Perfect

Lily sat on her bed, staring at her phone, willing it to ring. But it never did. Her straight, light caramel brown hair fell in front of her tear-blurred pale grey eyes as she stared intently at the silent phone grasped tightly in her hands.

"Staring at that won't make her call you any faster," a familiar voice commented. Lily smiled as she looked up at the girl standing in her doorway. Her reddish brown hair was tied back in a ponytail that fell over her shoulder and her deep chocolate brown eyes were twinkling as she smiled at Lily.

"Hey, Aylin!" Lily smiled, standing up and hugging her as she stepped into the room.

"Hey, Lily," she laughed, hugging her back before stepping away. "How are you doing?"

"I'm alright, I guess," Lily sighed, glancing back at the phone lying on her bed.

"She'll call you when she's ready," Aylin said, turning Lily away from the phone back towards her. "She just needs time to work through everything."

"Aylin, it's been five months since the accident!" Lily exclaimed, releasing all of her frustration on her friend. "How much time does she need?!"

"Lily, she's had to go through a lot in the past few months," Aylin sighed. "It's a lot for anyone to process. She's still struggling to adjust to everything that's happened. Give her time. She'll come around eventually."

"Yeah, I guess," Lily sighed, wanting nothing more than to change the conversation. "So how are things with you and Blake? Your parents know yet?"

Aylin blushed at the mention of her boyfriend's name. She still couldn't believe sometimes that she was dating the star quarterback of their school's football team. He was the most popular and hottest guy at their school and yet somehow he had chosen her to be his girlfriend.

"Things are good," she blushed. "And my parents are still in the dark about it." Aylin sighed as she thought about her parents. They were very strict when it came to following the customs and traditions of their religion. Aylin was Muslim and though she was proud of it, she hated the restraints that it tried to have on her life.

Her parents would have never approved of her having a boyfriend, especially not a boyfriend like Blake. They would kill her if they ever found out about him. They didn't even like the idea of her kissing a guy, which was something that she was not a virgin to doing.

She felt butterflies in her stomach as she thought about her first kiss with Blake. It had been behind the bleachers after one of his many football practices. She had been watching him practice, something that she often did before they had even started dating, and that was when he had first started to notice her.

He had come up to her after the practice and had asked her what her favourite part of the practice was. Her response had been sudden and spontaneous, something that she would have normally never have said.

"Watching you," was all that she had said and, with a smile, he had taken her hand and led her down behind the bleachers where they had shared their first kiss. And from that moment on, they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Aylin had never felt more special in all of her life.

"Hello, earth to Aylin!" Lily's voice broke through her thoughts.

"Sorry," Aylin blushed again sheepishly.

"You were thinking about him again, weren't you?" Lily laughed, which was the first time in a long time that she had done so. Aylin smiled, happy to have made her friend laugh, as she slowly nodded.

"Yeah, maybe," she admitted with a smile.

"So, do you know what the guys are planning on doing for the victory party?" Lily asked.

"They have to win first to be able to have a victory party," Aylin laughed.

"Where's your faith, girl?" Lily exclaimed, nudging her lightly. "You don't think that your man is going to win?"

"No, I don't think so," she replied nonchalantly. "I know so!" This caused Lily to laugh again.

"And to answer your question, no, I don't know," Aylin admitted. "I think that Blake mentioned something about Michael planning the party."

Lily felt her heart skip a beat. Michael was Ali's sister. Maybe she could talk to him about her, get him to convince Ali to call her...

Just as she thought that, her phone suddenly started to ring. Lily quickly dove at the phone still on her bed, earning her a loud laugh from Aylin. Her breath faltered for a moment when she read the name on the screen. Ali.

"Hello?" she said tentatively as she answered the phone.

"Hi, Lily," Ali's voice was quiet and just as tentative. "We need to talk."