun around, once twice, then a third time. Then I lost balance falling on to my bum, lying onto my back.

Delilah and Lily crowded around me. “Are you ok?” Delilah asked me, looking worried.

I began to laugh. Lily rolled her eyes. “That was a stupid question Lila!” she signed and I sat up still laughing slightly.

“I’m not stupid! Stupid!” Delilah signed glaring.

Lilly rolled her eyes again at her sister. “Real mature.”

I giggled. “You’re both silly.” Boy Who Cried Wolf by Futures began to play. “I love this song!” I jumped up and began to dance some more. They both shrugged and began to dance with me again.

“Whoa, wha’s this?” I head as I jumped around in a circle with Lily, moving my head from side to side, flipping my hair. “Wha’?” Taylor said shocked. I looked over to her; Delilah was signing to her something I couldn’t see. She looked over at me. “Yeh got an audition?!” I nodded and smiled.

She squealed and ran over to me tackling me in a hug. “Payton! This is great!”

I nodded my head furiously, my smile never leaving my face.

She pulled away from our hug and smiled. “WE NEED TO CELEBRATE!” she shouted running into the kitchen dropping her things on the way there. I giggled and looked over at the couch. Delilah and Lily were sitting, looking exhausted. I smiled and bit and jumped onto the couch next to them.

Lily gasped and sat up quickly. “Ice cream!” I looked over to see, Taylor walking into the room carrying a tubs of my favorite ice creams and a hand full of spoons. I grinned and plopped down on the couch. She brought placed the ice cream on the coffee table and gave each of us a spoon, opening the ice cream. We all dug in.

After a few minutes I let out a small squeal. “BRAIN FREEZE!” I shouted shooting up from my seat. I rubbed my temples. I was hopping up and down on my toes.

Taylor began to laugh, “Brain Freeze?” she looked up at me. “Yeh, can only get one of ‘em ef yeh ‘ave a brain!”

I glared at her throwing my spoon. She laughed and dodged it running towards her room. I shook my head finally getting rid of the monstrous brain freeze. I walked over to the TV and turned off the music and turned on the Cable on. I walked back over to the couch and started flipping through the channels as Delilah and Lily ate more ice cream.

“Payton,” Taylor called, about ten minutes later.

“What, Tay?” I didn’t look away from the TV.

“There’s a man in yer room.” She said kind of shocked. She walked into the living room. “Why?”

I looked over at her. She was in her blue ice cream pajama’s, and had on a pair of poka dot slippers. “He’s an old friend and he couldn’t drive home.” I said looking back at the TV. The old show The Nanny was on. I remember watching it as a little kid with my mom. It had been her favorite show.

“Oh,” She said scratching the back of her head, she walked over to me and sat down beside me, wrapping her arms around Delilah’s shoulders. “Ow, was yer day cousin?” she asked her.

“It was horrible!” she began, “Payton was so mean to us!” Taylor laughed and I hit her playfully.

“I wsa not! Liar!” I said crossing my arms over my chest turning my attention back to the TV. Lily yawned and laid her head on my shoulder. I smiled placing my cheek on the top of her head.

We sat and watched the TV, for hours. We talked most of the time about work, how school went for the twins, boys, music, clothing. We had a regular girls day, just hanging out. It was fun and really needed.

“Bloody ‘ell!” Tay said, looking down at her phone. “S’ already 9:00?”

I scrunched up my eyebrows and grabbed my phone. She was right, 9:03. “Dang, time flys when you do nothing but talk.” I laughed and shoot up from the couch. I looked over at Lily and Delilah. Lily yawned and Delilah looked like she was already asleep. “Let’s go to bed. We got work in the morning.” I said, holding out my hand. Lily grabbed it and I pulled her towards her room. While Taylor turned off the TV and threw out the ice cream container we had finished off before she woke Delilah.

I pulled Lily into her room, kissing her forehead. She kicked off her slippers and walked over to the zebra bed she was sleeping in. “Night.” I signed.

“Night.” She signed back, climbing under her covers. I turned off the light leaving her room, closing the door behind me.

Taylor and Delilah were walking down the hall, Taylor holding a half asleep Delilah. I opened the door for Taylor and she helped her into the room. “‘ere yeh go yeh little shit.” Taylor said, letting go of her cousin. Delilah made her way over to the blue and black zebra print bed, similar to her sisters, flopping down on top of the covers. I sighed and walked over to the bed and Taylor and I placed her under the covers taking off the slipper she was wearing.

We walked out of the room once we were done and turned off the lights and closing the door. I followed Taylor to her bed room, jumping on to her nice king size bed, burying my head in the thick comforter.

“Oi!” She shouted slapping my bum. I yelped, looking up at her. “Don’ be jumpin’ on meh bed!” I pouted sitting up and crossing my legs.

“I sowy.” I said, looking down.

She laughed and shoved me slightly. “Get out yeh, twit!” She crawled into the bed. “I got to get up in the mornin’.”

I groaned, throwing my head back. “But there’s someone in my bed!”

“Tat’s yer fault, ain’ it?” She said pointing at the door. “Get out!”

I pouted getting out of her bed and walking over to my room and walking into my room. I turned off the hall light stepping into my bedroom. Tom was laying in the bed looking up at the ceiling. I scrunched up my eye brows tilting my head slightly.

“Your awake, Tom.” I said walking over to the other side of the bed.

He let out a long sigh nodding. “Aye.”

“Did you just wake up?” I asked, climbing into my bed next to him.

He shook his head. “I never fell asleep.”

My mouth dropped slightly. “Tom, you could have said something, you didn’t have to just lay in my bed all by yourself all day.” I felt so guilty. I put my head in my hands.

“I didn’ wanna ruin yeh time with yer mates.” He mumbled, looking over at me.

I sighed, “You’re my friend too Tommy.” I laid down next to him, looking into his eyes. They weren’t red anymore. I smiled slightly. “I’ve missed you Tom.”

He smiled back and pulled me into his chest, hugging me. “I‘ve missed yeh too.” He said into my hair. I smiled hugging him back. I pulled back yawning behind my hand.

“Yeh tired too?” He asked sounding sleepy. I shrugged. “Let’s go to sleep, aye?” I nodded and pecked his cheek rolling onto my side. “Night, Pay.”

I smiled, “Night, Tommy.” I heard him yawn and roll over under the covers. I looked out my window waiting for sleep to take me. The beautiful night sky was bright and some of the Sheffield clouds were scattered around making it look a bit prettier in a different way. I felt my eyes get heavier and finally slip into a dream of me and Tom; my best friend and happy memories.