Traces of Delilah

Eleven

"Have you lost your mind!? What the hell are you banging on my door like that for?"

"It got you to open the door faster, didn't it? What were you doing anyway? Is that dried up sweat? Ugh. Ew. You look like you just had sex. . . Oh God, wait. Never mind. Forget I asked." I imagined Camille scrunching her face in disgust as she spoke. The same way I imagined Andrew's annoyed expression as he glared at her. It was exactly how they acted the day I first met her and their dog.

I tried not to laugh at their bickering but it was hard. I didn't have a sibling to bicker with nor was my family dynamic the best, so their banter was refreshing to be around. Even Skylar was used to shit like this. She had three older brothers scattered throughout the states.

"Disgusting. Anyways, my friends are waiting outside so. . ." I tuned out their conversation when she brought up her friends. How many of them could there have been outside?

I let my feet drag me to Andrew's bedroom window. It didn't take long for my eyes to find the three teens standing in front of the building. They were all patiently standing around talking with each other. Two of them, I didn't recognize.

The first one was a dark-skinned girl with long, black butterfly locs in her hair. Around her forehead was a bandana with the same colors as the Jamaican flag. The next one was a fairly short olive-toned guy with loose, but short curly black hair, as well as hazel eyes.

"Ow, shit!" I rubbed my tailbone as my butt hit the floor. For a brief moment, one of them almost caught my eye. I hardly made it away from the window before she looked up. Damn, Camille's girlfriend had a sharp eye.

"Damnit Delilah, why aren't you twenty-one already!?" I tensed at the arm that looped around my shoulder. "We need drinks, woman!" When I turned to my right, Camille was grinning in my face. The sky was no longer light blue but dark with streaks of purple highlights. Oh, it was nighttime. And we were the loudest crowd on the block.

I glanced around at the other faces trapping me in between them.

Were these the people Delilah hung out with? The small group consisted of the teens I saw outside. Then, there was also Camille. Had that meant her and Thomas hung out alone? He seemed to have a completely different friend group from her. Was she close to anyone from Thomas' friends in the first place? It was probably best if she stayed far away if Julia was spiteful towards her anyways. 

"Sorry, Camille. You'll have to wait until next year." I shot back a nervous laugh. "Besides, I don't think your brothers would appreciate me buying you alcohol."

Next year? These memories were from 2018. Delilah must have been twenty-years-old then. She would've been the same age as Damon now. That was depressing to think about again. It was even more baffling that they were the same age and died around the same time.

"Brothers this, brothers that. Sheesh, what about what I want?" Camille huffed.

I smiled a small smile and rolled my eyes, sucking the straw from my drink in between my lips. What was this? Bubble tea? That's what it looked and tasted like. Well, I guess it was just milk tea now. There were no tapioca balls at the bottom.

Makayla's dramatic sigh filled our ears from behind us. "This is why you're always grounded and you can't spend time with me."

Camille gasped and hugged Makayla's side, matching her dramatics. "I'm sorry. I love you!" She planted wet kisses all over her cheeks until Makayla cringed away laughing.

"Weh yuh a deal wid? Get a room!" The first teen whom I didn't recognize in the present time—the girl—spat jokingly as she switched between another language (I recognized as Patois) and English. An accent weaved into her words while she laughed.