His Flower [DISCONTINUED]

44: Best Friends Forever

"Lily!" I gasped to no avail. She was already long gone.

Antonio and I stared at each other with wide eyes for a moment, shocked by the abrupt interruption. Our chests heaved as we caught our breaths, and I suddenly became hyperaware to his every movement. He rummaged a hand through his dark hair, which was messier than usual. He licked his lips, the remnants of my cherry chapstick lingering. And his eyes, so dark and enchanting, analyzed my face and elicited a spark in my stomach. Actually, spark was an understatement. It was a fire.

My cheeks faintly turned rose at the way his eyes involuntarily flickered down to my chest. With that, I smacked myself into reality and threw the duvet aside while clumsily squirming out of his hold. I tossed on my shirt and patted down my hair, a poor attempt at taming my wild curls.

"Flower," Antonio groaned, a plead for me to stay put next to him. However tempting the thought was, I cast him a grimace before stumbling out of our room and towards Lily's.

I gently pried open the bedroom door and paused at the sniffles that met my ears. So I hadn't seen things wrong–she was crying. Though, what for?

"Lils," I muttered as I walked in, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she mumbled. She was lying down on the bed, and her back was facing me, but I didn't have to see her face to know that she was lying.

"Come on," I shuffled closer in concern, "you can talk to me."

Lily reluctantly shifted to face me before beginning to giggle. "Your shirt's on backwards."

I smiled, a mixture of amusement and embarrassment. "Oops."

"So you and Antonio–"

"That was nothing–"

"Liar–"

"Enough about me," I sternly retorted, sitting down next to her on the plush bed. "Why are you crying?"

"Oh Rose, it was horrible," she finally confessed, tears beginning to stream down her face once more. "I-I told Romano that I liked him."

A surprised gasp escaped my lips. Nothing could've prepared me for, well, that.

"How'd it go?" I managed to vomit out.

"Not good," she let out a mixture of a laugh and cry, rubbing at her eyes.

"Oh, Lils," I sympathetically murmured, wrapping my arms around her. I couldn't imagine the damage this would do to her already feeble confidence.

We were silent for a moment, and I found myself beginning to feel afraid. Lily and Romano were my best friends. Our trio had formed almost immediately after my arrival to Burnsley. Judging by Lily's sobs, Romano clearly hurt her, perhaps enough to change our friendship dynamic.

Picking at a loose thread in her sweater, Lily finally decided to offer an explanation. "Tabby, Benny and I were about to leave for brunch, but I told them to go without me. I saw Romano alone on the beach, and, I don't know–this wave of spontaneity hit me. It was now or never. So I marched over to him and-and I told him how I felt. Oh, the look on his face. You should've seen it Rose. He looked so shocked–not in the good way. And then he told me that-that–"

Her lower lip began to violently quiver, and my heart twinged. It hurt to see my best friend in such pain. And then, holding her hand, I asked, "he told you what?"

At this, she looked down and murmured, "it's best you hear it from him."

I cocked my head to the side, confusion evident on my face. Before I could say another word, Lily turned around once more and faced her back towards me.