The Way We Learned to Love ✓

22 - lily

march 2018 : 2 years and 6 months ago

Lily pulled out her phone as inconspicuously as possible and opened her group chat with Katie and Izzy.

L: SOS

K: ?

L: IM IN HIS CAR

L: GOING TO HIS HOUSE

L: HELP

K: what???

I: GIRL HOW

I: WHY

L: FOR THIS STUPID PROJECT I'LL EXPLAIN LATER

She clicked the lock button and set her phone down in her lap, scared that if she sat there rapid-fire typing for too long she ran the risk of him glancing over at her from his spot behind the wheel and realizing that she was messaging her friends about him.

She had perhaps always been more nervous around her crushes than was normal, but Lily never fully grasped how much Ben and Jacob had messed with her psyche until now. Liam wasn't even making her talk and she still felt like she might throw up.

You are not going to throw up in this very expensive-looking car. You are not going to throw up in this very expensive-looking car.

She kept her gaze directed down on her lap, focused on quietly breathing in and out, and reminded herself that there was no reason to be anxious. No boy deserved to take this much of her emotional stability.

She didn't notice that they had stopped or that he was looking at her until she heard, "Are you okay?"

She yanked her attention back to him. "Yeah," she lied. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Nothing..." He actually looked concerned, which made her feel a little bit guilty but mostly embarrassed. "You just...We're here."

Oh. They were, in fact, parked in a driveway.

She opened her door and climbed out of the car so that she didn't have to find a way to explain herself. The rush of cool air that hit her face cleared her mind for a moment like her brain was simply a computer that needed rebooting, but she blanked again when she saw the house in front of her. To call it a mansion would be a slight over-exaggeration, but only slightly. Her own house was big and this made it look tiny.

Liam was wearing a confusing expression when she glanced back towards him. It was neutral for the most part, but she sensed some underlying apprehension there as though he anticipated some sort of negative reaction out of her.

"Are you okay?" she questioned.

He let the trace of a smile form on his lips, dropping whatever his weird mood was. Or at least pretending to.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he repeated her, not unkindly, and nodded his head towards the front door. "Come on, I'll show you around."

He unlocked the door and let her step inside ahead of him. The kitchen was immediately on the right when you came into the foyer. Lily noticed that although the inside of the house was as big and fancy as she expected from the exterior, it still had cozy touches that made it feel homely, like a little succulent on the windowsill over the sink and a flickering candle sitting on the counter. She wasn't sure who would have lit it - she didn't see anyone else around - but it filled the room with a clean scent.

She had no intention of lingering in one place for longer than was polite before letting him show her wherever these music books were, but her mouth hung open a little when she looked out the window behind the sink. "Woah."