A.N.: Sorry for the delay! UCAS applications for university have to be in next Friday, gulp. So here's another chapter. It's quite long, so that should keep you occupied for a while!
"I told you, I tra—" Lilah gave her best-friend a look. Talli sighed, glancing at Reid first before she spoke. "Alright. The truth is…" Talli couldn't look her in the face, kept glancing at Reid; at anything that wasn't Lilah's eyes. She looked like a trapped rabbit, or a squirming, helpless mouse being offered to a hissing viper. Except she'd be one of those beautiful ones with the squeaky-clean whiskers and the brilliant ink-droplet eyes.
"Hasn't the school told you yet?" Talli asked, her voice hushed anxiously, her lovely eyes wide and scared. Lilah didn't like that Talli wasn't telling her something, and that she had blocked her mind off from Lilah listening.
"Told me what?" she demanded waspishly.
"Your father is almost dead."
All the air was knocked violently from Lilah's body. That was impossible.
"No," she said indignantly. She couldn't believe Tallulah would travel all this way to lie to her like this. She got off the bed, backing away from Talli. Tallulah quickly pulled some of Lilah's closest clothing to her and dressed.
"It's as true as I'm standing here, Lilah," Tallulah said seriously. He's not nearly dead, she whispered to herself. He can't be that bad already. "You know I've never lied to you. He wanted me to come here so I can…"
"What? Prepare me?" Lilah said, blinking furiously, eyes wide and horrified. She knew Daddy was ill, she just didn't think he would fade this quickly. "Wh—when did you last see him?"
"Two days ago, at the hospital, when he asked me to come here," Talli said brokenly. That was enough to convince Lilah. Whereas her own parents were selfish narcissistic cunts, Lilah's father had really been the parental figure in Tallulah's life as much as Lilah's, and she loved him as much as Lilah did. "He didn't even look like him anymore." Lilah clutched at her blouse, tugging on it with fingers so tight the nails cut through the fabric to her palms, eyes burning and smarting.
"Wh—why didn't he tell me?" she whimpered. To send Talli as messenger was one thing, not telling her himself made it worse. Talli laughed softly, wiping a tear away from her cheek brusquely. She wasn't one for ruining her makeup.
"Would you want to tell you that you were dying?" she asked, smiling weakly, her lips trembling. Reid kept silent in his side of the room. Lilah didn't know what to do. She strode to the door, jerked back into the room, changed her mind, and again, and finally just stopped in the middle of Tyler and Reid's messy dorm-room that smelled of boy and sex and hid her face in her hands with a whimper. He can't die.
She was enveloped with warm, incredibly strong arms and a scent that was spicy and musky and warm. Reid. He hugged her tight to him, kissing her head, sighing heavily into her shoulder as she fisted his t-shirt.
"He's not gone, okay," he said softly, placing his hands with gentle reassuring strength on her shoulders, gazing into her eyes. "He's not gone yet. Call him. Talk to him." Lilah blinked the tears out of her eyes, licking her lips as a dry sob threatened to escape, and nodded. Yes, talk to him. "I'll give an excuse to Barnard." Lilah glanced up at him miserably. "I'll behave myself." He kissed her lips affectionately, lingeringly, calming her down.
"I'd better go and shower," Talli said softly.
"The girls' showers are down the corridor," Lilah sniffled miserably, and Talli picked up her pace.
Reid smiled gently and captured her lips again. She couldn't help it. She couldn't help her mind wandering to other things, even though her father could potentially have been drawing his very last breath at this very moment, but she couldn't stop thinking about Reid's lips, and going out to Nicky's tonight, and having Talli here.
Reid was walking with Tyler out of Lilah's dorm to the kitchen for breakfast, leaving his girlfriend to dial long-distance to England; he encountered Talli strutting back to Lilah's dorm drenched, wrapped in a white towel. She shot him a coy smile as she walked into Lilah's dorm. As she opened the door, Lilah's bellow echoed through the empty panelled corridor;
"…I DON'T CARE IF HE'S IN THERE! FOR THE AMOUNT OF MONEY WE PAY YOU, YOU CAN TURN THE MACHINE BACK ON LATER AFTER HE'S EXPLAINED TO ME WHY HE DIDN'T TELL ME HE'S IN CRITICAL CONDITION!!!" Reid jumped. Talli closed the door again, anxiety tugging at her lips.
"Maybe I'll give her a few minutes," she said lightly, leaning against the door. Lilah's voice rose, even through the panelling, and they all cringed as she shouted at what Reid presumed to be a nurse on the other end of the phone-call.
"When did you get here, anyway?" Reid asked, glancing at Talli. Breakfast could wait.
"Midnight last night."
"What the hell were you doin' in Lilah's dorm?" Reid asked, not intending to sound rude.
"My new roommate told me Lilah's room number. I wanted to say hello," Talli said, resting her head against the wall and sliding those stunning sapphire eyes over them.
"Who's your roommate?" Reid asked.
"A girl with long red hair," Talli said, wrinkling her nose. "Very stuck-up. I didn't catch her name. I don't really think she's human."
"Kira," the boys said together.
"Yes, that was it," Talli nodded. Lilah's shouts disappeared. The hall seemed to ring with the silence.
They peeked quietly into the bedroom; Lilah was curled up on Reid's bed, speaking so quietly he couldn't hear what she was saying. The phone buzzed alternately as she stopped speaking, sometimes overriding a sniffle from her. Tallulah quietly dressed and Reid kissed the top of Lilah's head before leaving the room, closing the door silently behind him, taking it upon himself to guide Talli around Spenser.
Wish I had this chance, he thought resentfully. He'd have given anything to have picked up that phone-call on the morning of September the eleventh. Just to hear his mother's voice for real one last time, saying to him, not the machine, that she loved him, that she missed him. Though it probably didn't seem like it to Lilah, she had a supreme advantage over him; she had time to say goodbye, say everything she needed and wanted to before it happened. Maybe you should tell her that, he thought, nodding to himself as he agreed.
German dragged on. Reid found himself doodling another tattoo sketch in the margin of his notebook. Luckily he was naturally bright and could answer any question Frau Klein shot at him no matter how difficult it was to understand—Frau Klein spoke only in German—and always aced his tests. He was worrying about Lilah.
She reappeared at P.E. It was one lesson she actually enjoyed—because they were still on swimming and all of the guys wore their 'little, little swim-shorts'. He was waiting by the pool-cover with Tyler, watching the girls' locker-rooms. He knew Tyler was watching for Tallulah. He'd been ogling that girl all day. It wasn't as strange now to listen to the delicious girlish giggles of a mellifluous English voice. Tyler liked it as much as he did. He wasn't really expecting Lilah to turn up for practice, especially if she was in a mood like she had been two weeks ago, but she strolled out of the changing-rooms in her tight Speedo, all leg and breast, her hair tugged back into her customary doubled-over French-plait. She walked over to him languidly, letting her arms hang loose around his waist.
"I don't think I'm ever going to speak to him again," she whimpered softly into his chest. Reid felt like shit because she felt like shit. Her brain was in turmoil. He cradled her cheeks tenderly and kissed her lips. He knew when he was feeling like shit, all he needed was for someone to show him a little bit of compassion and he would cry it out and feel a lot better after a pint of ice-cream. He was a bit of a girl about that. It was Mrs Simms' fault.
"Sweetheart," he said softly. "How ya doin'?" Pretty lame, Reid, he thought.
"Okay I suppose." You sound so miserable, he pined. He hated seeing her like this.
"Just okay?" he prompted gently. She sniffed harshly, probably preventing herself from crying. It wasn't so good on the sinuses when you were supposed to swim for an hour.
"What did your dad say?" Tyler asked quietly. Lilah sighed softly, eyes downcast.
"Goodbye," she said, barely audible over the echo of the other swimmers. "What kind of a daughter am I if all I can think about is the History quiz I missed this morning?" she asked miserably. Reid cocked his head to one side, wondering where she was going with this. "I keep trying to think about Daddy, hoping my some freak occurrence he'll be okay, but then all this other stuff keeps getting in the way. Stupid things, like the test, and like showing Talli around, and going out with you tonight." He knew exactly how she felt. He'd tried to mourn. But the thing that really sent him over the edge when his parents were killed was the fact that he couldn't. He just kept—like Lilah was going through right now—thinking about other things, what was going on in his life.
"That doesn't mean you're a horrible daughter," Reid said gently, stroking a loose lock of glistening dark hair behind her ears. She snivelled miserably and turned her cheek into his palm. "When—when my mom and dad…didn't come home that day, I was shocked, you know, but it didn't seem real. So I kind of…let myself forget about it. There was a dance on that Friday, and I'd asked Josephine Smithson to go with me." Lilah sniffed and glared.
"Josephine Smithson, that slut?" He grinned.
"She had shiny hair. And Pogue's parents were gonna take us all to a football game that Saturday," Reid said. "It's just…when your brain thinks it's thought about something for too long, like calculus, it switches over to something else so it doesn't overheat." Lilah's lips twitched.
"It's not going to work, Reid," she said sombrely. "I'm not going to laugh." She settled back on the pool-cover and crossed her arms over her chest, turning her face away slightly.
"No, no, no, I'm just trying to say, if you think about something too long…smoke'll come out of your ears," Reid said, cradling her body with a devilish grin, kissing her neck tenderly.
"Stop it."
"And steam will come out of your nose," he said, kissing her jaw.
"Reid!"
"Fire will shoot out of your mouth," Reid said, kissing her lips. "I'll love that! Hell, I would love it; you'll scare the hell out of all the kids we have to take 'round on Halloween."
"Thanks, Reid," she sighed. He nudged her nose in their little affectionate thing and their kiss was lingering.
"Lilah?" Kira, fucking—
"What?" Lilah sighed heavily, turning to Kira.
"Your friend won't come out of the changing-rooms," Kira said.
"You mean your new roommate?" Tyler asked, smirking deliciously. Kira's daddy paid a lot of money to make sure Kira was alone in a two-person dorm. Talli had popped her personal-bubble big time. That, and the fact that Talli had let Aaron flirt shamelessly with her all afternoon, was cause enough for Kira to be extremely pissed off with Tallulah. Lilah sighed again, letting her head loll back in impatience.
"She hates getting her hair wet," she said to herself, strolling to the entrance of the girls' locker-rooms. "Tallulah Lintott-Sheldon! You let Ollie see you naked and yet you won't wear a swimsuit in front of fifty strangers. Come out now!"
"No—and I thought we agreed never to talk about that in public," Talli's shriek rang back. Lilah dove into the doorway and started tugging her friend bodily from the locker-room.
"Come on, Talli! It's not that bad!" she grunted, baring her teeth against the restraint as Talli grabbed the doorframe. Reid glanced at Tyler: his eyes were fixed on the flash of legs as Talli pretty much fought tooth-and-nail not to have to swim.
"I haven't done P.E. since primary-school," Talli resisted.
"Neither had I!" Lilah said indignantly. "Come on, Talli; you get to see Tyler and Pogue in their little, little swim-shorts." Beside him, Tyler flushed, and Reid chuckled as Tallulah stilled, eyebrows flying up, her eyes flashing in intrigue. He was sure—yeah, there it was, that telltale little smirk making the dimples wink—that the girls were silently exchanging words. He hated that the ability to communicate mentally was restricted to bilaterally, not multilaterally. Perhaps you should look into that, Reid told himself. Talli came quietly, strolling beside a sauntering Lilah, checking out the 'talent,' as Lilah would call it, the boys in the class.
"How come there is such a minority of girls in this class?" Talli asked, not exactly sounding too disappointed.
"I've got connections," Lilah shrugged, and Talli laughed. "No. The boys are on the swim-team or the American football-team."
"What the hell is American-football, anyway? Isn't it just some pussy-version of rugby with your weight in padding?" Talli asked, and Lilah's mouth twitched amusedly.
"That about sums it up," Lilah sighed airily.
"Hey, you're lucky Caleb isn't here," Reid said, wiggling his finger threateningly at Lilah. She giggled and grabbed it, tucking his arm around her waist. "I seem to remember you enjoying the game last Friday."
"That's because all of the team lines up with their back to me so I can see their fine arses," Lilah said, rolling her eyes as if this should have been obvious.
"And the chilli-cheese nachos were good," Tyler grinned. "Hey, Pogue." Reid smirked as Talli's eyes shot straight towards their model-pretty gym-freak friend. He's wearing those ridiculous shorts again, he thought, rolling his eyes. Lilah's shoulders started to shake; glancing at her face, he saw she was trying to contain her giggles, her eyes fixed on Talli's.
"I don't like these looks you're giving each other," Reid said nervously. "I feel like you're rating us."
"I'm not bothering with you. You're off the market," Talli said, and Lilah let out a giggle.
"Wow. A girl who won't go after her best-friend's boyfriend!" Pogue's eyebrows rose. "That's new."
"Whatever happened to Kate on Friday night?" Tyler asked, beaming so innocently Pogue couldn't smack him. Pogue's lack of response was enough to the boys to show nothing had been gained after the party.
"You're better off without her," Lilah said haughtily, straightening her shoulders boldly. "I didn't like her. She was flirting with anything that had a big enough cock." She made them blush. She made them blush, Reid sang to himself, giggling at Pogue's and Tyler's flushed faces.
"I was thinking something more subtle," Talli laughed softly.
"EVERYBODY IN THE POOL!" Coach's yell rang out and the shrill whistle made them cringe, and they all—Talli somewhat reluctantly—made their way to the pool's edge. She was the last one on the edge. Reid exchanged a cunning look with Tyler. Tyler jumped up in the water, grabbed Talli's relaxed arm, and gave an almighty tug that sent Talli crashing into the water on top of him. Everyone laughed as the two emerged; Talli was spluttering indignantly, pushing the water from her face and forcing her sopping hair back, glaring daggers at Tyler.
"Oooh, you're in big trouble. Big trouble!" she shuddered, the cold water not yet acclimatising her body.
"What? You look good wet!" Tyler said, without even blushing. Words could not express how proud Reid was that his little baby-boy was growing up so fast!
"Shut up!"
Reid had been trying to teach Tyler how to communicate mentally, but he rarely communicated with words anyway, so it was difficult to speak, figuratively, with Tyler during P.E. or during swim-practice directly afterwards. Somehow Tallulah's perspective on swimming had altered dramatically from the first argument trying to get her out of the changing-rooms, and she stayed during swim-practice so Coach could see how good she was, whether there was a spot for her on the team.
"I think I just outdid my limit for physical exercise outside of the bedroom for the entire decade," Talli moaned, lethargically climbing the chrome ladder out of the pool at the end of practice.
"You didn't have to stay!" Lilah laughed softly.
"So what are we doing now?" Tallulah asked, linking her arm around Lilah's waist. That's my spot, Reid glared, pouting. The girls completely ignored them, chattering away happily as they sauntered to the girls' locker-rooms. Tyler didn't say anything about Talli while they showered, or while they changed, or while they waited for the girls out in the little lobby of the swimming-pool. But he didn't say anything to Reid at all, actually, so Reid knew he was thinking about Tallulah even if he wouldn't say anything. He could read his friend's mind like a book even without the additional Power Lilah had unlocked.
It was a little annoying for Reid: He wasn't used to sharing Lilah. Now Tallulah had arrived and pretty much commandeered every single minute with her. They were sitting at the boys' regular table talking to Pogue and Caleb, who thought they were a classic double-act: Gertie and Daisy, some double-act from the thirties or something. At least, that's what Talli called them; Talli was Dirty Gertie, Lilah was Daisy. Reid bent and broke the triangle; he and Tyler were playing Aaron and Ryan as usual: 'That's trouble,' Caleb always said.
"Come on, dude, they're best-friends," Tyler shrugged, chalking his cue, his eyes on Talli. "You'd hate it if someone was hogging all my attention." The tiniest hint of bitterness escaped in his words and Reid guessed, from a brief flash of insight inside Tyler's brain, his best-friend was jealous of Lilah for spending so much time with Reid. They did spend a lot of time together, but he could hardly help it seeing as they lived in the same building. And he was completely infatuated with her… He was in lo—he cringed as he stopped himself even thinking that stunning realisation.
He glanced over at the girls; they had disappeared, but Tyler's soft moan, and his pointed look over at the bar, told him where they'd gone: The girls were both leaning on the bar, the hems of their fluttery skirts just brushing their butt-cheeks. Reid's body responded by utterly relaxing as he sighed and placed a twenty on the felt.
"They're not wearing underwear," Reid bet. "Only suspenders." He knew his girlfriend too well; she never wore underwear on a night out. Hell, she never wore underwear anyway! She wore suspender-belts but that was it. And bras until noon.
Bowing their heads together, he and Tyler grinned as Reid's eyes flashed and a gust of wind—conveniently thought to be from the door opening at that moment, blew the girls' skirts up. The trick was aging, but it never got old. They both moaned at the show: They both had incredibly fine asses, though Reid already knew Lilah did. Talli's suspender-belt was lilac-purple trimmed with black lace, two tiny little rosettes detailing it, connecting to black silk stockings, the seam pretty much making them take in her whole leg. The tiniest little tattoo adorned her left butt-cheek; a heart, like the one on Lilah's ankle. Lilah's suspender-belt was a tiny little red skirt, intricately embroidered, with little pink satin bows at the tops of the suspender-straps.
"Does that count as underwear?" Tyler asked hopefully. Reid shook his head, and they both looked away quickly as the girls gasped and pushed their skirts down, glancing around. Lilah's eyes flickered suspiciously over him. He put on his best innocent act—but that was all it was; an act, and she saw through that easily.
You could've just asked, she said reprovingly.
Where's the fun in that?
Pig.
You love me for my wily ways.
Don't flatter yourself! She giggled over the other side of the bar and turned with Talli to their table, carrying trays of greasy foods and drinks.
"I think there must be somethin' in the British water, man," Tyler said thoughtfully, watching the two girls.
"Hey, who's that chick with Lilah?" Aaron asked. The boys exchanged disgruntled looks.
"My girlfriend, Talli," Tyler said, and Reid pointedly didn't look up so he could disguise his shocked smirk as he sank another ball. His 'girlfriend'.
"Don't you actually have to know a girl to have a girlfriend?" Ryan asked.
"Well, you don't seem to have a problem getting one," Reid said, glancing up. "So many magazines, so little time." When the game had ended—and Reid and Tyler collected their money—they walked over to the table and sat down with fresh drinks for the girls.
"By the way, you're now my girlfriend if that curly-haired guy in the Varsity-jacket comes over," Tyler said, and Talli giggled softly.
"Way to nip it in the bud, Tyler," Lilah grinned, smacking his palm. He grinned but flushed bashfully. Reid watched him all night; Talli didn't seem to leave his side. And when he talked, which was more often than usual, she hung on to every word with a hand draped around his waist or touching his chest or shoulder, laughing prettily. From this distance, at the jukebox with Lilah, he couldn't tell if they were just being really, really friendly as they tickled and poked each other in the sides mercilessly or if that was something special. It was for Tyler, at least. He'd clam up if anyone other than the guys or Lilah—not even Sarah—tried to tickle him.
"What do you think?" he asked, nodding at the two. Lilah's eyes slid over them and she smiled.
"Well, Tallulah keeps saying how sweet-looking he is," she smiled, arms linked around his neck. He held her waist and swayed with her to a slower song. 'Sweet-looking.' What the hell does that mean?
"He's purty," Lilah said, fluttering her eyelashes and slurring the 't'.
"I'm gonna have to watch you, my girl, I can see that," Reid said thoughtfully, eyes roving over Lilah's face. With her best-friend now in Ipswich with her, it was like she had gained one-half of her body back. She wasn't afraid anymore, because she knew she now had something familiar to fall back on. He supposed that was the greatest bit of comfort she'd be receiving in a while, if her dad was so sick. She and Tallulah were like him and Tyler: inseparable, incorrigible, but sweet. Reid couldn't stay jealous at Tallulah very long, because Lilah always came back around to give him one of those lingering kisses.
A.N.: PLEASE REVIEW!!!!