"Lilly and Christina"

Chapter 7 – "Teenage Inferno, Part 2"

Lilly couldn't remember when was the exact moment when she started looking at Sam with different eyes. Maybe it was after that day he hugged her at the hospital. All that she knew is that, one day, about a year after that night in the hospital, they were walking from school, as Lilly happily told him about the "A" she had gotten in Math.

"Oh, Sam, I could never have done it if you hadn't tutored me."

"Stop it Lil. It was your effort. You studied so much for this." He said. He was always happy to help Lilly.

And then, suddenly, she kissed him. It was a quick kiss, and afterwards, she wasn't really sure why she had done that. It took Sam a few moments to find his voice. "What was this for?"

"I don't know. For the great guy that you are." She said, smiling embarrassed. "Well, I have to go to work. Stop by later and I'll give you free ice cream." She went to her apartment, leaving Sam speechless in the sidewalk.

And now, there she was, one more year later. She and Sam had been dating ever since that day. Lilly never thought she could have a better companion that her friend Sam, but she quickly learned that boyfriend Sam was ten times better.

She smiled to herself as she remembered the day before. It had been her 17th birthday, and Sam gave her a beautiful red rose and a necklace with a heart pendant, which she was wearing now. Suddenly, something woke her up from her daydream.

"Hey, Lil. I need to talk to you." Sam appeared in front of her.

"Things are busy today here, Sam. Is it urgent?" Lilly asked as she prepared a customer's order.

"Yeah, it is. I'll just wait until you have some time." He said, sitting in one of the counter's seats. He smiled at Lilly as she finished that order and handed the trail to the waitress. Lilly began to worry because even though Sam was smiling, he looked really sad. She started to wonder if something had happened to her mother and he was afraid to drop the bomb.

"If you don't mind talking while I clean this counter, go ahead." She said, anxious to hear whatever he had to say.

Sam sighed, and started, "Remember that I told you that my father started to call, and wanted to meet me?"

"Of course I remember," Lilly said, relieved that it wasn't any bad news about her family. "He called again?"

"Actually, he came home today. And it seems like he and my mother might get back together. He even asked us to move in with him." Sam continued.

"Sam! This is so great!" Lilly said. She was really happy for Sam, but she was starting to have a bad feeling about it. Even though Sam was telling her great news, he never smiled once.

"Yeah, it's great. But there's something…" He looked down at the counter. Lilly had finished cleaning so she was looking directly at him. She felt a shiver down her spine when she realized her bad feeling was becoming reality. "He lives in New York." Sam reached for Lilly's hand. She looked to the side, eyes full of tears.

"When are you leaving?" She asked.

"Tomorrow night." He said, his voice starting to crack. "I came here because I won't go to school tomorrow; and I don't know if I'll have time to talk to you again before I leave." He pauses. "I'm so sorry, Lil, but I have no choice."

"I understand it, Sam." She tries to smile. "Good luck in New York." She gives him a kiss on the cheek.

Unable to say another word, Sam gets up and leaves. Lilly watches him go, and wipes the tears off her eyes.

"Hey, girl, can you get our orders please?" A girl, sitting on a table with other 4 girls, waves at Lilly. Lilly sighs. The "populars" of her high school. If it wasn't enough to have them mocking at her clothes and her lack of money, now she has to serve them too. Usually that wouldn't bother her, but this wasn't a day like the other.

Lilly walked until their table. "I'm sorry for the delay, our waitresses are all busy. What can I get you?" She asked, with the same politeness she had with all the customers.

"Three chocolate chips, one vanilla, one strawberry." She said, looking at Lilly like she was a piece of dirty.

As Lilly wrote down the order, another girl said, "Tough day, Rush? Your boyfriend dumped you?"

Lilly turned to leave, but the girl said, "You're our waitress. We didn't say we were finished ordering."

Lilly turned back to the girls. "I'm sorry. Anything else?"

The five girls watched her, and they seemed amused. Another one of them, "I bet they pay you really bad here, because you're not dressing any better, you're dressing even worse."

Lilly tried to sound casual, "Well, I have a lot to worry about besides my clothes."

"Yeah, we've heard about your drunken mother." The girl who made the order laughed.

"I'm sorry, but if you're finished ordering, I need to see other customers." Lilly said, never letting the girls' words get to her.

"Yeah, go get our ice-creams," The girl waved her to go.

Lilly got back behind the counter to prepare their ice-creams. After she finished, she asked one of the other girls to take the trail. After all, she wasn't serving tables that day and she didn't need to put up with those girls again.

"You must hear all kinds of crap in this job," A girl sitting on one of the counter seats said to Lilly.

Lilly remembered seeing the girl in school. She wasn't very popular either. "Yeah, but I don't let it bother me."

"You seem bothered though." The girl said, while she ate her strawberry ice-cream. "I'm sorry if I'm being nosy, but I was already here when Sam talked to you."

"Oh," Lilly said, "Yeah, that bothered me."

"I know we're not friends, but if you need someone to talk about it… or if you need someone to put a bomb on those girls' houses… my name is Lindsey." She said, smiling.

Lilly laughed, "I'm Lilly." She was really touched by that offer of friendship. "And thanks, Lindsey. I think I'm going to accept your offer. Both of them." They both laughed.

Lindsey got up from the seat. "I have to go now. But I'll see you tomorrow at school."

Lilly smiled. "See you tomorrow."

Lilly arrived home that night feeling completely worn-out. Christina was sitting in the couch reading a magazine.

"Hey, Chris." Lilly looked into the bedroom. "Where's Mom?"

"She went out, about an hour ago." Christina answered without taking her eyes from the magazine.

"Did she say where she was going?" Lilly asked, as she searched for something inside her bag.

Christina lifted her eyes from the magazine and looked at Lilly like this was the most ridiculous question ever asked.

Lilly realized her question was indeed stupid. She took a package from her purse and handed it to Christina. "I got you this today." Lilly then sat on the couch by Christina's side.

Christina quickly dropped the magazine and grabbed the package. It was a black blouse. Simple, but nice. However, Christina didn't even smile. "This is not the blouse I liked."

"I know, but it's the only one I could afford. It's from the same store." Lilly said, not surprised by her sister's cold reaction.

"I'm so tired of always ending with the cheapest thing. Well, at least this isn't one of your old clothes." Christina said, tossing the blouse aside and picking up the magazine again.

"I know this sucks, Chris. But I'm doing the best I can right now. Why is it never enough to you?" Lilly asked.

Without taking her eyes off the magazine, Christina answered, "No one asked to look after me."

Without saying anything, Lilly got up from the couch and headed to the kitchen. She noticed some dirty dishes in the sink and started washing them.

Christina got up from the couch. She stopped by the kitchen's door. She was taken aback to see her older sister crying. In all those years, she never saw Lilly crying over something she had said to her.

"Lil, I, I…" Christina stuttered, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." She walked near Lilly.

"Well, saying you're sorry doesn't always fix the stupid things you do." Lilly replied, not looking at Christina.

"Well, I'm really sorry, anyway." Christina said. "But you don't seem to be crying because of me."

Lilly laughed, "I can't believe this day came. Christina Rush realized the world doesn't turn around her."

"Tell what happened. I mean, if you want to."

Lilly wiped the tears from her face, but they kept coming. "Sam's leaving."

Christina didn't quite understand. "He's leaving the building?"

Lilly looked at her sister. "He's leaving Philadelphia." By now she was crying so much she couldn't keep on doing the dishes.

"Wow, Lil…. that sucks." Christina said, feeling very stupid for her earlier attitude. She came near Lilly and put her hand on Lilly's hair, trying to comfort her.

"Leave me alone, Chris. Please." Lilly said, looking down at the sink. Christina left without saying another word.

Lilly sat at the kitchen table. She held her head on her hands and cried for the rest of the night.

Two years later….

It was a warm and pleasant Friday night. Lilly wasn't working that day, and she really didn't feel like staying home on her prom night. Even though she wasn't actually going to the prom. She tried to save money for the dress, but last month she had to call a plumber to check out a leaking pipe and well… she kissed her dress goodbye.

High school was finally over. Lilly wasn't sure what she was going to do now. She knew what she wanted to do, though. She wanted to be a cop. Those rounds with Officer Joe Green when she was a child made a huge impression on her. Sometimes she would hang out at the police station and watch criminals arrived after being arrested. That gave her some relief, even though she never saw the criminals who destroyed her family be arrested.

Last week she talked with Officer Green about joining the police academy. She was 18 now, she could it after graduating from high school. But this would demand full dedication from her, which meant leaving her mother and her sister alone. Even if she still lived with them, she could never watch them, and go after them whenever they needed her. Christina was only 13 now…she would probably have to postpone her career dreams for another 3 or 4 years.

It was in the middle of these thoughts that Lilly reached the park. It was the very same park where once Cher filmed Lilly with Ellen, playing in the snow. Lilly kept that tape as a treasure, even though she didn't have a VCR to play it.

Lilly stood there, with her memories, until a man's voice brought her back to Earth.

"You know, it's dangerous for a girl to come here alone at night," The guy said, stopping right in front of Lilly. Lilly was tall, but this guy was taller than she was. With the help of the moonlight, Lilly could see he had green eyes and dark hair, and was probably about her age.

"Well, I'm not alone anymore." She answered, not sure why she was trusting that stranger.

"I'm Jake Campbell." He said as he took Lilly's hand and kissed it.

Lilly smiled. "I'm Lilly Rush."

"So, what is a girl like you doing here, alone, in this wonderful night?" Jake asked.

"It's my prom night." Lilly answered, expecting Jake to ask her why she wasn't at the party, and then she would tell him a bit of her story, and he would run away like all the guys did.

He didn't ask about it though. "I can't say I'm sorry you didn't make it." He said.

Lilly felt relieved this was just going to be small talk. "What about you, Jake? What are you doing here in this desert park on a Friday night?" She asked, sitting in one of the swings.

"I don't know. I didn't feel like staying home and my feet brought me here." Jake answered, sitting on the swing next to Lilly.

Lilly looked around the park, avoiding to look at Jake. What was happening to her? She knew better than to trust in strangers.

"You know, Jake, I really need to get back home. It was nice talking to you though." She got up from the swing.

"Oh, you have to go already?" Jake said, disappointed. "We're having a nice talk."

"Yeah, but I really need to go…sorry. I'll see you around." She turned away to leave.

Jake walked after her, "Lilly, just one thing."

She turned around. "What?"

"You look amazing with the wind in your hair." He put his hands in his pockets. Lilly stayed there, he said, "That's all I wanted to say."

Lilly looked down for a while, thinking. She looked again at a Jake, and said, with a smile, "You know, you can walk me home if you want. It seems like it's going to be a windy journey."

Jake ran to catch her. "Let's go, it's getting late for a young girl to be on the streets."

After a fifteen-minute walk, they arrived in front of Lilly's building.

"So, this is where I live. Apartment 4-A" Lilly said.

"I might come back here tomorrow." Jake said, smiling.

"OK." Lilly said, not really believing he was ever going to come back.

"I'm serious."

"I'll see you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow." He said, and left.

Lilly waited until he turned around the corner to get inside the building. She laughed as she opened the door, pretty sure she was never going to see that guy again.

But Lilly was wrong. Jake did come back the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that day. And he kept coming back, until the days became weeks, the weeks became months, and the months became years…


To be continued