"You are my new favorite feeling."
~7 years before, age 15~
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We weren't ever really close until around age fifteen for me, thirteen for him. Up until then he was just "Little Liam", Elaine's little brother and Archer's best friend. We coexisted on family trips and group games but we wouldn't have been considered as close friends.
I've known Elaine since I was six years old and we sat next to each other on the rainbow carpet in kindergarten. She sat on an orange square and I sat on the blue one. Through the years, we've been through nearly everything together, from days exploring the rocks at the beach to huge fights where I would cover up her face in all the pictures displayed in my room with a post-it note. Since we've gotten older and closer, we rarely fight.
Elaine was there for me when I was at my darkest, when those dark feelings were so bad that I couldn't move. When those hands twisted my stomach and voices whispered "what-ifs" into my ears. We didn't even have to question whether we would stick together through our adult lives, we just knew. There is no Elaine without Lily and no Lily without Elaine.
But then I turned fifteen and we evolved into more of a group. We were still each our own duos but we also began to enjoy the other's company. We would get together for group soccer on weekends, we would play Truth or Dare at sleepovers and splash each other in our pool on the hottest California summer days.
It wasn't until I was almost sixteen that I realized that Liam wasn't just Elaine's younger brother anymore. He was his own person, teasing and funny, always there to back me up in soccer and save me from revealing embarrassing secrets in front of my brother. This wasn't like how it was with Elaine, we weren't close like that, but it was clear we were now living in the same realm.
I remember the day the butterflies first came to visit, stuffing themselves down my throat in a mad dash for my stomach, beating their wings in loud flaps against the lining of my body, begging to be let out from the dark well they'd just flown into. I brushed it off like I always do, chalking it up to the excitement from the game and the summer sun drenching us in it's comforting rays.
"Heads up!" I snap my head up to search for the ball, running past Elaine's feeble line of defense and catching the ball from the air to my feet with ease. I take another stroke before pulling back my leg and releasing it like a slingshot, the ball soaring gracefully above the grass and burying itself snugly into the white net.
"YES! Take that, losers!" I run back to our side of the field, Liam high fiving me and laughing. Elaine is busy retrieving the ball from their net, shaking her head and tossing it back to the middle of the field. Archer is still sprawled on the shaded grass where Liam knocked him down, panting in defeat. A bee flits lazily in circles over his head and he swats it away, which ends up with him making a beeline for the other side of the yard to escape it's sting. I shake my head and Liam just laughs.
"Get back over here, tough guy, we got to finish the game."
"What's the point?" Archer asks, whining as he glances wearily around for more possible bee threats. "You guys are gonna win either way."
"Yeah, come on, can't we switch teams or something?" Elaine begs, looking from me to Liam as we exchange evil grins.
"Mhhhm, how about...no?" I reply, tapping my chin and staring intently at the cloudless blue sky.
"Alright, I give up. I'm going in to get ice cream. You guys coming?" Archer licks his lips in anticipation of his treat and Elaine responds.
"Yeah, I want some iced tea."
"Oooh, that sounds good." My mouth seems to dry up at the thought of the cold drink.
"You up for one more round first? One v. one?" Liam asks, cracking his fingers and walking over to Elaine and Archer's side of the pitch.
"You're on. Prepare to be crushed. We'll meet you inside, guys!" I call to Elaine, who's already opening the patio door, leaving us with a glimpse of Archer, neck-deep in the freezer, anxiously searching for his ice cream.
"First goal wins." Liam grins and immediately starts dribbling giving me barely a split second to reply before I run to meet him.
"Cheater." I kick the ball out from under him, kicking it closer to the goal. He doubles back, sprinting ahead of me to get back on defense.
"Am not." I shoot but he kicks it away. He's faster than me, so he reaches the stray ball first, and I pick up the pace to get back in front of him. He attempts a fancy move but I stick my foot in before he can finish, spinning it around and shooting it in a straight line towards the goal. He dives after it, to no avail. The ball trundles over the line and stops just inside the posts.
"Ha! Suck it! I win. Sorry, Liam, we can't all be State Champions."
"You win once four years ago and suddenly you think you're a young Alex Morgan." He grumbles, grabbing the ball and heading for the door.
"What can I say?" I point innocently to the back of my #13 jersey. He rolls his eyes but smiles, the sun beating the fight out of him.
"Good game." He offers his hand out and I shake it, not really registering that I've never really touched him before.
His hand shoots warm blood up my arm and straight into my heart where the butterflies now cluster, feeding off the sweet nectar. My smile falters but I shake his hand quickly and pull my easygoing attitude back on, opening the door to see Elaine and Archer at the kitchen table, Elaine sipping a brown glass full of ice and Leonard with brown smudges around his lips, already reaching into the box for a second one. Elaine and I look at each other and laugh, shaking our heads and Liam and I sit down and join them, gossiping about the upcoming school year while sipping on iced tea.
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Song: Maps by Maroon 5
YOU ARE READING
Stardust & Smiles ✅
Romance♥️"If this isn't love then I don't think I'll ever fall."♥️ Lily is a young adult with a few disastrous secrets. First, her dark past and the accompanying anxiety formed from the trauma of her past relationship she can't seem to forget, no matter h...
