Thin White Lies | a.i.

Prologue

PRESENT DAY

Lily hugged her arms tighter around her chest, taking a deep breath through her nose and out through her mouth. It seemed to be the millionth deep breath she'd taken since arriving at LAX with her mother, Liz.

"You'll be fine, Lily," her mother reassured her for what felt like the hundredth time. Lily glanced toward her hands --shaking, she thought-- before clenching her fists until her knuckles turned white. "Your brother hasn't changed a bit, sweetheart, he still loves you. No matter how long he's been gone for."

But it wasn't her older brother that Lily was worried about seeing. She knew Luke would always love her, no matter how much distance was put between them. They had always been close, and nearly nothing could tear them apart. Except for one boy, in particular, who almost had.

No, Lily was not nervous about seeing her older brother. She was nervous about seeing his best friend.

She took another shaky breath through her nose, willing herself to calm down, trying to keep her thoughts from going haywire. It had been an entire year since she'd seen him. An entire year since she'd been held by him. An entire three hundred and sixty five days since she had uttered a single word in his direction.

The last time they saw each other was not a pleasant one. In fact, it was nothing but a huge, ugly mess. One that still had a listing imprint in Lily's brain. She often dreamt of the night, in forms of nightmare. She'd finally found enough courage to introduce Jake to her family as her boyfriend, and she was proud of it, too. But what she hadn't taken into consideration is how he would feel about it.

Damn, she thought, it was hard to even say his name.

Needless to say, he flipped, causing a huge unnecessary argument that caused Jake to leave before Lily could even so much as explain. Lily's best friend, Michael, was the one to tell Lily how he felt, how he still felt, and it still angered Lily to this day that he couldn't have told her himself. Or perhaps he had, in the form of jealously. And white hot rage.

Still, in spite of everything that night, Lily still managed to kiss the boy she was so infatuated over in Luke's bedroom. Slow, sweet and full of all the words they wanted to say to each other, bit didn't know how to.

Ugh.

It was a giant mess.

Lily hadn't spoked to him since that night. She hadn't told Jake about the kiss, either. In fact, she actively avoided telling him anything at all about him--and that night. Alas, Jake and Lily were still together. A whole year later. And Lily figured that what she felt for the black haired boy was love, or as close to love as it could ever get.

Jake wasn't him. But she was somewhat thankful for that, no matter how much it pressed a weight on her chest in the early hours of the morning, when she woke up crying his name.

She was still shaking. She did not want to face him. Not yet, she wasn't ready. Lily was so caught up in her thought she hardly registered her mother yanking on her arm, pulling her toward the arrivals terminal. "They're here, Lily," she said. "I see him. I see Luke!"

Lily's head snapped up, eyes searching the busy airport. She couldn't deny that she was at least a little excited. She got to see Luke again, after all. Finally, her eyes spotted the dirty blonde mass of messy curls amongst the crowd, and her breath caught in her throat.

Lily let out a squeal, one that could be mistaken for a thirteen year old school girls. Only, she wasn't thirteen anymore, she was twenty two. That didn't stop him from calling her his little girl. She took of at a sprint, dodging people as her baby purple pleated skirt swished and bounced around her.

"Luke!" Lily shrieked, launching herself at her older brother, her arms wrapping anything but carefully around his neck.

Luke caught her, laughing lightly into her shoulder. Lily breathed in, enjoying the feeling of finally being close to her brother again. She could have cried. Her mother probably was. "Hey, Little One," he whispered, kissing her gently on her temple.

"I missed you so much, Luke," Lily whined, acting like a child. She couldn't help it, around Luke and his friends, they were so much her older brothers.

"You know I missed you," he smiled, gaze falling past his sister and toward Liz. "Mum!"

Luke untangled himself from Lily, leaving her breathless and slightly cold from the loss of human contact. But not for long, for Michael Clifford's arms snaked around the girls waist from behind. He lifted her up, spinning her around in circles as Lily giggled happily before planting her on the ground.

"Mike," she breathed, turning herself around in his arms and snuggling into his chest.

Lily loved Michael so much it almost hurt, he was one of the closest things to a best friend for Lily, and always had been.

Her eyes caught sight of short black hair and tanned skin behind the snuggly kitten before her.

"Calum!" she shrieked, pealing herself away from her favourite Crayola and running toward the next boy she loved so dearly. He called her name back, and instead of hugging each other, the pair performed their dearly beloved, completely ridiculous and almost nine year old secret handshake. Complete with giant, goofy grins plastered on their faces.

"Damn," he said, slinging an arm around the girl. "I missed you, Little Hemmo."

"I missed you too, Asian Boy," she giggled, earning an eye roll from the man.

"Ashton!" Lily's mother called, pulling the curly headed giant in for a hug. Lily froze, her doe eyes going wide. A lump forming in her throat as he lungs seemed to fail her. She'd suddenly forgotten how to breathe.

She knew the second she laid eyes on the drummer she wouldn't be able to hold up the façade she'd been putting on anymore. She'd cave there and then, and run into his arms, melting into his strong hold.

Ashton pulled away from Liz, turning toward Lily slowly, almost hesitantly. Their eyes met and Lily's world seemed to stop, or maybe everyone else was just suddenly in slow motion. It's like nothing else mattered anymore. This was it, finally. She'd get to run into his arms, and kiss him gently, and tell him how much she'd missed him. It didn't matter that she was happily taken and had been for an entire three hundred and sixty five days, because Ashton was Ashton and Lily had always loved Ashton.

"Um," she smiled shyly, biting her lip. She pulled at the hem of her pleated skirt, swaying slightly. Ashton noticed. He almost let his walls break just by the simple sight of his baby girl. He took a deep breath as she continued. "H-hi, Ashton."

Lily watched hopefully through her big blue eyes as Ashton took the sight of her in. It had been an entire year since he'd seen the little girl, and looking at her now was doing funny things to his heart. But she had a boyfriend now. She'd had a boyfriend for a while, and they hadn't spoken a word to each other in an entire year. How the hell was he supposed to react?

He cleared his throat, Adams apple bobbing in his throat as he gulped, eyes flickering past her. "Hey," he said dismissively.

Wait, Lily thought, cocking her head to the side in puzzlement, that was it? That was really all he had to say?

Ashton shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, his eyes looking everywhere but her own. It was no secret to everyone that was currently with Lily that her and Ashton had a long history with each other, starting at the very first day they had met. But this, this was so unlike Ashton. To give Lily the cold shoulder. To shut her out. To dismiss her as if she were merely just another stranger in the busy airport.

It shattered Lily's heart more that she'd like to admit.

It shattered Ashton's heart too.