Here's the next chapter.
There had been times in the past when Lilly wondered exactly why her parents had gotten a divorce. Whenever she had asked her father before the divorce actually went through, he had told her to mind her own business and go have fun with Oliver. When she had asked her mother, she had said that they hadn't been getting along in the past few years, they hadn't taken the steps to repair their marriage in time, and this is what resulted from it. Lilly had never suspected that the reason for the divorce had been her.
After she was nine years old, Lilly didn't have much contact with her father. He just stopped really talking to her; stopped coming into her room to tuck her in at night, stopped giving her hugs before she left for school, stopped playing with her altogether. When she asked him about it, he said that he didn't have time for those things anymore. He had too much work, and besides, his little girl was growing up and pretty soon, she wouldn't want those things anymore.
At ten years old, her parents had sat her down to talk about the divorce. Lilly had objected every step of the way, cried in the courtroom to the point where one of Lilly's distant relatives had to drag her out screaming and kicking, and demanded that she be able to see her father the first seven months after the divorce. Eventually, she had grown used to the house being just her and her mom's.
When she was thirteen, she had picked up the phone to hear her father on the other end of the line. She could hear kids in the background, and after a fifteen-minute interrogation, she had found out that he had remarried to a divorced mother of three, and another was on the way. After standing motionless with the phone in her hand listening to her father ask if she was still there for five minutes, she slammed the phone down and ran to her room, sobbing. Her mother had come home to find her sleeping on the floor in her room, tears still trailing down her face.
She had always asked her mother to give her a reason why her parents had gotten a divorce, and now she had finally gotten it. Her mother had always told her that if she wanted the real reason, she wouldn't be happy with what she got. And she was right. Lilly wished that she had never found out. That she had never remembered.
Lilly stirred and turned over to see Miley sitting at her desk, studiously copying math problems out of her textbook. She had her headphones in and impatiently picked up her iPod, shuffling through the songs before settling on one. Turning around, she smiled when she saw Lilly and pulled the headphones out, throwing the music player on the desk as she turned to face her fully.
"Hey, how're you feeling?" she asked quietly.
"Okay, I guess," Lilly muttered, shrugging. "I mean, how would you feel in my situation?"
Miley opened her mouth to reply and promptly shut it, glancing away from Lilly before finally speaking. "I don't know what to say," she admitted. "There… I would have never imagined that… that it was something like this that would have gone wrong."
"I didn't, either," Lilly said, sitting up and throwing Miley's blankets off her body. "I mean, I always told you that I didn't really know why my parents divorced. They always gave me bogus answers when I asked, and I haven't talked to my dad since I was thirteen. I… I guess I just blocked the memories, and they all came back when…" She stopped, looking away from Miley.
"What… what exactly happened in the city?" Miley asked. "I didn't want to push you before, but if it's brought these memories back, then… well, it can't have been something good."
When Lilly didn't say anything for a few minutes, Miley continued. "Lilly, you're my best friend, and I would never, ever do anything that I think would hurt you. I'm asking because I want to help you. If you get it out, you'll feel better, I promise."
"I was walking around the city, looking for somewhere to eat when it started to rain really bad," Lilly said. "It was like a downpour. So I ran into this alley, which gave a little bit of shelter from the rain, but… there were these guys… they saw me when I got off the bus and they… they raped me, just like my father did."
She didn't cry because there were no tears left to shed, but her voice broke and she refused to look at Miley. Suddenly, Miley was sitting next to her and tentatively putting an arm around her shoulders. Lilly leaned into the brunette, her usual energy and strength suddenly draining from her body and leaving her weak.
"This happened just as I was starting to get used to the fact that he wasn't coming back," Lilly whispered after a moment. "It's like… just when I'm starting to think that nothing bad is going to happen to me anymore, something else happens and knocks me off my feet. And I'm afraid that… that I won't be able to get back up. One of these times, I'm gonna break, and… I don't want that to happen, Miley. I'm scared."
"Hey, no, don't talk like that," Miley said, pulling out of the embrace and looking Lilly in the eyes. "You're going to be fine. Nothing's going to happen to you, I'll make sure of that, okay? If you fall down, I'll be right there beside you to pick you back up, no matter how stupid I was before, no matter if we were fighting, I promise."
Lilly was quiet for a moment. "When my parents told me they were getting a divorce, they said that there was a reason why everything happened," she whispered. "And ever since then, I've always wanted to know the reason why everything happened, and now that I think I've found out the reason for their divorce, I'm not sure if I really do want to know the reason for everything. But I can't help it. I want him to give me a reason why he did all that stuff to me."
"I really don't know what to say," Miley said quietly.
"You don't have to say anything. Just… stay here, okay?" Lilly whispered. "Don't leave me."
Miley just held her.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: musicisinmysoul, k.226, and Mildly Deranged. Thank you all so much. I really would appreciate if more people REVIEWED. Just tell me what you think or… even criticize me! (I am not giving you my permission to tell me that I suck at writing. If you want to do that, just be nice and pm me ;), okay?) I'll put the next chapter up as soon as I can, so please REVIEW!!! Thanks again!
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