"It's saying that this is it," Delilah smiled, pointing to a large, Victorian-style, white house.

"Thank god," Cassandra sighed in relief. "My feet are killing me."

Spencer voiced his agreement on the matter and looked at the house, studying it carefully. "Wow. Dylan's step father must make a lot of money. Just look at this place."

"Yeah, it's huge," Delilah nodded as she gestured for her friends to follow her. "Let's go."

The three walked up the relatively long driveway and over the stone brick pathway up to the light gray front door.

Delilah stretched out her arm and rapped a quick knock, knock, knock before stepping back.

A few moments passed, and just when the teenagers thought no one was home, the large door was opened by a woman of slender build and medium height. She had dark brown hair, eyes of similar hue, and was easily in her mid to late thirties. "Hello. Can I help you?"

"Hi, Mrs. Henry," Delilah smiled.

"Oh my goodness," the woman gasped. "Delilah? Delilah Bennet, is that you?"

She nodded.

"Oh my, how you've grown! You've turned into such a beautiful young lady," Mrs. Henry complimented.

"Thank you, ma'am," Delilah blushed.

"Please, call me Leigha. Oh, Cassandra, Spencer, I hardly recognized you!" Dylan's mother exclaimed, hugging all three teenagers. "Won't you come in?"

"Of course," Delilah smiled as they all stepped into the grandiose home.

"This is really such a beautiful house," Spencer commented with a friendly smile.

"Oh, thank you. It's so much work to clean that we ended up hiring a maid," Leigha chuckled. "There was no way I could do all of this on my own."

Delilah nodded as she looked around.

"Can I get you anything?" Leigha offered. "I have a batch of cookies fresh from the oven and we have tea, soda, juice, coffee, basically everything."

"We're good, but thank you," Delilah said with a small, polite smile. "Is Dylan home?"

"Yes, he is. He'll be happy to see you. Today isn't exactly the easiest day for either of us," Leigha sighed. "It means a lot to me that you three flew all the way out here to be with him."

Delilah's eyes widened slightly in sudden realization. No wonder she'd had the nagging feeling that something had slipped her mind.

It was the seven year anniversary of when his father, Ellis, died.

How stupid Delilah felt.

"Where is Dylan now?" Cassandra asked softly.

"In his room," Leigha nodded. "You can go right up. Dylan's room is on the third floor. It's the last door on the left."

"Okay. Thank you," Delilah smiled as she immediately ran up the stairs, her friends close behind.

"What's going on?" Cassandra whispered. "What's the rush?"

"Today marks seven years since Dylan's father, Ellis, died," Delilah whispered back. "Gosh, how could we have been so stupid?"

Spencer face palmed. "God, I knew it too. I put it in my phone and everything."

"Just keep going. We'll cheer him up," Cassandra nodded.

Delilah and Spencer nodded back and followed her.

After climbing a second long flight of stairs, they made their way down the medium length hallway and knocked on Dylan's door.

"Yeah, Mom?" Dylan called.

Delilah cleared her throat quietly. "You're in very big trouble, young man!" She exclaimed, doing her best to imitate Leigha's voice.

"What? What did I-" Dylan began as opened his door, but paused at seeing his friends. "Delilah? Spencer? Cassandra? Gosh, I'm hallucinating."

Delilah hugged him tightly. "Oh, my dear old friend, it's been so long."

"Delilah? Oh my, I can't believe you're here," Dylan smiled, hugging her back.

"What are we? Chopped liver?" Spencer chuckled.

"Sorry," Dylan laughed, pulling away from Delilah to hug his other friends. He invited them to join him in his room and they immediately accepted.

"So, how are you doing?" Delilah asked softly as she sat on the bed with Dylan.

"I'm great. Why wouldn't I be?" He smiled.

"Because of today," Spencer said, sitting down on his friend's desk chair.

Dylan shrugged. "Que será será."

"Oh, come on," Cassandra chuckled.

"No, really," Dylan nodded. "It happened. I've dealt with it. Life moves on."

Delilah sighed. Though it wasn't obvious to the others, it was obvious to her that her friend was clearly hurting. She well knew Dylan's tendency to hide his emotions in front of others.

—————

"Thank you all so much for taking me out," Dylan smiled as they approached his home.

The three hugged their friend, but before Delilah let go, she whispered, "Let's have dinner tonight. Just you and I. I'll make sure the others are busy."

"Sort of...like a date?" Dylan whispered back.

"Exactly," Delilah smiled.