The Challenge

"As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot."

"Hurry up. I don't want to miss the movie," Lilly whined as she pulled into the driveway of my house.

"You know this would go a lot faster if you helped me look for it," I smirked, unbuckling my seatbelt, and popping open the door of the truck.

She groaned, throwing her head back in her seat. "How long do you think it will take?"

I put a finger to my chin, prentending to think. "Well, considering I'm looking for one cell-phone in a house with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a den, a-"

"Okay! Okay! I get it. I'll help," she frowned, reluctantly popping open the door to the driver's side as well.

"Thank you," I said sweetly with a comical bat of the eyes.

"Shut up," she moaned, stomping her way to the front door of my house.

I chuckled, climbing out of the car, and running after her to the door. I wrapped both arms around her waist from behind and mumbled a raspy sorry into her ear.

"Shut up," she repeated glumly with an exaggerated pout. She crossed her arms over her chest and somehow found a way to be absentmindedly adorable. I pushed the key into the lock and opened the door for her, leading her inside my house.

"Okay. I'll check upstairs and you check downstairs," I said, motioning to the disarray living room.

She scrunched up her nose in disgust before warily nodding her head. "Got it," she said as she added a two-finger salute at the end.

I jogged up the stairs, leaving Lilly in the living room as she picked up dirty clothes off the couch between her two fingers. I heard a small shriek as I reached the top of the stairs and smiled, knowing that she found the week-old pizza under the coffee table. I sighed before beginning the grueling task of searching every one of these rooms. I ran into each room, riffled through the bed, desk and closet searching for my blue iphone. I groaned, running into the bathroom and searched through the shelves. I even lifted the lid of the toliet just to make sure. Hey, you never know right?

"Lilly? Did you find it?" I called as I passed the stairs. I was greeted by an eerie silence.

I heard nothing, not the sounds of footsteps or even any sign of movement. "Lilly?" I called again, growing worried. Still silence. I bounded down the steps, whipping my head around the living room.

She wasn't here. "Lilly!" I shouted, running around the room, looking for her.

With an aggravated sigh, I headed into the kitchen. "Lilly-oh," I stopped abrubtly, the words dying on my tongue.

I was not expecting to see that. A talking monkey, making dinner would have been more plausible than the sight in front of me now. I blinked rapidly, hoping that the image would disappear, but it didn't. Lilly sat in a chair at the dining room table, looking awkwardly at her fumbling fingers. Across from her, my parents stood with both with their arms crossed, wearing expressions of bitterness.

My father was wearing a judgmental look. The same look that I've seen him use on indecisive customers. His glare was hard and his face was expressionless. His eyes observed Lilly, obviously looking for any visible signs of fault. I knew he would find none. Lilly was perfect in every way. Not even the devil himself could hate her.

"Dustin," my father's gruff voice broke the silence first. "Explain." His sharp command made Lilly visibly wince as she kept her gaze locked on the tablecloth.

"We were just looking for my cell-phone before going to the movies," I said bitterly, hoping that would be the end of it. But I was never that lucky. My father reached into his pocket, pulling out my phone, and dropping it on the table with a loud thud. Lilly jumped as the phone landed directly in front of her, tearing her eyes away from the table to look at the device. I frowned, my hard gaze turning into pity as I walked towards Lilly. I placed my hand on her back, rubbing it in soothing circles. She looked up at me, giving me a forced weak smile, before returning her eyes to the tabletop.