It was not uncommon for Micheal's neighbors to see an extra car in their driveway. Over the past year, it has almost become commonplace. It was no secret around town how close Micheal Roberts and Lily Fields were. The Roberts parents went even as far as to insinuate that there may be more than friendship between the two high school juniors, soon to be seniors. No matter how many times Micheal denied them, it didn't stop family friends from making jokes to the teenager ever so often. While the high school gossip centered around the possibility of a Lily and Emmett romance, the adults in the Kalaloch Place neighborhood couldn't get enough of Lily and Micheal.
All of this is to say that Lily's car in the Roberts driveway was not an odd occurrence even if the Robert's children had left last night to go on their trip to San Francisco. As far as they were concerned, they were glad that Micheal may have finally gotten together with the girl. Why else would she have gone with him, his brother, and the older brother's girlfriend? What was particular was the appearance of two of the other children at the Roberts' front door. After a brief interaction, the short spiky hair girl and the tall muscled man get back in the car and drive off. No one gave it a second thought.
____________________________________________________________________
The rest of the family, except for Edward who went to visit Bella, were gathered waiting to hear any news regarding their youngest coven member. While Carlisle was confident in his decision to let Lily leave last night, he hadn't anticipated the girl to not contact them at all the next morning. After Esme and Rosalie returned a few hours into the night, the house fell into a quiet stillness. They made a conscious effort to not bring anything up in case of setting off the balance they created.
They quietly watched the sunrise as the world around them came to life. Carlisle waited a few more hours until calling out of work for the day. He rarely called out, but his family continued to be his priority and he was needed here. As the morning passed to early afternoon, the pacing began. More and more of the coven members tried to occupy their time. Edward, tired of racing thoughts inside the house, offered to go hunting with Jasper. Emmett, when offered, declined. It wasn't long after they left that Emmett volunteered to track down her car. Without asking, Alice followed him out to his car and the two were off.
"I should've been able to see something like this."
"Alice, you can't see everything. And those two girls have a mind of their own."
"What if Rosalie was right? What if she really is hurt?"
"She's not. Our Lil is a tough girl. She would've called if she was in serious danger."
Alice nodded and the car fell back into silence. There were only a few places Lilianna would have gone. They drove past Becca's and Amber's houses before making their way north to Micheal's house. The two relaxed slightly when they saw the car in the driveway. Alice jumped out of the car and walked to the door without thinking. She didn't notice until she knocks on the door that Emmett is right beside her. While Lily's scent could often be lost in the surrounding environment, neither of the vampires had picked up on it.
A middle-aged woman approached the door. Alice spoke before Emmett could, seeing as she had a better time reading people. "Hi, are you Mrs. Roberts?"
"Yes. And who might you be."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Alice Cullen and this is my brother Emmett. We were hoping to see Lily."
"You're Lily's siblings! It's so great to meet you two. We are always telling Lily to invite you over for dinner or church."
"Trust me, you may not want us around. Our house is a bit of a madhouse."
"Now I don't doubt that. Lily is always so thankful when she comes over. I've met Carlisle at the hospital before and I met your mom, Esme, at the grocery store once. She seems nice although I doubt that food could feed all of you guys. It must be hard with her husband's long hours. You know you are welcome to come over anytime Lily comes." Alice shot Emmett a glare as he started to stiffen at Mrs. Roberts's comments. None of them took kindly to anyone talking poorly of the matriarch. Alice, however, had to admit that Lily spending so much of her time outside of the house had led to this woman's assumptions. She made a note to talk to the girl about it.
"I promise you, we are good."
"Of course you are, sweetie. Anyway, I'm sorry, but they already left. They were going to let everyone sleep in, but Micheal woke up early and said the others could sleep in the car. Last I heard, they were making great time. They are already past Portland and it's just been over five hours. I think they stopped for some food once everyone woke up. I'm glad Lily was able to come. I know Micheal has been trying to get her to come for weeks now, bless him. Now, what is it that you needed?"
Alice manages to hide her surprise better than Emmett. "I'm glad to hear that. I'm afraid Lily left her phone charger. We were hoping to catch them before they left." Alice lies quickly.
"Aren't you a great sister! Next time they call, I'll tell everyone you stopped by. I'm sure she'll be able to charge it when they get to the hotel. I think they are planning on driving straight through. The weather is supposed to be lovely. It will be good for them to travel for a bit before all the summer tourists come in."
"Thanks, Mrs. Roberts. Have a good day."
The two Cullens reentered their car. "Well, she seems nice." Emmett chuckles slightly.
"Lily always says she can be a bit much. A bit too religious for my taste, but at least she knows where they are. I can't believe her! Carlisle and Esme said she couldn't go. Why in the world did she think this was a good idea."
"Easy there shortstack. We both know what went down last night. I doubt she was thinking clearly." This comment earned a glare from Alice. "Doesn't mean it wasn't a dumb decision," Emmett amended quickly.
The rest of the ride was quiet as they prepared to tell their family the news.
The reactions were predictable. The new information caused Rosalie to explode again, yelling at the adults for letting the sixteen-year-old run away with a guy. Carlisle tries to calmly remind the blonde vampire that Micheal had been her friend for years and he hadn't tried anything with the girl. Carlisle had always found their friendship odd, but had met the boy once and realized rather quickly that nothing would come of it. While the rest of the family, besides Esme, thought Lily wasn't allowed to go on the trip because Micheal was a guy, it was really because he was afraid to lose control over his youngest daughter. After the events of this year, he remembered how fragile humans were. San Francisco was bound to be sunny this time of year. None of the other Cullens would be able to tag along and watch over them. While he was angry about Lily disregarding his earlier ruling, he wanted to defend his daughter. He knew Rosalie had acted out of line yesterday, but Esme refused to tell him what happened yesterday. He wasn't blind. He knew there was some tension between the two blonde girls, but they both refused to act on it. Esme was of the belief that neither had realized it yet. Carlisle, on the other hand, thought the opposite. He believed that one or not both of the girls were aware of the fact and purposely ignoring what that meant for them. No matter what they thought, the two decided to let the girls work it out themselves. Seeing how things turned out, maybe they should have intervened more.
____________________________________________________________________
*meanwhile*
Lily vaguely remembers showing up at Micheal's house with a bag of clothes in her prom dress in the early hours of the morning. She remembers being let in without any questions and then falling back asleep only to be moved into a car a couple of hours later. Now, even her eyes opened she was met with the sun blazing into her eyes making her let out a little groan. She hears a chuckle beside her and reaches out to hit the offender's arm.
"Well, aren't you sleeping beauty?"
"Shut up, Micheal. I thought you were supposed to be driving."
"I was until about twenty minutes ago. Jared offered to take a shift after he woke up. So, want to tell me what made your father magically change his mind."
"Well......"
He groaned, "Lily, your family does know you're here, right?"
"By now, probably." Her answer made Jared and his girlfriend Camila laugh.
"I'm dead. I'm literally going to be murdered by one of your siblings and never be seen again."
"Lighten up Mikey boy," Jared chimed in. "Of course you're never going to be seen again if you get murdered. That's a part of the whole being dead thing."
"Anyway, nothing can be done now, we are already halfway past Oregon. We can handle it later. Lily, you call your folks tonight and let them yell a bit, and then we can have fun for the rest of the trip. How does that sound?" Camila added. Lily liked her. She seemed nice.
Micheal and Lily nodded from the backseat. "And you've got nothing to complain about. You still ended up with the girl anyway." Lily raised her eyebrow at Micheal about his brother's comment but he just shrugs at the comment.
Lily swung her arm over his shoulder. "And there's no place I'd rather be."
The four continued their drive throughout the day and into the night. They had fun, but everyone was exhausted by the time they reached the hotel.
"Well, mom booked Camila and Lily their own rooms, but if you don't mind. We would rather stay together." When no one opposed Jared smiled and headed Lily and Micheal their room keys. Then added, "Just don't tell mom. Have fun you two."
The groups headed to their separate rooms. Lily collapsed on the bed as soon as she walked in making Micheal laugh.
"Comfy?"
"Extremely," Lily stated, muffled by the comforter.
"Now then, mind telling me what this is all about."
"Do I have to?" Lily whined.
"yes."
"Fine, you know how I went to prom, right?" Lily rolled onto her back as she talked so she could see Micheal nod. "Well, we may have made out in his car and my family may have found out and one of them had quite a choice of words to say. They didn't listen to what I had to say and they just kept on implying things that didn't happen and I just needed to leave. I knew you would let me in. I don't even remember deciding to come to find you."
"I'm glad you did. Sounds like you had a rough night though. Tell me, it had to be Emmett or Rosalie, right? Maybe Edward. He seems protective over the Swan girl. I bet he's the same around you too."
Lily laughed lightly and silence fell into the room. Micheal continued, "Well, whoever it was you should at least text your mom where you are. I'm going to shower."
Micheal left the room and Lily changed into some pajamas. She turned on her phone feeling guilty at all the missed messages. She sent a short text to her dad saying sorry, before typing out a longer message for her mother. 'Hey mom, we got to the hotel. I forgot the name, but it is a chain a block away from the water. I'm in San Francisco. I'm sorry for leaving last night, but I needed some space. I didn't mean to come on the trip, but Mrs. Roberts assumed I was going when she saw me this morning. We are only staying for five days and then making the trip back home. Love you.'
Before she could turn off her phone screen Esme had already replied, 'I'm glad you're safe. Get some sleep. We're not happy that you went on the trip, but we can talk when you back. Stay safe. I promise we aren't going to be mad. Miss you already.'
While her mother's message helped the girl, she also felt guilty. She didn't mean to worry anyone. She also hated the fact that her family was missing her. Maybe this trip would be a good thing. It may help to start the divide that will make it easier to leave them. She reads through the other messages from her siblings. She quickly responds to Emmett's threat of only taking carrots to lunch for the next two months if she doesn't answer by saying she would throw up on him if he tried. There was one sibling noticeably missing from her messages, Rosalie. Lily tried not to think about it. She rarely used the piece of technology anyway, but it still hurt.
She set her phone down and turned off the light. A few minutes later she heard Micheal leaving the bathroom and heading to bed.
"No funny business hot stuff."
Micheal groaned. "I told them to stop, but they won't let it go. I'm sorry about them."
"It's no problem. They mean well. Everyone needs some light teasing."
"Oh, talking from experience there Lily."
"You try living with Emmett and you tell me."
Micheal laughed and the two fell into silence. Enough time passed that Lily assumed Micheal is asleep but is proved incorrect.
"You know I'm gay, right?"
Lily felt herself still. While she knew, it was never something they said. She knew they couldn't risk things around his family.
She only waited a few moments before responding, "Yeah, I know."
The two fell into silence again.
Silence.
Quiet.
Until Lily felt the need to say something else. Something of equal value.
"It was Rose," she said before she could stop herself.
A few beats pass.
"yeah?" Micheal's voice reached her ears.
"yeah" Lily parrots.
No other words were spoken that night. Lily wondered why her confession felt more than just admitting who yelled at her.
____________________________________________________________________
If Lily was being honest with herself, she was dreading the end of this trip. As soon as they took to the road, Lily felt the weight of everything that happened pressing against her. While she told her mom that the trip would last five days, they were only planning on spending four days in San Francisco. To be honest, there wasn't a lot to do in the city. She had given herself the extra day in case she wanted to stay at the Roberts household for another night, however, she logically knew it would only delay the inevitable.
If her companions noticed any change, they were kind enough not to mention it. By the time she arrived back at her car, she felt exhausted. She gave Micheal a look, but he shook his head no. He was right, there was no point in waiting. She wanted to go home.
The drive home didn't feel long enough. She took a deep breath and headed inside. There didn't appear to be anyone home. This surprised her. I guess she didn't tell them she was getting home that evening. They probably went hunting to pass some time. Maybe Carlisle was working. It felt strange not knowing his schedule. She decided to just head up to her room. She didn't feel like eating anyway. She was unaware of the vampire listening to her from the studio.
Esme felt a wave of relief as she heard her daughter arrive home. Her absence wore on the family more than they wanted to admit. She had become a staple in their lives over the years and everything felt slightly off balance. Esme thought about greeting the girl, but she could vaguely make out the racing heart and realized the girl was nervous about nothing. She figured it would be better to let the girl calm down before anything happened. That is what she thought before she made out the quiet tears.
Lily can't identify what set her off. She doesn't even realize she's crying at first until she tastes a salty tear. Maybe it was her discarded heels, messy closet, or Rosalie's book sitting on her normal chair in her room. Whatever it was, her room suddenly seemed too big. She found herself moving quickly into her bathroom and closing the door. She tries to regain her composure but she fails miserably. Now the tears are falling hard. How could she fuck up so badly? Why did she have to feel this way for someone who won't even listen to her? She's so stuck in her head that she doesn't hear someone join her.
Esme knocked on the bathroom door before stepping in. Her heart broke at the sight of her youngest daughter crying. The girl didn't seem to notice her mom entering so she knocked against the wall trying not to startle her by wrapping her up in her arms. This seems to grab her attention and her face breaks more if possible.
"Mom, I'm so sorry."
Esme approached the girl and wrapped her up in a tight hug. She was glad she decided to stay home tonight instead of hunting with her family. A mother's intuition is never wrong. "Shhhh. It's okay. Don't apologize." She kissed the top of her head.
"No. It's not. I didn't listen to you. I'm sorry. I messed up everything." The girl wasn't calming down. Esme assumed this is more than just about going on the trip and held the girl tighter. She was slightly scared that she's going to make herself sick.
"You didn't. You listen to me, you didn't mess anything up. Just breathe with me." Esme mimed deep breaths as she guided the two of them down to the ground resting their backs against the vanity doors. With Lily pressed against her mom's side, she tried to calm herself. She was supposed to be getting more independent, but this was the exact opposite. She tried to pull away, but she couldn't. She doesn't want to admit how thankful she is for that.
Esme risked talking again. "Now, do you want to tell me what this is all about?"
"I know you said we can't run away from our problems, but I don't want to talk about it. I'll take whatever punishment. I knew it was wrong."
"What matters is that you are back home and safe. I know you think we don't listen, but we do. You're growing up, but we still want to protect you from others. What is this about?"
Lily hesitated for only a moment before confessing. "She hates me, mom. She was so mad, and I couldn't stop it." The girl dissolved into tears again.
Esme sighed. She didn't need any clarification on who her daughter was talking about. She could hear the hurt in both of the girl's voices before she left.
"She doesn't hate you, Lily. She was just scared. She didn't want anything to happen to you. She was angry and wasn't thinking. You know how she is."
"This wasn't like that. You didn't see her. She wouldn't listen. She never looked at me like that before. She hates me. She's never going to talk to me again."
"Lily. Breathe. She's not going to hate you. Let it out."
Lily thought about the other confessions she could make. Her thoughts rushed past her. Her fear about Micheal's family finding out about him. Fear about school rumors. Fear about Rosalie hating her. Her pain at having to leave the family that loves her after she graduates in a year. Even worse, the thought of her slipping and others finding out about her crush on Rosalie. It seemed stupid to call it a crush. So juvenile, but she didn't know what else to say.
Lily squeezed her eyes tight refusing to look at Esme. "You would hate me too if you knew."
Esme stiffens for a moment taken aback by the girl's statement. The brief pause was enough for Lily to think the worst and cry harder almost having to gasp for air. "Lilianna, you listen to me now." Esme used her free hand to move the girl's face to look at her. "There is nothing you could do that could make me hate you. You are my child and I will always love you. This family will never hate you. Not Rose. And especially me. Do you understand?"
The girl nodded and sank into herself. Not fully believing, but she leans on her mother. She can't possibly understand that she was attracted to another one of her kids. In reality, Esme was far too aware of the possible source of turmoil.
She had nothing else to say to the girl as she still repeated, "She hates me." Luckily, Esme didn't have to.
Lily tenses as she feels someone sit next to her and wrap an arm around her on her other side. She is firmly flanked on both sides by cold bodies.
"Liliana. Lily."
Lily's voice caught in her throat as soon as the voice passed through her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head no, refusing to believe that the owner of the voice would be here. The new arm gripped her tighter in an effort to get the girl to calm down. The new addition looked at Esme slightly scared. Unsure of what to do or how to help. Esme just gave her a soft smile in encouragement but was unable to hide her own panic completely.
"Lily," the voice started again.
"Rose" Lily says softly, unable to say anything else.
"I don't hate you. I couldn't hate you even if I tried." The words seemed to calm the girl. Even if Lily didn't believe it, she desperately wanted to. She wanted to soak in the moment. She wanted to live in the reality that this was true.
Before Rosalie could second guess herself, she placed a light kiss on Lily's head. She savored the feeling of her cold lips on the warm skin before pulling away. Esme and her were holding the girl as she exhausted her tears and started to fall asleep. No words are spoken as Esme picked up the sleeping girl and put her in bed. Rosalie and Esme both headed downstairs and waited for the rest of the family to join them.
Rosalie was thankful for the lack of comments and questions from Esme. She didn't want to explain the sense of panic she felt when she first heard Lily's cries. She didn't want to be questioned on the fact that she was the only family member outside of the two to enter the house. How could she possibly explain the fact that she had refused to let anyone else into the house as soon as she heard the cries? You weren't supposed to threaten the coven, but that hadn't stopped her from growling at Emmett as soon as he touched the doorknob. She had only been able to relax until Carlisle promised that the rest of them would leave and not enter. She knew it was illogical and she would never admit how much his words calmed her.
And if she left the room as soon as she heard her family approaching the house again, that was her business.
If she happened to find herself sitting in the chair in Lily's room flipping through her book, that was alright in her books.
Lily was safe now.
And maybe, just maybe, this was the first time Rosalie had felt at peace in five days.
No one needed to know that either.
A/N: And we are done with Twilight!!!! I'm so sorry to end it on such a sad note. I do enjoy some angst. I fully plan on continuing the story. I think I'm just going to add to this book instead of starting another one. Thanks, everyone for following along! I can't express how much your comments and hearts mean to me. I'm going to try to be motivated through the next book. Thanks for sticking with me through such a long break.