Tempted Hearts (bxb)

Chapter 13 - First Responders

As Daughter drowned out the awkward silence that filled the car, the four of us sat, one of us fueled with rage, the other fearing that their secret might be let out, and then there was me. I was scared to see how it would all turn out, while the other one of us could barely even remember his name.

We finally made it back to Lilly's place and I was quick to exit the car, barely being able to handle the uncomfortable situation that we were in. Both Lilly and I wanted answers to our questions. How did she do it? But most importantly: why? What could possibly make her want to fuck someone else's life up, especially someone who hasn't ever done anything to her?

After we got inside, the twenty-four-hour pizza delivery service arrived ten minutes after and Lilly then called everyone to the dining room table. Slowly, we all made our way into the room together. Jake had begun to sober up, but he definitely needed food in him. Emily sat down and opened up her pizza box. She must've felt bad, knowing that Lilly had begun to develop a sense of trust between them, even knowing her favourite pizza toppings.

"I just wanna know why you did it," Lilly started, looking on at Emily.

"Do we have to talk about this here?" She responded, hopefully embarrassed about the whole situation.

Jake looked around frantically. "What happened?" He asked, still not completely there.

"I think you should go to bed with the pizza..." Emily replied, rushing him up before he could even respond and walking with him to the bottom of the stairs as he slowly stomped up them.

Emily then sat down again. "Remember what we talked about?" she questioned, biting into her pizza, hunger clearly prioritised over seriousness.

I watched as Lilly's face scrunched up slightly in confusion, but it sounded like she didn't want to come across as careless at the same time. "What has that got to do with me?"

"You're like the perfect girl, with the perfect life, the perfect family, siblings..." she began, tears welling up in her eyes. "Haven't you ever thought about what it's like to live my life? Being beaten by my own mother? No father figure?" she began to break down in front of us, dropping the pizza slice onto her plate.

"I'm sorry, Max," she blubbered.

"No need to apologise. I can go if you-"

"No, stay," she exhaled quickly, trying to calm herself.

Lilly reached her hand out and it fell into Emily's. "I've said it before and I'll say it again- we're like family... As soon as you're eighteen, I'm sure our parents would be fine with you moving in," she said, a soft tone present that I'm sure she'd only ever shown a few times, and only with me.

"You don't need to try to wreck someone else's life and bring them down to bring yourself up. I'm here to help... but only if you promise to be there for me, too. This war has got to stop," she began smiling.

Emily looked up, sadness and anger clouding her pretty face with tears. "I'm so sorry... It was just so hard to see you with the perfect... everything while I have nothing. It feels unfair, and I took it out on you... Have you got your real grades now, though?"

Lilly nodded. "I do, thanks to Max's crazy hacking skills," she remarked, nudging me.

I smiled. "Hey, we did it together. Partner's in crime, right?"

"Sure." She grinned as Emily did too, through the tears.

We then heard stomps coming downstairs, Jake stood there, eating his pizza. "Shit, I go for like ten minutes and you guys are suddenly best friends?" He asked, sounding like he was high.