Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright of Everwood, but when I do you will
be the first to be informed...unless you don't care.
The old woman climbed from the front seat of the car and looked around. Everwood looked exactly how it did the last time she had visited. She hated to admit that she loved the fact that her grandchildren would be raised here; it was small and safer than New York. She tried to see if she could spot Ephram's girlfriend in the house, but because of the bushes she couldn't. Andy grabbed her luggage and escorted her to the house, Pappy followed close behind her. Delia bombarded her Nana with questions of the present that she had for her, but she just smiled and told her to wait until they were in the house with Ephram.
"We're home!" shouted Andy when he opened the door.
Ephram gave Lilly a kiss on the cheek and they went together to welcome his grandparents. Ephram went and kissed his grandmother and hugged his grandfather while Lilly waited to be introduced.
"Nana, Pappy, this is Lilly. Lilly these are my grandparents," Ephram said walking back over to Lilly.
"Nice to meet you," she said shaking both of their hands.
Pappy, who instantly trusted anyone, pulled her in for a hug when he got her hand. She laughed and hugged him back as if she had known him forever. Nana, however, nodded her head and looked Lilly over.
"So, how old are you?" she said after she had looked her over and spotted nothing to worry about except for a peculiarly familiar ring on a curious finger on her body.
"Eighteen," she said as if she were on a job interview. She had grabbed hold of Ephram's hand and was squeezing tightly for support.
"Hmm, and where did you say you were from?" she said.
"Georgia, I moved here after the Julliard program," Lilly tightened her grip on Ephram and Ephram had to bite his lip to keep from shouting in pain.
Nana nodded and kept asking her questions. Lilly thought the questions would never end and pretty soon Nana would ask for urine samples or something. She felt as if each time she answered a question she was being judged and every answer she gave, was worse than the one before. Finally she asked the question that they feared she would ask.
"So, what are your religious beliefs?" she said.
"I am a Christian, ma'am," Lilly said standing a little taller and loosening the grip on Ephram.
Nana sighed and bit her lip, "Almost perfect, but we can deal with that. Would you ever consider conversion?"
"I'm sorry, but no," she said thinking she might have hope in winning Nana's favor.
"Oh, well I guess it's a good thing you've chosen a girl with something to believe in Ephram. I was starting to think you only had interest in girls with no backbone," Nana said with a smile opening her arms to Lilly.
Lilly smiled and embraced the woman. When Nana finally let go Lilly went to stand next to Ephram.
"Ephram and Andy had me scared stiff. I thought you were going to hate me," she said.
"Dear I would never hate you, I just don't think you and I will see eye to eye on most things. But who really wants to be around a person they agree with on everything? It's not as fun that way," she said smiling.
"Great, you don't hate each other, now can we open presents?" said Delia. She had her eye on Nana's suitcase the entire conversation and it had taken all of her will not to tear it open.
Nana laughed and opened her suitcase. On the top was a box that was giving off a heavenly smell. When she opened it there were cookies that looked like they could feed a person for days.
"Nana, are those The Village Bakery Cookies?" said Delia gaping at them.
"But of course. What do you think I am? I wouldn't leave New York without them for my favorite grandchildren," she said with a smile.
Everyone attacked the cookies and when there wasn't thing left of them they all went to the living room.
"So, Lilly, why were at Julliard this summer?" asked Pappy.
"I want to be a dancer," she said smiling at them.
"Can you make a living from that?" he asked.
"Yes, you make a killing being a background dancer or a dancer on Broadway. I want to do Broadway but I won't turn anything down," she said.
Pappy nodded. They talked for a while about different things and then Ephram quietly sneaked Lilly from the room.
"I'm sorry I just wanted you to myself for a while," he said when they had gotten to his room. "Is that selfish?"
"Yes, but I won't tell anyone. Can you believe your Nana? She doesn't hate me! I was trembling, but she is so nice. And those cookies were delicious!" she said absent-mindedly wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I can't believe it. I thought she would leave when she heard you were Christian. I should have known better, you are irresistible. It is impossible to hate you," he said wrapping his arms around her waist.
Lilly smiled and leaned in to kiss him, but when there lips met they heard their names being called downstairs. Ephram pulled back and gave Lilly a sympathetic look as they held hands and went downstairs. Nana smiled at them when she saw them. Slowly her eyes drifted back down to the finger to the familiar ring. Where did she know that ring? Then it hit her; it was Julia's ring.
"Ephram, can I talk to you?" she said.
Ephram nodded and followed Nana onto the porch. He started to get nervous when he saw her pacing back and forth as he did when something important was on his mind but he didn't know how to talk about it.
"Is there something wrong?" he said closing the door behind him.
"Is Lilly pregnant?" she asked after a while.
"No, why would you think that?" he said.
"First, she moved here from Georgia, next she's wearing your mother's engagement ring. What is going on Ephram?" she said looking him in the eyes. She had raised a teenager before and knew when they were lying.
"Lilly came after Julliard to visit for a month, then her mother came and she said things that were really rude and she decided to live here. We fell extremely in love and I couldn't imagine a life without her. I told her that and I proposed to her. We are going to wait until high school is over, so don't freak. But, I do have other news," he said. He felt he needed to tell Nana. She was the closest thing he had to his mother and it felt like he was telling her. "Madison, the girlfriend I had before Lilly, and Amy, is pregnant, and I'm the father,"
Nana was quiet for a while. How could her grandson do that? She could still remember when he was a little boy and she had to change his diapers. Now he was going to be changing his own child's. "Ephram, are you sure?"
"Yes," Ephram said looking into Nana's eyes even though he would rather be looking at the ground. "And Lilly and I are going to raise her, the baby. I just thought you would want to know about her, she would be your great-grandchild. Even if you don't think it's right and you never speak to her or see her, you need to know about her,"
Nana looked at Ephram, "Of course I would support your decision, but I don't have to agree with it,"
Ephram sighed and nodded. He couldn't expect everything from her, and he was glad that she would support his choice. Soon they walked back inside. Pappy looked at his wife but she shook her head, she didn't want to tell him until later. Ephram walked back over to Lilly, who was sitting on the couch next to Delia looking through old baby pictures.
"Oh my god Ephram, you were such a cute baby. Why didn't you tell me?" she said when he sat next to her.
"Well that isn't something you normally bring up on a normal basis, 'Hey pass the salt and I was a really cute baby.' See that just doesn't work," he said jokingly.
"You are such a smart-a...aleck," she said starting to get extremely interested with a picture of Andy holding a diploma.
Ephram laughed at her and started looked through the pictures with them. "We should add some pictures of you Lilly,"
Lilly looked up at him, "I don't have any pictures of me, except for a few that I brought with me, and those are just stupid pictures my friends and I took,"
"Those are perfect, you're acting like yourself. I'll go get them," with that Ephram got up to retrieve Lilly's pictures.
Lilly rolled her eyes and kept looking through the photo album. She saw a picture of Julia and it caught her attention. It was her wedding day and she was posing for the camera. She was beautiful in her long white gown and smiling widely. You could tell she couldn't wait to soon become Mrs. Andrew Brown. Lilly smiled at the photograph and then realized that the rest of the room was looking at the picture as well. Nana's eyes were starting to tear up as well as Pappy's. Andy smiled at the picture with great sadness in his eyes and Delia looked as happy as her mother. It was then that Lilly noticed how much Delia looked like her mother, as well as Ephram. When Ephram got downstairs, Lilly tried to turn the page quickly so he wouldn't see her picture. She could tell that he was still sensitive about his mother's death, and she didn't want to pick scabs.
"I found some really good ones," he said walking over and handing them to Lilly.
Lilly laughed at the choices he had made. There was one where she was a fat forty-year-old woman in a school play, one where she was at a dance recital, and another with a bunch of friends. The one that she liked the best though, was the one of their first kiss.
The week flew by and soon Nana and Pappy were gone. The month went by quickly and soon it was the Winter Break. Lilly was ready for the break and was counting the minutes to when it came. As soon as she got home from the last day of school she immediately grabbed a few candles, a book, and a CD player and locked herself up in the bathroom for an hour-long bath.
"Family unit, I have some news," said Andy when he came home. By that time Lilly had gotten out of the tub and her hair was still in a towel sitting on top of her head.
"What?" said Ephram sitting at the kitchen table.
"We are going on vacation over the break. We need to get away. I made the arrangements at work today. We're leaving tomorrow," Andy said with a big smile on his face.
"Where are we going?" said Delia.
Andy slapped a brochure down on the table and everyone leaned in to see it. On the cover was a happy couple sitting on the beach in a hammock and above there heads was the words: Malibu.
"Wow dad, you might have actually made a good decision on a vacation," said Ephram picking up the brochure. "For a second there I thought we were going to have to go camping again."
"Now go pack, we are leaving early in the morning. If you're not ready by then, you might as well not come," said Andy snatching the brochure from Ephram.
Everyone ran up stairs and Lilly's towel started to fall off of her head but she just yanked it off and threw it in the laundry room. Ephram ran into his room, pulled out his suitcase, and started to pack everything in his closet and then finally stuffing his swimming trunks into the overly full stuffed bag. He tried to zip up the bag but it was impossible.
"Lilly!" he shouted when he tried to zip it by laying on it.
Lilly ran in the room with her wet hair curling up to her face. "What?"
"Sit on my bag," he said pointing at his suitcase. She sat on the suitcase and then he easily zipped it up.
Ephram picked up the suitcase and ran downstairs with it, even though it felt like it was ripping out his arm from its socket. He flipped the trunk of his car up and shoved the suitcase in it. He felt triumphant for being the first one finished and he walked back into the living room. He proped his feet up on the table in front of the couch and relaxed until everyone else was finished.
"So, how long are we going to stay?" Lilly asked as she snuggled up to Ephram.
"For two weeks," said Andy, who had finished packing after Ephram.
Eventually everyone became tired of talking about what they were going to do when they got down there, so everyone went to bed.
The next morning everyone woke early, partly because they were excited about leaving, and partly because they were still use to getting up early for school. When everyone was ready they packed the extra things that everyone needed, then they took off. Ephram and Lilly rode in Ephram's car, and Andy and Delia in the family car. Ephram had talked Andy into letting him drive driving down there, because they needed extra space to hold suitcases, but really he wanted to be alone with Lilly. When they got to the airport they all took their seats on the plane and soon they were off the ground when they landed an hour after they took off everyone scrambled off the plane. After they had checked into the hotel everyone went to get on their swimsuits. When they were ready they went to the pool, where everyone else down there had a perfect tan. Lilly finally became conscious of her pale legs and stomach. She used to have a tan like they did, but since she moved to Everwood she hadn't been to a tanning bed and wasn't even sure they had one. Lilly rolled her eyes and forgot it. She took hold of Ephram's hand and they walked into the pool together. They played the whole day and Andy, who was getting terribly sunburned, finally pulled them out of the pool. Ephram begged Andy if he and Lilly could go out to eat together by themselves. Andy finally gave in and gave them some money.
Lilly and Ephram got dressed and took the rental car Andy had gotten. Ephram drove around for a while and finally found a worthy place. Ephram helped Lilly out of the car and noticed how burned she had gotten, her nose was pink as well as her legs. He laughed at the way the once subtle freckles on her face stood out.
"What?" she said giving him evil eyes.
"Nothing, you just look like an apple," he said closing the door behind her.
Lilly shoved him and then they walked into the restaurant.
"So, what do want to do after we eat?" Ephram said after they were seated.
"Well, I saw this amusement park, and I thought we could go back and get Delia and go. What do you think?" said Lilly.
"Sounds good, Delia would like that. Dad probably would to, free time. Can you believe we're here?" he said.
"I know it seems like this is happening so quickly. It feels like five minutes ago we were in Everwood," said Lilly. Then suddenly she gasped
"What?" Ephram said.
Lilly didn't say anything, but slowly sunk into her seat, looking over Ephram's shoulder. "Don't say my name,"
Ephram looked at her like she was crazy and looked over his shoulder. He saw a guy standing there and he looked familiar. Where did he know him? Then it dawned on him; it was one of Lilly's ex-boyfriends from her pictures. Ephram sunk into his seat too, even though he knew that the guy wouldn't recognize him. It was useless though, the man turned and saw Lilly and walked over.
Lilly groaned and sat up putting on a fake smile. "Hey Josh,"
"Lilly, how are you? How long has it been since I last saw you?" Josh, a jock type guy, had broad shoulders and sandy blonde hair. He was pretty tall and had a smile that reminded Ephram of Delia's Ken dolls.
"About two years, you look good. How are you?" she said. You could tell she didn't like telling him he looked good. What she really wanted to say was that he looked like Hell spat him back up, but that wasn't very friendly was it?
"I am doing wonderfully. School is going great and I was just down here on vacation. Is that why you are here?" he said with his extremely fake smile.
"Yeah. Oh my God, I can't believe I didn't introduce you. Josh this is Ephram, Ephram this is my ex-boyfriend Josh. Ephram is my new boyfriend," she said hoping that he wouldn't want them to meet anywhere or something.
"Charmed, anyway, so are you here for long because we could meet sometime and catch up. I'm afraid I'm about to have to leave I have an important business meeting," he said barely paying attention to Ephram.
"Oh, damn, we've been here for like a week now and we're going to leave tomorrow. Too bad," said Lilly looking at Ephram hoping he wouldn't say anything.
"Oh well that is too bad, well give your mother my love. Merry Christmas," he said and with that he left.
"You lied. What happened to the epitome of morale rectitude crap? I think I might have to renounce your title," said Ephram when Josh had left.
"Oh, do you want me to call him back and tell him we'll meet him tomorrow?" she said.
"You know, that wasn't really a lie it was more of a, white lie," he said.
Lilly laughed, "I'm so sorry, he is such a jerk. He has always like that. I wanted to slap him, he is so fake!"
"How could you ever date a guy like that?" said Ephram. The waiter came though and they ordered, after he left Lilly finally answered.
"He wanted to be a doctor and he was a very good friend of the family. I thought he was the perfect guy, because he had goals and a career ahead of him, but I wasn't happy with him. So we broke up," Lilly said sitting back and touching her shoulders, which were badly burned. "Thank God you're nothing like him,"
"I have goals," said Ephram, kind of offended.
"That's not what I meant. I meant you're not a jerk like him; he probably doesn't have a business meeting. He probably has like a booty call or something. I should never say booty call, should I?" Lilly said sitting up and grabbing Ephram's hand.
"No, it doesn't sound right on you. But really, do you think I have a future or do you think I'm some guy who can play a piano really well? This is what I want to do, I don't have a back up plan," Ephram said.
"Ephram, I know you have a future. You are so talented, and you are going to blow everyone away when they hear you play," Lilly said, "Now can we drop this? Josh always made me argue, even before we dated."
Ephram nodded and sat back. He looked out the window next to where they were sitting. He could see the ocean and he felt like leaving and going to walk on the shore.
When they finished eating they took off and went to pick up Delia. Delia was ecstatic about going to the amusement park and immediately went to go find some clothes, since she hadn't changed out of her swimsuit yet. They went to the park and rode the rides until the park closed. They were exhausted from their full day and couldn't wait to get back to the hotel where they could sleep. On the way back, Delia fell asleep on Lilly's arm.
Ephram carried her up to their room and placed her on her bed.
"Goodnight," Ephram said to Lilly when they had tucked her in.
"Night," she said and she stood on her toes to kiss him.
Ephram wrapped his arms around her middle and Lilly put her arms around his neck. After Ephram pulled away he kissed Lilly on the forehead and she went to her bed to sleep.
The next morning Andy woke at ten in the morning to the phone ringing. He answered it to hear that they had the wrong number. Andy rolled over and tried to sleep longer, but wasn't able to, so he woke everyone else up. They all groaned at him but woke up anyway. They all dressed and went downstairs to see if there was any breakfast. They sat down at a table at the restaurant downstairs and waited to be served. Lilly was still tired and didn't talk to anyone.
"Oh my God!" she finally said and then ducked down low. "What is he a stalker or something?"
Ephram looked in the direction she was staring and there was Josh. "Is he staying here?"
"I don't know! I just wish he would leave!" she said in a whisper.
Andy and Delia looked in the direction Ephram had looked.
"Was that your boyfriend?" Delia said when she saw him.
"Yes," said Ephram. "We saw him last night at the restaurant,"
Josh looked in their direction, and then he noticed Lilly. He smiled widely and waved. He started to walk over and visit and Lilly groaned.
"Hello Lilly, what a small world. So are you leaving after breakfast?" Josh said when he reached the table.
"We're not leaving for another two weeks," piped up Delia. She didn't really like Josh, so she jumped at the chance of proving him wrong.
"I'm sorry, I must have been misinformed. Lilly, you were always day dreamy like that, not listening to what was going on," Josh said to Lilly as if she was a child. She was surprised he hadn't shaken his finger at her, and then he did shake his finger at her.
"Josh this is Dr. Andrew Brown, and his daughter Delia. Andy is Ephram's dad," Lilly said through gritted teeth.
Josh looked at Andy with wide eyes, "You are that brain surgeon. I read the article where you brought that kid in Colorado out of a coma. You are amazing,"
Andy stood up and shook his hand, "Very nice to meet you. Would you like to sit with us?"
"Oh, I do need to leave, but how about I meet you all here for lunch at around two?" Josh said checking his palm pilot.
"That's just...wonderful," Andy said sitting down.
Josh left and waved goodbye and Lilly put her head in her hands. "Great, now I have to spend time with that creep,"
The old woman climbed from the front seat of the car and looked around. Everwood looked exactly how it did the last time she had visited. She hated to admit that she loved the fact that her grandchildren would be raised here; it was small and safer than New York. She tried to see if she could spot Ephram's girlfriend in the house, but because of the bushes she couldn't. Andy grabbed her luggage and escorted her to the house, Pappy followed close behind her. Delia bombarded her Nana with questions of the present that she had for her, but she just smiled and told her to wait until they were in the house with Ephram.
"We're home!" shouted Andy when he opened the door.
Ephram gave Lilly a kiss on the cheek and they went together to welcome his grandparents. Ephram went and kissed his grandmother and hugged his grandfather while Lilly waited to be introduced.
"Nana, Pappy, this is Lilly. Lilly these are my grandparents," Ephram said walking back over to Lilly.
"Nice to meet you," she said shaking both of their hands.
Pappy, who instantly trusted anyone, pulled her in for a hug when he got her hand. She laughed and hugged him back as if she had known him forever. Nana, however, nodded her head and looked Lilly over.
"So, how old are you?" she said after she had looked her over and spotted nothing to worry about except for a peculiarly familiar ring on a curious finger on her body.
"Eighteen," she said as if she were on a job interview. She had grabbed hold of Ephram's hand and was squeezing tightly for support.
"Hmm, and where did you say you were from?" she said.
"Georgia, I moved here after the Julliard program," Lilly tightened her grip on Ephram and Ephram had to bite his lip to keep from shouting in pain.
Nana nodded and kept asking her questions. Lilly thought the questions would never end and pretty soon Nana would ask for urine samples or something. She felt as if each time she answered a question she was being judged and every answer she gave, was worse than the one before. Finally she asked the question that they feared she would ask.
"So, what are your religious beliefs?" she said.
"I am a Christian, ma'am," Lilly said standing a little taller and loosening the grip on Ephram.
Nana sighed and bit her lip, "Almost perfect, but we can deal with that. Would you ever consider conversion?"
"I'm sorry, but no," she said thinking she might have hope in winning Nana's favor.
"Oh, well I guess it's a good thing you've chosen a girl with something to believe in Ephram. I was starting to think you only had interest in girls with no backbone," Nana said with a smile opening her arms to Lilly.
Lilly smiled and embraced the woman. When Nana finally let go Lilly went to stand next to Ephram.
"Ephram and Andy had me scared stiff. I thought you were going to hate me," she said.
"Dear I would never hate you, I just don't think you and I will see eye to eye on most things. But who really wants to be around a person they agree with on everything? It's not as fun that way," she said smiling.
"Great, you don't hate each other, now can we open presents?" said Delia. She had her eye on Nana's suitcase the entire conversation and it had taken all of her will not to tear it open.
Nana laughed and opened her suitcase. On the top was a box that was giving off a heavenly smell. When she opened it there were cookies that looked like they could feed a person for days.
"Nana, are those The Village Bakery Cookies?" said Delia gaping at them.
"But of course. What do you think I am? I wouldn't leave New York without them for my favorite grandchildren," she said with a smile.
Everyone attacked the cookies and when there wasn't thing left of them they all went to the living room.
"So, Lilly, why were at Julliard this summer?" asked Pappy.
"I want to be a dancer," she said smiling at them.
"Can you make a living from that?" he asked.
"Yes, you make a killing being a background dancer or a dancer on Broadway. I want to do Broadway but I won't turn anything down," she said.
Pappy nodded. They talked for a while about different things and then Ephram quietly sneaked Lilly from the room.
"I'm sorry I just wanted you to myself for a while," he said when they had gotten to his room. "Is that selfish?"
"Yes, but I won't tell anyone. Can you believe your Nana? She doesn't hate me! I was trembling, but she is so nice. And those cookies were delicious!" she said absent-mindedly wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I can't believe it. I thought she would leave when she heard you were Christian. I should have known better, you are irresistible. It is impossible to hate you," he said wrapping his arms around her waist.
Lilly smiled and leaned in to kiss him, but when there lips met they heard their names being called downstairs. Ephram pulled back and gave Lilly a sympathetic look as they held hands and went downstairs. Nana smiled at them when she saw them. Slowly her eyes drifted back down to the finger to the familiar ring. Where did she know that ring? Then it hit her; it was Julia's ring.
"Ephram, can I talk to you?" she said.
Ephram nodded and followed Nana onto the porch. He started to get nervous when he saw her pacing back and forth as he did when something important was on his mind but he didn't know how to talk about it.
"Is there something wrong?" he said closing the door behind him.
"Is Lilly pregnant?" she asked after a while.
"No, why would you think that?" he said.
"First, she moved here from Georgia, next she's wearing your mother's engagement ring. What is going on Ephram?" she said looking him in the eyes. She had raised a teenager before and knew when they were lying.
"Lilly came after Julliard to visit for a month, then her mother came and she said things that were really rude and she decided to live here. We fell extremely in love and I couldn't imagine a life without her. I told her that and I proposed to her. We are going to wait until high school is over, so don't freak. But, I do have other news," he said. He felt he needed to tell Nana. She was the closest thing he had to his mother and it felt like he was telling her. "Madison, the girlfriend I had before Lilly, and Amy, is pregnant, and I'm the father,"
Nana was quiet for a while. How could her grandson do that? She could still remember when he was a little boy and she had to change his diapers. Now he was going to be changing his own child's. "Ephram, are you sure?"
"Yes," Ephram said looking into Nana's eyes even though he would rather be looking at the ground. "And Lilly and I are going to raise her, the baby. I just thought you would want to know about her, she would be your great-grandchild. Even if you don't think it's right and you never speak to her or see her, you need to know about her,"
Nana looked at Ephram, "Of course I would support your decision, but I don't have to agree with it,"
Ephram sighed and nodded. He couldn't expect everything from her, and he was glad that she would support his choice. Soon they walked back inside. Pappy looked at his wife but she shook her head, she didn't want to tell him until later. Ephram walked back over to Lilly, who was sitting on the couch next to Delia looking through old baby pictures.
"Oh my god Ephram, you were such a cute baby. Why didn't you tell me?" she said when he sat next to her.
"Well that isn't something you normally bring up on a normal basis, 'Hey pass the salt and I was a really cute baby.' See that just doesn't work," he said jokingly.
"You are such a smart-a...aleck," she said starting to get extremely interested with a picture of Andy holding a diploma.
Ephram laughed at her and started looked through the pictures with them. "We should add some pictures of you Lilly,"
Lilly looked up at him, "I don't have any pictures of me, except for a few that I brought with me, and those are just stupid pictures my friends and I took,"
"Those are perfect, you're acting like yourself. I'll go get them," with that Ephram got up to retrieve Lilly's pictures.
Lilly rolled her eyes and kept looking through the photo album. She saw a picture of Julia and it caught her attention. It was her wedding day and she was posing for the camera. She was beautiful in her long white gown and smiling widely. You could tell she couldn't wait to soon become Mrs. Andrew Brown. Lilly smiled at the photograph and then realized that the rest of the room was looking at the picture as well. Nana's eyes were starting to tear up as well as Pappy's. Andy smiled at the picture with great sadness in his eyes and Delia looked as happy as her mother. It was then that Lilly noticed how much Delia looked like her mother, as well as Ephram. When Ephram got downstairs, Lilly tried to turn the page quickly so he wouldn't see her picture. She could tell that he was still sensitive about his mother's death, and she didn't want to pick scabs.
"I found some really good ones," he said walking over and handing them to Lilly.
Lilly laughed at the choices he had made. There was one where she was a fat forty-year-old woman in a school play, one where she was at a dance recital, and another with a bunch of friends. The one that she liked the best though, was the one of their first kiss.
The week flew by and soon Nana and Pappy were gone. The month went by quickly and soon it was the Winter Break. Lilly was ready for the break and was counting the minutes to when it came. As soon as she got home from the last day of school she immediately grabbed a few candles, a book, and a CD player and locked herself up in the bathroom for an hour-long bath.
"Family unit, I have some news," said Andy when he came home. By that time Lilly had gotten out of the tub and her hair was still in a towel sitting on top of her head.
"What?" said Ephram sitting at the kitchen table.
"We are going on vacation over the break. We need to get away. I made the arrangements at work today. We're leaving tomorrow," Andy said with a big smile on his face.
"Where are we going?" said Delia.
Andy slapped a brochure down on the table and everyone leaned in to see it. On the cover was a happy couple sitting on the beach in a hammock and above there heads was the words: Malibu.
"Wow dad, you might have actually made a good decision on a vacation," said Ephram picking up the brochure. "For a second there I thought we were going to have to go camping again."
"Now go pack, we are leaving early in the morning. If you're not ready by then, you might as well not come," said Andy snatching the brochure from Ephram.
Everyone ran up stairs and Lilly's towel started to fall off of her head but she just yanked it off and threw it in the laundry room. Ephram ran into his room, pulled out his suitcase, and started to pack everything in his closet and then finally stuffing his swimming trunks into the overly full stuffed bag. He tried to zip up the bag but it was impossible.
"Lilly!" he shouted when he tried to zip it by laying on it.
Lilly ran in the room with her wet hair curling up to her face. "What?"
"Sit on my bag," he said pointing at his suitcase. She sat on the suitcase and then he easily zipped it up.
Ephram picked up the suitcase and ran downstairs with it, even though it felt like it was ripping out his arm from its socket. He flipped the trunk of his car up and shoved the suitcase in it. He felt triumphant for being the first one finished and he walked back into the living room. He proped his feet up on the table in front of the couch and relaxed until everyone else was finished.
"So, how long are we going to stay?" Lilly asked as she snuggled up to Ephram.
"For two weeks," said Andy, who had finished packing after Ephram.
Eventually everyone became tired of talking about what they were going to do when they got down there, so everyone went to bed.
The next morning everyone woke early, partly because they were excited about leaving, and partly because they were still use to getting up early for school. When everyone was ready they packed the extra things that everyone needed, then they took off. Ephram and Lilly rode in Ephram's car, and Andy and Delia in the family car. Ephram had talked Andy into letting him drive driving down there, because they needed extra space to hold suitcases, but really he wanted to be alone with Lilly. When they got to the airport they all took their seats on the plane and soon they were off the ground when they landed an hour after they took off everyone scrambled off the plane. After they had checked into the hotel everyone went to get on their swimsuits. When they were ready they went to the pool, where everyone else down there had a perfect tan. Lilly finally became conscious of her pale legs and stomach. She used to have a tan like they did, but since she moved to Everwood she hadn't been to a tanning bed and wasn't even sure they had one. Lilly rolled her eyes and forgot it. She took hold of Ephram's hand and they walked into the pool together. They played the whole day and Andy, who was getting terribly sunburned, finally pulled them out of the pool. Ephram begged Andy if he and Lilly could go out to eat together by themselves. Andy finally gave in and gave them some money.
Lilly and Ephram got dressed and took the rental car Andy had gotten. Ephram drove around for a while and finally found a worthy place. Ephram helped Lilly out of the car and noticed how burned she had gotten, her nose was pink as well as her legs. He laughed at the way the once subtle freckles on her face stood out.
"What?" she said giving him evil eyes.
"Nothing, you just look like an apple," he said closing the door behind her.
Lilly shoved him and then they walked into the restaurant.
"So, what do want to do after we eat?" Ephram said after they were seated.
"Well, I saw this amusement park, and I thought we could go back and get Delia and go. What do you think?" said Lilly.
"Sounds good, Delia would like that. Dad probably would to, free time. Can you believe we're here?" he said.
"I know it seems like this is happening so quickly. It feels like five minutes ago we were in Everwood," said Lilly. Then suddenly she gasped
"What?" Ephram said.
Lilly didn't say anything, but slowly sunk into her seat, looking over Ephram's shoulder. "Don't say my name,"
Ephram looked at her like she was crazy and looked over his shoulder. He saw a guy standing there and he looked familiar. Where did he know him? Then it dawned on him; it was one of Lilly's ex-boyfriends from her pictures. Ephram sunk into his seat too, even though he knew that the guy wouldn't recognize him. It was useless though, the man turned and saw Lilly and walked over.
Lilly groaned and sat up putting on a fake smile. "Hey Josh,"
"Lilly, how are you? How long has it been since I last saw you?" Josh, a jock type guy, had broad shoulders and sandy blonde hair. He was pretty tall and had a smile that reminded Ephram of Delia's Ken dolls.
"About two years, you look good. How are you?" she said. You could tell she didn't like telling him he looked good. What she really wanted to say was that he looked like Hell spat him back up, but that wasn't very friendly was it?
"I am doing wonderfully. School is going great and I was just down here on vacation. Is that why you are here?" he said with his extremely fake smile.
"Yeah. Oh my God, I can't believe I didn't introduce you. Josh this is Ephram, Ephram this is my ex-boyfriend Josh. Ephram is my new boyfriend," she said hoping that he wouldn't want them to meet anywhere or something.
"Charmed, anyway, so are you here for long because we could meet sometime and catch up. I'm afraid I'm about to have to leave I have an important business meeting," he said barely paying attention to Ephram.
"Oh, damn, we've been here for like a week now and we're going to leave tomorrow. Too bad," said Lilly looking at Ephram hoping he wouldn't say anything.
"Oh well that is too bad, well give your mother my love. Merry Christmas," he said and with that he left.
"You lied. What happened to the epitome of morale rectitude crap? I think I might have to renounce your title," said Ephram when Josh had left.
"Oh, do you want me to call him back and tell him we'll meet him tomorrow?" she said.
"You know, that wasn't really a lie it was more of a, white lie," he said.
Lilly laughed, "I'm so sorry, he is such a jerk. He has always like that. I wanted to slap him, he is so fake!"
"How could you ever date a guy like that?" said Ephram. The waiter came though and they ordered, after he left Lilly finally answered.
"He wanted to be a doctor and he was a very good friend of the family. I thought he was the perfect guy, because he had goals and a career ahead of him, but I wasn't happy with him. So we broke up," Lilly said sitting back and touching her shoulders, which were badly burned. "Thank God you're nothing like him,"
"I have goals," said Ephram, kind of offended.
"That's not what I meant. I meant you're not a jerk like him; he probably doesn't have a business meeting. He probably has like a booty call or something. I should never say booty call, should I?" Lilly said sitting up and grabbing Ephram's hand.
"No, it doesn't sound right on you. But really, do you think I have a future or do you think I'm some guy who can play a piano really well? This is what I want to do, I don't have a back up plan," Ephram said.
"Ephram, I know you have a future. You are so talented, and you are going to blow everyone away when they hear you play," Lilly said, "Now can we drop this? Josh always made me argue, even before we dated."
Ephram nodded and sat back. He looked out the window next to where they were sitting. He could see the ocean and he felt like leaving and going to walk on the shore.
When they finished eating they took off and went to pick up Delia. Delia was ecstatic about going to the amusement park and immediately went to go find some clothes, since she hadn't changed out of her swimsuit yet. They went to the park and rode the rides until the park closed. They were exhausted from their full day and couldn't wait to get back to the hotel where they could sleep. On the way back, Delia fell asleep on Lilly's arm.
Ephram carried her up to their room and placed her on her bed.
"Goodnight," Ephram said to Lilly when they had tucked her in.
"Night," she said and she stood on her toes to kiss him.
Ephram wrapped his arms around her middle and Lilly put her arms around his neck. After Ephram pulled away he kissed Lilly on the forehead and she went to her bed to sleep.
The next morning Andy woke at ten in the morning to the phone ringing. He answered it to hear that they had the wrong number. Andy rolled over and tried to sleep longer, but wasn't able to, so he woke everyone else up. They all groaned at him but woke up anyway. They all dressed and went downstairs to see if there was any breakfast. They sat down at a table at the restaurant downstairs and waited to be served. Lilly was still tired and didn't talk to anyone.
"Oh my God!" she finally said and then ducked down low. "What is he a stalker or something?"
Ephram looked in the direction she was staring and there was Josh. "Is he staying here?"
"I don't know! I just wish he would leave!" she said in a whisper.
Andy and Delia looked in the direction Ephram had looked.
"Was that your boyfriend?" Delia said when she saw him.
"Yes," said Ephram. "We saw him last night at the restaurant,"
Josh looked in their direction, and then he noticed Lilly. He smiled widely and waved. He started to walk over and visit and Lilly groaned.
"Hello Lilly, what a small world. So are you leaving after breakfast?" Josh said when he reached the table.
"We're not leaving for another two weeks," piped up Delia. She didn't really like Josh, so she jumped at the chance of proving him wrong.
"I'm sorry, I must have been misinformed. Lilly, you were always day dreamy like that, not listening to what was going on," Josh said to Lilly as if she was a child. She was surprised he hadn't shaken his finger at her, and then he did shake his finger at her.
"Josh this is Dr. Andrew Brown, and his daughter Delia. Andy is Ephram's dad," Lilly said through gritted teeth.
Josh looked at Andy with wide eyes, "You are that brain surgeon. I read the article where you brought that kid in Colorado out of a coma. You are amazing,"
Andy stood up and shook his hand, "Very nice to meet you. Would you like to sit with us?"
"Oh, I do need to leave, but how about I meet you all here for lunch at around two?" Josh said checking his palm pilot.
"That's just...wonderful," Andy said sitting down.
Josh left and waved goodbye and Lilly put her head in her hands. "Great, now I have to spend time with that creep,"