After three months of sporadically writing bits this story is finally being published on here. To those who read the previous story welcome back and to those who are new I hope you like what I've done with these characters.
29th October 2022
Christina stood in front of her sister's staircase hearing rushed footsteps upon a call from Lilly as she closed the door. Soon enough the footsteps became a teenager in a white t-shirt, red cardigan, black leggings, denim skirt and kitty slippers, standing on the last step awkwardly.
"Hey kid."
"Hey." Masie made no move from the stairs.
"Happy birthday!" Christina pondered going for a hug but decided not to get too cocky.
"Thanks." She gave back a tiny smile
"What you kids up to?"
"Not much, just playing cards."
"That's cool."
"Yeah." Masie kept her eyes on a floorboard, swinging one leg back and forth slightly.
"You know it's okay to say you want to go back upstairs right? I'm fine with spending a bit more time with you after your friends leave."
"Thanks!" She smiled apologetically and ran back up the stairs disappearing into her room in seconds.
"Awkward and a little moody, she's 13 alright." Christina sighed, hearing the giggles coming from upstairs.
"She'll go back to normal once her friends are gone." Lilly hung her sister's jacket before patting her shoulder.
"How many of those are there upstairs?"
"Gabe, Sam, Avery, Jordan and… Peyton? Yeah Peyton. So five."
Christina did a double take upon hearing the names. "Those are all boys? She might give us some headaches then!"
"No, Gabe's the only boy, we're in the clear so far." Lilly gave her another reassuring pat on the shoulder, feeling guilty about not having shared more party details beforehand.
"So she has a lot of friends?"
"Not really, Gabe is her best friend and Avery has been around for maybe 5 or 6 years. Sam is new at school, Masie though it would be nice to invite her, Jordan is a girl she met at piano and hadn't seen for a while and wanted to catch up with and Peyton… I'm not sure why she's here."
"Why?"
"She's not the type she usually befriends." Lilly sat on the last step of the stairs, taking an arthritic Olivia into her lap and petting her.
"What's Peyton's type then?"
"Popular."
"And Masie isn't?" Christina had wondered how her child would turn out socially from time to time. She'd been fairly popular in high school but the sister raising her kid had been a darker, more cynical teenager, too good to go to prom despite having a boyfriend to take. She wondered if Masie would fall somewhere in the middle of their opposites or lean more towards the nature or nurture side of things.
"Not really no… I don't think it bothers her much, she mostly keeps to herself. She usually only goes by unnoticed and seems okay with it."
"Do you suspect something?"
"Maybe, I don't trust that kid." Olivia meowed demanding to be let go, feeling her owner tensing up.
"Well she's growing up, maybe fitting in is becoming more important to her." Christina sat down on the stairs next to her.
"Still…"
"And don't you barely know Sam?"
"I know she's diabetic that came up when I spoke to her parents."
Christina rolled her eyes "You're being silly."
"I know it's just… she's 13 already. 5 years and she's out of the house…"
"Awww, don't you sound like a mom!" Christina threw an arm around her, giving her a side-hug.
"Notice how you said a mom and not mom." Lilly wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
"Do you ever… wonder if she'd have liked Masie?"
"Probably would have loved her." She smiled almost wistfully.
"Do you think she'd show it better this time?"
"I like to think so… even if I don't entirely believe it."
"You are doing great." Christina smiled, tightening her grip around Lilly, attempting to lighten the mood.
"You are too." She earned a smile back.
"So… any adults here?" Christina got up from the stairs, dragging Lilly along with her.
"Let me show you to the grownup's table."
Peeking into the living room Christina recognized a head of black hair in a dark hoodie, sat on the couch.
"Hey Scotty." She said while nudging Lilly in the arm, the conviction that something must have happened between them still strong from the previous month.
"I'm not Scotty but hey to you too." The head turned towards her revealing a baby faced Scotty Valens who could never be older than 25, let alone 48.
"I'm sorry it's just-"
"I know, I look a lot like him. I'm his nephew Emilio, Gabe's brother. Em for short." Emilio got up from the couch and extended his hand, the Valens dimples present on his still boyish cheeks.
"To me you're baby." A woman entered the living room coming from the kitchen and pinching the aforementioned dimples.
"Moooom I'm trying to work, my whole semester is on fire!" Emilio retreated back to his spot on the couch, placing a laptop in his lap and returning to what Christina assumed to be coding of some sort.
"Don't mind me!" The woman tussled his hair jokingly earning an eye roll before turning to the other occupants of the room. "Hey Christina I'm Allie, Emilio and Gabriel's mom and Scotty's sister-in-law."
"Nice to meet you."
"Masie hasn't shut up about you in weeks, I've been so curious to meet you!"
"She has?" Christina felt a stirring in her chest, the welcoming nature of the woman she'd just met barely registering in comparison. Eventually she was snapped back from her reverie by hearing more words from the woman.
"Oh where are my manners? This is my husband Mike, Scotty's brother. I don't think you've met him yet."
Allie was right, she hadn't met Mike yet nor had she noticed him entering the living room. "You are correct, heard about him a couple times though." They shook hands, Christina taking the opportunity to compare Mike's features to Scotty's, noticing Emilio seemed to look more like his uncle than his father.
"Do I need to be introduced too?" Scotty peeked his head from the kitchen doorway, an apron around his neck and an oven mitt in his hand.
"That depends, do you have any more nephews that look like you?" Christina entered the kitchen to greet him with a hug, startling at a familiar voice.
"Maybe I need an introduction, it's been sometime."
"Lindsey?"
"Hey Chris." A woman that resembled the lame teenager she once knew was sat at the kitchen table with a bowl of chips.
"You've-"
"Gotten as old as your sister? Yes I know." She got up to hug her only for Christina to break the hug as quickly as humanly possible to stare at her.
"I haven't seen you since the 90's!" Not a single black piece of clothing? Just one earing per ear? A macramé necklace? A smile?
"Lindsey was a big help with the adoption." Lilly added, feeling the need to fill in the gap, in case Christina had never connected the dots between the Lindsey calling her lawyer 12 years ago and the one standing in her kitchen.
"I know some people and I'm good."
"Still smug, for a second I thought you'd been replaced by an android." Christina joked, the shock starting to wear thin.
"Congratulations on everything, in my field I don't get to see this too often." Lindsey said sympathetically.
"Thank you."
"Let's not talk about the past today, it's a joyous occasion." Mike cut in.
"We are celebrating the passage of time genius!" Scotty replied.
"When Ma gets here I hope she smacks you upside the head." Mike retorted, returning to the counter he had stationed himself at.
"Your parents are coming?" Christina froze. Lilly had talked about Rosa and Ramiro Valens before, how kind and helpful they'd been with Masie, how she'd gone to a couple family reunions and had even taken to spending Christmas Eve with them. They sounded lovely and that was calming… but she realized they were also fiercely protective of their own and that they might not be wild about her for the whole child abandonment situation. That was a dumb thought, didn't Lilly joke the other day that they wanted to invite her to dinner? Why would they hate her… what if they were overbearing instead? What if they wanted her to know all the other relatives? Not even Lilly can keep track of them!
"They'll be here in an hour or so, Vera offered to pick them up." Scotty said, nonchalantly removing a cake from the oven.
"Vera wanted dibs on your mother's turnovers you mean." Lilly added, pulling a chair for Christina, not realizing how much she really needed one.
"Vera? So your work friends are coming too?" They seemed nice from what she'd heard and what she remembered all those years ago but even more people?
"They're family to these two of course they have to come!" Allie started clearing her side of the table and replacing the previous utensils with piping bags and sprinkles, presumably for the cake currently cooling on the windowsill.
"Dad couldn't make it this year, he's visiting Finn in Seattle but he'll be here for Thanksgiving." Lilly told her, the panic somewhat receding at the prospect of not having to face the people she'd stolen jewelry from 12 years ago and hadn't seen since.
"This party has more people than all our Christmases growing up put together Lil."
"Nonsense! It takes a village to raise a child and that girl has a big one for her right here. You want to try a bit of homemade sangria? It's for grownups only but usually a hit with the ones who aren't designated driver." Allie handed her a glass, sticking her tongue out at Mike who in this case, Christina assumed has the one driving that night.
"Thank you." She took the glass. "Thank you all." She added, in such a whispered tone only Lilly could hear it.
"Do you want to help with the cooking?" Allie asked.
"I'm not much better than Lil." Most things she could make by herself she'd learned from her roommates right after rehab and she wasn't even sure if half of those counted as a meal.
"She was a little shaky at first but now she gets by just fine!"
"She picked a few things up from you then Allie?"
"More like from me." Scotty cut in, smug grin firmly in place.
"Scotty Valens culinary professor?" What else did he do for those past 12 years? Was he also the maid? The gardener? The pool boy despite there not being a pool?
"That kid wasn't going to be raised on Lunchables on Uncle Scotty's watch." Scotty added, earning a dish rag to the face from Mike.
"Then shut up and peel those potatoes!"
"Care to join all this fun Chris?" Lilly asked, handing her a second peeler.
"Sure." She smiled, picking up a potato.
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"If it weren't for me you wouldn't even be talking about:"
"Father daughter-incest!"
"AVERY!" Gabe yelled.
"What? It's how you play this game."
"What did the rest of you pick?"
"Sexual tension."
"Dying of dysentery."
"When you fart and a little bit comes out. What the hell kind of card is this?" Jordan complained.
"Fine Avery wins." Gabe conceded, scowling at the prospect of Avery winning yet another game of Cards Against Humanity. Emilio hardly ever let them borrow the deck and when it was finally his he almost regretted playing it upon realizing just how dark Avery could be.
"Yay!" Avery took her sixth skittle from the bowl next to the deck, their version of a score card.
"I'm bummed, I haven't picked the throwing a virgin into a volcano one from the pile yet." Masie complained, having only 3 skittles so far.
"Let's just keep going I'm on a roll!" Avery started distributing the cards for the next round.
"You are way more twisted than I ever imagined." Sam giggled, her only win so far having been with the "consensual sex" card.
"Hey Peyton you sure you don't want to play?" Masie asked after reading the "3 dicks at the same time" card she'd received.
"Nah." Peyton replied, not taking her eyes off her phone, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Do you want to do something else?" Gabe asked, his time as card czar wearing on him.
"My ride should be on its way, it's not worth it." She rolled her eyes.
"You've been moody all day is something wrong?" Sam asked, sneaking a skittle from the bowl when Avery wasn't looking.
"Maybe with you geeks." She mumbled.
Avery's bat ears caught it, making her put down the deck and stand-up confrontationally, nearly catching Sam stealing another skittle. "What exactly is wrong with us geeks?!"
"I'm not supposed to say this but I only came because I heard boys were coming too." Peyton crossed her arms as well, putting down the phone for once.
"So, here's a boy, no false advertising!" Avery took Gabe by the shoulders and pulled him up to a standing position.
"And then we see a Pixar movie and come home to play cards for the rest of the day." Peyton huffed.
"If you wanted to do something else you could have suggested little miss thing!" Jordan replied, throwing a skittle at her head, hitting her right on the forehead.
"Like you were going to go along!" Peyton said, pretending to not have felt the yellow projectile.
"What, you thought we were going to play spin the bottle or some shit?" Avery joked. When Peyton had nothing to snap back with realization dawned on the kids.
"YOU DID!" Masie's mouth fell open, the whole day making a lot more sense.
"You want this stud that much we'll throw the both of you in the hall closet and see what happens!" Avery snapped.
"AVERY!" Gabe freed himself from her grip on his shoulders and sat back down next to Masie, silently begging her to protect him from another Avery outburst.
"Or I'll make out with you whatever Peyton." Avery added, making kissy faces at Peyton.
"Ewww!" Peyton cringed.
"How's that any more or less gross?" Gabe asked.
"I don't know if you people are mega virgins or sex freaks anymore, honestly!"
"I'll take mega virgin with no homophobia." Masie replied.
"If that's your thing have fun, keep up this disturbing game." Peyton returned to her phone, trying to will her parents into arriving quicker.
"It is a lot more fun if you play it…" Gabe offered.
"Nerd." Peyton huffed.
"He's the coolest nerd I know! You should see him playing Dungeons and Dragons, we play once a month at his grandma's with his brother. We even got his abuelo in on it. He is a Dragonborn warlock, I myself prefer being a druid-"
"Peyton! Your parents are here!" They heard Lilly shout from downstairs.
"That's my cue to leave." Peyton got up, put on her coat and slung her purse over her shoulder. "Bye girls! And …Gabe?" She announced from the doorway as if the past conversation had never happened. "See you Monday!" She blew them a kiss and dashed down the stairs.
"She's really lame." Jordan said.
"Yeah." Masie got up and closed the door Peyton had left all the way open.
"Why did you invite her?" Avery asked, taking over the now empty spot at the edge of the bed.
"I think she invited herself really." Masie shrugged, returning to her spot next to Gabe.
"Next year say no!" Avery replied, smothering her face in a pillow.
"Planning on it. My turn to be czar now!"
Masie distributed another round of white cards and read the first black card off the deck, as her friends returned to their spots and went over their games. "Daddy, why is Mommy crying?"
Avery let out a tiny maniacal laugh to which Gabe had no reaction but a desperate "Not again!"
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An hour and a half later only Gabe and Avery were left and dinner was served. While everyone ate Emilio decided to show everyone a gift for Masie, from him and his parents, hooking up his laptop to Lilly's television and hitting play on "A collection of mild embarrassments _ version 2.3 _ Aunt Lilly approved". The mystery project turned out to be a series of phone videos the people present had captured over the past 13 years starting with a video of an infant sitting in a high chair while an off-screen Scotty kept asking "How old are you today Mase? How old? Show me your fingers! How many fingers Mase?" prompting the baby to raise one finger and giggle. The video went over a series of other moments captured, one for each year of the birthday girl's life, from first trip to the beach to first day of school to first day of eighth grade, filmed by Lilly just weeks prior. After the 13th video Masie was about to get up and thank Emilio for all his hard work editing when a "bloopers" section began.
"Oh God!" She cried.
"Hello, my name is Masie Elena Rush, I'm six years old and this is my audition for the Chiquititas remake in America. I have seen every episode of the old version and the other less old version and can speak limited Spanish. My favorite character is Magali from the less old version but I really like Mili from the old old one." A little girl in crazy pigtails, rainbow tights with pink tutu, orange polka dot t-shirt and green raincoat with blue butterflies stood in Rosa Valens' living room next to a very uncomfortable looking little boy with a candy necklace and mismatched gloves.
"There was never going to be a remake of that you jerk, why did you do that to me?!" Masie hit Emilio in the arm.
"I was your current age and bored."
"This is my friend Gabe. He is not auditioning but he is my backing singer so you'll need a replacement for him if you choose me. On 1, 2…3! Hay que estar atentos para ver salir el sol…"
"I'll get you back for this Emilio!" She swore.
"Your choreography could use some work Mase. I say this as your friend." Avery said.
"Do you want me to go after you next?"
"Watch it kid, you get any taller we'll mistake you for Rush with that talk." Vera snickered.
While the whole scene unfolded, Christina stood against the back wall watching intently all that she had missed, speechless. Lilly tentatively put an arm around her, squeezing her arm. She mouthed a silent thank you and both proceeded to watch the remaining video.
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While the washing was being handled to make room on the table for the birthday cake Masie came up to Christina and asked her upstairs.
"So this is your room?" Christina asked, inspecting every single chachki on the shelves and trying to connect them to the girl she was finally getting to know.
"I realized you didn't see it last time, we were mainly downstairs."
The room was a pale lavender, the same color it had been back when it was Lilly's office, containing a twin bed, closet, bookshelf, desk and a couple shelves bolted to the wall right above said desk. There were some toys in the bookshelf still, mainly dolls, and quite a few stuffed animals adorning the bed. She could see a couple picture frames, but tried not to inspect them too closely, knowing she wouldn't be in any of them, returning her attention to the toys.
"You didn't strike me as a girly girly, I see a lot of dolls."
"There are several boxes of Legos in my closet to balance that out." Masie sat on the bed and gestured Christina to sit next to her.
"We had a box once when we were kids, it was a bootleg version and we could only build a robot or a castle but we loved it." From the spot on the bed Christina could see a red backpack under the desk, recognizing it from the clip of her first day of school. Did she still use it? Did she still want it or did Lilly want her to keep using it as long as it was in good condition? Had she picked out herself? It was plain red and closed with a buckle it didn't seem like a little girl's first choice. The cat plushie hanging from it came with it? Had it been a gift? How could such a random item like a backpack make her wonder about so many things?
She was snapped back from her reverie by Masie turning to her and starting to speak.
"I just wanted to say sorry for how I greeted you today; we were playing a game and I didn't want to miss that round but that is no excuse. I should have given you a hug or the very least climbed down that last step."
"It's okay I understand." She was apologizing for being a kid? On her own? Christina felt her heart melt a little, how could she have stayed away from that sweet girl for so long?
"And I just realized this is the first birthday you spend with me. When we watched the video downstairs I saw mom hugging you and I figured I should have put more value on it." The melting of her heart soon inflamed her tear ducts, threatening a cry of happiness and making way for a spontaneous hug.
"Oh sweetie you thinking about that sort of thing is more valuable to me than you'll ever understand! I just want you to be happy, I'm last on the line of priorities, don't worry so much about me I'm not going anywhere." Christina broke the hug, lightly brushing her daughter's cheek while noticing her dimples smiling back at her from the younger face.
"Thanks." The simple word and smile made Christina think of the item still in her jacket pocket, figuring it was a good a time as any to give it to its recipient.
"Since we are up here maybe I should give you your birthday present. I wanted you to open it away from the fuss." In fact, opening it away from the fuss was imperative.
"Awww you didn't have to get me anything!"
"You should have had it with you sooner." Christina nervously pulled an envelope from her pocket and handed it to her.
"Ooo an envelope, what could this be?!" Masie excitedly tore it open.
"It's not much but-" Masie's face froze, making Christina stop talking and wait for any further reaction.
"Is this me?" Masie turned a photo around, showing a newborn baby in a towel crying.
"Yes."
"I'd never seen these before." Masie flipped through the photos, stopping on the last one which featured her, still not properly wrapped in a towel and probably not even in a diaper, on Christina's chest, her birth-mother staring down at her lovingly.
"The midwife took these right after you were born, they're your first baby pictures."
"Did you keep them all this time?" She asked, a tear appearing behind her glasses.
"I had a couple pictures from those first few months but they were lost after our rescue, I called the midwife last week and asked if by any chance she still had these. She miraculously saved the negatives and mailed them."
"Negatives?"
"Yeah, they were taken with an analog camera, they were starting to be few of those even then."
"I love this, thank you!" Masie threw her arms around Christina, a small cry escaping.
"You're welcome baby girl." Christina hugged her back with as much strength as she could, for a second almost feeling like she was holding her newborn again.
"I go from teenager to baby girl just like that?" Masie joked.
"If things had gone better I'd have called you that a lot more." The hug was broken and Christina tucked a strand of hair behind Masie's ear.
"Mommy dearest is fun and all but I should come up with a replacement for it, it's kind of a mouthful."
"You have the rest of my life to do that, take your time." Christina smiled.
"I think it will probably take me less than your lifetime."
Christina was going to chuckle at her when a bright blue jar on the desk caught her attention "What is that container on your desk?"
"Oh, that's Gabe's birthday gift to me. It's slime. He made it himself, it's blue because that is my favorite color and he made little Billy Joel charms to mess with me. And added some white beads as pearls."
"That's so sweet I guess." She understood nothing of what had just been said but Masie sounded happy at least.
"He's my best friend, he better be!"
"Yeah I had a quick chat with that girlfriend of yours, she seems cool but is something wrong with her? Hyperactivity or anything like that?" In that moment they heard a loud thump followed by Avery's voice screaming "I'm sorry Detective Vera!"
"Nah, Avery is just not very used to eating sugar. She's been working towards being a professional dancer since she was three and her mom doesn't let sugar in the house."
"So all that is a sugar high?" They heard Avery shout again "We are out of ice in the freezer, will peas do? Not pee as in urine but pea as the vegetable!"
"Today at the mall she had a doctor pepper and ran three laps around the food court. And finished with some cartwheels and a death drop."
Lilly poked her head inside the room cautiously, knowing who was inside. "Hey."
"Hey." Christina said back.
"Am I interrupting something?"
"Not really, do you need help?" Christina asked, beginning to stand up from the bed.
"No, I was just coming to get you two, we need to do cake now before Avery's parents get here."
"We're coming!" Masie sprinted past Lilly and ran down the stairs, leaving the sisters alone in the room.
"How did it go?"
"She loved them."
"I told you she would, no reason to be that nervous about it." Lilly reminded her, earning an eye roll.
"Yeah, I know I should start listening to you."
"40 some years ago you mean?"
"Is Vera alright?" Christina asked as they descended the stairs.
"He couldn't have children anyway, he'll be fine."
"Those poor parents…" Christina whispered, grateful for how quiet and calm Masie had turned out.
"I'll have Avery fetch people's coats from my room one by one so she'll tire quicker, it usually calms her down."
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"Bye Boss!" Masie said as she hugged Stillman goodbye.
"Congrats on one more year of insisting on calling me Boss kid. Happy birthday."
"You're welcome and thanks." Masie grinned.
"I'll walk you out Boss." Lilly offered, turning him towards the door.
"Thanks Lil."
"You don't even play hard to get with this?" She joked.
"I wanted to talk to you in private." The mood tensed as they crossed the threshold into the street.
"Is something wrong? Are you ok?"
"Lil I'm past 70." Stillman declared calmly.
"This better not be going where I think it's going."
"I tried putting it off for as long as I could but they're making me retire." He announced, sounding strangely at peace.
"When?"
"January, that's the most I could negotiate."
A sharp pain hit Lilly in the heart. "But if Jeffries is leaving at the end of November who is taking after you?"
"I have some recommendations to make."
"You thinking about anyone?" Lilly questioned, running through every qualified person she could think of in her mind and not liking any of the options.
"I am."
"Boss nobody could replace you."
"I'm going to make the announcement to everyone on Monday. I just wanted you to know ahead of time."
"Why?" Lilly tried, hoping she was wrong about what he meant by that.
"You are a detective, figure it out." He smiled, reaching Miller's car and getting in with just a little bit of help.
"Night Boss. Night Miller, thanks for chofering our old man."
"Night Lil." She heard both say.
The cold air of the night was barely registering in Lilly's mind as she thought about what Stillman's words implicated; she could never, he had to be joking! An option to be considered? Sure? The one that was selected? Never.
"Everything ok Lil?" Scotty's voice startled her.
"Yeah, boss is just getting old and mellow." She dismissed, turning around to face him.
"I'm taking my parents home and Mike and Allie are leaving with the boys soon, you need anything?" True to his word she saw his parents' waving goodbye at her from the inside of Scotty's car.
"No I'm good. Thanks." Scotty opened his arms and walked over to her.
"C'mere." She almost rushed into his hug, his arms wrapping around her back, her head tucked under his chin.
"You did it. She's a great kid." He said, smiling against her scalp.
"I couldn't have done it without you." She broke their hug, wiping a tear she hadn't even realized was running down her cheek.
"I'm just a villager." He joked, his hand on her shoulder.
"Goodnight Valens."
"Night Rush. I'll see you Monday okay?" He moved to his car and left, Lilly a little bit calmer and capable of moving her legs into her house.
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An hour and a half later when everything had been cleaned up, Christina and Lilly were getting ready for bed, Christina taking up the usually empty spot in Lilly's bed instead of the much less comfortable couch.
"That went over well." Christina said whilst getting into bed.
"Happy kids, no drama, and it's past midnight. We survived the first day with a teenager." Lilly said, placing Olivia on the bed between them.
"Do you have a case at the moment?" Christina asked.
"Thank God I don't! I got to concentrate just on this for the past couple days." Lilly pulled the covers to her chin and turned off her lamp, hoping Christina would pick up the cue and understand she was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.
"You did good."
"Hey you weren't so bad yourself, you met the Valens and didn't freak out."
"They are all very nice. And I'd never realized how cool Lindsey is, to me she'd always been your annoying friend from school!" Christina exclaimed.
"That is because you were an annoying little twerp when you were Masie's age." And still occasionally, much like in that moment.
"I had the chilliest talk with her and Allie. I was this close to asking them if they wanted to go out for drinks sometime."
"You ask they may very well say yes…" Lilly said, almost half asleep.
"Speaking of Valens, you and Scotty, something going on?" Christina grinned, her sister turning to face her, suddenly wide awake.
"This again?!" She turned back to her side of the bed hoping that would be the end of that topic.
"Most people's partners don't teach them to cook one on one. Or play dance dance revolution with their kids."
"Scotty is not most partners."
"A-ha!"
Lilly turned to face her again. "What I meant was that what we have is special." Lilly said, instantly realizing how it could be misinterpreted.
"You are burying yourself!"
"We have been through a lot ok? I have my demons, he has his sometimes we help each other with them." Lilly replied, hoping the topic would finally come to an end.
"By doing…" Dammit she thought.
"We talk."
"Just that?" Dammit!
"Maybe over drinks." She added.
"Where?"
"Usually my couch but we've done that on his roof too."
"You are so lame!" Cristina whined.
"Goodnight." Lilly turned back to her original side, deciding to ignore her sister until she tired herself out.
"He totally likes you."
"Does not."
"Does too."
"Are we 13 too now?" She said exasperated, hearing no further comments for a solid 20 seconds.
"Goodnight Chris."
"Night Lil." Christina responded, preparing herself for sleep, but first deciding to tease Lilly one final time.
"Stop making kissy face noises dammit!" Lilly yelled, awoken from light slumber and wondering why she'd ever let her sister sleep in her room.
Hope you liked it, will try to update as much as a can with the limited free time I have.