Hide Me In Your Thoughts

Chapter 4- Legs On The Dashboard

Song- Comfort Chain by Instupendo

.../...

Lily's POV

"Joyce. Joyce, we're going to be late". I shook her and shouted her name a few more times before she opened her eyes. When she does it clearly, I say "School. We're going to be late". She stands up hurriedly and dashes to the bathroom. I had brushed up already so I took my time in choosing my outfit while waiting for her.

We leave the room together to eat breakfast in the kitchen, but on our way, we hear voices from the kitchen. We stop in our tracks and listen some more to the voices, laughing and talking loudly. "Sounds like Harry," Joyce whispers. "I locked the door yesterday, I'm sure of it, plus he left his extra key at home, so how did he get in?" I ask no one in particular.

"I didn't open the door. I passed out yesterday and left you awake. Wait, there's someone else with him," Joyce says, still whispering. We both pause and listen. "It's definitely Collin. Collin laughs that way," I say, whispering still. "Why are we still whispering? We know them, they aren't serial killers," She points out. "It was more fun that way," I say in my normal talking voice.

We walked into the kitchen to face them and I started the questioning with "How in the world did you guys get in?". They look at themselves and look back at us in what I sense is disbelief.

"First off, you haven't seen me in a while and maybe I expected too much by wanting you to jump and scream, but now you're not even happy to see me," Harry says. "Oh! Trust me, I'm happy you're home, the both of you," I added before Collin could accuse me of not caring about him.

"Honestly, I'm just shocked cause we both didn't open the door for you guys and I know you left your key at home, so how exactly did you get in?" I asked. They both turned their heads to look at Joyce. They stare at her for a while before Harry says to Collin, "Told you last night was weird".

"I'm officially lost," I announce. "Me too," Joyce adds. "Well, I'm guessing it's because Joyce here can't remember that she opened the door for us last night," Collin says. "Uhm what?" Joyce asks in disbelief. "I absolutely did not," she adds. "But then you did," Collin says. "Come to think of it, I don't remember walking back to the room after my call with Mace". "That's because you never did. I carried you to your room," Harry said.

Everything they were saying seemed strange but I was just glad we weren't robbed. "Okay, how long will you guys be staying for?" I asked them. "Well, this week is a free week for us. We're staying till the weekend or maybe longer. Could be longer," Harry responds. "Or he's running from a particular someone," Collin says, drinking his coffee and looking elsewhere, obviously implying something else. I looked between them and decided not to interfere in whatever they had going on.

After a few seconds of silence, I say, "Well, we're late and clearly not interested in whatever that was". We pick bowls out of the cabinets for cereal, then Joyce whispers, "But I'm a little bit interested". "You're interested in everything that concerns Harry," I whisper back. "True," She concurs. "Mace just texted me. He said he'd soon be here," she adds. "I just wish he'd acknowledge that I can drive myself now. Maybe, we'll go shopping today to prove him wrong".

"Can't. Ma wants me home to meet the new neighbor," she laments.

Joyce drinks her leftover milk once Mace's car pulls up to the front of the house. I proceeded to pour mine into the sink. I simply cannot stand the thought that particles of the cereal are still in the milk. "Bye guys," I yelled. As I ran to the car, I could see Joyce shouting at Carl to get out of the passenger seat. It's always amusing, especially because after all the back and forth, Carl would eventually get out, which he's doing right now.

I walk to the left side of the car, to sit at the back of the driver's seat. "Morning," he says, in a rather high-pitched tone. "Well, someone's happy. Sleep well?" I asked, knowing fully well that he did. "Oh! He did alright," Carl said, suggestively. I look between them, then Mace says, "Shut up Carl''. I contemplated asking them what they were really talking about, but when I looked at Joyce and saw her plugged in, I decided not to. Even though, I had a feeling his happiness was because of his girlfriend, Amy Davidson.

.../…

"This is the third time I've caught him staring at you today," Joyce says. "That doesn't mean anything," I say in defense. "It does. He probably likes you or something," she adds. "I know what you're trying to do. You just want to know who I actually like. I told you yesterday, it's not Ire". "You told me, yes, but I don't believe you. He seems like the perfect person at this point," she says. "Who's the perfect person?" Mace asks. "No one!" I shout almost immediately and then narrow my eyes in Joyce's direction so she'd play along.

"Yeah, we were just talking about something really…". "Really…" Mace drags along. "Irrelevant," she says. I fight the urge to slap my palm on my forehead. Of all the words she could've said, she went with Irrelevant, wow. Mace nods, then walk towards the car, farther from us. "This just makes me suspect you even more, just so you're aware," Joyce whispers, and then walks towards the car too, leaving me behind.

"Let's go see a movie tonight," Carl says as he puts his arm over my shoulder and pulls me to his side. "Sure," I reply.

.../...

"Mace, drop me off at my house, will you? Apparently, I'm supposed to meet the new neighbor," Joyce says in the car. After a few minutes, we took a turn into the close. "Say hi to your ma for me," I said, as she opened the door. "Will do. Bye children, don't do anything I wouldn't do". "Oh! We wouldn't dare to do anything you would do," Mace replies, and to that, we all agree.

Carl quickly alights and takes a seat beside Mace. I scoff and say, "You should've taken your time. I had no intention of sitting in the front". He laughs and says, "Of course”. “Mace, you gotta drop me off at Derek's. We have scores to settle, plus his sister is in town".

“So are you going because you have games to play or because you have a game to play?” I asked. Mace smiles and says, “Nice!”. To which I reply, “I know I know, Thank you very much”. “Why would you think I’d be…” he says, then pauses halfway to look and both of us, he sees us still smiling, then he adds, “I don’t even have to explain myself to you guys. Just drop me off at Derek’s”.

“Yes sir!” Mace says. I move to the seat at the back of his and whisper, “Are we still on for tonight?”. He responds loudly, “Of course not”. “For real? I’m sorry,” I say, more times than I can count. “Is there something going on that I should be aware of?” Mace asks as he turns the steering wheel to the left.

“Nope,” I replied. As Carl alights, I shout, “I love you”. He rolls his eyes at me and says, “See you tomorrow,” putting emphasis on each word. “I already apologized, many times”. “Bye Mace,” he says rather than replying to me. “Bye Carl,” Mace responds.

Before he drives off, he asks, “You wanna come to the front? It’s still a long way home”. “Nah, I’m good here”. “Why? It kinda seems like you’ve been avoiding me all day?”. “I haven’t. If you want me to sit at the front to prove that I haven’t, I can,” I said, a part of me secretly hoping that he’d drop it and not want to discomfort me.

“Okay then. Please prove that you haven’t”. I internally groan, but my external expression deceives him totally. When I get to the front, I rest completely on the seat and put my legs on the dashboard, a rather horrible habit of mine. “Good,” Mace says.

“Yours or mine?” he asks. “Mine,” I say. Then, he drives off. Throughout the journey, I couldn’t help but think of the reason I avoided him in school, because the truth is, I did. He knows it, Joyce probably knows it too. Carl could care less.

I picked up my phone to avoid a conversation with him and texted Joyce, “How’s the new neighbor?”. After a few more minutes, I picked up my phone again to see if she would’ve replied but instead, I saw a text from Ire. Curious as to how he got my number, I replied to him.

“Maybe you should’ve acknowledged the call,” I said to Mace, staring ahead. “I knew something was wrong,” he replied.