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Lilly

Securing the purple bow in t he top half of my half up-half down hair style, I twist my head slightly before the mirror making sure it’s in the right place before grinning to myself.

Exiting my room, I grab my coat from the hook behind my door before closing it and making my way toward the living room. Throwing my coat down on the edge of the couch, I make a beeline toward the mirror and grab my lip-gloss from the fireplace where I left it this morning.

“Where you off to?” Payton asks, munching on a bag of chips as she watches a reality show about rescuing animals.

“Greyson’s.” I mummer, applying the lip-gloss to my lips.

I could see her raise a brow from her position on the couch, but she doesn’t say anything as she shoves a handful of the pickled crinkle chips into her mouth.

Smacking my lips together, I turn just as Callie comes into the living room clad in fluffy pajamas and throws herself down onto the couch beside Payton who groans as she lands on her legs.

“You two got plans tonight?” I ask. “Cal, are you working?”

It’s Tuesday and I promised Greyson I would go over to his place this afternoon to “tutor” him…aka, show him how a vagina works.

Nina is with Hunter somewhere, which leaves Payton and Callie alone all evening. And I don’t know why, but that kind of makes me feel like a bitch for making plans with the guy I’m “fake” dating instead of spending time with my best friends.

“Nah,” Callie shakes her head, typing on her phone. “But we’re going out tonight.” She grins.

“Where you going?” I ask, sitting down on the edge of the couch and pulling my boots on.

“Jinx probably.” Payton shrugs.

“On a Tuesday?” I give them both a questionable look.

“Word around town is there’s a two-for-one cocktail deal tonight,” Callie wiggles her eyebrows. “And you know I can’t turn down a deal like that.”

I don’t think anyone could turn down a two-for-one cocktail deal.

“We’ll be sure to consume enough for both you and Nina.” Payton grins.

Oh, I know they will.

Standing up, I smooth down my knitted sweater dress and smile at them both. “Appreciate it,” I say, walking over to where I draped my coat across the couch and pick it up. “Well, I guess I’ll see you both later.”

“Yeah, later babes,” Payton grins. “Have fun with your boyfriend .” She wiggles her eyebrows, emphasizing the last word.

“Not my boyfriend!” I roll my eyes as I exit the living room.

The sound of the doorbell ringing has me furrowing my brows as I walk closer to the door, but Callie comes zooming past me and pulls open the door, slamming it against the wall as she pulls Caleb inside.

“Jesus, Cal.” He chuckles, stumbling past the threshold.

“Sorry, just excited to see you.” She grins.

Seriously, you can’t tell me they’re not dating! The way he looks at her in complete awe every time they’re together, it’s hard not to spot the signs.

“Hi, Caleb.” I smile.

“Hey, Lilly,” he returns the smile. “How have you been?”

“Same old, same old,” I say. “How about you?”

“Been better.” He shrugs.

“Anyway,” Callie says, gripping his arm. “Lilly,” She turns to me. “Have fun at your boyfriends,” she winks before turning her attention to Caleb. “You’re going to fucking die when I show you this!”

“ Not my boyfriend.” I shout as she rounds the corner to her bedroom.

Her door slams shut, and I let out a sigh as I walk out of the door. Usually I’d drive to Greyson's, the hockey house is only a few streets over, but I felt like walking today…and I have no idea what possessed my brain to say “hey, why don’t we walk to Greyson’s because fresh air will be good for you” because I just know I’m going to regret it later when I have to walk home, but that’s a problem for future me.

And I could already hear future me bitching about it.

Hiking my tote bag up my shoulder, I watch as the leaves fall from the trees, my boots crunching into them as I walk along the sidewalk.

“Lilly!” The voice I want no thing more than to forget shouts from across the road.

Groaning, I pick up speed and act like I didn’t hear him.

What is he even doing in this area? He lives on the other side of Riverside, the “nicer” side as he used to refer to it as.

Hearing hurried footsteps behind me, I pick up speed and turn onto Greyson’s Street. This only causes the footsteps to get speedier, and I groan. One, why did I decide to walk instead of driving? And two, why the fuck does the hockey house have to be at the end of the street and not the first, or even the second house.

A hand wrapping around my arm has me shaking it off and taking a step away. “Leave me alone, Kyle.” I sigh.

“Lilly, please.” He begs, grabbing my elbow.

“No.” I growl, shoving his hand off me.

Four more houses.

“I fucked up, okay! I admit it. I was wrong, so fucking wrong. I shouldn’t have cheated on you. I regret it every day.” Blah, blah, blah.

Three more houses.

“You didn’t just cheat once, Kyle. It was multiple times,” I remind him. “And me? I’m the fucking idiot who took you back, multiple times.”

Two more houses.

“I know, I know . But I didn’t expect you to end this— us —forever.” He admits.

Coming to a halt at the bottom of Greyson’s driveway, I turn to look at Kyle.

“What did you expect?” I scoff, folding my arms across my chest. “For me to act o blivious to the fact you were cheating on me? And what if we got married? Did you just expect me to turn a blind eye while you flaunted your mistress around?”

What the fuck did he expect?

“No, I—”

“Kyle,” I sigh, running a hand down my face in frustration. “You need to get it through your head that we’re over. I’ve moved on.”

“I don’t believe you,” he shakes his head. “You’ve always come back to me, always .”

Always? He may be correct. He is correct. But I’m not the same girl I was back then, I’m different. And I know my worth.

Walking backward up the driveway, I pray I don’t trip. “And you know what I realized?” I don’t want him to answer, it’s a rhetorical question. “I realized I deserved better.”

I deserved someone who loves me just as much as I love them. I deserved someone who won’t go out and cheat on me. But most of all, I deserved everything Kyle never gave me—which, embarrassingly, was a lot.

“I promise, I’ll do better.”

The sound of the front door opening behind me doesn’t have me turning. It’s not until an arm wraps around my shoulder and a kiss is pressed to my temple that I look beside me to see Greyson standing there.

“Hey, baby,” his soft voice fills my ear, and I lean into his touch. “You said you were gonna be here twenty minutes ago, I got worried.”

Turning my head, I smile at him. Technically I’m twenty minutes early . “Sorry.” I apologize.

Grinning, he leans in a presses a kiss to my lips. “Don’t ev er apologize for being late, baby. I was about to send out a search party for you.”

I laugh, and Kyle scoffs from where he’s standing at the bottom of the driveway.

I glare at him before turning toward Greyson. “It’s cold, shall we go inside so you can warm me up?” I chew at my lip, praying he plays along.

“Oh, I know plenty of ways to warm you up.” He grins.

“Oh, do you now?” I giggle.

I’m trying to flirt, “trying” being the keyword because to be honest, I have no fucking clue how to.

“Hmm,” running his nose behind my ear, he inhales and lets out the sexiest groan. “You smell so good…fuck. Is that strawberries?”

My whole body erupts in goosebumps, and I try to hide the effect Greyson is having on me. Even though he’s only doing this because Kyle is standing here, I can’t help but feel like it’s real.

“Yes.” I manage to say with a shaky breath.

“Fuck,” his grip tightens on my waist. “If you smell this good…” His eyes lock with mine, before drifting to Kyle’s. “I wonder if you’ll taste as sweet.”

My eyes widen, and my saliva gets caught in my throat making me cough.

“Come, baby,” grabbing my hand, he walks backward and sends a side glance in Kyle’s direction. “I need to find out if you taste as sweet as you smell.”

Words don’t form, so I nod and follow him to the front door.

“This isn’t over, Lilly.” Kyle shouts.

Turning to face him, I give him a sarcastic smile before slamming the door in his face.