𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 - 𝑪𝑯𝑹𝑰𝑺 𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑶𝑳𝑶.

six!

[texts, phone call, irl!]

—————

TW: MENTIONS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

[texts!]

lahna — alahna
alls — allison

alls
have u landed yet?

lahna
yep, just waiting for matt to pick me up

alls
okay, i'm gonna call lily in a bit.
let's continue the plan as we planned!

lahna
got it!

alls
if u have any more questions ab the plan, ask the boys

lahna
noted, see u later and i hope everything goes well w lily

alls
thanks

—————

[phone call / irl!]

LILY JUMPS SUDDENLY, ANXIETY FILLING her when she sees the familiar name flashing on her phone screen.

the longer she stares at it, the more anxious she becomes.

finally, after debating it back and forth, she makes her decision.

ALLS QUINN IS CALLING!

[ACCEPT] | DECLINE

with another sigh, lily groans, before clicking the accept button and holds the phone up to her ear.

"hey, what's up?" she asks, trying to ignore the anxiety filling her—her sister never calls unless something happens or if she needs check on her.

"nothing!" allison answers, her voice completely giving away how weird she's being.

"dear sister, i can tell when you're lying." lily wears a pointed look, almost forgetting the fact that she's on the phone with her and not sitting down face-to-face with her.

it's silent for a few seconds on the other side of the call. then, she groans in defeat.

"fine. i wanted to see if we could hang out with some of our friends at your apartment?"

lily's eyes widen for a moment, shocked that she'd ask it.

but, without any hesitation, she answers, too afraid of what might happen if she refuses, "oh! yeah. for sure. definitely!"

allison can't help the excitement that seeps through her voice as she giggles. "oh my god! this is so exciting!"

though, because of how excited her sister is, lily doesn't realize that she hadn't even told her when this was happening.

after a few minutes of allison not revealing it, lily opens her mouth to ask.

only, it doesn't get out fast enough out of her mouth, so allison interrupts her, "well, i just wanted to check in! and you seem good," she says seriously. "so, i'm going to go, but we'll talk more later, alright?"

"right," she murmurs, just as allison says, "okay, goodbye!"

lily's eyes widen in shock again, opening her mouth and trying to ask her to wait before she can hang up, "wait!"

but, it's too late. because allison hangs up on her, while she's in the middle of trying to talk to her.

and not to mention, allison intentionally does this, so that she doesn't reveal too much—after all, she can barely lie to her sister with a straight face.

lily screams into a nearby pillow on her bed, feeling incredibly frustrated.

and in a fit of anger and irritation, she doesn't think it through as she angrily and harshly throws her phone at the mirror that sits on her vanity desk, across from her big and comfy bed.

how the hell is she supposed to prepare? how is she supposed to come up with the courage to lie through her teeth to hide how she really feels?

nick, matt, chris, and madi would probably, no doubt, show up with her sister and elliot. so, how is she supposed to pretend to be fine, even with them not knowing the full story?

a part of her wishes that they knew already because she hates keeping secrets—this is ironic, since that's what she's been doing for as long as she can remember.

she doesn't even stop for a moment to check on her phone's screen or look at the cracks of glass lying everywhere on her desk and floor—she's too distracted and to be totally honest, she totally forgets about it in the moment.

instead of doing that, she groans again and falls back on her stomach, forcing her face into her pillow and screams in anger.

—————

[irl!]

ON THE OTHER END OF her phone, allison turns to face her boyfriend with an excited smile on her lips.

"so, it worked?" jake asks seriously, obviously still feeling a little bad about doing this—he's very protective of lily, but deep down, knows that it's the right thing to do.

she nods excitedly. "i can't wait for all of us to be in one place, all at the same time!" she murmurs, but then, everything clicks for her.

"wait, but...she's still going to be so mad at us."

jake sighs, before pulling her body into his arms, her head hiding in his chest, while he wraps his arms around her back and she shockedly leaves her hands in the middle of the air.

then, she starts to freak out, almost crying into his chest a little. "how the hell are we going to do this? she's going to never forgive us!" she lifts her head up from his chest, so that her words aren't muffled.

jake hugs her tightly, trying to give her some sort of comfort, before he speaks his next words, "i know. but, we have to do it. she may not forgive us, but at least we'll know that we tried to help her."

jake doesn't know who's trying to convince—allison or himself.

she sighs shakily, nodding into his chest.

"i hope so."

—————

A/N: i know, i know. this one is SUPER short. BUT, it's only short because i have a lot things planned for the confrontation with lily and her friends (at least some of them are all friends, except for the triplets and madi because they're really only POTENTIAL friends). anyways, that chapter will be pretty long, i'm assuming, so that's why it'll be in the next chapter because it would've made THIS one even longer than intended.
—hannah <3