Hey guys! Thank you so much for the reviews, I really do appreciate them! All of you really wanted Brooke to be her confidante, and the more I thought about it, the more I agree with you. (Kudos to you guys!) But, I think I'm gonna wait and put that in another chapter, and you'll see why. :]
Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill.
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Lilly walked slowly. She wasn't walking back to Aunt Haley and Uncle Nathan's, nor was she walking home. She was just walking around Tree Hill. Her state of shock had yet to wear off, as did the pain in her cheek. She rubbed it from time to time, trying to make it feel better and hoping to god it wouldn't bruise. She didn't know what lie she would tell everyone. She knew she couldn't tell the truth. She didn't want that kind of drama. Plus, she wasn't even sure what had happened herself. Carter was probably just really angry. She had never seen this side of him, though she wasn't sure what side of him she had seen. Still, when Lilly decided to go back to The Scott's, she was sure he wouldn't do it again.
She opened the door carefully, and quietly tip-toed in. She shut the door behind herself. She was a little preoccupied, wondering what she would tell Jamie in the morning when he saw the bruise Lilly knew would be there, which is why when she saw her Uncle Nathan leaning against the other side of the kitchen counter staring at her, she jumped ten feet in the air.
"Where have you been?" He asked, motioning for her to sit down on the barstool across from him.
"I…uh, went to a friends." She replied, sitting down. She placed her elbow on the countertop and her hand on her cheek, covering the red handmark completely.
He nodded. "I talked to Lucas."
She blinked at him before she realized she was supposed to be mad at her mom and her brother. After…the incident with Carter, she had completely forgotten about her father and why she wanted to talk to Carter in the first place. "Oh, right." She said, looking away.
"Now," Nathan started. "You're going to listen to me whether you like it or not. Understood?"
She nodded, so he continued. "When Keith was killed, we thought it was Jimmy for the longest time. And for the most part, everyone accepted that. Well, not everyone. Mouth, Lucas, and Skillz especially had a hard time accepting what Jimmy did, because they knew what Keith was to Jimmy and how he treated Jimmy. Now, Dan is not a good guy, never has been. But, he's my father and I grew up with him which is why when Lucas first told me of his suspicions, I didn't believe him. I didn't want to believe him. Lucas didn't grow up with him, and didn't still need to feel like his father was a good man, so he had an easier time with the truth. When Dan finally confessed to what he had done, a lot of things changed. The way Lucas and I saw him, everything. Sure, we knew what a bad guy he was, but we didn't know he was capable of murder. Karen and Lucas just wanted to protect you from that side of the world. They wanted to protect you from seeing the bad in the world when you were so young. Time just got away from them, and it was never the right time to tell you."
Lilly looked down as a tear fell down her cheek. She wasn't sure why she was crying, the father incident, or the Carter incident. "I just wish I would've known."
Nathan nodded. "Well you know now. And the past is in the past. You can't change it, no matter what."
Lilly sighed, wiping away her tears. "Did Dan go to jail? Or did he just confess to you."
"Yeah, he went to jail. He got out right after we got out of college, on parole." Nathan stood up, groaning. "Now, you go back upstairs and go to bed."
She nodded, said goodnight and walked towards the stairs, but stopped when she heard him call her name.
"Oh, and Lilly?"
"Yeah?"
"If you ever sneak out of my house again when you're not supposed, I will hunt you down and drag you back."
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Karen and Lucas were sitting in the living room, waiting for her when she got home. Lilly was so tired when she walked through the door, she barely even registered that they were there. She just looked at them and walked back to her room.
"I don't feel like talking about it." She said, nonchalantly. She opened her bedroom door and left it open, knowing they would follow anyways. She lay down on her bed and buried her face in her soft pillow, looking for some comfort to her sore cheek.
"Lilly, please listen to us." Karen said, sitting down on the edge of her daughter's bed. Lucas sat down on the other and they exchanged glances. "We just want to talk."
"I don't care." Lilly said, though her voice was muffled by the pillow. "I'm not mad."
"What?"
Lilly turned her head, her bruise faced down so they wouldn't notice it right away. "I said I don't care anymore. I'm not mad. I talked to Uncle Nathan."
"You're not mad because you talked to Nathan?" Lucas asked, confused by her sudden change in moods.
Lilly just nodded. "Can I just sleep, please?"
Karen looked at Lucas and motioned for them to leave. Lilly waited to sit up until they were gone and the door was closed. She wanted to talk to somebody, but she couldn't. She couldn't tell them what had happened. She had already decided that it wouldn't happen again, and if it was not going to happen again there was no reason to tell anyone about it.
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Lilly opened her eyes to her cell phone ringing it. Groggily, she sat up, rubbing her eyes and picking up her phone. She looked at the screen on the front, seeing the words 'Carter' pop up. She let it ring for a while, then decided to just answer it. "Hello?"
"Hey," He said, simply. She tried to decipher if he felt guilty or not through his voice, but she got nothing.
"Hey," She replied, using a colder tone than usual.
"Um, do you want to meet up tonight?" He sked.
Do you want to meet up tonight? That's it? No apology, explanation? Nothing? Lilly sighed, making sure Carter could hear it through the phone and thought for a moment. Probably, he didn't want to apologize over the phone. Right? He just wanted to apologize in person. That was the polite thing to do, plus he most likely knew that apologizing in person would mean more to her.
"Sure." She said, tentatively. "Where at?"
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Carter had a gig, as usual. It was at the same coffee shop they always went to. Lilly put on make-up to cover her bruise and told her mom she was going out. Karen didn't say anything, and Lilly left. She knew she was going to have to face them sooner or later, but the procrastinator in her said later. Lilly walked in and looked around. Carter was back-stage, preparing. He would be on in any minutes now. She sat down in her usual spot, and Mac brought her usual diet coke over. Truthfully, Mac didn't care about the age limit, or the police for that matter. If she wanted an alcoholic drink, she could've gotten one. But, Lilly had never felt the need to drink.
She watched him play, hearing the same song she had heard thousands of times before. She continually placed her hand on her cheek to hide her bruise, even if it was covered, and then put it back on the table. She was self-conscious about the bruise, she felt as if everyone was staring at it. She felt like that even more when Carter walked over and stared at it.
"Hey," he said.
"Hi." She replied, folding her arms across her body.
They didn't say anything for awhile. Lilly, looking away and Carter just staring at her. Lilly sipped at her drink, waiting for him until she finally snapped.
"Well?" She demanded.
"Well, what?"
"Are you gonna apologize or what?"
"I don't need to apologize. I told you I didn't want to talk about it."
"You don't just hit someone and not apologize, god-"
"You're doing it again."
She stood up and walked away. She didn't have to deal with this.
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The next Monday after school, Lilly was in the photography lab at school, photo-shopping a picture of hers. The Rhode Island of Design offered scholarships for artistic abilities, so she was putting together a portfolio of her best photos yet. She had been working on this for two weeks, the deadline was in one. Lately, to keep things off of her mind she had started to pay more attention to the details of the pictures, something she was sure would put her ahead of every other student.
"Hey, Lilly." A voice said behind her.
She turned to see Mitch Rencotti standing behind her. Mitch was a fellow photography geek. He was good, way better than she was. He had his sights on Yale, and Duke and big ivy league schools like that. He, too, had been working on his portfolio.
"Hey, Mitch. You working on your portfolio too?" She asked, smiling slightly.
"Yupp." He sighed as he sat down at the computer next to her and turned it on. "I'm not even close to being finished. My deadline is in five days, I don't even care how good the photos are. I just hope I can make it."
Lilly chuckled. "I have one more week. I should have plenty of time to finish, I'm just doing a little extra."
"And avoiding your mom and brother?" He guessed. He continued when she gave him a questioning look. "I heard about Mrs. Schultz English class."
She nodded and looked down, trying to send him the signal that she didn't want to talk about it.
"I'm sorry." He said. "I know it's probably not something you want to talk about, but…" He typed something on his computer. "Last year I found out that my dad wasn't my dad. My mom had had an affair and I was the product. I found out in front of complete strangers. I know it's not the same. But I was pretty pissed at my mom just the same. She knew, so did everybody else in my family. If you ever want to talk, or rant, I'm here."
She just nodded and they continued to work. They didn't talk for the hour they were in there, and when they walked out together, they just smiled at each other and said goodbye. She really didn't think it was that big of a deal until she saw Carter leaning against her car, scowling at her. The parking lot was empty, only her, Carter and Mitch, and Mitch had just left.
"Hey," She said, walking up and opening her the passenger door to her car to put her things in. "I don't-"
"What the hell was that?"
There it was. The anger. She saw it washing across his face, and she stepped back. "What was what?"
"That!" He pointed to the door at the school. She looked but didn't see anything suspicious. "You and that fag, flirting. You have a boyfriend!"
She wanted to scream at him, saying how bad he was of a boyfriend, but stopped. The fear rising again. "What are you talking about? That was nothing. I said goodbye, Mitch said goodbye. We're just friends. And some boyfriend you are."
"I know flirting when I see it, and that was flirting. And what the hell kind of question is that?" He was getting angrier by the minute. He was stepping closer, she was stepping back until she was backed against the car.
"I-I…."
He hit her. Again. Punched her in the stomach this time. She hurled over, groaning at the pain. She fell to the ground, knees bent, one arm holding her up, one arm across her stomach. She closed her eyes, whispering, "I wasn't flirting."
"Liar!" He screamed, kicking her.
She cried out, wondering how this could've happened to her.
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Whew. That was tough. I added the Nathan/Lilly moment, only cause I thought him telling her to not sneak out of the house would be cute. Be sure to tell me what you think!
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