Lily Montgomery

“yeah,” shawn said, that single word fulfilling his entire agreement that he, too, missed the ranch and their old life in more ways than he could probably ever explain to someone. if they hadn’t moved, if they hadn’t come to northlake… his life would probably be on a completely different path right now. he would be graduated already, probably had a steady ranch hand job.. might even be the one his ex-girlfriend was engaged to and pregnant with. but that was an alternate life he’d never know. “no, not yet,” he sighed, coursing a hand through the short blond bristles at his head, “sometime in march.. don’t think they set the date yet.” or if they had, it wasn’t indicated.

This whole time in Northlake, Lily had been expecting that after a little while, they could go home. They could go back to the ranch, see their family, she could ride her horse... and it would be back to normal. At least for the summer between highschool and university. But now it sounded like they weren’t ever going to go home... not with their dad out of jail. It was too dangerous to risk a visit, and that thought was heartbreaking. As he explained that their father got out in March, she swallowed hard and nodded, looking down. “What if he finds us?” She asked in a whisper, clearly afraid of what would happen.

“Dance stuff, makeup, gifts... I don’t know. I’ll cross that road when I get to it.”

“ i think so. space … uptaking? they take up space? i don’t know either. ”  a good - natured laugh fell from her lips as she looked around the room a little more. she always forgot that lily was relatively new around still, that she just hadn’t perpetually been in northlake like fern.  “ maybe i’ll get one when i go to college! ”

he knew that would be her reaction and didn’t blame her for it, either. truth be told, he was upset and yes, scared too. the idea of their dad somehow finding them constantly loomed over his head like a dark rain cloud because he didn’t know what would happen anymore if he did. last time the guy had nearly killed their mother, they had all testified to put him away for so many years… shawn had gone back to try and keep him in prison and now failed… he’d been stewing for so long in a cell that who knew where his mindset was? pops hadn’t looked very happy to see him at the parole hearing, that’s all he knew. shawn’s eyes met hers and eventually he shook his head, still wanting to reassure her. “he shouldn’t,” he said. “he doesn’t know where we are.” but saying this also made him incredibly sad, because it meant they could probably never go home now.

Lily didn’t want to completely freak out... after all, he didn’t know where they were, but she was coming to the same realization that they would never be able to go home again. “I miss the ranch.” She said quietly, not realizing that the train of thought had taken her somewhere that must have seemed unrelated. “Is he out like... now? When does he get out?” Her eyes returned to the piece of paper, trying to find an official date of when he would be released on parole. 

fern stepped fully into the room, her long legs making the small movement ever dramatic. her eyes widened at the sight of the bean bag, clapping her hands together.  “ ooh, a bean bag. i always wanted one of these when i was a kid, but my parents always said we didn’t have any room for it. ”  she plopped down onto the bag with a little yelp.

He considered lying to her, simply because she was his baby sister and his instincts were to protect her from everything. Including awful news. But he also knew that not telling her would only push her away and make her hate him, especially because she was old enough an had every right to know. “Going out there didn’t help any,” the young man eventually said, reaching in his pocket to withdraw a letter, which he handed to her. It was folded over and crinkled, as if he’d read it over a thousand times already. It was from the government, telling him that they’d agreed to grant their father’s parole and the conditions he’d be under – the date of his release set sometime in March. “They say he can’t come ‘round us, legally.. but, I don’t think that’s gonna matter.”

Lily looked up at her brother and set the apple down on the table, swallowing hard. His expression wasn’t promising - and when he finally spoke, she felt her heart fall out of her chest. “They’re letting him out?” She asked in a whisper, taking a deep breath after she realized she’d been holding her breath for several seconds. She took the letter and looked down at it for a moment, a look of defeat coming over her normally cheery demeanor. “He doesn’t know where we are... we can still hide.” She pointed out after a moment, meeting her brother’s eyes. “He doesn’t know where we are, right?”

“Cool, thanks.” Matty said, taking the coffee and sipping some of it. What she didn’t tell him however, was that it was blazing hot. He nearly spit it out, but managed to swallow. “The fuck? That was super hot.” He said, not to her, but mostly to himself.

“No worries.” The blonde started to walk away, but as he spoke again, she looked over her shoulder. “Yeah, sorry. Take the lid off and wait for a bit, that’ll help it cool down.”

“Free coffee? Sign me the fuck up, blondie.” Matty told her, giving her a smirk because she was very cute. He had a thing for blondes. In reality, he liked all types of girls. But blondes were just his favorite. Even though he preferred a cappuccino any day, because he’s Italian, he wouldn’t mind having some coffee. “I’ll take you up on that offer.”

Lily immediately frowned at the boy’s words, but hesitantly held the coffee out for him and nodded slowly. “Well there you go. Free coffee. Have a nice day.” She said and turned to go, still a bit weirded out at how he responded to her about the drink. Who gave someone a pet name before they even knew each other?

@lilyamongroses

“Hey.” Shawn had somewhat been avoiding his sister and her wrath since he came back last Tuesday. Especially because of the cryptic, pathetic voicemail he left for her, too. But he took a seat beside her now, and held out an apple. “You want this? I ain’t hungry.”

“Hey.” Lily muttered when she heard her brother, not looking up at first. When he sat down though, she did look up, eyes moving to the apple after looking at his face for a moment. “Uh, yeah, sure.” She took the apple and set it in front of her, before sighing. “Are you okay?”

Rory felt himself pulled into her embrace, and he was more than grateful. He needed it, and he knew he’d breakdown if no one was around. Spending too much strong being strong, and not letting anything get to you was tiring, and he was tired of fighting, of pretending, all he wanted to do was give up. “This is fine, I should probably head home later anyway. Gotta talk to my uncle, and tell him that I’m planning the funeral.”

Lily rubbed his back gently, her thumbs tracing circles as she did so. “Do you want any company? Or help with something?” She asked quietly at his words, hesitating. “And is that... what’s best for you right now?” She knew that some people liked taking charge, even in these situations, but if it was her mother that died, she wouldn’t be the one to have to plan the funeral for the rest of her family.

ethan could see that she was disinterested, bored even – or at least she wanted him to believe such. the girl was correct to assume that was the fastest way to turn him off because who wanted to deal with a dead fish in the water? “mm, maybe you’re right,” the boy suddenly allowed, rethinking his thoughts that she was worth bothering until he got somewhere good. there was such a thing as being so stuck up that it just wasn’t attractive anymore. maybe that’s what he presented to people but, psh. he didn’t care how he behaved, alright? “twirl off to your classes then,” ethan told her, tossing the slippers her way carelessly.

he wasn’t sure what kinda ballerina crap she was watching, but anything he saw always depicted the women as fragile and small things. then again, he didn’t spend his days watching ballerina shit so he brushed it off without a word, since who gave a flying fuck. ethan gave her a look. “i’d be honest but then, you’d just get all ‘oh my god!’ at me and call me a creep,” he said, laughing. she was just the type, too. everything about her screamed fussy and problematic. as least for guys like him. “you sound so sure about that,” ethan remarked, looking over the slippers he still held.

“i’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” lies. there’s temptation to pour the offered coffee out onto the pavement brewing in scarlett’s mischievous brain and a soft smirk appears because of it. she takes the lid off the take away coffee cup, chucking it off to the side and she, disgusting, spits into the liquid just to see if she’ll get a bite. “sure… you can have it back.”

“um, calm yourself dollface. i was just giving you a pointer; it’s not my fault you’re too chatty.” scarlett contains an eye roll, taking the coffee before the other is persisting to take it back. can’t take it back once you’ve offered it to someone. “perhaps you need this second coffee to stop being a grouch.” she presses teasingly.

Rory was in utter disarray, and he didn’t know where to turn. The halls were hazy and his thoughts were running rampant, and the image of his mother played over and over again in his mind. He didn’t even notice the short girl until his eyes saw her blurry image through his tears. He nodded in response to her question, unable to bring himself to even move at this moment. “Please,” he said weakly, as he weeped, and cried and let out all of the pain he had been keeping inside ever since he had his heart broken.

Lily watched the boy intently and, when he nodded his head and said the simple little world, she immediately took a couple of steps forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly. She couldn’t imagine what he was going through, but she wanted to help. “What can I do?” She whispered in his ear, hoping that she could at least help him get home, or get him some food, or something that would comfort him at least a little bit. Obviously there would be no immediate thing that would fully comfort him, but hopefully a good hug and letting him cry it out a bit would help as well.