SWNOVELS Chapter 8
Claire’s POV
“No…..f**k no !” Lily screamed at me, giving me her most furious look.
“But…..” I started, trying to explain to her why I needed to do this but that was kinda hard to do when I couldn’t even convince myself if this was worth it. I’d just told Lily aka my best friend since kindergarten about ‘him’ and my very stupid plan to sell my virginity to him.
Now you see the problem was that he wanted me to come with him to Paris and warm his bed every night whilst I stayed with him in his penthouse for a week.
The idea thrilled and excited me to no ends but a voice at the back of my head kept on telling me to be just a tiny bit careful, ook…..a lot careful.
“Hey…hey !” Lily waved her hands in my face. “Can you even hear me ?”
“I’m sorry, what ?” I asked her, she answered not-so-politely with a silent glare.
I nervously scratched the back of my neck, waiting for her outburst, waiting for her to tell me how stupid this plan of mine was, how goddamn stupid I was being, how stu…
“I guess I do understand why you’re doing this.” She resignedly sat down beside me on the shrively single bed placed right in the midst of her apartment which she shared with three other girls who were currently out.
“You do ?” I couldn’t hide my shock at her silent reaction to my mortifying confession about my stupid agenda.
“Not everyone would do what you’re doing to dig themselves out of a pathetic situation like yours.” Lily sternly added, making my grin slip right off my face. “And I’m in no way in support of what you’re willing to do but…” She trailed off, picking at the hem of her skirt as she avoided eye contact with me.
“But….” I egged her on, impatient to hear what she had to say.
“But I wouldn’t blame you if you went along with it.” Lily looked like she would faint and her face turning red certainly wasn’t a good sign. It must’ve been really difficult for her to say those words.
Jumping up on top of her, I hugged her tight against myself, “You’re the bestest friend ever. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I only let her go when I felt Lily huffing against me and the bed creaking so loud, I was half-afraid it would break.
Pulling back, I shot my very annoyed friend the widest grin possible.
“I’ll miss you, y’know.” Lily uttered in a small voice, catching me off guard once again with her sincere tone. Lily wasn’t the kind of person who got emotional very often, she had her own demons just like I had mine and they forced us to hide what we truly felt.
And like the dummy I was, I replied with a useless, “Why ?”, even though I knew the reason as to why she was upset very well.
“‘Cause you’re going off on a trip to paris with a mysterious, rich dude who may-or-not be a f*****g weirdo.” She made a disgruntled noise as she turned and sat on the bed cross-legged. Taking up the same posture as her, I sat down on the bed right in front of her so we were face-to-face and I could gouge her reactions a bit more carefully with the little knowledge I had about psychology.
“And besides that, you’ll be leaving for college in a couple of months anyway.” Lily said, placing her head in my lap.
“Yeah, about that……” I hesitantly added, I’d wanted to put off this conversation for as long as possible but that wasn’t an option anymore because I was leaving tomorrow itself and of course I hadn’t told Lily this….yet.
“What ?” Lily looked up at me with a suspicious frown etched on her face as she shifted her head on my lap to get more comfortable.
“Um…..I-uh leave for Paris tomorrow.”
“Oh ! That soon ?” Lily’s face remained neutral. Damn ! This girl was too good at hiding her emotions from even the closest of her friends.
“Yeah.” This conversation was about to take a very dirty turn.
“But you’ll be back before Christmas, right, since the trip only lasts for one week ?” Lily inquired, running her hands through her hair.
“Um, that’s the thing. I won’t be back.”
Lily sprang up from my lap faster than I could blink, I almost went tumbling off the bed from her force.
“What do you mean you won’t be back ?” She screamed, lunging towards me like a furious tigress.
“I…I’m sorry, okay ?” I was this close to breaking down. Telling the only person who you actually cared about that you’re leaving them was really goddamn hard. “I didn’t have a choice. I could’ve made up an excuse to leave the house for a day….but a week ? Hell no ! My stepmom would practically throw me out of the house if I went away for a week. And I don’t think she would let me go if I told her that I was going away on a trip to Paris with some guy. ” It took me a moment to catch my breath as Lily stared at me wide-eyed.
“So there’s no coming back ?” She silently asked, a single teardrop running down her cheek.
“No !” My own damn burst open as hot tears rolled down my cheeks as evidence. We both just silently cried for a moment, me waiting for her to speak. And as for Lily…….who knew what the f**k went on inside that f****d up head of hers ?
“I’ll really f*****g miss you, you bitch.” Lily sobbed, jumping up on the bed to reach out to me. This time I was the one huffing for air because she hugged me like there was no tomorrow. The cheesy thing was that there actually was no tomorrow…..for the both of us together.
“I’ll miss you too.” I quietly replied, unsure if she even heard me.
She tightened her grip on me as we both sobbed in each other’s arms, bidding our silent goodbyes.