Chapter 113

Lily's POV 

I know Ema was mad at Chase, but I didn't feel that was enough reason to entertain that slump. 

I felt so bad for Chase. But if I had done too much in defending him, it'd just have made the whole outing awkward. 

She didn't even look too sure of herself. I'm sure she just did it for the fun of it. 

We packed our bags into the boot and headed for a park, maybe we'd get to talk. 

I put the speakers on, but the volume was as low as possible. 

We'd just come out through one of the worst times as a friend group, and I really just wanted peace and quiet. 

I wanted my homegirl to be happy. 

I wanted dinner under the dark sky, I wanted double dates when Gray and I were in the country. 

But that wimp was gonna make it impossible if he pressed harder than he was already doing. 

I could just see the desperation on his face. 

If he wanted her so bad, why did he say all the things he said about her to Gray? But it's a subject I couldn't really bring up, cause Gray and I were past that, while it was not a forbidden zone in our relationship, it's not just something I loved to talk about. 

 "Emma?" I called her. If I thought I was deep in thought, she went 'hold my beer'. 

She was staring so hard I was almost led to conclude that she was seeing beyond just my dashboard. 

Maybe she could even see through my engine. 

 "Yeah." She replied, weakly. 

 "Are you okay?" I was alarmed. She'd just be gay, and flirting with that nasty guy. While he was a really pretty man, an eye candy, someone Kehlani could use as a vixen in her videos, he was the shitty guy who fucked my girl up still

 "Yeah." She said, so unconvincingly. 

 "Come on baby." I rubbed her bare shoulder, "you don't expect me to swallow that. You were just throwing your body at that guy." I joked, but it didn't look like she found it really funny. 

 "No, I wasn't." She said, 

 "Alright, my bad." I apologized, taking my eyes off the road for a minute. 

 "It's just, I don't think I know what to do anymore." She said, "I'm getting into college in a bit, with so much boy drama, it feels like I'm not serious with my life, I should be getting something out of it, building a career or something, like you and Gray."She said. 

I knew that Chase being unavailable for her, emotionally, was just gonna birth overthought thoughts like those. 

 "That is true." I acknowledged her, "But Emma, you said you're going to college. Isn't that what college is for?" I asked her. 

 "I really don't know." She replied. 

 "I need you to do something for me." I said. I knew what the problem was and I think I knew what the solution was. 

 "You're flying first class to Berlin tomorrow, Baby girl," I started, "I need that to be on your mind. I want, need, you to be happy. Emma, you aren't even happy with yourself. I don't expect you to be happy with Chase, whether or not he's done anything wrong. You've gotta let go of these things that do not make sense. Emma, you've got a crowd of us dying to support you…"

 "I don't want support, Lily." She cut in, "I want to be my own woman. Maybe then, he'd learn to respect me more." I saw where the issue was coming from. "Lily, imagine I had whatever thing I was doing, I'd be relating with way more people than I do, I'll meet cool guys, sweet ones, he'd have no choice but to up his game." I couldn't believe all she was saying. 

 "Emma." I called her. 

 "Yeah." she answered reluctantly. 

 "Do you love him?" It was a million dollar question. Hard for her to admit, but I saw it all over her face. 

I know, cause sadly I'd been in her shoes, that Chase was a very possessive person. It's sad too how he reacted to her having their baby, even though I believe what happened was for the best. Emma was a darling and would surely make a good mom, but not the way things were presently. 

 "I guess." She murmured, 

 "Emma, I don't know if you've thought about it, but your relationship with Chase is one any person would consider a taboo. Have you ever wondered why both your parents let you have it, even though you're supposed to be step-siblings?" I asked her, and she looked out of the window, avoiding my eyes. 

 "That's because there's pure passion for each other, burning in your eyes." I said truthfully. It's something that, at some point, would've killed me to admit, but it was just obvious. It bled Chase to hurt her, and Emma couldn't even stand something bad happening to him. 

 "Love is a feeling, not an excuse, Lily." She sobbed. 

 "And I'm saying, Emma, that the reason you feel so overwhelmed is not because anything is wrong with anyone, I'm really sorry to say this, but yourself." I was never really good at sugar coating my words, I was blunt and she's said on multiple occasions that she liked me that way. And that was a good thing. 

I pulled the car to a halt at an ice-cream shop. 

I gave her time to let her tears out. 

The color of her eyes was mirroring that of my nail polish. 

 "Can we get some?" She asked, looking up. 

 "Yeah, right after you dry your tears." I answered. "I could be charged for something if a patrol ever saw me by your side, looking like this." She laughed and wiped her eyes. 

 "Didn't bring my concealer." She said, dabbing her eyes. 

 "You didn't bring anything, bitch." I said, laughing. "You went for a visit, and haven't gone back home ever since. Mrs Linda must miss you." I added. 

 "I don't know." Her mood was starting to get gloomy again. 

 "Well, she will when you send her snaps from Berlin tomorrow. We're gonna be shaking our ass's on a private yatch." I squealed, rocking the driver's seat. 

The pervert on the next lane winked at me, and that made Emma laugh so hard that my powder fell out of her hand. 

We ordered unproportionate sizes of ice-cream and slurped noisily as we made our way to a photo booth, somewhere next to the counter. 

We took a couple of silly and funny pictures, and printed them out. 

Emma offered to pay with Chase's card. 

 "Your bill has been settled, Ma'am." The smallish lady said, smiling very mischievously. 

Whoever settled the bill must've settled her really well too.