Forces of a Storm

Chapter 2

Lillian's POV

Ricky and I were on our run and for the most part we stayed silent. Being alone with Ricky can get very awkward because of our situation from the past. When we were in seventh grade he asked me to go on a date with him, I said yes because I wasn't clear that it was a romantic thing, I thought we were just going to hang out. After that we started flirting back and forth and we haven't stopped since, but Emery really dosen't like it. I don't think he likes the idea of his best friend and his sister being together. Now don't get me wrong I do find him attractive, and he's a great guy but I would never want to jeopardize his friendship with my brother.
"What are you thinking about?" He broke our comfortable silence.
My face turned red, "Nothing really, I'm just trying to think of what to paint."
"Are you sure? Because normally I can't get you to shut up and you've been silent for fifteen minutes." He laughed at me and the stopped running, a look if concern in his green eyes.
"Yeah I just have a concept in my head and I really don't know how to go about painting it."
He remained concern as if he didn't believe me, "Well what's the concept?" He paused a moment to take off his shirt, "Sorry its just really hot out here."
"Um its okay" I found myself lost for words, like I said he is very attractive but he's definitely been working out since the last time I saw him.
"So about that painting?" He smirked obviously knowing I was checking him out, "I don't know much about art but maybe I could give you an idea?"
I shook my head and started running again I wouldn't be able to explain while his gorgeous body was standing right in front of me, I came up with something quickly to get him off my case, "Well I want to paint a story, but I don't want to paint it all at once. I think I want to paint my life I just don't know what parts I want to focus on, and I don't know what style to use." I honestly was thinking of painting something like that but I didn't want to tell anybody.
"If you paint your life I better be on that wall!"
I laughed, "I only wanted to paint the parts of my life that I actually enjoy, so you probably won't be on there." I winked at him and he clutched his heart and acted hurt.
"Wow I didn't know you felt that way Lils. I'm hurt!"
At this point we started walking, I started walking backwards and grabbed his cheeks and squeezed the gently, talking in a baby voice. "Awe poor baby Ricky, can't handle a little teasing!"
He swatted my hands away and then picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. "Ricky put me down!" He was laughing and he ignored my request.
"Sorry sweetheart no can do, you're gonna have to pay for that."
I couldn't see his face but I knew he had that stupid smirk, I just sighed and have up fighting.
"You know you could just carry me home!" He laughed again.
"Good idea!" I knew he wouldn't agree that easily without making it a very uncomfortable ride for me. He started walking back the way we came and kept pretending like he was going to drop me.
"Ricky stop! If you're going to keep doing that then just put me down" I starting pounding in his back again. He laughed at my attempt, "Hey keep doing that it feels kinda good. Ilnost like a massage!"
I rolled my eyes, "You're so weird."
"And you love it!"
With that we had made it home he opened the door and Liam and Emery were still sitting in the living room. When they saw us they started laughing.
"Lilly what did you do to get yourself in this situation?" Liam asked in between giggles.
"Ricky is just being a jerk and he won't PUT ME DOWN?"
"I kinda like carrying you its like having a weapon attached to my shoulder!" I rolled my eyes again as he swung me around in circles.
"Lils wasn't very nice to me on our run so this is her punishment, I'm gonna go take her up to her room." The boys laughed and rolled their eyes, "Will you ever act normal Ricky?" Emery asked with genuine concern.
"Nope!" Ricky laughed and ran up the stair, I was still being carried and I was not happy. He set me down in front of him once we were in my room and I just crossed my arms and pouted.
"What? Come on you got a free ride home!"
"Yeah but you almost dropped me like thirty times!"
He laughed, "Quit being pouty, I would've never dropped you. I'll always catch you when you fall." He fluttered his eyelashes to try to get me to lighten up, I hit his shoulder.
"I'm still mad at you."
"Oh come on don't be like that!" Then he pulled me into a bear hug, practically crushing me. "I'm gonna keep hugging you until you aren't mad."
"Your gonna be hugging me for a long time then."
He sighed and continued to hug me, "You know I could do this all day" I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. "This is boring. I have a better idea!"
He let me go and I finally got to breathe normally, right when I thought it was over he started tickling me.
"Ricky stooop! I hate being tickled!" I said in between laughs. Eventually we ended up on my bed and he had me pinned.
"Aww Lils you're so cute." He stopped tickling me finally.
I glared at him, "Ricky get off of me. You're too heavy!" That was definitely the wrong thing to say because then he just laid on me. I tried to push him off but it was no use so I just stopped trying.
"I've only been here for a day and you've already annoyed me to no return."
"You know you love me Lils!" He quickly kissed my cheek and got off of me.
I sat up and decided to go out on to my balcony. Ricky followed and looked out at the view, the sun was setting and it looked really pretty.
"So what do you plan on doing tomorrow?" I looked at him and thought about my answer.
"Well I need to finish arranging the house and I need to go shopping for food and a few furniture items. I might stop by the art store too, you guys have meetings tomorrow right?"
"Yeah we do, I was gonna invite you so you weren't alone all day but it sounds like you've got a lot to do."
"Did you need me to come to the meetings? That other stuff can wait if you guys need me."
"I kinda wanted to introduce you to our manager, I've been showing him videos of your singing since I found out you were moving to LA. He told me to bring you in whenever I could because he really wants to meet you."
I turned to face him, "Ricky you didn't have to do that! I wanted to come out here and make a name for myself. I didn't want to have it easy because my brother is "famous" I wanted to work for it." I put air quotes around the word famous because I don't like that work it kinda makes his success sound shallow.
"You aren't gonna have it easy because if your brother. Your getting help from your bestest friend in the whole world!" He smirked and and I hit him in the chest because he wasn't listening to me.
"I'm kidding! Okay I showed him your videos yes, but you still put in all of that work yourself. Its your talent that made him want to meet you, not me. You Lils. I was just trying to be a good friend. I'm sorry, you don't have to come if you really don't want to." He looked down at his feet.
"No I didn't mean to make you feel bad. Thank you Ricky, everything that you've done means so much to me. I'm sorry if I made you think I don't appreciate it because I do. I'll go with you guys and meet your manager."
He smiled and his eyes lit up, "You will? Yay! I'm so happy, and I really did mean it, all that work you did is really paying off Lils."
"Thank you Ricky" I gave him a hug and realized that neither of us have changed from our run.
"I'm gonna go take a shower and change. Will you ask the guys if they are hungry? I'll go to the store and pick something up real quick."
"I should probably take a shower too. If you make something can you please make pizza!" He sounded like a child and I laughed at him.
"Yes but only if you can all agree on toppings."
He jumped up and down with excitement and ran out of my room, he call out from the hallway, "Thank you Lils! You're the best!"
I just laughed at him and gathered my clothes for the shower.

The rest of the night was fairly calm, I made everyone pizza and I picked up some ice cream and root beer so we could make root beer floats. We sat down and watched a movie while we were eating.
"Moving in with you was the best decision ever. Emery you didn't tell me that your sister could cook!" Liam said with his mouth full, I laughed at them.
"Yeah when we lost our parentd neither of us knew how and we were tired of always going out so she learned how to cook. I was surprised at how good she was, I think she gets it from our mom." Everyone smiled and laughed a little but my heart sank. I used to watch my mom cook all the time but I never helped because I would always get distracted with my art or something else. I missed her so much, its only been a year since she passed and everyday I carry the weight of grief. Suddenly I lost my appetite and my interest in the movie so I silently slipped into the kitchen, trying not to disturb the boys. I could feel tears brimming in my eyes but I refused to let them fall. I tried composing myself so I could go back out and enjoy the movie but I just kept thinking about my parents. I didn't want to start crying in the middle of the kitchen so I tried to sneak up to my room without anyone noticing, it didn't work.
"Lilliy where are you going? The movie isn't over" Liam caught me.
"Um I'm really tired and I'm going with you guys to your meeting tomorrow so I wanna get a good nights sleep. You guys should probably do the same." I was hoping that was enough to get them off my back, even though it was only eight.
They all gave me a weird look, "Its pretty early but okay. Thanks for the pizza sis, we'll see you tomorrow."
I gave the a small smile and walked up to my room. I connected my phone to my speakers and turned on my music so no one would hear me crying. I crawled into bed and that's when the tears started rolling, I was so close to my parents and now their gone.
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on my door, I took a deep breath and answered. "What?" It came out harsh and I didn't mean to sound mad. Ricky slowly opened the door.
"Hey Lils are you sure your okay. Woah why are you crying!" His voice was hushed and his eyes laced with concern.
"Just go away and close the door please."
"No I'm not leaving you, what's wrong?" He closed my door and came to lay by me, he wrapped me in his arms and at first I was reluctant but then I broke.
"I miss them so much!" I cried into his chest, "Ricky I still can't believe their gone. I just.. I don't know what to do." My voice was broken by sobs.
"Shh Lils its going be be okay, there watching you from heaven. You never really lost them." He ran his hands threw my hair trying to sooth me.
"Why did that stupid drunk driver have hit them. They were good people, he survived! They didn't!" My body was shaking at this point because I was crying so much.
"Lils don't think about the bad things. Try to think of the good. Hey breathe, take a deep breath your shaking sweetheart." I closed my eyes and tried focusing on what he was saying.
I finally calmed myself down so that I wasn't shaking, "You know my favorite memory is when I was four and Emery was five. We just got little guitars for Christmas and we wanted to put on a show for our parents but we wanted it to be a surprise. So we got all of these streamers and balloons decorated the basement and we brought parents down to watch us. I was just starting dance classes too so I thought it would be cool to dance and play the guitar. Well I didn't have my strap to hold the guitar on and I tripped over it. I fell face first and broke the little guitar. I started crying and Emery and my dad came to comfort me. To make me feel better our parents performed a little show for us, then later that night my dad took me to the guitar shop and he bought me a full sized guitar. He told me that one day I'd be big enough to play this one. I still have the guitar, its over there." I looked to the corner of my room and smiled. "I love them so much." I finally stopped crying and I felt exhausted, I yawned.
"See you thought about a good memory and it calmed you down. You still have little pieces of them to hold onto, everything is going to be okay. Now get some sleep Lils, you've done a lot today." He kissed my forehead and smiled at me before trying to get up.
I hugged him tighter, "Wait I really don't want to be alone right now. Stay?"
He smiled, "Of course Lils, I'll stay. Goodnight gorgeous." He pulled me close and played with my hair until I fell asleep.