1962 ── lily evans

EIGHT

EIGHT

WEEKS HAD past, and Lennon was sure she could count the number of times she had seen Lily Evans on one hand. The tall boy they had met perhaps just a month or so prior had taken over Lily's life, stopping Lennon from seeing the best friend she was once inseparable with.

Realising she'd had enough of Lily's absence in her life, Lennon had made her way around the corner to the Evans household with little confidence that evening. She was almost certain Lily would have been preoccupied with her recent fling, but regardless she ventured forth anyway, desperately praying she would catch. She hesitated outside the front door, her knuckle hovering momentarily in the air before knocking lightly against the wood of the door. A few voices were heard before someone scuffled down the hallway, and the door was thrown open. Lennon was happily greeted by Mrs Evans.

"Lennon! Long time, no see, darling," she teased, and Lennon couldn't help but think how the accuracy outweighed the joke. "Looking for Lils?"

"Yeah. Is she in?" Lennon asked, a hopeful grin on her face as she peered eagerly past the doorway and into the hallway.

"You're in luck. She just came back from a date with that handsome fellow. Lucky girl, isn't she?"

 Lennon nodded in agreement, although she felt her stomach knotting with the familiar feeling of jealousy. Swallowing hard, she smiled back at Lily's mother as she stood aside, letting the younger brunette inside.

"See you later, Mrs Evans," Lennon mumbled, racing upstairs towards her friend, her desperation to see her growing after their weeks of separation.

Lennon barely bothered to knock - although she had tapped her knuckles against the door, she wasted no time in pushing open the door to greet her friend. She raised an eyebrow when she saw her. Lily lay in her underwear on the bed reading a magazine, and it was clear that several hickeys scattered her body in more areas than Lennon could count. Her heart picked up ever so slightly, but she reassured herself that it was just shock.

"Len! Hey! How are you doing?" Lily perked up, dropping the teen magazine on the floor as she stood, soaring across the floor to wrap her arms around her best friend.

Lennon rested her head against Lily's shoulder, burying her face in her ginger locks, too speechless to say anything. Her friend, once innocent to an extent, was littered in more hickeys than the brunette had ever seen in her life.

"You been getting in fights while I was gone?" Lennon asked, raising an eyebrow as she motioned towards the countless love-bites on Lily's pale skin. Her tone was teasing, yet there was a certain resentfulness in the back of her mind that she was struggling to brush away.

"Shut up!" Lily giggled, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she looked down at her toned stomach and the marks that sat directly on her hips, dazzling bright purple smudges that stained her skin as reminders of James' infatuation.

"Is he trying to eat you alive?" Lennon rolled her eyes, poking Lily's hip as she leaned down for a closer inspection of the prominent stains.

Then it was the ginger's turn to roll her eyes, pushing her friend backwards lightly onto the bed to stop the check-up. Lily quickly joined the brunette on the bed, tucking her legs up and sitting criss-cross on the duvet with a smile. 

"Well I wouldn't word it like that." Lily smiled, giddy with delight as she beamed brightly. "God, he's perfect, Len. So, so amazing."

"Oh, Lord. Tell me more," Lennon drawled, resting her chin on her hand with a heaviness in her heart. Lily had never been this lovesick before, and the idea of her being even more delirious with adoration than usual was a disturbing thought to say the least.