Just The Two Of Us

Accidental Stalker

~Noah~

Dylan left a couple hours ago, leaving me alone in the apartment.

And I was bored out of my mind.

Mostly because I couldn't turn on my phone or the TV without seeing my own face. I was hot off the tails of a breakup, so all the media outlets were still blowing everything way out of proportion.

About two weeks ago, I broke up with my girlfriend, Gulianna Moretti. We met at a party about a year ago and went on a date or two before both of our publicists told us that "getting together would put us both on the map", as they put it. Gulianna was a model wanting to reach the level of the likes of Heidi Klum or Gigi Hadid. She was close to getting there, and I think all the publicity from this break up really boost her up to the top. In the beginning, it was nice, but after a couple months, the relationship really didn't mean much to either of us. So, against the advice of the publicist, the record label, and pretty much everyone else that's in charge of my life, I broke up with her.

Because of that, I couldn't watch TV or mindlessly scroll on social media. I couldn't write any songs because I had already written about half a dozen songs about this relationship, all of which were bad and written from fake emotions. I didn't want any of them to make it to the upcoming album, but there wasn't much else I could do. I had absolutely nothing else to write about, and, unless I could come up with 12 new songs in time for the album to be released, we had to go with what we had.

Dylan invited me to come over to his parents house, as I had always been invited in years past. I didn't want to get here until about three thought because I didn't want to intrude, even though I was practically part of the Carter family and had been for years. My last name might as well have been Carter instead of Mills.

I started thinking about the reunion and started trying to remember as many people as I could. As I was thinking about all the Carters that I could remember, there was one that continuously kept slipping back into my mind.

Lilly.

She was Dylan's little sister. She was two years younger than us and for some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about her. I realized that I hadn't seen her in at least a few months and I wondered what she had been up to recently. I decided that that was something I could've tried to do.

I reached across the couch and grabbed my phone. I opened Instagram, found her account, and started flicking through some pictures.

The very first one was from a few days ago and was of her and her best friend—I'm almost positive her name was Gabbie—in front of one of the "aesthetic Instagram walls" that were all over town. This one was a simple rainbow with a vertical color block. Lilly was wearing a leather jacket, a crop top that said "Be Happy", and some high-waisted jeans that hugged her curves in all the right places. Her sparkling cinnamon eyes were hidden by some dark aviators. The typically light brown wavy hair that hung down to the middle of her back was compacted into tight curls that only fell to just passed her shoulders. Her lipstick was a bright red and all I could imagine was it smearing across my own lips as I pressed her up against the wall that was behind her.

Woah, calm down, Noah.

I decided to scroll to the next post. This one was a video of her sitting at a beautiful white grand piano with golden trim. I think that it was at some sort of concert or hall or something. There seemed to be a shimmering spotlight on her and—I wasn't sure if it was a filter or not— but she seemed to be glowing. She was singing was I could only assume to be one of her original songs. The audio was quite echo-y, but it gave the song a beautiful, haunting sound to it. The way her voice warmly wrapped around the note and the way she controlled her voice captivated me. I always knew she was a good singer, but I had no clue how amazing and mature her voice at become. And she sure was a powerhouse for a seventeen-year-old.

Seventeen, Noah. Remember that.

The next post was her at the beach, again with Gabbie. It was a collection of pictures, each one showing the different things they did throughout the day. The first one was simply Lilly standing in front of the water, her back facing the ocean. Her arms were extended at her sides, as if showcasing what was around her. She was wearing the aviators from the first picture, a dark blue bikini, and her hair was in a messy bun on the top of her head. While her swimsuit was modest, it was enough for me to remind myself that she was my best friend's little sister.

The second picture was a selfie of her head and shoulders lying in the sand. Gabbie was next to her, but facing the opposite way, so that she looked upside down in the picture. As opposed to Lilly's aviators, Gabbie was wearing circular, mirror sunglasses.

I found myself staring at Lilly's smile, thinking about how the way her smile never looked forced; it was always so natural, as if it was her normal, relaxed state. Even when she did have a relaxed expression, the corners of her mouth always were slightly upturned.

The last picture was Lilly hiding her face behind one of the giant ice cream sundaes that had all the extra candy and the cotton candy all sticking out everywhere. I was a little confused, thinking that there wasn't a place that served those around here, until I glanced at the location of the picture. Then I realized that it said, "Belmar, New Jersey" and I realized that they had taken a trip to the east coast.

After looking through a few more posts, I realized that there was one of her birthday. I looked down at the date and realized that it was actually from about a month ago. It was of her holding two golden balloons on either side of her body. One was a one, the other an eight.

So she's eighteen...

JESUS CHRIST, NOAH, STOP BEING SUCH A CREEP!

I found myself simply scrolling through her account and didn't realize how far I had actually gotten until I saw myself in a picture. I looked at it and realized that it was my and Dylan's graduation from about two years ago. It was the four of us—Lilly, Gabbie, Dylan, and I—all standing with arms linked in front of the school. Anyone who didn't know us probably would've thought that Lilly and I were dating, considering Dylan and Gabbie were, and the fact that we were always together.

I checked the time and saw that it was almost 2. I decided that it was probably time to stop stalking her account and start heading out, as their parents lived about an hour outside of LA. Out of reflex, I quickly double-tapped the post before closing the app.
It took me a moment to realize what I had done

"NO!" I shouted, quickly springing upright. I pressed my face into my palms. "Uggghhh..." I groaned. She probably just got a notification on her phone, saying that I had liked a two-year- old picture on her account. And now I had to face her at the party.
"Well, this is going to be interesting..."

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A/N: Hey guys!!! What do you think so far? Yeah, it's moving a little slowly, but this is just to get the story started. Also... Noah might seem kinda creepy right now??? BUT DON'T WORRY THIS ISN'T "YOU". THIS ISN'T CREEPY. I just thought it would be kinda funny to introduce a character like this. Anyway, idrk my upload schedule. I'll play it by ear and figure it out later.

{Posted on 4/23/19}