THE LOVE BIRDS

Lily now understood why Jean practically dragged her closer to the crowd.

Dancing at the center of the spacious living room was Fram Hill High's cutest couple—Dan and Sophie. They were the 'It' couple.

Observing the couple dance and in each other's embrace, she actually envied them. Admitting that came with so much reluctance on her part.

Dan Pierce and Sophie Baker were incredibly popular in school and in town. Both of them were smart students. Straight A's. Clean school record. They were from good and influential families. Every kid in school wanted to be like them or to be in their circle of friends.

Lily looked away from and back to the sight of the couple. She felt she was intruding on their sacred space but could not help staring at them.

Dan and Sophie were slow dancing to Marvin Gaye's song, 'Let's Get It On'. Under the illumination of the expensive crystal chandelier and around them was a wall of people, they seemed like the only humans on Earth.

Then, suddenly, the atmosphere changed. At the least, that was what happened to Lily's senses. That was what she thought of the change in her mood. She was watching two people—the image of them was like in the movies but in slow motion.

In that movie-like space, nobody else mattered but Dan and Sophie. Everybody around them was only noise and shadows compared to them. The couple's obvious affection for each other enamored Lily who was only a spectator to all of it.

How two people could look that good together was a mystery to Lily.

Catching herself staring at them for too long, she forced herself to look the other way. She promised not to look back because the truth was that it hurt to see the boy she liked for years in another girl's arms.

Yep! She was a no-boyfriend-since-birth eighteen-year-old but she already had her eyes set on one boy. If she had a boyfriend, he would be Dan. She liked him. More than she should. He had been her crush since her freshman year.

Who didn't have a crush on him anyway? She wondered.

Dan was no doubt the guy all girls in school wished to be their boyfriend. Jean would call him 'The Perfect Catch'.

And Lily, guilty and hopeless in the matter, thought of him as her special person. One of a kind and someone who was unbelievably attractive in every sense of the word.

Lily would daydream about him when she was copying Ms. Anderson's literature notes. Or making a clay pot during Mr. Hart's class. Or sulking during her advanced Physics class with Mr. Simpson.

Once upon a time, she was almost fooled by a fake magic potion video she found on YouTube. Foolish, she believed in the 'How To Make Your Crush Fall In Love With You' video. It was ridiculous.

She blamed Jean, of course. The redhead made her watch the video.

Then, she felt stupid after.

Desperate.

And just like any other fifteen-year-old girl that time.

Once again, Lily stole glances at the couple. She could see their love for each other, enveloping them. Dan and Sophie's arms around each other were like an invisible wall that protected them from everybody else's distraction. Their attraction to each other was magnetic, pulling the two bodies together. They couldn't take their eyes, their hands, and their bodies off each other. The bond was undeniable—they were meant to be one.

Lily could clearly see that as bright as the hottest day of summer and when the sun was at its highest in the sky. And her poor, hurt feelings were running away to take shelter from its burning heat.

It would have been a lot easier and helpful to Lily if only Sophie, the other half of the awesome twosome, was unlikeable. If only Sophie was someone that people could just ignore.

The blonde beauty, Sophie, was far from it. She was actually the opposite of the word unlikeable and never the one to be taken for granted. She was sugar and spice and everything nice. She was all three of the Powerpuff Girls combined with Serena van der Woodsen as the cherry on top.

How did one compete with that? How could she compete with Sophie? Lily asked those questions every time she felt jealous of Sophie. She needed to rationalize because she couldn't help but like Dan's girlfriend instead. It felt like a mistake to dislike her.

It was unfair to be jealous of someone and still liked them, Lily complained to herself.

She murmured to Jean, "So what about everybody's favorite love birds?" The subtlety of her emotions was never her expertise. She was a little annoyed.

"Honestly? I want you to be majorly jealous of the love birds," Jean teased her.

Lily stared at her who stared right back at Lily.

Jean was the first to break their staring contest. "Just kidding, Lil. I only wanted to show you where Danny Boy is. I thought you wanted to see him tonight. I just did not notice his girlfriend who, by the way, seems glued to him for dear life, all night. Boy, they sure look good together. All-Original Fram Hill Sweethearts."

"Yeah. I can obviously see the love birds. How could I not notice? They are literally sparkling under that huge chandelier, slow dancing, and all lovey-dovey to each other. Glued or surgically attached to him or whatever doesn't matter now. I need to go home already. My grandmother might already be looking for me. I'm way past my curfew, you know. It's either that or that I am dreading I might puke all I drank all over this place anytime soon."

Eyeing the front door and not letting her eyes wander anywhere anymore, Lily asked Jean, "I guess this is goodnight, huh?"

Her best friend nodded in agreement. "Yes, baby girl. Let's not torture your jealous heart any longer. Let's get your jealous ass home."

***