Picking up her bag, she walked out the door and into the bright sunny day. It was a pleasant day, with a clear sky, birds out and a medium temperature, neither hot nor cold. Although it was a beautiful day, the girl only allowed a small smile when first exiting her home. It was the few seconds after walking out the door that got her. She would have to stop, compose her self, then cross the room to her friend's house like she did every day.
At the first glimpse of the sky, all she can remember was when it had been a dark night, and yet there were flashes of light as the sky lit up with fire. She remembered running to the bomb shelter like her mother told her to, turning around when inside to see how far behind her mother was. There had been a flash brighter then any other and the door was slammed shut with the force of it. That had been three days after she had received word of her father's death.
Once she had composed herself she could act like the death of both her parents didn't affect her any more. The war was over, she lived with her aunt and she was back with her friends, who had the most amazing story, although they had been relucted to tell her at first, seeing as they thought she wouldn't believe them. They eventually told her after she saw Edmund's scar and demanded to know who hurt him. She believed them of course, Edmund had never lied to her, and she could always tell when he was lying.
When she reached the door, she knocked and heard scuffling noises from behind the wood. Moments later the door was flung open to reveal a young red head girl with bright blue eyes.
"Lillian!" she exclaimed, drawing her friend into a tight hug.
Lillian Zellar smiled at the young girl. Lucy wasn't a close friend, seeing as she was two years younger, but Lillian got alone with her alright. She mainly talked with Susan and Edmund seeing as Edmund was fifteen like her and Susan didn't mind the age gap.
Lucy dragged Lillian into the house and up the stairs to where Susan was brushing her hair in the room she and Lucy shared.
Susan was easily one of the prettiest girls at their school and it seemed as though Lucy was following in her sister's foot steps. Lillian wasn't jealous though. Sure, Susan could have any boy she wanted, but not the one Lillian wanted.
"Happy valentines day," Susan declared, putting her brush down and smiling at her friend.
Lillian just laughed as her friend hugged her. Just as Susan let go, Lillian was tackled to the closest bed by a laughing form.
"Eddie, you brat!" Lillian yelled, trying to push him off.
Edmund moved off her so he was propped up on his side by his elbow, an impish smile on his face as he ignored Lillian's mocking glare. "I thought I heard your cackle."
"I'm ignoring that!" Lillian said, trying to get her hair out of her face. "You ruined my hair."
"It was ruined from the start," Edmund told her, going to get up. "It's your hair."
Lillian gasped before pulling the boy back down and jumping on him. She then proceeded to poke his chest, her blonde hair still falling in her face.
"That wasn't very lady-like," Edmund stated after Lillian jumped off the bed, leaving him laying there.
"This is me you're talking to."
"Good point."
"What's a good point?" a deeper male voice asked. The four turned to see Peter walk into the room, his dirty blond hair combed neatly as always.
"Never mind, brother, you had to be here," Edmund ran his finger through his black hair, making the neatest job possible of his messy mop of hair.
Lillian giggled at the cowlick that appeared. The noise drew the attention of the eldest Pevensie. "Lily, I... um, didn't see you there."
"Don't know why, it's not like she blends in," Edmund said with a roll of his eyes, leaning against the bed post with his arms folded.
"Is that an insult?" Lillian asked, pointing an accusing finger at the boy.
Edmund seemed to think for a moment before answering, "No, you just look nothing like my siblings." Then he looked at Peter in shock. "Wait, did you call her Lily?"
Peter blushed before muttering a "yes" and leaving the room to get his bag.
That was one of the many differences between the four siblings, only Edmund called Lillian by the shortening of her name. It was something he had started doing when they were little and she lost her grandfather. She found it a comfort from him, but weird from anyone else.
For years Peter had only seen her as the little girl that spent time with his annoying brother but after the war, he had started to see her differently. She assumed it had to do with the fact that he no longer argued with Edmund as much.
The four siblings had different personalities too. Lucy was strong-willed, caring, courteous, thoughtful, and had an innocent perspective of the world that she would never loss. This suited her soft features, blue eyes with a mix of brown, rosy cheeks and kind, wide smile.
Susan was level-headed, mature, conservative, intelligent, and gentle. Her dark hair framed her pale face and gave her the look of motherly-kindness but her light blue eyes coupled with the darkness of her hair made her eyes sharp, showing the extent of her knowledge.
Peter was classed as handsome by many girls both in personality and in looks. He was brave, determined, a leader, and responsible. He usually had a sweet smile that showed his dimples and made his blue eyes shine but when his jaw was set in determination, he could be quite frightening. Unfortunately, he had a bit of a hero complex that Lillian didn't like, but it was expected after being king for so long.
Edmund had changed since the war; that Lillian could tell. His dark eyes held a haunted look to them that the others didn't have. He has wise, loyal, intuitive, caring, just, honest, and loving. He always gave everyone a fair chance and never lied unless he absolutely had to. His dark eyes looked almost black, but when hit by sunlight, they turned a warm brown. His black hair was always in a neat mess, his freckles reminding Lillian of cinnamon lightly sprinkled over a pale canvas and his smile had a boyish charm Peter could never have.
"So... do you know who Susan's giving a valentines gift to?" Lucy asked hopefully, looking up at the blonde girl before her.
Lillian just laughed, her light brown eyes shining knowingly as she winked at Susan, letting her know she wouldn't tell.
"Ready to go?" Susan changed the subject, grabbing her bag.
"Where's Peter?" Edmund pushed himself off the bed post, having not listened, and left the room, going to look for his brother.
The girls treaded down stairs to wait for the boys. It didn't take long before they heard the boys' thundering footsteps making their way down the stairs.
"What's with you?" Edmund asked, stopping in front of Susan.
"What do you mean?" Susan wouldn't meet her brother's eye as she blushed.
"You look less ugly!"
Susan looked as though she didn't know whether to be insulted or happy as they left the house. For her younger brother that was a complement. Lillian, however, gasped and smacked her friend's arm. "Eddie, she's your sister!"
"And that's why I don't find her good-looking, it would be wrong!" Edmund defended himself. "Plus you see her as beautiful, so you can think that for the both of us. I actually think you might be same-sex orientated."
"This coming from you?" Lillian asked in shock. "I actually acknowledge handsome boys, you could be standing right in front of a gorgeous girl and not realize. If anyone's same-sex orientated, it's you!"
"I am not!"
"Prove it," Lillian tempted, smirking at him.
"I will, if you will," Edmund retorted.
Lillian simply rolled her eyes and started walking a head. "I have," she said simply. "Oh, and its Valentines Day."
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Lillian ran her fingers through her long hair as she read a book before class. Edmund was thankful that she wasn't angry at him. For a while he thought she was for what he said but she knew him well enough to know he was joking.
He sat beside her, trying to finish off some last minute homework, but as he sat, pen poised over paper, he couldn't pay attention. He kept looking at Lillian. He had hugged her and comforted her, had his hands in her hair, and knew it felt as soft as silk but as the light caught its many layers, it looked like it was made out of the softest feathers. He suddenly had the overwhelming desire to wrap his fingers in her hair.
Lillian must have felt his eyes on her because she looked over and smiled at him. "What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked self-consciously.
"An eyelash," he replied, seeing it suddenly sitting on her cheek. He reached over and wiped it away with his thumb, letting his hand linger against her skin longer then necessary and they both could tell.
"Lillian?"
Edmund dropped his hand as Peter walked up to them. The younger boy watched as his best friend turned to his brother and smiled up at him with a glazed look to her bright brown eyes.
"Yes?" she asked breathlessly.
"Um, ha...happy Valentines Day," Peter stuttered, taking a box of chocolates and a card from his bag.
Lillian gave him a small smile before opening the card, and reading out loud, "Sweets for the sweet, happy Valentines Day, I hope you get to see how much you mean to many people, love Peter," she closed the card and looked at the decorated front where the main colour was pink, "Thank you, Peter, this is very kind of you, unfortunately I didn't get you anything."
"That's alright, your smile is enough," Peter told her, making said smile grow. With a wink, Peter walked off.
Lillian turned back to Edmund. "What's the bet Lucy helped decorate and Susan helped with the writing?" she asked, holding up the fancy card. "Chocolate?"
"No thanks," Edmund snapped, grabbing his stuff and walking to class, leaving a baffled Lillian behind.
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Edmund didn't look at her all class, much to Lillian's confusion. As he walked passed her desk – coming back from giving his homework to the teacher – a cream coloured card landed on Lillian's desk. She looked up from her work in surprise, only to see Edmund trying to avoid her eye as he turned red.
Turning back to the card with interest, she picked it up; Lillian saw that it had a simple heart drawn on the front. She opened it and read:
To Lily,
You always see beauty in the simplest things but your beauty is hardly simple. When I was being a spoilt brat, you stood beside me and always had faith that I would snap out of it. There wasn't a day in Narnia that I didn't think of you and miss you. Losing you, no matter how long it had been, had been the hardest thing in the world.
All my love, Edmund.
P.S. Sorry it's not as flashy as Peters, and I do notice when a gorgeous girl is in front of me. You!
Lillian smiled as her chest gave a flatter. She looked behind her but Edmund still wouldn't catch her eye. Finally the bell went and Edmund rushed out of the room.
Before Lillian had a chance to follow him, Susan came up to her and dragged her off. "I need your amazing gift."
The blonde rolled her eyes and allowed herself to be dragged down the halls. They stopped in front of Susan's locker who opened it and pretended to look in. "Connor Kalic is at his locker, when he opens it, find out his combination," Susan whispered to the younger girl.
That was Lillian's 'gift', photographic memory. She watched the handsome boy across the hall, casually, trying not to look suspicious. "Eddie gave me a card."
"Bet it was nothing like Peter's." Susan chuckled, not surprised when Lillian didn't look at her, she was getting the combination, so kept her eyes trained ahead.
"No, it wasn't. Peter's was cheesy. Eddie's... he knows me so well. Fancy presents aren't my type." Lillian fell silent as she thought. "Three to the left, seven to the right, four to the left, one to the right."
"Thanks," Susan said, quickly writing it down. She had agreed with Lillian's plan. Find out the boy's locker combination and put the gift in their locker. The boys wouldn't mind. Susan and Conner knew they liked each other and Lillian could have gotten the code at any time, seeing as they knew of Lillian's gift.
The girl walked to her locker to put her books away and get the ones she needed next. As she swapped books, she put the chocolates and card from Peter in the locker. When shed pulled Edmund's out of her last class book where she had put it for safety, she put it in her next book, not wanting to part with it.
She looked down the row of lockers to a pacific one. She quickly memorised the code and waited for him to move away so she wouldn't get caught.
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He slammed his locker closed before stalking off down the hall. He passed Peter who tried to give him a friendly greeting, but he shoulder-barged passed him. He was not in the mood to put up with his older brother who seemed to fail to notice Edmund's feelings. Then again, his sisters weren't much better, helping him.
"Ed, what's wrong?" Peter asked, grabbing hold of his brother's arm and stopping his walk.
"Leave me alone, Peter," Edmund growled, trying to shake Peter off.
"Not until you tell me what's wrong!" Peter looked at him with earnest confusion and concern, which just made Edmund's temper rise.
"You are so thick," he snapped. "Out of all the girls you could go for, you choose her! You have girls throwing themselves over you. In Narnia, the girls only wanted you, but I never cared because whilst I still had memory of her, I didn't want anyone else. I thought I would never see her again, but I couldn't move on. Out of every girl, Peter, why her?"
His brother was astonished at the plead in Edmund's voice. His eyes were full of sorrow and loss and he was all but begging Peter for answers. "Lillian! You... you..."
"Love her!" Edmund finished in an ashamed whisper. "But now it's too late, you've made your move and she will choose you over me."
"You're kidding, right?" Peter exclaimed with a smile. A few girls blushed upon seeing it. "If you tell her how you feel, then she'll forget all about any other boy in a million mile radius. Ed, I was terrified to give the gift to her, especially after seeing you there with her. She looked at me with this dazed, beyond happy look that you gave her."
"I gave her a gift too, Pete, but she won't care next to yours. I know she won't."
Peter never got the chance to assure his brother that was not true, seeing as Lillian had just ran and jumped on Edmund's back. "Mush!"
"I'm not your damn horse.' Edmund laughed, all sorrow gone from his face, replace by adoration Peter had never noticed to be on his face.
"You are now," Lillian told him, taking Edmund's hat and putting it on her head. She admittedly looked cute in it.
"Since when?"
"Since I jumped on your back."
Seeing them together with their usual antics, Peter suddenly saw that Edmund did truly love her, and showed it by the way he joked with her. He had always dismissed it because the two had always been like that, extremely cuddly and sarcastic. He had always thought it was child's play they didn't grow out of.
"Thank you for the card," Lillian said, pecking Edmund on the cheek. "You could have looked at me during class after though."
"I thought you wouldn't like it," admitted Edmund in a small voice, a blush coating his cheeks.
"Of course I did, Silly, it was from my best friend who I love," Lillian told him casually, making both the boys wonder if she meant love in a friend way or more. "Okay, how do I get off without my skirt going up?" Edmund laughed at his friend's bluntness before pushing her knees away with enough force to throw her off safely. "Did you see anything?" She pointed at Peter, seeing as Edmund had his back to her. When he shook his head, she smiled. "Good. God, Eddie, you're strong since Narnia."
"What, so I was weak before?"
"Yes!"
Peter couldn't help but laugh at the two's banter but unfortunately it was brought to a halt by the bell. "Lillian, can you go ahead, I have to talk to Ed." The blonde nodded, gave back Edmund's hat and walked off, leaving the two brother's alone. "Do you see what I mean? I got a simple, 'sorry I didn't get you anything'; you got a kiss on the cheek, if there was a choice between you and me, she'll always choose you, Ed. I'm not going to go after her. I like her, I'll admit that. I have a crush on her but I'm second best, she loves you, I can see that now, and you love her." Peter then walked off, leaving his brother flabbergasted.
All through the day, all he could think of was his brother's words. He wondered if they were true and how he could find out if they were. By the end of the day, his mind was so busy that he didn't register his sister trying to get his attention.
"Ed! Ed! Edmund!"
At Susan's yell, he looked up. "What?!"
"Didn't you get homework first period?" Susan asked in a scolding voice.
"Yeah," he answered in confusion, wondering why it was important.
"Well you're not going to leave it in your locker, are you?"
Edmund looked around in shock. They last bell had went and everyone was leaving school. The four siblings and Lillian were standing near the gate, all three of Edmund's siblings were looking at him. Susan looked annoyed, Peter smirked, knowing what was on his brother's mind, and Lucy looked at him with innocent questioning. Lillian, however, was looking everywhere but him. He had a feeling that she was the one that let slip the homework thing.
"Right, sorry, forgot," Edmund mumbled, heading back into the building and to his locker. He opened it without paying much attention and was shocked to see a card sitting on top of his morning period books. Timidly, he took it out and wondered how the person got it into his locker. It was a simple blue card with a drawing of a lion on it. His thoughts drifted to Aslan, and thought that maybe the person had heard him mention a lion, but hopefully not Narnia.
Inside was the curvy handwriting of one he knew so well.
Dear Eddie,
I'm glad you are back, although to me, you were not gone for years on end, like it seemed to you. But I still missed you. You are my best friend and you are always there for me. Thank you and happy Valentines Day.
Love Always, Lillian.
P.S. I proffer yours over Peter's. You know me so well.
Edmund smiled widely as he grabbed his books and put them in his bag, putting the card safely in one of the pockets. He ran out to where his siblings and Lillian were. When they saw him coming, they started walking off, knowing he would catch up with them easily. Lillian hung back from the rest of the group, which gave him the opportunity to come up and grab her hand, stopping her from walking.
She looked up at him in question, almost fearing his reaction. "Do you still want proof of my gender preference?" he asked her with a boyish grin. She simply smiled shyly before Edmund captured her lips.
The others must have noticed that the two weren't following because Edmund and Lillian broke apart to loud clapping. It turned out that the clapping was coming from Peter, seeing as the two girls were looking as though they couldn't speak.
Lillian blushed and leant into Edmund, burying her face in his chest, a large smile on her face. Edmund's smile equalled hers as he took her hands, holding both of them in his.
The girls finally snapped out of it to look at Peter in shock.
"Pete, what are you doing? I thought you liked Lillian!" Susan said, bewildered.
"I have a tiny crush on her, but Ed loves her and clearly she loves him," Peter told them simply, looking at his brother and Lillian.
"But... Love?!" Susan stuttered, looking from her older brother to her younger brother.
"Yep," Edmund admitted as Lillian nodded into his chest as she looked at the three others.
Lucy squealed and jumped forward, hugging the couple tightly. When she released them, all she said was, "Finally!"
Edmund laughed and ducked his head down, kissing Lillian again and grinning through it when he felt her gasp at the touch. This was the one thing he always wanted.