Warning: Rating goes up higher for some words.
Chapter 9
"Bullshit!"
Johnny stopped just before the doorway as he heard the word. He peeked around the corner to see Lily sitting up and playing cards with Ben.
"Aw! Come on!" Ben protested. "Are you sure you're not a telepath?"
"Ha ha! Nope! You're just easy to read," Lily laughed as Ben picked up a small pile of cards and assed them to the ever growing stack of cards in his hands.
Johnny grinned and stood in the doorway, leaning on the door jam. The wood creaked and the card players looked up. Lily's smile faded.
"Alright, that's my cue. I'm outta here," Ben said.
"Oh no, Ben! There is no 'cue' here; you just don't want to lose to the bullshit queen," Lily said as Ben got up from his stool and threw down his pile of cards.
"Ha! You got that right," Ben laughed. He leaned down and kissed Lily's cheek.
"Next time we play, I'll be the one to win. One warning though…don't play against him," Ben pointed to Johnny. "He's the King."
Ben left the room.
"The King, huh?" Lily commented as she gathered the cards into a stack.
Johnny nodded, "Care to play?"
Lily looked at him, "You shuffle."
Johnny sat down on the stool. He picked up the cards and shuffled them.
"You okay?" Johnny asked.
"Yea, though Reed restricted me to bed rest," Lily responded.
He handed Lily her stack of cards. He resumed the shuffling.
"How about you? Reed said you ran out," She asked.
"Yea, I just needed some air."
"For a couple of hours?"
Johnny nodded. Lily set her cards down.
"Spill," Lily demanded.
He looked up at her and his hands slowed. He sighed.
"You really scared me last night and…" Johnny said, "and I…"
"I'm sorry," Lily whispered.
"Don't be. It's not your fault. You had a nightmare, that's all it was," Johnny said.
"Why did you run then?"
"Because I really like you, a lot. And I thought I was gonna lose you before I got to…"
Lily looked at him with widened eyes. She never expected that kind of answer. She took a chance.
"I really like you too," Lily whispered.
Johnny looked up in surprise. Despite already knowing she liked him, he hadn't expected her to admit her feelings.
Lily continued, "But I'm seventeen. And you're older. I just can't deal with it, with my feelings on top of everything that's been happening. Knowing there is somebody else out there that wants to kill me, the dream, and seeing you…die. It's just too much."
Johnny listened and nodded. "Then we'll wait, until you're older and ready. Until then, we will just be…friends."
Lily looked at him and smiled, "I'd like that."
"Good, now bullshit?" Johnny smiled and held up his cards.
"Bullshit," Lily agreed.
They played all morning, neither one of them winning. Laughter and calls of 'Bullshit!' rang out of the room and into the hallway.
Johnny groaned and stretched, "Ugh, what time is it?"
Lily looked up at the clock, "One."
"Already?"
"Yup!" Lily said with a smile.
"Are you hungry? I could get you something to eat," Johnny asked.
"Sure, but one more game first? Please?" Lily pleaded.
Johnny looked at her and sighed as he nodded. He picked up the cards and shuffled. He noticed something move out of the corner of his eyes and looked up in time to see a dark object hurling towards him.
"What the-"
Johnny put his hands up in defense and dropped the cards. He watched as Lily whipped her hand out and caught the object. His hands came down as she opened hers.
"It's just the rock, its okay," Lily said.
"The rock? The one that came from the storm?"
Lily nodded.
"Does Reed know it can fly like that?" he asked.
"No, I never told him. All he knows is that it came from the storm. I wouldn't worry too much about it, it does that from time to time," Lily explained.
Johnny looked back at the rock and his eyes widened as he noticed something else.
"It's glowing," he said.
Lily looked at the rock and shrugged, "It does that too."
Johnny gaped at Lily, "You don't think Reed would've wanted to know about that?"
"I've only been here for a few days. There really wasn't any time to tell him. Now are we going to play or not?" Lily said.
Johnny looked down to the floor, but once again, something caught his eye. He looked at Lily's stomach.
"You're glowing to," he said.
Lily followed his eyesight to see that glowing light coming from her wound. She lifted up her shirt to reveal her bandage and the light coming from underneath it.
"That never happened before," Lily said as the glow subsided.
She reached down and peeled the bandage off.
"It's gone!" She gasped.
Where there was once a wound, is now just clear smooth skin. Any trace of a stabbing had disappeared. Lily rubbed the healed area and laughed.
"Look at that!"
"You can heal?" asked an astonished Johnny.
"No! I never could," Lily said. "It's the rock."
She looked at the darkened rock in her hand. She laughed and jumped off the bed. Her laugh was infectious as Johnny laughed in disbelief.
"I don't believe it!" Johnny said as he watched Lily.
"Believe it Tinkerbell!"
"Oi! That's it Redhead!" Johnny jumped towards her.
"You still can't think of a better name than that?" Lily laughed as she ran into the hallway.
Johnny ran after her, laughing. Lily slowed down at the end of the hallway and turned.
"You can't get me!" She taunted.
Johnny kept running towards her. He reached out for her as Lily stood still. To his stunned amazement, he went right through her and landed on the ground with a small noise. Lily turned and laughed at Johnny.
"Ha! I win!" She declared.
"I don't think so," Johnny said as he lunged for her.
She didn't have a chance as he caught her and started to tickle her.
"No! Please no! Ack!" Lily pleaded with laughter as she tried to push his hand away while the other held her waist.
"Johnny!"
They both looked at Reed, Sue, and Ben. Johnny accidently dropped Lily in surprise.
"Oh!" Lily said as she landed on the floor with a thud.
Reed jumped forwards, "What do you think you're doing?"
"I just-" Johnny said before Reed interrupted.
"You could have seriously harmed her! She's still in-"
"Reed, I'm fine!" Lily said as she stood up with the help of Reed.
"How can you be fine after…oh," Reed trailed off.
Lily had lifted her shirt to reveal her unharmed stomach.
"I'm fine," Lily repeated as Reed probed her stomach.
Sue and Ben followed Reed and joined the group. They looked at her with stunned expressions.
"How?" Sue asked.
Lily brought up her hand and opened it to reveal the rock she has held onto.
"Seems like the rock still has some of the storm left in it," Lily said.