𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 - 𝑪𝑯𝑹𝑰𝑺 𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑶𝑳𝑶.

two!

with a shaky sigh, she looks over to them too. "um, yeah. why not?" she mutters, getting up and dusting her body off from the grass.

as they start walking back towards them, lily braces herself for whatever interactions she's about to have to deal with.

—————

LILY TRIES TO HIDE HER nerves as her and matt walk up to elliot and the rest of their friends.

elliot smiles excitedly, reaching her arm out to her best friend as she pulls her over to her and wraps her arm around her shoulder.

normally, lily would be really uncomfortable—she feels uncomfortable whenever experiencing physical touch with anyone for showing someone affection or being shown affection towards herself—but elliot is like a sister to her.

especially, considering that she literally lives with elliot in their own shared apartment. and also, the fact that elliot is the only friend of hers that she allows physical touch and affection—and it goes both ways.

"don't worry, elle. i'm done freaking out," she mumbles, allowing the physical contact, instead of pulling away.

"matt helped me feel a little more comfortable, though," she admits, laughing awkwardly. "so, i guess, you guys can thank him for getting me out of my comfort zone a little."

"yeah, no problem." matt waves her off.

feeling a little too awkward, lily takes another deep breath before speaking, "uh, anyways," she laughs nervously. "i'm lily, like elliot here told you guys."

a brunette girl, a little shorter than her, steps forward with a small, welcoming smile. "hey, my name's madi. it's really nice to meet you."

lily moves out of her best friend's arms, not noticing the excited look she has on her face, over seeing her friend actually being open to meeting her friends.

still trying to ignore her nerves, lily shakes madi's hand. "you too," she nods, before pointing to the three other boys that look exactly the same.

"i mean, if you guys are good friends with elliot here," she nods to her best friend before continuing on. "then you guys can't be bad at all."

one of the triplets laughs, his voice coming in a little defensive. "i don't know whether that is an insult or a compliment."

matt glares at him, while madi and elliot laugh in amusement.

"nick, don't worry. she doesn't mean anything bad by it." elliot defends with another laugh.

quickly realizing what she said and how it seems like an insult, lily jumps in to defend herself and make things right—after all, this group of friends are probably just as close to elliot as lily is. "i just mean, that i've known a lot of bad people, and you guys are the first people i've met that actually aren't giving me bad vibes."

nick doesn't say anything else, so lily speaks again, practically rambling in fear of fucking everything up. "i'm sorry if that came off rude. i really didn't mean for it to sound like that, i swear!"

matt punches nick in the shoulder, making him turn to him in shock and offense. "don't stress about it, lily. nick gets defensive about everything."