Lonely girl (a Tony Perry romance)

chapter 10

They headed for home not much later, as Tony could see Lily was starting to look tired. She fell asleep in the car, so he carried her in and lay her down on the sofa. He went out to get the bags out of the car and put them in her room. He sat down on the opposite sofa and watched her sleep. She looked a bit better already - more colour in her cheeks. He went to make himself a coffee and a sandwich before returning to his place on the sofa.

About an hour later, Lily started to stir.

"Hey, you ok?" he whispered. She nodded slightly, sitting up.

"Do you want a drink?" he asked. She nodded and went to stand and he promptly jumped up.

"I'll get it" he said quickly. "What would you like?"

"Water please" she whispered. He went through to his kitchen and filled a glass for her. When he took it back through, she looked lost in thought.

"Tell me more about you" he asked, breaking her train of thought.

"There's not much to say" she mumbled.

"How come you ended up in San Diego?" he asked her.

"My mum was from here so I have a dual nationality passport. When my parents died I came here to start again" she explained.

"Um, I'm really sorry to hear they're not here anymore. How old were you when you lost them?"

"18" she answered. "That box I picked up earlier has photos of them in it."

"Do you want me to get it? I took it upstairs before" he asked.

"Yes please" she whispered. He went up and got it for her. She opened it and he sat next to her while she showed him her better memories.

He saw a tear run down her face.

"I miss them so much. I've felt so lost and lonely these last few years" she sobbed. He put his arms around her, moving the box to the coffee table so the photos didn't get damaged.

"You won't ever forget them though - and I'm here for you now" he said, pulling her on to his lap. She looked so lost and he wanted to make her feel found.

They sat like that until the doorbell rang. She climbed off his knee so he could answer the door. Vic, Jaime and Mike were stood there, with pizza, chocolate and big smiles. They came over to her and sat down, greeting her with a chorus of "Hi" and "Hey" which earned them a smile.

"This is so surreal" she mumbled.

Vic asked her how she was doing and she told him that Tony was an angel for looking after her.

"He's a good guy, no doubt" said Jaime, making Tony blush. They opened the pizza boxes, having brought meat feast and vegetarian ones. And there was garlic bread too.

They told Lily to help herself so she picked up a slice of the veggie one. She nibbled on it and managed to eat it all.

"Grab some more if you want" Mike said. She took a piece of garlic bread and took a sip of her water. Again, she managed to eat it all, making Tony smile. The tv was on one of the music channels and when Nirvana's smells like teen spirit came on, Mike and Jaime started jumping around like nutters. They made her laugh. And again when Maroon 5's moves like jagger came on. Tony whispered to her "God help us if Whitney Houston's I want to dance with somebody comes on." Her eyes lit up at the thought.