This Love is Ours

Chapter 17: A Vivid Presence

"You as well, thank-you so much for having us over tonight." Abigail smiles, nodding.

"My pleasure!" She laughs.

"Where's Peter?" My dad asks.

"Him and Lilly are out in the backyard, finishing up the barbecuing!" Aunt Melissa explains.

With that, we all break off separately.

Erica, Jessica, Jackie, Abigail, my mom, and Aunt Melissa all head to the family room, and begin chatting together there.

My dad and I head outside to the backyard to see Uncle Peter and Lilly.

Lilly Summers has been through it all.

From a brutal partying phase that lasted a long time, to losing a sister, to growing out of her phase; she has seen it all.

Lilly used to be one of the hardest parts of Ally's life.

She caused hundreds of fights within this household.

She was the burden of Ally's existence, to some extent.

She was a disaster.

Excuse my harsh language, but she was a slut.

She slept around like crazy, partied every single night, refused to go to school, and was a total hoe-bag.

I've known her my entire life, and things started to go bad for her as soon as she hit middle school.

From there on, things never got better.

Until Ally died.

Lilly changed.

A lot.

Ally's death was a wake-up call for Lilly.

For the first few months after it happened, Lilly was sent into a spiraling depression.

No one expected it to come from her, of all people.

We still don't really know why she grew so depressed, because her and Ally were never really that close.

My mom thinks that is exactly why she was so sad; she never got to know Ally well enough.

No one really knows.

And we don't ask.

But, for whatever reason, she grew very depressed after the accident.

After about ten months of therapy, Lilly's life turned around.

She came out of her depression.

She came out better and stronger than before.

She went back to school, which she is currently still in at the University at Buffalo.

She's studying psychology, and was apparently inspired by her own psychologist.

She's stopped partying as much as she used to.

She doesn't drink at all anymore, and never does drugs.

Lilly has stopped dressing like a slut, and she has also stopped wearing so much makeup every day.

Lilly is gorgeous.

She always has been.

Her entire life, she has been a stunner.

Even when she was six or seven years old, people would always compliment her on how beautiful she was.

Growing up, both Lilly and Ally were beautiful, but in different ways. Ally didn't have the big blue eyes or the long golden hair, and so a lot of the time, Ally didn't get as much attention from other people as Lilly did.