No Strings *COMPLETE*

Chapter 11

After crying myself to sleep Lilli wakes up bright and early the next morning. 

She shakes me until I'm finally awake enough to sit up and tell her to stop. She looks at me innocently, "What's wrong, babes?" I'm tempted to ignore her question, but it'll only make her pry more. "Lilli, I really don't want to talk about it," I mumble, hoping she would just drop the subject. "Ski, when we came home yesterday you had already barricaded yourself in here and this is the first time that I've seen you move since. I know something is up.  Talk to me. Don't make me go get Nathan." "That is the last person I want to see," I growl. Her face softens like she knows I'm serious. "Oh honey,  what happened with you guys?" 

A tear rolls down my cheek. "Nothing. I'm stupid and I so stupid things. It's just me." "Did you hook up with him? Did he hurt you? I'll kill him!" She says protectively. "Yes, we did, but we have been since school started. That's not a problem. We had an agreement. No strings. No feelings. It would be too risky otherwise. But I... " "Fell in love?" Lilli says as I trail off. I nod, "And I need to move on before it becomes a problem." She looks at me, confused. "Insert Keiran Williams." I continue, "A sweet handsome clutz that I met just yesterday morning." She nods knowingly.

"He's exactly what you need. " "Absolutely!" I exclaim." You need to go after what you want! You deserve to be happy, fuck Nathaniel." She says throwing her arms around my shoulders. I really hope you're right, Lilli. We sit in silence for a couple minutes. "Well, I better start packing," I say getting off my bed. "Wait, what?" You still haven't packed?" Lilli says confused. "I packed three days ago." "Well, you should know me. I procrastinate." I say with a  smile? "Need any help?" She asks, bouncing off the bed. "Sure!" Will you grab some of the clothes from the closet?"

After we pack for a little bit. Lilli breaks the silence. "So... How judgy are your parents?" She asks nervously. "Pretty judgy, why?" "Well maybe because I got invited by your brother to come with..." She trails off and slowly looks at the floor. "Wait, Alec invited you to come with us?" I say with a squeak. She nods, a big grin plastered on her face. I run over to her, squealing louder. "That is huge!" I exclaim, hugging her. 

"I'm so nervous though," she says after we break apart. "Psh, don't be! You are the perfect example of the girl they want him to bring home! They're gonna love you." I say confidently, zipping up my suitcase. 

We finish packing up my clothes and necessities and flop onto my bed. "So.... You guys must be getting pretty serious." I say, turning towards her. She blushed in response. "You..... could say that...." "Oh?" I say intrigued. She has something else she wants to say to me- I can tell by her smile- She grins bigger. "Lilli." I say cautiously, trying not to laugh at her giddiness. 

"Yessssss," She sings. "What else were you going to tell me?" She leans  really close to me and whispers, "I think I'm going to tell Alec I love him." "That's a really big step Lills!" And I mean that in a good way. She deserves it one hundred percent.

"I'm ready to tell him and I hope he feels the same way!"

We spend a good portion of the rest of the afternoon, laughing in my room and watching  Pretty Little Liars. So what? We're Netflix junkies. 

At 4 o'clock, quarter grades are posted and we are officially on Christmas break. After Lilli and I compare grades, we turn the tv and bedroom light off and take our bags downstairs. 

As I pass by Nathan's room, I notice that his door is shut and there is no excessive noise coming from inside. I wonder where he's at. He's not your problem anymore, leave it alone and keep watching, I think to myself. 

Alec joins us in the foyer, bags in hand. "You girls ready?" He asks reaching for his truck keys on the key hook on the wall. "Yep!' Lilli and I say in unison. We look at each other and start giggling. 

I'll take that as a yes." Alec says with a smile more aimed at Lilli that me. Alec opens the door and we walk out. Feeling the breeze hit my face made my stomach drop and Nathan's face popped into my head. I shook it off and continued to the beat-up Chevy that Alec drove. 

After putting our bags in the back and Alec pulls into the truck with Lilli in the middle. We pull out of the drive way and head to Jiffy Trip. We the get out of the truck and head inside. "I'll get drinks," I say. "Alec coke right?" "Yeah." "What about you Lilli?" "Dr. Pepper." "Got it." I say back. As I head to the back of the store. Not even five minutes later I hear Alec cussing up a store. I hurry up and pay for the drinks and head outside. 

"Shit!" "Shit!" "Shit!" "What the fuck!" "Alec what's wro-." I look away from Alec and towards the tr-. "Where's the truck?"