The next day, Robbie felt the change in the atmosphere. Ray and Travis seemed to have worked things out between them, although Travis still seemed confused over who held his heart. Lily, however, was still as aloof and illusive as ever.

That day's lunch break, however, was another story. Audrey was finally sick of not having Travis's attention. "Look," she told Travis, "I understand you're missing Lily, but she's obviously moved on and found other friends, so why don't you do the same?" Travis looked like he'd been slapped. "How can you say that?" Travis snapped softly back, "She's our friend, and we've known her a hell of a lot longer then we've known you, so it hurts when there's no closure. If we had a fight, sure it would hurt if she told us she never wanted to see us again, but at least there'd be closure. Nothing hurts worse then limbo. Not knowing whether we can fix this or not is more painful then ending it."

Audrey nodded slowly. "I'm sorry Travis," she murmured, "I just feel like you're spending more effort into brooding over Lily then you do into making 'us' work." Travis leant over and kissed Audrey. His way of telling her she was forgiven, and that he was going to try harder.

Lily watched the exchange out of the corner of her eye. Shaking her head, she began to get up only to be stopped by Dean's hand. He moved to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her slim form, and pulling her back towards his firm chest. "Don't go yet," he whispered in her ear, "I just want to hold you for a moment." Lily relaxed into his arms, letting his warmth comfort her.

Dean rested his chin on her head. He'd seen what she'd been watching, and he felt like he'd been stabbed. He just wanted to hold her for a while. He wanted to take away her pain. But mostly, he wanted to remind himself that she was still there. He let her go and watched sadly as she made her way out of the room before moving off.

Travis thumped the table, shocking the rest of the group. "I don't like him," Travis blurted out, "He's too old for her and he's just taking advantage of her." A snort drew their attention to the figure leaning against the post beside their table. "I've heard about you three," Dean told them coldly, "Apparently you three used to be her best friends." Audrey took the moment to show support for Travis.

"Travis is right," she began, "You are too old for Randall." Dean began to chuckle. "Ahh," Dean sighed, "So Lily hasn't told you her dirty little secret? Well, no matter. But if you really were her friends, I'd be more worried about why she's wearing those leather cuffs on her wrists." Dean pushed off from the support post, stalking off to his next class.

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May your thoughts and creativity flow,

Lady Ami DragonHeart