Paperboy. (h.s. au)

12.

A/N: This chapter has nothing to do with Niall but this picture is too lovely to not include. Enjoy x

M

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On the ride home from the mall, we don't speak much. When Lily does speak, she only gives me comments about Lacey and Harry, discriminating against Lacey and her perkiness, her hair being too blonde, her makeup over done, pretty much anything she could find to criticize- which wasn't much. I mostly agree and nod my head to humor her, but saying those things about Lacey made me feel guilty. A friend of mine really was head over heels for her, and talking badly about her made me feel like a bad friend.

My thoughts wander back to the text Harry had sent me. Birdy. An obvious jab at my name. I had never heard that one before. I text him back:

What kind of name is that?

I wait until I see the little bubbles pop up, and when they do, I smile a little. I suppress the smile quickly and read the text:

The nick kind.

Clever. I don't respond and put my phone away. Lily sighs loudly, pulling me out of my thoughts. Whenever she sighs like that, it meant she has something to say. After she's finished, she says to me, "You know, I absolutely hate when nice guys like that get stuck with girls like that." She turns her head to me and then looks back to the road, waiting for a response.

"I guess it's a little off. He seems to like her though, so I don't question it." I twiddle my thumbs and look around.

Lily lets out a short, sarcastic laugh. "He seemed afraid of her, if that's what you mean. Did you see him constantly looking over his shoulder after we walked over? He's either really whipped or really scared she'll see him with other girls. It's sad." She shakes her head and sighs again, "Sad."

I didn't really notice that Harry had acted that way. I was mostly focused on the fact that we saw him at all. Now that I think of it, she had made Harry leave rather quickly after she noticed we had been there.

No, we're definitely over analyzing this. She wanted to leave, there were sales...

I glance over at Lily, who's chewing on her lower lip in frustration. Lily loved to criticize. So much so that sometimes she didn't realize she was. She almost never did this to me, but every now and then something like are you sure you want to wear that, or, that looks funny on you, slipped out. I learned never to take it seriously. It's in her nature, it's just how she is.

I look back to the road ahead. "I guess that's right. But it's none of our business what their relationship is like."

She sighs again. "Yes, but I'm only commenting on how pathetically he allowed her to push him around. If I was his girlfriend..."

I stopped listening. She did this a lot, Lily. If she were his girlfriend...

Once she had finished her spiel on her perfect relationship ideas, we had already pulled up to my house. "You want to stay for dinner? I'm ordering pizza," I invite her in, half hoping I can have the pizza to only myself and my brother.

"Actually I have a lot to do. Clean the house, cater to my mothers every whim, you know. But we definitely need to eat pizza together soon. It's been too long." She gives a sad face, pouting out her lower lip, feigning a sad face.

"Right, it really has." I knew she would try to avoid spending any more time with me. She's moving on, I guess I should. I wonder what it's like to be detached.