Lilac's Lies

7

The air was thick inside Jesse's car.

I wish we could have driven ourselves. I wish we hadn't gotten into that car accident earlier. I wish more than anything that we were in Clara's car instead, because at least we could have had an escape. We were at the mercy of Brett and Jesse now. They were in control of where we went and what time we left.

Our only stroke of luck came in the form that Brett was sitting in the front seat, so Clara and I were in the back by ourselves. I knew this was lucky, because I knew that Jesse's hand would be gripped around my bare leg if I was sitting beside him. I had objections to having my legs bare at all, but Clara convinced me to borrow this dress of hers. She told me Jesse would complain if I wore the same thing I wore to school, and I knew she was right.

He wouldn't just complain, he would be pissed at me. I know what happens when Jesse is pissed at me.

Jesse and Brett were laughing over the music they were blasting. They seemed so at ease, while I was counting down the minutes until I could go home and be alone in my bed. Clara wasn't happy, either. I could feel her unease in the way she was tapping her long, white acrylic nails against the back of her phone. She did a better job of hiding her feelings than I did. Her mouth wasn't formed into a tight line like mine was. Not that I think the boys would care if it was. They noticied the tension. I knew they noticed it. They just weren't bothered by our obvious displeasure in being around them.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as Jesse turned into the parking lot of the restaurant. It was packed, the way I knew it would be. Even on a Monday night at 9pm. There was a reason it was busy, the way it always is. The restaurant was small, and it was locally owned. The owners weren't strict about carding people for alcohol. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen them card anyone. Even when we first heard news of this place in our sophmore year, they didn't look twice when we ordered a beer. News quickly spread around our school, and it was one of the more popular places to hang out. No one cares that the food tastes like shit.

I heard Clara sigh beside me as Jesse put the car into park. It was silent suddenly as he turned the car off, and the music stopped playing. I looked over at Clara, hoping she could see in my eyes just how annoyed I was that we were here. From the sharp nod of her head that she gave me when our eyes met, I'm guessing she understood. In the next second, her mouth broke into a huge smile, her straight teeth on full display. Perfect timing, because Brett turned around in his seat to look at her.

"See? Its like old times." He said, looking at Clara. His eyes only travelled to me for a second, and the way that he looked at me was infinitely different than the way he looked at Clara. He looked at Clara like he already knew he had her under his thumb. He looked at me like he wasn't so sure what to expect from me.

"Yeah." Clara agreed in a higher than usual pitched voice. "That's what it feels like. We used to have a lot of fun together."

She wasn't lying about that. We did used to have fun. It seemed like another lifetime ago.

"Well, now that the gang is back together, we can go back to having that fun." Brett said, and it was weird how sweet his voice sounded. I wondered who he was trying harder to convince, us... or himself.

"That's what I was trying to tell you today, Lilly. There's no reason why we can't go back to the way things used to be." Jesse looked back to me from the driver's seat, his eyes scanning my body.

I guess what I was wearing was up to his standards, because he didn't shoot me the dirty look I knew he would if it wasn't. A smile formed on his twisted lips instead, and when his eyes finally moved up from where they had been fixated on my breasts, I could see he was in a good mood.