“Lily, wait up!” Alex said out of breath. 

Lily thought she heard something and turned around. She took her headphones out of her ears and peered to see who called her.

“You forgot your notes at our house,” Alex said. 

“Oh, thanks! I needed those.” She responded.

“No problem,” he replied. 

Lily then stopped, unzipped her backpack and shoved her notebook inside.  

“So... how was your test?” Alex asked. 

“It was fine,’ Lily replied, “they told us to memorize the seven elements of crime but I didn’t know they had to be word for word, so… we will see how I do,” she shrugged. 

“I’m sure you will do fine,” Alex said in a reassuring voice. 

“Yea, I hope so,” Lily said unsuringly. 

“Well I’m probably going to go get something to eat before my next class. I’ll see you later,” Lily said. 

“Ok, love you,” Alex said.

“Love you too!” She replied and walked in the other direction. 

Lily started walking to her favorite place to eat. It was this small diner that had an old time feel to it. It was filled with old records, posters, and signs and the walls were colored pastel blue and pink.

“Welcome to Mama’s Kitchen! Can I start you off with any drinks?” The waitress asked. 

“I’ll have a black coffee with almond milk.”

“My favorite!” The waitress said with a smile. She then walked over to the counter and put in her order.

When Lily was waiting she decided to get some work done. She pulled out her folders and her notes and began working. 

“Here is your coffee!” The waitress said, “I see you are already diving into your work.”

“Yea,” Lily said while laughing. “I might as well right?”

“Well don’t work too hard!” the waitress warned. 

That reminded Lily of her mother. Her mom would always say stop working so hard and have fun, but she never listened. She never really experienced highschool the way everyone else did and sometimes regrets it.

After lunch Lily decided to head home. 

“Alex, I’m home!” she called. Alex then got up from his chair and walked to go see her. 

“How was lunch?”

“It was good! I got a lot of work done so we can hang out tonight. How much work do you have?” Lily questioned. 

“Not much and I have time before class in the morning so I can do it then,” he replied. 

“Are you sure?” Lily asked. 

“Don’t worry, I got it.” Alex said with a smile.

That is how the two of them are different. Alex is a guy that doesn’t care too much about his schoolwork but still manages to get good enough grades while Lily is someone who won’t do anything till all of her work is done. Instead of arguing with him Lily decided to believe him. After the long day she had all she wanted to do is spend time with him. Per usual they stayed in and watched a movie. 

“Wait! Before we watch a movie can you go out and get some paper towels? We have been out of it for weeks. I totally forgot to pick it up on my way home,” Lily said.

“Sure!” He replied. “Look through and pick a good movie. I’ll be back in a second.”

“Ok, I will!” Lily replied and watched him walk out the door. 

Lily then started looking through all the movie tapes and seeing which one to watch. As she was searching the phone started to ring. It was Lily’s mom. 

“Hey sweetie, how are you?” 

They always talked around this time everyday in order to keep in touch with one another. 

“I’m good. I just sent Alex to the store and now I’m choosing a movie to watch. He’s probably halfway there by now.”

“That’s so good! I’m glad you’re having fun,” Lily’s mom said. 

“Me too.”

As Lily was talking to her mom Alex was getting out of his car. 

“Beep!” The car made when Alex pressed his finger gently on his car keys to lock his car. Next, he checked to see if he had his wallet and then proceeded to walk into the store until he heard something. It was this slight noise that at first he thought it was an animal but then he turned around and saw a man. He was holding something but he couldn’t see what it was. He then turned around and walked closer. The man was holding a gun. 

“You aren’t going to shoot me are you?” Alex asked but the man didn’t answer. He stood there, silent. He didn’t move, didn’t speak, he just stood there. Sometimes silence is scarier than words themselves. Alex assumed that he was planning to kill him but yet he didn’t know for sure.

“Yes,” the man said. 

Alex stood there and tried to gather himself but after awhile he said, “Why me? What did I do to you? I know it can’t be that bad because I have never seen you before! Sir, I think you have the wrong guy. You know why I’m here. I’m here because I have a girlfriend at home waiting for me to come back to her. She asked me to get paper towel. Paper towel. I refuse to die while getting paper towel. I love my girlfriend and look I have a ring. I’ll take it out of my pocket. See it’s in this red case and inside there is a ring. I have a ring because I am planning to propose to this girl and I want a life with her. Don’t take that away from me!”

“Stop talking,” he said. 

“I don’t understand.” Alex continued, “what’s your name?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Why? If you are going to kill me the least you can do is tell me your name.”

“No,” he said and before the both of them knew it he pulled the trigger. 

Alex’s body hit the hard concrete floor. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I am so sorry. My name is Harry. I know that you were curious.” 

He stood there over Alex’s body for a few minutes. He knew he had to go. He couldn’t get caught so he ran away. As fast as he could. He started running on the bike path and didn’t stop till he reached his house. 

Immediately Harry ran into his house aggressively trying to open the lock on his front door. The first thing he did was turn on the news. It was everywhere. A man was found dead in front of a grocery store. He turned it off. He couldn’t look at it anymore. He then decided to go into the shower hoping that all of the water that was washing down the drain would be the same for his problems. Gone. He then looked through his closet and layed out an outfit on the bed. He combed his hair, put his clothes on and headed out the door. 

Harry stood on the front steps of Lily and Alex’s house and knocked on the door. Immediately he heard someone coming to open it. 

“Harry?” Lily asked in a weak voice. 

“Yes, it’s me. I heard about what happened. It’s all over the news. I know that we haven’t talked since we broke up but I live close and I couldn’t help but come over and see how you are doing. If you want me to leave I will. I know that we didn’t end very well, but losing someone is terrible. Trust me I know, you know the story about how my mom died when I was 15. It sucked and I had to come over and at least see if you wanted to talk about. I brought ice cream.”

“Come in, Harry. Long time no see.”