𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 - 𝑪𝑯𝑹𝑰𝑺 𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑶𝑳𝑶.

twenty!

"you can't just leave without an explanation!" elliot says, tears filling her eyes as she can see the hurt emotions filling lily's face.

lily gulps, blinking away the quick, unshed tears as she realizes that her throat suddenly feels extremely dry.

she glances behind her best friend to look at their friends, guilt filling her at the confused and concerned looks on their faces.

taking a deep breath, she goes back to the door to put on her shoes quickly, before pulling the door open.

"lily!" elliot calls out again, shaking her head at her friend's actions. "you can't just run away from this—you have to deal with it!"

lily turns back to her, shrugging her shoulders and masking her face into an expression of indifference. "you're wrong—i can."

and with that, she walks out and slams the door shut behind her.

elliot and the rest of her friends wince at the loud sound and quickly become overwhelmed by the deafening sound of silence.

—————

LILY GULPS, MUCH MORE ANXIOUS now as she hesitantly knocks on the door.

her phone going off repeatedly distracts her, but only for a few seconds, because the door opening shakes her out of it.

the person on the other side of the door is shocked, to say the least. "lily?"

lily gulps, trying to ignore the anxious nerves filling her, and nods quietly.

"what—" ralfie is quickly interrupted by another person that appears from behind him.

"lily." nessa states, something in her eyes and voice telling her that she already knows why she's here.

lily sighs in defeat, trying to shake off the guilt and anxiety filling her. "i didn't know where else to go..."

ralfie and nessa turn to face each other, concern quickly taking over any other expressions they had on their faces before.

"i don't know what to do..." lily says more clearly, shivering even with the nice weather, though it's clear it's not the weather that's making her feel that cold chill go through her body.

the lost and scared look in her friend's eyes brings nessa to immediately step through the threshold and gently grab her shoulders to lead her inside.

everything feels like a blur and lily only feels numb as nessa leads her into the living room, while ralfie gently shuts the door.

once she's settled, nessa turns to face her on the couch. "lily, what's going on? what happened?"

lily's quiet for a second, probably even minutes, before she shakily pulls out her phone and turns it on, handing it over to both nessa and ralfie to see what's made their friend act and feel the way that she is.

—————

[texts!]

dad 😐 — john
lilianna — lily