Kissing You That Friday Night

I awakened that morning with light flooding into my room. For some reason, I had a little hope that today would be a better day, considering lately, everything was bad. The idea of going to the dance with Ricky tomorrow made my stomach churn, I had to go to a dance with a guy who practically attempted to rape me...How would that make you feel? I sighed and took a deep breath. I grabbed a pair of mid-thigh length lime green jean shorts and a Panic! At The Disco shirt. I smiled at my selection, lately it hadn't been all that warm outside, but if the weatherman was correct, it was suppose to be in the seventies today.
I slowly walked downstairs, afraid of the questions and comments that could possibly hit me when I approached my father and Laura. I knew they would ask.
"Laila, honey, are you alright?" Laura questioned, her face grew worried as she pulled me into her embrace, "you worried the-" Laura looked around the room before finishing and eyeballed Emma, "poop....out of us." She squinted her eyes, obviously questioning her selection of word to replace the "crap" I knew she meant to say.
I laughed then, "nothing, just girl stuff." I admitted, uneasily.
But it seemed to satisfy Laura and she didn't ask any further questions. "Do you want some pancakes?" She asked as she walked back over to the stove.
I gave her a weird look.
"They're chocolate chip," she smiled.
I nodded my head in delight and gobbled down three flapjacks before heading out the door.

"Aren't you excited for the dance tomorrow!?" Kat exclaimed as we headed out to the courtyard for lunch.
"Um...yeah." I lied.
"Guess who finally asked me the very last minute?" She questioned and bit her bottom lip in a frenzy of extreme happiness.
I snickered under my breath, "who asked you last minute, Kat?"
"Tyler Williams!" She exclaimed and let out a small shriek of excitment.
My eyes grew wide and I swallowed a lump in my throat. Tyler's name brought back images of lastnight to my head. I quickly shook the images out of my head.
"I didn't know you knew him?" I asked.
"Well he sits next to me in Geometry Honors," she began using hands gestures,"he said we could take the limo with you and Ricky to the dance. Can you believe it?! A LIMO!" Kat shrilled again, this time louder, loud enough for people to stare.
"We're taking a limo?"
"Yeah, I presumed that Ricky must have conversed the topic with you." She proclaimed in her most studious sounding voice.
"Um, yeah...Guess not," I bit my fingernail.
"Well, incase you didn't know, we're coming to get you at eight." She smiled and ran over to the oak tree and gracefully sat down under the shade.
I took a deep breath and tried to forget about Ricky for a minute, but I knew it'd be impossible with Kat around so I broke some false news to her that I had forgotten that I had to go to the art room to finish up a painting I was working on. She frowned but bid me fairwell. Lying was beginning to be an everyday sort of thing for me now. And I was upset to say that I was becoming very good at it.
When I reached the art room, it was empty, not very unusual for this time of the day. Instead of working on anything for art though, I decided to catch up on writing my letter. I scavenged around in my bag for a piece of blank paper to write my thoughts that I would transfer to the letter file on my computer later on.
Things are beginning to get more complicated in my life. Just yesterday I lost another loved one. Gloria's husband, Lary. He was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer not long ago and since then I've really gotten to know him. I just vaguly remember what it was like being around him when he could still walk and could eat normal things like double cheesy bacon burgers. I actually only remember one day in particular...
Gloria and I had headed to the beach one afternoon last year in the summer. It was a gorgeous warm day. The sky was blue with no clouds in sight and the beach was crowded with people. Just the way I liked it. Gloria was walking along Navy Pier with me, slowly but surely. I remember how youthful she looked that day. She was wearing a blue sun dress and a white hat to block the sun from her eyes. We were headed to a little burger shack close by for lunch. We were planning on meeting Lary there. I had never been to this place but Gloria told me they had the best hamburgers on the face of the earth. She knew then that I was obsessed with burgers and could scarf one down in record time if I was dared. Luckily I was blessed with a slender body. I was always told that no amount of fat could corrupt my structure. I was pleased to know that I had the freedom to eat what I wanted without the worry of lovehandles.
When we reached the shack i was about to open the door when it was pulled open for me. Gloria gasped and threw her head back in laughter. "There you are Lary!" She threw her arms around the tall old man. I smiled. I had never seen such a happy older couple. "Lary, this is Laila, the girl I told you about."
Lary grinned warmly and shook my hand. "Why this is the wonderful girl my Gloria told me so much about while I was away?" Lary had never retired from his job and had been in Europe to work on a huge project through his corporation, so I never got to meet him when I first knew Gloria. He seemed pleased and soon embraced me. I was surprised but I already felt a connection with Lary. Like he was family to me.
The day flew by with them. Lary bought all three of us a burger at the shack. We were all done in a matter of minutes. Then we went on the farris wheel on the pier and ate cotton candy. Being with them made me forget about their age all together. When I was with them, I felt like I was hanging out with kids my own age.