Page 23 of Her Dragons

Hearing her call the three of us a “relationship” felt good.But her misgivings about us were valid.Even other Drakes would cock an eyebrow, at the very least, at the thing Alex and I had with Lily.I had never actually told my own parents that Alex and I went to bed with girls together.We knew it was fun, but for most people it was pretty much “outside the box.”Lily had a point.

Rubbing her leg and trying to be comforting, I suggested, “Well, maybe you wouldn’t necessarily have to tell them that the three of us are sleeping together.You might just tell them that we’re a couple of friends you met, who’ve been helping you out.”

She cracked a smile and almost looked ready to laugh at that.“I get what you’re saying,” said Lily, “but — and this is no offense — everyone knows how Drake guys are.They’d take one look at you guys and know that I must be involved with at least one of you.”

“So,” I said, “one of us could be the new boyfriend and the other one could be his close buddy.I mean, the part about Alex and me being close buddies, at least that’s the truth.”

“Uh-huh,” said Alex, rubbing his head.“So which one of us gets to be the boyfriend and which one gets to be the buddy?”

This was a kind of moment that Alex and I had never had before.In all the time we’d been screwing girls together,we’d never been territorial about it; never wanted to bogart the female for ourselves.There’d never been a hint of jealousy; it was all “share and share alike.”As much as both of us cared about Lily, I never wanted anything, including her, to hurt our friendship in any way.The truth was that Alex was the brother of my heart.I loved him and I knew he loved me.

“Does it matter which one is which?” I asked.“Don’t we care about her just the same?We’re not competing, Alex.It’s not about which one of us cares more about her.It’s about what we do for her together.”

“Easy for you to say,” Alex argued.“Who’s really got more to offer her?”

“You’re not going to turn this into a thing about where you come from versus where I come from,” I argued back.“What’s important is the two of us wanting the same thing for her.”

Before Alex could respond to that, Lily reached out and touched each of us on the chest, like a referee telling us to go to our respective corners — or the master of a Joust warning us to back off before blood was shed.Hey!Hey!None of that!Claws back!

“Guys, guys, please,” Lily said, soothingly.“You’ve both been wonderful to me.You’ve both saved my life and made everything better for me and you both want what’s best for me.And I love you both for it.But I’m actually thinking that maybe my parents aren’t the place to start.There’s someone else I have on my mind too.Someone else who’s important to me.”

“Who?” I wondered for both Alex and myself.

Lily looked off into the distance, as if seeing something that we couldn’t.“There’s also Elyse.My best friend, Elyse Simmons.There hasn’t been a day that I haven’t thought about her.I want her to know where I am, what’s been happening with me.I miss Elyse as much as I miss Mom andDad.”She wiped away the tear that formed in one eye.“I want to see Elyse again.I need her.”

“Tell us about her,” I said.

“Elyse is the best.The very best.We’ve known each other since the Seventh Grade.There was never anything Elyse and I couldn’t tell each other.Except for my music teachers, Elyse was the one who most encouraged me to follow my dreams with my piano career.I don’t think there was ever a dream that one of us had that we didn’t share with the other.So many times the last couple of years I’ve thought, I wish Elyse were here.I wish I could talk to her.One of the reasons I stopped talking to her, besides Mark making me cut everyone else out of my life, was that I was afraid he’d do something to her.Guys, I need Elyse.She lives over in Dewsbury.I want to call her and see if she wants to get together.”Looking seriously at both of us, she said, “This is important, guys.Getting my life back, I want to start with her.”

“Then we’ll get you and Elyse together,” I told her with a hard nod of my head.“If she’s your best friend, she is the best.She is important.We’re doing this.Right, Alex?”

I offered him my fist and Alex bumped it.“Yeah.We’re doing this.”

“Okay then,” I said.“I’m getting a plan for how we’ll make this happen.And we will make it happen.”

Lily made a smile that was like another sunrise inside the bedroom.She reached around our shoulders and pulled the two of us into a hug.“Oh, you guys.What would I have ever done without you?You’re the best.Both of you.”

We both cuddled up closer to her and the three of us turned into one embrace.After a few minutes, we all sank back down onto the bed and began to celebrate the decision we’d just made.

_______________

The plan came together quickly.The reunion of Lily and Elyse, we mutually decided, shouldn’t happen in Haventon.Lily would go to Dewsbury.She told us that Dewsbury was the first place she had thought of going the night we met her.Knowing Elyse, she would offer to let Lily stay with her there, and they would probably call the police or whatever advocacy services for abused women they could find, and figure out what to do from there.The only thing that made her hesitate, as she said, was the fear of Mark going after Elyse.But we’d be careful about it and watch our step.And the important thing we made up our minds about was that Lily would not go anywhere without the two of us.

This was set in stone, as far as Alex and I were concerned.She would go to Dewsbury — with us.We’d take her there personally and bring her back when they finished their visit.Lily accepted this because she respected our concern for her, but she also insisted on having some alone time with Elyse.There are things that best girlfriends say to each other that are for their ears and theirs alone, which was something we had to respect.Understanding all that, worked out what we’d do, not only about Lily and Elyse, but about Mark.

Alex and I would take Lily to the most convenient branch of her bank, where she’d empty or close her account and open a new one, in case Mark was spying on her transactions.She hadn’t used her account much since she’d been with us because she’d taken out cash in an emergency fund for her getaway, which was smart and made things a little simpler.She’d buy a “burner phone” with a number that Mark didn’t know and couldn’t trace.That would become Lily’s one and only phone, with a number that only Alex and I knew — which she would share with Elyse when she called her.

When she got Elyse on the phone, the two of them screamed happy screams and cried happy tears at each other,and Alex and I went out flying while they had their reunion talk.While we were gone, Lily told Elyse what we had in mind and Elyse agreed to it.The next step in the plan was to set up a meeting for the two of them at a cafe in Dewsbury.They’d meet indoors, not in the outer seating area, where it would be less public.And there the two girlfriends would be reunited for real.

All that was left then was the train ride to Dewsbury.To be extra safe, Lily would go in dark sunglasses and a scarf to make sure she was traveling incognito.We joked with her about it:This was the way that Lily would have to travel in the future, when she was a great recording and concert star and everyone knew who she was, and she’d have to go incognito so that she wouldn’t be mobbed by adoring fans screaming for her autograph.She joked back that she’d only have to go that way if she went touring in Europe, where they treat jazz musicians like rock stars.Lily Turner might have fans in America, but not screaming mobs.

“You’re gonna get to Europe and you’re gonna have those screaming mobs after you,” Alex said with certainty.

“We’ll make sure of that,” I said without a doubt.

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On the train ride to Dewsbury, Lily kept on the scarf and the glasses, but didn’t act a bit like a girl who was trying to hide from anyone.She talked and laughed with us the whole way, telling us stories of the great jazz artists that she’d read about and admired, like Ella Fitzgerald, who was discouraged from becoming a singer because people didn’t think she was “pretty enough.”Lily talked about the great music that the world would have missed if Ella had listened to them.I couldn’t help thinking about the great music that the world would miss if she didn’t become the star she was meant to be — or who she could have become if she had stayed in that relationship with Mark.In his hands, Lily might have wound up a sad, scared shell of a woman— if he didn’t end up killing her outright.But she had gotten herself out of that mess, and Alex and I would make sure she stayed out.

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