[irl!]
—————
TW: MENTIONS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION!
[irl!]
"SO, WE'RE REALLY DOING THIS? we're really going through with this?" allison asks nervously, pointing her eyes at literally almost every single person surrounding her and her friends.
elliot speaks as well, sharing allison's same feelings herself, "yeah, i actually, um, was wondering the same thing."
andy snaps her head up to look at both of them incredulously, somehow actually being the person to be shaming someone else about not wanting to do something out of their comfort zone. "are you guys serious right now?"
she glares at them, not wanting to back out of the plan—she wants to show her best friend that she cares and wants to help her.
ralfie steps forward, placing a hand over her shoulder. "hey, relax."
she rolls her eyes annoyedly.
everyone watches in confusion and shock as they watch the usually calm and collected girl almost lose her shit at the thought of having to back out. "don't tell me to relax, ralf!"
she takes notice of everyone watching her with wide, shocked eyes. "great. you all think i'm crazy."
nessa opens her mouth to say something to her to calm her down, since she's about one of the only people that can get through to her and get her to listen to, but andy interrupts her before she can get even a word out, "uh uh. don't even try."
"look, i know i'm acting crazy right now. but...lily is one of my best friends—just like how she's many of your best friends. and she's helped me through a lot—she's always been there for me, for all of us, whenever we needed it. even if she had her own things to deal with, she would drop them the second any of us needed her." she explains, her whole body shuttering in worry over lily.
nessa steps forward, bringing her into a side hug. "we know. and you know we feel the same," she pauses to pointedly look at nick, chris, matt, and madi, before continuing, "well, at least most of us."
nessa kisses andy's forehead, before she pulls herself away from her.
"guys, the reason i'm acting so unlike myself and a little crazy, is because lily is like my platonic other half. and when she hurts, i hurt," she says quietly. "we need to do this. if not for us, then for her—she deserves to have people who care about her enough to do the hard thing to help her."
elliot nods, a little nervous, but now feeling like she isn't filled with so much doubt.
she nods to allison and jake, who nod silently in agreement. "you're right. we do need to do this—for her."
andy smiles in appreciation.
sabrina smiles, standing on andy's other side, a little behind ralfie. "i agree. she's so used to being used and alone that she doesn't realize that we're not going to leave her on her own."
"agreed." nessa admits herself, holding sabrina's hand behind andy's back—it's a merely platonic gesture, nothing more, she would never betray her girl like that.
ralfie nods wordlessly, not being able to help but worry about his best friend.
then, alahna steps in, shrugging. "i think she'll be more distracted and surprised with my arrival to get too mad at the rest of you."
madi smiles. "yeah, but i think that it's good you'll be there. i know i've heard that she misses you when you're not up in l.a."
then, matt and chris and nick step forward as matt laughs nervously. "i think she'll be more stressed about seeing new people," then, he points to him and his brothers. "aka, me and my brothers and madi. so, hopefully she'll be distracted with both of those things."
elliot laughs, trying to brighten the mood. "actually, i know she acts all awkward and standoffish and shy, but she's actually a fan of you guys." the boys look at her with confused expressions.
"but she acts—" nick starts to say, but elliot waves him off. —"like she hates you? yeah, that's just an act."
the boys give her even more confused looks.
elliot groans at this. "she does this thing where she acts like a bitch to a lot of new people to protect herself—she doesn't want to seem like she's being vulnerable or letting her guard down."
nick makes a confused pout on his lips, this information somehow making perfect sense—probably because he'd do the same thing, if he were her.
"huh. i kind of get that."
"me too, actually." matt agrees with nick, starting to realize that he begins to understand lily by every passing minute that he learns something new about her—it makes him want to show her he cares too because he wants to know her and be good friends with her.
chris, however, despite not knowing her as well, or at all, really, knows that some part of him feels for her and can't ignore this instinct deep in his bones that keeps telling him that he wants to protect her—maybe that's why he reacted the way he did when he found out what her ex did to her.
"yeah, and also the fact that she doesn't seem like she deserves anything that she's going through. especially what alex has done to her." he mutters the last part, for some reason, feeling bitter at the mention of alexander.
"so, it's agreed? we're doing this?" andy asks everyone, most of them nodding.
but, elliot is the one that says what they're all thinking, "we're doing it."
—————
LILY JUMPS SO BAD THAT she trips over the open floor in the middle of the hallway—she's that startled—by the abrupt knocking sound sounding from the apartment's front door.
after her hung up phone call from her sister and her angry outburst where she broke both her phone's screen and her mirror that now has shattered glass everywhere in her bedroom, about an half an hour after that, she decided to take a shower and get ready before they got there first.
she had assumed that when allison had said that they'd talk later, she meant that they were coming over tonight.
and if she was wrong? well, at least she'd know that she was prepared.
so, when she walked out of her bedroom doorway and into the small and short hallway, she raced over to the door, wearing a blue, but cropped and cute top and a black skirt and a neon belt wrapped around her waist with a pair of high top black vans with socks on her feet. and her makeup and hair is also well done.
though, before she opens the door, another knock hits the other side of the door, causing lily to jump and yell, "just a second!"
and with a few seconds of hesitation and an anxious breath leaving her, she clenches her eyes shut for a mere moment in more stress, but pushes it down and grabs the doorknob before twisting it and pulling the door open.
"hey, guys!" she forces a fake smile as she pulls the door open all the way and motions for them to walk in.
"lils!" elliot yells, enveloping her best friend in a tight hug.
lily lets out a shocked breath. "oof! hey there, girl!" she murmurs, still very much in shock as she moves a little further into the room with elliot still hugging her and shuts the door behind her.
elliot gets a few dirty looks from some of her friends, but she just rolls her eyes—she hasn't seen or talked to her best friend in about a whole week, so she missed her.
she finally pulls away to look at her best friend's look with an awed expression. "damn, girl! you are so pulling this fit off!"
lily laughs nervously, letting elliot lead her into the living room, causing her to completely forget to lock the apartment door. in fact, she completely forgets about it immediately.
everyone stands around the main room, which is the living room.
lily rolls her eyes, feeling a little confident as she speaks with ease—she may have had a little alcohol to give her some courage. "guys, seriously," she motions to the multiple spaces in the apartment. "pick a place and make yourselves at home."
thank god no one thinks too hard on her suddenly social behavior for too long—even if they're a little confused about it—because she so doesn't want to admit that she drank a little for liquid courage.
of course, it's only for this reason.
it's not like she wants to admit that she has a problem—thus, why she doesn't want anyone to notice her behavior.
it takes her a second, but she finally notices the triplets and madi.
her brows knit together in shock and confusion and suddenly becomes a little nervous, once again.
but then, her eyes catch something else. alahna.
her eyes widen and she jumps excitedly. "oh my god! alahna?"
"yep, that's my name." she replies in a sassy voice to hide her own excitement.
lily gapes for a second, before she runs over to her and throws her arms around her, almost hugging her a little too tightly.
—————
A/N: things are finally starting to get interesting. but, omg, i loved this reunion. but, i wanted to give you guys some fluff before getting into the angsty stuff for the next few chapters. but, seriously? ideas are just pouring out of me? i've been writing so many drafted chapters for the last two days? though, i do have to work in the morning, but i have sunday off and i can hopefully write more chapters. although, when i post this chapter, it'll probably be later on next week, but oh well. ALSO, if you didn't get the hints and foreshadowing, lily has a LITTLE alcohol problem whenever she wants to cope? i have experience with alcoholics in my family and i have that gene, so i figured this would be an INTERESTING storyline. so yeah. i hope that's not too triggering, because alcohol is DEFINITELY a big trigger for me. but, it's fine.
—hannah <3