I read the sheet, and she was right. My job was just to take her blood pressure and draw some blood for general tests so the doctor could prescribe her medication.
I prepared the blood pressure cuff, trying to ignore her gaze. She settled into the chair and extended her arm toward me. I could feel her gaze on me, but I tried to avoid it at all costs.
When I finished taking her blood pressure, I started writing it down in the document.
"You know, there's something different about you this year. More confident. More... worldly." She said, filling the silence between us.
"Why do you think that?" I couldn't help asking her, curious about what she had noticed about me that made me different from the child I was.
"You're not joking around with your classmates like you used to. You're more focused on listening to the lectures. It's as if you were a different person from one moment to the next."
"I see," I replied, not knowing what else to say. She was right, and I was worried that my actions were already becoming noticeable, even to someone who once thought I was invisible.
"It's not a bad thing," she added, sensing my silence. "Don't feel like you have to be someone you're not to fit in."
But was that what I was really doing, or had I just changed and grown? I didn't feel any different than who I had always been, but some things were no longer part of the person I used to be.
"Well, thanks. I think the experience I'm having in the hospital has helped me understand the real world." I lied because there was no other explanation I could give her aboutmy sudden “maturity.” Then, I added, "We are finished here. The doctor will come to see you in a bit."
I decided to leave as soon as possible. I didn't want to continue being read by someone who was apparently sensing that I was someone else.
"You are welcome. It was nice to see you, Kyle."
"Likewise, Florence," I replied without looking back.
CHAPTER 26
Lily
Kyle: I'll pick you up at 7:00 PM for our date.
Lily: This is not a date.
Kyle: Don't wear red lipstick.
I wouldn't want my whole face to be marked when we kiss.
Lily: I'm starting to regret having accepted.
I stoodin front of my closet for what felt like an eternity, holding up different outfits and immediately dismissing them. Too formal. Too casual. Too much cleavage. Not enough personality. The pile of rejected clothes on my bed grew larger with each passing minute.
This was ridiculous. I was a twenty-eight-year-old woman trapped in an eighteen-year-old body, going on a not-date with my ex-boyfriend, whom I was definitely not tryingto impress.
So why did I care what I wore? Why did my heart race at the thought of seeing him tonight? Why did I keep checking the clock, counting down the minutes until seven?
I told myself it was just nerves. Just the stress of everything I was dealing with recently. It had nothing to do with the way Kyle had looked at me in the break room, like I was still his everything. Nothing to do with how his hands had felt on my waist, warm and solid and right.
Nothing at all.
Finally, I grabbed a simple yellow sundress from the back of my closet. It was cheerful without trying too hard, comfortable but still pretty. Safe. Normal. The kind of thing teenage Lily would have worn without overthinking it for forty-five minutes.
But as I slipped it over my head, I couldn't help but remember that Kyle had once told me yellow was his favorite color on me. That he'd said it made my skin glow and brought out the gold in my hair. And I hated that I'd remembered that, hated that some part of me had chosen this dress specifically because I wanted to see that look in his eyes again.
A soft knock on my door interrupted my thoughts.
"Come in," I called, checking my reflection one last time.
My father poked his head through the door; his expression was amused. I remember how he always used to tell me that boys were a waste of time, while I told him that if I could build something as beautiful as what he and Mom had, then it was worth wasting time like that. If only I'd known better.
