Salute! I am a Girl!

17

I sat in the back of Will's parents car as they drove us into town. I could feel my stomach doing flips as though it was trying out for the Olympics, my brain was already formulating different lies I could tell them to avoid any questions about my parents, and my skin was searing where Will had his hand placed on my knee, obviously picking up on my nervousness.

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and caught him looking at me. I gave him a weak smile and fixed my gaze back on the passing scenery. A blur of green was all I could see as the car sped along past the trees.

After what seemed like endless hours of awkward silence the car pulled into a parking lot of a small restaurant. Will, being the gentleman he is, quickly clambered out of the car and rushed around to my side and held the door open for me.

I stepped out and met his cheeky smile.

"Thanks Will." I said to him as he closed the door.

"No problem." He responded shrugging his shoulders and grasping my hand with his, intertwining our fingers.

We followed Will's parents into the small restaurant and were immediately sat at a table in the corner of the restaurant.

"This is a nice place." I said as I glanced down at the menu.

"Oh, it's one of our favorites, we always come here on parent's day." Fiona chirped from across the table, her bright smile flashing across her face.

I noticed that Will had her smile. One side of her lip was just a bit higher than the other giving her and her son identical lopsided smiles.

I focused my concentration back onto the menu trying to decide what to order.

"So Lily why don't you tell us about yourself. We've heard William's version, I'm interested in hearing yours." Fiona smiled placing her menu down on the table.

"Well there's really not much to me. I grew up in Kentucky, I'm an only child, and I'm just a average girl."

"Oh I'm sure you're above and beyond average! Do you have any hobbies dear?"

"Well I used to play tennis, volleyball, and softball, but since moving here, I haven't really found the time or place to play."

"Tennis really?" Will's dad asked his eyebrows raised.

"Yea, I played for my old high school."

"I happen to play the game a bit myself." He said with a smile.

"Oh don't get him started, he's addicted to the sport." Fiona said rolling her eyes and throwing one of her beaming smiles at her husband.

"Yea dad's a bit of a tennis buff." Will chimed in.

"Don't listen to these two, they just don't appreciate the game."

I gave a short laugh before the waiter arrived at our table to take our orders.

After we had all placed our orders I excused myself to the restroom.

I pushed the door to the bathroom open and hurried in, my heels lightly clicking against the marble floor. I turned the cold water knob and placed my hands under the steady stream of water and brought them back up to my face.

I just needed to calm down, there was no need to worry, no need to panic. Even if they did bring up my parents I could just feed them one of my lies I had concocted on the drive here.

I took a few deep breathes, concentrating on keeping myself calm and collected, ran my fingers through my hair, pulled the hem of my shirt down a bit, plastered on a quick smile, and marched out of the restroom ready for battle.