Thin White Lies | a.i.

PRESENT DAY

The moment Lily stepped foot in her shared apartment, she knew her guard should be up. It wasn't anything new for the young adult. In fact, since moving in with Jake, she'd more often then not come home to a full blown fight, and arriving home now, she knew she'd just walked in to one.

The tension in the air that surrounded her small kitchen was thick, almost muggy, leaving Lily's throat feeling dry and her chest feeling tight. The house was completely silent, eerily so. She could have dropped a pin at the other side of the apartment and still heard it all the way from her spot at the door.

By the time Lily had driven home from her mother's Malibu home it was ten thirty. LA traffic was crazy once she'd gotten closer to the city, and driving all the way through downtown toward her small apartment just outside of UCLA had been a mission and a half. Why Lily hadn't just used public transport was beyond her. It would have been much quicker to begin with. She'd remember that for next time.

All the lights were off in the Los Angeles apartment except for a small lamp in the living room beyond the kitchen. Jake must have left it on for Lily for when she arrived home. She almost thought it to be sweet, almost. Then she remembered who Jake was, and how the action probably wasn't done out of consideration, or even for her at all. There was always a reason behind Jake's actions, a lot of the time they had nothing to do with Lily what so ever. That was just something she had to live with.

She placed her keys on the counter gently, stepping as quietly as she could through the tiny, poorly lit kitchen. If she woke Jake now, she'd never hear the end of it. Especially since he knew she'd been at her mothers house with Ashton. It wasn't like Jake even knew about her history with Ashton, just that whenever he came up in conversation between Lily's family members, Lily's name often followed. It seemed to happen far too often, the mention of their names together, especially in front of Jake.

Lily felt guilt swimming in the pit of her stomach. She'd never been a cheater before, and not once had she even considered being unfaithful to Jake, but in the year they'd been together, Ashton had kissed Lily twice, and Jake had yet to find out about it. Maybe tomorrow morning he'd tell him. Maybe.

A light flickered on in the living room beyond her, the space coming to life in the dead of night. Lily stopped in her tracks, mid step as she held her breath. Oh, no. She knew what was coming.

"Lily Anne Hemmings what the fuck do you think you're doing getting home so late?" he spat, sounding just like an overprotective father. Jake stood in the middle of the room, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down on Lily, as if she were pathetic compared to him. Maybe she was.

"T-there was traffi--"

"Don't lie to me."

His voice was calm. Almost too calm. As if he was completely collected, held together perfectly by the world's strongest glue. But Lily knew that wasn't true, that Jake was a ticking time bomb who could explode at any seconds. She almost wished he would, just getting the yelling over and done with, so she could take a hot shower and go to bed. It had been an exhausting day to say the least.

"I'm not . . ." Lily trailed off as Jake took a large stride toward her. She took a step back. "I'm not lying. There was traffic through the city. A lot of it."

"Bullshit," Jake spat, taking another step in Lily's direction. Lily took another step back. "You were with that twat, weren't you? What's his name? Ashley?"

"A-Ashton," Lily whispered, her eyes suddenly seeming overly interested in her shoes. "His name is Ashton."

"So you were with him?" Jake said, eyes wide, finishing off with a laugh.