Lil woke up at seven-o-clock the next morning. She looked to Tommy and noticed he was still sleeping. She picked up her clothes and silently got dressed. As far as she knew, nobody knew she had spent the night.
Once Lil was dressed, she put something on the bureau and crept out the window. She began to walk home. As she walked, she didn't think about much. She thought about the homework she still had to do and her room she had to tidy up. She kept her mind on anything but the previous night.
Lil reached her house and entered her bedroom the same way she left Tommy's. Through the window. Once she was safely inside her room, she ruffled her covers a little and jumped into the shower. She atleast wanted to make it look like she slept there last night.
Lil finished her shower, put on clean clothes and went downstairs. Her parents and her brother were still sleeping. So, Lil decided to make breakfast and set up the dining room table for them. She made some eggs, toast, and threw in some bacon. She poured a glass of orange juice for Phil and made coffee for her parents. Once she was done setting the table and serving the food on the plates, she ran upstairs. It was eight-thirty, which wasn't too early. She knocked on her parent's door and told them that breakfast was ready. Then she told Phil the same thing.
Lil sat down at her chair and silently waited for the rest of her family to come downstairs. When her mother came down, Lil couldn't help but notice how tired and sick she looked. She ignored it. She knew she was just having a bad day.
"Wow, Lil." Her father exclaimed. "You really went all out, didn't you?"
Lil blushed. "Well, it's the least I could do after the way I've treated you guys. I hardly ever eat with you guys anymore."
Betty gave her daughter a weak smile. "That's my girl."
Lil watched as her parents and her brother ate their breakfast. She herself didn't have too much on her plate. Just enough to make her parents think she was eating something.
"Mmm. That was filling." Lil said. "I can hardly eat the rest."
She looked over to Phil who was wolfing down his breakfast.
"Do you want the rest of mine, Phil?"
Phil nodded and grabbed her plate. Lil smiled and got up to start the dishes.
Betty and Howard had finished their breakfast soon after Lil and began to get ready to get to work.
"You pups be good. Your dad and I are going to work at the Java Lava. It's Sunday so it should be pretty crowded. If you kids need anything just walk down, okay?" Betty's voice was hoarse when she spoke. The twins watched as their parents left.
"So, where were you last night?" Phil asked his sister as he helped her finish off the dishes.
"What do you mean, where was I?" Lil snapped.
"You know what I mean. Did you spend the night at Tommy's house?"
Lil didn't look at Phil.
"You did, didn't you?" Phil sighed.
"Your lucky, Lil. When dad asked where you were I had to tell him you were over Kimi's house. Don't ever do that again."
"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" Lil questioned.
"Your brother. Tommy's a good guy. I don't want to see him get hurt."
Phil walked out of the kitchen and went outside, leaving Lil alone in the house.
Before long, the telephone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Lil?"
"This is she. Who is this?"
"This is Tommy."
It was so long since she spoke to him over the phone she had forgotten how he sounded over it.
"Wh-What's up Tommy?" Lil was a little nervous.
"I just called you tell you that you left a note on my bureau. It just has twenty scribbled on it. Do you need it for anything or could I throw it out?"
Lil paused before she answered him.
"That's for you, Tommy." She said softly.
She heard Tommy laugh over the phone. "I don't know what you mean, Lil. I know how to spell. What's the deal?"
"That's not what I mean, Tommy. It's for last night." She interrupted him.
"Excuse me?"
"What, is that too much or something? I have to make a profit somehow."
Lil didn't hear anything but silence on the other line for a long time.
Finally, after what felt like forever, Tommy broke the deafening silence.
"Please tell me that I misinterpreted you and you're not doing what I think you're doing."
"Well, I don't know what you think I'm doing. I just work like everyone else. It's called a job, Tommy. Does it really matter what kind of job it is, as long as I get paid?"
"Lil, you cannot be prostituting yourself. It isn't fair and it isn't right."
"Life isn't fair Tommy. So what? Since when did anybody care about how fair they treated me?"
"I care. Not only are you not being fair to yourself, your not being fair to anyone else."
"Who am I not being fair to? My parents? My friends? My clients?"
"That's all I was to you last night? I'm just a client to you?"
Lil didn't answer him for a while.
"Tommy, it's a job. I didn't mean to-"
"I really can't hear anymore of this, Lil. I have to go."
Tommy hung up on Lil. And Lil, once again felt the tears pricking the corner of her eyes.