"if you touch me like you'll break me, so love me like you hate me"

kira kosarin — "love me like you hate me"

LUCIFER.

"Order! Order!" The sound of a hammer hitting a table hits my ears as soon as we all walk inside the brown house. The room we're in is a square with big old windows all around the walls. A man I recognise from this afternoon, the one who gave me a dirty look while I was on my Honda, is standing in front of a group of people sitting down in lines from the stand towards the door where we're at.

As soon as he lays his eyes on us, Celia, Jackson, Teddy, Lilith and I, the man rolls his eyes annoyed at our interruption. "Late again?" His voice is annoying, have to be honest, quick and with an old tone that would make you want to rip out your ears the more you hear him. "Is there gonna be a time where the Avery family gets here on time?"

Celia touches his two children's head. "The fact that I have Lilith and Teddy already has to tell you that I usually get things late, Pedro."

That's Pedro, then, the man that Lilith described as a cartoon character while angry at the watching machines. Makes sense.

Pedro furrows his eyebrows, confused at what Celia said. "What?"

Feeling someone pinching me in the arm, my eyes lead to where it came from to find Lilith trying to get my attention. "That's Pedro." She whispers as she points with her chin and the man continues having a chat with Celia.

I nod. "He looked at me dirty when I was getting to your house."

"Glad that's the only dirty thing he did to you." I wait for a jokingly chuckle coming from Lilith, but nothing comes, just a shrug of the shoulders and a normal look in her eyes.

"Lilith," Pedro's (annoying) voice calls my attention so I lead my eyes to him "glad to see you're back and that you don't contribute to your family's tardiness." He says, clearly sarcastically.

But Lilith doesn't let herself be affected by it, joining on the joke. "C'mon, Pedro, just admit that you miss me. You miss my jokes every town meeting."

"Your jokes always lead to a very unorganised conversation between the group, missy" Pedro speaks as Lilith drags me towards some sits in the middle of the room "so, no, I don't miss them."

"Lies, lies, lies, Pedro. I thought you were against that."

We all sit down in a single line. I, sit on the end of the it when a red headed woman (probably in her sixties) smiles at me like she just found out my most deepest secret.

Handing me her hand, I hesitate on grabbing it. Why is this woman giving me her hand to hold? I ask myself. But soon realise, it wasn't for me to hold, it was for Lilith. "Hi, sweetheart."

While Lilith's arm is going across my body, the woman gives me a sudden wink, almost invisible for the far eye. "Who's the hottie?"

Me? I've never been described as the "hottie". Unconditionally attractive, yes, that's the one I've heard before.

Pedro clearing his throat enables Lilith to let out anything.

"See?" He asks.

"She was just saying hi!"

The fresh smell of popcorn reaches my nose followed by the sound of a bag being opened allows me to understand where is it coming from. "That better not be food, Celia." Pedro lectures Lilith's mom, who stares at him with an innocent look.

"Would you rather it be drugs?"

"What— no!"

"Then food is better." And she continues to eat the popcorn like nothing.

Pedro lets out a sigh as he tries to deal with the Avery family. "I'm gonna get a headache."

"Go back to the subject, would ya?" A woman's voice sounds from the front of the room. It's raspy and it sounds annoyed, like she's been here for an hour long before us.

"Oh, here we go." Teddy says excitedly while he takes a hand full of popcorn to his mouth.

Lilith pinches me again. At this point, maybe a bruise from all the pinching will form and it's certainly gonna take a lot of words to explain to coach. "That's Rose, the owner of the thrift store."

The scary looking woman. Got it.

Slowly understanding the rhythm of this town, slowly, but getting there.

"As I was saying," Pedro rolls his eyes again, trying to ignore Rose "we have to discuss the matter of the kids wanting a skate park built. And, before anyone cares to say anything, let me add that the kids wanting a skate park is just an excuse to have a place to drink alcohol and do other substances I'm not gonna mention."

"Drugs?" A guy says on the back, confused on why Pedro doesn't want to say word.

"I would've loved a skate park when I was going through my skater girl phase." Lilith says softly by my side. "It would've allowed me to have all of my embarrassing falls in one place. Not all over town."

"Yes! Us giving them the skate park is gonna allow them to do that since there's not gonna be any parents around! We certainly can't do that! What else would they want a skate park?"

"I don't know," Celia adds "maybe skate?"

"Or smoke weed that they grow behind the flower shop." Lilith continues to talk like she's in a movie commentary and the subtitles of the conversation are her thoughts. A little chuckle escapes my mouth gaining a couple of stares from the group.

Pedro just gives out a fake chuckle. "Sure!"

"Pedro, you always complain about kids running around with their skateboards on the street." Another unfamiliar voice says behind us.

"Yes," an old woman says on the front trying to hold her laughter "after one of them accidentally tripped you and you fell with ice cream all over your lips you never really liked them again."

"I remember that day," Lilith says, holding her laughter like that woman "I think I have the picture I took somewhere." 

"Find it!" Her mom adds. "We're gonna need that framed!"

"I never liked them. And it wasn't an accident."

"He was ten, Pedro, get over it!"

"I will not! The skate park should get all no votes!"

I hear Rose let out a dramatic sigh from a far. "You're pathetic."

Like they all just turned on the movie with a dramatic scene happening, Lilith, Teddy and Celia all start smiling excitedly to each other. Teddy hands me some popcorn. "Have popcorn! It's better with popcorn!"

What's better?

Even if I have no idea what's going on, I still grab a handful of popcorn.

"I beg your pardon?" Pedro asks Rose, offended.

"You want me to say it louder for you? You're pa-the-tic. You're having a tantrum because some kids want an innocent skate park? Get a life!"

This is the fight they were all referring to, Pedro vs. Rose. I can't help but stare at the Avery family by my right side, and finding them all eating popcorn like they're watching the greatest movie of all time, a smile forms on the corner of my lips. Jackson seems to be thinking the same thing since he also stares at them, enjoying the show of the amusing Avery family.

"My job is to make the town of Forwell a good place to live for the people, I don't know why you're always against me!"

"It's fun!"

"You're life is that boring that you have to look for fun in a town meeting? This is serious!"

"Uuuuh," Lilith says "that was a good one. I have to give it to him."

"Nothing in this town is serious! Xavier is wearing his hotdog costume at the town meeting!"

Turning my head back just like everyone is doing, I find Xavier, the guy in the bike we saw earlier, with his hotdog costume still on. "I like it." He claims, with an innocent look.

"You're always in a terrible mood!" Pedro continues the fight, gaining my attention and everyone else's too. It's like a movie scene happening in real life, and people are surely enjoying it.

"And you always disapprove things that you don't like! I prefer being in a terrible mood because of my problems than having your ugly faces with everyone else's business up your ass!"

Pedro gasps loudly, leading for a low chuckle coming from Lilith by my side. My attention inevitably goes to her and her shiny eyes staring at the fight. She looks like an excited kid watching her favourite TV show, with popcorn between her hands and a little smile on the corner of her lip. I can't help but smile liking her— I mean, liking the way she looks.

Fuck.

"Language, Rose!"

"Fuck off!" The sound of Rose brusquely getting up from the chair makes my eyes go to her. "I'm tired of this stupid town meetings." She walks down the hallway towards the door.

"Fine, then leave!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

And with a loud slam, she's out of the room leaving everyone with a very satisfying feeling because of the fight between Pedro and her.

"That was good..." Lilith says, nodding approvingly.

Celia agrees. "I sense some sexual tension between them."

"What? Really?!"

Teddy doesn't seem surprised by it, Instead, he shakes his head in disgust. "Ewww."

"You alright there, Lucifer?" For the first time since we walked inside the room, Jackson gives me his attention while a sweet smile is on his face.

I nod, not very convinced. "Yeah... it's hard to get used to the town, though."

Jackson chuckles. "When I was new, I thought I was going crazy because of the weird things that happened here. Over time, you'll get used to it, don't worry."

I'd like to believe him, but the annoying feeling of Lilith not letting me visit her town again is definitely can't help but grow each second I get used to something. It takes me to believe me "getting used to" this is useless...

"I say yes to the skate park!" Lilith claims as she lifts her fists into the air, gaining approval nods from everyone.

"Of course you do, Lilith," but Pedro shakes his head "with the people you hang out with."

He gives me a quick look— is he insinuating that I, Lucifer Donovan, do drugs? If coach hears about this, he would threaten Pedro in every possible language and then kill me for making that seem believable.

"What? Him?" Lilith points at me, confused. I don't say a word, I know it's gonna be turn against me somehow by Pedro. "He doesn't do drugs!" She sounds secure of what she's saying. But, when Lilith gives me a look the amount of intrigue she has in her eyes can't be hidden. "You don't, right?" Her whisper arrives to my ears.

"Yes," I nod, sarcastically "every Friday night with my elf from wonderland... no, I don't do drugs!"

"Can we stop bringing outsiders to the town meetings, please." Pedro looks at Celia and Lilith, trying to intimidate them. "That goes for the both of you."

"He's my boyfriend, Pedro," Celia points out "he's not an outsider."

"Fine. And you?" He stares at me. "Are you Lilith's boyfriend?"

"No—" the first word that I let out to the group in the room gains me the look of everyone on me.

"You're single, then." The same woman that asked Lilith who I was (described as the "hottie"), says by my other side. Looking at her, the smile that she has on her lips makes me remember of the old ladies that I met when I got lost, cheekily and flirty.

"Keep it in your pants, Paula." Lilith's annoyed tone prevents me from saying anything else in my defence.

"We don't want outsiders in our town meetings and much less if they ride a loud motorcycle that wake the entire town up."

"Don't you insult the Honda, Pedro!"

"Don't you dare!" I recognise those two voices immediately, Lizzy and Johnny, and I'm sure the fact that they defended the motorcycle and not me does help me on recognising them too. In a fire, they wouldn't save me, that's for sure.

"It was five pm when he showed up, Pedro." Lilith adds, defending me.

Wait— defending me? Is that right? Did I hear that right? Am I going crazy?

I stare at her, not finding a joking expression in her face, instead, she's as annoyed as the moment she saw me for the first time walk inside her house.

"What about naps? People need naps! If he's gonna stay for much longer he should not be using the motorcycle in hours that people sleep."

I get the urge to say to Pedro to shut up and mind his own business, but the Lucifer that would say that is locked behind a metal door, not wanting to gain more angry eyes at me from the group. Less Pedro, who seems to have grown a hatred towards me.

"40% of people in this town are old, they're always taking naps. Let the hot man drive whatever he wants!" A strange voice yells behind us, lost in the group of people.

"Is the first time Lilith brings a man home, don't freak him!" Another voice speaks, growing a couple of agreeing sounds.

"Excuse me—" Lilith gets cut off.

"Yeah, don't scare him away! He seems nice!"

"Can we go back to the part of Lilith bringing a man—"

I have to bite my lower lip to prevent a smile coming out, liking the idea of these people thinking I'm Lilith's boyfriend. She doesn't seem to think the same, though, as expected, she lifts her index finger to gain the attention of everyone.

"If he wants to drive the Honda, he should! You can't make a ride like that wait!" But the group doesn't give her the time to talk.

"Damn right!"

Pedro looks at Lilith, disappointingly. "See what you did?"

"You blame me? Lucifer's the one with he Honda!"

My name causes the group to burst out into incoherent words, everyone with their little conversations.

"His name is Lucifer? They're perfect!"

"Oh, Lord..." Pedro does the cross sign with his left hand, slowly shaking his head.

Great, another reason to hate me.

"No—" Lilith tries to stop the conversation once again.

"Lilith and Lucifer, what a dreamy combo."

"Kids with his eyes and her hair?"

My mouth can't help it, a chuckle escapes my mouth enjoying Lilith's tiny freak out and annoyed eyes. Don't know why, but my brain has decided to take this into the funny side instead of understanding the real reason why Lilith is hating this.

Better that way.

"Kids?! Pedro, bang your stupid tiny hammer, end the meeting!"

"It's not stupid! And it's not tiny!"

"This is funnier than the fight between Pedro and Rose." Teddy says, gaining an agreeing nod from his smiling mom and a little chuckle from Jackson.

I, just stay in silence with my arms across my chest ignoring the annoying feeling inside my chest.

Soon later, the same banging that I heard when we all walked inside the room hits my ears. "Meeting ended!" Pedro shakes his head as he walks away from the stand and heads out the door.

"You!" Lilith slaps me on the arm. "Enjoyed the show, Donovan?" Annoyed at me, as usual, Lilith gets up from the chair and walks out the room.

I don't wait a second to follow her, but the lady that asked who I was steps in front of me. "Hi, Lucifer..." She is son joined by a group of women, also looking at me with huge smiles on their faces.

Oh, boy...

Saying immediately goodbye to them seems rude, so, I just nod. "Hello, ladies."

Why ladies? Now they're smiling even bigger.

The red headed woman touches the side of my arm, slowly starts caressing it. "You're such a tall man. And those tattoos... wonder what they would look like when you're flexed. I'm a dance teacher, the best in town, have you ever considered doing dance?"

Does the night when Colin tried to teach me what he learned in a free Zumba class count? "I don't think so..."

"You'll be great at it, and, you know, it also makes you great for other things if you know what I mean..."

The woman gets closer, almost to the point of her chest touching mine.

But it's soon prevented, when a hand grabs my arm and pushes me back. "We should get going."

Lilith? I stare at her, forcing a smile out as she looks at the woman.

"Oh, hi, Lilith," the woman chuckles "just admiring the view from down here. I can go lower..."

What?!

"Goodnight, Paula." Lilith (thank God) drags me towards the door.

"It will!" Paula says, followed by a flirtatious laugh.

"Let's go before you become husband number five."

As the group of people that was inside the room leaves to different sides, glad that the long meeting was ended, Lilith still makes us both walk to the left side of the building, where my eyes immediately locate her family talking between them while they wait for us. She walks quickly, like she has something to finish and she's running out of time. Her typical rhythm in Forwell, then.

"I'm gonna show Lucifer the fountain!" Yelling as we both arrive where her family is, even though that I have no clue what Lilith is talking about, it seems that everyone knows, looking at her with no hint of confusion in their faces.

"The fountain?" Celia ask, lifting an eyebrow.

"I don't think he watched it properly." Lilith gives me a smile. But not the one that it seems to be cute and sweet, absolutely not, the ones that you see someone do before doing something evil. "And, the fact that he liked the town meeting so much, a typical thing from Forwell, I just think he needs to see the other typical thing from Forwell."

Teddy and Celia nod, liking what Lilith is saying. Jackson, on the other hand, slowly nods his head like he's been in my position before.

Is seeing this fountain a bad thing?

Celia holds on a smile while Teddy doesn't hide it very well as he looks at me. "Have fun!"

Celia grabs Jackson's arm to then around and leave us behind. "Come home after, it's movie night." She gives me a quick look like she's leaving me in a haunted house where she only knows it's haunted and I don't. And to be honest, the fact that Lilith is the one in control of my future right now, it does freak me out.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Finally, Lilith says with a huge smile once her family heads the opposite way to where Lilith turns my body to. Her smile doesn't disappear from her face, scaring me even more than before.

"Yeah, I wouldn't miss it either." A strange male voice prevents me from asking Lilith what the big deal with this fountain is. Leading my eyes to where it came from I find a man walking towards us with his hands inside his pockets. The more closer he gets, the more in detail I can see him. And the more I wish he steps away and goes back to where he came from. His hair is black and curly, falling to his shoulders. His smile is cocky and flirtatious, a type of bad confidence I've certainly seen before. Damian. He walks like he owns the place and believes he's better than anyone around him. The way that he stares at Lilith, in such a desirable way makes my skin boil to the point of my head making his annoying smile seem even worse.

"Scott?" Lilith asks by my side, confused. "What are you doing here?"

The moment the man, called Scott, arrives in front us the strong smell of cologne and thick minty gel hits my nose. His cocky eyes stare down at Lilith, giving her a quick look that, inevitably, builds the need to cross my arms around my chest and stand closely to Lilith's back.

Scott tilts his head to the side. "Nice to see you too, Lil."

"I'm just surprised to see you here." Lilith doesn't sound thrilled or even annoyed at Scott's presence. Her furrowed eyebrows don't tell me much. "I thought you were in France racing."

"I decided to take a little break and visit the family." Scott stares Lilith up and down again which steals a long breath out of my nose, fighting the urge to grab Scott's chin and lift those eyes myself. "Came looking for silver and I accidentally run into gold."

I roll my eyes without even thinking about it. Did he found his lines in a book written by a fifteen year old?

"You and your horrible flirty lines." Lucky for me, Lilith doesn't sound affected by Scott's words.

That's my girl.

"Me and my horrible flirty lines got you when we were fifteen, so, they worked."

"Got you"? What does Scott mean? Where they together?

Jealousy runs again tightly inside my stomach. But before I can do anything about it, and finding Scott's eyes on me, Lilith waves her hand uninterested. "This is Lucifer Donovan, a... friend."

He shakes my hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." I lie. I absolutely lie. A huge lie.

"I'm Scott, old..." he gives Lilith a dramatic wink with an even cockier smile "friend?"

Is this town weirdly enough for murder to be acceptable?

Thanks for me and the inner fight to keep my composure, Lilith slaps Scott on the side of his arm. "Don't start being funny."

Scott shrugs his shoulders before leading his eyes towards me. "I'm always funny. So, friends you two, huh?"

Lilith takes a sudden step back which makes her crush into my body. I don't move away, liking now that she's closer to me. "He's just visiting."

"Liking the town so far?" His tone and the smile he has on his face doesn't make me build the doubt if he's making small talk with me to get on Lilith's good side. He obviously is. But, jokes on him, Lilith hates me.

"I like everything by far" I fake a smile out "but, you never know when one thing gets to ruin it."

"With Lilith nothing will get ruined in Forwell, that's for sure." He chuckles flirtatiously as he stares at Lilith, giving her a wink. "I've lived it, up close."

<< Up close >> My blood boils the more words come out of Scott's mouth. It's like he has made his mission for tonight to piss me off and prove somehow that Lilith and him have a past together, whatever that could be. Another chunk of air comes out of my nose, fighting the urge to say "up close? want to see my fist up close?"

Lilith rolls her eyes once again, taking another step back and ending even more close to my body. "Asshole."

Scott only lifts his hands into the air, giving up. "I'm joking, I'm joking. So, Lilith, what have you been up to, babe? C'mon, talk to me."

The moment Scott touches Lilith's arm, the locked door where the normal Lucifer is, has suddenly brusquely opened, letting what my bran truly wanted to do since this Scott has started talking to us. "I heard that Lilith said racing," I prevent Lilith from answering, in a passive aggressive tone "is that right?"

Scott catches my intentions, I can see in the way he slowly shifts his eyes at me and tilts his head to the side, slowly letting the words come out carefully. "I'm a car racer."

"And you decided to come back to Forwell because...?"

"I just did."

"Won any races lately?"

My words definitely poked a bubble inside of him, triggering Scott and the patience he has. "Know a bit about races, Lucifer?"

I give him a sarcastic smile, shrugging my shoulders. "Just asking a question."

"What about you?" He matches my passive aggressive tone. "What's your major?"

"History, babe."

I hear a chuckle coming from Lilith.

"Oh, a wannabe writer?" I don't reply. That doesn't matter, it looks like Scott already knows the answer. "I see. Wrote any books lately? What's your limit, 50.000 words or 80.000? Or do you just stick with the 1,000 for your essays at school?"

I slightly tilt my head to the side. "You seem to care a lot about length."

"Got yourself a job?" His tone is getting firmer and even more cockier, trying to still be in control of the situation. I, on the other hand, just calmly let my hands inside my pockets because they just suddenly got cold. "What do you do? Wipe tables for a living?"

"There's nothing wrong with wiping tables for a living, Scott." Lilith replies before me, annoyed.

"No judging here if that's what he does, babe, just asking."

Biting the inside of my cheek to eat anymore words after his third "babe" of the night to Lilith, she seems to have gotten tired of the nickname as much as I did since she rolls her eyes before a sigh comes out of her mouth.

"I didn't like the nickname when I was fifteen, I'm not gonna like it now, Scott."

"Yeah, I know, you used to like so many things that came out of my mouth, though..."

"Want me to rip that tongue of yours and prevent anything else coming out of your mouth?" I say, with another sarcastic smile.

Scott tilts his head to the side, keeping his mouth shut for a second. Lilith, on the other hand, she takes a step closer to me and leaves her back against my chest, her eyes lead down to the floor as I swear my eyes caught a little smile on the corner of her lips.

"Got a ride, Lucifer?" Scott asks, trying to hold on into his firm voice.

"I have a motorcycle."

"Uf, is it here?"

"Why? Trying to see if I can race you and prove to Lilith that you're the winner you claim to be?"

Lilith grabs my arm pushing me away from Scott. "Wow, buddies, keep it in your pants." She tries to hide her smile again. "C'mon, we have to go."

Finally leaving Scott, Lilith walks us both towards the middle of the street where the carousel is.

"Enjoy the movie night." I hear Scott say behind, in the silent street.

"We will." I reply soon after, getting a horrible feeling about him inside my gut. It's been punched by a thousand of boxers, leaving it a little bit dumb, but, my gut is never wrong.

"Who's that asshole?" I ask to Lilith once we're far enough. Even if I wouldn't give a fuck if Scott heard me calling him an asshole, he surely needs to be put down that ridiculous cloud he's on.

"Scott—"

"And you were friends with him?"

Lilith tilts her head to the side as she looks forward with a undefined look. Trying to find the perfect way to describe what they had together. "Well..."

"Is he your ex?" As soon as my mouth asks this question, my chest grows an horrible feeling inside it. Tight and annoying, it causes me to hate it as soon as it appears.

"What? No! He was just my first... time."

First time? As in— "Oh..." That's all I can say since there's no hint of my brain processing it.

I'm truly wondering if this feeling is jealousy or not. I mean, I knew that Lilith wasn't a virgin when we had our first time together, but knowing that it was with someone as Scott it builds an horrible feeling on the pit of my stomach.

"Yeah, nothing important. Believe me, I know he's an asshole no need to tell me." She gives me a quick confused look. "What you need to tell me is why you were an asshole? I wasn't expecting to see some asshole on asshole action—It came out dirtier than I expected." She chuckles.

"He just..." made me extremely jealous an the fact that he was asshole didn't help me? "gave me a bad feeling." I lie.

"He's not bad, just an ass. Don't worry about him."

The strange feeling inside my gut of not trusting Scott, not even a bit, it prevents me from believing Lilith on not having to worry about him. He had that look that Damian has, always having a trick under their sleeve, the bad type of confidence that means they would step on anyone to get what they want. That type of person doesn't pass unnoticed by me.

But, it all goes to the trash when Lilith forms a smile on her face, brushing away all the thoughts my head was having as it goes lost in her. As expected.

Leading my eyes to where she's staring at, I don't find the carousel, where I thought we were heading, no, instead, the fountain is in front of me. The carousel can still be seen behind it, with its rusty edges and, now that the light of the street is the only thing illuminating the place, creepy horses looking like they're gonna turn alive at any minute.

"The fountain?" I ask more to myself, confused.

"Yes." Lilith nods like a little kid who's about to get away with eating a cookie before dinner.

"What about it?"

""What about it"? Lucifer Donovan, the fountain of the horse is one of the most famous legends of Forwell." Lilith grabs my hand to walk me towards the fountain and the horse inside of it, dripping out water to the pool underneath it.

"It's said that if you look closely to the water in it and concentrate on the thing you want the most, you'll see eventually the siluate of the girl that came across this place before it was a town. She was lost and begging God for water, when she stumbled across this fountain in the middle of nowhere, somehow working. She believed it was magic. Thankful for this place, she made it into the beautiful town you see today. You try it."

"Me?" I look at the calm water under the light of the moonlight, with the smudge reflections of the stars in it. "Try what?"

"Think of something you want." Lilith's soft voice makes my skin get chills. And the fact that the moon somehow turns brighter on its reflection against the water, it does help my brain on getting lost in it for a second. "And then focus."

The thing I want the most... the thing, well, it's not much of a thing. I get the urge to close my eyes and get the image of what I want out of my head, hating that it's the first that came to me. Lilith. Of course it has to be her. With her messy curly hair falling on the sides of her head and her jokingly smile, she runs around in circles in my mind like a broken CD record, playing on and on and refusing to move along to the next song. She stays there, enabling me to think of something else and making me have an undying question if there is something else that I want besides her.

No. A deeper voice says inside my head. There's nothing more worth it than her.

"Do you have it?"

"Not yet." I lie.

"Get closer." Lilith gently pushes me further against the fountain. Her soft skin touching mine doesn't help me on taking her out of my mind. Worse, much worse. Now I'm in there too, holding her cheek and slowly closing the space between us. Her eyes go close just like her breathing is slow up against my skin and her desirable lips scream for me to kiss her. My heart races for a bit strongly believing the scene inside my mind. My body needs to kiss her, it can't wait any longer since the urge to do it feels like it's going to make my body explode. Our lips get closer and closer, I can taste her already, her hand holds mine as my other one holds her cheek, softly and gently, ready to kiss her like I've been waiting to do since that moment in the carousel. We're a few inches away from each other—

Splash!

My face gets suddenly wet before my eyes go completely close from the water now dripping down my skin. Soon after, the silence of the night is covered in Lilith uncontrollable laugh.

"I can't believe you bought that!"

The normal Lucifer would've been pissed or ready to strike back immediately as my hand takes away the water from the fountain on my face. But, as soon as my ears get hit with nothing but Lilith's laughter, my heart gets filled with a warming feeling. My eyes stare at her, laughing like a little kid, happy that she got away with her prank. I inevitably let out a laugh too, watching her and enjoying it as my favourite scene in a movie. "Want a hug?" I spread my arms around and walk closer to her, but she lifts his hands to prevent me getting close and takes a step back.

"Don't you dare touch me, Donovan!"

I tilt my head to the side letting the first words that come to my mind be out. "You usually don't say that."

Lilith rolls her eyes but soon smiles, slapping me playfully on the side of my arm. "Stupid."

"Is the story about the girl at least true?"

"Nah. A bunch of guys were high and discovered it, nothing special about it. A kicker thing for the tourists, though. We do this to outsiders that come to visit, mom did it to Jackson and Teddy does it with every friend he can get his hands on. Just a little harmless prank that says "hey, welcome to Forwell, motherfucker. Hope you come back soon!""

I stay in silence processing her words for a minute. Maybe it's stupid, but Lilith doing something with me that her mom did with Jackson, and Teddy does with every friend he can, the tiniest of hope I had suddenly becomes a bit bigger. Even if this prank ended on me with my face soaking wet, and it became a thing after Lilith didn't like me enjoying everyone thinking we were together at the town meeting, I don't care, it means that Lilith included me in something of her home town. Of her safe place. And, to be honest, I don't think I'll ever be able to forget about this.

Her silence gets my attention to her eyes, even if they're as dark as the night sky, they shine as if they were the starts accompanying the moon. Her lost look in me enables me to think of anything to say after her, repeating to myself over and over again the question "can I kiss you?" inside my mind. Inevitably, the urge to kiss her comes through once again to my lips. Touch her skin and have her against my body, warming us both. Nothing comes out of my mouth, not a word, nor a sigh, not even a breath. She's making me lose myself in her just like before, tricking my tongue into going numb.

The intrigue if Lilith is gonna let me get close again to kiss her does cross my mind. Touch her hand with mine and unite our lips together. I want to try it, and my body listens to my desire. Taking a step close, the moment Lilith's eyes do a quick look to my lips it gives me courage to lean even further into her. My heart beats a big faster than normal, screaming at my body to finally kiss her.

But, before I can, Lilith brusquely moves back as her eyes turn to the right, worried. "What was that?"

I try my hardest to not punch the air annoyed at the moment being ruined again. Soon, the sound that has Lilith all freaked out comes to me. It sounds like some bushes moving around behind Lilith. "I don't know."

She turns around leaving me behind as she moves like a detective on a crime scene. "It came from here." Her whisper almost gets brushed away by the sound.

I follow her. "You being the crime documentary expert shouldn't mean that you drag us to the opposite side because me might get killed?"

Chuckling, she arrives by some bushes on the corner of the brown house where the town meeting happened. I soon stand behind her. "Nothing bad ever happens here," she slightly pops her head to the left, letting it in between a bush that it's badly cut "only if you count my favourite cereal now being five dollars more than when I was a little kid— HOLY FUCK!"

Stumbling back with a startled look, I grab her waist for her to not fall on the floor. "Is the cereal thing that bad?" I ask.

Lilith doesn't reply immediately. Instead, she repeatedly shakes her head like she has seen a ghost. I've seen this face before, in Colin and Griffin. "Rose— Pedro— Rose... and Pedro!"

"Rose and Pedro what?" Not getting an answer from Lilith, I let my head where she was a second ago. It's all dark at first, pointy brunches touching the side of my neck, but when I locate two people on the other side of where we are, I let my eyes focus on that. And soon regret it. "Oh..."

Rose and Pedro both are kissing each other with much desire that I've not seen not even in movies. Their hands explore each other's bodies like they're looking for something. Staring at them for a couple of seconds, I now understand why kids go "ewwww!" after seeing two grown adults kiss.

Lilith drags me outside of the bush. "They're making out like middle schoolers under the bleachers!" Her whisper is louder than the sound of Pedro and Rose kissing. "My mom was right!"

I nod. "She was right about them having sexual tension, who would've thought?" Simply shrugging my shoulders, my mind tries to wrap around the idea of the same Pedro and Rose that we're fighting a moment ago now devouring each other. "Your mom is good at that—"

"Them! Together! It feels like everything I've known is a lie! They hate each other, now they're kissing?"

I chuckle. "We can't talk."

Lilith presses her lips together like she's caught in my words. Tilting her head a bit to the side, she soon nods. "You got a point there, dude." Grabbing my arm to turn me around and head the opposite way, we both walk pass the fountain and the carousel, deeper into the street. "Teddy is gonna freak out! We better get going, they're probably waiting for us for movie night. Even if movie night isn't gonna be as interesting as this news... God— them! Fighting and then kissing! How is that possible!"

I chuckle again, but this time, I keep my mouth shut. Seems like Lilith is too focused on Rose and Pedro to think about what happened between us a minute before that, again. Our almost kiss. Seems like the universe is against me tonight, not letting me grab the opportunities I come across. Or I'm too stupid and slow, lost in her to grab them in time. Both could be right.

We both walk and walk towards her house. Lilith goes on and on about how surprise she is. "Has the world gone crazy? What now? Pouring the milk before the cereal?!" While I, on the other hand, just follow her, hating, for the second time today, my inability to let the question "can I kiss you, Lilith?" come out of my mouth.

LILITH.

"Pedro?!"

"Yes!"

"And Rose?!"

"Yes!"

Both my mom and Teddy shake their heads in disbelief as they're both sitting down in front of me, on the couch.  "No!"

"I knew it!" Mom points at me like the true sexual tension detective she is.

"Pedro and Rose!" I repeat more to myself than to my family, or to Lucifer, who's standing next to the couch doing God knows what. Staring at me, that's for sure, though. "Exchanging saliva!"

"Don't put it like that!" Teddy drops the gummy bag to the table in front of him. "I'm eating gummy worms!"

Just to annoy him, I grab two of the gummy worms and play around with each other. "Their tongues where probably doing this...." The kissing noises that I do with my lips is soon followed by a chuckle coming from Lucifer and a disgusted noise from Teddy.

"Stop, Lilith! I don't want to throw up on movie night. Again."

Who would've thought that finding the two most famous enemies in Forwell kissing would guarantee me some fun. "We're not gonna say it to anyone." Fun is over! Mom slowly shakes her head as she hands Lucifer a piece of chocolate. "Here here."

"What?! Drama finally happens in this town and you want us to keep it quiet?"

"Yes, remember when Lizzy was found hearing Jazz and they all started talking about it?"

Oh... yeah, we don't want that happening again. The town was so shocked that Lizzy couldn't get out of her house for a week without getting interrogated. Everyone was wondering if she was sick and if it was terminal.

"It was like the apocalypse." Teddy stares at the wall like it's bringing him all the memories of summer of 2010.

"Why don't we let Lucifer choose the movie for tonight?" And the fun continues to get crushed... and crushed, and crushed...

I sit down on the couch next to my mother. "He doesn't have the privileges yet."

Lucifer follows me a second after, joining me in the couch with a cocky little smile. "What a man gotta to do to get those privileges?"

"Buy me every cereal known to men."

Giving me an even cockier smile, Lucifer nods like I didn't just give him the impossible. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Choose! Choose! Choose!" Getting a box full of movies dropped on his lap, Lucifer takes his eyes away from me towards the box. Thankful for it, that it didn't give me the time to overthink what he meant by "I'll keep that mind", I also lead my attention towards the famous box for movie night.

"I said he doesn't have the privileges!"

"He's the guest, Lilith, I'm giving him the privileges." Mom defends Lucifer while I just stare at her wondering where did she got the audacity.

I roll my eyes giving up. "Fine." Teddy chuckles, which inevitably makes me grab the big sister card like before the town meeting. "You want another sticker on your forehead?"

Teddy immediately erasing his smile it's followed by Jackson walking inside the living room with different bowls full of food between his hands. "Food!"

"Food, food, food!"

Like a typical movie night in the Avery house with candy of every kind, chips of every flavour, sandwiches, tiny cakes, cookies, a bit of home made chocolates and brownies, and every other junk food anyone could think of, it's all plastered on the table in front of the couch waiting for us to start the selected movie and eat like there's no tomorrow. I can pick out a million of things that I like about this house, but, movie night are definitely on my top five most favourite things to do.

"We love a man that cooks." Mom thanks Jackson as he sits down on the floor.

He gives her a sweet smile and a tiny kiss on the lips, that, for my surprise, I don't find disgusting. "And I love a woman who appreciates it."

Lucifer leaving the box on the floor, he leads my attention to him and find that his eyes are glued on the food like he has never seen much of it in his life. And he probably hasn't. "Don't look scared, the food can smell if you're afraid." Jokingly, I push his arm.

I can't help but think that he looks a bit cute as he finds the movie night food surprising. He looks like a kid getting a toy he wasn't expecting to receive. Or getting his favourite food for a Friday night meal. I quickly erase that thought and bring the one that causes me to think if I'm out of mind for thinking that.

"If couch founds out I'm eating all of this he'd kill me."

"If he founds out, you said it yourself." I leave the movie box on his lap once again. "Choose, choose!"

Going back to the food now being devoured by an impatient Teddy, my attention it's soon take by Jackson, who hands me a bowl full of cereal I've never seen before. And that's impossible. "The cereal for the lady."

I look at it, and soon realise, there's a reason why I've never seen this type before. "You cooked it?"

"Yeah..." his hopeful smile warms my chest in a way that leads my eyes to look at the made cereal in a sweet way. I can't believe the fact that he actually took his time to make cereal for me.

"Try it." My mom pushes my arm.

I listen and take a couple of them inside my mouth. At first, they taste like every other cereal, which obviously is to my liking, but soon after, a ton of flavours surrounds my mouth. Chocolate with a bit of vanilla in it, then it's mixed with milk, sugar and a sweetness I can't put my finger on what it is. The crunchiness is enough and the rough edges mix perfectly with the soft insides. "This is..." My mind can't truly find the words to explain how good this is. "Oh, god—" that summers it, to be honest.

"Like it?"

Like it?! I point at Jackson as my mouth screams for more. And to never stop eating. "You better prepare me more Jackson, or I'll kidnap you and slave you in the kitchen."

Mom laughs as she gives me a sweet smile. I don't think I've ever seen her smile like this when it comes to me talking to one of her boyfriends. Warm. Like she's happy that I'm having this tiny conversation with Jackson. Don't know why, but I'm feeling the same way.

Lucifer's handing my mom a movie, it takes my attention towards it. "This one."

"An Italian classic. Looks like Lucifer has taste too." The moment mom gets up from the couch to put the movie on the DVD player, I point at her.

"Don't forget the subtitles! Watching a movie that I can't understand may lead to me creating my own dialogue and they all end up on people wanting to kill each other."

"Do you understand Italian, Lucifer?" Jackson asks Lucifer, who was just hanged another piece of candy by Teddy.

He nods. "I speak the language."

Excuse me— "What?" I can't help but ask and show my surprise on the fact that Lucifer Donovan speaks Italian. That sexy language that Ada and I dream of learning.

"That's cool!" Teddy sits closer to Lucifer, wanting to hear more.

"You do?" Lucifer nods when he looks at me. "Since when?"

"Eight years old."

"Why?"

"My mom is Italian, she speaks it fluently."

"Since when?"

"She was born there."

"Why haven't you told me about this?"

Lucifer keeps his mouth shut, surprised at my interest and quick interrogation. I do too, realising that I've been asking without thinking and letting my intrigue take over my words like I'm asking Jackson how he make the cereal. "I didn't know you were gonna be interested in something about me." He says, softly.

"I'm not." I quickly recover myself, asking for the second time in a matter of minutes if I'm out of my mind. "You're right."

"Here. Here." Mom giving Lucifer yet another piece of candy, it breaks our eye contact. "Oh, crap— Lucifer, can you bring from the kitchen the bowl that I left on the table? Lilith, go with him, I think I left the one that has the Doritos too."

I furrow my eyebrows as I stare at her. "You never forget the Doritos. It's your favourite snack."

But she innocently shrugs her shoulders. "This time I did. No, go, go" she hurries us with her hand "to the kitchen you two."

Once I get up from the couch and realise that Lucifer is far gone into the kitchen, I go after him. Even if I'm confused on my mother forgetting the Doritos, I walk inside the kitchen with the intention to look for them in mind.

"This one?" Lucifer asks me while pointing at a bowl full of candy laying on the table.

I nod. "I think so." Looking around to find the one that I'm supposed to get, there's not a single bowl around full with Doritos. What's mom playing at? "The Doritos are not here."

"Your family is very kind for inviting me." Lucifer saying out of nowhere surprises me. But, I still give him my attention.

"My mom wanted to kill you, that's why she invited you." I joke.

Lucifer chuckles. "Still, it's nice."

"In a horror movie you'll be the first one to go if you think that's nice. Be the dumb one would voluntarily go inside the room that says "keep out"."

"If it means that I get to hang out with your fun family, then what's the big deal?"

"Guys," mom yelling from the living room prevents me from processing Lucifer's words "the Doritos are here! My bad! But I need you to go to the patio and get the blankets! I left them on top of the washing machines."

Again. Mom always prepares everything for the movie night. It takes her the whole day to get the perfect evening. Why would make her forget the blankets?

"Both of you!" She yells again. "There are a lot!"

Before I can share my confusion to Lucifer, when I turn to look at him, he's already walking outside to the patio.

"Now that I've seen Pedro," Lucifer says once he locates the warm blankets on top of the washing machines "I truly want to see him angry at the noice these make."

"It is hilarious—"

Slam!

The door behind me suddenly closing in a loud shut leads my startled eyes to it. What now? My house is possessed?

Before I can, Lucifer walks to it and tries to open it. He miserably fails. "The door is locked."

"What? Push it harder."

He tries again. "It's locked."

"This door never gets locked on itself." Once Lucifer moves to the side, back to the machines, he lets me try it for myself and find out he wasn't lying to pull a prank on me or something, it's truly locked. "What the hell?" I try again. "Mom! The door got stuck!" Nothing. Not even steps coming on the other side. Not a hint of someone coming to save us. Suddenly, the worst consequences of this comes to my head. "Oh, no, Teddy is gonna eat all of the chips." With the palm of my hand, I start banging the door. "Mom! Mom! How are they not hearing me? Teddy you better not eat all of the chips or I'll kill you!" It feels useless, the silence coming the other way makes me feel like we're miles away from the living room. When in reality, we're just a couple of steps away.

Hearing a chuckle coming from the man behind me, I turn to look at Lucifer who's laying his waist against the machines while his hands are inside his pockets. "What's so funny?"

"We're locked outside and you worry about your little brother eating all the chips. You amaze me, Lilith Avery."

His words make me remember something he said to me a while later, while we were at the carousel. The loud noise brings the memory in some sort of blur, but I don't think I'm ever gonna be able to forget what he said. "I'm an interesting woman and I amaze you. What's next? I'm the most wonderful woman you've ever met?" I joke. Lucifer doesn't respond. Instead, the way he stares at me, so deeply with his shining green eyes, it soon leads for me to have sort of nerves growing inside of my chest. I expect his next words to be: "no, you're not." But he doesn't say a word. "Have you seen Ada? She's pretty amazing too, you know?" I let out letting my nerves take over my tongue. Still, Lucifer doesn't say anything back, he just stares at me while a little smile is on the corner of his lips. "What are you looking at?" I finally ask.

Lucifer simply shrugs his shoulders, not giving it much importance. "Nothing..."

"If you're gonna kill me right now it's not a good idea to do it when my family is on the other side of this door." He smiles even bigger, which, inevitably, makes my nerves match his smile's size. "Unless they're in it with you, that would make a fantastic documentary, to be honest." I chuckle, nervously. "Don't you think?" He doesn't reply. His silence makes my heart beat a bit faster.

It's not the nerves that I feel when I'm about to take a difficult test, no, it's the type of nerves that I feel when I'm close to Lucifer. My heart beating fast, my eyes glued on him, my body wanting to get closer and feel his against mine... "Say something, you're starting to freak me out."

"Can I kiss you, Lilith?" He asks, in a soft tone.

I don't reply, feeling my words get stuck on the back of my throat. Yes. That word shakes inside my beating heart like it's screaming at me to say it, yell it, let him know that, yes, he can kiss me. But, those words don't come out of me.

Leaving the machines, Lucifer takes a long step to be in front of me, right against my body. His left hand touches the side of my waist, while his other one gently caresses my cheek. "I want to kiss you..."

Me too.

I get lost in him. In his green eyes staring at mine with much desire that I've certainly seen before in him, only when he's about to kiss me. His thick lips begging for me to reply, his nose getting closer and closer ending up touching the tip of mine. I slightly lift my chin up to let him kiss me. I do let him, even if no words come out of my mouth.

He understands. Soon after, he joins our lips in a kiss making my heart jump to my stomach in complete happiness.

Like two lost pieces in a puzzle, the way we perfectly fit together allows us to get used to each other in a quick second. I follow Lucifer's rhythm, slow and firm, letting himself enjoy the softness and warm feeling this kiss is giving us.

His hand that's on my waist pulls me closer. My arms take the opportunity and wrap themselves around Lucifer's stomach, bringing us even closer. Closer and closer, it doesn't matter, we want more and it's soon shown on the kiss. Lucifer moves it quicker, making my lips join him in a much speed up rhythm.

The warmer skin of mine enables me to feel the coldness of the outside patio any longer. My cheek gets suddenly free when Lucifer moves his hand downwards towards my neck. His long thumb caresses the front of it, while the rest of his hand holds me tight yet gently, only enabling me to move back in a brusque motion.

The air that my lungs beg it's soon noticeable, and it seems like Lucifer feels the same way, since he breaks the kiss and joins our foreheads together. The only thing we can hear is our quick breathings mixing each other in front of our faces. While I, too, can hear my beating heart speeding inside of my chest.

"You just kissed me..." I can finally let out, recovering from the kiss.

"Was that alright?" His whisper sends butterflies down to the pit of my stomach, wanting to hear his tired voice talk again.

I simply nod. "Yes..."

Smiling at me in a cocky way, Lucifer tilts his head a bit to the side as he makes our noses touch again. "Then I'm gonna do it again."

Click. The door is now unlocked.

"Sorry guys!" Jackson opening the door in a quick motion, it makes Lucifer and I to step out brusquely away from each other. My body reacts in a speed I've never seen it before, I grab the blankets and stands there like nothing happened a second ago. "How did the door get locked?" Jackson innocently asks, staring at the lock.

Locating my mother behind him, letting out a sigh as she looks at Jackson, it reminds me of the look that she gives me when I screw up. But the door bell surrounding the house saves Jackson from mom, who goes towards the door to see who's on the other side.

My eyes can't help but give Lucifer a quick look while he's looking at the floor. What gets my attention is his jawline clenched, annoyed at something. His quick breathing matches mine, trying to get used to our lips being apart and all the air our lungs were begging to get. My skin is still warm from it, going along with the butterflies still running wild inside my stomach.

We kissed. And I want to do it again.

Jackson, grabbing the handle and swing it up and down a couple of times repeatedly shifts my eyes to him. "I'm gonna have to fix this, I think."

I bite my tongue to not say that the house may be possessed, because there's a slight hint in me that, mom might be the ghost that's possessing the house after all.

"Scott?" I hear my mom say on the door.

My first reaction after hearing that name is furrow my eyebrows and ask myself is what I've heard was in fact on the door and not in my head, playing a game with me.

Inevitably, I turn my head to Lucifer to see his reaction as well. He's not looking at the floor anymore, instead, he's staring at the me with angry eyes and a smirk that tells me he's annoyed at what we just heard. And to be honest, so am I.

"Who's Scott?" Jackson innocently asks as I walk pass him and head towards the door.

"Lilith told me it was movie night and I thought to myself "why not join them?"" I hear Scott's voice once arrive where my mom is, looking at him with a confused look. "I used to love movie nights!"

As soon as I see his face, I can tell his plan for a mile away. Sliding in like a snake and get what he wants, whatever that is. What could he possible get by being here and ruin our night? Because, he clearly is. And I can tell by the looks of everyone now by the door.

"Well..." mom doesn't want to be rude, so, she looks at me instead, not knowing what to reply.

Scott doesn't give me the time to say anything, he walks inside the living room and shakes Teddy's curls, who immediately looks at him with the question "who the hell is this?" plastered all over his face. "Teddy? Hi, my man! Love to see you! You've grown!"

"My man? What—?"

"Are you using chapstick? Lovely colour on you?"

"Is Dorito dust."

Scott ignores my little brother's confusion and sits down on the couch, right where Lucifer was. "What movie are we watching?"

This asshole. I walk towards him to put an end to this, but mom stops me by grabbing my arm. "Don't be rude."

"He's being rude!" I whisper to her, annoyed. Even more annoyed than ever. Maybe because of what he interrupted way before Jackson, with me and Lucifer...

Mom doesn't reply to me, she just gives Lucifer a sweet smile and a squeeze on the arm. "I'm sorry."

I'm sorry? Why is she saying sorry to him?

"You cooked it? This is amazing!" Scott's annoying voice makes my eyes go to him and see his dirty hands on my cereal. Jackson gives me a look, sorry that my cereal is being eaten. "C'mon, Lucifer, don't be shy! There's plenty of room on the floor for you."

Lucifer...

Turning around to find him behind me, with his arms across his chest and angry eyes, he gives Scott a sarcastic smile. "We're gonna need one more blanket."

Don't ask me why, but I immediately follow him after giving my mom the blankets I was carrying. "Wait up." I try to call him, but he's quick steps took him already to the outside patio.

He's facing me with his back, looking to the floor. I can tell he's quick breathing since his wide back goes a up and down multiple times. "Scott's an asshole." I hear myself say when I start getting closer to him.

"He is."

"Don't get mad at me, I didn't invite him."

I expect him avoiding my eyes, or even stare at me with such anger that it can't pass unnoticed, but no, once he turns to look at me his eyes just shine with disappointment growing in them. He tries to hide them, but I catch it just in time. "I'm not mad."

"We're only gonna have to deal with him for tonight and then..."

"You know that's not true." He slowly shakes his head. "He wants you and he's gonna make sure to be there all weekend."

"Mom told me to not be rude tonight, and I get it for her, Jackson is here. But tomorrow, he's out. Poof, gone."

Silence follows my words. It's like Lucifer is having a million of thoughts inside his head and doesn't know what to share with me, or worst, doesn't want to share any of them at all. "Lucifer?"

"We kissed, Lilith. And you replied to it." A little smile shows on the corner of his lips.

I nod. "You didn't kiss my clone, I was there." Trying to grow that smile, I joke. But he doesn't.

"I'm mad at him."

"Me too."

"For ruining the moment."

Me too. Those words don't come out of my mouth. I just keep it shut, enabling to let my mind let go and let my tongue say what my heart wants. A thousand of questions run wild inside of me, asking me why am I disappointed Jackson opened the door, why did Scott showing up makes me want to punch him in the face, but not because he's here, just because he ruined whatever was going on with me and Lucifer. If a could turn back time and prevent me from seeing Scott, I would, and if I could also stop Jackson, I would.

That didn't help me on easing my mind, that's for sure.

"We have a movie to watch." Lucifer's sweet smiles catches me off guard. But it's soon covered on the truth of it that I can see, hiding like the professional at it he is his true disappointment. He's an idiot if he thinks that a crime justice major won't be able to see it.

Still, even if I can, I don't say a word. I keep my mouth shut when he leans closer to my face and makes the smile even bigger. "And this one is about a wife that plans to murder her husband, if that makes you feel better." With his weak voice, he manages to let out those words like he's the cocky Lucifer again. Then, giving me a gently kiss on the cheek, he leaves me behind with a messy mind and a quick beating heart.

No, it doesn't make me feel better. For the first time, a movie that involves murder, that could also be a great documentary and make my crime justice freak side talk in excitement, it doesn't make me feel better. And that all revolves around the fact that I didn't kiss Lucifer again.

...