lilliana
"Do you want to spend Christmas break with my family?" Luke asked me that two weeks ago, at the beginning of December. Of course I said yes, so that's where we are now.
"You have nothing to be nervous about, Lils. If anything, they will be pissed at me for fucking up." He says while his thumb rubs the hand he's holding.
"That should feel comforting... but it doesn't." I state. The overwhelming thoughts consume my mind. "What if they don't like me? You did tell them I was coming right? Oh, please tell me you did. I don't want to be here unexpectedly, Luke. That-"
"Lilliana Willow Riley." I stop at the use of my full name. "Will they love you as much as I do? Not a chance. But that's a very hard standard to beat. But I promise you, they already love you. If they didn't, why do you think they've been telling me every day how much I messed up? And, when I told them you were coming, they were all over the moon, Lils. So don't be nervous, okay?"
He gives me a light peck. "Okay, let's go." We've been standing outside of the house. Luke got a rental for what ever reason.
He knocks on the door and my nerves only rise more. He squeezes my hand three times - something he does to calm my nerves.
The door opens revealing Mrs. Hughes with a bright smile on her face. "Oh, it's great to see you, dear." She engulfs me in a hug, I let go of Luke's hand.
"It's good to see you again." I say. My nerves calm slightly.
"What am I? Chop liver? I'm your son." Luke says walking into the house - I follow behind him.
"I see you all the time, Luke. I haven't seen Lily in forever." Ellen says. I know it didn't really mean much, but it hurt a little. They didn't know why I suddenly stopped spending time with them, they didn't deserve that.
"Did someone say Lily?" Jim - Luke, Quinn, and Jack's dad says emerging from the kitchen.
"Oh, Lily." He notices me. "I missed you." Jim was always like a dad to me - because my own wouldn't step up. He hugs me, and I realize how much I've missed this family.
"Dad, stop hogging Lily from the rest of us." Quinn practically pries Jim off of me, and before I know it, he's hugging me.
"Where's Jack?" I ask, not seeing him in the living room. When I say that, the vibe changes. They share I look I don't get before Ellen tells me he's in the kitchen.
I make my way in the kitchen and find him turned away from the entrance and towards the counter. "Hey, Jack!" I say.
"Lily, it's good to see you." He says giving me a hug - more like a side hug.
"Is everything okay?" I ask. I know we haven't spent time together in a while - but I know him, and something's off.
"No, not really." He says, I ask for him to continue. "It sucks that the only way to spend time with us is if you're dating Luke. Just because he's my brother doesn't mean you can't spend time with us without him."
"Remember before you left that you said you would come to as many games of mine as you could?" He says. "And that one time, you said when the Devils played the Canucks you would come in with a spilt jersey."
I do remember that, I remember it like it was yesterday. I didn't realize I hurt them - I was being selfish.
"And, when that game happened, I thought - even thought we hadn't talked in a while - that you would show up like you said you wouldn't and you didn't." He states.
"Jack, I'm sorry. You have every right to be upset. It was selfish, and I wasn't thinking about all of you guys when I made the decision I did." I say.
"It's okay, Lily. I get it, I do. But if I know anything, I know miscommunication can really fuck stuff up.. so I wanted to tell you how I felt." He says.
"Thanks, Jack, for telling me." I say. It's late, Luke and I got here later than we excepted, it's already 10pm.
"I'm pretty sure Mom is going to force us to watch a Christmas movie, so if you're on my side, we might be able to over rule A Christmas Story." He says. Some things never change.
"But we need a backup movie," I say.
"Home Alone?" We both say at the same time. That's been my favorite Christmas movie for a while.
We gather in the living room - I sit on the love seat next to Luke. Jack and Quinn sit on the couch along with Jim and Ellen.
"Almost Christmas?" Quinn says flipping through different movies.
"Sorry, Jack. But I love Almost Christmas." I state.
"Traitor!"
author's note:
jack in his room: YOU BETRAYED ME AND I KNOW THAT YOULL NEVER FEEL SORRY
word on the street is, joe burrow is at the taylor swift concert in cincy and being the biggest football fan along with a taylor swift fan, this is literally insane to me
TAYLOR. ALISON. SWIFT.
IVY?!?!?! I MISS YOU IM SORRY WITH GRACIE?!?! CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT?!?! ALL IN THE PRESENCE OF JOE BURROW AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, NOT IN THE PRESENCE OF ME?!?! IM SO OVERWHELMED
