Lily Baby.

Lily cried for hours after her ordeal. She refused to sit near me for the entire time. All of us sat in the Way’s living room. It was sort of a family meeting, with all of the Ways ganging up on me.

“I know you meant well Frank but please refrain from giving Lily anything in the near future- I would hate a repeat of today,” Donald said, strictly, his voice echoing.

Lily was subdued as he spoke. She seemed afraid of him. I was afraid of him as he spoke to me.

Gerard and Mikey sat on the other side of the room from me, glaring. Donna was stroking Lily’s hair protectively but she seemed sympathetic towards me.

Finally, the grilling ended and Mr Way left the house in a bad mood I suppose- I wasn’t that bothered about looking at him. I didn’t want to make eye contact.
Mikey and Gerard went into the kitchen to finish their breakfast leaving me in the front room with Donna and Lily.

“I’m so sorry, Lil,” I said, “Really.”

She nodded and sniffed, Donna merely smiled, “I know you didn’t mean it. It was inevitable- she’s curious I suppose.”

She patted Lily’s back who seemed to be making an effort to get up. She walked out into the hall way and found her school satchel. She opened it, fingers fumbling, and passed a sheet of paper onto Donna.

“Oooh!” Donna exclaimed, “A field trip! That’s lovely!”

I rolled my eyes, I knew exactly what the field trips were like at my school for the ‘crazies’ as my classmates so affectionately called them.

“Aw, Lily, you’re going to the cinema!” Donna was obviously trying to hype her up about it but she seemed to be staring intently at the wall behind me.

“I’m sorry Lily,” I persisted, I wanted, no, I needed her attention. But she just continued to look through me.

“Oh, Frank,” Donna moaned, “What did I say?”

“Don’t get attached.”

“Yes- maybe you should do just that. Get a girlfriend. A normal girlfriend, and have some high school experiences worth having,” she said, “Instead of pining over Lily…”

“Y-yeah, I know, Donna- I’m not pining!”

“You’ve got that look on your face when you see her, kinda like what you get when you see Skittles…”

“No I- ”

“You do, Frank, you do,” she said, in hushed tones, “Please, no matter how much you want her, get over it. She won’t get hurt Frank. She doesn’t get it! It will only be you. She will never love y-”

“Frankie?” asked Lily, loudly over her mothers tone.

I jerked up, “Yes?”

“Can we go play now?” she asked, cocking her head to the side in her adorable way.

“Yes. Yes we can,” I said, standing up and allowing her to follow me upstairs. We entered her room and sat down on the bed in silence.

She grinned, “I like you, Frankie.”

“Good,” I smiled, “I like you too.”

“You’re my bestest friend.”

“Ditto,” I sighed.

“You love my mommy…” she muttered, making me laugh, “More than love me?”

“No, I love you lots more,” I said, reassuringly, making her smile even wider.

She sighed and said, “I feels funny.”

“Tell me why?”

“I can’t…”

“Why?”

”I don’t know what it is…”

I looked at her intently, watching her battle with herself.

“I get tummy aches when I see you, and my head hurts,” she explained.

I just nodded, trying to understand what that meant, “Tummy aches? Should we tell mommy?”

She shook her head suddenly, “No, no! Secret!”

“Okay, I won’t tell a soul,” I whispered softly in her ear; she shivered and looked up into my eyes. We stayed still for a long time before I broke it.

“Shall we play hide and seek?” I asked, suddenly, jumping up off the bed.

She nodded and ran out the room crying, “You seek! You seek!”

I sat back down on the bed, sighing heavily, wishing she could just understand.