Hi guys, I just checked my story and saw that I just hit 106 reads whaaaat! Thank you guys so much, I really appreciate it. I hope you're enjoying Lily's story so far and don't forget to vote and comment! Also above would be Damien's aesthetic, and let me know if you think Rym and Damien should be together. (Plus Damien's name isn't actually spelled liked that, but it was the best I could do)
Love you and hope you enjoy <3
-Soph
Chapter Twelve
~~~
C A R T E R
I was kind of surprised when Lily asked me to leave the party with her, she seemed a lot more confident these days.
"Fluffy's Diner?" I questioned with a smirk on my face.
"I know I know just drive," Lily chuckled, rolling her eyes.
I started my car and Lily directed me to the diner. Her lips upturned into a smile when I turned into downtown, the lights of the city lit up her beautiful violet eyes as we drove past them. She looked mesmerized by the city, as if she hadn't seen it before.
"I love this part of Miami," Lily said when we arrived at the diner. "My Dad used to take Rym and I here every birthday, but I guess he got busier with his company and all."
I nodded and opened to door for her, she laughed and walked in.
"What a gentleman," Lily teased, sitting at a nearby table.
'Fluffy's Diner' wasn't a fluffy as I imagined. It was a small business with wooded tables filling it and a hardwood floor. It was very homey with a wide variety of food on the menu.
"Try Fluffy's Fluffernutter Sandwich," Lily whispered to me, pointed at an item on her menu.
"What is fluffernutter?" I asked.
"It's a sandwich with peanut butter and marshmallow creme, it used to be all I would eat. Then my Dad got it on the menu for me as a birthday present and he got lemonade bars on it for Rym."
"Really?" I sat back in my seat. "Your dad seems pretty cool."
My face fell a little bit, and I think Lily noticed. "You okay?" she asked. "and don't say I'm fine, we both know you aren't."
I chuckled. "Yeah no it's just, my Dad isn't really... around much."
"Oh," Lily said simply.
"Hey Lily!" we heard a voice exclaim.
I looked to my right a saw a short Asian girl wearing a yellow uniform. The roots of her hair were brunette while the rest was dyed sunset pink.
"Hi Luna," Lily replied, looking at the short girl who stood beside us. "Can we get two Fluffernutter sandwiches?"
"The Lily Special coming right up," Luna winked.
Lily gave Luna a small smile in return then refocused her attention on me.
"So," she said, folding her hands and setting them neatly on the two-person wooden table. "We're basically strangers."
I chuckled and nodded. "I guess so Violeta."
"Let's play 20 questions."
"Oh boy."
Lily rolled her eyes and sat back. "I'll go first. What's your middle name?"
I swallowed. "Um..."
Lily smirked and leaned in closer.
"It's uh... Jarvis..."
Lily laughed. "Wow."
"Yeah... only Hunter knows that one."
"Hunter?"
"Um yeah, my best friend. We're basically brothers."
"Oh," Lily cleared her throat. "I haven't seen him around much with the others."
"Yeah uh, besides me he kind of likes to do his own thing. Not much of a crowd guy, plus he's like head over heels in love with Jasmine and so is River so."
"Wait River likes Jasmine?!" Lily shrieked. "I knew it."
I chuckled. "I think she likes River too. It really sucks for Hunt though, Jaz doesn't know him well."
"Awe."
"Yeah, Hunter came to the party actually. He texted me."
"Really? Why didn't he say hey?"
"He's says-and I quote- 'Need to get rid of the Jasmine jitters'."
Lily snorted and slapped her hand on our table, just in time for Luna to bring our food.
"Enjoy," she said politely.
"Thanks Luna, see you at the next Christmas party," Lily smiled, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"Christmas party?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah. HUGE gala my mom and dad throw every Christmas, I get to invite whoever I want. I've only ever been able to invite Luna and my friend Christie. Luna's great but we're not insanely close, and Christie's ten."
"Well you Astrid and Jasmine seem to get along," I pointed out, taking a bite of my sandwich. "Dang it this is good."
"Right?"
I chucked as Lily moaned over her food for the thousandth time, after a few more questions her phone buzzed and she took it out.
"It's just Rym," she waved it off. "I told where I am."
I nodded. "My turn."
"Oh, okay."
"Why did you used to be so shy and now..."
Lily giggled. "I'm not? Yeah... I don't know actually. I wasn't and still probably am not fully used to the outside world. My only real friends were my sisters basically." She bit off another piece of her sandwich. "But you guys have really helped me out of my shell."
I grinned. "Of course we have."
"Shut up Mr. Landon."
I smiled and looked at the clock, it was way past midnight.
"Gotta go?" Lily asked, following my gaze.
I nodded. "Sorry, my sister's at home and I have a lot of stuff to get over with."
"No worries, I should probably get home anyway."
"Well thanks for the sandwich."
Lily smiled and rolled her eyes. "You're welcome Landon, thanks for the small talk. I needed to clear my head."
I smiled at the short, black haired girl that stood before me. She was perfect in every way, and that dress. Definitely Astrid.
"Of course Violeta."
~~~
I dropped Lily off at her massive house, she waved a clumsy goodbye with one hand while holding her heels in the other.
'Heels are the devils way of torturing your feet' - Lily Easton. '
Finally I turned into Murray's driveway, seeing Murray's car in it.
"I'm back," I said lazily, closing the door behind me.
No answer. I looked around the corner to see Hunter and Emily curled up on the couch sound asleep with Charlie asleep on the recliner. And of course Murray was still awake watching Parks and Recreation.
"Oh hey man," Murray said, his eyes looked tired.
"Hey," I greeted. "You should get some sleep."
"Only if you do dude, you haven't slept in forever."
I nodded. My dad really had me shaken up. Him hitting Charlie, the years of him drunkenly screaming, me having to worry about every freaking thing in this family.
"I know Murray, thanks."
"By the way, you fight Wednesday, Monday's Hellbone versus Snap. Whoever wins that one fights you on Wednesday and whoever wins Monday goes to finals."
I nodded. "When are finals?"
"December."
I nearly tripped myself and died. "December!? That's in two and a half months are you kidding?"
"Nope. Boss needs time to tie some loose ends, he wanted to award the winner his position immediately after they won."
I nodded. "What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"
"Train, go to other fights, you'll figure it out. Now go to sleep."
I rolled my eyes. "Goodnight broccoli head."
"Oh shut up."
I laughed as I closed my door, removing my converse and shirt. Eventually letting sleep overcome me.
~~~ Saturday, September 7, 2019(hey sorry, gonna do this now so you guys can see the date and stuff)
"Get up idiot and put on a shirt, you reek."
I groggily sat up and rubbed my eyes to see who woke me up ever so politely.
"Charlie get out it's Saturday."
"Exactly," Charlie rolled her eyes. "Saturday morning brunch, now get you and your boney butt out of bed before Emily comes in with her makeup."
I shoved my little sister off my bed. "Fine Charlotte you win, now get out."
Charlie snorted and scurried out of the guest room I was staying in. After five more minutes of precious slumber I rolled out of bed and took a shower. It felt good on my sore body, especially my bruised torso and broken rib.
I wrapped my stomach and iced my rib for a couple seconds before throwing on a black t shirt and sweatpants.
"Morning sunshine," said Hunter, raising his glass of orange juice.
Emily was at the griddle flipping pancakes and vigorously mixing up a bowl of raw eggs. Emily was definitely the cook. Murray tried to cook and ended up destroying the toaster, I tried cooking... and let's just say spaghetti is not supposed to be green. Hunter tried cooking and broke the couch. Which wasn't even a kitchen utensil, he broke it by jumping on top of it because the sound of the microwave beeping scared him.
Idiot.
Charlie just didn't like cooking, or mornings so we just left it at that. But Emily, she watched Master Chef Junior every Wednesday and perfected recipes on weekends. Her chicken Parmesan was close to perfection.
"Pancake Carter?" Emily asked sweetly. She held up a plate of two pancakes covered with syrup, a few sprinkles of powdered sugar and strawberries circling it.
"Wow Em," I say, taking the plate from her. "You really outdid yourself."
"I know." Emily flipped another pancake and started on the eggs.
"So dude, where you last night?" Murray asked, finishing his pancake.
"A party," I shrugged. "Levine's."
"Jordan Levine?" Charlie gaped, dropping her fork.
"How the heck do you know him?" I sat back in my seat.
"In case you forgot, he's has a sister. Desiree Levine, she showed up to school in a mini skirt and a crop top. Breaking just about every dress code in the book."
Murray snorted.
"Can we not talk about the Levine's of all dysfunctional families," Hunter groaned, putting away his dishes.
"Please," I nodded.
~~~
After Emily's brunch, I texted Damien and River to see if they wanted to meet up someplace. And after and half an hour of bickering about where to go we finally agreed to go to the gym. I had to be ready for Wednesday, Damien just enjoyed working out, and River liked showing off.
I parked my Mustang in front of the gym we usually went to. I saw River's car and Damien's motorcycle parked next to each other before entering the small gym known as 'Healthy Mind'. The name makes no sense whatsoever but I don't ask any questions.
I made my way towards the pull up bars where Damien and River seemed to be bickering. Most likely about who was the strongest.
The answer is me.
"Sup dude," River said, coming in for a bro hug.
He as always was in a muscle shirt and basketball shorts, smugly looking around and subtly flexing to every girl that walked by. Damien was just in a muscle shirt and sweatpants while I was in the same type of clothes a River.
"Marjorie," Damien groaned, pointed ahead.
Sure enough, Marjorie Wilson was strutting down the black carpet that laid in front of the entrance.
"Hey boys," she purred. "Sorry about our interruption last night, Carter, maybe you and I could workout together."
Marjorie smiled devilishly, setting a hand daintily on her hip. She was wearing a pink, sleeveless Nike athletic top and white running shorts.
"No thanks," I said uncomfortably.
Marjorie huffed. "Fine," she squeaked before stalking away.
"Anyway," River said quickly. "How much can you bench?"
"More than you," Damien nudged his friend's arm.
"Whoa wait," I stopped. "Is that Lily?"
River and Damien followed my gaze to the front doors of the gym. River's jaw dropped as his eyes raked her body. She looked around the gym and made her way towards the treadmills. She was in a black muscle shirt and Nike pros. Her hair was up in a messy bun and we watched as it moved up and down when she jogged.
"Hey stalkers," all three of us turned around to see a short red haired girl with big glasses. "You're staring."
"Yeah..." River cleared his throat. "Thanks."
The red head nodded and moved past us.
"Wow," Damien breathed. "She is fit."
I rolled my eyes. "Come on."
"Yo Lily!"
Dang it River.
Lily turned her head in our direction, her violet eyes found ours when her lips upturned into a small smile. She jogged over, adjusting her shorts. Her face seemed slightly puffy and her eyes looked tired.
"You guys do Saturday morning gym workouts?" she breathed.
"Wait this is a daily thing for you?" Damien asked, gulping down water from his water bottle.
"Well yeah," Lily chuckled. "Can't you tell?"
She held up her arms, showcasing her beautifully toned biceps.
"I can tell, how 'bout you Carter," River smiled, his eyes still on Lily's arms.
"Whoa there," Lily smirked. "You like Jasmine remember?"
River's face went bright red. He slapped my shoulder.
"Ow!" I exclaimed.
"You told her!"
"Relax!" Lily rolled her eyes. "A blind person could see that you liked her."
River ran a hand through his hair sighed. "Fantastic."
Lily chuckled. "So Carter, you wanna see who can do the most push ups?"
"You're on Easton."
Lily smiled and raced me to an area full of mats for solo exercising. We both got into position.
"Go!" Damien said, whipping his arm down in a karate chop motion.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
"Don't slip Landon," Lily said between huffs.
"Right back at you Easton," I whispered, leaning towards her ear.
I could see a faint blush heat her sweaty face. She shook her head and pushed it back. Fifty-two push ups later my arms feel stiff and my torso aches, I stop, lowering my knee to the ground and sitting. My bruised ribs didn't take this lightly.
"You good Landon?" Lily asks, out of breath and seemingly happier.
She reaches out and helps me up.
"Yeah yeah, fine," I say, catching my breath.
"Dude, only fifty-six?" Damien scoffs. "How have I lost to you all these years?"
"Because your noodle arms can't unscrew a pickle jar that's why," River laughs, earning a glare from Damien.
Lily laughs along, but stops abruptly when her phone buzzed. She took it out of her shorts and her face fell ever so slightly when she looked at it.
"I have to go," she says, smiling weakly. "Enjoy your workout boys."
Lily grabbed the small duffel bag she carried with her and sent us a small wave on her way out of the gym.
"Pull up contest," River said immediately, shooting me and Damien a challenging look.
Dang it River.
~~~
WOWEEEE
Sorry I'm tired and this chapter took FOREVER so yeeaahhh.
So there is your Carter quotes, feel free to jot it down in the history books.
Love you all to pieces <3