You've got Problems?

(Author's note: Appreciate the reviews everyone. To be honest, this is the first romance story that I've ever done. I really didn't think that much of it, but since reading your reviews, I've decided to keep at this. Thanks.)

Chapter 5: Answers and Questions


Myer was really beginning to feel at his wits end. The darkness of night had come, which set into motion the eerie mood that he was feeling. He was starting to really wonder if it had all been just a dream. With that thought going through his head, it was followed by many other worries that he couldn’t push out of his mind. Indeed, a part of him was beginning to become very concerned over his sanity. Maybe his dad had been right all along, that the countless hours of deep isolation that he had put himself in were finally having an effect on his grasp of reality. His dad had noticed that he had been disturbed during dinner, and had repeatedly tried to get him to say what was bothering him. But Myer just couldn’t bring himself to tell his dad about the girl. For one, he doubted that he would believe him. And two, he didn’t think that his father would understand.

Myer made a half-hearted attempt to get all thoughts of Lilly out of his mind with his biology and algebra homework. But as he read and reread the parts of each book that he was suppose to memorize, every time coming back with nothing but a blank space in his mind, Myer finally gave in the inevitable. There was absolutely no way that he was going to be able to concentrate on anything else until he had found out a few things. The biggest answer he desperately wanted to know was if Lilly was real and not some figment of his imagination.

Leaving his work for later, Myer quietly crept out to the backyard. He retraced his steps from the other night and went to the exact same spot he had been at. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the edge of the fence and peeked over. The house was filled with light that streamed out from several open windows, but he couldn’t see anyone moving around inside. That gave him a little hope, but as he scanned over the enclosed yard, Myer didn’t see a single trace of the mysterious Lilly. Sadness hit him like he thought the softball had the other night. Myer sulked back to his room, and wondered if even getting hit in the head the other night had really happened.

Myer rubbed his forehead as he stepped into the house. It ached a little, but there could have been a million different excuses for why that was. Feeling depression beginning to take hold of him, Myer kicked off his shoes and went to his room. Without anything else to do, he clicked on his small television and slide across the wooden floor of his room in his socks. Myer was about to toss himself on his bed in an attempt to drown out his misery when his foot stepped in something wet.

“Dammit.” He growled to himself, reaching down to pull his now soggy sock off.

Myer bent over, and stopped when his eye caught something. Suddenly dismissing his wet foot, Myer dropped to his knees and looked under his bed. What he found was the most inconsequential item he had ever seen that had so much meaning to him. Lying about a half-foot under his bed, nestled with in a pile of dirty shirts, was a plastic bag leaking water. Feeling almost light headed, Myer snatched the bag from under the bed and held it in his hands as if it were the most precious gem in the entire world. It was the plastic bag that Lilly had filled with ice the other night for the bump on his head. Myer couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so relieved. The bag proved that Lilly wasn’t a figment of his imagination, she was real.

Excitement rushing through him, Myer kicked off his socks and took the bag to the bathroom. He dumped the water into the sink and laid it aside to dry out. Glad to know that he wasn’t crazy at all, Myer went out on the front porch. Once out in the cool night air, he laid out on the patio swing that his mother loved so much. Gently kicking himself off, Myer breathed a much needed sigh of relief as he let himself fall in the motion of rocking back and forth.

Normally he wouldn’t have dared to even sit on the swing. Memories of him resting his head in his mother’s lap as she sang songs to him when he was very young still haunted his mind. But for now, all of his thoughts were on Lilly. As he pictured her in his mind, Myer heard a sort of grinding sound. Perking his head up, he glanced out to the street. His jaw dropped as he saw unmistakably a white haired girl gliding down the side walk. Myer bolted upright in the swing and blinked, unable to believe what he was seeing. As she started to pass his house, Myer felt like a complete idiot when he realized that she was riding on a skateboard.

“Lilly.” He called out. When her head twisted his way, Myer waved. She gave a slight wave back and kicked the board up. Lilly grinded to a halt at the walkway to his house and turned her board in his direction with fluid motion. One quick push of her foot, and she was gliding his way. Myer whistled softly as she approached. It was obvious that she was very good with the board, much better than he could have ever hoped to be. There had been a couple of times that he had tried to skateboard. Every time had ended up with him falling on his ass.

Lilly stopped at the foot of the steps and snatched up her board with a light kick. She hoped up the three steps like nothing and walked over to the swing. Myer noticed that she was wearing a plain black shirt with jeans. Large boots that didn’t look quite right on her thudded loudly against the boards as she neared him.

“Hi Myer.” She said, standing at the end of the swing. Lilly glanced down at his feet, then at his face. “Can I sit, or is this a private establishment?”

Myer felt his face flush with embarrassment and scrambled to make room for her. Lilly either didn’t notice the slight blushing of his cheek or bother to mention it. She flopped down at the open end, which caused the whole swing to rattle. Myer almost fell out but the sudden shift, but managed to catch himself at the last moment. The grin he saw form on Lilly’s face made him suspect that it might have been what she wanted.

Her smile quickly faded, however. It became almost expressionless as she stared out into the darkness of the street. “Just to let you know.” She said. “You might start hearing some stories about a ghost going around here soon.”

“Why’s that?” Myer asked, wondering what Lilly was getting at.

Lilly continued to stare out with her almost blank face. “About two blocks back I passed some kids playing in a yard. Practically scared the life out of them. You should have seen how fast they ran back inside.”

“I….” Myer stumbled. He really didn’t know what he could tell her. It wasn’t exactly like she was normal, anyone with eyes in there head could see that.

“It’s ok.” She said, turning to him. Her grey eyes locked with his. “I’m use to it.” Myer noticed there was a kind of look in the black pupils surrounded by grey, as if she were peering into him to see what he thought she was. Myer wasn’t exactly sure, but he could have sworn that he saw her eyes glowing against the dim light.

Her gaze was so powerful that he just couldn’t match it to his own. Myer had no choice but to look away. Even as he looked out at the darkness, he could still feel her eyes upon him. “You’re not…” he trailed off for a moment, “…that weird.”

Lilly chuckled from behind her closed lips. “Yeah, and you’re the champ for the school chess team.”

Myer bit his lip at her words. He hadn’t wanted it to come out sounding like that, it had just slipped. A sudden fear that he had somehow offended Lilly overcame him. Rubbing the back of his head as he usually did in awkward situations, Myer took a deep breath and decided to just spit out the question aching in his mind. “I didn’t see you in school today. Why weren’t you there?”

Lilly leaned against the arm rest of the swing. Her eyes glanced up at the ceiling. “Oh yeah. That’s right, I did forget that.” She said more to herself than to him. She looked back at him. “I guess I should have told you the other night. I’m home schooled.”

“Why’s that?” Myer asked her.

Lilly glanced at the street again. “There are lots of reasons. Mostly my parents don’t think public schools would be the best for me.”

Myer almost blurted out that he thought it was kind of stupid for her to be home schooled. Then he remembered to look at her. A sudden sympathy overcame him when he thought of how a person like Lilly would have been singled out and targeted by everyone else. It went without question to him that her snow white hair and skin, accompanied by her eerie grey eyes, would have been the source of untold torment and ridicule by others. Myer suddenly remembered the way that Lilly had spoken about the two kids she had scared. Probably on many different occasions, she had already endured such torments.

“Anyway.” Lilly said, standing up. “It was nice talking to you again. See you around.”

Before Myer could say anything to her, she off the porch and rolling back over to her house. For the life of him, Myer didn’t know why he just sat there and watched her go. Any fear of her was gone now, and he found himself wanting find out just who she was. Walking back inside, he felt like an idiot. For more than one reason.

What really had him going was why he found himself suddenly so obsessed with Lilly. He didn’t even know her, and her face continued to pick away at his thoughts. Going back to his room, Myer was exceptionally thankful that his father wasn’t home at the moment. He had no idea where his dad was, or for that matter any care, what he was doing. He couldn’t even guess what his dad would have thought of Lilly when even he was finding himself having a bit of a hard time coming to grips with her looks. For right now, he was on his own, just the way he liked it. Myer heated up a microwave dinner and went back to his studies.

The going was a little bit easier than it had been before. But still, he couldn’t quite bring his mind to focus on his work. Sure he had gotten a few questions answered. But with the hundred more or so that he felt had risen, Myer wondered if he could have turned back the clock would he have even wanted to find out. After finishing up his meal and failing for the fifth time to solve the third problem with his homework, Myer angrily tossed his pencil against the desk and dropped his head in complete loss.

Just as he let out a depressed sigh, Myer heard at sound at his window. Puzzled, he sat back up turned. He didn’t see anything out there, but he was sure that he had heard something. Leaving his desk, Myer walked across the room and crawled onto his bed. He brought his face right up to the panes of glass and stared out. There was nothing that he saw out of the ordinary. Wondering if he was just hearing thing, Myer lightly scratched his head. As he started to move back, a ghastly face suddenly popped into view.

“Boo!”

Myer let out a startled yelp and scrambled back frantically, falling right off his bed and hitting the floor with a heavy thump. Pain shot through his elbow and he clutched at his injury.

“Oh, sorry about that Myer. You ok?”

Myer eased his head over the bed and looked out the window. Just inches away from the glass he saw Lilly’s face. Her head was upside down, which caused her loose hair to dangle. Pulling himself up, Myer sat on his bed.

“Yeah, I’m alright. You just scared me.” He told her.

The corners of her lips curved and her eyes seemed to shin. “I know. I’m real good at that.”

With trembling hands, Myer pried the window open and looked into her eyes. “How…how are you doing that?”

“Magic.” Lilly said.

“Magic?” Myer repeated, unable to believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah, magic.” Lilly said again with a strait face. Myer’s eyes began to go wide, then Lilly giggled. “No, silly. I’m hanging from the tree.”

Myer poked his head out and took a look for himself. When he saw Lilly’s legs wrapped around a branch just above his window, Myer felt like slapping himself in the head because he fell for such a cheap trick. It was only then that he noticed that Lilly’s black shirt had fallen down to her rib cage, exposing her entire stomach to him. Myer stared with fascination at the sleek lines that Lilly had on her bare skin, and how it appeared to glisten from the light of his room. She was definitely an athletic girl.

“You know it’s not nice to stare.” Lilly said to him. Myer quickly looked away from her bare flesh, feeling partially embarrassed that he had been caught. Lilly continued to hang upside down for a few more moments. “Well, are you going to let me in?”

“Um…yeah.” Myer said, backing away from the window. Lilly swiftly righted herself and planted her feet on the limb that was only a foot down from his window. Myer wondered to himself if there was anything that this girl couldn’t do as she very easily eased her way through the window. Lilly flopped down on the bed. She sighed, leaning against the wall.

“You alright?” Myer asked this time.

“Yeah.” Lilly said, closing her eyes. “Just a little too much blood to the head is all.”

Myer didn’t even dare go near the bed with her in it. He almost couldn’t believe that a girl this beautiful was sitting in his room, on his bed. And yet, there she was, just a real as anything. As he looked over her pale but gentle face, Myer felt a sudden urge to reach out and brush her cheek. He could do it, she was sitting just a few feet away from him. The thought of his hand caressing those captivating cheeks caused goose bumps up his entire arm. Slowly, with his heart racing, Myer lifted his hand towards her face. Lilly’s eyes popped open as he started to lean towards her, which damn near gave him a heart attack. She gave him a suspicious look, but quickly brushed it aside.

Feeling very uncomfortable just standing there in front of her, Myer moved back to his chair and sat on it backwards. Using the back for support, he folded his arms and looked at her. “How did you know that the window went to my room?” he asked.

“I didn’t.” Lilly said. She jumped to her feet and began pacing around the room. Her boots making thump sounds that echoed downward. Myer hoped very much so that his dad wouldn’t come back any time soon. There was simply no way that he could explain this to him. Lilly glanced around his room, taking everything in before she cleared her throat. “I was just out in the yard, saw the tree, and decided to climb it. Just dumb luck that I saw some of the branches went across the way to the window. So I figured that I would crawl on over and have look inside.”

“Why in the heck would you want to climb a tree?” he asked.

Lilly turned to him. “Because I never have. I guess I forgot to leave out the fact that I’m a city girl. There are not too many trees to climb in those parts.”

A conversation began to develop between them as both Myer and Lilly exchanged questions and answers. For the most part, Lilly was interested in how people in the more quiet parts lived. Myer found himself asking her all kinds of things about the city. From the way Lilly described them, cities were alive at all hours of the night, where it was possible to do whatever you liked at any time. Myer got himself so wrapped up in talking with her, that he didn’t realize that he still had homework to do until the alarm on his clock sounded off. Groaning, he slide back over to his desk.

Being closer, Lilly leaned across the bed and tapped the alarm off. “What was that all about?”

Myer gave her a pitiful look. “That’s there to tell me that I need to finish up my work before I stay up all night doing it.”

Lilly glanced at her wristwatch. “Well, I still have a little time before I have to get going. Want me to help?”

“I don’t think you could help me.” He said. “This stuff is impossible for me to get. The damn teacher never explains it right.”

Lilly walked to the desk and leaned over his shoulder. Tingles rolled down his spine as he felt her breath across his neck. He glanced up at her, and saw that her face was only inches away from his own. Color drained from him when he realized just how close they were, but Lilly didn’t seem to mind. In fact, her eyes locked on the problem that he was doing and stayed glued to the material. After what seemed like an eternity, her eyes darted to him. “Wow Myer. No offense, but you suck at math. This stuff is easy.”

“It’s not that easy to me.” He replied, offended by what she had said.

“Well for starters,” Lilly said, snatching his books away, “you’re trying too hard to directly solve the problem.”

“What other way is there?” he asked.

Lilly picked up a pencil from the desk. “First, you don’t understand the formula. That’s the key element. If you don’t know that, you won’t be able to solve squat.” Taking great care to point out what she was doing, Lilly showed Myer the formula to the problem that he had been pooling over for close to twenty minutes. She copied it next to the problem on his notebook. “Second, all you need to do is figure out which parts of the problem are the components to the formula.” Again, she showed him what went where, and documented each in accordance to their relation to the formula. “That’s all you need, just plug in the components and work out the problem.”

Myer did exactly as she had instructed him to, and was completely dumbfounded when he simply breezed right through the problem. Not believing it himself, he checked the answer in the back of the book. Despite his doubts, the answer on his paper matched the one in the book. Smiling, he looked at Lilly. “That’s amazing. I can’t believe it was that simple.”

“Nothing amazing about it.” Lilly shrugged. “You just got to know how to deal with the problem indirectly. My mom’s really good at showing stuff like that.”

Myer felt a stab in his chest at Lilly’s mention of her mother. It made him think of his own mom, and how badly he missed her. Not wanting to let Lilly on about his pain, Myer quickly changed the subject. “She must really care a lot to home school you like she does.”

“Yeah,” Lilly said with a sigh, “my dad too. They both love me very much.” Myer didn’t like the way that Lilly had said that. He may have been a recluse for years, but he was no idiot. There was something in her words that he could tell bothered her, something that she was not telling. But as much as he wanted to know what it was, he didn’t dare to push such a personal question on Lilly. At least not yet.

The slamming of a door from downstairs jolted Myer from his chair. “Crap, it’s my dad!” he nearly shouted. He looked at Lilly with fear and sadness. “I don’t think he’ll understand this.”

“Sure, why not.” Lilly said, rolling her eyes. “We wouldn’t want to scare him anyway. He might think you’re running with the wrong crowd.”

“But that’s not…” Myer started to say, but Lilly was already halfway out the window.

“I told you earlier Myer.” She said, looking back in. “I’m used to it.” She dropped down onto the branch and began shimmying her way down. Myer watched from his window as she crawled to the other side. “You know Myer,” Lilly said, hanging by her arms and legs from a thick tree branch, “this is so cliché. Girl next door, tree leading to the window just enough to get in. If you could see my window and we hand branches going up to it, this situation would be just like some teen flick.”

Myer couldn’t help but laugh at Lilly’s analogy of the situation. Now that he thought about it, she was damn close to the mark on everything. He swallowed hard, trying to force down the lump in his throat. “Are…what are you doing tomorrow?”

Lilly smiled. “The same thing I do every night, try to take over the world.” Myer blinked for a few moments as he let the words wash over him. Finally, it dawned on him what she was talking about. A few more light laughs escaped his lips because of that. “Seriously,” Lilly said, “I’ll be in my house. Drop by at about seven. I’m sure my folks wouldn’t mind meeting you. But I have to warn you, we’re not unpacked yet.”

“I think I’ll live.” Myer said back with a grin. Just then, Lilly let go of the branch and disappeared on the other side of the fence. Myer shut his window and fell down on his bed. His heart was racing and his head was spinning. He couldn’t believe that he had just done that, and she was ok with it. Lying there, Myer could smell her on the sheets of his bed. It was a sweet scent; it reminded him of flowers or something close to it.

“Myer?” The knob of his door twisted, and was followed by a light pounding. “What’s going on in there? Who are you talking to?”

“No one dad. It’s the television.” He called out, almost ignoring what his dad had said.

“Did you eat?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Myer didn’t hear his dad leave, not that it mattered. He quickly finished up his homework using Lilly’s tips. Afterwards, he clicked off all the lights and went right back to bed. As he lay in the darkness, Myer couldn’t help but think of Lilly, and how crazy his day had been. It had started off depressing, and now he was so full of energy that he could barely contain himself. Glancing out his window, Myer knew that he hadn’t really found out a lot about Lilly. Hopefully, he would get the rest of the answers he wanted when he saw her tomorrow. Shutting his eyes, Myer just knew that he couldn’t wait.