The Way We Learned to Love ✓

32 - lily

august 2018 : 2 years and 1 month ago

There were some days where Lily felt like she could conquer anything life threw at her. Those were admittedly few in number but had started popping up more frequently since she and Liam started dating. Everything was easier to tackle when you had a constant sidekick (or a cheerleader—that was a much funnier metaphor to envision) that you could fall back on.

And then there were still the occasional days where getting out of bed felt like rocket science. Today was one of those.

She looked at her phone screen for what was probably the dozenth time that morning and sighed. It was already 11:50. I'll get up in ten minutes, she thought. I can do it. I can.

But she had been telling herself the same thing for the past few hours. Although she had actually dragged herself out of bed two times already, both were just to waddle down to the kitchen for snacks before crawling right back under the covers. Getting up to stay up for the whole day was a much more overwhelming task.

Liam had yet to reply to the text she sent him about forty-five minutes ago to let him know she was feeling low and might just stay in today. She doubted he would be irked—he had his off days, too. It was just a thing that happened sometimes. But that did leave her slightly unsure as to why he hadn't replied yet. He wasn't usually one to sleep in this late.

She rolled over on her side, guilt nipping at her conscience like a frigid wind. She shouldn't be laying here. She should be out doing something and enjoying the last couple of days of freedom before the school year started, but she assumed that impending doom was the very thing doing this to her. She had quite the talent for worrying about stuff that hadn't happened yet.

There was a light knock on the door. She suspected it was her mom, come to lure her out of her room by offering her Starbucks or Chick-fil-A.

She cleared her throat quietly before she spoke, her voice a bit scratchy from not doing any talking yet today. "Come in."

The door cracked open. Lily expected to see her mother's eyes looking back at her, but instead she found her boyfriend's.

As happy as she was to see him there, she was honestly a little surprised that her parents sent him up here. Not that they didn't get along with him; they did. The handful of occasions they had met him all went smoothly. He was exceptionally polite and they weren't the most subtle about liking that he came from money despite how little Lily herself was concerned with that facet. But they were also very protective and usually against the idea of her being alone in her room with a boy unless the door was open. They must have trusted him – and her, for that matter – more than she credited them for.

"Hi," she said as he came over to sit next to her. She was glad she was much less self-conscious about looking like a zombie in front of him than she was two months ago. "What are you doing here?"

Liam leaned down to kiss her cheek. His kisses didn't always send swarms of excited butterflies throughout her insides like they used to. There were still a couple of them hanging around, fluttering less frantically than they once did. But following behind them was a ray of sun that wrapped around Lily's whole being like a hug, bringing her calm and comfort and much-needed peace. Familiarity.

"What do you think I'm doing here?"

She reached for his hand. "I'm gonna be boring," she mumbled as a forewarning. "I don't know how soon I'll have it in me to move."

"Then we stay here as long as we need to," he told her, his voice just as soft as his lips were on her cheek. "Is there anything I can do to help?"