Wickedly Good // Carlos DeVille

4

Ben found Lilly crying near the Enchanted Lake later that night.

The girl turned her face away when Ben approached her. “Go away,” she said, voice hoarse from crying.

Ben just plainly chose to do the exact opposite and seated himself beside her, cling his arms around Lilly in a side-hug.

“Hey,” he said softly. “Doug told me about your argument with Lonnie.”

The response to this was a soft sob from Lilly. “I don’t want to be someone else’s,” she said, her words trembled. Ben softly rubbed her back, muttering comforting words.  “I was Chad’s for five months and it was terrible. What am I going to do if I ever had a husband?”

“Ssh, ssh, Lills. You are only sixteen. You are not even allowed to marry yet.”

“Tell that to Lonnie,” Lilly wipes her face as she stared at her reflection on the lake. “She seemed most eager on marrying me off. Even more eager than Mama or Papa.”

“Everything will be okay.” Ben said soothingly, rubbing Lilly’s back. “Unlike your sister, your parents had some senses.”

That made Lilly smiled a little. “Yeah, I guess so. But Lonnie made me so embarrassed—she shouted and all that drama—in front of the new kids.”

“Ouch.” Ben flinched as he tightened his grip on Lilly’s shoulder. Lilly gave a humorless chuckle. “I know. Embarrassing, right? Maybe I should just quit school and went to live in Camelot with Artie.” She chuckled as Ben’s hand on Lilly’s shoulder stiffens.

"Why Artie?”

“I don’t know,” Lilly said softly. “Or should I go to Neverland? Peter is really nice. We grew up together, you know? Well, to be exact, he watched me grow.” Lilly chuckled as Ben retracted his hand from her shoulder and stared at his reflection on the lake.

“Well, do you know that I am planning on breaking up with Audrey?” Ben asked.

His voice sounded strained, and Lilly, surprised about the sudden change of topic and the sudden proclamation from Ben, opened her mouth, agape.

“What?”

Ben chuckled humorlessly. “You heard right. She became too much. At first it was cute, but as time goes, it becomes annoying.” He smiled sadly.

“The peak was just this morning, when she told you that you have no royal blood. At that moment I thought, that’s it, I can’t take it anymore. I love you, Lills. We all do. And you should know that we love you not because you are a royalty. No. We love you because you are you.”

Lilly opened her mouth again. “Is that a motivational speech?”

Ben chuckled as he flicked Lilly’s forehead with an unreadable expression. “No, silly. That was my confession of love from the bottom of my heart.”

Lilly laughed before she hugged him. “I’m flattered, Benjy.”  He smiled. “Well, you should be.”

“Seriously, though,” Lilly let go of Ben’s body and stared at the lake.

“What would I do without all of you? I love you so much, Ben, I felt like my heart would explode from all the thankfulness I’m feeling for you.”

Ben’s smile dropped. “So you are only thankful for me?”
Lilly looked at him incredulously. “Of course I am not only thankful just for you,” She smiled before frowning.

“But I am also thankful for all of you, too, of course.” She said before hugging Ben, who hugged her back with a soft smile on his face.

“So, do you think I should break up with Audrey?”  Ben whispered.

“Well, let’s match her with Chad.” Lilly replied, and both of them burst out laughing.

Lilly released herself from Ben’s grip before smiling. “You know, maybe putting all those villain kids here is a good idea after all.”

“Really?” Ben asked, his face lit up in a smile. “You really think so?”

“Why should I lie?”  She punched Ben playfully in the shoulder, making Ben oofed. “You got fists of iron.”

“You should try boxing with Lionel sometime. His fist is what I would call fists of iron.”

“Ah.” Ben nodded before let his gaze flickered to Lilly’s face. “So that’s what happened to your face?”
“Yep.” Lilly nodded. “It wasn’t so bad, actually. Mama told me to rub it in some herbs and it helped.”

“Maybe a splash of enchanted water will heal you?” Ben said with a mischievous glint on his eyes before he splashed the lake water to Lilly, making the latter shriek.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Lilly spluttered as she pushed Ben. The boy fell to the lake, much to Lilly’s happiness as she stared at him, laughing.

“Oh, you brought this upon yourself!” Ben said as she pulled Lilly’s legs, sending the girl to fell into the lake. “C’mon! Let’s race. Last one is a soggy loser!”

      ***
hello! I finally come back to this story because finally, the document in my computer can be recovered! Yayyy! I am happy to say that from now on, this story will be updated regularly. Please leave votes and comments!

xo, alohomora