Thin White Lies | a.i.

Eleven

FIVE YEARS AGO

To say that Lily was excited was an understatement. It was the end of November, which meant not only was it pretty much Christmas time, but it was finally time to board a plane with her mother and travel across to Paris, France, to surprise Luke and the boys for the Holidays. It had been so hard to keep the secret from everyone, especially Ashton as the boys flew across the globe on their very own headlining tour.

Ashton had kept his promise this time, and once he had left, he'd made an effort to speak to Lily every single day, not having a care in the world if the other boys knew he was somewhat whipped, and just a tiny little bit in love with the girl. The last time they were together was the day the boys had left Sydney, to go on tour. Ashton had kisses Lily at the airport, in front of everyone, even her mother! Luke was absolutely horrified.

However, the both of them denied any feelings for each other, and refused to admit that they were dating. Eventually, as the months went by, the boys had finally accepted that that was just how Lily and Ashton were. They'd been bound to each other since day one, so the development of them kissing each other was deemed as completely normal. Except to Michael, who begged Lily to tell him what was going on, but knew deep down that the two would never admit how head over heels they were for each other.

It was almost painful to him, seeing how much they adored each other, but never doing anything about it.

They spoke every day, even when they were in completely different time zones. Lily would stay awake to all hours of the morning and so would Ashton. They'd skype, call and text, and Ash even sent Lily gift after gift from each country they visited. It wasn't uncommon for the boys to catch Ashton smiling like an idiot at a snapchat his 'babygirl' had sent him. He even refused to pick up girls when the boys went out clubbing. He was undoubtedly attached to her, and he didn't even know it.

"You ready, Lily?" Her mother, Liz, called from somewhere in the house, most likely the front door, waiting to go.

Lily squealed, sprinting down the steps two at a time. It was summer time in Australia, so it was stupidly hot, so packing all coats and scarfs had felt completely strange to the girl. She even went shopping in the winter months to buy a brand new coat for her trip, and ended up buying three. She stood in the changing rooms trying on coat after coat, wondering which one Ashton would like the most, and decided on just getting them all. H&M have really nice coats, okay? It had nothing to do with his opinion, maybe.

The trip to the airport had been long, every minute seeming longer than the last, and all Lily wanted to do was board her flight and get going already. It was already going to be hard enough not speaking to Ashton for the next 14 hours, her first flight of the day, she just wanted to get it over with.

Speaking of her favourite boy, her phone chimed in her hand as Lily and her mother exited customs and headed for their terminal.

From: Ashy
Miss you babygirl. Finally leaving for Paris today, I'll be thinking of you in the city of looooove ;)

Lily's lips formed into a shy smile at the mention of the word 'love.' It wasn't like Ashton hadn't told her he loved her before, in fact, they said it almost every time they hung up a phone call, or said goodnight in text, but it wasn't love love. It was more like 'love u' and 'luv ya,' leaving Lily slightly dissapointed and just a tiny little bit hurt. She'd never ever admit that out loud, however.

Liz looked toward her daughter curiously. "Who're you talking to, Lil?"

"Ashton," Lily said, the smile never dropping from her lips and her eyes staying glued to her phone as the feverishly typed back a text in response.