june 2018 : 2 years and 3 months ago

Lily dreamed in constellations of laughter and dancing and champagne. Of him. Them. She woke up with a smile on her face, but it wasn't until she rolled over in bed and looked at her phone that she realized it might have been more reality than dream.

She had a text from Liam.

LD: can I see you today

She felt her smile widen. Considering that it was Sunday morning, she was pretty certain that her parents would have already left for church. She scampered out of bed and poked her head in their room to check before returning to her phone.

LM: my parents are gone for a couple hours if you wanna come over

Was telling him to come right now too pushy? She hoped it wasn't. No, it wasn't. He was the one that asked.

LD: be there in 20?

She nervously bit on the corner of her lip. She ideally would prefer to have a bit longer to get ready considering that her hair usually looked like a rat's nest after sleeping on it, but pushing him off would give them less time before they were running the risk of her parents getting home. They had yet to be introduced to him—by some miracle, Mom and Dad gave Lily her space and didn't demand to meet him when he picked her up for the gala last night. It was going to look just a teeny bit shady if they came home to find their daughter getting cuddly with an unfamiliar boy on their couch.

She quickly replied to him with an affirmative before hurrying into her bathroom. She needed to take advantage of her whole twenty minutes not only to get herself looking presentable but also to collect her thoughts about yesterday's emotional rollercoaster.

Lily was unable to wipe the smile off her face while she did her hair and makeup and played last night over and over again in her head. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this giddy, but it was such a freeing sensation after being so down lately.

Going into full Cinderella mode and running out of the ball had perhaps been an overreaction – okay, it was definitely an overreaction – so she was grateful that the prince caught up with her. But a piece of her, the part that felt guilty for not trusting him before to be a better person than the boys of her past, was sad. When he confessed what Caroline did, Lily felt awful for ever falling prey to those stupid rumors about him and even worse that it took him being that vulnerable for her to finally believe that he would treat her well.

Her instinct was to cast blame on the bad timing of it all – namely, the fact that Henry leaving made her ultra-sensitive to people walking out on her – but her conscience nagged her that she was just searching for ways to deflect responsibility for her own behavior. She had been worrying about Liam abandoning her long before she knew about Seattle. She owed him an apology.

Lily scurried downstairs with a couple of minutes to spare and hastily tidied up the living room.

There wasn't a huge point in doing so when it might not ever look this neat again, but she wanted to leave a nice impression since this was his first time actually coming inside. She lit the tiny lavender-scented candle that was sitting on the coffee table.

The ringing of the doorbell sent butterflies fluttering against the walls of her stomach and she quickly set the lighter down. She hoped she looked okay—she knew he wouldn't expect her to look stunning first thing in the morning, but she still couldn't help but feel severely underdressed compared to last night.

She answered the door and felt her cheeks warm. Liam didn't look any different than usual, but seeing him for the first time since kissing him made it quite difficult to not get distracted by the memory of said kissing.

"'Morning, Lils." A breezy expression graced his features like he was overthinking this way less than she was.

"Hi," she chirped back before realizing that she was awkwardly blocking the doorway. "Oh, um, come on in."

She would have offered to make them coffee but was absolutely certain that their K-Cups came nowhere near Jo's lattes. She figured she ought to spare him the awkwardness of declining her janky coffee or politely taking her up on the offer but hating it after a single sip.

She simply sat down on the couch and he followed, the sofa cushions sinking slightly under their bodies as he lowered himself next to her. Affection and regret mingled in her heart as she looked over at him.

"I'm really sorry for being so dramatic," she admitted. "And making assumptions about you based on stuff other people did. I was being unfair."

His expression softened. "You don't have to be sorry, Lils. I literally also did everything you're apologizing for. I forgive you. And I'm sorry, too."

Her heart melted along with her worries into a happy little puddle and she scooted over to hug him.

"I forgive you, too," she sighed contentedly while his arms wrapped around her and she molded back into his embrace.

During all this time she spent avoiding him, she was so caught up in her crush that she didn't realize just how much she missed having him around as her friend. The cozy scent of cologne that clung to his clothes and that she breathed in when she hugged him was a familiar one, not something new or exciting. But that wasn't to say that she didn't want the new parts. She let go from the hug only so that she could let her fingers slide between his and feel how nicely his hand fit with hers.

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "So is this where I get to ask you on a date?" he suggested hopefully.

Lily pretended to deliberate it. "Why's it always gotta be the guy that takes the girl out?" she mused. "Am I allowed to take you on a date?"

Amusement made its way into his smile as it widened and he raised his eyebrows. "Lils, would you like to take me on a date?" he asked politely.

"Yes."

She could see that he was simultaneously taking her request seriously and thoroughly entertained by it. "Do you know when you might like to go?"

"Tonight." Best to not give herself time to overthink it.

His voice gained an edge to it like he was trying hard not to laugh. "And does this arrangement also involve you picking me up?"

"Yep."

She pressed her lips together and tried not to giggle. For some reason, there was something highly amusing about envisioning herself rolling up to his house to pick him up for a date. Or maybe her love life had simply been so astoundingly lacking that the thought of going on a date at all was comical.

Her luck, however, was definitely changing. She caught Liam's eyes stray down to her lips for a split second before darting back up.

"What are you thinking?" she murmured curiously just to get the satisfaction of hearing him say it.

He lifted his free hand to her cheek, his thumb delicately running along it and sending tingles dancing across her skin. "That I wish tonight could get here sooner."

"Me, too."

Her eyes floated shut as he leaned in and kissed her. This one was gentle and sweet and comforting, like coming back into the warmth of indoors on a cold day.

But Lily was going to have to reevaluate her whole the front door is always open to my friends policy because Katie and Izzy chose this very opportune moment to stroll right on in.

She and Liam abruptly broke apart and jumped back to opposite ends of the couch like magnets repelling each other. When the door creaked open there was a millisecond of pure horror in which she thought it was her parents getting home earlier than they were supposed to, but this was only slightly less mortifying.

She felt her cheeks flame as she embarrassedly glanced over at her friends, whose eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"We can, uh-" Katie stammered.

"No, I was, um, just leaving," Liam mumbled, his face redder than Lily had ever seen it.

He mouthed see you later? and she gave him the tiniest of nods despite part of her wanting to kick Katie and Izzy out and tell him to stay. Another part of her was terrified of repeating this exact scenario in front of her parents if they did happen to show up unexpectedly, so she didn't stop him from quietly slipping out the door past Katie and Izzy.

"You couldn't have bothered to notice his car outside?" Lily whined as soon as he was gone.

"Sorry," Katie offered as she and Izzy plopped down on the couch.

"We came to get the tea on last night since you never texted us," Izzy explained, trying to stifle a grin. "And it appears that there is a lot. So spill."

It didn't take Lily long after Katie and Izzy left to realize just how uncreative she was with date ideas and was starting to seriously regret limiting her previous boy experience to stupid Jacob Hayes. Ben didn't really count considering the series of unfortunate events that transpired before she got the chance to go on a date with him.

She could have gotten all of her cringiness out while the stakes were lower if she had just let herself see more boys in high school. That's what high school was for, wasn't it? It didn't matter as much then if you embarrassed yourself because it would probably be forgotten about by the time you moved on to college. It irked her that she never realized how insignificant high school social life was while she was in the throes of it.

She didn't know how to top last night despite the fact that it wasn't an actual date. Maybe there was one of those For Dummies books about dating. What did boys even like to do? Was dinner a good first date? Sure, it was predictable, but maybe that was good? More low key? Did she want it to be low key? She didn't even know what kind of food he liked or if he was allergic to anything. And would there be a bunch of awkward silence while they ate? It wasn't like she could just talk with her mouth open.

There were too many risks. She scratched dinner off her mental list of ideas.

Heavy June air collided with the cool interior of her car and grazed against her skin uncomfortably as she opened the driver's side door. Lily hated how summers were always filled with days like these where the air was so muggy that it made her sweaty upon first contact with it. Even her aggressively cold car A/C wasn't enough to completely cool her off on the way over here. She peeled her sweaty thighs off the seat and fixed where her dress had scrunched up while she was driving. She crossed her fingers that she wouldn't have to worry about it riding up all evening.

All she wanted was to look cute for their first date, but the weather seemed like it could be out to sabotage her plans. She smoothed her hair down as she walked up to the front porch, praying it wouldn't frizz up so much in this humidity that its volume put Mia Thermopolis to shame. It wouldn't be the first time.

At least she had the foresight to wear bike shorts under her dress. She was not about to let chub rub ruin tonight for her.

Her nerves receded like the tide when Liam answered the door and kissed her on the cheek.

"So, um, how do you feel about the movies?" she asked sheepishly as he laced his fingers between hers.

"I like movies," he promised as they started towards her car.

"I mean, if you wanna do something else we can, I just didn't know-"

"Lils-" He lightly squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't spiral. I'm happy to do anything, I'm just following your lead here. It'll be great."

Her heart swelled with contentment for what felt like the millionth time in the past twenty-four hours as it dawned on her that he already knew her a lot better than she gave him credit for. She loved how observant he was and how he had already picked up on many of her little intricacies, even the annoying ones such as how panicky she got when she felt like she was disappointing people. It meant he was paying attention to her.

"Do you have something you wanna see?" Lily questioned as they walked up to the ticket booth at the movie theater.

"Nope," Liam answered with a small smirk.

She could tell from the mischievous glint in his eyes that he fully intended to run with her insistence to take charge of this date as far as he could and mess with her by leaving every single little decision up to her.

Boys. So unhelpful.

She examined the orange lettering on the electric sign at the box office as they got in the back of the line, her eyes skimming over all the showtimes as quickly as possible. Crap, what kind of movies do boys like?

They were up to the ticket window way too soon. She just had to make a decision and roll with it. "Um, two adults for Infinity War."

She glanced over at Liam for some sort of indication that this was okay or not, but he maintained an excellent poker face until they were already stepping inside the cinema.

"You like superhero movies?" he asked with a tinge of curiosity to his voice, but it wasn't in a presumptuous way.

She handed him his ticket stub in case he liked to keep them like she did. "Yeah," she replied unconvincingly.

The reality was that she had somehow managed to live under a rock and stay ridiculously uninformed about any of these Avengers movies, but this one was supposed to be good. She was pretty sure it had all of the characters in it, like a crossover or something? The 3-in-1 shampoo of the movie world, if you will.

Liam tried not to smile. "Name one Marvel superhero."

"Um..." Okay, fine, so maybe she knew absolutely nothing. So what? This had seemed like the best option, more neutral than a rom-com or horror film. "...Batman."

He stared down at the floor and held back a laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing at all," he smoothly assured her.

"Let me guess," she postulated. "Batman's not Marvel?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

At least I can make up for my lack of superhero knowledge with snacks, she thought as her attention was diverted to the holy grail of concession stands in front of them.

She took a shot in the dark at what he might like. "Do you wanna...split an Icee and popcorn?" she guessed as they got in line.

He slowly nodded, contemplating something. "I'm gonna have to put my foot down about the Icee flavor, though."

Oh Lord. They were about to have their first fight over freaking slushies.

"Cherry...is superior," Lily said reluctantly.

Liam nodded. Phew. She didn't trust a boy that didn't like cherry. "I'll tolerate the blue raspberry."

"But those Coca-Cola ones are criminal," she concluded, eliciting a laugh from him. "Cherry it is."

Five minutes later (since getting movie concessions always took weirdly long for no apparent reason), they walked to theater number twelve with their arms full of snacks.

"You know, I'm pretty sure there are like ten movies you're supposed to watch before this one," he teasingly pointed out.

She waved him off—literally, nearly causing her to drop their popcorn. "It'll be fine. I'm simply being economical. It's all part of the plan."

"Oh, right. That plan that you definitely have."

"Uh huh," she agreed as they found seats in the back row. "Now I'll know what happens and save myself the time of needing to watch the other ten."

Lily cleared her throat as she and Liam exited the theater a safe three feet apart from each other. "Um, great movie. I really liked it. Very...intense."

He nodded and a grin threatened to tug on his lips as he glanced over at her. "But I'd say it was a good kind of intense, wouldn't you?"

"Very," she squeaked. "I'd definitely watch it again."

The only signs of their lack of shame were their slightly flushed faces and a smudge of pink lipstick that she spotted at the corner of his mouth when they stepped out of the dark theater. Her composure finally broke when she noticed it and she snickered as she pulled him aside to rub it off. Liam started to smirk when he realized what she was doing.

"Don't make fun of me," she asserted before he got the chance to do it. "I told you I was being economical, did I not? I was simply getting my nine dollars' worth."

He grimaced. "Nine dollars' worth...that bad, huh?"

More giggles escaped her and she lightly smacked his arm. "You know that's not what I meant."

They were both highly aware that she meant quite the opposite. Lily never knew just how much she was missing out of in the kissing department, but if there was anything she had learned from this – ahem, thrilling – viewing of Avengers: Infinity War, it was that there were some very nice fish in the sea and Jacob Hayes' skills had been about on par with that of a dead one.

Her hand found Liam's again as they walked out to the car, the heat considerably less aggressive now than it was earlier. Or maybe she had just gotten used to it. Although the theater was chilly when they arrived, it was feeling rather toasty by the time they left.

They were both still laughing a little bit by the time they got back to the car, unable to take themselves completely seriously anymore. Not that they really were to begin with. Lily was determined to follow through with the joke until the very end of the date and opened Liam's door for him, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the forehead instead of getting in the car just yet.

"I had fun," he hummed.

"Me, too."

Talking was highly overrated, anyway. She lifted a hand to his cheek and felt the little dimple that formed there as his lips curved into a small smile.

Her heart could barely stand it. He was so cute. And so hot. "Would, it, um, be too fast if I made this the part where I ask you to be my boyfriend?"

"No it would not," he murmured, leaning back in to close the small amount of distance left between them and kiss her again.

She felt herself smiling as their lips parted. "So is that a yes?"

"It's definitely a yes."

Lily was on cloud nine all the way back to his house and didn't really care anymore if she was making it obvious or not. She was scared this morning of acting too attached or cuddly, but they had rather firmly crossed both of those lines.

They hugged again when she dropped him off. Liam was somehow capable of making her feel all safe and snuggly in his arms even though she should have been dying from the heat and longing to get back in the cool car. 

"This is cheesy," he mumbled. "But I missed you these past couple of weeks."

She gave him one last quick peck on the lips. "I missed you, too."

A stupid grin was still smeared on her face when she got home and opened her group text with Katie and Izzy.

L: i'm back

It took all of one second to get a response.

K: how was the movie

L: good

K: did it live up to the hype

L: yes

A second of delay before the next response.

I: you made out in the back the whole time didn't you

Busted.

L: well i hadn't seen any of the other ones so...

It wasn't her fault that the movie came out like a month ago so they were practically alone in the theater.

K: sis that's like a 3 hour movie did you really not watch *any* of it

L: of course we did

L: while we ate the popcorn

Neither of them replied for another minute.

I: so

L: so what

I: is he good

L: very

I: well i'm happy for you. and glad i won't have to deal ever again with him coming into our ensemble looking like a sad puppy because you kept friendzoning him

L: -_-

K: did he really look like a sad puppy

I: yes

Well...hopefully she made it up to him.

As if he were somehow able to read her thoughts, her phone buzzed with a text from him.

LD: strawberry's a nice choice by the way ;)

Strawberry? Oh. She felt her cheeks turning rosy again despite the fact that she was alone in her room but started to smile as she opened the notes app on her phone, added more strawberry chapstick to her shopping list, and clicked back to her messages.

LM: oh shut up

If they had been talking out loud, she imagined he would laugh.

LD: 'night lils

LM: goodnight <3

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Sorry if having to put both of their initials in front of the text messages was distracting, but it didn't occur to me that I was gonna run into that problem until now oops.

I hope you guys liked this chapter! Thanks for reading <3