Chapter One: Falling apart
"No matter what, no matter how far apart we are, no matter how bad or how much fights we get in, I will stay with and I will always love you." Lil threw her arms around Tommy, crying. From the time they got together they never separated. "I'm going to miss you so much"
"Call me everyday" he said hugging her tighter. "You know I will." Phil walked over to the two of them with the last of his bags "Are you ready, Lil?" she turned around finally letting go of Tommy. "Yeah, I'll be right there." Phil waved a goodbye to Tommy and got in the car. Lil turned back to him "I love you" she gave him a kiss "I love you too, and I'm going to miss you so much." he gave her one last hug and kiss before she turned and walked to the car.
A few months went by, they talked on the phone every night. She would tell him everything and he would tell her how his day went. Lil didn't like her new school. Phil was fitting in just fine, he finally joined the football team. After a lot of convincing from Tommy, she finally tried out and made the soccer team, where she made her first real friend at the school. Five months went by, and Tommy and Lil started talking less. It would be every other day before they would talk again.
"I just don't think we're going to be together much longer" she was laying in Phil's bed on the verge of tears. "Long distance relationships don't always work, you know that. I figured you knew it wouldn't last." she sat up and glared at him "Thanks for the support here, Phillip." he got out of his computer chair and walked over to sit next to her "There's not much support I can give you with this one, Lillian. It's long distance. But maybe you two will be different from most people and make it work." Lil sighed "Thank you." she stood up and went to walk out of the room but stopped at the door "Have you talked to Kimi?"
"No, why?" he looked at the floor avoiding eye contact with Lil "Come on, Phil. I know you liked her." Phil did a nervous laugh and stood up "That was the past." Lil rolled her eyes and walked out "I'm going out with Shianne, I'll see you later" Phil followed her down the stairs but instead of walking out of the house he walked to the kitchen. Kimi had tried to talk to him a couple of time, but he was trying to make his feelings for her go away. He sighed and grabbed something to eat walking into the living room.
"So how are things going with your boy back in California?" Shianne asked sitting at one of the tables in their towns coffee shop. Lil sighed running her finger around the top of her cup "Terrible. I'm pretty sure we're going to be breaking up soon." Shianne reached across the table and put one of her hands on Lil's arm "I'll be here for you no matter what."
"Thanks" she smiled big "But I have a question!" Lil raised an eyebrow "Alright." Shianne took a deep breath "Is your brother single?" Lil started laughing "Oh my god, you're interested in Phil? That's too funny. Why?" Shianne smiled at her "He's a sweet guy! And he's good looking. Now tell me, is he single?" Lil finally managed to make herself stop laughing "Yeah, he is. But I don't see why you're interested in him. You could do better than Phil" she smiled, she loved picking on people who were into Phil. "Do you think he'd like me?"
"Probably, you're athletic. Pretty. Yeah. You should talk to him." Shianne smiled big and got up to order another coffee. "Hey, is this seat taken?" Lil turned her head to see who was talking to her "Yes." she didn't know the guy so she didn't really want to get too into a conversation with him. "Well I'm sure she won't mind if I sit here for a few minutes." Lil rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee "I'm Noah, by the way. I haven't seen you around, you new?"
"I've been here for five months. So kinda, yeah." he smiled at her, and Lil had to admit to herself that he had a nice smile. She shook the thought out of her head seeing as she was still with Tommy. "What's your name?"
"Lil." before Noah could say anything else Shianne walked back over "Noah leave her alone. She has a boyfriend" Noah stood up and gave Shianne a dirty look before walking away. "You know him?" she asked and Lil shook her head. "When you left he came over and started talking to me." Shianne did a sigh of relief "Good. He's the jerk of the school. He's played every girl he's dated."
"What a pig." Lil looked at her watch and then stood up "I should be getting home. I'll talk you up with Phil" she winked at Shianne before walking out and towards her house. On the way there, she got a call from Tommy. She smiled to herself and answered "Hey!" even though they rarely talked now, she was still happy to hear his voice, and he sounded happy to hear hers. She was talking to Tommy as she walked home when she heard Noah's voice again "You need a ride?" she made a noise of disgust and turned around "No, I don't." the other end of the phone had fallen silent and Lil started to worry. She started walking again and Noah grabbed her arm "Come on, Lil. It's getting dark, you shouldn't be walking home this late" she yanked her arm away "I'll be fine, now leave me alone" she started walking away faster, hoping more than anything that Noah would just leave her alone.
"Would you have taken that guys offer for a ride if you weren't on the phone with me?" Tommy's question had taken her by surprise, but he was one to speak his mind. "No. Why would you even think that?" she heard him sigh "Lil.. We need to talk." she knew what was coming. She didn't say anything back so Tommy just continued "This whole long distance relationship thing... It's really hard. And you know that I love you. A lot. But I think it's best that we break up.." he trailed off with the last part. Lil didn't want to say much, she was on the verge of tears "Yeah... That's probably best.." she hung up and hurried home. She needed to talk to Phil.
"Phil?" she had tears streaming down her face, she knew they were going to break up soon, but she didn't think it was going to be that soon. Phil came down the stairs "Yeah?" he looked over at Lil who had made her way to the couch and was sitting with her head in her hands, crying. "Shit, Lil are you okay?" she shook her head no and Phil sat next to her "What happened?"
"Tommy called..." she started in between sobs "And broke up with me" Phil pulled Lil to him. "It'll be okay." she pulled away and wiped away the tears "What was it you said when you and Wally broke up?" Phil smiled "It's like dipping your heart into a tank of hungry piranhas" he laughed at himself, they were ten and Tommy and Rachel had broken up. Phil was just trying to relate but they all thought he was crazy. Lil started crying again and put her head on Phil's shoulder "I know how you were feeling now. It really hurts"
"You know if I could, I would kick his ass for you." Lil forced a smile "I know. And I love you for that. Thank you, Phil. For always being here for me." he smiled big "It's not a problem at all." she sighed sitting up all the way, wiping the tears away again. She took a deep breath "I'll get over it though."
"I know you will" he went to get up but she pulled him back down "I actually have to talk to you about something" he gave her a look, he wasn't sure if he should be concerned or not. "Okay... About what?"
"Shianne." Phil sighed, he was glad it wasn't anything bad "She likes you." Phil laughed "You act like I didn't know this?" Lil gave him a confused look "I didn't know! Would you ever date her?" Phil leaned back into the couch and looked at the ceiling "I don't know... Maybe."
"You do need to get over Kimi, it would be an easy way to!" he shot Lil a look but he knew she was right "I'll take her out, but if it's not enjoyable it isn't happening again." Lil smiled, she was happy that her brother had a chance for possible happiness. "Good for you. I'm going to go shower now" he nodded and she got up walking upstairs. Phil considered calling Shianne now but he decided against it. He went upstairs and got on his computer instead.
A few hours later he woke up to his phone ringing. He didn't look at who it was, he just grabbed it and answered "DeVille! Come party tonight" he looked at the time and groaned "I'll think about it." the person on the other end laughed "Come on, DeVille! Don't let us down! It's at Noah's place!" they hung up and Phil rolled back over. When he couldn't get back to sleep he decided to get up and go. He walked over to Lil's room she was usually awake right now. He opened her door but she wasn't there. He just shrugged it off and walked out of the house, heading to Noah's.
He parked a few houses away and got out, walking through the fence of Noah's. Some of the football players walked by knuckle touching him or high fiving him. He ran his hand through his hair walking over to Noah. "What made you want to throw a party tonight?"
"Glad you could make it, DeVille!" Noah turned handing him a cup and Phil walked over to some friends. "Did you know your sister was here?" Phil raised an eyebrow "Nope. I didn't even know she was gone until I went to ask her something." Brad laughed and punched his arm "She's over there" he pointed towards the house and Phil followed his gaze. Lil was holding a drink standing with Shianne. He walked over to them "Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" he tried acting mad at her but was shocked to find that she was drunk. She was leaning on the wall trying to keep her balance, Shianne right beside her.
"Philly!" she draped her arms around his neck giving him a hug. Phil pushed her away "How long has she been here?" he asked Shianne "A few hours. She's taking her breakup with Tommy pretty hard." Phil nodded, he hadn't even been at the part for twenty minutes. "I'm taking her home." Shianne nodded and helped him take Lil to the car. He put her in the backseat where she laid down. "Thanks for the help" he wasn't sure if Shianne had drank anything or not, so he decided he was going to ask her out a the next day.
The next morning Lil woke up on the couch. She didn't remember anything from the night before. All she knew now is that her head was pounding and the light was hurting her eyes. She managed to get up and walk upstairs into Phil's room. "What happened last night?" she said it softly, Phil looked at her and laughed. "You look a mess. But you went to Noah's party with Shianne and you got drunk. You could barely walk so I brought you home." she laid on his bed putting her hands over her eyes "I feel terrible" he laughed "That's what you get" the rest of the day went by as a blur to them, Phil finally asked Shianne on a date, and they went to the movies. They ended up dating for a year before Betty decided that they were moving back to California.
"I can't do the whole long distance relationship thing. I saw how that turned out with Lil." Phil told her the day before they were leaving. Shianne sighed "I know... So does this mean we're over." Phil thought about it before leaning in and giving her a kiss "As much as I don't want it to be, yes." Shianne slowly nodded and walked out of the house. Lil came downstairs and sat by Phil. "Why do you look so glum?"
"I just broke up with Shianne." Lil's eyes went wide "Why would you do that?" he gave her a look like she was crazy "I'm not even going to try the whole long distance relationship deal." Lil shrugged "That's true."
"What are you going to do about Noah?" Lil bit her lip. She was going back to California. She was going to be seeing Tommy again. "I guess I'm going to break up with him" Noah and Lil had gotten together around the same time that Phil and Shianne did. Phil knew Lil better than anyone, seeing as they are twins, and he knew she was miserable with him. But he never brought it up to her. "Good luck with that one." he knew Noah had a temper, he played football with him. He didn't really approve of her relationship with him.
Lil got in her car and drove to Noah's. She got out and knocked on his door, waiting. "Hey baby" he leaned down and tried to kiss her put she pulled away. "What's wrong?"
"I'm leaving tomorrow." he looked behind her and then nodded "That's right. You're moving away."
"Yeah... And I came here to tell you that I think we need to break up..." she backed away from him. She didn't want another long distance relationship, especially if it was Noah. She knew how he was. Noah shook his head "We aren't breaking up. We won't until I say we are" Lil flinched and backed away some more. She started for her car "We can't do long distance, Noah. It's over." she got in her car before he could do or say anything and drove off.
