Lily's POV
"Do what?" I asked, pretending to not know what he was talking about.
"You know what?" He said, keeping his eyes on the road and his hand on the steering. "I'd rather we have this talk when Emma's awake."
"I want to tell her myself." I replied to him. "Alone." I added.
"Nope. You're gonna tell us." He said, stressing the 'us'.
"I'm not comfortable…" I objected.
"I wasn't comfortable with everyone seeing my dick on a big screen either." He retorted.
"That wasn't just me." I confessed.
"I never said it was." He shot back.
"Could we be less cold, you know, cause of Emma?" I asked. Emma was an excuse, it was because of me.
My heart was heavy enough, it felt like I had a shit ton of stuff there instead.
"No." He replied, snidely.
"Alright." I was done with having that conversation, I didn't want it.
"This isn't the way home." I observed. I was half sober, but still very conscious.
"You just realized?" He asked, sarcastically.
"Matter of fact, yeah." I replied. I was beginning to get paranoid. All sorts of thoughts were creeping into my head. "I vouched for you, Chase. Where are you taking us?!" I asked, screaming.
The streets looked empty, graced by lamps that provided warm lighting. It looked like a high class neighborhood.
I checked my phone, and the time was around 6pm.
My brother's babysitter was off by 8, I needed to be home before then.
"I have to be home in an hour and forty eight minutes." I said.
"You will be. All you're gonna do is explain shit to Emma, and you get to decide how long that takes you." He replied.
It felt like I had been trapped. I kept swallowing hard..
Emma's head was resting on my thighs, her eyelids were already shaking and would snap open anytime soon.
The first shock was gonna be that we were in Chase's car, and the second, my big confession.
"Li…" She said, I bet over in an attempt to shield her view.
"Hey. How do you feel?" I asked her. Chase had already parked in the garage of some posh house.
"My head feels light. It actually feels like there's water in there," She said, smiling drunkenly. "Where are we, Lily?" She asked, raising her head up.
Emma overestimated how coordinated her body was, and soon landed back in my thighs.
"You'll know, soon enough." Chase had opened the door for us both and was contemplating how best to carry her.
He carried, and threw her over his shoulder, and very soon, we were on our way into some fancy house.
"Who's is this?" I asked as soon as we got in..
"A friends." Chase said, and put Emma down, gently, on the couch.
"Nice house. " I commented and sat next to Emma.
"I'll get coffee." He said, and excused himself.
With the reckless abandon he threw things about, not to mention the very monotony of the indoor decor, I knew it was his.
"Lily." Emma, grunted, sitting up.
First she blinked, then her tired eyes snapped open. She looked at me in disbelief, and the looked back at the house.. "This has to be a dream." Emma muttered. "What the fuck are we doing in Chase's house?!" She screamed.
"He was supposed to take us home after you passed out," I tried explaining.
Emma forced herself up from the seat and was already packing her things ready to tear the door open when Chase resurfaced, with his hands up in the air.
I thought it weird, but the answer was right behind him. Gray!
"What the fuck?!" I screamed. The drama was getting too much for me.
Emma's already waning consciousness failed her, and soon, she was on the ground.
Chase and I rushed to her aid. He ran to grab towels and ice, instructing Gray who still had a gun in his hand to get her the hot coffee he was brewing.
I saw a moment's hesitation before Gray obliged.
It took about ten minutes, but Emma was back up.
"Have you ever taken alcohol, ever?" Chase asked, out of fear and maybe a little frustration.
It would have been funny if Emma wasn't the one passing out, if Gray didn't have a loaded gun, if we weren't in Chase house, and if there wasn't so much tension in the air.
"No." She groaned weakly. "Get your stupid hands off me." She added.
I saw Chase bite his lip in restraint, after which he took his hands off her and punched the wall.
Graysons unwelcome presence provided a little security for me.
"Please, Emma. Take a seat. I've got something to say." I said, swallowing hard.
I knew it was the noble thing to do, but it was so hard.
She looked at me, so innocently, so helplessly. She was still that new girl who I helped settle into County High after all.
I helped her up and sat her on the three seater couch. It felt much easier to stand while I talked, or at least, not be so close to her.
"I never thought I was gonna be doing this, with, with this crowd." I stuttered.
"You never thought you were gonna be doing it, bitch." Chase said in an undertone.
Gray shit him a murderous look, after which I cleared my throat to get their attention.
"Emma, I've wronged you, and I'll totally understand if you never want to see me." I said.
Her head was in her hands, as she sipped the coffee.
Her eyes looked more coordinated.
There, in my sluttiest outfit ever, about to confess to her, I felt like a total fool.
"I, I don't know how to start, I was gonna say my motive, but I guess,, I guess I should start from where, I mean I want to start where, er, Chase and I, where we…" I kept stuttering and stumbling over my words like a fool.
I saw the way Gray looked at me, like an idiot, and the sheer urge to prove him wrong infused all the boldness I needed.
"I leaked Chase's pictures with Jessica." I spat, closing my eyes. "I mean, I was gonna show you. But they y'all got together and you seemed so happy, too happy to even care about what we had. I'm ashamed to say, but I spent nights thinking of how I could get my best friend back… " I kept on ranting
"You and Jessica seemed close of late." Emma cut in.
"Yeah, I was coming to that. I guess I'll just start there now." I swallowed hard and took off again. "We shared similar shoes. Both dumped by the school's most popular sweetheart." I heard Gray grunt, and it made me happy. "Chase and I have history. I'm sure you know about Jessica." I said, I didn't want to have to explain her bit.
"She does!" Chase chipped in.
"We had a thing almost a year ago." I continued. "I hated him, still do," I said, casting one of the nastiest looks in my arsenal at him, "cause of how we ended."
"Y'all didn't have a 'thing'," Gray spoke up, making air quotes, "you had a child!" He said, looking me in the eye.
It was game over. "The child wasn't Chase's." I heard all the air in Grayson lungs go out. Chase looked relieved, and Emma looked like she had seen a ghost.
"What did you just say?!" She said, looking at all three of us at once. "Somebody repeat what I just heard!" The mug containing coffee fell out of her hand, and crashed against the cold tiles. It startled me, reminding me of all the crashing sounds I spent most of my nights listening to. Loud crashes and noises from my parents room…
Emma noticed how unnatural my flinch was and even apologized, she was such a sweetheart.
"Where do I start from?" I asked, my lips quivering.
Unexpectedly, Gray walked up to me and hugged me.
It was the last thing I expected him to do.
"You must be crazy if you think I'd stand there and watch you go on like that." He said, kissing the side of my face.
I didn't know how to feel. He was much too emotional to be taken seriously, but I could really use him.
"Let's sit." He said, and led me to the chair opposite Emma.
"Is that why you've always hated him?" She asked me.
"Yes." I replied weakly.
"That's more than enough reason to." She said, shooting him a very nasty glance where he sat at the dining table. "You should've told me though." She added, looking at her nails as she poke. "You watched me fall for a trap you had, and you somehow thought leaking out, I mean, mine, then his pictures would do." Fresh tears had started pooling in her eyes.
"That wasn't me, Emma." I said, I only had the ones from the bar, with Jessica. I said that already." I said through sobs.
Emma looked broken, a mess, but a very hot one.