Chapter Ten: The Dream
(Lilly's POV)

Night had fallen. Kovu, Hailey, Linda, and Chloe were already sleeping. . I wish I could say the same for me, but I was unable to sleep. I was still a little shocked from what I found out earlier. Humphrey was in love with me. Sure, we were best friends as pups, but I never knew that Humphrey felt this way about me. How long has he loved me? The question that Chloe had asked me keeps coming in to my head. Do I feel the same way about Humphrey? I have no idea. What would I say if he actually told me that he loves me? I can't say that I love him too, but I can't say I do either. The best thing I can hope for now is that Humphrey won't tell me. At least, until I know what to say. He most likely won't say it tomorrow because of his sister's wedding. If I can avoid the subject tonight, I'll have all day tomorrow to think about it.

When Humphrey finally returned, I pretended to be asleep. I definitely did not want to talk with him right now. I would have to get used to the news before I would be able to do that. It would be so difficult for me to even look at him the same way anymore. Pretending to be asleep, I could not see Humphrey. I could still sense him though. I forced my ears to stay still so they wouldn't twitch if he said something. My ears had a knack of doing that. Lucky for me, he didn't say anything. Although, I could still hear him. I heard his footsteps going to the other side of the cave. Then, I heard chewing. I knew that he was eating. Everybody had had their fill of caribou that the Alphas brought in. We saved a good amount for Humphrey because he had been gone all day. After that, I heard more footsteps before I heard him whisper, "Good night, Chloe. You've got a big day tomorrow."

Then I heard him walk over to me and lay down at my side. He must have seen me shivering from the cold air of the night. Nuzzling up against me, I felt warmer. Not only from his body heat, but my heart was beating a little more. I could feel it. He whispered to me good night as well and lowered his head. I could feel his head pressing against mine. That was new; he never did that before. At least, not that I knew of. I waited a moment or two to make sure he was asleep before I slowly opened my right eye. I did not need to see Humphrey to know how he was lying. He was on his stomach, on my left side, pressed against me. I felt comfortable than I had earlier because his soft fur was against mine. I looked out of the cave to see the stars out on the sky. I laid there, with my eyes concentrating on the stars, until I fell asleep.

The first thing I noticed was that Humphrey was sitting at my right side. The second thing was that we were sitting on a cliff. The third thing was that we were both watching a sunrise. The two of us sat there in silence, mesmerized by the sight out on the horizon. After a minute of staring, Humphrey broke the silence, "Beautiful, isn't it?"

I looked at him before smiling and giving a nod of agreement. Before I could even think of what to say, he added, "So are you..."

That caught me by surprise, but I didn't react that much because I knew how he felt about me. He said, "I love you, Lilly."

Before I could respond, he pressed his lips against mine, bringing me in to a kiss. At first, I wanted to push him away, but I just couldn't. To tell the truth, I was enjoying it. There was no way I was going to pass this up. The beautiful glow of the sunrise. An amazing view from wherever we were at. This had to be the most perfect moment for this. My heart was beating like crazy at this point. After, what must have been a few minutes, he pulled away and I noticed that I was lying on my back. He was standing over me, his paws on either side of me. I didn't know what else to say, so I just said, "That was amazing..."

He smiled and said, "I love you, Lilly."

I hesitated a moment, processing all of this through my mind. He just kissed me, and I didn't fight it. I enjoyed it. Now he's saying he loves me while we look in to each other's eyes. I wrapped my forelegs around his neck, bringing him closer to me. I brought him in until our lips were only about in inch apart. I said, "I love you too, Humphrey."

Then I pulled him in that last inch, taking him into a second kiss. Humphrey and I both closed our eyes to savor this moment. I felt the rest of his body press down against mine. Our chests were against each other so hard that I think I could feel his heart beating. It was difficult to tell because my heart was beating so fast. This was when it felt like the whole world was shaking. But not like an earth quake. This was too gentle. Then, I heard Humphrey's voice say, "Lilly. Lilly, time to wake up."

I opened my eyes back up to see Humphrey standing in front of me. I felt a little upset that the dream had ended. Because now I know that it never actually happened. On the other hand... I knew that I was in love with Humphrey. And I knew from yesterday that he was in love with me. We were both hiding it from each other. He said, "My sister's wedding is today. You want to see how she looks before we go?"

I got up and stretched as I said, "Sure."

I walked at his side over to his sister, who was getting her head fur combed by Linda who was using a pine cone. I smiled at her and said, "Hey there. You nervous?"

"A little bit. Even more so because I don't know who the guy is. But, let's not focus on me at this moment. Today is your birthday, we should be focused on you right now."

Oh my gosh, she's right! Today is my birthday! How could I forge- Wait, how would Chloe know that? She must have known what I was thinking because she smiled and said, "Humphrey told me."

I looked over to him, and smiled before saying, "You remembered?"

His response, "Of course I did. How could I forget my best friend's birthday?"

"Excuse me?" Kovu said from across the cave, "I heard that!"

Humphrey said back, "You're my best guy friend. Lilly is my best girl friend."

Chloe said, "So, she is your girlfriend. I knew it..."

Humphrey snapped his attention back to his sister, "You know what I meant."

She chuckled, "Just teasing."

I noticed her take a short glance at me. Most likely because she knew of Humphrey's feelings for me because I told her and everyone else. I guessed that Humphrey was trying not to show that he had feelings for me. He was doing a pretty good job at it. I would never have expected a thing if I didn't already know. Linda finished with Chloe's hair and decided to change the subject, "So, you have a good sleep, Lilly?"

"Yea... Why?"

Chloe answered, "You seemed pretty happy about whatever you were dreaming about. What was it?"

I had to force myself not to glance at Humphrey. I was most likely blushing under my fur. I am so thankful that I have fur to cover up my blushes. I had to answer Chloe's question, but how can I with Humphrey right here? I just said, "It's kinda embarrassing..."

I figured it was good to stick with the truth if I can. Chloe ruined that plan when she said, "You can tell us."

Humphrey asked, "What was it?"

I was quick to come up with a lie. I said, "I was... uh... swimming. With... turtles."

There was a short moment of silence. I looked around to see everybody staring at me. I could tell everybody was trying to hold back a laugh. Hailey was the first to start laughing, causing a domino effect of laughter going to Kovu, then Linda, then Chloe. I turned to Humphrey to see that he was not laughing. He was just smiling. I asked him why he wasn't laughing. He said, "Sure, it's funny, but you can't choose what to dream about. So, i'm not going to laugh."

I smiled at him. I was glad that he wouldn't laugh at it. I made it up, so I wouldn't have cared either way.

"Excuse me. Kovu?"

Kovu, Linda, and Hailey stopped laughing, obviously recognizing the voice. Chloe, on the other hand, took a couple seconds longer to stop. I looked at the wolf that everybody else was looking at. It was the head Alpha-male of the Southern pack. He said, "I heard Chloe was here."

Chloe raised her paw and said, "You heard right. Something wrong?"

"Not at all. I was just making sure you weren't skipping out on the wedding."

She said, "Of course not. Why would I do that if it meant uniting the packs?"

"Well, I was afraid you heard who they chose to marry you."

Uh-oh. This can't be good.

Chloe asked, "What? Who is it?"

The head Alpha sighed. He must have wanted to avoid this situation. Whoever Chloe was supposed to marry, the head Alpha obviously knew that she might not like it. Chloe asked again, "Who?"

What he said next made my jaw drop from surprise. He said, "You are to marry Zak."