It'd been two months since the disastrous event that took place at the sleepover, and Lillian and Grace avoided each-other like the plague, no matter how hard the others — especially Jessica — begged them to stop being so dramatic and just work it out, then be best friends again. But it really wasn't that simple anymore, no matter how much the rest of the girls desperately wanted to believe it. Timothy kind of saw it too, though he — like the others — knew nowhere near the full story.

     It'd been coming on for a while now, honestly. It wasn't even really about Timmy, though that'd kinda been the start of the last straw. Though their friendship had been super fun-filled, neither had been very honest with each-other during it. Lilly now knew that Grace's mother didn't hate her or anything to do with her at all. Apparently there had been many miscommunications between the mother and daughter, such as Olivia's being kicked out of the house: Mrs. Marla had said something similar in frustration because the cat hadn't been fixed, and was doing some very unpleasant things around the house. But that was a whole other story.

     The only thing that really bothered Lillian now about all this was... how terribly she'd acted acted toward someone she'd called her friend, and how terribly that very same friend had treated her. After their little sleepover nightmare, they'd had a few accidental meetings, and neither could seem to help but talk about it. One about making amends, the other saying she wanted to move on from her clearly toxic ex-friend while calling her out on sins she'd never actually committed. In Lilly's perspective, that is. And the one trying to truly make amends? She bore the scorn and agreed to every insult to herself, just so maybe the other would see how hard she was trying. But... she didn't. So Lilly ran.

     At this point, two months later, Lillian both desperately wished to have one of her very best friends back AND preferred to forget she'd ever existed, to avoid the pain like the wimp she was.

     "Lill," Timothy whispered in her ear, nudging her shoulder with his.

     "Huh?" She mumbled, trying to push back the depression she'd been attempting to sort through.

     "Are you okay?" he asked, his brow puckered with concern, which made her want to reach up and smooth it out with her fingers. But in the school cafeteria? Hmmm, hard pass.

     "Hey, boy, we only let you sit with Lilly because you gave our girl a ring. If you're going to sit here, mushy stares are forbidden," Dakota informed him crossly. But her smile gave her away. As did the other girls' smiles as they nodded their agreement.

     "What? That wasn't a 'mushy stare,' " Timothy protested, a bit too genuinely for Lilly's liking. "I was just making sure she was alright."

     "Okay, one, chill," Raelynn told him, "and two, of course she's not alright! Haven't you caught that by now? No girl would be okay with this. ON HER RING FINGER," she practically sang, snatching my hand and holding it up for him to examine, though he already knew what was there.

     The ring was rather simple, yet lovely in an almost fairytale-esque way. The band was some sort of silver-colored metal that glinted copper and florescent blue in the sun if you looked very closely. Two little spheres of the same metal framed the gem, one on wither side. And the gem? It didn't glitter like a diamond, but it was so beautiful. Its color was like an evergreen tree's, and it was opaque, which surprisingly added to the beauty of the color. There were also three lines of a slightly lighter green — one on a side, two on the other — that some would deem as imperfections, but Lillian adored. To her, it added something unique to the gem. She'd bet everything she had there wasn't another like it.

     And no, of course she hadn't been staring at it much. Why would you think that? Utterly ridiculous! ...And, of course, the narrator wasn't being sarcastic or anything.

     "...AND— AND YOUR WEDDING WILL BE THE BIGGEST, MOST AMAZING EVENTI HAVE EVER PLANNED," Raelynn announced passionately at the end of a long rant that Lilly had partially zoned out.

     Timothy ducked his head slightly, but Lillian could still see his cute blush as he said, "We're not engaged yet. Geez, hold your horses!"

     There was something off, though. Something off about his stance, his voice, his smile... his sweet brown eyes. And it gave Lilly this uncanny feeling like something was very wrong. But this moment was precious. She couldn't bear to ruin it. So she quickly decided to shove it aside and deal with it later, at a more appropriate time.

     Besides, there probably wasn't anything wrong anyway.

     Right?

     The cheerful voices of her friends faded away in her mind, the moment ruined for her. Instead, she stared intently at Timmy. Her Timmy. The love of her life. Her soulmate. Her sweetness. Yes, there was definitely something off about him. But someone who didn't know him as well, like everyone else at their table, wouldn't notice it. Just something a little stiffer, more shielded in his manner. That usually indicated he was really upset about something, or...

     She shut the thought down immediately. Why would he be having doubts right now? Life was perfect. Maybe the right word was repetitive. And repetitive got boring after awhile. But he wouldn't give up just because he got bored...

     "Oh my gosh, Lilly, stop staring at him! It's kind of weird," Dakota whisper-laughed.

     "Hey, I'm allowed to stare at my boyfriend," Lillian shot back with a grin, but she could feel her cheeks grow warm.

     "Okay, sure," she agreed, "but, um, get a room!"

     She said the last part in another whispered giggle, and Lilly laughed quietly along, but now a certain idea was infecting her mind: what if he didn't actually want that with her anymore? To simply "get a room"?

     She vowed to herself she'd watch him carefully for signs (and just to take in how adorable he was, naturally) before finally paying attention to the animated conversation, though it took some effort. Toxic thoughts about people you love were all-consuming. When you doubted them in any way, you practically punished yourself with how hard you scolded for being so un-trusting and awful.

     Once she finally forced herself to concentrate, she found that Raelynn, Jessica, and Sophia were gossiping about the people a couple tables down, while the others were eating and — depending on the person — either wanted to stay out of it, or listened with curiosity, throwing in a comment here and there between bites.

     "But have you seen that new boy yet? The one sitting by Mandy?" Jessica asked her two steady companions.

     "Oh my— he is so HOT," Raelynn gushed after taking a quick, "discreet" peek. "Have we found out his name yet? Because, um, I need to know my future husband's name!"

     "He doesn't even know you exist," Lilly commented with a laugh before taking a quick sip of water.

     "Not yet he doesn't," she shot back deviously.

     The conversation continued to be equally ridiculous until lunch was over. But as Lillian got up and — a minute later — was walking out the double doors for her next class, Jessica stopped her and pulled her aside.

     "Hey Jess," Lilly said slowly, confused. "What's up?"

     "Why is Tim Tam acting so weird, Lill Lill?"

     And just like that, it was real. It wasn't just her imagination running away with her. Something was actually wrong.

     "He might be going through his seasonal depression right now," she stammered, trying to convince herself as much as Jessica.

     It felt like her life was a constant downward spiral lately. Down, down, down, until she couldn't see the light beyond the dark of the pit anymore. And as much as she hated to admit it, every single reason led back to Timothy. But she would never — could never — tell him that. Besides... it was only her more recently-developed troubles. The ones she had before him were still with her, and her fault alone.

     She vaguely registered ending the conversation and promising Jess she's see her after school, but all she could really think about as she waved to her friend while walking to her next class was all the doubts in her head she'd been trying to sugarcoat.

     What if they were drifting apart? Worse: what if he was drifting away?

     Lillian's mother had warned her that lots of things changed in the teen years. But she was far from prepared to say goodbye to her boyfriend.

     And I won't, Lilly thought to herself. We can still fix this. We always do.

- - -

I blame you guys for putting me through the emotional trauma of writing this chapter lol. But thank you for wanting it! Honestly, I don't get why anyone would actually DEMAND more of my writing, but here we are.