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Lilly kept her promise to Arvin the night after then the night after that and so on, he picked her up just like they usually did and grabbed some snacks before heading to the field they always went to. Outside was calm and quiet, only crickets could be heard with the exception of their footsteps.
"What are you gonna do if your daddy catches us?" He asked as he sat down on the grass, opening his candy bar. Not long after Lilly joined him taking a seat across the boy. "I think I would die rather than be caught." She said with a small laugh "he would be so angry, hopefully he won't find out he scares me sometimes."
Arvin looked up at her in confusion "why?" He asked. Lilly shrugged her shoulders and fiddled with the grass below her to calm her nerves. "He's just angry all the time, and controlling. Was your daddy like that?" She asked.
Now that she knew both Lenora and Arvin more it had became clear that they were not brother and sister biologically. Lenora told her they were both orphans, maybe there was a chance Lenora wasn't but she still had hope that one day her dad would come back for her. She prayed on it every night.
Arvin really didn't know if his dad was angry all the time or just straight up lost his mind due to loosing his love. But controlling was a definite yes. Still he had good moments that he remembered, his father Willard taught him a lot of things. Now that he thought about it Arvin was teaching Lilly the same things his dad once taught him.
"I think my dad was okay. It's confusing. I mean there were some good moments and definitely bad moments. After my mom died I think that's when he lost it." Arvin said not knowing those words even came out his mouth. Normally he wouldn't talk about this at all but the two were alone and he knew she wasn't one to gossip.
"My mom got cancer and died, not to long after he killed himself. I guess he really did love her..." he explained giving a tilt as he looked up. To Lilly it sounded kinda poetic.
"....that sounds..." The girl paused for a moment trying to find the right words "...not to be ignorant or rude but it sounds sweet. Not like that, obviously because that's terrible but in a way it's like a poem." Lilly explained carefully, scared her words might hurt or offend him.
Arvin, to say the least, was a bit intrigued at her whole thought process about this. "Why do you say that?" He asked with curiosity, waiting for her response he took out a cigarette lighting it with matches he had in the pocket of his jean jacket.
"Well it sounds like anywhere his wife went, he would follow...its romantic I guess. I don't know, sorry I didn't mean to put it like that I swear I'm not trying to make light of it." She apologized quickly.
Arvin shook his head "don't apologize, I guess you're right in a way. That's a really...weird way of thinking about it I suppose." He told her as he took a drag of his cancer stick. "What about your mom? Is she like you dad?" He asked.
"No, she wasn't like him at all. She was kind and just wanted to live life you know? She didn't pray much, daddy says that's why she died. He always made us pray it was kinda annoying." She told him with a small laugh.
"Yeah my dad was like that too, that's why I stopped doing it. It don't get you anywhere." He said bluntly shaking his head. He thought it was all kinda bullshit, if you wanted something you had to do it yourself, he believed it was a waste of time sitting around and waiting for a answer that would never come.
"Yeah you're right, my dad still tries to make me pray. I don't see the point. But when I don't, I get grounded." Grounded wasn't the word that she would use, it was more extreme, but still.
After a moment of complete silence Arvin spoke up "how do you like it here?" He asked, he had forgotten he had moved from Tennessee. It felt like she had lived here forever "hmmm it's okay I guess, it's new. If I hadn't come here I would've never met your family and I would've been stuck by myself in a old house."
"You mean a lot to Lenora you know..." Arvin told her, his head turning to look at her "she prays for you almost every night. I'm glad you two met." The boy confessed. Lilly never knew Lenora prayed for her "she means a lot to me too..." she responded with a smile.
The day after Lilly had her fake date with Gene he really did keep his promise. Of course it wasn't out the kindness of his heart, it was because he wanted to get his way. He was till an asshole deep down, Lilly knew he was just pretending he wasn't just to gain something. Classic Gene Dinwoodie.
Lilly noticed ever since that incident Lenora seemed more cheery, of course Lilly still had to fulfill her side of the deal and it wasn't that bad. Honestly she thought it was gonna be worse. At school no one knew, he kept it on the down low, the only thing they had to do was walk hand in hand past his parents house.
Wanting to change the subject from their sad conversation Lilly saw an area that caught her eyes. "What do you think is over there?" She asked pointing over near a somewhat wooded area, she was bored and she wanted to explore a bit.
Arvin shrugged his shoulders wondering why she cared about that. "I'm gonna go check it out." She said as she got up "what?" He asked looking at her in confusion. "I wanna go see what's over there. Come on." She told him gesturing for him to follow.
"No. You can go by yourself." He replied taking a smoke of his cigarette. "Fine, I'll be back." She told him as she began to walk. Quickly Arvin got up, burning out his cigarette in the process "fine I'm coming with you." He said rolling his eyes.
After the walk of pushing past leaves and stepping on sticks they just found more bushes and trees. Lilly didn't know why she expected something to be here, she just wanted to do something to pass the time. "See nothing here, can we go back?" Arvin asked, his hands dropping down to his sides.
"Woah..." Lilly exclaimed as her eyes scanned the area, landing on a large body of water, it was probably a lake of some sort, an untouched lake for that matter...well probably. Arvin turned to her and shook his head "Don't even think about it." Oh she was thinking about it alright, it looked so tempting. She didn't remember the last time she went swimming. "I'm gonna do it." She told him with a wide grin "no you ain't. You're gonna get in trouble with your daddy if you go back home like that."
Just as she began running to jump in. Arvin was quicker than her, he grabbed her by the arm and stepped in front of her. Only his plan backfired when he lost his footing, falling into the lake, water engulfed him as he tried to process what just happened. Lilly's face was full of shock, she knew he was gonna get mad. "Oh my god Arvin I'm so sorry." She apologized crouching down to the ground looking at his not so very amused face.
A/N:
Swim practice has got me so weak and tired man😭 I'll try and update as much as I can tho
I hope you enjoy, just a little chapter with Arvin and Lilly...when do you think he's gonna catch feelings??? Do you think it's still too early???👀👀👀
