Her name was India [hs au]

Polaroids (II)

India sat on the floor of Lili's small flat, she could feel the breeze blowing from the windows open behind her lightly tickling her skin. Her back pressed up against the hard wood of a bookcase and her delicate fingers carefully turned the pages of a new copy of A Wrinkle in Time. She could faintly hear the noise of Françoise Hardy singing from the record playing in Lili's front room. Sliding down the bookcase she stretched out her legs and sighed before dog earring the page and closing the book. She pushed up off of the floor and lazily walked through to the living room where Lili sat on her small wooden balcony. "Lil?" India said quietly not wanting to disturb her quiet moment. Lili puts her arms in the air and arches her back before turning her head to look at India. 

"Hmm?" She said rubbing her eyes, causing small flecks of mascara to grace her cheeks.

"Can we eat something I'm starving?" India questioned, glancing at the ticking clock on the wall that read 7:00 PM. 

"You go ahead, help yourself, i'm not hungry," Lili said smiling and turning back away to look outside. It wasn't unusual for India to spend time on her own around Lili's flat, she knew she just liked the company. India walked away and began searching through the small fridge in the tiny kitchen. Grabbing some eggs and a pan, she set to work making an omelette. 

Pulling her body up onto a bight yellow stool India brought a mouthful of her dinner up to her lips. She smiled at the taste of food and a large sigh emitted her lips. Her eyes flickered up from her plate to the other side of the kitchen, taped to the cabinet were several polaroids of her, including the one from the park the other day. Finishing her last mouthful India walked towards the cabinet and began inspecting the photos. Her hand reached up, hovering over his face, before she pulled the polaroid down quickly putting it in her pocket, Lili had so many  she probably wouldn't even notice. Looking back up she smiled remembering moments Lili had captured. Her smiling widely with her arms held high as rain poured down soaking her head to toe, photos of her crying taken through the gap in a bathroom door. She looked closer, squinting her eyes at the backgrounds of photos taken while they ran around the streets completely free. India inhaled sharply, the air hissing between her teeth, when she saw it. He was there, and he was looking at her again. Frantically she pushed her hand up against the cabinet of photos, her eyes searching each picture for the now familiar head of brown curly locks. One after one she pulled them off the wall, his emerald eyes looking straight at her in each photo, when she was done only a few photos remained.

Wide eyes India looked at her hands and dropped the photos, she could feel her heart beating faster, the bile rising in her throat. "Lili!?" She croaked, rushing back to her friends side.

"Hm?" 

"I...I... I think someones following me," she managed to stutter thrusting the picture of her in the park under Lili's nose. Lili looked up at India, her grey eyes concerned, before focusing on the photo where India's finger lay. 

"How do you know he's following you from just one photo? He might, like everyone else, just think you're pretty." Lili joked tugging on India's loose white shirt.

"Follow me," India said grabbing Lili's hand and urging her towards the floor of the kitchen. Lili stopped just before the pile of polaroids now littering the floor, she knelt down slowly glancing back to look at a fidgeting India. Reaching out Lili grabbed a photo, there he was. 

"Well i'd say you've got yourself an admirer," Lili said with a laugh.

"How can you be so calm about this, he's in almost every picture," India said worry evident in the waiver of her voice.

"Hey, hey," Lili hushed, "he works in the library down the street. I don't think he's following you, rather just paying attention. I thought you wanted more people to pay attention." Lili said smirking.

"Oh shut up," India said laughing as she took a deep breath calming the panic that was rising in her chest. 

"You should say hi next time we go in there," Lili suggested with a smile

"Maybe," India said sprawling her body over the wood floor, a smile tugging on her lips.

hi guys :)

thank you so much for reading my story, it means a lot to me, probably more than you know

if you guys like it please don't forget to comment and vote so that more people will see the story, sharing is caring after all

love always,

hannah