The First Steps (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 1 of the Hardships Saga)

Chapter Eleven

❝reunion (pronounced riːˈjuːnjən or ree-yoon-yuh n), noun
The act of uniting again, eg. after four years.❞

Another year passed. By now, Lilly was nineteen, a few months away from marrying Colin (who was still, in her opinion, an asshole). She was starting to get the hang of this rebellious streak thing.

Colin was to come over again that day, and she already had planned what she would do next.

First, she found a screwdriver and loosened the nails on the legs of Colin's chair. Then, she prepared another chair, which had ketchup all over the seat, though it looked invisible since the cushion of the seat was as red as the ketchup itself.

Then she waited.

"Mother, I'm going to the park," said Lilly, walking outside. Her mother yelled something in response, but she ignored it and began the five minute walk to the bridge.

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"So, how's your 'plan' going to work?" asked Lexi.

"Well, I just need to get rid of Colin, then get away from here, right? So I'm pulling another prank on him. It'll be brilliant, so then, his parents won't want anything to do with me. My parents will think "Oh, this won't do," so they'll send me off somewhere."

"And that somewhere is Nashville?"

"Well... yeah." She looked at Lexi. "Is it too much?"

"Nah. Besides, George wants to do something in Nashville, so I'm moving there with him, and Parker's coming with me. We'll all be there with you." Lexi and George got together shortly after Hunter left, and they were going strong. She wondered about Hunter and Lucky- she couldn't wait to meet Lucky. She was probably crazy nice. Otherwise, why would Hunter fall for her?

"Hey, I gotta go prank Colin's ass," said Lilly, laughing. "Oh, he's gonna be so pissed."

Lexi smiled. "Hope this one does it for good."

"Me too," she said, before standing and going home.

She was a few minutes too late, but it didn't matter. "Ah, Mr and Mrs Heckstall! How wonderful to see you!"

They frowned slightly. "We hope your daughter isn't planning on causing mischief today," said Mr Heckstall to Kurt, and he smiled wryly.

"No, she isn't," said her father, giving her a look, and she smiled back angelically.

"Of course not," she said innocently. "Why would I do something like that?"

Marcella looked at her suspiciously, but said nothing. Colin looked at her warily. He had long since stopped calling her babe- Lilly had seen to that. Now honestly, he was terrified of her. And she knew it would only take one more prank that would make him look a fool to make him refuse to marry her.

The two families sat down at the table, and suddenly, Colin's chair gave way beneath him. He fell straight onto his ass, and Lilly stifled a laugh on purpose.

"Lilliana, I don't see what's so humorous about this situation," said Kurt stiffly. "Go and bring young Heckstall a new chair, please."

"Yes, Father," she said, going and grabbing the chair she had already prepared. Then, she put it where Colin was sitting, smiled sweetly, and returned to her spot at the table.

And listened to the satisfying squelch as Colin sat down on ketchup.

He jumped back up again with a yell, then began jumping up and down like a crazed maniac. "Is this some sort of joke?!"