Triangle. |Stray Kids

Seventeen.

"Fuck!" Chris groaned in pain as he lowered his heavy backpack to the floor, landing it with a thud. Immediately, Lilly glared at him for being loud. "What? It was hell heavy." He said as he rolled his head and began massaging his sore shoulders.

"Lock the door, grumpy." Lilly told him.

Chris did as she asked and locked her room's door. He walked back and dropped himself on her bed, still wincing from his aching muscles.

"Tsk. Look at you being a drama queen." Lino, who was sitting crisscrossed on the floor next to Lilly, talked. "What do you do with those muscles you've been building and working out for over the last year?" Lino teased.

Chris lifted himself up and rested on his elbows to give his friend a death glare. "Try to carry a bag loaded with rocks to a house located up the hill and then show me how you'll walk the next day."

"Don't fight, boys." Lilly huffed. She pulled Chris's bag and unzipped it to check the rocks. She extended her hand inside and resumed talking. "Let's get this don- Ouch!" She pulled her hand quickly to find a cut at the corner of her palm.

Chris didn't spare any time rushing to Lilly and pulling her hand. He was fast to act on the cut as he pulled many tissues from the box on the nightstand and quickly wrapped her hand while applying gentle pressure. It happened so quickly that Lino didn't have the time to react. He couldn't even comprehend that Lilly was hurt.

"Can't you be more cautious?" Chris scolded. He didn't want to be harsh or anything but he didn't like her getting hurt.

Lilly winced in pain and looked down at her hand that was wrapped in the tissues which turned red, still held in Chris's two hands. "I didn't know they were sharp." She almost mumbled.

Chris's eyes widened as he realized he was the one who brought those rocks. "Oh! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Lil." He started to panic but didn't let go of her hand and kept pressuring. "I should've paid attention to the rocks I picked. I should've made sure they wer-"

"Hey!" Lilly cut his words. "It's okay! Don't overreact. It's not deep and I was the one who got myself cut. It's okay, really."

"But it hurts you." He whined.

"It should. I'm a human." She joked but he didn't even smile. His eyes were fixed on her hand which stopped bleeding but looked painful in his eyes. Lilly sighed and extended her intact hand to Chris's shoulder. She rubbed his upper arm gently in an assuring way. "Don't worry. I'm fine. I'm going to wash and disinfect it." She looked at Lino who was observing without talking. Seeing the smirk on his face, Lilly rolled her eyes. "Gather up the stuff till I come back." She said, slipped her hands away from Chris, and left the room.

Chris was taken aback. Not by her hand cut anymore, but by how her other hand touched his arm. That was a first and it made all his body shiver. Lilly was never touchy with him. She would do that freely with Lino all time but when it came to Chris, he felt like she set up boundaries. It's not like she avoided touching him. It always happened casually, but she never gave him a hug or warm caresses as she does to Lino.

He never liked how he compared himself to his friend but he couldn't help it. It was too obvious to him to ignore it. It was too obvious how Lilly was cautious around him while she was a very carefree person around Lino. Was it because he's grumpy as she calls him? Was she not comfortable around him? Did she not consider him as a close friend as Lino is to her?

"Don't overthink it." Lino's voice came to pull Chris out of his thoughts. "She's just stupid and she doesn't know how to deal with you. Heck, she doesn't know how to deal with herself even." Lino chuckled.

Chris cleared his throat and started gathering the stuff scattered on the floor and stuffing them in the backpacks. "What do you mean?"

Lino huffed and stood up. He walked to Lilly's desk and came back with a notebook. It was Lilly's new notebook that she started using lately for her rough sketches. Lino shoved it to Chris who caught it in midair. Puzzled, Chris opened the notebook to find each page has a pencil drawing of someone without facial features. But the curly fluffy hair and broad shoulders were common in all of them.

"Who do you think she draws all time? Who do you think has that broad back that is literally facing her all day at school?" Lino asked his friend. Chris's eyes were wide as he checked the drawings. His lips parted and trembled. He gulped. He wanted to say something but couldn't. "Make a move before it's too late, Chris. She will never take the first step. She's a coward and calculative, the opposite of what she shows. And you don't want to lose her, right?"

Chris's head jerked up to look at his friend. "Is it that obvious? That I have feelings for her?"

"To me, yes. I can see how you look at her. But she can't see that." Lino shrugged then stepped closer to Chris, snatched the notebook, and placed it back on her desk. "Don't tell her about that or she'll kill me." He said just one second before the door opens and Lilly walks in.

"Clean and disinfected." She raised her hand to show them.

"Shouldn't you wrap it or something?" Lino questioned.

"No. It's good like that." She smiled at him. "Let's go."

The three friends gathered their stuff and walked out of the room with each one of them carrying a heavy backpack but still, Chris's was the heaviest. They passed by the living room where Lilly's parents were sitting on the couch, watching the tv.

"Lilly!" Her mother called. The three friends' steps halted and turned to face Mrs. Davis. "Where are you going now, kids? It's late."

"We'll continue studying on the roof." Lilly lied with a nervous smile.

"What roof, Lillian?" Her father questioned. "That late? The wind is cold now."

"We are warm, Mr. Davis. Don't worry." Lino gave him a nervous smile too.

The couple looked at each other before looking back at the three teenagers.

"I'll let you go 'cause Chris is with you." Mrs. Davis said.

"And what was that?" Lilly questioned.

"He's the trusted one among you, sweetheart. If he's there then I know you'll be studying, not doing something creepy."

"I'll make sure they do nothing but studying, Mrs. Davis." Chris said with a solid face, earning a scoff from Lilly.

"Let's go." Lino said and pulled his two friends to the door before they expose what they were up to.

The three friends exited the house to the rooftop, unaware of the one who was watching them all day with crying eyes cause she knew she couldn't stop them. Cause she knew she couldn't do anything except witnessing her dark past and reliving those painful, very painful, memories again.

The adult Lilly looked at her parents who were giggling at the show they were watching. She didn't want to leave but she had to. She sniffled and smiled bitterly then walked to the door to follow the three teenagers to where they made their biggest mistake ever.