Author's Note: I loved writing the bottom half, the part near the end. I spent a lot of time thinking it through, and of course listening to a hell of a lot of Jimmy Eat World's song My Sundown. I'm very pleased to hear everyone is still holding on and reading. And yes CraftyNotePad my memory had lapsed. I really needed that boost of encouragement. These last few chapters have been spent building up Oliver and Lily's relationship. I needed to get away from the scientific part of the story. I wanted you guys to really feel the eternal love they have for one another. And if you haven't picked up on it yet this chapter should clear the skies for you. Yes, it's more fluff.

…..

(November 12, 2020 Lily and Oliver: 29)

LILY: Oliver and I are taking it easy. Its early evening and we have nothing worth talking about at the moment. I'm curled up next to him and listening to his heart beat. The heat is on and I'm as comfy and cozy as a bear in hibernation.

I'm a little hungry. I consider telling Oliver to order from the Chinese place down the corner... Yeah, I could go for a fortune cookie.

"Ollie babe?"

"Hum?"

"How does Chinese sound for tonight?"

"Fabulous if I don't have to get it." He tells me while scratching his chin.

"… Please… me want fortune cookie." I say in my worst Chinese accent.

"That accent is terrible."

"Please… or me not stop talking like this." I smile as he frowns and gets up from the bed.

"I never liked you." He says.

"Yeah well you're the one who just had to marry me." I smirk.

"Alright well if I have to walk down to this place your paying." He opens the drawer and pulls out some money from my wallet.

"Hurry back oh wonderful lover of mine!" I shout as he jogs down the stairs and closes the front door.

I get up and begin setting the table. Two glass cups, two plates with the funky stripped design on them.

I smile, perfect. I walk back to the bedroom and collapse. I pick up my copy of In Cold Blood and begin reading where I left off yesterday.

The door bell rings. Because I can be such a lazy slump I shout. "It's open!" Never a good idea but at the moment I have terrible judgment and besides I'm reading.

I hear soft footsteps make their way up the stairs. I keep my eyes on the page.

"Hey." A small voice says from the doorway.

I put the book down. Miley. I nod and close my book I sit up a little straighter. She seems a little out of place here. This is mine and Oliver's bedroom. This is our sanctuary of love making and easy mornings and afternoons.

"You wanted something?" I ask rudely. I have to say Miley's not been my favorite person these last few years. She had another child, her name is Katie. I like the kid she's got spunk.

"I came here because… because…" Miley's face is pale.

"Spit it out."

"I'm sorry."

Her voice is very sincere. Her eyes are sad, but I don't care, I'm still angry. "And you think that's what is going to make it all better?"

"Well no but just let me finish Lily."

I shrug.

"I just want you to know that I'm done with it. This entire thing as been blown out of proportion. I want to be your friend again. I miss you Lily."

"I just want to understand what you've been doing? Why are you so distant and what's up with you when you are around Oliver?" I know the answer but I want to hear her say it. I need that reassurance.

"I was in love with him." Miley says simply.

I'm not sure why but it bothers me once she said it. "But you were fine with our relationship when we were younger. You never said anything and what about Jake? And your kids? You are hurting everyone!"

"I never had a chance with Oliver." Miley sighs. "He was too busy being wrapped up in you. Every time I tried to tell him my true feelings he would come in completely love struck by you."

I'm not looking at her. "So you tried to break us up?"

"No! Once you two were together I stayed away… but when you two got married I just I don't know I was jealous."

"But you have Jake."

"I know that now. We had a long talk; and I love him I really love him. I think I just needed time to really be ok with you and Oliver. I'm sorry for whatever pain or argument I caused. I wish I hadn't taken so long; I've missed so much of your life Lily. I can't tell you how sorry I' am."

I wait until she was finished. I don't know what to say or how to feel. She was in love with my husband and she disconnected herself from me because she wanted to be in my shoes. But she is standing by the edge of the bed with worried eyes and a nervous frown. I realize I've missed her.

I miss my Miley days the giggling girl time we use to have. The kind of moments I can't share with anyone else. Even though I felt betrayed by her and bitterness towards her and her ability to have a normal life, I've missed her, and that is what had concerted all of my feelings.

I get up from the bed; Miley backs away from me like a scared deer. I swallow my pride and anger. I pull her to me and hug her closely. It is a real hug, a fierce hug. I feel her shake and soon my shoulder is wet with Miley's silent tears. She pulls away and whips her eyes, smearing her mascara.

"I forgive you."

"Thank-you." She cries.

"I've got food!" I hear Oliver shout from downstairs. "And you owe me big time China girl! I was almost beaten to death by this crazed Chinese man!" Oliver runs up the stairs and finds us. "Oh." He says slowly.

"Miley is going to stay for dinner." I say with my arm around her.

"Cool." Oliver nods smiling. "I'll get a third plate."

"And I'll get a third cup." I say.

We spend the evening together, catching up on lost time. And suddenly Miley is how I once saw her, back in middle school. Suddenly she is my best friend again. I tell her that as she leaves later that night. All is well with the universe.

(November 25, 2020 Oliver and Lily: 29)

OLIVER: Lily and I are going to visit my parents for Thanksgiving. I'm not too excited about the trip the house is going to be packed. My sister Olivia and her husband Harry are going to be there with their twin brats. My brother Oscar is also coming with his wife Annie and their three kids. A nightmare! But Lily seems happy to be getting out… Actually Lily's been happy about doing just about anything now that she and Miley have patched things up.

I'm carrying my duffel bag around my shoulder and Lily is trailing behind me dragging hers. Before I even knock on the front door my dad swings it open.

"Oliver!" He smiles pulling me into a big hug. "It's so great to see you again. How's the ankle?"

"Its fine I'm sorry I didn't contact you guys right away after it happened but everything's fine now. But anyway, hey dad."

Lily hops up beside me and smiles. "Hello Mr. Oken." She says.

"Is that them?" I hear my mother call from another room.

"Yes dear their here!" My father yells back. "Well come on kids!"

And just like that we're sucked back into childhood. Lily and I try to dodge as many kids as we can walking up to my bedroom. After we get our things settled and make a solute to the teenage years by making-out on my desk table we go back downstairs to face the madness that is my family.

Olivia works as a realtor and every year she tries to sell a house near by to Lily and me and every year we refuse. But she's always prepared by bringing pictures of spectacular lots and newly finished houses. She's a tough one, but I suppose she had to be with two other brothers.

Oscar, the youngest of us, is still working on his master's degree to teach high school science. I think I was the only kid in my family who was clueless for the longest time. I'm the oldest in my family I was supposed to be the rebellious one the headstrong one, but I never once did something my parents told me not to do. I was the good kid.

Maybe that's why my parents were a little afraid when they met Lily when she got older and grew into her punk phase. They knew her as a little girl running around our backyard in sundresses not as the skateboarder head banging to The Shins.

LILY: I love Oliver's family, especially at the dinner table. I voted for me and Oliver to sit at the kids table but Mr. and Mrs. Oken looked at me a little too strangely. You'd think after all these years they'd pick up on my crazy antics.

"So I told Carl to go pound sand up his ass. I mean that house was mine to sell!" Olivia said as she dug into the salad.

"Honey, please language, I heard in one of the baby books that they pick up on that sort of thing." Harry, her husband, pleads with her. I couldn't help but snort, what a pansy. Oliver nudged me in my side but I caught him smirking as well.

"Erin! Erin you put that down right now!" Annie shouts standing up from the table and chasing the small child around.

I put my head on Oliver's shoulder and laugh. I love these guys. Later, when Oliver and I are nestled together in his childhood bedroom I look at him. I kiss his neck and he opens his eyes.

"Hey… you want to go somewhere?"

"Where?" He asks rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Somewhere, anywhere come and walk with me Ollie." I say as I get up. We do not change out of our pajamas, instead we put on a coats and I grab my old scarf I knitted long ago.

We sneak out of the house and for a spilt second I feel eighteen again. The sun hasn't risen yet and my breath freezes before me. The moon is low as we walk out in the middle of the street. There are no cars, no sound.

We walk hand in hand. His palm is warm against my palm. Our fingers slip together making another whole hand.

"Where to Mrs. Oken?"

"I have an idea."

I lead him to a small park. It's a sad place here at sun rise. The swing set is rusty. The slide is broken. No one has come here, not for a long time. The large tree still stands towards the back all by its lonesome.

"No… no way." He whispers. I giggle and pull him closer to it.

We sit Indian style on the grass under the tree's protective branches that are naked with middle November weather.

There, under one of roots that stick out of the ground is our memory box. It is tucked away under piles of dirt and dead leaves.

"Should we?" He asks nervously

"Go for it." I whisper back, I do not want to disturb the sleeping sun.

Oliver pulls it out and shakes the cobwebs and dirt off of it. Written in sloppy third grade handwriting it reads: Lily and Oliver's Memory Box.

We laugh and open the top. Inside there is a letter that is now turning a dark yellow and a few objects of our own.

There's a few picture of us on the old swing set and another at the beach. We are happy and carefree. Oliver unfolds the letter and reads it aloud.

Summer of 1999

We, Oliver Oken and Lily Truscott vow to always and forever be the best of friends. In this box we have deiced to store a few things. We hope in the years to come that we will find this box again and remember our childhood…

I pick up my old red ribbon that sits in the corner of the box. I smile at it. Oliver takes out a wheel that belonged to his very first skateboard. There are tickets to old movies we sunk into. There is a cassette tape with a dozen little kid songs on it that Oliver and I couldn't get enough of.

I lean back on the trunk of the tree and fold my hands into my lap. Oliver sits up on a root and laughs. "Wow." He says.

"I know." I smile.

"Well we kept our promise. You're still my best friend Lily Truscott."

"And you are mine Oliver Oken."

OLIVER: I watch the sky turn from a navy blue to a purple orange, the sun is waking up. I turn to look at Lily and she is just staring at me with a pensive air about her. And then she asks me.

"Do you love me?"

I chuckle, it's a silly question and she knows the answer but I reply anyway. "Yes, I love you Lily. Always and forever… what about you? Do you love me?"

She stands up and sits next to me on the tree root. She leans into my ear and whispers. "Always… and forever…"

I tuck a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear and kiss each of her cheeks.

"I'm having one of those moments." I tell her.

"What kind."

"The kind where I'm so incredibly happy that I just can't stand it and I know that I'll never ever have another moment like this again. This is a moment that will never be repeated, you are my moment Lily." I say this to her softly I let my words roll from my lips slowly. I want everything to last.

"You are too perfect you know that?" She sighs. "You are too good for me."

"I'm one of a kind." I laugh.

"Damn straight." She giggles while swiping a quick tear from her eyelash.

We watch the sun rise and I can't help but feel a melancholy presence lull over me. My heart becomes a little heavy and I wrap my arm around Lily just to know that she is solid and right here with me.

She is here and she will not leave me, she promised, she promised…

….

Yeah well there's that. Hopefully you enjoyed it and leave your thoughts.

Lazy Days