“Where are you taking me?” Wren asked, looking around at the line of houses perched on the hillside as the incline of the sidewalk increased.
“You’ll see. C’mon.”
They crested the hill, stopping in front of a navy brick house perched above them, meticulously trimmed hedges lining the stairs leading up to a large wooden door with tall rectangular panes of glass. It was exactly like she remembered.
“Soooo.” Wren tucked her hands into her pockets, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet.
Lily nodded at the house. “This is what I wanted to show you. This house used to be mine. Those windows above the garage? That was my room. That little tower room over there was Mama’s studio. And Mom’s study was in the room next to the front door. She had these really cool bookshelves. And I usedto ride my bike down to the corner and back and play with Mr. Howard’s cat.”
Wren looked at the house, then back at her. Lily didn’t know why she was showing Wren the old house; it wasn’t like she could ever go back there, not since her mom had sold it.
“You miss it, don’t you?” Wren asked, sliding her hand into Lily’s.
She nodded as hot tears pricked at her eyes. She turned, burying herself in Wren’s arms, seeking the comfort they brought her.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffed, wiping her nose on the back of her sleeve. “I don’t even know why I brought you here, I just?—”
Wren cut her off with another hug. “I like knowing the things that are important to you. It’s a cool house. Thanks for showing me. I bet growing up here was really magical.”
“Yeah, parts of it were pretty magical. Mama used to make these giant forts with me and we would spend hours painting and watching movies inside them.”
“Building forts was the best, wasn’t it? My dad and I used to build them, too, before things with my parents got bad.”
Lily looked up at Wren. Their height difference had always been a little laughable, with Lily standing at 5’2” next to Wren’s 5’11”.
Wren rarely talked about her family, not since she had taken the steps to get emancipated two and a half years ago. To Lily’s knowledge, there had been no contact between Wren and her family since.
“That sounds like a really special memory.”
Once again, Lily pressed up on her tiptoes to kiss Wren, loving the softness of their lips touching. For as stressed out as she was in her day-to-day life, kissing Wren always seemed to make time slow down to a near standstill, like the two of them only existed in their own little world.
The pair walked back down the hill towards the café.
“Can I drive this time? I feel so silly standing behind you, holding on to the handlebars of your scooter. Better yet, let’s take the bus,” Wren pleaded as Lily slipped her helmet back on.
“You can suck it up for the eleven minutes it takes to get back to campus.”
The loud click of plastic snapped between them. Wren rolled her eyes, but still hopped on the scooter behind Lily, wrapping her arms around her to hold on to the handlebars.
“For all your scooter safety, this definitely feels like it would fall into the dangerous category,” Wren said in her ear as Lily sped along the bike trail in the direction of her dorm.
“C’mon, Wren, live a little.” Lily laughed into the damp air.
Lily’s shoulders dropped and a small sigh of relief left her as she stepped into the thankfully empty dorm room. Good, that meant Dylan was still at the library and she didn’t have to add dealing with Wren and Dylan’s weirdness to the never-ending list of things currently stressing her out.
Dylan and Wren’s friendship was nonexistent, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Both had been making an effort to get to know the other better, especially once Lily and Wren had started dating, but she didn’t know if she could pick two people less likely to be friends than Dylan Cassidy and Wren Parker.
“Good, Dylan’s not here.” Wren kicked off her shoes and plopped down onto Lily’s bed.
“Wren,” Lily warned. She didn’t love having to play peacekeeper between her best friend and her girlfriend.
“What? She doesn’t like me. Which is weird because I’m very likable.”
“You are very likable, but you only talk to her about sports. Dylan isn’t really into sports.” Lily nudged Wren, making her scooch over and make room on the bed for her before she lay down next to her, their faces inches apart on her pillow, theirbodies curled together on the narrow mattress. “You two need to find something that you both have in common to talk about—something that isn’t me.” Lily reached forward, playing with one of Wren’s long, dark ringlets, tugging it gently, watching as it recoiled into place.
“Ilovethat you’re my girlfriend,” Wren whispered.
She smiled because there it was again. They were dangerously close to that word. She wanted to say it so badly.I love you. But it felt almost too real. Like saying it out loud might pop the little bubble she and Wren existed in, just the two of them.
