The only thing that helped to make the next few days tolerable was that Lillian was hardly ever at home. She went out early in the morning not to return until the evening, and as nobody bothered to ask where she went, she didn't bother to tell. Jacob was still miserable, but as always, not wanting to bother anyone else, tried to keep his feelings to himself.

Finally came Friday night, when Lillian would hopefully step out of their lives forever. The taxi was waiting to pick her up, but she was waiting at the door, saying there was something she had to do before she could go.

"It's been a pleasure having you here," Mrs. Bennett felt she should say. "You're always welcome back to our house."

"That's good to know, because I do plan on coming back here in the not-too-distant future."

Everyone in the house was surprised by this, but before she could say more, Lillian looked at the window and squealed. "Alright, I can go now!" She flung open the front door, and there walking up the pathway was Chase Lewis, with a box of chocolates in hand. He handed it to Lillian, but the package was already ripped open and he was chewing on one.

"Hey, came to say goodbye, babe," he said, with no detectable emotion.

"I love you baby," she cried, and jumped up, wrapping herself around him and then engrossing him in a prolonged make-out session on the Bennetts' lawn. "I'll miss you so much," she breathed between kisses. "You mean everything to me. I'll see you again soon, my darling!"

"Yeah, uh huh," Chase answered, and with that Lillian skipped to the taxi and drove off, making sure to wave goodbye until she was out of view.

Chase turned to face the wide-eyed stares of the Bennett family.

"Chase, can I please talk to you alone?" said Eli. Sensing the awkward nature of what would soon follow, the rest of the Bennetts quickly dispersed into the house. Eli stepped out and shut the door behind him. "How are you doing, bud?"

"Good," answered Chase slowly.

"Having a good day so far?"

"Yeah…"

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT?"

"Well, Lillian and I are, sort of, dating."

"What? How? When did this start?"

"Well, you know, we were getting along pretty well, and on that party on Saturday, we sort of slipped away into one of the bedrooms and started making out."

Eli decided to not mention that the afternoon right after Lillian had professed her love to him quite violently. "You're kidding me. You can't be serious. You actually like Lillian?"

"Meh. I can…tolerate her."

"How romantic. You can tolerate her! How serious have you two gotten?"

"Well, I may have told her I love her. A few times."

"But you don't?"

"I don't hate her."

"Why, why would you want to be in a relationship with her!"

"Because she likes me! Okay? Do you know how long it's been since I met a girl who actually liked me? God, I used to have high standards. I turned away a lot of girls because I didn't think they were just perfect enough for me. Do you know much I regret that now? It's hard being alone, okay. So she's not exactly everything I dream of. Whatever. She can keep my needs satisfied. That's good enough. That's all that really matters."

"I can't believe you actually think like this."

"Well, maybe when you're a bit older, you'll understand. Life isn't romantic. Most of the time, you have to settle for what you can find."