Andante

CLXIX

Eddy was so happy he had Brett's party to organise it wasn't even funny. Since his mum had talked to him at the dinner table in that ominously quiet voice, the heaviness of carrying too many secrets around was weighing on him harder than ever before. But every time he thought about how Brett's face would look when he saw all those faces, yelling 'surprise!' his mood lifted. And he'd been so busy, between all of his normal stuff and getting Brett's party together, that he hadn't had nearly as much time to sink into this gloom he felt every time he thought about the fact that Brett was going to uni next year, doing what they both loved doing so much, and he would have a whole other year ahead of him of high school. 
God, that was going to suck. 
He had been talking to Steven every day, in breaks, or at night when he was supposed to be studying. About thirty kids had been invited by now by various people and this evening he was going over there to help decorate with Lily. 

"Hey! Lily!" he called as he saw her heading into the school ahead of him. Weirdly, she didn't respond. She just kept walking, and suddenly his eyes opened wide when he realised her head was hanging. 
Shit! There was something wrong! He broke into a jog and caught up with her, just as they reached their lockers. 
"Lily!" He put his hand on her shoulder and she turned around and peeked up at him through her eyelashes. Her eyes were red and swollen, her cheeks puffy. 
"Hi." she said softly, shrugging apologetically. 
"Jesus, Lily, what's going on?"
Her bottom lip started quivering and Eddy blinked in shock. Oh God, she was about to lose it, wasn't she? And there were kids all around them. So he took a flash decision. They had English, together, the first hour, right? He put his bag in his locker and closed it with a soft bang. 
"Okay. You stay here, don't move, okay?" he said, pushing her softly against the lockers, his hands firm on her shoulders. She simply nodded, and he sprinted off to the class to tell their teacher that Lily wasn't well and they would both be a minute. 

It seemed like only ten seconds had passed when he skidded to a halt in front of her again. She hadn't moved.
"Come on." he said. He took her elbow and led her outside, to their bench. She walked next to him quietly, demurely, and sat down on their bench without another word. 
"So, what's going on?" he asked softly as he sat down as well and put his hand on Lily's thigh, squeezing softly. 
He could see the dam breaking right there in her eyes and she started crying for real now, and although he had seen her cry before, he had never seen her like this. She was sobbing, tears welling from her eyes like mountain springs, past caring who would hear. He took her in his arms and held her tight. 
"Lily, my sweet. Please. Just tell me, what's happened?"
She let go and looked up at him, still sobbing quietly. 
"He kissed... he kissed another girl. At a party last weekend."
Fuck. 
Eddy could feel the blood draining from his face. That one he had not seen coming. Matt had cheated on Lily? Istant protective rage was pounding through his veins hard, and Matt was fucking lucky he wasn't right here, because if he had been he might have been breathing his last. He kissed another girl? What the fuck?

"Jesus." he managed to say quite calmly. Lily nodded. 
"Yeah."
She wiped her cheeks and seemed to square herself. 
"He was super drunk. He says... he says he didn't mean to, he says it means nothing. But Jesus, Eddy, how can I ever trust him again? He's... he's begging me to stay with him, but how can I, after this?"
She started sobbing again now, and Eddy held her again, hopelessly out of his dept. I mean, what could he possibly say to her, about this crappy situation he'd never been in himself? 
"I'm so sorry, Lily." he whispered. He rubbed her back rhythmically, feeling her calm down slowly under his hands. The sun was getting hot already on his back, but he wasn't about to move, not until his best friend felt better.
It took forever, but at last she looked up at him, squaring her shoulders again. 
"So. I don't really know what to do. But... I love him, Eddy."
He nodded. He knew that, he'd seen that in her eyes, and to be honest... he'd seen that in Matt's, as well. 
"I know you do, Lily. This sucks so hard. I guess.... you need to talk to him more? See... see where you go from here?"
Out of nowhere Lily smiled suddenly. "God, Eddy, you looked so mad when I told you. I've never seen you that mad."
Eddy shrugged. 
"Of course I'm mad. He hurt you." He thought for a second. "But... do your parents know? Why are you even at school when you're this upset?"
She raised only one eyebrow at him.
"Yes, my mum knows I'm upset. But Eddy, have you never noticed... she's Asian?"
He couldn't help himself, he started grinning. 
She smiled wryly, heaved a huge sigh and nodded to herself.
"Okay then. Let's get in there." she said in her soft soprano, and stood up. "I'll splash some water in my face and I'll be okay. You're right. I'll talk to him, see where we go."
"Okay. If you're sure." he nodded as he got up as well and pulled her into one more tight hug. 

God, how he hoped that the advice he'd given her was the right thing to do. 

A/N. Hi guys, I hope you're all keeping well :)
Just wanted to let you know I wrote a sweet, sexy sexy story over on the oneshot collection for you to enjoy, for those of you that hadn't found it yet <3. Now that I'm only writing one book instead of two I'll have a bit more time to get to that, and to some of the prompts too! 
Hugs from a gloomy, gloomy Europe <3