WILDFIRE ↝ E. MUNSON

[21]

The woods seemed to stretch out for miles as the group continued to hike through the forest in search of the Wheeler residence, each step taking them closer to what was hopefully the start of getting back home to the real world. Nancy, Robin, Debbie, and Sarah led the front of the group, chatting amongst themselves while Steve and Eddie were engaged in a conversation in the back, talking in hushed voices so as not to be heard by the rest of the group. In the middle of the group were Lily and Nick, the two having kept a small distance between themselves, but had gradually grown closer together the further they walked.

"Hey, Lily," Nick spoke up finally, in a soft voice. "Could we maybe... talk?"

"Y-yeah," Lily stammered out, in a hurried voice as her eyebrows furrowed together slightly. "What about?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry." Nick said, causing Lily's eyes to widen slightly in confusion. "I've been a total bitch to you all week, when all you've done is try to help Eddie. I didn't trust you, and I thought you were just going along with it so you could report everything back to Jason. But then Eddie told me what happened when the basketball team showed up at Rick's, and how you helped him, and I realized I was wrong."

"I can't say I've given you much of a reason to trust me this past year." Lily admitted. "I threw you guys out as if you meant nothing. If I was in your place, I probably would've thought the same thing." she looked back at Nick, the one who was once her best friend in the entire world that she trusted with any secret that came her way, but had become nothing more than a stranger the past seven months.

"Yeah that was, uh, really shitty." Nick agreed with a shrug. "I understood why you did it, after everything at Starcourt. If that had been my first time with the absolute hell that is the Upside Down, I would've done everything in my power to get out of here too. But I was just so fucking angry that getting rid of anything keeping you from getting out of Hawkins meant that you were getting rid of me, too. You didn't even look at me that day you showed up at the trailer, and that's what hurt the most."

"I was selfish." Lily said. "After Billy died, I started seeing everything holding me back in Hawkins as collateral damage. Hellfire, the people in it, anyone who was there at Starcourt that night. Even Max. When I started thinking about this new plan for myself, and what I needed to do to get out of here, I stopped thinking about her, and how much she still needed me."

"Max loves you," Nick assured her, "And she knows you love her, too."

"Well I've done a fantastic job of showing it lately." Lily laughed humorlessly. "I left her, I left everybody, and I joined a group of people that I had to lie to in order to feel accepted. I figured my happiness was a small price to pay, and I'd make up for it someday when I was as far away from Hawkins as I could get."

"And was it?" she asked. "Worth it, I mean?"

Lily shook her head. "I convinced myself it was, for a while." she admitted. "I kept telling myself that having surface level conversations with people that I didn't trust to know that I lived in a trailer was fun, and that I actually liked going to parties where people drink until they black out while I nursed a bottle of apple juice all night, but I'd take a Hellfire campaign over that any day. You don't know how many times I got to the school for a basketball game and considered going to the drama room instead of the gym to try begging for forgiveness."

"Well, begging for forgiveness doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world right now." Nick joked, causing Lily to smile softly.

"Nick I am so, so sorry for the way I treated you." Lily said, stopping walking for a moment and looking the girl in the eyes. "For the way I treated all of you. You were my best friend, and I really hope that maybe we could get back there again someday."