The Return 9: Battle (Ensemble) R
Title: The Return 9-Battle
Rating: R (for profanity and mentions of sexual situations. I kicked it up from PG-13, because Logan swears... a lot)
Characters/Pairings:Logan, Lilly the first, Wallace, Weevil, Parker, Piz, Dick, Mac (mentions of: Veronica and Duncan) Hints of MaDi
Word Count: 2,836
Spoilers: All episodes (from 1.01: Pilot to 3.20: The Bitch Is Back. Just to be sure) Although this is obviously AU and there are obviously going to be some alterations to events and especially some in the last couple of episodes.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Literally, nothing. So don’t sue me over his, because you won’t get anything. It all belongs to Rob Thomas and if I had owned it when it was still on the last season would have been way different.
A/N: This story was also no originally mine, and I’d really like to stress that in the first two chapters. The original story can be found here) And this is my first attempt at anything AU, so… enjoy
Chapter 1: Awake/ Chapter 2: Homecoming/ Chapter 3: Forgive/ Chapter 4: Arrival/ Chapter 5: Reconnect/ Chapter 6: Belong/ Chapter 7: Bets/ Chapter 8: Fight
The Return
9
Battle
~Logan~
Logan walked through the house. Scratch that, he was raging through the house. Everyone was in the kitchen, playing that goddamn Monopoly game and he couldn’t fucking find Lilly and Veronica was still upset and Duncan was upstairs with the baby and Dick was clinging to Mac for some reason… and he was pissed.
She made a joke out of it. They struggled through life and friendships and school and just fucking breathing was a chore for four goddamn years and she made a joke out of it. He knew she was never going to understand what they had all been through, how hard it had all been. How for a while there, he didn’t think he was going to make it and she laughed at it.
Then she yelled at Veronica for making it all better. Veronica swooped in a fixed him and if it wasn’t for her he probably would have drank himself to death, or killed himself, whichever came first. If it weren’t for Veronica there would have been more than just the tragedy of her coma, there would’ve been an actual death. And she had the nerve to yell at Veronica for that.
On top of all that, she felt like she could still claim him. Like he was some piece of property that she owned. Nope, Logan belongs to Lilly for the rest of his and nobody ever try to date him. Logan’s thoughts whirled angrily in his mind until a voice cut through the haze.
“Hey guys.” It was Lilly’s voice. She was talking to someone, or at least two someones, but question was who. Logan stopped in the hallway, trying to pinpoint her location. She could either be in the livingroom talking to Mac and Dick or in the kitchen talking to Wallace, Weevil, Parker and Piz.
“Hey Lilly, what ya doin?” That was Parker’s voice, clear as a bell.
Logan started toward the kitchen as she started to answer, coming into the room as she finished her sentence. “Just getting a glass of water.”
“What exactly in the hell was that all about?!” Logan’s voice reverberated in the room, his anger forcing Parker down in her seat and almost literally making Piz start to shake. Wallace looked like he was just rolling his eyes as he sat back in his chair. However, Weevil stood, looking protective as he balled his fists and glared menacingly at Logan.
“Watch it Echolls.” Weevil’s voice was low and cold, a casual threat.
Lilly just held her hand up to Weevil, signaling him to back off. She didn’t even bother to look at him as she made the gesture, clearly telling him that it wasn’t his fight or his business. Weevil sat down in his chair almost petulantly, even angrier that he had basically been blown off.
“What was what all about?” Lilly’s voice was cold and indifferent, much like it had been earlier when she was yelling at Veronica. Like she could no longer be bothered with Logan and his ‘temper tantrums’ as she’d put it years before.
“That little fit you had earlier. When you basically called Veronica a friendship wrecking slut, what was that all about?” Logan’s anger seemed to start all over again at the memory of Lilly’s words to Veronica just a couple hours earlier.
“I don’t think those were my exact words, but they fit I suppose.” Lilly said, almost offhandedly as her glance flicked off to her right, in the direction of the table in which everyone was seated.
Logan looked off to his left, trying to let his anger calm, and to do that he needed to not look at Lilly. He saw Piz at the table, looking like his was ready to wet himself. Parker looked pale, and kind of scared. Wallace looked mostly uninterested but still angry at the remarks made about Veronica and Weevil looked pissed, but no longer looked like that was solely focused on Logan. Logan didn’t know if it was because Lilly had dismissed him or because she had made such comments about his precious Veronica, but he didn’t care. Weevil was pissed at Lilly too.
Logan felt a pang that he was showing this in front of Parker. She had never really seen this side of him, the violent side that he’d never felt the need to unleash while they dated. She had known about his beat down on Piz, had even heard stories told in graphic detail by the many witnesses of the food court. Still, Parker had never actually seen him lose his temper. Not like this.
Logan turned and refocused on Lilly.
“I want some answers, bitch.” Logan spit the words out at her, they were reminiscent of the fights of yesteryears. When they would be standing in the middle of the quad or parking lot or hallway or mall or whatever public venue they decided to have it out in. When she would accuse him of some crime and walk away, or he would catch her in a lie and would demand answers. When they pushed each other’s buttons and didn’t cut too deep for it too last long, not when three days or week later they were back together and having make up sex.
“Oooo… Someone is feeling pro-tective.” Lilly said it snidely, drawing out the word protective like it was some great word of seduction.
“What is this Lilly? Why are you suddenly so pissed off about this?” Logan’s voice was low and dangerous, daring her to say something she knew he didn’t want.
“Why am I so pissed off that my best friend went after the one guy I ever really cared about? Why am I so pissed that the guy that was supposed to love me pants after her like a puppy?” Lilly’s voice changed into a higher pitched, happier cheerleader-esque tone, sarcastically questioning him. “I wonder Logan. Since when was it Veronica that you wanted?”
“Since she was there for me and you weren’t. Since I was twelve and she seemed like such a better option than you, even if I was too dumb to take the better choice over the over-sexed and obvious choice. Since I was seventeen and realized that my slut ex-girlfriend had been banging my dad and I realized that she would never do something like that. Since I realized exactly what you were.” Logan sucked in a breath, ending his tirade at Lilly’s quick intake of breath and the collective gasp of the other occupants of the room.
That’s when he noticed that Mac and Dick were standing in the doorway, watching the fight go down. Mac’s eyes were wide, shocked. Dick stood there, mouth agape and eyes like saucers as they darted between him and Lilly.
“Well, if you mean so much to each other… If you mean so much to her then you might want to ask her why it is that she only casually mentioned your relationship. Like it barely happened. You might want to ask her why Duncan was the one that had to explain all the sordid little details of it to me.” Lilly leaned over the counter a little, looking directly into his eyes as she spit the words at him like a weapon.
Logan felt like he had been slapped, like she had actually reached across the counter and hit him. Veronica hadn’t explained the depth, the level that their relationship had entered. Hadn’t explained just how involved they were. Veronica hadn’t told Lilly that they had been in love. Just casually dated before senior year of high school.
He knew better than to take Lilly’s words as the truth. After all she lied as easily as… well as easily as either he or Veronica did. He knew better. But that still didn’t stop his mind from reeling at the possible fact that Veronica had led Lilly to believe that they were just a casual summer fling.
Logan knew better, but that didn’t stop him from turning and fleeing from the kitchen
~Lilly
She wished she could take it back. The things she said to Logan were a little harsher than what she had wanted to get. But then again, he had gotten a lot harsher than she had anticipated, not like in the old days when he wouldn’t dare to say such things to her.
Still, she wanted to take it all back. The fight she’d forced earlier had only gotten her in more trouble than she had bargained for. She had done it to snap everybody out of the comfortable little exactly-how-it-used-to-be world they had settled into and now everyone thought she still loved Logan.
And beyond that she thinks she might have just gotten Veronica in trouble with her little lie.
Of course Veronica had explained their relationship to her, Lilly had basically begged for the details at her first mention of it. Veronica had explained how they had been enemies and then started secretly dating, then she accused him of her rape and Lilly’s assault. Then they had openly dated until she was forced into breaking up with him because of his little gang war with the PCHers. After that had been the fiasco of senior year and her relationship with Duncan that even Lilly scolded her for. Veronica had explained how they had gotten back together after graduation and the tragedy that surrounded it. Explained how that summer after high school they had taken their relationship to the next level until he had broken up with her. Cried about how she was unable to tell him she loved him and how he had slept with Madison Sinclair during their separation.
Of course Veronica had explained it all.
And of course Lilly had lied to Logan about that. Right after she basically announced that she still loved him and only him and she expected the same from him even after all the crimes she committed against him.
Lilly looked up from the spot on the counter she had been so busy studying to see six pairs of eyes trained on her.
“What?” Lilly snapped out, annoyed that she was being stared at. Especially when all she wanted now was to be left alone.
Dick shook his head and left the room, that girl Mac following after him. Lilly had no idea if they were dating or what, but they were basically attached at the hip. So much so that Lilly hadn’t had any time to talk to her. Veronica said that she was good at computers, the Q to her Bond, but anymore than that was information Veronica wasn’t willing to share.
The other four at the table went back to concentrating on the game. Well, three of the four. Weevil continued to stare angrily at her, the look in his eyes revealed a feeling of betrayal.
“Why am I so pissed off that my best friend went after the one guy I ever really cared about?” The words replayed in her head viciously. She had almost forgotten that Weevil was there during the fight, and certainly hadn’t cared when she’d flung the words at Logan. Of course I hadn’t cared, isn’t that the crime Veronica accused me of that first night?
Lilly suddenly felt sick to her stomach. This was spinning wildly out of control. Her simple little push had snowballed into something much more complicated than she had originally anticipated. She had thought they would all revert back to their real personalities and those of their fifteen year old selves. She was wrong, the hurt went much too deep for them to be themselves and let her past slide. The people her Veronica and her Logan had become were much stronger and had much more self-respect to do that. They couldn’t let her go without calling her out on the things she’d done to them.
Now she had been called a slut by Veronica and Logan. She’d thought this day would never come, when they wouldn’t hold back and say what they really thought of her. Of course these were words spoken in anger and even she knew that they probably didn’t mean it. They seemed like the people to throw out the hurtful words to win the fight, but regret it later. Not to mention that Veronica had never actually called her a slut, just implied it.
Lilly walked around the kitchen island, fleeing the kitchen and the stares and glares she was getting from the four people at the table. She didn’t get any further than the hallway, leaning against a wall and letting her face drop into her hands.
“What is it about the rich boy that keeps you going back? Is it that he’s in your class? Or just that he’s an ass that treats you like crap?” Weevil’s voice was bitter, and close.
Lilly lifted her head only to find herself less than six inches from her ex-lover. She blinked a few times, trying to will the tears away.
“What?” It was a question she found herself repeating constantly, always in a state of confusion. There wasn’t much she understood nowadays, these people confused the hell out of her and she wasn’t catching up as quickly as she’d hoped.
“I mean, I don’t get it. You obviously were tired of him, could barely stand him anymore in high school. But you still went back to him every time he snapped his fingers. Even now, when he so obviously doesn’t want you, you still want him.” Weevil’s voice held more than just the bitterness she had detected earlier. There was something akin to defeat in the tone, something she’d never heard from him before. He shook his head a little before continuing. “He defends Veronica against you repeatedly and you still want him. He goes to her and still… He actually looked heartbroken over what you said about her and you still think the two of you will get back together. Why?”
~Weevil~
He was letting too much show. He was letting her in, he could see that in her eyes. She found a way into him and she knew it.
“I don’t want him.” The words were barely a whisper, spoken like a secret to him. Spoken so no one else could hear.
“You say that now, but when he snaps his fingers you’ll be right there, hanging on his arm.” Weevil looked into her eyes, a mistake. He’d always been weak with her, letting her make him think, make him believe, he had a shot. It was always her eyes that convinced him, they were sweet and still held an innocent naiveté that she was so convinced she didn’t have. She hadn’t seen reality in high school, not the way he had, no matter how much she thought she had.
Lilly had always insisted she knew how the world worked, and she did to a point. But the fact still remained that she was a rich girl and the world was a much better place to her kind. She didn’t have to deal with poverty or drugs or violence. She heard about poverty on the news and thought it was sad, but she didn’t have to live with it. The only drugs she ever came into contact with were the fun recreational kind that she and her friends bought during their little trips to Mexico where they stayed in the nicest hotels. She never experienced true violence, never had to watch one of her mom’s boyfriends beat up on her mom, or her. She had gotten a cold dose of reality for a split second before the ashtray had actually crushed into her skull. After that she had slept through four years and didn’t have to deal with the outcome, until now.
Lilly wasn’t as worldly as she liked to think she was.
“Of course, if you’re waiting for him to snap his fingers for you, you’ll be waiting a long time by the looks of it. And I am not something to pass the time.” Weevil’s eyes went cold and hard with his last sentence, pushing the point further. He shrugged off the small hand that was set upon his forearm.
“Weevil, that wasn’t ever what you were to me. You meant more than that, you know that.” Lilly’s voice was pleading.
“I get that you’re lonely Lilly, you’ve been rejected and you’ve never been good with that. But I’m not something you used to curb the loneliness with and then discard when you’re done. Things aren’t the way they were in high school Lilly, if you haven’t noticed.” Weevil brushed off her attempts to grab onto him, to keep him there with her. He turned and continued down the hall, up the stairs and up to his room. He doubted she even knew what room he was in, she hadn’t even bothered to venture up to the third floor, where all the apparently minor players in this little soap opera were sleeping.
10:Retreat
Rating: R (for profanity and mentions of sexual situations. I kicked it up from PG-13, because Logan swears... a lot)
Characters/Pairings:Logan, Lilly the first, Wallace, Weevil, Parker, Piz, Dick, Mac (mentions of: Veronica and Duncan) Hints of MaDi
Word Count: 2,836
Spoilers: All episodes (from 1.01: Pilot to 3.20: The Bitch Is Back. Just to be sure) Although this is obviously AU and there are obviously going to be some alterations to events and especially some in the last couple of episodes.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Literally, nothing. So don’t sue me over his, because you won’t get anything. It all belongs to Rob Thomas and if I had owned it when it was still on the last season would have been way different.
A/N: This story was also no originally mine, and I’d really like to stress that in the first two chapters. The original story can be found here) And this is my first attempt at anything AU, so… enjoy
Chapter 1: Awake/ Chapter 2: Homecoming/ Chapter 3: Forgive/ Chapter 4: Arrival/ Chapter 5: Reconnect/ Chapter 6: Belong/ Chapter 7: Bets/ Chapter 8: Fight
The Return
9
Battle
~Logan~
Logan walked through the house. Scratch that, he was raging through the house. Everyone was in the kitchen, playing that goddamn Monopoly game and he couldn’t fucking find Lilly and Veronica was still upset and Duncan was upstairs with the baby and Dick was clinging to Mac for some reason… and he was pissed.
She made a joke out of it. They struggled through life and friendships and school and just fucking breathing was a chore for four goddamn years and she made a joke out of it. He knew she was never going to understand what they had all been through, how hard it had all been. How for a while there, he didn’t think he was going to make it and she laughed at it.
Then she yelled at Veronica for making it all better. Veronica swooped in a fixed him and if it wasn’t for her he probably would have drank himself to death, or killed himself, whichever came first. If it weren’t for Veronica there would have been more than just the tragedy of her coma, there would’ve been an actual death. And she had the nerve to yell at Veronica for that.
On top of all that, she felt like she could still claim him. Like he was some piece of property that she owned. Nope, Logan belongs to Lilly for the rest of his and nobody ever try to date him. Logan’s thoughts whirled angrily in his mind until a voice cut through the haze.
“Hey guys.” It was Lilly’s voice. She was talking to someone, or at least two someones, but question was who. Logan stopped in the hallway, trying to pinpoint her location. She could either be in the livingroom talking to Mac and Dick or in the kitchen talking to Wallace, Weevil, Parker and Piz.
“Hey Lilly, what ya doin?” That was Parker’s voice, clear as a bell.
Logan started toward the kitchen as she started to answer, coming into the room as she finished her sentence. “Just getting a glass of water.”
“What exactly in the hell was that all about?!” Logan’s voice reverberated in the room, his anger forcing Parker down in her seat and almost literally making Piz start to shake. Wallace looked like he was just rolling his eyes as he sat back in his chair. However, Weevil stood, looking protective as he balled his fists and glared menacingly at Logan.
“Watch it Echolls.” Weevil’s voice was low and cold, a casual threat.
Lilly just held her hand up to Weevil, signaling him to back off. She didn’t even bother to look at him as she made the gesture, clearly telling him that it wasn’t his fight or his business. Weevil sat down in his chair almost petulantly, even angrier that he had basically been blown off.
“What was what all about?” Lilly’s voice was cold and indifferent, much like it had been earlier when she was yelling at Veronica. Like she could no longer be bothered with Logan and his ‘temper tantrums’ as she’d put it years before.
“That little fit you had earlier. When you basically called Veronica a friendship wrecking slut, what was that all about?” Logan’s anger seemed to start all over again at the memory of Lilly’s words to Veronica just a couple hours earlier.
“I don’t think those were my exact words, but they fit I suppose.” Lilly said, almost offhandedly as her glance flicked off to her right, in the direction of the table in which everyone was seated.
Logan looked off to his left, trying to let his anger calm, and to do that he needed to not look at Lilly. He saw Piz at the table, looking like his was ready to wet himself. Parker looked pale, and kind of scared. Wallace looked mostly uninterested but still angry at the remarks made about Veronica and Weevil looked pissed, but no longer looked like that was solely focused on Logan. Logan didn’t know if it was because Lilly had dismissed him or because she had made such comments about his precious Veronica, but he didn’t care. Weevil was pissed at Lilly too.
Logan felt a pang that he was showing this in front of Parker. She had never really seen this side of him, the violent side that he’d never felt the need to unleash while they dated. She had known about his beat down on Piz, had even heard stories told in graphic detail by the many witnesses of the food court. Still, Parker had never actually seen him lose his temper. Not like this.
Logan turned and refocused on Lilly.
“I want some answers, bitch.” Logan spit the words out at her, they were reminiscent of the fights of yesteryears. When they would be standing in the middle of the quad or parking lot or hallway or mall or whatever public venue they decided to have it out in. When she would accuse him of some crime and walk away, or he would catch her in a lie and would demand answers. When they pushed each other’s buttons and didn’t cut too deep for it too last long, not when three days or week later they were back together and having make up sex.
“Oooo… Someone is feeling pro-tective.” Lilly said it snidely, drawing out the word protective like it was some great word of seduction.
“What is this Lilly? Why are you suddenly so pissed off about this?” Logan’s voice was low and dangerous, daring her to say something she knew he didn’t want.
“Why am I so pissed off that my best friend went after the one guy I ever really cared about? Why am I so pissed that the guy that was supposed to love me pants after her like a puppy?” Lilly’s voice changed into a higher pitched, happier cheerleader-esque tone, sarcastically questioning him. “I wonder Logan. Since when was it Veronica that you wanted?”
“Since she was there for me and you weren’t. Since I was twelve and she seemed like such a better option than you, even if I was too dumb to take the better choice over the over-sexed and obvious choice. Since I was seventeen and realized that my slut ex-girlfriend had been banging my dad and I realized that she would never do something like that. Since I realized exactly what you were.” Logan sucked in a breath, ending his tirade at Lilly’s quick intake of breath and the collective gasp of the other occupants of the room.
That’s when he noticed that Mac and Dick were standing in the doorway, watching the fight go down. Mac’s eyes were wide, shocked. Dick stood there, mouth agape and eyes like saucers as they darted between him and Lilly.
“Well, if you mean so much to each other… If you mean so much to her then you might want to ask her why it is that she only casually mentioned your relationship. Like it barely happened. You might want to ask her why Duncan was the one that had to explain all the sordid little details of it to me.” Lilly leaned over the counter a little, looking directly into his eyes as she spit the words at him like a weapon.
Logan felt like he had been slapped, like she had actually reached across the counter and hit him. Veronica hadn’t explained the depth, the level that their relationship had entered. Hadn’t explained just how involved they were. Veronica hadn’t told Lilly that they had been in love. Just casually dated before senior year of high school.
He knew better than to take Lilly’s words as the truth. After all she lied as easily as… well as easily as either he or Veronica did. He knew better. But that still didn’t stop his mind from reeling at the possible fact that Veronica had led Lilly to believe that they were just a casual summer fling.
Logan knew better, but that didn’t stop him from turning and fleeing from the kitchen
~Lilly
She wished she could take it back. The things she said to Logan were a little harsher than what she had wanted to get. But then again, he had gotten a lot harsher than she had anticipated, not like in the old days when he wouldn’t dare to say such things to her.
Still, she wanted to take it all back. The fight she’d forced earlier had only gotten her in more trouble than she had bargained for. She had done it to snap everybody out of the comfortable little exactly-how-it-used-to-be world they had settled into and now everyone thought she still loved Logan.
And beyond that she thinks she might have just gotten Veronica in trouble with her little lie.
Of course Veronica had explained their relationship to her, Lilly had basically begged for the details at her first mention of it. Veronica had explained how they had been enemies and then started secretly dating, then she accused him of her rape and Lilly’s assault. Then they had openly dated until she was forced into breaking up with him because of his little gang war with the PCHers. After that had been the fiasco of senior year and her relationship with Duncan that even Lilly scolded her for. Veronica had explained how they had gotten back together after graduation and the tragedy that surrounded it. Explained how that summer after high school they had taken their relationship to the next level until he had broken up with her. Cried about how she was unable to tell him she loved him and how he had slept with Madison Sinclair during their separation.
Of course Veronica had explained it all.
And of course Lilly had lied to Logan about that. Right after she basically announced that she still loved him and only him and she expected the same from him even after all the crimes she committed against him.
Lilly looked up from the spot on the counter she had been so busy studying to see six pairs of eyes trained on her.
“What?” Lilly snapped out, annoyed that she was being stared at. Especially when all she wanted now was to be left alone.
Dick shook his head and left the room, that girl Mac following after him. Lilly had no idea if they were dating or what, but they were basically attached at the hip. So much so that Lilly hadn’t had any time to talk to her. Veronica said that she was good at computers, the Q to her Bond, but anymore than that was information Veronica wasn’t willing to share.
The other four at the table went back to concentrating on the game. Well, three of the four. Weevil continued to stare angrily at her, the look in his eyes revealed a feeling of betrayal.
“Why am I so pissed off that my best friend went after the one guy I ever really cared about?” The words replayed in her head viciously. She had almost forgotten that Weevil was there during the fight, and certainly hadn’t cared when she’d flung the words at Logan. Of course I hadn’t cared, isn’t that the crime Veronica accused me of that first night?
Lilly suddenly felt sick to her stomach. This was spinning wildly out of control. Her simple little push had snowballed into something much more complicated than she had originally anticipated. She had thought they would all revert back to their real personalities and those of their fifteen year old selves. She was wrong, the hurt went much too deep for them to be themselves and let her past slide. The people her Veronica and her Logan had become were much stronger and had much more self-respect to do that. They couldn’t let her go without calling her out on the things she’d done to them.
Now she had been called a slut by Veronica and Logan. She’d thought this day would never come, when they wouldn’t hold back and say what they really thought of her. Of course these were words spoken in anger and even she knew that they probably didn’t mean it. They seemed like the people to throw out the hurtful words to win the fight, but regret it later. Not to mention that Veronica had never actually called her a slut, just implied it.
Lilly walked around the kitchen island, fleeing the kitchen and the stares and glares she was getting from the four people at the table. She didn’t get any further than the hallway, leaning against a wall and letting her face drop into her hands.
“What is it about the rich boy that keeps you going back? Is it that he’s in your class? Or just that he’s an ass that treats you like crap?” Weevil’s voice was bitter, and close.
Lilly lifted her head only to find herself less than six inches from her ex-lover. She blinked a few times, trying to will the tears away.
“What?” It was a question she found herself repeating constantly, always in a state of confusion. There wasn’t much she understood nowadays, these people confused the hell out of her and she wasn’t catching up as quickly as she’d hoped.
“I mean, I don’t get it. You obviously were tired of him, could barely stand him anymore in high school. But you still went back to him every time he snapped his fingers. Even now, when he so obviously doesn’t want you, you still want him.” Weevil’s voice held more than just the bitterness she had detected earlier. There was something akin to defeat in the tone, something she’d never heard from him before. He shook his head a little before continuing. “He defends Veronica against you repeatedly and you still want him. He goes to her and still… He actually looked heartbroken over what you said about her and you still think the two of you will get back together. Why?”
~Weevil~
He was letting too much show. He was letting her in, he could see that in her eyes. She found a way into him and she knew it.
“I don’t want him.” The words were barely a whisper, spoken like a secret to him. Spoken so no one else could hear.
“You say that now, but when he snaps his fingers you’ll be right there, hanging on his arm.” Weevil looked into her eyes, a mistake. He’d always been weak with her, letting her make him think, make him believe, he had a shot. It was always her eyes that convinced him, they were sweet and still held an innocent naiveté that she was so convinced she didn’t have. She hadn’t seen reality in high school, not the way he had, no matter how much she thought she had.
Lilly had always insisted she knew how the world worked, and she did to a point. But the fact still remained that she was a rich girl and the world was a much better place to her kind. She didn’t have to deal with poverty or drugs or violence. She heard about poverty on the news and thought it was sad, but she didn’t have to live with it. The only drugs she ever came into contact with were the fun recreational kind that she and her friends bought during their little trips to Mexico where they stayed in the nicest hotels. She never experienced true violence, never had to watch one of her mom’s boyfriends beat up on her mom, or her. She had gotten a cold dose of reality for a split second before the ashtray had actually crushed into her skull. After that she had slept through four years and didn’t have to deal with the outcome, until now.
Lilly wasn’t as worldly as she liked to think she was.
“Of course, if you’re waiting for him to snap his fingers for you, you’ll be waiting a long time by the looks of it. And I am not something to pass the time.” Weevil’s eyes went cold and hard with his last sentence, pushing the point further. He shrugged off the small hand that was set upon his forearm.
“Weevil, that wasn’t ever what you were to me. You meant more than that, you know that.” Lilly’s voice was pleading.
“I get that you’re lonely Lilly, you’ve been rejected and you’ve never been good with that. But I’m not something you used to curb the loneliness with and then discard when you’re done. Things aren’t the way they were in high school Lilly, if you haven’t noticed.” Weevil brushed off her attempts to grab onto him, to keep him there with her. He turned and continued down the hall, up the stairs and up to his room. He doubted she even knew what room he was in, she hadn’t even bothered to venture up to the third floor, where all the apparently minor players in this little soap opera were sleeping.
10:Retreat