Sonder

Introduction

Sinking back on the wall as I tried to muffle the sobs as I spoke to my best friend on the phone, I had been finding ways to cut her story off so I could hang up and be left alone with my own thoughts.

She hadn't suspected that I was crying, and I wasn't going to let her find out.

"Hey, come on, I have homework," I lied. "You can just tell me the rest tomorrow at school."

I heard her chuckle. "Why save it for tomorrow when I'm walking up your driveway?"

"What?" I muttered before springing off of my bed and nearly falling as I scrambled to get to my window. I peered through the blinds to see the top of her auburn head, her hand reaching up before knocking on my front door, phone still up to her ear.

"Well, sorry, I didn't know it was a crime to visit your own best friend," she replied as I watched her smile when the door opened. "Hello, Mrs. Price."

I hung up the phone and threw it on my bed and paced my room in a panic as I frantically wiped my eyes and ran into the bathroom before she could get upstairs. After shutting the door behind me, I huffed out a shaky breath and stared at my reflection.

I winced as I noted the redness around my eyes and poked at the bags that had formed there. My eyes were also, no doubt bloodshot, and I turned the faucet on to splash some cold water on my face to ease up my appearance. There was no hiding the evidence that tears were just spilling out of my eyes like Niagara Falls.

Maybe if she let me keep the light off while we talked, she wouldn't suspect a thing.

I took a deep breath before turning the light off and slowly peering out of the bathroom to see if she made it into my room already.

The door was cracked open, and the light shone through the opening. I cursed under my breath before regaining my composure as best as I could and walking out of the bathroom.

When I reached my bedroom, my stomach flipped. If she finds out, she would force me to talk about it with her, and I don't want to feel like a burden to her as much as I already do. I kept my head down and my eyes trained to the floor as I pushed open the door.

"I don't appreciate you hanging up on me," she teased.

"Well, hello to you too, Julia," I replied. "And you were in my house already, there was no point in staying on the phone with you." I walked over and took a seat on the opposite side of the bed Julia sat on, and I could feel her eye me questionably.

"So, are you going to finish the story?" I suggested, and began working at cleaning under my nails to avoid eye contact.

Julia waved her hand. "Nah, I can save it for tomorrow. What I really want to know, though, Lily," she said, lightly poking my side and my stomach was doing full on back flips as my body went cold. "I want to know what's going on with dinner! I'm starving."

I pushed out a breathy laugh. "Well, you do always seem to come at dinnertime."

Julia shrugged. "What can I say? Your mom cooks way better than mine."

I smiled and shook my head. "I actually don't know what's for dinner. Why didn't you ask when you were down there?"

"Ah, I didn't feel like it." Julia replied. "Plus, I wanted to get up here so I could talk to my best bud sooner." Then she held out her arms, and I finally looked up at her, and she raised her eyebrows at me, motioning for me to come closer.

So, I did, and wrapped my arms around her waist and buried my head in her shoulder. "You can tell me anything, you know that, right, Lily?" I nod into her arm.

"Then why don't you want to tell me why you were crying?"