Chapter 17

Two weeks passed before Travis and Lily talked face to face again and that was only because they had bumped into each other in the hall. Lily walked up to Ray at the end of RFR and asked if they could meet at Mickey's later that night.

"Yah, I'll meet you there pretty lady."

Ray gave her a kiss on the cheek and then took off home. Lily remembered that she had left her guitar in the station and went back in for it. As she stepped down the stairs she saw through the window, Travis looking at a scrapbook in his hand. The book was filled with photos of them when they were dating. There was a picture that Ray had taken of them fighting in the rain and a photo of her sitting on his lap in Mickey's Discs.

As Travis turned the page she saw a photo of them at the PaperMoon concert kissing and another of them together with his hand wrapped around her arm. It brought a tear to her eye. Then she saw photos of him sitting next to her in the hospital. There had to be at least ten photos of him just holding her hand and at the top of the page it read, "I promise that I'll never leave your side, Lily." Then there were photos of him sulking around the house after they had broken up which Lily guessed him mom had taken.

As Travis turned the page once again, the first thing she saw was the title. Just because you break up, it doesn't mean you stop loving. There were photos of Travis watching her at school from behind corners and photos of she and Ray kissing. Many of the photos were of Travis staring at Lily during RFR; Lily figured Robbie had taken these. After a few more pages of this Lily was overwhelmed with grief. She completely forgot about her guitar and took off for Mickey's.

As she entered she saw that Ray was already there. She sat down next to him in front of the warm fireplace.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about Lily?" Lily looked directly into the fire for a few moments before answering.

"Ray, I think we should break up." Ray was more surprised than sad.

"What! Why?" Lily looked at him with a blank face.

"Ray, can you honestly tell me you don't know why?" Ray sighed and looked at the burning flames.

"You still love Travis."

"I'm sorry, Ray. But I can't...I cant hurt you any more. And I can't continue living a lie." Ray nodded.

"I know." Ray turned and faced Lily. "Just, don't lose him this time. You guys have suffered enough breakups to last a lifetime." A smile spread across Lily's face as she hugged Ray.

"Thanks for being so understanding."

"No prob. To be honest, I was stating to feel that things weren't working out. I guess I just wanted so hard for things to be great that I didn't follow my heart, and I didn't let you follow yours."

"Thanks Ray, well I'm gonna go find Trav. See you later." Lily stood up and headed out of Mickey's. Lily knew in her gut that Travis was still at the station so she headed in that direction.

As Lily walked through the park the saw the exact spot where she and Travis had shared their first kiss only six months before. It was hard for Lily to comprehend that this whole ordeal had started half a year before. Lily stood in front of the station door for a few moments trying to decide if she was doing the right thing. As she remembered the scrapbook she made her decision and walked into the Underground. As she entered she saw Travis sitting at the table writing in his notebook.

"Travis." The sandy blonde haired boy looked up in shock.

"What are you doing here?"

"Can we talk?" Travis stood up and sat down next to Lily on the couch.

"What do you want to talk about?" Lily grabbed Travis's hands.

"Us. Travis, I made a huge mistake when I started dating Ray because...I love Ray but, I'm not IN love with him."

"Love's tricky isn't it?" Lily laughed at Travis' remark.

"Yah it is. It tricked me into believing that I didn't love you, and that's not true."

"But Lily, you may love me but you're not in love with me."

"That's the exact trick that love was pulling on me. Travis, I've always been in love with you. Ever since you helped me with my Think Pink campaign."

"But that was way back in freshman year."

"I know. You were the only one who would let me do what I wanted to do. Ray pushed me so hard to be president but you...you didn't. You believed that I could win but only if I wanted to. That meant a lot to me." Travis looked at the face he had dreamed of for so long.

"I just want you to be happy."

"And the only way I can be happy is if I'm with you." Lily leaned in and pressed her lips to his. For the first time in the past three months, she felt genuinely happy.

"Lily?"

"Yah."

"Will you marry me?" Before Lily could answer she heard a boom of thunder and the room went white.