Athazagoraphobia- the fear of being forgotten, ignored or replaced

Leaving Home

Lily's POV

             "Mi hija, don't forget this!" My mother waves a framed photograph in the air from a dusty box along with other boxes in our garage. I walk from the trunk of my car towards her to get a closer look of what exactly it is; "It's you and Dylan!" She grins and Dylan walks to us. I shake my head "Mom I don't need that for my dorm, we have pictures together since 9th grade." I think back of the old days when I was in some type of ridiculous phase and Dylan was a hockey player, but somehow got along like peanut butter and jelly even though we were polar opposites. "I'll have it ma'am, I can never have enough of Lily." His voice softens as well as his gorgeous green eyes. I rolled my eyes and walked back to picking up boxes of my stuff to the my red Honda.
"All right you sure you have everything? it's a long long drive from here to Florida." My father said trying to smile but was sad to see his only daughter grow up so quickly. "Yeah dad, thanks for helping out with moving." I smile as my eyes being to water at the waterline, I go hug my dad tightly and then my mom. "I love you guys, but I have to get on the road or I'll never get there in the time" I try to sooth my sobbing mother and my father pulls her away gently. Dylan opens the driver's car door for me and then gets in himself on the opposite side. My parents mouth "I love you" to me and wave as we drive away.

8 hours into the drive
My eyes begin to droop down, we have only stopped three times for snacks and bathroom breaks. My head deliberately falls every once in a while due to lack of sleep. "Hey..Dylan. Can you take the wheel for a while please?" I mumble as we stop at a red light. "Yeah, of course darling. Pull over at that gas station and I can drive from here." He nodded and pointed at a nearby gas station. I pull up in the gas station filling the dark sky with lime green and yellow lights. My eyes were resting closed, but I could hear Dylan getting out of the car and opening my door. He unexpectedly picked me up gently and set me in his seat, put on my seatbelt and covered my torso with his jacket. After that, I was asleep.

Dylan's POV
Who knew she could look so beautiful sleeping? Her face quickly lit up whenever we pasted a street light, revealing her beauty. I turn on the radio softly to break my train of thought, the more I think about her the more it pains me to hold in my feelings for her in order to keep our friendship. I want something more than just friends, ever since we met. I remember every detail of this day. We were in Biology class together and she came in late wearing sweats from pink, a light blue shirt, and her makeup was perfect for her skin tone. The teacher glared at her when she arrived late yet said nothing, she hung her head down in shame because she clearly overslept our morning class. She sat down beside me and I was hella nervous, she searched her bag vigorously to find something. When she finally gave up she sighed and turned toward me asking for a pencil. I looked in my bag only finding one pencil that I was going to use but instead I couldn't say no to a pretty girl like her so I handled to her. She sweetly smiled and said thank you then focused on getting on track in the lesson. I couldn't help but glance at her every once in a while, since I'm not a big flirt I didn't give her my number or wink or whatever assholes do to get a girl. I didn't want the wrong impression. When class was over I held the door open for her to leave and she blushed slightly saying "Thank you." and went to her next class. Ever since she asked me for a pencil every class, I bought a 36 pack of pencils just to be able to hand her one every time. At the end of the year we talked and stayed friends because I became the guy who sees her leave with a different guy then has to comfort her weeping, yet I never make a move.
Many hours later she wakes up from the sun rising, her hair is coming out of her top knot bun and she squints at me with a sly smile.
"Good morning D." She says.
"Good morning"
"Did I snore?"
"Yeah" I laugh.
"No way, I never snore you jerk" She says playfully.
"Well...I hate to break it to you babe but you were like snoring loudly and drooling like a dog." I smile.
She wipes the edge of her mouth "Leave me alone asshole!" She pouts and I try not to laugh. I mock dramatically how she was sleeping and she hits my arm "Stop!" She laughs. "My stomach is gonna start to hurt if I laugh too much." She laughs more, putting her hand over her stomach. "Okay okay, no you weren't snoring or drooling. Did you wanna stop for something to eat by the way?" I look at her and clench the steering wheel. She shrugs her shoulders unsure and looks at the time "Only thing open is McDonald's and I hate that place so I can wait for a few hours but since you brought up stopping quickly I do have to stop and use the restroom if you don't mind." She looks at me and I nod in agreement we can stop for her bathroom break.
I pull into a small convenience store and park the car. "I'll be right back, give me like 5 minutes." She says while unbuckling and opens the door. She walks into the store holding her light jacket close to her body as the cold breeze blows in behind her walking in. She vanishes to the restrooms and I push the back of my seat backwards and tilt my baseball cap enough to cover my eyes as I slowly begin to take a quick rest. I hear the car door open and I open one eye and raise a brow, she is smiling big and holding something behind her back. "Hey. Hey D wake up! I got you something" She says so proudly while poking my side like a child. I sit up and adjust my hat back to normal to see what she has. "What's my favorite ice cream in the entire galaxy?" She raises a brow and shifts a little to become more comfortable. "I swear if you get this wrong I'm gonna be very mad at you." She threats. "Cookies and cream, of course." She nods, confirming my answer and hands me a small cup of my favorite ice cream. "Cookie dough ice cream, this isn't my favorite ice cream Lily." I say with all seriousness. She gasps and glares "You told me it was! You're a bad liar, you get all serious when you lie." She claims and she was right, I am an awful liar. "How did you know cookie dough is my favorite?" I ask. "Because.." She says. "I love you.." She shifts again.

My heart jumped up 10 beats, I was speechless. I didn't know how to react at the moment.

"...Like a friend of course." She smiles and nods.

Then I knew how to react, I would try to smile as all of what I have done to prove I want to be her boyfriend wasn't just destroyed but 5 words.