Hide Me In Your Thoughts

Chapter 7- A Beautiful Boy

Song- Dandelions by Ruth B

…/…

LILY’s POV

“No, you can’t possibly tell me that he left her alone without saying goodbye,” I said. Carl and Joyce had been sitting in that position for the past hour, watching Mace and I go on and on about the book we had just finished reading.

“She decided to be alone. It’s all her fault. She chose this life,” I added. “But it doesn’t make sense though, that she would do something like this to herself. It doesn’t add up. Something isn’t right,” Mace says, furrowing his eyebrows, trying to understand how the book ended in the way it did.

“Well there’s nothing any of you can do about it now is there?” Joyce says, obviously annoyed and tired of the back and forth. “Oh well,” I say, ready to part with the book and the adventures it took us on. “But…” Mace drags out before Carl cuts him off by hitting his chest and saying, “Drop it”.

I laughed a little at what Carl did, then we just sat in silence for a couple of minutes, each of us busy with our phones. “Arggghhh,” Joyce lamented unexpectedly. “What now?” I said, trying to think of why she had been so irritated since she got to the house.

She doesn’t reply to me immediately and I just take it as her thinking of what to say. I looked at her again, trying to figure out what had got her so worked up. I knew it was definitely not her period, she’s always irritated when it comes, but because of the fact that we both track our periods on my phone, I know it’s not that.

Then it clicks, like a finished puzzle given to kids. “It’s the new neighbor, isn’t it?”. “Huh?” she responds. “What new neighbor?” Carl asks. “Oh, just a fine young guy that always annoys Joyce and gets her frustrated,” I responded to Carl.

“You know how the story goes, yeah?” I asked Mace and in response, he says, “Definitely”. “What story? I have no idea what you guys are talking about,” Joyce says in defense. “Oh, don’t play dumb now,” I say, sharply. “But I’m not, I honestly have no idea what you guys are talking about”.

I sigh and say, “Well, you’ve been irritated all morning and I’ve been thinking of what got your panties in a twist. It just clicked a few minutes ago that it’s the new neighbor and the story is a typical one actually. The boy annoys the girl because he likes her and the girl finds it annoying at first, but later she starts getting frustrated because she can’t figure out what’s going on inside of her.

She still thinks she’s angry at him, but in the real sense, she’s starting to develop feelings for him and she knows it to some extent, but she still lies to herself and everyone around her because she most likely thinks the change is irrational and stupid. So yeah”.

No one said anything for a few seconds, but Mace smiled at me all through the silence. The first person to speak was Joyce and she said, “You’re crazy!”. I look at her, smile, and say, “Stage 1, Denial”. “That’s right,” Carl says, and then he adds, “I want to meet this new neighbor though, what’s his name?”

“Ian. It doesn’t even matter, you’re not going to meet him, no one is meeting anyone!” Joyce shouts. “Wow, he’s really got a stronghold,” Mace whispers and to that, Carl and I nod. Joyce huffs and lays down on the bed.

A few minutes pass, then Joyce stands up and says, “You know what guys, let’s go to the beach and I’m driving”. None of us argued because we were kinda bored. “Yay,” I exclaimed almost immediately. I grab the essentials and we all leave my room.

“Mum,” I yelled. “Mum,” I called out again as I entered the kitchen to check for her. I see her leaning over the counter, watching a video on her phone, and laughing. “Mum, we’re headed to the beach, where’s dad?”. “He went to see Dave, he'll be back soon”. She drops her phone, looks at me, and packs my hair again.

“We should spend more time together. I don’t know when I'll have to travel again and I miss my baby,” she says, kissing me all over my face. I could see Mace and Carl mocking me in the kitchen doorway. “Fine mum, I’ll try to be back early so we'll have a movie night,” I responded while trying to get out of her embrace.

“Have fun sweetie,” she exclaims. “Besides mum, you can use this time to spend quality time with Harry,” I add as I leave the kitchen and see him with Collin. “Nope, we’re going to the beach with you guys,” Harry says. “What! Who told you we were going to the beach?”. Carl tries to run away but Collin points to him before he can.

“I’m gonna kill you, Carl,” I shouted. We all walk to the car, then Mace yells, “Shotgun!”. “Whatever,” Carl replies and says, “Joyce, you should totally invite Ian”. “Who’s Ian,” Harry asks from behind Carl. Joyce’s eyes are wide open and she’s openly glaring at Carl. If “I’m gonna kill you” were to be a stare, then that was the message Joyce was passing across.

“Just some neighbor of hers,” Mace says from beside her. I can see the constraint in her eyes as she tries to hold herself back from hitting Mace. “It really isn’t a big deal. I’m sure he wouldn't want to come anyway. What are you doing here though?” she asked Harry.

“We are going to the beach together, so I say you invite him. The more, the merrier!” Collin responds. “Of course,” Joyce says, fakely smiling. It’s so terrible that I have to cover my mouth so I don’t burst into laughter right there. “Stop,” I mouthed to her, so I’d eventually stop laughing.

Joyce calls Ian and after a few seconds she says, “ He’s coming”. “Cool, Are you sure you want to drive? Can you even drive?” Harry asks. “Yes, I’m sure and Yes, I can,” she replies confidently and it shocks me, well, because it’s Harry. Something was definitely going on.

We move to a bigger car and Mace still ends up with Joyce in the front. Carl and I sat in the middle seats, leaving Harry and Collin to sit at the back. “Tell Mace to watch her,” Harry whispered in my ear. I relayed the message and he gave me a thumbs up.

…/…

“Wow, I’m impressed,” Harry says to Joyce as she parks the car and we alight. “Thanks,” Joyce replies, with a blush on either side of her face, and then she stops smiling abruptly when she looks ahead. I followed her line of sight to see a young guy with a lot of hair that looked brown. He’s sitting down but I can tell he’s tall. His upper body looks strong as though working out is part of his daily routine.

“That must be Ian,” I say out loud. “Yup,” Joyce responds. None of us break eye contact and then she starts walking to where he’s seated.

I walked back to the car to get my phone and the small pack of canned fruit juice. By the time I get to where they are seated, they’re already in a full-blown conversation. I take a seat beside Carl when Joyce says, “Ah yeah, Ian, meet Lily, Harry’s sister. Lily, meet Ian”.

I look at his face for the first time and my whole body freezes. He says something to me that my brain refuses to interpret. I don’t even know what is going on around me anymore. The faces of the rest of them get blurred and they start to fade.

I’m reminded of a particular scene in The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, where Augustus Waters keeps staring at Hazel Grace Lancaster and Hazel keeps asking with her eyes why he is staring. He doesn’t respond at all in that scene and they end up having a staring contest.

Then, I remember that in another scene, Hazel asks Augustus why he is staring at her and he responds by facing her and saying “Because you’re beautiful. I enjoy looking at beautiful people, and I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence”.

Well, the reason for all my organs shutting down can be presented by other people as an exaggeration, but I’d tell them to meet the boy before they judge.

In much simpler words, Ian is beautiful!