Pink City

Chapter 7

Throughout Lily's experiences with Seench, their friendship's most defining moment was unmistakably the enormous beam on Seench's face following Lily's invitation to hang out with her and the girls at the Pink City mall.

Lily could pinpoint the exact moment Seench's day was turned upside down; although Lily had told her the news over the phone, it was impossible to not hear the excitement in their voice, and it almost seemed contagious, for Lily could feel herself grin listening to what Seench said over the call.

Then the last text they sent the day before the mall trip;

"OMG LILY, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY I AM RN... THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU... IF I COULD I WOULD HUG YOU RIGHT NOW :D" Sent 7:43 PM.

"Anyway, I might be a little late because my car isn't in the best shape... but I will try my best to come early. See you at 3 PM <333" Sent 7:47 PM.

Unfortunately Daphne wasn't half as enthusiastic about the mall trip as Seench was. If it weren't for the option of shopping and making new friends, Daphne would've preferred to stay at home, as it was Sunday, and Daphne counted Sundays as her "beauty rest days". What Daphne had to rest from, Lily had no idea, but she chose not to ask, especially after noticing how high-strung she had seemed this week.

The mall was fifteen minutes away, and to Lily's surprise there was little Pink City advertising on its design at all; rather than being pink, the walls were a sandy peach color, and the letters reading "Pink City Mall" at the top front of the mall were tapered into an espresso brown, rather than a neon pink. The foliage outside the mall's premises looked quite promising as well.

Outside the mall, the three girls waited for them. From Lily's view she could not see them too clearly, however the more she walked the more she could make out Britnee's smiling face, and the two other friends she was told about. Britnee waved to Lily as if signaling a plane.

"That girl looks annoying", said Daphne, and her face was split into two emotions; a mopey frown and a smirk at her own nastiness. Lily did not mind her.

"Lily!!" Britnee said, and reached out her arms to hug her. Britnee considered hugging Daphne as well, but noticed her cold expression, and shook her hand instead.

"I'm Britnee Ryu." she said to Daphne. She signaled to a girl on her left with smoky gray hair. "This is Francine Zhao, but she goes by Frankie." Frankie smiled coyly. Then, Britnee pointed to a familiar girl on her right. It didn't occur to Lily who exactly she was until she saw the horror on Daphne's face.

"And this is..."

"Aiko Aoki!" Daphne stammered. Britnee's eyes widened.

"Wait, you know Aiko?" Britnee responded.

"Yeah, we know each other!" Aiko said. "Daphne Birkman was my best friend in modeling college."

Daphne smiled nervously. "Yeah, we have certainly gone through thick and thin together."

"And you must be Daphne's girlfriend!" Aiko said gregariously to Lily. "You're a lucky girl." Aiko smiled, but her eyes flickered with resentment. To Daphne's luck, Lily did not notice.

"So, shall we gooo?" Britnee said in a sing-songy voice.

"Not yet. There's still someone I'm waiting for." Lily said.

"You made another friend here?" Daphne asked.

"I wouldn't call it a friendship yet, but-"

Just then, the girls were interrupted by Seench, who ran quickly up the stairs to join them where they sat. They were breathing heavily, and it was obvious that they made a lot of effort to avoid coming late.