You've got Problems?

*To anyone that remembers this story and has been waiting for me to update it, I have no good excuse for taking this long. Now I'm back, and so is the next part of the story. Enjoy.*

Myer grunted for perhaps the twentieth time as he went over the last bit of his homework. Try as he might, he couldn’t figure it out how the last piece worked.

“Come on Myer,” Lilly encouraged him, “this isn’t that hard.”

“It’s not hard. It’s impossible.” He complained.

“It’s not impossible.” She told him. “Here.”

Myer sat back in silence as Lilly worked over the next problem for him. He made sure that he paid close attention to how it all worked. As she finished off the last bit, he smiled up at her. “Are you a genius or a miracle worker?”

Lilly stuck her tongue out at him. “Neither. I’m your tutor.” She glanced at her watch. “And right now, you owe me fifteen bucks for my time.”

“You’ve only been here ten minutes.”

Lilly put her hands on her hips. “I know. I charge over a dollar a minute for my services.”

Myer smiled. “You’re cruel.”

“Yeah, I am. But seriously, I can’t stay much longer. My dad will start wondering what I’m up to. I swear, he gets more paranoid every time I come to see you.”

Lilly backed towards the window. Myer didn’t think that she had any real intention of leaving. She had only made it to the edge of the bed before he jumped out of his chair and playfully tackled her. They flopped down on the soft mattress together, giggling absurdly. Rolling around a few times, Myer finally ended up on top.

“Myer,” Lilly whispered, glancing nervously out the open bedroom door, “you’re dad.”

In his excitement, Myer realized that he had forgotten that little fact. It was a part of the agreement that he had made with his dad about Lilly coming over. For as little time as his dad seemed to spend paying any kind of attention to him, he sure was on top of things. Except, for the faintest moment, Myer was on top of things.

“He makes more noise than a troll when he walks. You can hear him from a mile away.” He told her with a smirk. Feeling slightly emboldened by the risk of being caught, Myer snatched a kiss from Lilly. No matter how many times he felt her lips against his, he couldn’t get enough of her taste. More and more, it was feeling like addiction. And Lilly didn’t seem to mind at all. She kissed him back with no less feeling than he had.

But it was her that forced their lips apart. His pulse pounding throughout all of his body, Myer reluctantly rolled off of Lilly. Unable to help himself, he glanced at the open doorway once again, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was empty. With the coast clear, Myer looked over at Lilly, and let himself fall into her eyes.

No matter what, they always maintained an otherworldly mystical aspect, which made him love them even more. The grey irises that surrounded her bottomless pupils were only enhanced by the red dimness that encompassed each of Lilly’s eyes. For her part, she always looked back at him with equal wonder. Myer wondered if she did that because she liked having him gazed at her, though he still hadn’t managed to work up the nerve to ask her yet. He was already having enough trouble finding the courage to press the dance issue.

“What?” Lilly asked in a soothing voice. She gently stroked her fingers through Myer’s tangled hair. Myer liked it when she did that. He wished that he could lay on the bed all night with her like this, but thoughts of the dance continued to work their way through his head. And they were only getting worse as the date of the dance drew closer. It was these thoughts that made Myer suddenly break out in a profuse sweat.

“Lilly…” he said, trying to find the strength to say what needed to be said. “I what to talk….about the dance.”

Lilly jerked up like she had been shocked. Surprise and fright were etched into her face. “Myer…I….” She didn’t say anything else. Catching Myer off guard, Lilly quickly made for the open window.

As quick as Lilly was, she didn’t have a hope of getting through it before he could react. Myer gently grasped Lilly’s wrist just as her first hand slipped out of the window. “Lilly…will you just wait a moment. I want to talk about this.”

“Myer, I really don’t want to talk about this.” Lilly said without looking at him.

Myer felt very worried by her words. “You don’t want to go with me?”

Lilly shook her head. “It’s not that Myer. It’s not that at all.”

“Then want is it Lilly. What’s the matter?” Myer placed his other hand on her shoulder and gave her a soothing rub.

Lilly breathed deeply and turned to him. He could see that her eyes were watery. “Myer…” Lilly said in a weak voice. “How can you even ask that? Just look at me.”

She gazed at the mirror across the room. “I’m not a fool. I know exactly what I am. And I know that people are always going to see me as…..as…..a freak.”

“Hey Lilly.” Myer said, taking her in his arms. “What’s all this? I know you don’t…”

“This isn’t the same!” Lilly snapped. “This isn’t just a few strangers seeing me in the corner of a deserted café or lurking in the shadows of a street at night. There’s going to be hundreds of people there. Our age. The second they see me, they’re going to stare, and they won’t stop. And every time that I’ll see them look away, I’ll know that they were looking at me.”

Lilly tried to say something else, but her voice failed her as she descended into sobs. Seeing her in this condition made Myer feel rotten. He never meant to upset her like this----all he really wanted was to take her out to have a good time, and show her that he wasn’t ashamed of the way she looked. He wanted to tell her all this…and just couldn’t find the strength to do so while the tears rolled down her cheeks. So he did the only thing that he knew he could do. He held her in his arms.

Even though Lilly was prone to sudden cracks in her emotional armor, she was always quick to recover herself. It only took her a few minutes to pour out her sorrow before she was sucking it all up. Sniffling a little, Lilly sat up and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry about that.” She said weakly.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about.” Myer told her.

“Yes,” she said, still collecting herself. “I didn’t mean to snap like that. It’s just the thought of all those people that will be looking at me…”

“Lilly,” Myer said, placing his hand on her damp cheek so she would look at him, “I don’t care what they’ll think. If you’re there with me….then nothing else matters. I just want to be with you and have a good time.”

“You really mean that?” she asked.

Myer nodded his head. “Every word.”

“Alright then.” Lilly said, her body shaking a little. “I’ll go with you.”

Myer felt like someone had just filled his head with helium with how lightheaded he suddenly felt. “Really? You’ll really go with me to the dance?”

The corners of Lilly’s lips curved slightly. “Of course silly.”

“That's great.” He beamed. He pulled Lilly close to him and began tickling her. Her joyful yelps always caused a strange tingling in his chest, and tonight was no exception. It only took a minute of their horse playing before they had they were lying down with their bodies pressed together. Feeling Lilly’s breasts pressing against him, and feeling his own body’s response to the feeling, Myer allowed himself to be a little bolder. While kissing her, Myer opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out. The tip brushed against Lilly’s teeth, and her eyes shot open.

The adventurous spirit drained from him when he saw the shocked expression in Lilly’s eyes. With his entire body seizing up with sudden fright, he pulled his lips away from hers. “I’m sorry….” He apologized. “I….didn’t mean to….”

She grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down to her before he could say anything else. Myer was thoroughly stunned when he felt that Lilly slip her own tongue past his lips. When she flicked the tip of her own tongue across the roof of his mouth, Myer felt his privates nearly explode from the sensual strain. With the barrier of fear past them, they tightened their embrace and descended into a series of the most erotic kisses that Myer had ever experienced in his life.

It took the heavy thumps of work boots ascending the stairs for him to break his mouth lock with Lilly. They both quickly scrambled away from each other and did their very best to make themselves seem non-suspicious. Myer just barely managed to slip into the chair at his desk when his dad poked his head in.

“What’s going on in here?” he said in a tone that sounded more like a demand than a question.

Lilly finished straightening out her hair and reached out the window for the nearby tree branches. “I was just helping Myer with his homework.” She said. “And I told him that I had to be going already.”

As she began to climb out, Myer’s dad stepped into the room. “That isn’t very safe. Why don’t you use the front door?”

“I’m ok.” Lilly told him. She looked over at Myer. “I’ll see you soon. We’ll talk about the dance then.”

And then she was gone. By the time Myer had walked over to his bedroom window and shut it, Lilly was completely out of sight.

“What dance?”

Myer looked over his shoulder at his father. “I’m taking Lilly to a school dance.”

His dad looked like he had been slapped. “Son….” He said, “….are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Anger instantly flared up within Myer in defense of Lilly. “Listen, maybe you’re ashamed of me dating someone like her, but I’m not. I want to go out and have a good time with Lilly because I like her.”

His dad’s face tightened. He threw his work cloths onto the floor with a lot of force. “Now you listen here.” He growled. “Do you have any idea what you’re about to get yourself into? You’ve been in high school for three years now; you know how cruel kids your age can be. Do you really want to expose her to that? Because I guarantee you that whatever you’ve gone through, is nothing compared to what you’ll be putting Lilly through. Just think about that.”




Scaling down the tree was very easy, she was getting better at it all the time. The climb really wasn’t on her mind anyway. Lilly was still having mixed feelings about going to this dance. On one hand, she was completely captivated by the idea of being able to dress up and spend a night of dancing with Myer. On the other, she was still terrified of being watched by so many eyes. Still, she thought to herself, if Myer had the courage to face so many with her, then there was no reason for why she couldn’t have the same strength. Plus, the unexpected French kiss had excited her in heart and body. Already she could feel the tingling warmth spreading from the private part of her body to the rest of her. She was getting that familiar floating feeling like the time Myer had first kissed her.

Feeling better by the time she slipped in through the back door, Lilly was all smiles as she came into the kitchen. Her mother noticed the giddy mood immediately.

“Well, what’s gotten you in such good spirits?” she asked.

Lilly sat down at the table covered her face with her hands, unable to hide the extreme shade of pink her cheeks had become. Her mother smiled, taking a seat across from her.

“Come on sweetie, you can tell me, whatever it is.”

“Well….” Lilly said, staring at the surface of the table.

“Yes?” her mother said in a very joking manner.

“Myer….” Lilly began, swallowing down the lump in her throat. “….asked if he could take me to a dance, and I agreed.”

“A dance?” her mom asked, sounding like she didn’t really hear Lilly’s words. “As in, an actual high school dance?”

“Yes mom, as in a high school dance.”

“What?”

Lilly and her mother turned to the kitchen’s entrance. Her father stood still as a statue in the middle of it, his face twisted and red.

“Did I hear correctly,” he said, walking inside. “that that punk wants to take you to a dance.”

“He’s not a punk.” Lilly replied, angered at her father’s obvious distaste of Myer. “He’s a really nice boy.”

“I don’t give a damn what you think he is, you’re not going.”

Lilly reeled back in her chair from the unexpected command. She was completely stunned by her father’s words. The shock faded, and anger swelled up inside her. She rose from her chair, her face looking frightfully a lot like her father’s. “It’s my decision. Not yours.”

“Lilly….” Her father started.

“No!” she snapped. “How dare you try to tell me what I can and can’t do with my life. I want to go to this dance with Myer.”

“Lilly, look at you, your condition. Do you really think that those kids…”

“I know all about my condition daddy. You think there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t realize what I am? I know that they’ll stare at me. They always do.”

“Then why do you want to put yourself through that?”

“Because I want to live!” she shrieked, her voice breaking. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life cooped up in this house, all alone, waiting to turn into an old maid and shrivel up.”

“Sweetie, there’s no call for this.” Her father said, losing a lot of his temper.

“No dammit, there is!” she shouted. “For the first time in my life, I’ve meet someone. He isn’t scared of me. And he doesn’t pity me. He likes me daddy. Why can’t you understand that? Myer doesn’t care that I have this pale skin, or these eyes that glimmer red, or that I can’t go out in the sun. He doesn’t even care that I need a blood transfusion every three days. He doesn’t care about any of that. He cares about me!”

“That’s quite enough, young lady.” Her father growled, setting down his briefcase.

“No, it’s not. Why can’t you see that Myer likes me? He likes me just the way I am. You know what he told me last night? He said that my hair looks like starlight. Why can’t you just let me be happy?” Lilly cried, rushing past her father in tears.

She didn’t give him a chance to say anything else. She rushed up to her room and shut the door. Even with it shut, she could hear her parent’s loud argument coming from the kitchen. Not wanting to be a part of any of it, Lilly flung herself onto the bed and pulled the pillow over her head.

She lay there for a while, not even caring that tears were soaking her sheets. She didn’t want her parents to be fighting. She didn’t want her father to hate Myer. She didn’t want to be kept from the dance. She didn’t want any of it.

After a long time of solitude sorrow, there was a light knock on her door. “What?” she said in her muffled voice.

The door creaked open slightly, shining a faint sliver of light into her dark room. “Lilly, honey, can I come in?”

Hearing her mother’s voice, Lilly sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes. “Yeah.” She said in low voice.

Her mother opened the door and walked in, letting the light from the hallway light the room. She paced over the bed and sat on the edge without so much as a peep. She sat there for a moment in that bizarre silence, just staring at one of the multitude of pictures littering the walls.

“Mom?” Lilly said, scooting closer to her.

“It’s not easy. Any of it.” Her mom said. “This whole move. So far from everything we knew. And now this…”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Myer. I….” her mother took a deep breath. “I never really thought much about this happening. I just couldn’t imagine how a boy….any boy…..could….”

In the dim light, Lilly could see her mother’s eyes sparkling. Sniffling a tiny bit, she wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s just so hard to believe that he can like you. You’re just so different.”

“But he does mom.” Lilly said, placing her hand on her mother’s lap. “That’s why Myer likes me, because I’m different.”

“I know. I knew it that night he came over for dinner. I saw the way he looked at you.”

“You saw him?”

Her mother gave her a small, yet sweet smile. “I’m older sweetie, I’m not blind.”

“Then you understand how I feel?”

“Of course I do honey.” She said, patting Lilly’s leg. “A first love is unforgettable.”

Lilly was shocked by what her mother said. So much so that she gasped. It was true that she really did like Myer, a lot. But….love…..

She didn’t know what to say. Her head was spinning by the mere mention of this unexpected concept. In many ways, she began to wonder in the back of her mind if it really was true. It seemed awfully fast to fall in love with Myer in the short time she had known him. Then again, she had never felt this way before. He made her whole world brighter, and she was always happy when she was with him. Maybe, Lilly thought, she really was in love….

Her mother seemed to almost sense the tension in her. She gave Lilly another smile. “Anyway, it’s not why I came up here.”

“Then why did you come?”

“Your father and I….talked. Lilly, no one’s more protective of you than I am. You’re my only daughter. I carried you, I birthed you. I’ve given every drop of my blood for you when I can. If anyone should not want you to go to this dance, it should be me.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I convinced your father to let you go.”

Lilly’s eyes lit up. “Did you mommy, did you really?”

“Yes,” she said heavily, “I did.”

“Oh thank you!” she cried, throwing her arms around her mother.

“Alright, just a minute.” Her mother said, pushing her back softly. “We’re letting you go, but not without me asking you something.”

“What?”

“Lilly,” her mother sighed, “this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. The thought of you going to this dance, by yourself, it frightens me to death. I have no idea how those other kids will treat you. So I want to ask you, are you really sure that going to this dance with Myer is really what you want?”

“Yes mom.” Lilly said. “I don’t care what all those other kids think of me. The only thing that matters to me is that I’ll be there with Myer.”

Her mother took a deep breath and nodded her head slightly. “Alright then, we won’t stop you.”

Lilly squealed with delight and hugged her mom as hard as she could. Her mother brushed her hair aside and kissed her forehead. “I’ll let you stay up here for an hour, but then you have to come down so we can start studying.”

After her mother shut her door, Lilly flopped onto her back and stared at the massive picture of the sun lit field above her bed. Smiling, she scooped up the stuffed polar bear at the edge of her bed and held it over her. “Did you hear that, Mr. Cooler?” she playfully asked her bear. Her only childhood friend stared down at her with his still eyes that shined like black pearls. “They’re going to let me go to the dance. It’s going to be such a magical night.”

Myer shifted nervously in his dress cloths. He felt stupid constantly glancing at himself in the mirror. The dress shirt he wore over the undershirt looked decent enough, at least he guessed that it did. He also guess that the dress pants were fine to. The problem was that he was simply guessing. Trouble of it all was that he didn’t have a female opinion, which is what he desperately wanted more than anything. His dad had said that he looked decent. But then again, his dad was the same guy who thought wearing dirt crusted overalls in a living room was perfectly normal.

As Myer finished the final touches to his overall appearance, his father walked into the room. “Dad, what is it?”

His father took a sip of a beer he held in his hand and cleared his throat. “I’m not going to give you the ten minute lecture.” He said. “I just want to say to be careful tonight and don’t get too carried away.”

Myer rolled his eyes. “Like I didn’t plan on doing that already.”

“And one other thing.”

This time, Myer turned to his dad. He could see a genuine look of great concern on his father’s face. “Just….” His dad began. “….make sure you’re ready when you take Lilly to this thing.”

“What do you think will happen?” Myer asked, his voice low and slightly threatening.

“Nothing. At least for her sake, I hope nothing.” His dad said before leaving.

Myer didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to. He just listened until he heard his father go into his room. Red faced with anger, Myer stormed out of the house. Driving his car to the front of Lilly’s house, Myer rested his head on the steering wheel. Breathing deeply, he calmed himself down by thinking of how great tonight was going to be. Sure he was scared, but this was a final proof to Lilly. Proof of how much he cared about her.

Gulping every few steps, he walked up to the front door and rang the bell. Myer really expected to see Lilly’s father standing there with a shotgun or something. Instead, Lilly answered the door, and Myer nearly fell backwards.

She was wearing a milky white dress that ran down to her ankles. The material folded nicely around her waist, displaying her nimble body’s curves. Long white gloves covered the lower half of her arms, effectively hiding the marks where she had her transfusions while enhancing her look. Her long hair had been pulled back into a bun, the kind he had seen before. To his own surprise, she was wearing makeup. He had never seen her wear makeup before, and it stressed to him how much this whole event meant to her.

It wasn’t the usual kind. Whatever Lilly had put over her made her pale skin sparkle in the equally pale light. Her lips were a deep ruby red, and looked both luscious and delicious to him. But nothing caught his attention more than the massive flower that was sticking out of the top of Lilly’s bun. It wasn’t like any that he had ever seen before, with the area around the stem being white and the majority of the petals being a purplish shade. He also noted that the inside of the flower was speckled with black. Overall, Myer couldn’t think of any time he had ever seen Lilly more beautiful than in this moment.

“Lilly.” He gasped. “You look….”

“Like an enchantment. I know.” She smiled through her soft blushing. “My mom said the same thing. Do you like the flower in my hair? It’s a Stargazer Lilly. My mom said it fitted me perfectly.”

“It’s beautiful.” Myer whispered. “Just like you.”

Lilly giggled and playfully slapped Myer’s chest. “You’re such a sap. But you’re a sweet sap.”

Myer cleared his throat and waved his hand towards his car. “Well then, shall we?”

Lilly smiled, and took his arm. Together, they walked slowly out to the car, the full moon shinning down on them. Myer felt his heart singing as he opened the door and helped Lilly to sit down. He couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. It was so wonderful, and so terrifying at the same time. No matter what, he was determined to make sure that Lilly had a truly magical night.

They drove off to the dance, glancing just once out Lilly’s window to see both her parents standing out on the porch, both looking somewhat happy, though concern was clearly present all across their faces. It disturbed Myer a little, but he brushed the concern aside.

When they found a spot in the student parking lot, Myer cut the engine and glanced at the school’s gymnasium, where the dance was being held. Myer took a deep breath, and looked over at Lilly. There was no mistaking the nervousness across her face, but her eyes shined with a great determination.

“Are you ready?” he asked her.

“Yeah,” Lilly said in a soft voice. “I’m ready.”

Myer got out and opened the door for her. When she stepped out, he took her hand and escorted her towards the entrance. Standing beside the door was a rather large, balding man. “Ok, no quick movements.” Myer said teasingly. “That’s the vice principle, Mr. Stickler.”

Lilly clapped a hand over her mouth and giggled. “Are you serious? His name is Stickler?”

Myer nodded. “Yeah, I think he was marked to be a vice principle from birth.”

The joke helped her a little, at least he thought so. Lilly giggled weakly a few more times, but when they began walking up the steps to the gymnasium, she became suddenly silent. There was no mistaking that Mr. Stickler was staring right at her. It was just about all the man seemed to do to keep from dropping his jaw. That single act made Myer want to call the whole thing off. But it was already too late. Taking a very deep breath, Myer climbed the last few steps and lead Lilly towards the front door. The loud beat of the music coming from within was wrecking havoc on his heartbeat, but he felt that he needed to be strong for Lilly. Taking those last few steps inside seemed like a walk off to the gallows, and he could feel Lilly pull herself close to him. As they passed through the doors, she squeezed his hand so tightly that Myer would have sworn that all circulation had been cut off.

Going through the front doors took all the breath out of him, but Myer did his very best to hide it from Lilly. This had to be one of the scariest moments of her life, she needed him to be strong for her. Everything about this magical night for her depended on him.