How To Play The Game.

twenty four - lily

When Lily wanted something she usually got it. That was how things worked, that was how they had worked since the day she was born and now that Lily was 22 years old she was having trouble understanding that there were some things that she just couldn't have.

"Can't you talk to the building manager and ask him to make an exception for us?" Lily pouted, following her father as he walked through the house. Mr. Hemmings was getting ready to leave for a business trip and Lily was annoying him yet again.

"I already have, Lily, and it's not going to work." He sighed.

"But Daddy," Lily whined, "It's not fair, they should at least consider it for us, right?"

"I'm sure that they have considered it at one point, but overall it's just not a good idea." Mr. Hemmings shook his head. He stopped in the kitchen to take one last sip of his coffee before heading out.

"But I really want a puppy." Lily said, a big pout still on her lips, as she trailed after her dad to the front door. "I've wanted a puppy since I was 5 and I still haven't gotten one."

"Well when you move out and buy your own house then maybe you can get one." Mr. Hemmings shrugged and with that he left, leaving Lily alone in the apartment without even giving her a proper goodbye.

Lily huffed and folded her arms across her chest, walking back into the living room. She had nothing to do now and no one to annoy. Lily sat down on the couch and checked her phone, not seeing any new messages. She had expected to see a text or two from Michael, but she knew that he was busy today with meetings about his new book.

Lily was about to text Michael herself and ask if he could come over when he was all done, but as soon as she started typing out the message the front door of the apartment opened and Luke came walking in, holding his shoes in his hands.

Even from a few feet away, Lily could see that his neck was covered in love bites and his hair was all messed up, which wasn't anything unusual, Luke had been coming home like that a lot lately. She was just wondering when he would finally introduce her to the girl he'd been seeing.

"Oh shit, I didn't think you'd be home." Luke groaned when he saw Lily sitting on the couch, quickly running his hands through his hair.

"Well where else would I be?" Lily asked sarcastically.

"Uh, I don't know, with Michael maybe?" Luke scoffed. He dropped his shoes down on the floor and then walked past Lily, into the kitchen.

"Michael's at meetings all day. He has to work on stuff for his new book." Lily informed him. She got up from the couch and followed Luke into the kitchen.

"Oh, right. That's coming out soon, isn't it? What's it about again?" Luke asked, opening up the fridge and searching for something to eat.

"I don't know, he hasn't told me." Lily shrugged. She really didn't care that she didn't know what the book was about, it kind of made her more excited for it to finally come out.

"Oh." Luke said slowly, a confused look on his face. He pulled out some leftover pasta out of the fridge from a few nights before and then put it in the microwave. "Okay."

"So, what are you doing today?" Lily asked, rocking back and forth on her heels. After she started dating Michael, Lily and Luke hadn't spent a lot of time together and Lily missed her big brother a lot.

"I have a modeling thing to go to. I'm just gonna be here for a few minutes. I'll get myself cleaned up and then leave." Luke said. He got the pasta out of the microwave and then took out a spoon for himself, shoveling the food in his mouth without even waiting for it to cool.