Home Again

Lilly

A/N: This is a book that i am seriously excited for. I can't wait for the story to unfold and for all the secrets to be revealed. this part is short and i was kinda rushed but this is a first draft of the book so we'll see how it goes. Fingers crosse

The day I went back to England was tragically beautiful. My family was waiting for my brother and I at the airport with solemn faces. When they saw my older brother and his girlfriend, the sadness, so plainly written across their faces, vanished.

"Welcome home Thomas." My mother cooed. She held Thomas in a crushing hug as my father stood by stoically.

"Hi, mom." Thomas responded. Skylar, his girlfriend, came straight up to my mother and recited, as all good girlfriends do,

"Hello Ms. Aldrich. It's nice to finally meet you. You as well Mr. Aldrich" she smiled. My father only nodded. My mother on the other hand, laughed joyfully,

"Please, call me Diane." Skylar nodded quickly. She was my friend before becoming Thomas' girlfriend. But she'd changed since then. This was her first time meeting the 'rents and she didn't look the least bit scared.

I looked around the airport I knew so well now. Every break I was required to come home; Whether I wanted to or not. It was my father's doing of course. The school didn't make us go home. There were plenty things I could be doing in America right now. I could be reading in the school library, which was huge, or I could be playing chess with some of my roommates at school. I was pulled from my thoughts by my own name being called. It was my father.

"Lillian are you going to stand around all day like a nobody or are you going to greet your family?"

"I..uhm hello Father, Mother." I turned to each after saying their names. "How are you?" I asked tentatively. My father was...not the gentlest of parents. But he cared deep down. I knew that. That doesn't mean it made the fact any nicer.

"Shoulda asked before your brother did. Or were you not paying attention?"

"I'm sorry father, I was daydreaming...again." He looked at me as though I was so disappointing there was no reason to scold me. His answer was simple and struck me through my heart

"Let's go home."

"Okay" I picked up my baggage and followed the others out of the airport. I could not let myself think about Ethan until I got home. When I was in my room, then I could think about him and maybe even text him.

The ride home was excruciatingly long and silent. Thomas and Skylar whispered amongst themselves quietly in the backseat, but no one cared. My father was occupied with the road and my mother was on her phone talking to one of her clients. Me, I was sulking quietly, trying not to listen to Skylar and Thomas' sickly-sweet words.

As the car pulled up to our house, I was seized with the urge to jump out and bolt to my room. Being the proper lady I am, I only did half of that. Soon as the car was stopped, I made a mad dash to my room. It was Summer, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't hot in my school uniform. First order of business, changing clothes.

Once I was out of the wretched school uniform, I went back downstairs to assess the current situation. Mom was cooking dinner while dad and Thomas were duking it out. Not a good thing. No sign of Skylar which also was not a good sign. I went out back to our garden, looking for her. I found her sitting on a bench, looking at our much too extravagant fountain. Everything was just too much here. I wanted something much simpler for my house. I looked at Skylar,

"Hey, it'll be alright, trust me, this is nothing new. Thomas rebels against him and he puts him back in his place." I was bad at comforting people...

"Wow Lilly that makes me feel so much better about all this." She was being sarcastic. I knew that. I didn't have to acknowledge that though.

"Well, I think they'll be done soon. I'll go check." I walked inside and smiled at my mother, "are they done yet? I'm hungry." I whined. It was half to make her laugh, and half because I really was hungry. I succeeded with at least half of the goal. My mother laughed quietly and politely, like a lady,

"Dinner is almost ready. I think they're about done too. If you would set the table for me, we could eat even faster." She smiled at me, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"yeah of course mom. Anything for your food." I joked as I walked away to attend to the table.

By the time that Thomas and father were done, the food was already cold. No one complained though. It wasn't in anyone's best interest to complain tonight. Tension was high in the Aldrich household and it wasn't pretty.

Dinner was more boring than listening to one of my professor's drone on and on about quadratic formulas and how to do things I already knew. I would prefer that to a dinner like this.

When dinner was finally over, I went to my sanctuary in a house full of chaos. My room. I stayed there for the rest of the night. Eventually I fell asleep with a book on my chest.